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=History= The Klondike Gold rush had begun on August 16th, 1869 on the Bonanza Creek. This was located near Dawson, and 50 miles east of the Alaskan Border. The Chilkoot Trail is reported to have spanned between 28 miles and 33 miles. . The Chilkoot Pass was an important milestone travelers had to conquer in order to reach the Klondike. The travelers were called ‘stampeders’ and had sought riches of the 1889 gold rush in Alaska. In order to be allowed to enter the Klondike and take part in the gold rush, the stampeders were required to take two tons of goods with them This was broken down into a year supply of food, which was half of the weight, as well as another thousand pounds of equipment. The supplies and food requirements were broken down into two lists. The clothing items included: a waterproof blanket, 6 pairs of wool socks, 2 flannel over shirts, a medicine chest. The list continues with the essential clothing needed. Some of the supplies required included: rolled oats, flour, salt, and bacon. The weight ranged from between 20 pounds to 400 pounds for one ingredient. This list was taken very seriously as there was rarely a return journey after the Klondike was reached. The list for traveling the Trail and Pass in 1995 was very different as the technologies allowed for a much smaller supply list and more creature comforts could be afforded, such as a camp stove. There was not a way for a traveler to take all the supplies across the pass at once, so several trips had to be made in order for everything to make it to the destination. Quite often the supplies had to be carried by hand in 50 pound packs as the passes proved to be too narrow for wagons or draft animals. The travel was slow and what would have taken a few hours in another environment required days to complete. It is estimated that for every mile their supplies moved, they had to walk eighty miles to get it there.

Packing
Only the wealthiest of stampeders could afford to hire labour for the movement of their supplies and the rest had to be carried by the stampeders themselves. The professional packers of the time mainly consisted of Indians who charged 1 cent per pound they carried. The packers would cease their services if there was even a hint of more money offered by someone else. The packing fees charged by professional packers were subject to change as the weather changed. This is because the ground conditions could make the packing more difficult, the muddier ground conditions were harder to traverse as compared to the frozen snow covered ground.

The Pass
The Chilkoot trail raised 900 feet to the base of the Chilkoot Pass to an area called the Scales. This was a rough rock strewn area and was named thus because it was the last place the travelers could have their packs reweighed and adjustments could be made to their payments. The Scales was used as a place where travelers could store their provisions and supplies while continuing back for the rest of their supplies before the journey up the Pass. After the Scales, the ground rose about 500-600 feet over a distance of approximately half a mile. The trail was covered with giant, sharp slabs of rock which made the footing treacherous and often inducing crawling during the summer months. In the winter the ice was cut into 1500 stairs which came to be known as the ‘Golden Stairs’. There were approximately 1500 stairs the stampeders had to climb to reach the top of the pass, and the stairs were too narrow for more than one person to travel up at a time, so the trek was limited to a single file line up the mountain. The workers who had carved stairs into the ice of Chilkoot Pass had also charged for the privilege of ascending the mountain, as they had used their stairs.

Tramways
Ropes were lowered to help the traveler balance and continue up the slippery slopes. After 1897 a tramway was built for the wealthy travelers to ease the trip the last 600 feet up the Pass. The tramway was powered by two horses and it cost 1 ½ cents a pound to hire. It was estimated that the creator of this tramway was making $150 a day with this invention. On the other side of the Pass was Crater Lake. To travel down the mountain, the travelers faced a decent of 1300 feet over the horizontal distance of approximately 9 miles. The crest through the mountain and the path down it, were often filled with snow all year round making the trek that more difficult to achieve.

Environment
There was a high risk of avalanche along the Chilkoot Pass as snow storms were frequent and the snow would give way and speed down the summit. The wet and heavy snow of the avalanches could kill 50 to 100 men at a time. Travelers used this pass the most because it was the least expensive route as well as the shortest route to take their wares across. The weather through the Pass was unpredictable and visibility could drop to a few feet. The rain and sweat from the physical exertion would soak the travelers and then the sun’s reflection against the snow would burn their skin and almost blind them. The price of provisions had taken a discernible downturn as many men who had packed their year’s worth of provisions to White Pass (an alternative route) had decided to turn back and were now selling these provisions to anyone who chose to ascend the Passes. The price of horses had increased to approximately $200 an animal at the trip’s beginning.

