While we were camped in Whitehorse, we took a side trip (108 miles one way) to Skagway, Alaska.  The road winds through beautiful mountains, lakes, glaciers and waterways, dropping from an elevation around 3,000 feet to 0. 

In 1896 gold was found in the Klondike.  In the summer of 1897 thousands of men and women chasing their dreams to become rich sailed into the harbor of Skagway.  From there they had to make their way up the Chilkoot Trail (shorter but more rigorous) or the White Pass (longer but less rigorous) for 33 miles.   During the first year of the discovery of gold, many lives were lost because the minors were unprepared to survive the wilderness and artic weather.

At the pass at the top of the trail, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) required the hopeful miners to have 2,000 pounds of provisions before they would be allowed to enter Canada.  In order to get their “ton of goods” to their destinations, they would have to carry what they could a ways and then go back and get more, making several trips to get it all. 

After they had made it over the pass they then had to hire or make a boat to make the 500-mile trip down the rapidly moving water of the Yukon River to Dawson City where the gold mines were.

Here is what the miners were required to take into Canada:

• 150 lb. bacon
• 400 lb. flour
• 25 lb. rolled oats
• 125 lb. beans
• 10 lb. tea
• 10 lb. coffee
• 25 lb. sugar
• 25 lb. dried potatoes
• 2 lb. dried onions
• 15 lb. salt
• 1 lb. pepper
• 75 lb. dried fruits
• 8 lb. baking powder
• 2 lb. soda
• 1/2 lb. evaporated vinegar
• 12 oz. compressed soup
• 1 can mustard
• 1 tin matches (for four men)
• Stove for four men
• Gold pan for each
• Set granite buckets
• Large bucket
• Knife, fork, spoon, cup, and plate
• Frying pan
• Coffee and teapot
• Scythe stone
• Two picks and one shovel
• One whipsaw
• Pack strap
• Two axes for four men and one extra handle
• Six 8 inch files and two taper files for the party
• Draw knife, brace and bits, jack plane, and hammer for party
• 200 feet three-eights-inch rope
• 8 lb. of pitch and 5 lb. of oakum for four men
• Nails, five lbs. each of 6,8,10 and 12 penny, for four men
• Tent, 10 x 12 feet for four men
• Canvas for wrapping
• Two oil blankets to each boat
• 5 yards of mosquito netting for each man
• 3 suits of heavy underwear
• 1 heavy mackinaw coat
• 2 pairs heavy machinaw trousers
• 1 heavy rubber-lined coat
• 1 doz heavy wool socks
• 1/2 doz heavy wool mittens
• 2 heavy overshirts
• 2 pairs heavy snagproof rubber boots
• 2 pairs shoes
• 4 pairs blankets (for two men)
• 4 towels
• 2 pairs overalls
• 1 suit oil clothing
• Several changes of summer clothing
• Small assortment of medicines

Today, hikers can walk the Chilkoot Trail in 3 to 5 days.  It took those in the gold rush 3 months to make the arduous trek.

1.)  Emerald Lake-sunlight reflects off white river bottom

2.)  Jeannie and Jack-small glaciers in mountain behind them

3.  White Pass train going from Fraser to Skagway passing glaciers, falls, ice fields.