White Pass & Yukon Railroad Skagway, Alaska

July 16, 2006

On this 24-day driving tour that stretched as far north as Fairbanks, My Barbara and I are headed homeward.  One more major side trip is in order, however — a 110-mile scamper down the Klondike Highway to Skagway.

Emerald Lake
Marsh Lake

Along the road into town

Having encountered a variety of attitudes and procedures at four other international border stations, this one is a delight.  The officer observes our California licence plate, smiles, and invites us back into Alaska without even bothering to check our passports.

A pretty cantilever bridge

The local hot-spot

Getting a seat is problematical
The sign in the front window    ⇔

Now it is time to head over to the railroad depot, armed with tickets purchased several months ago.  This excursion is quite popular.

The depot

All aboard!

Barbara and I are seated on the right-hand side, not that it really matters.  Either way, I must get up and stand in a doorway for photo-ops.

A tight squeeze

Behind the Customs station

George Buchanan was a coal merchant in Depression-era Detroit.  Every summer from 1923 through the Depression, Mr. Buchanan helped 50 or 60 boys to get out of town for a while and see Alaska.  They journeyed overland to Vancouver, then sailed up the coast to Skagway and spent several weeks touring, climbing glaciers, and panning for gold.

The arrangement was that their parents would donate one-third of the money ($81), George would donate one-third, and the boys would work selling items such as kitchen implements door to door to raise the remaining third.  In 1935, Buchanan agreed to take the sisters of the boys who had gone; and he had them earn money also by baking pies and darning socks.

We're headed up there

Maintenance yard

The railroad was constructed, starting in 1898, as a better way to reach the goldfields.  By 1900, it had become the primary route to the Yukon, supplanting the famous Chilkoot Trail, even though the local Gold Rush already was winding down by then.

Trestle crossing

Beautiful

Chilkoot Inlet is in view behind us

More nifty trestles

Nearing the pass, the Chilkoot Trail comes into plain view.  Winter conditions were a nightmare experience for most of the stampeders (prospectors), particularly because each one had to carry about a ton of supplies up the hill, including a government-mandated year's supply of food.  Some men walked nearly a thousand miles shuttling their loads up the 33-mile route.

The upper trail climbs 1,100 feet in just half a mile

One enterprising gentleman staked a claim that was challenged in court; but someone else came along and offered $30,000 for it.  Delighted, the man sold out, paid off his partners, then took his $13,000 share down to Seattle and opened a shoe store.  His name was John Nordstrom, who ultimately fared rather better than the average prospector.

This is an international border

The track continues; but this is our turn-around point.  Oddly enough, there is no place to turn around.  Instead, the wooden seats in the cars magically fold up, then fold back down facing in the opposite direction.  What a deal.  Now the engine is behind us, but that seems to be a mere detail.

Another train is coming

The track must be shared

Looking back up the pass

All the same scenes reappear:

This is the busiest tourist railroad in the country, being largely supported by multiple cruise ships.  A piece of track literally extends right down onto the dock.

The workers are on a lunch break

Finishing up

§: What a great tour!  Scenery, history, and a train ride.  Little White Pass & Yukon Route water bottles were passed out on board; one of them sits on a knick-knack shelf in our living room.

As of 2018, the whole shebang was purchased by Carnival Cruises for the ungodly sum of $290 million.

After our tour, Barbara and I pay a visit to the historic cemetery.

Times were pretty hard in those days

A short walk behind the graveyard leads to this attraction, which of course I already knew about:

Reid's Falls

A different kind of 'rock art'

From here, it's a mere six-day drive home!