Gold Rush
The discovery of gold on Rabbit Creek at Dawson City prompted Klondike Gold Rush. Thousands of gold seekers headed north. Riverboats from the Pacific Northwest headed north to ply the route. Hundreds of boats were co-opted and others were built. Twelve identical steamboats were built by Moran Bros. (hull Nos. 9-20). Yards in Seattle, Victoria, Portland, and Vancouver all built boats. The CPR Steamer service ordered more vessels: Moyie and Minto, for instance; but they arrived too late for service on the Yukon River.
Boats were either steamed across the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea to enter the river mouth, or they were transported in pieces over the White Pass and assembled in Whitehorse. The big revenue route was from Whitehorse several hundred miles north to Dawson.
Almost 300 commercial steamboats worked the Yukon River over the years.
In 1900, the White Pass & Yukon Route completed its railroad line between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon. In 1901, the company entered the steamboat business to complete the service to points on the Yukon River. Beginning in 1901, the White Pass was almost the exclusive operator on the Upper Yukon River (Whitehorse-Dawson City). The service also included Tagish Lake and Atlin Lake, the headwaters of the Yukon River.
Read more about this topic: Steamboats Of The Yukon River
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