Observation cars were especially prepared for the party. These consisted of flat cars around which run a railing. The seats were reversable and ran lengthwise of the cars. Thus you might view the wall of granite along which you were passing or reverse the seat and behold the wonderful things to be seen in the pass below, where the march of Civilization has left her trail, cabins, mining camps, amidst snow and flowering mosses, tin cans, cracker boxes; and last but not least, horses and mules just as good as when they lay down to their last sleep in these wilds.
The run to the summit was made in two hours. Over the same route men and pack mules plod along three weeks. Only in places is there much vegetation on these granite mountains. Toward the summit blackberries are in bloom. They are perfect plants only two inches high, each plant sending out two or three branches loaded with bloom. Dwarf pines and tufts of grass grow in the crevices of the rocks and on the sides of the mountains, where a little soil has found lodgment.
The White Pass and Yukon railway, which was opened in February, now runs trains over the summit to Lake Bennett. Work is being pushed rapidly forward to the final destination, Ft. Selkirk, Northwest Territory. The distance from Skagway to the summit is sixteen miles. The road was blasted out of solid granite all the way and is a wonderful feat of engineering skill.
There are the usual curves and loops, but these are not sufficient to overcome the steep grade which rises two hundred feet to the mile. The road rises thirty-two hundred feet in the sixteen miles. At one place the train was run up into a ravine on a Y. The engine was uncoupled and coming in behind us pushed the coaches up to the summit.
The ice bridges all through the mountains are in good repair, the turbulent streams flowing under them with a dash and a roar of the Selkirk’s own.
All along the way to the summit is visible on the opposite side of the pass, the foot trail of the Indians. This narrow path lies along the sheer cliffs, dropping suddenly into deep ravines, then almost straight up the precipitous side of the mountain.
An enterprising company has built a wagon road to the summit, but a nervous person had best run his carriage on more level ground. This road stands on end in many places. It runs along level enough for a foot or two then takes a header into a ravine, presently it winds over a frail bridge which the spuming torrent below threatens every minute to wreck.
STREET IN JUNEAU.
The wagon relegated the trail to oblivion. Then came the railroad and travel and commerce deserted the wagon road. Here they lie, the foot trail on one side, the wagon way on the other, and just above the road way, the railway. Three path ways: that of the untaught, unskilled Indian, that of the enterprising pioneer and that of the modern engineer, traverse this play ground of the Titans.