Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE YUKON ADVENTURE 191Development was as rapid in the case of transportationfacilities as in any other direction. The difficult constructionwork of the White Pass and Yukon railway was pressed onwith courage and tenacity. By October, 1898, this companyhad built the first two miles of the railway line from Skagwayinto Canadian territory by way of the White Pass, and inJune, 1900, had completed its line to the foot of the WhitehorseRapids. 1 From that point to Dawson, steamers insummer and a stage line hi winter ran on schedule. Asgiving some idea of the changes brought about in two years,it may be mentioned that in 1900 there were twenty substantiallybuilt steamboats plying regularly between Dawsonand Whitehorse, and about thirty running on the lower riverbetween St. Michael and Dawson. During that summer 26,774tons of freight were carried to Dawson by these steamers,while in addition about 5,000 tons were brought by hundredsof scows down the river. The up-river steamers broughtinto Dawson that year 4,064 passengers and carried out5,465, while the lower-river fleet brought in 1,406 passengersand carried out 1,518. Freight and passenger rates werehigh, but not unduly so, under the conditions existing there.The freight rate from Skagway to Whitehorse on the railwaywas then four and a half cents a pound, the distance beingabout 110 miles. This was, of course, a very high charge,but it should be remembered that before the advent of therailway the cost of freighting supplies between Skagway andWhitehorse had ranged from forty cents to one dollar a pound-By 1900 the mails were handled with regularity anddespatch, and through the Dawson newspapers thetelegraphline kept the citizens in touch with changing [events on "theoutside." The situation was very different from that whichprevailed in the summer of 1898, when an enterprising citizenIntelligencerpaid $150 for the latest copy of the Seattle Postto arrive in Dawson, hired a hall and charged a $5 admittancefee to each person to^hear "the very latest news of Uncle Sam'sIfThe first passenger train from Skagway reached Whitehorse on July 30, 1900.