Monday, May 22, 2006

Down to Skagway

Below are pictures when Myriane came up to Yukon for the May long weekend. On Sunday, we finalized some issues with the house we are building, but on Saturday, we went down to Skagway, Alaska. The trip takes only a couple hours, over which time you pass through Yukon, BC and down into Skagway that is situated in a fjiord (Lynn Canal) in the Alaska Panhandle.

First, we took a train ride on the portion of rail between Skagway and Whitehorse that is still operable (narrow gauge track that was built during the gold rush era...around 1898). The track winds up the mountains to the White Pass. On the top is an old NW Mounted Police Station.

After the rail trip, we went over one bay into Dyea. This town once had 10 thousand residents (or so) in 1897 when the word of gold reached the outside world. Dyea is the location of the head of the Chilcoot trail that was used by gold seekers to get up to Bennet Lake (where Carcross is...see other post) that provided access to the Yukon River and onward to Dawson City. By 1898, the population plummeted to less than 500 when the Skagway railroad was completed). Today there is almost nothing left of this town except for the pilings from an short-lived wharf and a couple buildings.

We spotted a number of bald eagles (one young eagle is pictured below) and walked along the shoreline where prospectors disembarked from boats 109 years ago in brisk fashion--more or less told to jump off with possessions. Some would pay entrepeneurs a hefty sum to use lighter boats or skiffs to get to shore. Most probably couldn't afford the fare and struggled to get things ashore...dry or wet. From here things usually got worse...only a few hundred would really get rich. California Dreamin' might be okay, but in Alaska and Yukon dreaming big might be a really bad idea.