For the first five miles the going was easy, as the line was plotted through practically level country with only a slight ascent in order to strike the mountains at a convenient point. Two months after the first sod was turned down by the waterside this section was completed and opened for traffic, an event which was not permitted to pass by without another outbreak of jubilation. The feature that most astonished the inhabitants, however, was the vigour with which the presiding genius pushed his enterprise forward. The gold rush was at its height, and hundreds of new arrivals poured into Skaguay from every arriving boat. One and all were bound for the diggings, and they proceeded as far as possible over the railway, to continue a wearisome toil afoot from the railhead. To these men the completion of the line meant more than one can realise from a distance. That plod over the mountain crest through a pass which is so steep that it appeared to lean back was heroic. As the engineer penetrated the mountains his task became more exacting, perilous, and the pace of the advance eased up appreciably. There was no dearth of labour, for new arrivals, not having the wherewithal to gain the gold region, or others who, having ventured there to meet only with misfortune and ill-luck, were only too glad to seize the opportunity to earn a good day’s pay on the building of the White Pass & Yukon railway, as it is called. [Illustration: THE FIRST HOUR’S WORK: NAVVIES PREPARING THE GRADE ALONG THE MAIN STREET OF SKAGUAY] [Illustration: _Photos, Draper, Skaguay_] BY RAILWAY TO THE KLONDIKE--THE WHITE PASS AND YUKON LINE UNDER CONSTRUCTION Laying the metals at the head of Lake Bennett, showing construction camp.] The engineer decided to keep his grades as easy as possible, but during the course of 15 miles through the mountains he found very quickly that this was no easy matter. He had to gain the summit of the pass, an altitude of 2,888 feet, in this distance, and it was found quite hopeless without a climb of 1 in 15. Much of the country lying in his path never had been trodden by man. Below the snow-line it was covered thickly with virgin forest, tangled undergrowth and dead-fall piled up to a tremendous height, through which the men had to axe their way at a snail’s pace. Above the line where timber ceased to thrive cliffs rose up sheer, with their faces so polished by the Arctic gales and weather as to be as slippery as ice and affording no foothold whatever. In order that the workmen might gain a purchase for the wielding of their tools, huge logs were slung down from convenient heights, held in position by massive chains attached to iron dogs driven into the rock, and on this flimsy foothold the men were compelled to prosecute their tasks as best they could. [Illustration: THE DISMAL TRACT OF SWAMP AND RIVER THROUGH WHICH THE ALASKAN CENTRAL RAILWAY MAKES ITS WAY]