White Pass, also known as the Dead Horse Trail (elevation ), is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

through the

Boundary Ranges The Boundary Ranges, also known in the singular and as the Alaska Boundary Range, are the largest and most northerly subrange of the Coast Mountains. They begin at the Nass River, near the southern end of the Alaska Panhandle in the Canadian pro ...

of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains () are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the British Columbia Coast, Coast of British Columbia sout ...

on the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

and the province of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. It leads from

Skagway, Alaska The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with the large ...

, to the chain of lakes at the headwaters of the

Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...

(Crater Lake, Lake Lindeman, and

Bennett Lake Bennett Lake is a lake in the Province of British Columbia and Yukon Territory in northwestern Canada, at an elevation of . It is just north of the border with the United States state of Alaska, near the Alaskan port of Skagway. The lake has ...

History

The White Pass was closely controlled by the Chilkoot Indians and was unknown to non-natives until 1887. While in

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

, William Ogilvie had heard reports of a low pass near the Deyes Inlet to the headwaters of the Lewes River (

). The Ogilvie expedition was on its way to the Yukon territory in order to survey and mark the international boundary on the Yukon River. In June 1887, Ogilvie's expedition was at the head of

Taiya Inlet Taiya Inlet is part of the upper Lynn Canal located in the U.S. state of Alaska. Taiya Inlet is an estuary which lies in a deep valley, with Skagway, Alaska at its north end and the remainder of the Lynn Canal at its south end. History Taiya Inl ...

doing a survey from Pyramid Island up through the

Chilkoot Pass Chilkoot Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett ...

. William Moore, who had travelled up from Juneau on the steamer, had experience building roads in mountainous areas and wanted to try this route since the Chilkoot Pass was reported to be too steep for a wagon road. They had heard rumors about another lower pass that the Chilkoot Indians controlled. Ogilvie made inquiries and learned there was such a pass. An Indian named Jim, after much talk and encouragement, was persuaded to reveal it. Moore and his guide went over this low altitude pass. Ogilvie and his surveying party ascended the Chilkoot Pass. Among the many Chilkoot Indians hired to carry their supplies up the pass was

Skookum Jim Mason Keish ( – July 11, 1916), also known as James Mason and by the nickname Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born near Bennett Lake, on what is now the Yukon–Bri ...

, who, with his family, discovered the rich gold deposits in the Klondike. Moore did a rough survey of the new pass and returned with the satisfaction that he had found the route for his wagon road. The White Pass was named for the Canadian

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Thomas White by William Ogilvie. William Moore and his son returned to stake a homesteader's claim in Skagua, as it was then known. They built a cabin and a wharf and surveyed a town site they called Mooresville. In 1894, the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

arrived at Dyea and Mooresville on their way to Canada's

Yukon Territory Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s westernmost territory and the smallest ...

. The first group of prospectors hiked up Moore's crude trail over the White Pass. Once the gold rush began, the Moores were overrun. Mooresville was resurveyed by Frank Reid as Skaguay. The crude trail was made into a toll road by George A. Brackett, and the North-West Mounted Police guarded the passes and briefly maintained a post in Skaguay, which Canada claimed.

Gold rush years

The White Pass trail was one of the two main passes used by prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush. The White Pass was an easier route to Lake Bennett than the

Chilkoot Trail The Chilkoot Trail is a 33-mile (53 km) trail through the Coast Mountains that leads from Dyea, Alaska, in the United States] to Bennett, British Columbia, in Canada. It was a major access route from the coast to Yukon goldfields in the l ...

a few kilometers to the west, but it harbored a criminal element that preyed on the ''cheechakos'' (newcomers to the Klondike). These

con artist A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...

s were believed to be members of the infamous

Soapy Smith Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II (November 2, 1860 – July 8, 1898) was an American con artist and gangster in the American frontier and the Klondike. Smith operated confidence schemes across the Western United States, and had a large hand ...

gang from Skagway, Alaska. In 1898, Smith was killed at the famed

Shootout on Juneau Wharf The Shootout on Juneau Wharf was a Gunfighter#Famous gunfights, gunfight between Soapy Smith, Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith, Frank H. Reid, and Jesse Murphy that took place on Friday, July 8, 1898, at approximately 9:15 p.m. in Skagway, Ala ...

and his gang were run out of Skagway and the White Pass. So many horses died during the gold rush, the trail became known as the "Dead Horse Trail". The trail ended at Lake Bennett, where the prospectors built or purchased rafts or boats to float down the Yukon River to the Klondike gold fields near

Dawson City Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...

. The

White Pass and Yukon Route The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) is a Canadian and U.S. Class III narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other rail ...

(W.P. & Y.R.)

narrow-gauge railroad A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

was built between 1898 and 1900White Pass Yukon Route, History
/ref> through White Pass. The southern end of the Klondike Highway also uses the White Pass and parallels the railway. The Skagway Historic District and White Pass is a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

. Due to the harsh climate, grueling conditions, and length of journey, travelers on both the Chilkoot Trail and White Pass suffered from widespread starvation. Many of the starving people on the White Pass made meals of dead horses they found along the road.

Climate

There is a weather station for the Captain William Moore Bridge on the Alaskan side of White Pass, located near the summit at an elevation of 2250 ft (686 m).

References

External links

University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Eric A. Hegg Photographs
736 photographs from 1897 to 1901 documenting the Klondike and Alaska gold rushes, including depictions of frontier life in Skagway and Nome, Alaska and Dawson, Yukon Territory. Includes images of White Pass and White Pass Trail. *

{{Registered Historic Places Klondike Gold Rush Mountain passes of British Columbia Mountain passes of Alaska Landforms of the Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska Atlin District Rail mountain passes of the United States Boundary Ranges Canada–United States border crossings Historic trails and roads in Alaska Native American trails in the United States Transportation in Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska