Since the advent of air transport in Yukon Territory and
transportation of mails by aircraft, the Overland Trail
has been used only occasionally by tractor train, although
the southern section from Whitehorse to Carmacks is
intermittently utilized by trucks. Operations over the
entire route from Whitehorse to Dawson in recent years
have been confined to occasional trips necessary to transport
mining equipment from railhead at Whitehorse to Dawson
and Mayo, when such equipment arrived after the close
of the navigation season and was urgently required for
the beginning of the mining season in spring.

Winter transportation on Yukon River by tractor or
truck is not generally feasible, except on a few sections of
the stream. The surface of the river usually freezes “rough”,

and sections of fast water remain open throughout the
winter.

In the year ended October, 1943, the White Pass and
Yukon Railway handled 300,000 tons of freight between
Skagway and Whitehorse, about ten times the figure
handled annually in the peak normal years (6). . The com-
pany’s water transportation system doubtless could handle
an increased volume of passengers and freight over that
for pre-war years. This, however, is contingent on
sufficient prior notice being given for the following season’s
requirements. Wood fuel stocks must be contracted for
not later than before the close of the immediate prior
season. Considerable expense is also sustained in readying
steamers for the coming navigation season, and no more are
overhauled than required for the subsequent season’s
business. Volume of tonnage also has a vital bearing on
river transportation costs, and for that reason it has some-
times been the policy to name rates to suit individual
transportation requirements, although basic rates are in
effect. Until other avenues of transportation, such as
highways or rail extensions, are provided in Yukon Territory
north of Whitehorse, the Yukon Waterway will continue
to meet requirements, and assist in any expansion that
May occur in the mining industry.

Although the Yukon River system is the natural artery
of travel in Yukon from north to south, the completion of
the Alaska Highway has provided a new transportation
artery from east to west. Points in northeastern British
Columbia and in Yukon Territory both east and west of
Whitehorse are now reached much more easily than before.
The operation on schedule of buses and trucks east and
west from the railway terminus at Whitehorse, or west
from Dawson Creek, B.C., is furnishing year-round service
on this highway. Three hotels, situated at 300-mile
intervals, together with two intermediate “lunch-stops”,
were constructed in 1946. These accommodations, with
lunch-stops already in service, provide meal accommodation
and gasoline supplies at distances not greater than 80 miles
apart. It is expected that conditions will permit some
tourist travel either by private auto or by scheduled bus
service during the 1947 season (6).

3681—8

REFERENCES

1. Bureau of Northwest Territories and Yukon Affairs. Memorandum
from the Surveyor General and Chief, Hydrographic Service, Depart-
ment of Mines and Resources, Ottawa, 1945.

2. Canada, Department of Trade and Commerce, The Canada Year
Book, 1938, Ottawa.

3. Bureau of Northwest Territories and Yukon Affairs. Memorandum
from United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior,
Washington, D.C., 1945.

4. Canada, Department of Mines and Resources. The Yukon Territory,
1944. Ottawa.

n

. Octtviz, Wah. The Klondike Official Guide. Toronto. 1898.

6. Bureau of Northwest Territories and Yukon Affairs. (Memoranda
from Mr. C. J. Rocrrs, President, White Pass and Yukon Route,
Seattle, Wash.)

7. North Pacific Planning Project. Shipping Services in the American
North Pacific—United States and Canadian (Part II), Portland,
Oregon, 1944.

8. Ocirvizr, WiiAM. Early Days on the Yukon. Ottawa, 1913.

GENERAL REFERENCES

Dawson, G. M. Report on an Exploration in the Yukon District, N.W.T..,
1887. Montreal, 1898.

Scuwatka, F, Along Alaska’s Great River. G. M. Hill Co., Chicago,
1898.

White Pass and Yukon Route. General Information Folder, Seattle,
Washington, 1941.

White Pass and Yukon Route. Handbook of Vacation Trips in Alaska
and the Yukon, Seattle, Washington, 1941.

Bureau of Northwest Territories and Yukon Affairs, Ottawa. Water
Transportation in the Canadian Northwest (J. L. Robinson), 1945.

THE STIKINE RIVER — DEASE RIVER WATERWAY

Since 1873, when the placer gold mines of the Cassiar
district were first developed, the Stikine and Dease Rivers
have become an important avenue of communication from
the Pacific Coast to the interior of the northern part of
British Columbia.

The Stikine River rises in the interior plateau east
of the Coast Range of mountains through which it passes
with a nearly uniform gradient for a distance of about 80
miles before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The valley
bottom maintains an average width of from 2 to 3 miles
as far up-as Little Canon, a distance of 73 miles. The
canon is about three-fifths of a mile long and in places
not more than 50 yards wide and is bordered by massive
cliffs, 200 to 300 feet high, above which rugged mountain
slopes arise. Eight miles farther up is Kloochman Canon,
which to some extent repeats the features of the last, but
it is nearly 300 feet in width. Four miles above Kloochman
Canon is the so-called “Grand Rapid” which is by no means
formidable, although the water is swift and the river wide
and shallow. Here, the valley begins very markedly to
open out, the mountains retiring farther from the river and
decreasing in altitude. The river is navigable as far as
Telegraph Creek, a distance of 138 miles, the canons and
rapid referred to above offering no impediment to stern-
wheel steamers of good power and light draught. Above

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