TOWARDS the close of the summer of 1896 some miners prospecting along the Yukon River discovered the golden riches of the Klondike. The credit for this discovery has been claimed by two different parties, but the fact is that the discovery seems to have been substantially simultaneous on two different creeks flowing into the Klondike River. The first discoverers kept their discoveries to themselves as far as possible ; but rumour soon extended up and down the Yukon River, and other miners arrived rapidly from the various mining camps scattered for thousands of miles along its banks, so that when the spring of 1897 came, and mining operations were once more possible, there was already a considerable' population prospecting and mining in the Klondike. As the summer of 1897 advanced, some of these men began sending out their gold dust, which they had till then kept stored in flour-sacks and empty meat and vegetable tins on the floors of their cabins or tents. The wealth of the ground which had been opened up so far exceeded all their previous mining experiences, that these men honestly believed that if they held their gold dust until the following year the world would be so flooded with it that, in their own words, "there would be no price for it" Consequently, just as a farmer hurries his wheat to market when he anticipates a decline in price, these men were anxious to get their gold dust to San Francisco or Seattle before gold lost its value in the markets of the world by reason of the anticipated flood from the Klondike. The first Klondike gold, amounting to $1,000,000 (£200,000), arrived in Seattle in August 1897, and the accounts of the wonderful riches of the Klondike which accompanied the gold immediately caught the attention of the world, and gave rise to a rush for the Klondike from almost every civilized portion of the globe, which continued for upwards of a year. In this race the people living nearest to the Klondike, of course, had the advantage, so that a number of Americans and Canadians were able to find their way there before the winter set in, and consequently were on the ground in the spring of 1898, before navigation opened and made it possible for others to get in.

The heavy dotted line indicates the river route from White Horse to Dawson, used during the summer.

  In the rush for the Klondike three routes were chiefly used. The first was by the mouth of the Yukon at St. Michaels, which had hitherto been the only route used. The second was from the head of a fiord of the North Pacific known as the Lynn Canal, across the coast range of mountains to the headwaters of the Yukon River, and thence down-stream to the Klondike. The third, which at the time was widely advertised, was known as the overland route from a station called Edmonton on the Canadian Pacific Railway ; and a number of people attempted this route, though few succeeded in getting in by it. The all-water route via the mouth of the river was by far the easiest of these routes, in addition to being the only one theretofore used ; but, on the other hand, it was practicable during a few summer months only, and involved a slow voyage up-stream ; and when once the rush set in there was a good deal of uncertainty as to whether or not the goldseekers could find accommodation On the few and comparatively small steamers at that time in service on the Lower River. For this reason, and because of the great advantage in getting quickly to the Klondike, the large majority of the gold-seekers preferred to run the risks of crossing the coast range from the head of the Lynn Canal, either through the White Pass or the Chilcoot Pass to Lake Bennett on the Upper Yukon, and drifting down the rapid waters of the Yukon River to the Klondike in small boats built by themselves on the banks of the Yukon. After navigation had closed in the autumn of 1897 the goldseekers still continued to arrive throughout the winter, and being unable to get over the passes till the spring, had to remain at the head of Lynn Canal, where they settled down on a gravel flat called by the Indians Skagua, which has since become known to the world as Skaguay.

Clearing a path for the railway through a pine forest.

  The Klondike rush made this place of great importance, and a hot dispute at once arose between Canada and the United States as to whether the true boundary between these countries placed Skaguay in the United States or in Canada. This point was not settled in favour of the United States until years afterwards by international arbitration. Meanwhile the United States Government occupied Skaguay with a company of soldiers, while the Canadians kept a few mounted policemen there, who were only allowed by the United States the status of private individuals, as the disputed, territory was de facto in the possession of the United States. But there were no laws of the United States applicable to it, and no counts established to give effect to them if there had. been any. In these circumstances Skaguay became a sort of Tom Tiddler's ground and centre of attraction for all the lawless and criminal characters who are invariably attracted by the opening of a new mining district, but who seldom find such favourable opportunities for carrying out their lawless methods as were afforded in Skaguay in the early days. These people were led by a man named Smith, better known as "Soapy Smith," and had things pretty much their own way in Skaguay until the better element rallied round the railway builders, and inaugurated an era of self-government in July 1898 by electing a Vigilance Committee and killing "Soapy Smith."

