Then and Now

HWR - Believe me, not everyone thinks so! There is a lot of small, and even some scale activity in the area of the Klondike goldrush. The "motherlode" was never found.

The trail itself is gold-free. It was just where those poor souls had to hike to get over the mountains and into the interior, where they built boats for the rest of the winter for the big regatta when the ice went out on Lake Bennett. About 7,000 boats set off on one day - everything from marine marvels to glorified coffins. By the way, there are some really serious rapids between Bennett and the goldfields. All did not go well.

Metal detectors are actually banned by both the U.S. park and the Canadian one, not to discourage gold panning but to thwart souvenir hunters. The miners abandoned literally tons of stuff along the trail as they found out what was really needed. One of the more humorous bits was about boots. The early stages of the hike forded many unfrozen streams, so the stampeders trudged along in horribly heavy, tall rubber boots. The majority of these were discarded after things dried up. Enterprising sorts would hike to that area, collect dozens of pairs, then return to the trailhead in Dyea to sell them to subsequent prospectors. It would be interesting to know what the trips record was for one pair of boots.

Even after a century there's a lot of stuff about - tools, containers, soles of shoes, and 22 miles of really thick steel cable. The last came from a fantastic aerial tramway that was hurriedly thrown up to get the kits of those who could afford it over the worst of the trail: The pass itself. At times it was 1800' above the hikers. I hope all was secured! It didn't last long: A company putting a rail line through a competing pass bought the operation just to close it down.

Frankly, I'm glad they banned the detectors. I know that I'd have bought a nice heavy one to add to my horrible, ill-fitting pack. I had a hard enough time leaving other stuff, like my anvil collection, behind!