White Pass

From Freepedia

The White Pass is a mountain pass through the Coast Mountains in Alaska and British Columbia that leads from Skagway, Alaska, United States to the ghost town of Bennett, British Columbia, Canada on Lake Bennett. The trail through the pass, called the White Pass Trail, was one of the two main passes used by prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush. The White Pass offered a longer but lower and less steep route (summit elevation: 873 metres) to Bennett than the Chilkoot Trail a few kilometers to the west. Given its lower elevation, a wagon trail was built along the White Pass. Many horses died on the way during the Gold rush; the trail became known as the "Dead Horse Trail". Prospectors carried their supplies from Skagway to Lake Bennett, where they built or purchased rafts or boats to float down the Yukon River to the Klondike gold fields near Dawson City.

The White Pass was named for Sir Thomas White, the Canadian Minister of the Interior, by William Ogilvie in 1887 after Skookum Jim Mason and William Moore discovered it.

The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad was built along the White Pass. The southern end of the Klondike Highway also uses the White Pass and parallels the railway.