Perilous work. On the steep mountain sides a foothold was obtained by chaining logs to iron bars drilled into the rock.

  The gravel flat upon which Skaguay was situated was hemmed in by snowclad mountains on three sides, and by the sea on the other. The trail which connected it with the interior followed the rocky banks of the Skaguay River for some distance through the mountains, and then, turning sharply to the left, ascended the canyon of the White Pass to the Summit. Beyond the Summit it was necessary to climb still higher on the precipitous sides of Turtle Mountain in order to avoid the many arms of what is now known as Octopus Lake. From Turtle Mountain the trail descended to Log Cabin, and thence to the head of Lake Bennett. Although it was called a trail, it is not what most people understand by that term in the sense of being a path at all suited for reasonable travel by man or beast. Before the discovery of the Klondike it had been the line adopted by the Indians in their migrations from the coast to the upper waters of the Yukon ; and when the Klondike rush began, the Indians piloted the goldseekers over this line and assisted them to carry on their backs their personal belongings, for which they made a charge averaging about two to three shillings per pound weight. The early goldseekers having abused the confidence of the Indians by liquidating their indebtedness in patent medicine advertisements and other alleged paper currency of no value, the Indians thereafter exacted silver dollars, and would accept nothing else for their services. They were good climbers, and, like all Indians, too lazy and improvident to make any attempt to improve their trail. They had never seen a horse, and considered that any rocks, boulders, or fallen timber which a man could climb over, and any swamps or streams which he could wade, were no objection whatever in a line of travel from one place to another. As the goldseekers came in increasing numbers they began to bring pack-horses with them, and the owners of the first horses were compelled to do a certain minimum amount of work in order to make the Indian trail at all possible for horses. But the moment that a horse could by any means be got over the trail, all further improvement ceased, and was never again resumed. The first horses were got over when there was no great crowd, and it was possible to unload a horse and lead him light over a bad place, reloading him on the far side. But as the rush increased this could no longer be done, and it was then that the trail became so fatal to horses as to earn the sinister title of the "Dead Horse Trail." The chief reason why the trail was so fatal to horses was because the owners were mostly ignorant, and began by overloading them at Skaguay, and trusted to luck for their horses being able to forage for themselves, not knowing that the mountains were so steep that a horse could not move to either side of the trail, and that every blade of scanty grass within reach had long since been eaten. During the rush this narrow trail was blocked, so that neither man nor horse could go faster or slower than the speed of the huge living serpent that slowly wound its way over the pass. When a delay occurred, the horses for miles back had to stand loaded, as no one could tell at what moment travel would be resumed. In this way the horses became exhausted under their loads long before they had reached the Summit, and frequently fell and broke their legs on the rough rocks, in which case the load was removed and travel resumed across the dead body of the horse. In one of the worst places on the trail there were over 3,500 dead horses in a distance of a mile !

  In order to put an end to the terrors of the trip across the coast range of mountains from Skaguay, and also to afford commercial access to the interior of the country, the White Pass and Yukon Railway was projected from Skaguay to the head of navigable waters on the Yukon River, whence access is obtained to the interior of the Yukon Territory and Alaska by many thousands of miles of rivers and lakes.

  Though the length of this railway is only 115 miles, it extends through no fewer than three different jurisdictions, and is subject to as many different sets of laws, namely, those of the United States, of the Dominion of Canada, and of the Province of British Columbia. The first 20 miles, from the sea at Skaguay to the Summit of the White Pass, is through United States territory ; from the Summit to the shores of Lake Bennett the line is in the Province of British Columbia ; and thence to White Horse it is in the Yukon Territory of Canada, and subject to the Federal authority of the Dominion of Canada. When construction was first commenced, in 1898, the situation was further complicated by the dispute between Canada and the United States as to the ownership of the territory between the Summit of the White Pass and the sea at Skaguay.

  Construction was commenced in 1898, while the Klondike rush was at its height, which, of course, greatly increased the difficulty of securing and keeping an adequate supply of labour. War between the United States and Spain having broken out that spring, most of the available shipping on the Pacific coast had been chartered by the United States Government, and this enhanced the difficulty of providing transport for the men and the material, which had to be carried 1,000 miles from the bases of supply on the Pacific coast to the ocean terminus of the proposed railway at Skaguay. At that time there was no telegraphic communication, and this increased the difficulties entailed in working 1,000 miles from any base of supply.

