Bennett, British Columbia

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Bennett
Ghost town
Bennett Railway station 2011.jpg
Bennett railway station
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Bennett
Location of Bennett in British Columbia
Coordinates: 59°51′N135°00′W / 59.850°N 135.000°W / 59.850; -135.000 [1]
Country Canada
Province British Columbia
LocationBennett Lake at border between British Columbia and Yukon, Canada
Tent camp for klondikers18971899

Bennett, British Columbia, Canada, is an abandoned town next to Bennett Lake [1] and along Lindeman Creek (formerly known as the One Mile River). The townsite is now part of the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada and is managed by Parks Canada. [2] Bennett is also a stop on the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad during the summer months.

Contents

History

Photo of camping sites in Bennett by Larss and Duclos, 1 June 1898, by during the Klondike Gold Rush Bennett June 1st 1898.jpg
Photo of camping sites in Bennett by Larss and Duclos, 1 June 1898, by during the Klondike Gold Rush

Bennett was built during the Klondike Gold Rush of 18971899 at the end of the White Pass and Chilkoot Trails from the nearby ports of Skagway and Dyea in Alaska. Gold prospectors would pack their supplies over the Coast Mountains from the ports and then build or purchase rafts to take them down the Yukon River to the gold fields around Dawson City, Yukon. When the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad was completed in 1900 it went right to Whitehorse, passing the town. This led the entire economy of Bennett, based on stampeders and river travelers, to collapse. [3]

One of the establishments in Bennett was the Arctic Hotel, a combination saloon, restaurant, and hotel [4] set up by Friedrich "Fred" Trump (grandfather of Donald Trump) and Ernest Levin. [3] The establishment included a brothel, [4] [5] [6] a portrayal that Donald Trump said was "totally false". [4]

White Pass and Yukon Route

Current services at Bennett station
Preceding station White Pass and Yukon Route Following station
Fraser Bennett Scenic Journey Carcross
Terminus
Steam ExcursionTerminus

Related Research Articles

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The Chilkoot Trail is a 33-mile (53 km) trail through the Coast Mountains that leads from Dyea, Alaska, in the United States, to Bennett, British Columbia, in Canada. It was a major access route from the coast to Yukon goldfields in the late 1890s. The trail became obsolete in 1899 when a railway was built from Dyea's neighbor port Skagway along the parallel White Pass trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chilkoot Pass</span> Mountain pass in British Columbia and Alaska

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Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is a national historical park operated by the National Park Service that seeks to commemorate the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. Though the gold fields that were the ultimate goal of the stampeders lay in the Yukon Territory, the park comprises staging areas for the trek there and the routes leading in its direction. There are four units, including three in Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska and a fourth in the Pioneer Square National Historic District in Seattle, Washington.

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The Skagway Historic District and White Pass is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing a significant portion of the area within the United States associated with the Klondike Gold Rush. It includes the historic portion of Skagway, Alaska, including the entire road grid of the 1897 town, as well as the entire valley on the United States side of White Pass all the way to the Canada–US border. This area includes surviving fragments of three historic routes used during the Gold Rush, as well as the route of the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. Almost 100 buildings remain from the Gold Rush period. Portions of the district are preserved as part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric A. Hegg</span> Swedish-American photographer (1867–1947)

Eric A. Hegg was a Swedish-American photographer who portrayed the people in Skagway, Bennett and Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush from 1897 to 1901. Hegg himself participated in prospecting expeditions with his brother and fellow Swedes while documenting the daily life and hardships of the gold diggers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Trump</span> German businessman (1869–1918)

Frederick Trump was a German-American businessman. He was the patriarch of the Trump family and the paternal grandfather of Donald Trump, the 45th president and current president-elect of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindeman Creek</span> River in British Columbia, Canada

Lindeman Creek, formerly known as One Mile River connects Bennett Lake to Lindeman Lake, areas on the Chilkoot Trail in far northwestern British Columbia, Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 "Bennett". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada . Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  2. "Campground Guide". Hiking the Chilkoot Trail. Parks Canada. Retrieved 2016-10-28.
  3. 1 2 Markusoff, Jason (October 13, 2016). "Inside the wild Canadian past of the Trump family". Maclean's.
  4. 1 2 3 Pearson, Natalie Obiko (2016-10-26). "Trump's Family Fortune Originated in a Canadian Gold-Rush Brothel". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  5. "Donald Trump's ancestral brothel gets a new lease on life - Macleans.ca".
  6. "Donald Trump's grandfather ran Canadian brothel during gold rush, author says".