The Klondike Gold Rush created the greatest mass movement of men, women and supplies in modern peacetime history. In the beginning, however, the transportation facilities available were totally inadequate to cope with this human assault.
Of the six trails that led into the Yukon interior during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898 the most popular by far were the Chilkoot Pass based on Dyea and the White Pass based on Skagway – both cities being principal Alaska Panhandle gateways to the Canadian Klondike.
By the time gold rush stampeders had moved their ton of supplies by five mile relays from tidewater to Lake Bennett, some forty miles inland, it is estimated that they had walked some two thousand five-hundred miles.
| From the Margaret and Rolf Hougen collection of Hamacher photos – on display at the Yukon Transportation Museum. |
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