The Railway Conquest of the World

by Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

When at last the metals were laid into White Horse and the Yukon River was gained, the engineer retraced his footsteps to push ahead with the last link around Lake Bennett, so that through rail connection between the coast and the Yukon River might be possible that year. This was a heavy piece of work owing to the indentation of the lake-shore and the number of crags that dropped into the water. But by blasting away the faces of the promontories to fashion a narrow gallery upon which to lay the track, and by dumping the rock shivered by the explosives into the bays to form embankments, an easy alignment was secured.

Although the railway overcomes mountains running up to a height of 7000 feet, only one tunnel was found to be necessary. Curves are numerous and sharp, so that the line describes a sinuous route among the peaks. Although on the ascent of the mountains from a point 5 miles out of Skaguay grades of 1 in 25 were found unavoidable to gain the summit, the descent on the opposite side is much easier, for the difference in level of the White Pass summit and White Horse summit, 91 miles beyond, is only 808 feet. However, the line between these two levels is built for the most part on forced grades.

Bearing in mind the character of the country traversed, where lofty peaks and steep precipices alternate with deep gorges and wide clefts, it is obvious that such a railway as this could not be completed without recourse to heavy bridging. In all there are 11,450 lineal feet of such structures. There are seven steel bridges, one of which, just before the summit is gained, is 400 feet in length, with the centre 215 feet above the bottom of the gorge.

Taken on the whole, labour was not so difficult a problem in Alaska then as it is to-day, despite the remote situation of the constructional work, for reasons already explained. The enterprise found employment for about 35,000 men, and it speaks volumes for the care exercised in regard to their comfort and welfare, that only 35 men met their deaths through accident and disease, notwithstanding the high pressure with which work was maintained. The men for the most part were far more intelligent than those generally identified with such work.

To illustrate the extreme fascination that gold exercises over these prospector-navvies, one incident is worth relating. The men were driving the grade with great zest, quite contented with their lot, because the majority had tasted the bitterness of ill-luck at the Klondike. One day news trickled into the camp of the discovery of a new goldstrike not far distant in British Columbia. It galvanised the labourers like electricity, awoke all slumbering ambitions and re-erected all the castles in the air which Dawson had dispelled so ruthlessly. A solid phalanx of 1,500 men threw down their tools and clamoured round the pay-office of the engineers for their wages due to them forthwith. Not having received any premonitory warning of this development, the engineer inquired what was the matter, thinking that possibly a “strike” was being nursed. As the wages were paid the men stampeded off to see if Fortune could be wooed any more easily at Atlin than she could be won at Klondike.

As the railway was pushed through hurriedly while the Klondike gold fever was at its height, some of the work was of a temporary character, but once the communication was established the whole line was overhauled. Timber trestles and bridges were replaced by heavier substantial metallic structures, and the earthworks were strengthened. To-day the road compares with any to be found on the continent. The service is daily, except Sundays, and the line is patrolled regularly for boulders or avalanches which may have crashed down the mountain-sides, to come to rest on the track, and which form fearsome obstructions to a train. In winter it is kept open by means of the rotary snow-ploughs. This is no easy task, for the blizzards among mountains of the north are ferocious in their severity. Drifting snow often fills the cuttings to a depth of 35 feet or so. Two locomotives harnessed to one of these snow-clearers generally contrive to force a clean open passage through the fleecy mass, however. It may be pointed out that this railway possesses the largest type of narrow-gauge engines in the world, the engine and tender in working order turning the scale at 106 tons. Travel from our point of view appears somewhat expensive, since it averages 1s. or 25 cents per mile.

The total cost of constructing and building the railway amounted to £850,000, or $4,250,000. The most expensive section was that from Skaguay to the White Pass summit, this first twenty miles involving an expenditure of £400,000, or $2,000,000. In the first season after completion, however, its gross receipts were £800,000, or $4,000,000, 25 per cent. of which was absorbed by working expense.

One outcome of the remarkable success attending the pioneer Alaskan railway was the embarkation upon another undertaking in the same country, this time under United States auspices. This, however, was a far more ambitious scheme. It involved the building of a standard-gauge road from Seward, in Resurrection Bay, some miles north of Skaguay, to the town of Fairbanks, 463 miles inland, the idea being not only to bring the latter point into touch with the coast, but also to tap rich coal deposits and vast forests of lumber. Unfortunately this project has not been attended with that success which marked the White Pass & Yukon line. After 54 miles were completed its finances became so entangled as to require the offices of a receiver to straighten matters out.

However, it must be explained that several unforeseen circumstances contributed to this chequered career over which the engineers had no control. Such calamities as floods, arising from the melting snows swelling the glacial rivers, landslides and avalanches wrought widespread damage time after time. Moreover, constructional work was not quite so straightforward as on the road more to the south, for progress was arrested repeatedly by the necessity of carrying out heavier work than the surveys contemplated.

Seward is situate on a flat, and the line was driven through a convenient river valley from this point into the mountains. The absence of any roads or even trails rendered investigation of the country fringing the proposed route precarious and trying because large stretches of swamp occupied the valleys, while the mountains were torn and broken, rising up steeply on either side.