Mike Mathews is an author and contributor for Model Trains, which is a new and very popular model train website.
When my wife and I recently stepped off a cruise ship in Skagway Alaska, we were excited to be revisiting some her family's history. In 1897 her grandfather Jim and her great uncle Albert, joined almost 100,000 gold-rush prospectors who were going to the Klondike to search for gold. They were among the 30,000 or so prospectors who actually reached the Yukon. The journey was long and arduous and they walked most of the way as their pack horse was used to carry their supplies. The Canadian Northwest Mounted Police insisted that each Klondiker must bring a year worth of supplies with them before they were allowed to go to the Yukon. There were two routes through the mountains to Whitehorse on the Yukon River: The first route was the Chilkoot Pass trail which was too steep for pack animals. Klondikers had to stage their supplies and leapfrog back to carry their year's worth of supplies up the steep icy trail. Many prospectors abandoned their quest here or perished in the extremely cold weather. Jim and Albert chose the second route called the White Pass Trail, which climbed to almost 3,000 feet in elevation out of Skagway and was just as steep and treacherous, but could accommodate pack horses. This information was of doubtful value as over 3,000 pack animals were killed on this trail which was nicknamed "dead horse trail". Jim and Albert lost their packhorse during the climb but eventually made it to Bennett Lake with their supplies. They rafted down the Lake and onto the Yukon River while undergoing many difficulties and adventures, but reached Whitehorse and then Dawson City and the goldfields. Unfortunately most of the gold claims had been staked by locals and early prospectors and they ended up working as miners for the next two years until they had earned enough money to return home. The fact that they survived the extreme cold and harsh conditions was a tribute to their strength and indomitable spirits. Although they didn't bring home any gold, they brought home a lifetime of stories to pass onto their grandchildren.
After my wife and I toured historic Skagway we then embarked on the most fantastic train ride of our lives - The White Pass and Yukon Route or WP
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