Bennett Lake is a lake that sits partly in the Province of British Columbia and partly in Yukon, both located in northwestern Canada. It is just north of the border with the United States state of Alaska, near the Alaskan port of Skagway.
The narrow-gauge White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad connects Bennett, British Columbia at the south end of the lake with Skagway further south and Whitehorse, Yukon on the north. It runs between Skagway and Fraser, British Columbia during the summer months.
The abandoned town of Bennett, British Columbia, historically usually referred to as Lake Bennett or Bennett Lake and the town of Carcross, Yukon are on the shores of Bennett Lake.
During the Klondike Gold Rush, Bennett Lake was where the gold-seekers who had crossed the Coast Mountains from Skagway or Dyea, carrying their goods over the Chilkoot Trail or the White Pass, purchased or built rafts to float down the Yukon River to the gold fields at Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. A large tent city sprang up on its shores, numbering in the thousands and offering all the services of a major city. In late May 1898, the North-West Mounted Police counted 778 boats under construction at Lindeman Lake (located a difficult portage above Bennett Lake), 850 in Bennett and the surrounding area, and another 198 at Caribou Crossing (now Carcross) and Tagish Lake to help transport thousands of goldfield-bound travellers. It was further estimated that another 1,200 boats were built in these areas over the next few weeks.
Read more about Bennett Lake: Name Origin
Famous quotes containing the words bennett and/or lake:
“He said “Next time can I bring my friend?”
And I thought “Does he mean friend?”
And I thought “Yes he does mean friend.”
Which was quite bold in those days.
It was the Dark Ages. Men and men.
And they could still put you in prison for it.
And did, dear.”
—Alan Bennett (b. 1934)
“Such were the first rude beginnings of a town. They spoke of the practicability of a winter road to the Moosehead Carry, which would not cost much, and would connect them with steam and staging and all the busy world. I almost doubted if the lake would be there,—the self-same lake,—preserve its form and identity, when the shores should be cleared and settled; as if these lakes and streams which explorers report never awaited the advent of the citizen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)