The events of August 16, 1896 were what eventually got me to visit Alaska. In 1896 a fellow named Skookum Jim Mason and his family – nephew Dawson Charlie, sister Kate Carmack and George Carmack found gold in Rabbit Creek (now Bonanza Creek) in the Klondike region of the Yukon in Canada. Over the next two years, about 100,000 people headed that way to search for gold.
Few of them made money finding gold. Many of them made money from the people looking for gold. Canada required would-be miners entering the country to carry a year’s worth of food. That and their supplies for mining came to something like 1,000 pounds. Shops sprang up in Skagway to provide the supplies for prospectors heading north.
In another scheme to make money off prospectors, George Brackett, a civil engineer that worked on the Northern Pacific Railroad built a toll road through the White Pass above Skagway. Travelers ignored the toll gates and the project was a financial failure.
The White Pass & Yukon Railroad Company bought Brackett out and on May 28, 1898 started construction of a 3-foot gauge (the distance between the rails, standard gauge is 4′ 8.5″) railroad from Skagway to the Yukon using much of Brackett’s road for their right-of-way. Riding in a heated coach with your supplies in the luggage car proved to be more popular than hiking up the hills to get to the Yukon.
That railroad survives today as a tourist line. They’ve restored one of their steam locomotives, number 73, a 2-8-2 Mikado type built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania in May 1947.
I’ve been tracking down and photographing the remaining operational steam locomotives since the late 1970s. Getting a chance to photograph no. 73 was always on my list.
Pete Lerro of Lerro Productions organized a charter where the railroad ran the steam engine for us to photograph. Pete is an outstanding photographer who is willing to put in all the advance work to get great photos. He runs a number of workshops every year with subjects ranging from steam locomotives to air-to-air shoots of WWII vintage aircraft to lighthouse and National Park trips. If you’ve got an interest in photography, check Pete’s page out. He always runs a good shoot and he’s got the right personality for working with groups of cranky photographers. But, be forewarned. Pete is serious about getting great shots and his workshops may not be for those with a casual interest. Expect long hours – on our second day, we departed at 6:30 am and after some night shots, the train returned about 11:00 p.m.
You can ride the White Pass & Yukon most days between late April and early October every year. Most trips are powered by diesel locomotives, but no. 73 does work on some regularly scheduled trains. It is worth the trip. You’ll ride through some absolutely amazing scenery.
The view from the train on the way from Skagway to White Pass. Another view from the train heading to White Pass.
One of the railroad’s regular excursions approaching the Canadian border.
And one of the regular excursions coming down the hill from White Pass. If you arrive by cruise ship, the train picks you up right on the dock.
On to our excursion. The first day dawned overcast. As we headed up – unless you leave Skagway by ship, you go up – towards Carcross, Yukon, we found the weather either wet or wetter in the valleys along the way. We were ever hopeful for blue skies. We never quite got them, but mostly avoided the rain on our stops.
Our first stop was Bennett, British Columbia, where the railroad station still stands. No. 73 is an impressive machine. She had a very sharp exhaust that was great to hear echoing off the mountains. She also proved to be very sure-footed. The grade up to White Pass hits 3.9% – the train has to climb almost four feet up for every 100 across – very steep for a railroad. Wet rails covered with leaves are an additional headache. Even when we made the engineer start the train going uphill, no. 73 slipped only a handful of times on our three days.
Bennett is on the shore of Lake Bennett. The scenery was beautiful. The first morning, I heard a loon call on the lake but couldn’t see him. Another shot along Lake Bennett. We were north of the railroad’s regular excursion trains, but had to get into a siding to let a work train pass. Even the diesels on the line are interesting. They’re unique – narrow track gauge and the harsh winters required designs just for the WP&Y.
We moved north to Pennington. That’s an old section house – where the railroad provided housing for the men that worked on that section of track.
After making it to Carcross and starting back south, we stopped to get some shots in the fall color. Then another shot along the shore of Lake Bennett.
