Whitehorse sits in the valley along the west shore of the Yukon River with the hills rising up on both sides. The river's water is deep green and fast flowing. We went on several hikes along the river and one was with two guides, university students. The two hour hike turned into 21/2 hours it was so interresting. We were told about the hopefulls who had pulled their packs of about two tons each from Skagway where the boats had left them, through the Chilcoot Pass to the rapids at Whitehorse on their way to the gold fields. Many men lost their gear or their lives in the rapids at Whitehorse. One man who had lost his partner to the rapids stayed and built a tramway,(see picture). It was built from log tracks with steel cars and wheels brought in from Skagway.He charged 3cents per pound to take the loads around the rapids.There are still piles of rusty tin food cans where they were left over 100 years ago.
The Salmon fish ladder is the longest in the world. It allows the salmon to swim up above the dam which is 20m high. The dam was built in 1959 and it was soon realised that the millions of salmon at the time could not reach their spawning grounds above the dam. The ladder was built within two years. The salmon swim about 3,000miles up the Yukon River from the Bering Sea through Alaska and Yukon to spawn.
The Klondike paddle wheeler was built in 1929 to deliver people and goods from Whitehorse to Dawson City. Today it is a National Horistic Museum.
The desert at Carcross was unique in the middle of the seemingly unending forest. Carcross is about 60km south of Whitehorse and is the end of the line for the narrow gauge train line which runs between Carcross and Skagway.
Some pictures near Carcross
The train station in Carcross
No comments:
Post a Comment