THE CHILKOOT TRAIL

gray beards and striplings and women good men and bad man and bold leaving our homes and our loved ones crying exultantly down from the Northland they came grizzled dirty and uncarried something the world hungered gold good it was the time of the Great Depression jobs were scarce but when the Portland steamed into Seattle with its golden lure those who had jobs resigned in the hundreds and headed north for the Klondike the great Stampede was on George Washington Carmack Skookum gym and tagus Charlie had found the gold on the Klondike a tributary of the Yukon in 1896. getting there was difficult many roots were tried only two were widely used the sea route a 4 000 mile Journey via the Pacific the Bering Sea and the Yukon river or the land sea route through the Inside passage and the chill coat a trail two Indian tribes the chilcats and the chill Coots used to get to the interior both Roots were fraught with difficulty [Music] Seattle was like a place gone mad with people fighting to get passage on anything that would float some boats had space for 60 but their owners jammed 10 men into a cabin and took 600. foreign s never reached port and a prospector's dream of riches ended in a watery grave suddenly places the world had never heard of before were on everybody's lips and Skagway from Frontier towns like these Stampeders had to carry their heavy burdens over the Hazardous chilco Trail and the infamous White Pass that was like a hell on Earth [Music] three thousand horses died on the White Pass Trail and their bones still bleached the surface of dead horse Gulch [Music] at Dai the would-be sourdoughs had their first taste of the difficulty still to come each man had to get his own Goods ashore across the desolate tidal Flats foreign [Music] of gold shrieked the newspaper headlines but a man needed a ton of goods to get to the Klondike the goods had to be backpacked to a tiny notch in the mountains the chilakut pass it was a steep back-breaking climb some men looked up gave up and went home strong men wept on the chill coat [Music] little Remains of the Day the Stampeders knew for Nature has encroached upon the works of men with long tenacious fingers and zealously removed them but the trail is still there The Dauntless adventurers who traveled over it in Gold Rush days would have been surprised to know that one day people would think of it as the Klondike Gold Rush International Park in modern times hikers test their Endurance on the chill coat and learn why it earns such a prominent place in the history of two Nations [Music] the Indians called it the taia river but the white man corrupted the word and it became dahi the trail follows its course for the first half mile [Music] almost immediately The Traveler comes upon the remains of an Old Sawmill and learns that even sawdust can be preserved by the Whimsical hand of fate [Music] foreign [Music] Canyon City is as welcome a site today as it was to the sourdoughs struggling along with their heavy loads at the conveniently placed rest shelter Travelers can break their Journey visit the nearby ruins of the old town and get their first substantial glimpse of the chilcoat trail of yesteryear [Music] once Canyon City was a thriving bustling place with hotels restaurants and stores [Music] today the remains of an old steam boiler once used to power a Tramway that hoisted baggage to the summit of the pass and a sled remind us of a way of life long since forgotten [Applause] Beyond Canyon City the trail continues onwards and upwards [Music] foreign [Music] fungus and mushrooms are bound in the forest they're attractive to the eye but many are poisonous so are some types of berries the wild blueberries and cranberries however are delicious thank you foreign [Music] [Music] sheep Camp was the last stop on the way to the pass a place where the foot sore and weary could find room and board in rough lodging houses and prepare for the final assault on the summit [Music] in order to get his ton of goods over the pass a man had to make as many as 40 separate Journeys a walk of 900 miles men and women alike were motivated by the stirring slogan of the times Klondike or bust [Music] at sheep Camp there's another shelter the modern stampeder can stay at among the ruins and artifacts close by are several log cabins that once housed the gambling dens for which sheep Camp was famous [Music] [Music] the modern stampeder has but one pack to carry one Crossing to make but the hardships of the trail remain unchanged in the summertime however a profusion of wildflowers glad in the eye and refresh the mind [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] between the fall of 1897 and the spring of 1898 the chilcote pass was in constant use 22 000 Stampeders crossed the border into Canada and Yukon Territory in December 1897 an enterprising sourdough Archie Burns installed a tram for hoisting baggage to The Summit later a bigger and better system was devised by the chilcud railroad and transportation company the relics of these ingenious devices can still be seen today the exact location of the scales so called because the sourdoughs weighed their goods there is still in doubt the writings of the period contain many conflicting accounts but the anchor points at the summit can easily be identified so can some of the spam supports a few of the original span Timbers still stand [Music] in planning a route for the final Ascent the climber has to take many factors into consideration time of year weather condition of snow and visibility photographs taken by the Swedish photographer E A Hague in 1897 show long lines of men struggling up steps hacked in the snow according to the sourdoughs backpacking was easier in the winter the modern stampeder usually walks the trail during the summer months when most of the snow and ice have melted and scree slopes extend all the way to the summit foreign [Music] foreign more than 60 Stan Peters lost their lives in the Avalanche of 1898. their graves can still be seen in the slide Cemetery at Di my grandfather went to the Yukon in 1897. he never came back when I walked