White Pass & Yukon Route Railway

The White Pass & Yukon Route Railway grew out of an April 1898 meeting in Skagway, where representatives of the Close Brothers, British financiers who had acquired charters to build a railway from Skagway into the Yukon Territory, joined forces with independent railway contractor Michael J. Heney. As news of Klondike gold spread, the largely unexplored Yukon needed a better transportation network, but the route was daunting, with rocky cliffs, sheer rock walls, brutal terrain through White Pass, severe weather, and Skagway lying 1000 miles from the nearest supply point. Although the company's representatives had nearly abandoned the plan after surveying the route, Heney, convinced a railway was possible, persuaded them to proceed. Construction on the 110-mile narrow gauge line began on May 28th and ultimately required 3500 men and more than 26 months of work. After nine months the track reached the summit, then continued to Bennett Lake in July 1899. Rock crews remained there to blast the roadbed along the lake while other workers pushed north from Carcross to Whitehorse, where a work camp had been established during construction. Once that section was completed, work resumed on the Bennett Lake to Carcross stretch, and the track reached Carcross at 5:00 p.m. on July 29th, 1900, when the last spike was driven before a huge crowd of onlookers.

Yukon · Canada