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The real story of White Pass is the incredible hardships
of the gold seekers of 1896-1897 who chose to travel to the newest gold
rush via Skagway. To satisfy a rather reasonable Canadian policy, each
miner had to bring in 2000 pounds of supplies - this to try to assure
survival in the gold fields. The trail up White Pass was a narrow and
unsure trail - again and again horses slid off the trail and ended up
dead in the gulch below - horse skulls and bones can still be seen there.
Or a man could try to carry all his provisions up the 20 mile, 3000
foot pass 200 pounds at a time: 10 round trips. First an enterprising
soul established a "toll road" - an improved path at least.
Then the railroad was built in the third year of the gold rush activity
and provided a safe passage, but guess what? The gold fields were played
out by then. The railroad survived by servicing the logging camps and
the few hard rock mines that struggled for profit, before finally closing
down, to reopen primarily as a tourist train.
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