An Alternate Route
There was another alternate pass the travelers could travel called White Pass. This pass was full of outlaws and proved to be very difficult to navigate as it was much narrower than the stampeders were led to believe. This pass became too narrow for wagons, but men still attempted to use horses along the trail. Unfortunately, they did not have experience working with horses and often worked the animals to death. The men would either put the animals down, or when the horse fell and could not get up, they would just pull the shoes and leave the animal to die in the mud and snow. This was a common occurrence on White Pass along a stretch that was dubbed Dead Horse Trail. The men would travel back down to the beach again and purchase more horses to replace the ones that had died on this trail. Most of the horses that died on the White Pass trial had died within a two mile stretch of slope. By 1897, 3200 pack horses had died on White Pass trail and their bodies left there. The bodies of the horses were often used as footing for other pack horses making their way through the trail. The horses that had fallen were not always dead and were still left to be walked on and to die horribly. When the horses could not work anymore, or were of no further use along the Chilkoot Trail, the animals were turned loose without feed. Many animals were left at the base of Chilkoot Pass at Sheep Camp. Most of the animals became sick and starved as they staggered through the camps in attempts to find food. The horses were no longer useful and had lost their value.

Obstacles
Malnutrition was a large problem on the Chilkoot and White Pass Trails and many died from it The dead horses left on Dead Horse Trail on the White Pass Trail were often eaten by men suffering from malnutrition and caused severe sickness in these men. It was rumoured that a traveled had used his boots as a source of food by boiling them and then drinking the water/broth after so he could eat. Physical illness was not the only problem to plague the travelers as many also went insane along the trails. It has been suggested that the diet of the travelers is what caused the mental illness and the insanity which was so common. Along the trail the only shelter were thin tents the travelers could use in the -40 degree temperatures.

North West Mounted Police
At both the Chilkoot Pass and the White Pass there were members of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) assigned to collect custom duties on the supplies brought into Canada. There was also another function of these officers though. When traveling the Chilkoot Pass the stampeders were forced to leave their provisions at both ends of the pass so they could make the trip back and forth. In order to protect the supplies, there was a large influence of the North West Mounted Police to ensure the proper wares went to the proper traveler. The police also ensured that the rule of 1 ton of goods per person was enforced.

Strain
There was some strain between the NWMP and the Americans as there were disputes as to where the international borders were located. After several disputes between the governments it was eventually deemed that the international boundary was to remain at the Chilkoot Pass and the White Pass. The NWMP had already built custom houses at both passes prior to the dispute being settled. Canada also had its own militia called the Yukon Field Force which was used to help the NWMP with guarding prisoners and protecting gold shipments. The NWMP also regulated the whiskey trade along the trails. The police had wanted a port of entry at the summit of both the Chilkoot Pass and the White Pass. This was a way to secure the border between Canada and the United States at these points. The endeavor would cost a small fortune as the wood had to be taken up the tramway and to bribe any offended packers. This was to avoid any delay of having a cabin on the Chilkoot Pass summit. Unfortunately, the cabin was not constructed well and the high winds of the Chilkoot Pass drive snow into the cabin. The snow would melt, and then soak the whole interior of the cabin creating mold and poor living conditions as the blankets and bedding would not have an opportunity to dry. The collection of custom duties on the summit of Chilkoot Pass began on February 26, 1898.

Women on the Trails
Men and women viewed the Gold Rush as an opportunity to make vast amounts of money and to break out of poverty. It was estimated through investigating the steam ship passenger lists that approximately 1500 women made the trek through the Chilkoot and White trails. This would account for seven percent of all the travelers between December 1898 and September 1900. At the beginnings of the gold rush stampede it is estimated there were only a few hundred women (non-natives) involved in the rush. Some of these women were wives of the stampeders, while others had traveled in order to gain employment as clerks, teachers, cooks, nurses, and prostitutes. It was also written that at camp Linderman the doctor was a woman. The trip through the trails and across the passes was very difficult because of the style of dress that was in style at the time. The skirts which had been popular at the time were ill suited for any physical labour. The skirts were often made with five yards (or more) of material and were very heavy and cumbersome. The use of corsets and petticoats limited mobility and the high collars of the time required women to hold their heads high and, depending on the outfit, tilt their heads back. There had been a women’s movement during this time which allowed women more freedom in the way they dressed. In order to climb the Chilkoot Pass and travel the trails, women began to wear bloomers or knickers. These were long billowing pants which were collected at the ankle or even just below the knees. This allowed the women to shorten their skirts and have a safer trip than those who were forced to remain in their long billowing skirts. The skirts were generally shortened to knee length as this was considered controversial, but more acceptable. Some of the women who traveled to the Klondike had left their children behind as there were few people willing to subject their children to the difficulties of the trails and passes.

End of the Rush
By the end of the Gold rush, it was estimated to have produced more than 175 million dollars from between 1885 and 1929. The peak year of production was 1900 with approximately 22 million dollars of gold collected.