  When the railway surveyors reached Skaguay on May 27, 1898, they found the town site in the possession of some 10,000 squatters, who had no titles themselves other than possession, but nevertheless demanded prohibitory terms for the right-of-way from the sea inland across the gravel flat which constituted the town site, and considerable difficulty was experienced in arranging this matter before construction could commence.

Placing a blasting charge.

  The line of the trail not being adapted for railway purposes, no less than five preliminary surveys were made in order to determine the best available line to the Summit. The mountain-sides being precipitous and thickly timbered with small scrub spruce to the timber line, and polished smooth above the timber line by the action of glaciers, the work of surveying was difficult. But within a few weeks the line was definitely " located" for construction, and was made up of portions of each of the five preliminary surveys.

  While making the surveys, and subsequently during the work of construction, the railway builders were brought into close relations with the bears who were the original inhabitants of the mountain-sides along which the line ran. Prompted by curiosity and hunger, the bears used to investigate the camps of the railwaymen, and soon became so cunning and expert that nothing edible was safe from them unless it was watched night and day. The continuous heavy blasting at first frightened the bears, but they soon learnt how to shelter themselves from the falling rocks and stones. They also learnt to recognize the warning shouts of the foreman, and to post themselves so as to take advantage of the temporary absence of the men in order to steal the contents of their dinner-pails. At some of the camps the bears became so tame that they would eat out of the men's hands, and would even stand to be photographed.

  Actual construction commenced in June 1898, and trains were running by August 25 over the first 14 miles of the line. The working force had increased to nearly 2,000 men on August 8, when the news of the gold discoveries at Atlin reached the construction camps and reduced the numbers to under 700 in two days. It was October before the working strength could be restored, by which time the work was almost entirely above the timber line, and exposed to the full force of the Arctic winter storms. In many places the men had to be "roped" while working, in order to prevent them being blown off the steep mountain-sides, where the granite was so smooth and slippery that the only foothold was often obtained from logs chained to iron bars drilled into the rock. The cold and the action of the wind was so intense that the men had to be relieved every hour, as longer exposure numbed not merely their bodies but their minds, so that they had not sense enough left to tie a knot securely, or do other simple things of similar nature. Throughout the winter the thermometer ranged from 20° to 40° below zero, and sometimes even lower, at the construction camps. Nevertheless the work was pushed continuously, and on February 18, 1899, the first train reached the Summit of the White Pass, 2,865 feet above the sea-level, and 20 miles distant from Skaguay.

Rock work on a slope. In the foreground is seen a rough bridge giving access to the ledge.

  After the Summit had been reached, the working force was transferred to the comparative shelter of the timber at the Bennett end of the line for the remainder of the winter, as there was no special object in continuing to expose the men above timber line on work which could be done more easily when spring should come. Meanwhile communication between rail-head at the Summit and the construction camps beyond was maintained by means of an iced roadway, which was constructed at a sufficient elevation above the surrounding snowfields to be kept clear of snowdrifts by the constant action of the wind. The traffic soon ground down this roadway into one of the most perfect highways imaginable for either fast or heavy sleighing. In addition to construction material and camp supplies, an immense passenger and freight business was carried over it during the spring of 1899. Amongst other things carried were the boilers, engines, and woodwork for a fleet of steamers built at Lake Bennett that spring, so that when the railway reached the lake and navigation opened, there was "a fleet in being" ready to carry the traffic down the Yukon River to the Klondike. The largest single piece carried over the iced road was a 30-ton boiler built in England for use in the Klondike. This was brought to the Summit of the White Pass in the spring of 1899 over the new railway track, and taken by twenty horses over the iced road to Lake Bennett, whence it was floated on a barge down the Yukon, including the passage of the dreaded White Horse Rapids, and in due course arrived safely in Dawson.

  As the spring advanced, the iced road was kept up with increasing difficulty, till finally even light traffic by night became impossible. A channel was then blasted for six miles through the thick rotten ice on Summit Lake, and connection was thus established with the new railway grade beyond the lake, which thereafter was used as a roadway till the rails were laid and trains could run over it.

Grading the track.

