Why tens of thousands of people tried to cross these Alaska mountains on foot before the railroad came

It’s called the Scenic Railway of the World

Skagway, Alaska, sits at the end of a long fjord where cruise ships dock and mountains close in from every direction.

From the port, you can see the railroad depot a short walk away, and beyond it, the cliffs where the tracks disappear into the clouds.

The White Pass and Yukon Route Railway has been running up those mountains since 1900, and the story of how it got there, and why tens of thousands of desperate people tried to cross on foot before that, is one of the wildest in American history.

Gold changed everything in 1896

In 1896, George Carmack and two First Nations companions, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie, found gold along Bonanza Creek in the Canadian Klondike.

Word spread fast, and tens of thousands of people headed north.

The most direct route from the coast into Canada crossed the mountains from Skagway or the nearby town of Dyea, over the White Pass or the Chilkoot Pass.

Canadian authorities required every person crossing into Canada to carry about one ton of supplies, and that weight had to come from somewhere.

35,000 workers blasted a railroad through solid rock

Construction on the railway started in May 1898, just two years after the gold discovery. About 35,000 workers built 110 miles of track from Skagway to Whitehorse, Yukon, in roughly 26 months.

They did it with hand tools, black powder, and timber sourced from the region. Workers hung from cliff faces on ropes to drill into rock.

Temperatures dropped to 60 below zero.

British money, American engineering, and Canadian contractors combined to drive the last spike on July 29, 1900, at Carcross, Yukon.

The grades here would stop most trains cold

The railroad runs on a 3-foot narrow gauge, with rails set on a 10-foot-wide roadbed carved into mountain faces.

The tracks reach grades as steep as 3.9 percent, which ranks among the steepest of any railroad in existence. Two tunnels cut straight through the mountains, and bridges and trestles span the gaps between cliffs.

The steel cantilever bridge, finished in 1901, was once the tallest of its kind in the world. Going narrow gauge made tighter curves possible, which was the only way this route could work.

Dead Horse Gulch tells the darkest part of the story

Dead Horse Gulch sits along the route and takes its name from the pack animals that died on the trail during the gold rush. You can see the original footpath from the train window in several places.

That path is the Trail of ’98, the historic route stampeders walked carrying their ton of supplies toward the gold fields.

Bridal Veil Falls drops down the mountainside nearby, and has drawn attention since the railway first opened.

Black Cross Rock marks where two workers and their mules died under a 500-ton boulder during construction in 1898.

Inspiration Point stops the whole train for good reason

Inspiration Point puts the full scale of the journey in front of you.

From here, you can see the Skagway harbor far below, the jagged line of the Sawtooth Range, and the glacier-carved cliffs that hem in the valley on both sides. It draws more cameras than any other stop on the route.

Above it, the White Pass Summit sits at roughly 2,865 feet and marks the line between the United States and Canada.

A monument at the summit stands where the North West Mounted Police once checked each stampeder for enough supplies to survive the crossing.

Step inside a restored parlor car from another century

The railway runs a fleet of 70 restored and replica parlor cars, each named after a lake or river in the Yukon.

Large windows run the length of each car, and open-air platforms at both ends let you step outside while the train moves.

Steam Engine No. 73, a Baldwin Mikado built in 1947, still pulls excursions and remains the flagship of the fleet.

The railway also runs rare “shovelnose” diesel-electric locomotives that General Electric built in the 1950s and 1960s. Both types pull you through the same impossible terrain that broke thousands of gold seekers.

The White Pass Summit Excursion is the most popular trip

The round trip to the White Pass Summit covers 40 miles and takes about three hours.

You climb from sea level to nearly 2,900 feet, pass every major landmark on the route, and return to Skagway the same way you went up.

No passport is needed because the excursion stops at the summit without crossing into Canada.

Multiple departures run each day during the season, which generally runs from late April or early May through mid-October. Morning trains tend to catch softer light on the cliffs and draw fewer passengers.

Cross into Canada on the Bennett Scenic Journey

The Bennett Scenic Journey runs 67.5 miles from Skagway to Carcross, Yukon, with one leg by train and the return by motor coach.

Along the way, the train stops at Bennett, British Columbia, a place where stampeders camped by the thousands while waiting out the winter before pushing on to the Klondike. Bennett Station has no road access.

The only ways in are the train and the Chilkoot Trail, which hikers still walk today. A boxed lunch comes with the journey, and you’ll need a passport for anything that crosses into Canada.

The U.S. Army took it over during World War II

When the United States began building the 1,520-mile Alaska Highway in 1942, the White Pass and Yukon Route became essential.

The Army leased the railroad that October, and the 770th Railway Operating Battalion took the controls.

In the first nine months of 1942 alone, the railway moved more than 67,000 tons of cargo, more than double its entire prewar annual haul.

Whitehorse, the railway’s northern terminus, served as headquarters for Alaska Highway construction. After the war, the line returned to civilian freight service and kept running until 1982.

A collapse in metal prices shut it all down

In 1982, world metal prices collapsed. The mines in Yukon shut down, and with them, the railway lost its reason to run.

After six years sitting silent, the line reopened in 1988 as a seasonal tourist railroad, timed to the growing Alaska cruise industry. In its first year back, it carried 35,000 passengers.

The numbers climbed from there, and today the White Pass and Yukon Route ranks as North America’s busiest tourist railroad, carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers each season.

Skagway holds a Gold Rush town frozen in time

Skagway draws cruise ships to its dock, and the railway depot sits just a short walk from where they tie up.

A large section of town falls inside the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, managed by the National Park Service, which has preserved 15 buildings in the historic district including saloons, shops, and the original railway depot.

You can walk past Jeff. Smith’s Parlor, the base of operations for con man Soapy Smith, who ran Skagway’s criminal underworld until a shootout ended his career in 1898. Park rangers lead guided walks through the summer.

Plan your trip to Skagway, Alaska

You can reach Skagway by cruise ship, the Alaska Marine Highway ferry, car via the Klondike Highway, or small plane from Juneau.

The White Pass and Yukon Route Railway depot sits at 201 2nd Ave, right at the edge of the historic district. The ticket office opens at 7:15 a.m. daily during the season.

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitor Center at 291 Broadway opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m. Entry to the park is free.

Book train excursions in advance through the official website, especially if you’re visiting during peak cruise season.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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