26 Around Skagway

Harry & Carole — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 02:07:57 +0000

During our stay in Skagway, we did a couple of fun things we did not cover in the last post. They were to ride the historic Yukon & White Pass narrow guage railroad and to take a boat excursion to Juneau. A bit of history on the railroad. When the Yukon goldrush started there were only to practical ways to get there. One was to hike the Chilkoot Trail with the mandatory 2,000 pounds of supplies, the other was to hike or use horses on The Trail of 98, a rail that was not as steep but was long and grueling and which caused the death of many many horses. The not so practical way, and it could only be done when the Yukon River was not frozen, was to enter the Yukon via the river from the North. A couple years after the start of the goldrush, a railroad was built running from Skagway to the gold fields. It was too late for the major influx of prospectors but was good for movement of supplies. That railroad runs solely for tourists today and stops a Carcross which is at the top of the mountain passes North of Skagway. It is narrow guage and on Saturdays and Sundays they run the train with an old steam locomotive. Neat trip. Excuse the haze, fog, and marginal pictures. Those conditions existed for most of the trip and many shots were taken through the windows.

Old and older locomotives.

The Trail of 1898.

These are part of the telegraph system which was established to connect the military policing the gold fields with the the continental U.S.

The Northwest Mounted Police checkpoint at the border, a historic site.

This is a grave marker placed on top of a huge rock which fell on top of a construction worker during the construction of the railroad.

The railroad maintenance shops.

We also took a day trip by boat to Juneau, the state capital. Unless one wants a long swim, the only two ways to Juneau are by plane or by boat.

An orca (killer whale).

Well, this ends our visit to the very interesting city of Skagway.

The Meandering Melanders

26 Around Skagway