During the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century, it was used by prospectors and packers to get through the mountains. During the gold rush, three aerial tramways and several surface hoists were constructed and operated briefly over the pass. When the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad was built in neighboring White Pass, the Chilkoot Pass route fell out of favor with miners.
The Klondike Gold rush had begun on August 16, 1896, on Bonanza Creek. This was located near Dawson, and 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of the Alaskan border.[2] The Chilkoot Trail is reported to have spanned between 28 and 33 miles (45 and 53km) from sea level at Dyea, Alaska to Lake Bennett, British Columbia, elevation 2602 ft. (642 m.).[3][4][5] The Chilkoot Pass was an important milestone which travellers had to conquer in order to reach the Klondike. The travellers were called 'stampeders,' and some had earlier sought the riches of the 1889 gold rush in Alaska.
To be allowed to enter the Klondike and take part in the gold rush, Canadian officials required that stampeders take one ton of goods with them, to try to ensure they were prepared to survive on the frontier.[6] This was broken down into a year's supply of food, which was half of the weight, as well as another 1,000 pounds (450kg) of equipment.[6] The supplies and food requirements were broken down into two lists.[7] The clothing items included: a waterproof blanket, 6 pairs of wool socks, 2 flannel over shirts, and a medicine chest. The list continues with the essential clothing needed. Some of the supplies required included: rolled oats, flour, salt, and bacon. The weight ranged from 20to 400 pounds (10–180kg) for one ingredient. This list was taken very seriously, as there was rarely a return journey after the Klondike was reached.
Park officials still require travellers to make preparation for hiking in this area. But in 1995, the list for travelling the Trail and Pass was very different, as the technologies allowed for a much smaller supply list. In addition, more creature comforts were available, such as a lightweight camp stove.[7]
No traveller could take his supplies across the pass at once, so several trips had to be made in order to transport all needed goods to the destination. Quite often the supplies had to be carried by hand in 50-60 pound packs, as the passes proved to be too narrow for wagons or draft animals.[8] The travel was slow and what would have taken a few hours in another environment required days to complete.[6] It is estimated that for every mile their supplies moved, the travelers had to walk 80 miles to get it there.[8]
Only the wealthiest of stampeders could afford to hire labour to transport their supplies. Most stampeders had to carry their own.[8] The professional packers of the time mainly consisted of Alaska Natives and First Nations people (Indians), who charged 1 cent per pound they carried. Working the market, the packers quickly moved to new customers if there was a hint of more money to be offered by someone else.[9] The packing fees charged by professional packers were subject to change as the weather changed. Ground conditions could make the packing much more difficult, and muddier ground conditions were harder to traverse as compared to frozen, snow-covered ground.[3]
The Pass
The Golden Stairs (left), Peterson Pass (right), the Scales (bottom)
The Chilkoot trail rose 900 feet (270m) to the base of the Chilkoot Pass to an area called the Scales. This was a rough rock-strewn area and was named because it was the last place where travelers could have their packs reweighed, and adjustments could be made to their payments. The Scales was also used as a place where travelers could store their provisions and supplies while going to lower levels to get the remainder, before continuing on their journey up the Pass. After the Scales, the ground rose about 500to 600 feet (150–180m) over a distance of approximately 1⁄2 mile (800m). The trail was covered with giant, sharp slabs of rock, which made the footing treacherous and often induced crawling during the summer months.[9]
In the winter, workers cut the ice into 1500 steps, which came to be known as the 'Golden Stairs'. The steps were too narrow for more than one person to climb up at a time, so the trek was limited to a single-file line up the mountain, as shown in the photo for this article.[8] The workers who had carved steps into the ice of Chilkoot Pass also charged travelers to ascend the mountain, as the travelers had to use their stairs.[3]
Ropes were lowered along the trail to help the travelers balance and continue up the slippery slopes. After 1897 a tramway was built so that wealthy travelers could ease their last 600 feet (180m) up the Pass. The tramway was powered by two horses, and it cost 1+1⁄2 cents per pound (3.3¢/kg) to hire. Historians have estimated the builder of the tramway was making $150 per day by his development. On the other side of the Pass was Emerald Lake. To travel down the mountain, the travelers faced a descent of 1,300 feet (400m) over the horizontal distance of approximately nine miles (14km). The crest through the mountain and the path down it were often filled with snow all year round, making the trek more difficult.[9]
Environment
There was a high risk of avalanche along the Chilkoot Pass, as snow storms were frequent and the snow could give way and speed down the summit. The wet and heavy snow of the avalanches could kill 50 to 100 men at a time.[3] Travelers persisted in using the high-risk pass the most because it was the least expensive route, as well as the shortest route, for transporting their supplies.[10]
