Travel S.S. Klo St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Fort Selkirk Fort Selkirk, Yukon’s earliest permanent settlement Vintage transportation The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad is a tourist attraction that also brings hikers to and from the Chilkoot Trail. Built between 1898 and 1900, the narrow-gauge railway is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation that it shares with the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and the Panama Canal. “All aboard!” shouted the conductor, as we boarded a vintage passenger coach. During the 110-kilometre journey to Carcross, announcements described the gruelling Trail of ’89 used by prospectors trekking to Klondike gold fields. As the train climbed 915 metres through tunnels, over bridges and trestles, we inhaled the pollution-free air and photographed cascading waterfalls, turquoise lakes and snow-topped mountains. Back in Whitehorse, we viewed other vintage modes of travel, including a mustard-yellow plane suspended from the Transportation Museum’s ceiling. We also toured the S.S. Klondike, permanently docked beside the Yukon River. The restored sternwheeler plied the river between Whitehorse and Dawson City in the early 20th century. Abandoned trading post Two football fields wide and 3,185 kilometres long, the Yukon is Canada’s second-longest river (after the Mackenzie). As we travelled by boat from Whitehorse to Fort Selkirk with Up North Adventures, a bald eagle observed us from a cottonwood tree. Fireweed (Yukon’s official flower) splashed patches of brilliant magenta along the riverbanks. Our captain waited as we explored Fort Selkirk, using a free map and walking tour downloaded from the Yukon government’s website. Established as a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post in the late 1800s, the community of settlers and Selkirk First Nation people existed for 60 years. It was abandoned in 1951, when new roads made steamboats to the upper Yukon River redundant. The 40 historic buildings in Yukon’s earliest permanent settlement were both eerie and fascinating. We peered into the RCMP Detachment cabin and the sod-roofed cabin built in 1939 by Selkirk First Nation Elder Tommy McGinty. Inside the plank-floored Baum Cabin (built 1915-1925), we found an old Singer sewing machine, a tin of Noxzema Cream, several glass bottles, chests, a wooden table and chairs. After examining the hand-squared and dovetailed logs used in 1893 to build The Rectory to house ministers for the nearby St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, we made an amusing discovery – a wooden outhouse. Our most poignant discovery was the Selkirk First Nation Cemetery, with more than 100 graves dating back to the late 19th century. Today, it’s a sacred place where Selkirk First Nation people come to remember their ancestors. 20 | www.snowbirds.org
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