Whitehorse, Yukon

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From Juneau, we took an Alaska ferry to Skagway. The passenger and automobile carrying ferry traversed the Lynn Canal and the Taiya Inlet. The Lynn Canal is actually a fjord some 90 miles (140 km) in length and one of the world's deepest. Skagway was full of reminders of the Klondike Gold Rush era, only 60 years before. We stayed at the Golden North Hotel, built in 1898. It was authentic, with creaking wooden floorboards and large room doors. The rooms were undoubtedly as they had been, except for newer furniture.

At Skagway, we boarded a White Pass & Yukon (WP&Y) train for Whitehorse. The locomotives were newer diesels, but the wooden coaches original to the Klondike period. A lunch stop was made at Bennett. The 110 mile (177 km) narrow gauge railway was built in 1901 following the course of the Yukon River. It is naturally a very scenic route, popular as a tourist ride but also in 1962 still a means of passenger and freight transportation. Arriving at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, the group took a cruise on the Yukon River. There was also time to inspect a group of Yukon riverboats beached at Whitehorse. The wooden steamboats were relics of the Klondike era! (WP&Y had discontinued river steamboat service in 1955.) Earlier at Carcross, Yukon, a WP&Y steam locomotive was on display. A vintage riverboat was still in operation at Carcross on Lake Bennett.

Next stop, Fairbanks, via a Pan American DC-6B flight.

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Photos

White Pass & Yukon Station
White Pass & Yukon station, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Built in 1905. 1109 First Avenue.
White Pass and Yukon Route Railway Depot. Canadian Register of Historic Places.
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White Pass & Yukon
Postcard of a White Pass & Yukon excursion train.
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WP&Y Duchess
The Duchess, a Baldwin 0-6-0T tank engine built in 1878. An early locomotive of the White Pass & Yukon displayed at Carcross, Yukon. Behind it is a Yukon River steamboat on Lake Bennett.
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Yukon River Steamboats
White Pass & Yukon riverboats Casca and Whitehorse laid up at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, in 1962. The wooden steamboats were used on the Yukon River until 1951-1953. Casca III was built in 1937 and Whitehorse in 1901. The White Pass & Yukon Railroad operated the steamboats to extend service from Whitehorse along the Yukon River.
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Yukon River
M/V Schwatka sightseeing boat on the Yukon River.
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Lynn Canal
Sailing on the Lynn Canal between Juneau and Whitehorse.
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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Whitehorse
I long to visit the Yukon. Hopefully, soon.

[AndrewHL]

Yukon
You must ride the White Pass & Yukon out of Skagway.