The weather through the Pass was unpredictable and visibility could drop to a few feet. Travelers became soaked from rain and sweat from their physical exertion; the sun's reflection against the snow could burn their skin and almost blind them.[9] The price of provisions took a discernible downturn, as many men who had packed their year's worth of provisions to White Pass (an alternative route), had decided to turn back and sold their provisions to anyone who chose to ascend the Passes. The price of horses had increased to approximately $200 an animal at the trip's beginning.[9]
North-West Mounted Police
Border crossing at the top of the Chilkoot Pass
At both the Chilkoot Pass and the White Pass, members of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) were assigned to collect custom duties on the supplies brought into Canada.[11] These officers were also used to protect supplies.[12] As noted above, when stampeders traveled by the Chilkoot Pass, they had to leave some of their provisions at each end of the pass during the journey, as they could not manage transporting them all at once. To protect the supplies, a large detachment of the North-West Mounted Police was stationed there to ensure the proper wares went to the proper traveler. The police also ensured that the rule of 1 ton of goods per person was enforced.[11]
Tensions arose between the NWMP and the Americans related to disputes about where the international borders were located. After several disputes between the governments, they decided to keep the international boundary at the Chilkoot and the White Passes.[11] The NWMP had already built custom houses at both passes prior to the dispute being settled. Canada also used its militia, called the Yukon Field Force, to help the NWMP with guarding prisoners and protecting gold shipments.[12] The NWMP also regulated the whisky trade along the trails.[6]
The police had wanted to build a port of entry at the summits of both the Chilkoot Pass and the White Pass. This was to secure the border between Canada and the United States at these points. The endeavor would cost a small fortune, as the wood had to be taken up the tramway, and they had to bribe any offended packers. They wanted to avoid any delay in getting a cabin on the Chilkoot Pass summit.[9] But, the cabin was not constructed well and the high winds of the Chilkoot Pass drove snow into it. As the snow melted, the interior became wet, creating mould; living conditions were so poor that blankets and bedding would not dry. The collection of custom duties on the summit of Chilkoot Pass began on February 26, 1898.[9] The role was transferred to customs officers when an office opened that June but closed in September 1900 on the building of the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.[13]
Women on the Trails
With rumors of some successes, both men and women viewed the Gold Rush as a chance to make a fortune and break out of poverty.[4] Based on steam ship passenger lists, historians estimate that approximately 1500 women made the trek through the Chilkoot and White trails. This represented seven percent of all the travelers between December 1898 and September 1900.[4] At the beginning of the gold rush stampede, only a few hundred non-native women participated.[4] Some of these women were wives of the stampeders, while others had traveled in order to gain employment as clerks, teachers, cooks, nurses, and prostitutes. Camp Lindeman was reported to have a woman doctor.[14]
Women's clothing of the time made their journeys through the trails and across the passes even more difficult. The long, full skirts were ill-suited for any physical labour, and were often made with five yards (or more) of material, making them very heavy and cumbersome. Having to wear corsets and petticoats further limited women's mobility. The high collars required women to hold their heads high and, depending on the outfit, tilt their heads back. During this period, a women's movement had formed to allow women more freedom in the way they dressed. The rigors of the trail meant that many women abandoned conventional clothing and began to wear bloomers or knickers. These long, full pants were gathered at the ankle or just below the knees. Women shortened their skirts over the bloomers, generally to knee length. This was considered controversial by many men, but was more acceptable than if the women had not worn skirts. Some of the women who traveled to the Klondike had left their children behind, as few were willing to subject their children to the dangers of the trails and passes.[4]
Alternate route
The trail from Skagway, Alaska to White Pass and Lake Lindeman was an alternative, but the trail was subject to outlaws. Soapy Smith and his gang centered in the port makeshift town of Skagway below the Pass were conniving and murderous thieves—if they couldn't cheat someone out of their belongings or money, they would steal valuables, and killing those that got in their way was common. The White Pass became more narrow and difficult to travel than as first presented to stampeders. Dynamite from a site above the trail caused a massive block to fall on the Dunns [their first names may have been Elizabeth and Michael], a married pair traveling with their horses. The block buried them and their horses and remains there to this day on the trail, adorned with a black Christian cross, now known as Black Cross Rock. This pass became too narrow for wagons, but men still tried to use horses along the trail. Many had little or no experience working with animals and drove the horses to death. The men would either shoot the horses or, if the horse fell and could not get up, they would just pull its horseshoes and go off, leaving the animal to die in the mud and snow.[8] This was a common occurrence on White Pass along a stretch that was dubbed Dead Horse Trail. The men traveled back down to the beach again and purchased more horses to replace the ones that died on this trail.[8]
