Yukon

Whitehorse 8/1 – 8/4/2016 – We arrived in Whitehorse after a night in the Congdon Creek CG Provincial Park on Kluane Lake and checked into the High Country RV Park.  Whitehorse is the Yukon’s capital city on the Yukon River the Klondike stampeders used as a supply point via riverboat.  We visited one of these historic riverboats downtown at the SS Klondike National Historic Site.  The SS Klondike was built in 1929 and was the largest stern-wheeler on the river able to carry 300 tons of cargo on the 460 mile route up the Yukon River.  The SS Klondike carried mail, supplies, passengers and silver lead ore between Whitehorse and Dawson City until 1955. The dining room and front parlor are still a thing of historic beauty which we had to view from a distance as and they are undergoing continued restoration to ensure the safety of visitors.  As we wandered through town we came upon the White Pass Depot and decided to book a motor coach/railroad tour to Skagway for tomorrow….more to follow.

 

Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, the White Pass & Yukon Route was hailed a marvel of engineering despite the harsh weather and challenging geography faced by 35 thousand railroad workers.  The prospectors were required to carry a ton of supplies over the pass which took an average of forty trips and after harrowing experiences and the death of over three thousand horses used as pack animals men began thinking of an easier way.  The 19^th century was the era of the railroad, so it was the natural choice.  In April of 1898 the White Pass & Yukon Railroad construction began laying the 110 miles of track in heavy snow and temperatures as low as 60 below, and was miraculously completed in July of 1900.  The journey over winding turns, two tunnels, and numerous bridges and trestles was simply breathtaking.  We were treated to a panorama of mountains, glaciers and gorges, and waterfalls as we climbed 3,000 feet in just 20 miles to White Pass Summit on the way down to Skagway AK.  After the gold rush the railroad continued operating commercially until 1982 carrying iron ore to Skagway until the road between Skagway and Carcross was completed connecting Skagway to the Alaskan Highway and Whitehorse YT.  It reopened as a tourist attraction in 1988.  Skagway also known as “The Garden City of Alaska” is really a quaint little town which like today explodes from a population of about 1,000 to around 20,000 when the cruise ships roll in.  We enjoyed strolling the historic streets and wandering in and out of the shops and restaurants especially the Red Onion….check out the bed pans nailed to the ceiling. 

 

 

 

 

Our last day in Whitehorse we hiked around Miles Canyon and visited the longest wooden fish ladder at Whitehorse Dam on the Yukon River.  Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids were once the most dangerous obstacles along the Yukon River for Riverboats during the gold rush, but a dam built in 1959 has harnessed the rapids.  Since the dam was built a fish ladder needed to be erected to allow the Chinook salmon to be able to continue upriver to spawn in the creeks they were born.  These salmon traveled further than any other from the Bering Sea across Alaska and the Yukon some 1,300 miles.