  As soon as the iced road became useless, such numbers of the public insisted on using the construction trains for the conveyance of themselves and their goods that there was danger of a serious accident, and it therefore became necessary to attempt some sort of a public train service Over the unfinished line, though this interfered greatly with the movements of the construction trains and with the work of the construction gangs. Nevertheless, the first train reached Lake Bennett on July 6, 1899, and 40 miles of railway through the mountains connected the navigable waters of the Pacific with those of the Yukon.

  The nature of the work between Skaguay and Lake Bennett added immensely to the difficulty of construction during an Arctic winter. After leaving the gravel flat at Skaguay, the line follows rocky mountainsides deeply serrated by fissures and canyons, and in many places so steep and inaccessible that the men had to be suspended by ropes while establishing working platforms. From the fourth to the twenty-eighth mile the road bed had to be blasted out of the solid granite mountain-sides, except where bridges occurred, and every ton of ballast had to be hauled from the gravel flat at Skaguay, as there was no loose gravel or soil available for ballasting on the rocky sides of the mountains. A 500-foot tunnel on the sixteenth mile, high up on the slippery side of Tunnel Mountain, was inaccessible from the grade line, being cut off by a deep canyon, which was not bridged till after the tunnel was completed; and meanwhile the powder, steam-drills, fuel, and water required for work on the tunnel had to be carried on men's backs up the steep mountain by a zigzag trail cut in the precipitous granite for that purpose. Snow to a depth of from 25 to 30 feet had to be removed from the more exposed portions of the line, and even in sheltered places the snow was from 6 to 7 feet deep. Upwards of 500,000 cubic yards of snow and ice had to be removed in clearing the line for work. Sixty-seven bridges, aggregating 11,540 feet, had to be built, many of them over deep, inaccessible canyons. Taking the engineering and climatic difficulties into account, a year was a remarkably short time in which to complete the 40 miles of line through the mountains from Skaguay to Lake Bennett.

  From this lake there is a continuous waterway down the Yukon River to its mouth at St. Michaels, nearly 2,500 miles distant, and by means of the sundry lakes and tributary rivers there is water communication with practically the whole of the interior of the Yukon Territory and Alaska. But this waterway is only available for comparatively small boats bound down-stream, as neither Miles Canyon nor the adjacent White Horse Rapids are navigable by boats of any considerable size, and the rapids are too swift to admit of any boat that has once gone down them being got back again, even with ropes and steam capstans. Hence for all commercial purposes the head of navigation on the Yukon commences at the foot of White Horse Rapids, and it was necessary to extend the railway to that point, a distance of 75 miles from Lake Bennett.

A nasty corner at porcupine point.

  Work was accordingly at once commenced on this line. The line along the shore of the lake for 27 miles involved a great deal of heavy rock work, upon which progress would be slow, so it was decided to establish camps for the rock gangs only along this part of the line, and to transfer the remainder of the working force to the foot of Lake Bennett, and put them to work between Caribou Crossing and White Horse Rapids. If this latter portion of some 45 miles could be completed by the time navigation opened in 1900, the lake would form a connecting link between the two pieces of railway until the gap could be closed by completing the railway along the shores of the lake. In order to carry out this programme successfully, it was necessary before navigation closed in 1899 to assemble at Caribou Crossing at the foot of Lake Bennett a supply of rails, sleepers, construction plant, and material, in addition to rolling stock and camp supplies, sufficient for nine months' work and the construction of 45 miles of railway. Once navigation closed on Lake Bennett the work beyond would be cut off from rail-head until the lake was again free from ice in the following June. The steamers already mentioned as having been built on Lake Bennett in 1899 were fully occupied in the Klondike traffic ; but the railway folk built hastily steam-barges of large size, and with their aid were able to accomplish the task of getting everything to Caribou Crossing before the ice closed navigation in the autumn of 1899.

  Work was pushed on vigorously throughout the winter, but great difficulty was experienced by reason of the ground being frozen, not merely for a few feet below the surface by the winter frost, but to a great depth by the glacial cold of prehistoric ages. The frozen earth proved to be more difficult to deal with than solid rock, since, having no cleavage lines, it was tough in addition to being as hard as rock. When the spring came, cuttings made in this frozen earth began to thaw and run, and embankments made with the frozen material began to melt and Settle down, and soon the surface of some of them was 5 or 6 feet below the grade line. All this involved constant refinishing of the line, and a great deal of extra work ; notwithstanding, the first train ran from Caribou Crossing into the new town of White Horse on June 8, 1900.

