Bennett, British Columbia

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Bennett
Ghost town
Bennett Railway station 2011.jpg
Bennett railway station
Canada British Columbia location map 2.svg
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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 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]

Related Research Articles

Skagway, Alaska Consolidated city-borough in Alaska, United States

The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a first-class borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with more than 1,000,000 visitors each year. Incorporated as a borough on June 25, 2007, it was previously a city in the Skagway-Yakutat-Angoon Census Area. The most populated community is the census-designated place of Skagway.

Klondike Gold Rush Migration by prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon, Canada from 1896 to 1899

The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899. Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs.

White Pass and Yukon Route

The White Pass and Yukon Route is a Canadian and U.S. Class III 3 ft narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other railroad. Equipment, freight and passengers are ferried by ship through the Port of Skagway, and via road through a few of the stops along its route.

District of Alaska Governmental designation for Alaska from 1884-1912

The District of Alaska was the federal government’s designation for Alaska from May 17, 1884 to August 24, 1912, when it became Alaska Territory. Previously (1867–1884) it had been known as the Department of Alaska, a military designation.

Chilkoot Trail Long-distance hiking trail in Canada and the United States

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.

Chilkoot Pass Mountain pass in British Columbia and Alaska

Chilkoot Pass is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett Lake, British Columbia. The Chilkoot Trail was long a route used by the Tlingit for trade.

Bennett Lake

Bennett Lake is a lake in the Province of British Columbia and Yukon Territory in northwestern Canada. It is just north of the border with the United States state of Alaska, near the Alaskan port of Skagway.

White Pass

White Pass, also known as the Dead Horse Trail, is a mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains on the border of the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia, Canada. It leads from Skagway, Alaska, to the chain of lakes at the headwaters of the Yukon River, Crater Lake, Lake Lindeman, and Bennett Lake.

Dyea, Alaska Ghost town in Alaska, United States

Dyea is a former town in the U.S. state of Alaska. A few people live on individual small homesteads in the valley; however, it is largely abandoned. It is located at the convergence of the Taiya River and Taiya Inlet on the south side of the Chilkoot Pass within the limits of the Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska. During the Klondike Gold Rush prospectors disembarked at its port and used the Chilkoot Trail, a Tlingit trade route over the Coast Mountains, to begin their journey to the gold fields around Dawson City, Yukon, about 800 km (500 mi) away. Confidence man and crime boss Soapy Smith, famous for his underworld control of the neighboring town of Skagway in 1897–98 is believed to have had control of Dyea as well.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Four US sites commemorate prospector migrant routes to Yukon Territory, Canada, 1896–99

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.

Teslin River

The Teslin River is a river in southern Yukon Territory and northwestern British Columbia, Canada, that flows 632 kilometres (393 mi) from its source south of Teslin Lake to its confluence with the Yukon River.

Taiya River

The Taiya River is a 17-mile-long (27 km) river in the U.S. state of Alaska running from the border with British Columbia, Canada, to the Taiya Inlet of upper Lynn Canal.

Chilkoot Trail tramways Arial trams

The Chilkoot Trail tramways were aerial tramways that played a significant role in the Klondike Gold Rush and the Chilkoot Trail as a transportation system to move prospectors and equipment towards the Dawson City/Klondike gold fields.

Tagish Highland Landform of the western coast of North America

The Tagish Highland is an upland area on the inland side of the northernmost Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains, spanning far northwestern British Columbia from Atlin Lake to the area of the pass at Champagne, Yukon between the Alsek and Yukon Rivers. In some classification systems, and in local terminology, the Tagish Highland is considered to be part of the Boundary Ranges, as is the neighbouring Tahltan Highland to its south. As classified by the Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia per S. Holland, the Tagish Highland is part of the system unofficially described as the Interior Mountains.

Skagway Historic District and White Pass United States historic place

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.

Lindeman Lake (Chilkoot Trail)

Lindeman Lake, also known as Lake Lindeman, is a lake on the Chilkoot Trail in far northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is just south of Bennett Lake and northeast of the summit of the Chilkoot Pass. From the direction of the pass it is fed by Lindeman Creek, which connects the two lakes. Lake Lindeman and Lake Bennett were key components of the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush, with both seeing hundreds of vessels built to transit their waters and camp-town "tent cities" established on their shores. Lindeman was located at the south end of Lindeman Lake, while Bennett, often known as Bennett City, was at the south end of Lake Bennett.

Steamboats of the Stikine River

Steamboats operated on the Stikine River in response to gold finds in along that river and in the Cassiar Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada.

Eric A. Hegg 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.

Frederick Trump German-born American businessman; paternal grandfather of the 45th president of the United States

Frederick Trump was a German–American barber, businessman, and patriarch of the Trump family.

Lindeman Creek

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".