the chilakuda I tried to find some trace of him I didn't have much success but I guess he's there somewhere [Music] for the climber in distress the chill Coots can be a very lonely place but assistance is never far away the U.S national Park service and Parks Canada maintain Ranger patrols near the summit they're always ready to lend a hand in an emergency [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] in 1898 the summit was a hive of Industry until that time the boundary had been in dispute but the Northwest Mounted Police settled the matter by establishing a customs post at The Summit the mounties insisted that a man entering Canada must have a ton of supplies enough to support him for one year in the wilderness their foresight and vigilance saved many lives people carried some strange things over the past cats turkeys even a paddle steamer and a grand piano near the summit are the remains of unassembled canoes abandoned by their owners for the Stampeders The Descent was easier a fast rip down a well-worn sled run to the Frozen surface of Crater Lake foreign side of the trail is one of Timeless and breathtaking Beauty A wilderness world where glacial lakes and a trail of artifacts give rise to A continuing sense of wonder [Music] artifacts which are protected by the U.S national Park service and Parks Canada bear witness to the countless men and women who passed this way when the trail was still in use forty thousand reached Dawson City of these a thousand found gold but only a handful became rich [Music] foreign [Music] with so many rocks around few can resist the temptation to break One open and look for The Telltale Pay Dirt streak [Music] from Happy Camp where the Stampeders once stopped for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat the walking appears to be more leisury but the impact of loose Rock and Shale on tired feet remind us that long ago men died on this stretch of the chilku trail below deep lake an unknown river runs through Steep Canyon sided walls until it empties into Lake Lindeman [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Applause] [Music] at Lindemann there's a cabin where the weary traveler can rest and catch up on the laundry [Music] man was Trail's End for many who chased the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow a small graveyard looking out over the lakes and mountains recalls the words of Robert W service this is the law of a Yukon that Only the Strong shall thrive that surely the weak Shall Perish and only the fit survive the scenery at Lake Bennett is spectacular sheer Cliffs distant mountains and magnificent waterfalls Beyond are the Deep silences and vast Open Spaces of the wilderness [Music] the old church built by the sourdoughs still stands beside the lake an empty shell that was never completed it is being preserved so that the colorful history of the Gold Rush Trail will be available to those who use it for many years to come foreign like Lindemann Bennett was a lively tent community in 1898. the Stampeders rested built their boats and waited for the spring fall Lake Bennett was the point of embarkation for the Klondike gold fields the Indians knew it as Yuki but the white man misunderstood the word and called it the Yukon the word means the best of all Rivers but to the sourdoughs being swept Along on its Swift Current it was the worst River of all the canyon looks peaceful today the water level is much higher but in 1898 it was feared by all who had to face the forming dangers of its dreaded whirlpool [Music] for those who got through the end of the trail was Dawson City a noisy raucous bustling place prices were Sky High that first terrible winter when people starved in Dawson City a single turkey sold for 175 dollars most of the claims had gone by the time the sourdoughs arrived they either shipped straight out again or went to work for wages but the real money was made in Seattle smart Merchants sold Goods to the Prospectors and became rich without leaving home [Music] for the Prospectors consolation of A Sort was to be found in saloons like the magnet and the Golden Nugget and the Ladies God bless them brought love tenderness and compassion to tired and lonely men could one really forget snake hips Lulu Klondike Kate or the girl who had no name suddenly the Gold Rush was over and they drifted away in ones and twos to dig the speckled seashore in Nome Alaska chilco Trail was used no more foreign [Music] has long since disappeared Skagway is still a thriving Community it has changed since groups of con men lured unsuspecting Prospectors into Sophie Smith's Saloon but some of the old saloons like the mascot and the PAC train are still there [Music] the White Pass and Yukon Railway brought Skagway its continuing prosperity they started to build it in 1898 brute strength black powder and a man called Michael J Henney pushed the wp and yr through the mountains [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] the Wags called it the wait patiently and you ride Railway but when the rails reached Bennett in 1899 they stopped laughing but it was already too late the Gold Rush had ended long ago [Music] Bennett station is the last stop on the way out here tourists who travel to Lake Bennett on the White Pass in Yukon Railway rubbed shoulders were those who did it the hard way and the ones who walked to Bennett from daive will always remember the sore feet the calluses and the bruises they got from walking the most famous Trail in the world [Music] despair starvation scurvy and death these were all too frequently the rewards of the sourdoughs greed and a lust for adventure drew them to the Yukon but the Golden Trail eluded them some stayed and became Canadians others drifted away again but all left their imprints upon the land in doing so they achieved the glory all their own history may pass lightly over them but those who walked the chilku trail today will never forget that unusual breed of men and women who stormed the passes in 1898. one of the poor souls that perished little of them shall be said onto the Golden Valley pause not to bury the dead thank you