Another shot in Pennington – and a hint of blue sky. And our last shot of the day, once again on the shore of Lake Bennett.
We headed back to Skagway for the night.
Our second day sort of dawned to very heavy overcast. The railroad didn’t have any regular excursion trains scheduled and we could work on the south end of the railroad without getting in the way. Our first stop of the day was the bridge over the East Fork of the Skagway River still in the Borough of Skagway. Our next stop was in aptly named Clifton, still in the Borough of Skagway. You can see the grade the tracks climb as the back of the train is much lower than the locomotive. The weather wasn’t in our favor. It was dark and foggy when we stopped to photograph the train crossing Dead Horse Gulch. The Gulch got the name during the gold rush. Rumor has it there are still bones from many of the horses prospectors used to haul material up the pass. We returned to Bennett and photographed the train passing the station going the other way. Another shot of the train passing the Bennett Station heading south, with Lake Bennett behind. Continuing south, we stopped to get shots crossing the Nicola River in Fraser, BC.
My last shot for the day was the iconic shot from the WP&Y with the train crossing a wooden trestle while coming out of a tunnel.
We returned to Skagway. More ambitious photographers grabbed some dinner and headed back out for some night shots. We wiser photographers went to bed.
Our last morning started brighter than the previous mornings. Which isn’t saying much…..
Number 73 had help from a diesel for much of our excursion. Partly to help keep our speed up as we climbed and partly to save water for no. 73. Our last morning started with 73 pacing the diesels that would assist for the morning. As we worked uphill, the sun broke out. This shot shows the diesels helping no. 73. Just ahead of no. 73 is a tank car with water. No. 73 was able to refill her tender from the tank car while the train was in motion. This save lots of time for photography.
The wooden trestle from the last of yesterday’s shots is behind us as no. 73 climbs up the side of the mountain. The fellows who built the railroad must have really, really wanted to put a railroad here. Another shot of no. 73 clinging to the side of the mountain. Here’s no. 73 coming out of the north end of the tunnel. We went as far as Fraser on our last day. The diesels helping our train have cut away. The locomotives from the work train encountered on our first day were in a siding. No. 73 pulled up to pose with them.
A big thank you to the crew that ran our trains. They were a professional bunch. All were very knowledgeable about the railroad and its history. And all seemed to love working for the railroad. No. 73 coming around the balloon track in Fraser – with blue sky! We’re south of Fraser, with blue skies and beautiful scenery. Number 73 reflecting in a small pond trackside.
And a shot at Summit Lake, just north of the international border. The summit is 2,865 feet above Skagway. The railroad takes just under 20 miles to make the climb.
Time was running out for us and we headed further south.
We arrived back at the trestle where we came out of the tunnel as the light was fading – and our schedule was tight to get back. We got off the steam train and climbed into the coaches behind the diesels. We rode around the canyon almost five miles to get this shot. We’re standing trackside to get this shot. And a tighter shot of no. 73 coming out of the tunnel and crossing the trestle. Number 73 and her train again clinging to the side of the mountain as she came down to catch up with her passengers.
We headed back to Skagway in time for several of the photographers to get to Whitehorse, Yukon to catch flights home.
Pete and his crew as well as everyone on the railroad did an outstanding job, we had a great time and came away with some great photos. If you get up to southeastern Alaska, a visit to Skagway to ride the railroad is worth the trip.
I’ll have one more post from my trip in a few days. Mostly some of the scenery along the way.
And, I’ll be at the Celebrate Vermont show at the Doubletree in Burlington November 21-23. More details in following posts.
A once in a lifetime feeling, thank you for giving us a glimpse of that towering landscape! Looks like a great challenge for the photographers so congratulations Ian!
Great story and images Ian!
Absolutely stunning set of images, Ian. What a great trip; and an amazing railway!
Thank you for the stunning photographs and narrative from your grand adventure.
A once in a lifetime feeling, thank you for giving us a glimpse of that towering landscape! Looks like a great challenge for the photographers so congratulations Ian!