Wednesday, June 15

We are in Skagway today.  It is really warm outside, beautiful blue sky.  Steve is thinking he should be in shorts!!

Our excursion today is the White Pass Railroad and Klondike Highway.  The White Pass Railroad is an old Narrow Gauge railroad that was established to help the Gold Miners make the trek between Canada and Alaska.  We had beautiful scenery and a view of the old foot trail the miners used back in the day.  The Miners had to have 1000 pounds of supplies before Canada would let them enter so they made several 36 trips to and from Alaska with 50#'s of supplies on their backs or pack horses to get enough supplies so they could enter Canada. And then, I think they had travel 300 to 600 miles to the gold fields. I must say they were very trusting, leaving their supplies at the border and returning for more.  It was common that when they got back to their claim what they left behind would probably not be there when they got back.  Boy, those people were a lot tougher than we are. We ended our train ride in Fraser, Canada, boarded a bus and drove on the Klondike Highway back to Skagway.

In our travels the last few days we have found that most of the young adults working in the shops, driving the buses, etc., were recruited from college campuses from all over the world.  They come to Alaska for 4 months during the tourist season to work and then return to school in mid Sept or October.  One of the young guys said he will miss the fall semester because he won't be back in time, but will return for the winter semester.  I think about being 18 - 21 years of age in the 70s and there is no way I would have struck off on my own or with a friend to Alaska for 4 months.  I guess the kids are more adventuress than I was.

White Pass Railway

Original Trail from Alaska to Canada

Original Trail Bridge