Most of the horses that died on the White Pass trail gave out or were killed within a two-mile (three-kilometer) stretch of slope.[3] By 1897, 3200 pack horses had died on White Pass trail, and their bodies were left there. The bodies of the horses were often used as footing for other pack horses making their way through the trail. The horses that had fallen were not always dead, and suffered more under the hooves of others.[9]
When the horses could not work anymore, or were of no further use along the Chilkoot Trail, the animals were turned loose without feed. Many animals were left at the base of Chilkoot Pass at Sheep Camp. Most of the animals became sick and starved as they staggered through the camps trying to find food. The horses were no longer useful and had lost their value.[3]
Malnutrition was a large problem for the travelers on the Chilkoot and White Pass Trails, and many died from it.[15] Sometimes people suffering from malnutrition ate the bodies of the dead horses left on the White Pass Trail, and became violently ill as a result. It was rumoured that a traveler had used his boots as a source of food by boiling them and drinking the broth after so he could eat something.[15] Physical illness was not the only problem to plague the travelers, as many also went insane from the conditions along the trails. Historians have suggested that the high rate of mental problems recounted were caused by the poor diets of many travelers, added to what may have been poor condition before starting the trails. In addition, along the trail the only shelter against the sometimes -40 degree temperatures were thin tents.[15]
In culture
"Take the oath again, Daylight," the same voice cried. "I sure will. I first come over Chilkoot in '83. I went out over the Pass in a fall blizzard, with a rag of a shirt and a cup of raw flour. I got my grub-stake in Juneau that winter, and in the spring I went over the Pass once more. And once more the famine drew me out. Next spring I went in again, and I swore then that I'd never come out till I made my stake. Well, I ain't made it, and here I am. And I ain't going out now. I get the mail and I come right back. I won't stop the night at Dyea. I'll hit up Chilkoot soon as I change the dogs and get the mail and grub. And so I swear once more, by the mill-tails of hell and the head of John the Baptist, I'll never hit for the Outside till I make my pile. And I tell you-all, here and now, it's got to be an almighty big pile."
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.
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.
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.
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.
Chilkoot or The Chilkoot or variation may refer to:
Bennett Lake is a lake in the Province of British Columbia and Yukon Territory in northwestern Canada, at an elevation of 642 m (2,106 ft). It is just north of the border with the United States state of Alaska, near the Alaskan port of Skagway.
Bennett, British Columbia, Canada, is an abandoned town next to Bennett Lake and along Lindeman Creek. The townsite is now part of the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada and is managed by Parks Canada. Bennett is also a stop on the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad during the summer months.
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 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 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.
Keish, also known as James Mason and by the nickname Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born near Bennett Lake, on what is now the Yukon–British Columbia border. He lived in Caribou Crossing, now Carcross, Yukon.
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.
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.
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.
Canyon City is a Klondike Gold Rush ghost town and a Yukon Government Heritage Site. It is located about 7 km from downtown Whitehorse, Yukon at the upstream end of Miles Canyon on the Yukon River. Summer tours are encouraged.
The Yukon Trail is a 1994 educational computer game from the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC), similar to their previous Oregon Trail series but set during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century. Players start out in Seattle and must make decisions concerning supplies, a partner, and travel plans as they head to Alaska before boating down a river to Dawson City and staking a claim to mine for gold. The game features the famous author Jack London and authentic 19th-century photographs that show what life was like back then.
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.
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.
The history of the North-West Mounted Police in the Canadian north describes the activities of the North-West Mounted Police in the North-West Territories at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th. The mounted police had been established to control the prairies along the Canadian-United States border in 1873, but were then also deployed to control the Yukon region during the Klondike Gold Rush, and subsequently expanded their operations into the Hudson Bay area and the far north. The force was amalgamated in 1920 to form part of the new Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who continued their predecessors' work across the region.
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.
↑ Encyclopedia of American History (Sixthed.). Harper & Row. 1982. ISBN0-06-181605-1.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Morse, K. (2003). The Nature of Gold: An Environmental History of the Klondike Gold Rush. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN0-295-98329-9.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Friesen, R. The Chilkoot Pass and the Great Gold Rush of 1898, Ottawa: National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Environment Canada, 1981.
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