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Map 2: Chilkoot and White Pass Trails.

The Chilkoot Trail, stretching from Dyea to Bennett Lake, had been used by the Tlingit Indians as a trade route for hundreds of years before the Klondike Gold Rush. The White Pass Trail was a newer route that stretched from Skagway to Bennett Lake. Once stampeders arrived at Bennett Lake they had to buy or build a boat to navigate down the Yukon River. When the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad was completed in 1900, it was no longer necessary to use these treacherous trails. (The railroad route shown on the map generally follows the White Pass Trail.) Travel through the region by car became possible in 1978 with the completion of the Klondike Highway.

Questions for Map 2

1. Find the approximate locations of the two trails on Map 1.

2. Trace the routes of the Chilkoot Trail and White Pass Trail and use the scale to determine the approximate length of each.

3. According to the map, what natural features did stampeders encounter on each route?

4. Trace the railroad route from Skagway to Bennett Lake. Why would it have been difficult to build this railroad line?

* The map on the screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a high quality version of the map, but be aware that the file will take as much as two minutes to load with a 28.8K modem.

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