Klondyke Nuggets: A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the NorthwestLadue, Joseph
History
Klondyke Nuggets: A Brief Description of the Great Gold Regions in the Northwest
Ladue, Joseph
Alaska -- Gold discoveries; Klondike River Valley (Yukon) -- Gold discoveries
"While at Juneau I heard reports of a low pass from the head of Chilkoot
Inlet to the head waters of Lewes River. During the time I was at the
head of Taiya Inlet I made inquiries regarding it, and found that there
was such a pass, but could learn nothing definite about it from either
whites or Indians. As Capt. Moore, who accompanied me, was very anxious
to go through it, and as the reports of the Taiya Pass indicated that no
wagon road or railroad could ever be built through it, while the new
pass appeared, from what little knowledge I could get of it, to be much
lower and possibly feasible for a wagon road, I determined to send the
captain by that way, if I could get an Indian to accompany him. This, I
found, would be difficult to do. None of the Chilkoots appeared to know
anything of the pass, and I concluded that they wished to keep its
existence and condition a secret. The Tagish, or Stick Indians, as the
interior Indians are locally called, are afraid to do anything in
opposition to the wishes of the Chilkoots; so it was difficult to get
any of them to join Capt. Moore; but after much talk and encouragement
from the whites around, one of them named "Jim" was induced to go. He
had been through this pass before, and proved reliable and useful. The
information obtained from Capt. Moore's exploration I have incorporated
in my plan of the survey from Taiya Inlet, but it is not as complete as
I would have liked. I have named this pass "White Pass," in honor of the
late Hon. Thos. White, Minister of the Interior, under whose authority
the expedition was organized. Commencing at Taiya Inlet, about two miles
south of its north end, it follows up the valley, of the Shkagway River
to its source, and thence down the valley of another river which Capt.
Moore reported to empty into the Takone or Windy Arm of Bove Lake
(Schwatka). Dr. Dawson says this stream empties into Taku Arm, and in
that event Capt. Moore is mistaken. Capt. Moore did not go all the way
through to the lake, but assumed from reports he heard from the miners
and others that the stream flowed into Windy Arm, and this also was the
idea of the Indian "Jim" from what I could gather from his remarks in
broken English and Chinook. Capt. Moore estimates the distance from tide
water to the summit at about 18 miles, and from the summit to the lake
at about 22 to 23 miles. He reports the pass as thickly timbered all the
way through.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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