Map of Whitehorse Rapids on the Yukon River showing course and manner of running boats through, 1897

• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Maps; Yukon River (Yukon and Alaska) > Maps; Canada; Canyon City; East Bank; Goldfields; Miles Canyon; Saloon; Schwatka Lake; White Pass; Whitehorse Rapids; Yukon; Dawson; Skagway; Whitehorse; Yukon river; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/alaskawcanada/id/754

Published in book entitled Map-guide, Seattle to Dawson (1897). Humes, Lysons and Sallee, publishers. Filed in Yukon Territory Miles Canyon and Whitehorse rapids were dangerous and famous obstacles to Gold Rush stampeders bound for the Klondike goldfields. To bypass these rapids, cargo was carried in horse-drawn carts on wooden rails, or ‘tramlines’, between transfer points at Canyon City and White Horse City. In 1897, two entrepreneurs capitalized on the obstacles presented by the Canyon and the Rapids by building tramways on either side of the river. For a fee, their horse-drawn tram cars carried goods and small boats around the rapids on log rails. A tent town called Canyon City appeared at the head of the tramway on the east bank. A roadhouse and saloon provided lodging and refreshments to the tens of thousands of gold seekers on their way to the Klondike. When the White Pass and Yukon Railway from Skagway was completed in 1900, a larger town (now Whitehorse) sprang up across the river around wharves where freight was transferred from rail cars to sternwheelers. The construction of the Whitehorse hydro-electric dam in 1958 tamed Miles Canyon and has replaced the once foaming White Horse Rapids with Schwatka Lake reservoir.