White Pass and Yukon Route - Operations Before World War II

Operations Before World War II

White Pass and Yukon Route
Legend
MilePost NameNote1 Note2
? EOL
? ?
110.5 miles (177.8 km) Whitehorse, Yukon Depot.
6.0
104.5 miles (168.2 km) Wigan, Yukon Station
0.5
104.0 miles (167.4 km) MacRae, Yukon Station
4.1
99.9 miles (160.8 km) Dugdale, Yukon Station
4.8
95.1 miles (153.0 km) Cowley, Yukon Station
6.2
88.9 miles (143.1 km) Robinson, Yukon Station
4.9
84.0 miles (135.2 km) De Wette, Yukon Station
0.3
83.7 miles (134.7 km) Wette Lea, Yukon
2.1
81.6 miles (131.3 km) Minto, Yukon Station
2.2
79.4 miles (127.8 km) Lorne, Yukon Station
4.5
74.9 miles (120.5 km) Lansdowne, Yukon Station
? ?
? switch
? Loop
? switch
? ?
67.5 miles (108.6 km) Carcross Depot
? ?
Nares River Bridge
? ?
59.4 miles (95.6 km) Watson, Yukon Station
3.1
56.3 miles (90.6 km) Dundalk, Yukon Station
0.7
55.6 miles (89.5 km) PitSpur switch
3.0
52.6 miles (84.7 km) British Columbia-
Yukon border
1.0
51.6 miles (83.0 km) Pennington Station
2.3
49.3 miles (79.3 km) Graves,
British Columbia
Station
2.9
46.4 miles (74.7 km) Pavey Station
? ?
? switch
? Loop
? switch
? ?
40.6 miles (65.3 km) Bennett Depot
4.6


36.0 miles (57.9 km) Barry Station
3.0
33.0 miles (53.1 km) Log Cabin Station
? ?
Klondike Highway


? ?
? Bridge]
? ?
? switch
? Loop
? switch
? ?
27.7 miles (44.6 km) Fraser Station
3.3
24.4 miles (39.3 km) Meadow Station
? Summit
? switch
? Loop
20.4 miles (32.8 km) White PassAlaska,
US-British Columbia, Canada
Border
? Loop
? switch
? ?
20.0 miles (32.2 km) North end of realignment aka MP 19.5
0.3
19.2 miles (30.9 km) American Shed Station
? switch
18.9 miles (30.4 km) ? Tunnel
18.8 miles (30.3 km) ? Tunnel
18.7 miles (30.1 km) Switchback
(South end of realignment)
Switchback
18.6 miles (29.9 km) Steel cantilever bridge
? switch
? ?
17.5 miles (28.2 km) Dead Horse Gulch
0.6
16.9 miles (27.2 km) Inspiration Point Station
? ?
16.1 miles (25.9 km) Tunnel Mountain
tunnel
16 miles (26 km) Tunnel Mountain
tunnel
? ?
Glacier Gorge Bridge
? ?
14.1 miles (22.7 km) Glacier Station
1.1
13. miles (20.9 km) Skagway River Bridge
? ?
12.3 miles (19.8 km) Heney Station
? ?
11.5 miles (18.5 km) Bridal Veil Falls ?
? ?
10.2 miles (16.4 km) Black CrossRock Station
1.4
8.8 miles (14.2 km) BuchananRock ?
0.3
8.5 miles (13.7 km) Clifton Station
? ?
? Bridge
? ?
7.3 miles (11.7 km) Brackett Road
0.4
6.9 miles (11.1 km) Rocky Point Station
0.9
6 miles (9.7 km) Skagway RiverEast Fork Bridge
0.1
5.9 miles (9.5 km) Denver Station
0.8
5.1 miles (8.2 km) ? Bridge
0.3
5.0 miles (8.0 km) North end of realignments aka MP 4.8
0.3
4.5 miles (7.2 km) Boulder Station
2.0
2.5 miles (4.0 km) Bridge 2A Bridge
0.1
2.4 miles (3.9 km) Gold RushCemetery
? ?
? switch
? ?
2.3 miles (3.7 km) Shops Station
? ?
? switch
? ?
? switch
? Loop
? switch
? ?
Bridge
? ?
0.6 miles (0.97 km) Skagway Junction 2 switches,
pocket,
& diamond
0.6
0 miles (0 km) Skagway
(South end of realignments)
Depot
Broadway EOL
? switch
? switch
Long Siding Siding
Skagway Wharves EOL

As the gold rush wound down, serious professional mining was taking its place; not so much for gold as for other metals such as copper, silver and lead. The closest port was Skagway, and the only route there was via the White Pass & Yukon Route's river boats and railroad.

While ores and concentrates formed the bulk of the traffic, the railroad also carried passenger traffic, and other freight. There was, for a long time, no easier way into the Yukon Territory, and no other way into or out of Skagway except by sea.

Financing and route was in place to extend the rails from Whitehorse to Carmacks, but there was chaos in the river transportation service, resulting in a bottleneck. The White Pass instead used the money to purchase most of the riverboats, providing a steady and reliable transportation system between Whitehorse and Dawson City.

While the WP&YR never built between Whitehorse and Fort Selkirk, some minor expansion of the railway occurred after 1900. In 1901, the Taku Tram, a 2+1⁄2-mile (4 km) portage railroad was built at Taku City, British Columbia, which was operated until 1951. It carried passengers and freight between the S.S. Tutshi operating on Tagish Lake and the M.V. Tarahne operating across Atlin Lake to Atlin, British Columbia. (While the Tutshi was destroyed by a suspicious fire around 1990, the Tarahne was restored and hosts special dinners including murder mysteries. Lifeboats built for the Tutshi’s restoration were donated to the Tarahne.) The Taku Tram could not even turn around, and simply backed up on its westbound run. The locomotive used, the Duchess, is now in Carcross.

In 1910, the WP&YR operated a branch line to Pueblo, a mining area near Whitehorse. This branch line was abandoned in 1918; a haul-road follows that course today but is mostly barricaded; a Whitehorse Star editorial in the 1980s noted that this route would be an ideal alignment if the Alaska Highway should ever require a bypass reroute around Whitehorse.

By June 1914, the WP&YR had 11 locomotives, 15 passenger cars, and 233 freight cars operating on 110 miles (180 km) of trackage; generating $68,368 in passenger revenue and $257,981 in freight revenue; still a profitable operation as operating expenses were only $100,347. While all other railroads in the Yukon (such as the Klondike Mines Railway at Dawson City) had been abandoned by 1914, the WP&YR continued to operate.

During the Great Depression, traffic was sparse on the WP&YR, and for a time trains operated as infrequently as once a week.

Read more about this topic:  White Pass And Yukon Route

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