It was the discovery of gold, and the subsequent rush to the “Klondike,” that brought about the unlocking of Alaska, and which was responsible for bringing a country of 591,000 square miles within the purview of the railway-builder. A rude collection of timber shacks and tents sprung up like mushrooms on a little indent on the seashore, and to-day is a healthy, prosperous town and port--Skaguay. From this point the daring spirits infected with the “yellow fever” pushed inland over the gaunt, snow-clad mountains to the “fields,” enduring privations untold and experiences that make the blood run cold in order to gain the new Eldorado. The trail was blazed with the bleached bones of animals and pioneers eager to be first on the spot. Of roads there were none--there was not even a rough path. Those early seekers had to tread one with their own feet. No sooner had the first reports concerning the discoveries of gold at Dawson trickled through, to be substantiated by subsequent investigations, than the possibility of building a railway from the coast to the gold-fields, in order to lift the men over the most difficult and hazardous part of the journey, was discussed. Indeed, among one of the earliest bands which trailed across the Chilkoot Pass in a thick black line were one or two surveyors spying out the general characteristics of the country. Less than two years after the excitement first flared up the plans for a line 112 miles in length, extending practically through unknown country, had been prepared. One end of the line rested on the seashore at Skaguay, while the other reposed at White Horse, near Lake Lebarge, where communication was effected with the wonderful inland waterway of the country, the river Yukon. It was not a long railway in comparison with other great systems of the world, but it was a highly ambitious enterprise, for it was destined to lift man and freight over the most terrible part of the country, the coast range which had been the grave of scores of fortune-hunters.