Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. 22 The heavy dotted line indicates the river route from White Horse to Dawson, used during the summer. the Klondike from almost every civilized portion of the globe, which continued for upwards of a year. In this race the people living nearest to the Klondike, of course, had the advantage, so that a number of Americans and Canadians were able to find their way there before the winter set in, and conse- quently were on the ground in the spring of 1898, before navigation opened and made it possible for others to get in. In the rush for the Klondike three routes were chiefly used. The first was by the mouth of the Yukon at St. Michaels, which had hitherto been the only route used. The second was from f°r the the head of a fiord of the North Klondike Pacific known as the Lynn Canal, across the coast range of mountains to the headwaters of the Yukon River, and thence down-stream to the Klondike. The third, which at the time was widely advertised, was known as the overland route from a station called Edmonton on the Canadian Pacific Railway ; and a number of people attempted this route, though few succeeded in getting in by it. The all-water route via the mouth of the river was by far the easiest of these routes, in addition to being the only one theretofore used ; but, on the other hand, it was practicable during a few summer months only, and involved a slow voyage up-stream ; and when once the rush set in there was a good deal of Difficulties uncertainty as to whether or Travel not the goldseekers could find accommodation on the few and comparatively small steamers at that time in service on the derful riches of the Klondike which accom- panied the gold immediately caught the atten- tion of the world, and gave rise to a rush for Lower River. For this reason, and because of the great advantage in getting quickly to the Klondike, the large majority of the gold- seokers preferred to run the risks of crossing the coast range from the head of the Lynn Canal, either through the White Pass or the Chile oot Pass to Lake Bennett on the Upper Yukon, and drifting down the rapid waters of