  By that time the ice had melted on Lake Bennett, and navigation was open, so that by means of the steamers on the lake through communication was at once established between Skaguay and the foot of the White Horse Rapids.

THE LARGE CANTILEVER BRIDGE OVER SWITCHBACK CANYON. It is 835-3/4 feet long, and carries the track 267 feet above the bottom of the canyon. Observe the disposition of the locomotives.

  During the winter and spring work had been progressing steadily along the rocky shores of Lake Bennett, where the heaviest work consisted of blasting a road bed round or through the numerous steep, rocky capes which jutted out into the deep water of the lake. These capes were separated from each other by little bays, at the head of which the water was for the most part shallow, so that the material taken from the rock cuttings on the capes was used in some places for building embankments across the shallows, thus avoiding curvature of the line as much as possible.

  By the end of July 1900 the 27 miles of line along the shore of the lake were completed, and the last spike- was driven on

July 29, thus closing the gap between the two ends of the railway. It is a curious fact that the first train over the completed line was south bound, that is, going out from White Horse to Skaguay, and was composed of empty cars, which had been working on the north end of the line, but which were, of course, sent to Skaguay to be loaded as soon as the gap in the railway was closed.

  The general characteristics of the railway are as follows. It has a gauge of 3 feet, and is laid with 56-lb. steel rails with 24-inch spliced bar fish-joints, and on curves, etc., with tie-plates and rail-braces. The sleepers or "ties" are 6-ft. X 8-in. X 6-1/2-in, laid 2,816 to the mile. The road bed in excavation is 10 feet wide, with a 2-foot ditch at each side, making the standard width in excavation 14 feet at the base. On embankments the finished width at top is 12 feet. Earth side slopes in excavation are 1 to 1, and on embankments 1-1/2 to 1. In loose rock excavation the slopes vary from 1/2 to 1 to 1 to 1, according to circumstances ; and in solid rock the side slopes are 1/4 to 1.

A rotary snow-plough at rest. The line is worked all the year round, and sometimes drifts 35 feet deep have to be cleared for considerable distances.

  The maximum gradient between Skaguay and the Summit is 3.9 per cent., and the maximum rise in any one mile is 201 feet, the theoretical grade being equalized for curvature, that is, reduced on curves to compensate for the loss by friction, and to maintain a uniform load on the engine. This maximum grade scheme is uniformly maintained, except at sidings, from the fourth mile-post to the Summit, a distance of 16 miles. Beyond the Summit the gradients are much easier and comparatively short, the maximum being 2.91 per cent, and the average 0.84 per cent, against south-bound traffic.

  The more important bridges are of steel, of varying styles of construction to suit the local conditions. The largest is a steel cantilever bridge across a deep canyon near the Summit. This bridge is 835.9 feet long, and the track is 267 feet above the bottom of the canyon. The minor bridges are 'of wooden trestle construction with 12-in. x 12-in. posts, and spans between trestles of 15-3/4 feet.

A rotary snow-plough at work.

  The alignment is based on a maximum curve of 16°, that is, a radius of 359.3 feet. There are forty-four such curves between Skaguay and the Summit, and twelve between the Summit and Bennett. The total deflection or curvature between Skaguay and the Summit is 4,392°, equalling 12.2 circles in the 20 miles. Between the Summit and Bennett the corresponding figures are total deflection 2,689°, equalling 7-1/2 circles. The longest straight length between Skaguay and the Summit is 2,831 feet in the fourth mile, and the longest curve is 1,095 feet in the fifteenth mile. The outer rail on curves is elevated for a speed of 15 miles an hour between Skaguay and the Summit, and of 25 miles an hour between the Summit and Bennett. Beyond Bennett the engineering presents no special features.

  The elevation of the track above sea-level at the Summit of the White Pass is 2,865 feet, and at the Summit at Log Cabin 2,916 feet, and at Lake Bennett 2,158 feet.

  A telegraph and also a telephone line are used in connection with the railway working, and these are also available for public service.

  The line is worked continuously throughout the year, though the winter storms on the White Pass sometimes last for weeks with temperatures far below zero. Snowdrifts as high as 35 feet have at times to be cleared away for considerable distances, and the normal depth of the drifts dealt with daily by the rotary snow-ploughs in keeping the track clear averages from 3 to 5 feet.

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