Yukon Register of Historic PlacesYRHP

White Pass & Yukon Route Railway Depot

White Pass & Yukon Route Railway Depot

White Pass & Yukon Route Railway Depot

White Pass & Yukon Route Railway Depot

The White Pass and Yukon Route Railway was built between 1898 and 1900 from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon; a distance of 110 miles (177km). It is a narrow (3ft) gauge railway that had 21 stops, in addition to stations these included section houses, water tanks, trestles, tunnels, and bridges. There were four large depots on the route at Skagway, Bennett, Carcross and Whitehorse but many stops included a station or section house of varying sizes as well as support infrastructure. The railway operated continuously until 1982 as a passenger- freight combination then shut down during a recession. The Carcross station was constructed in 1900 and burned in a 1909 fire. The extant building was constructed in 1910 and used as a train depot until 1982. The section from Carcross-Skagway was re-opened as a tourist railway in 2006.

After the great fire of 1905 razed the original station, a replacement was quickly erected. Perhaps due to the necessity of replacing the building quickly, or because the White Pass realized the Yukon’s economy was not what it expected to be, the replacement building was 1100 square feet smaller and architecturally less refined than the 1900 original. Although a small Mail Room was added, the Police Quarters, Private Office, and the separate Customs Office were removed from the main floor. The upstairs apartment was reduced to four rooms from six. Railway station historian, J. Edward Martin, dismissed the building as “a mere two-storey frame box.”[60]

In 1911, further changes were made through a rearrangement of the upstairs apartment into offices. In the mid- to late 1930s, another 19 feet was added to the upper floor, squaring off the hipped roof, and creating more office space. Downstairs was now the exclusive domain of the railway operations and upstairs housed the offices of the administrative staff. This division held until the train service ceased in 1982.

World War II saw the American military take over operation of the railway and as well as another extension to the building. A new addition at the north end of the building added 14 feet to the main floor and 27 feet to the second floor. The extra space was required for the extra personnel operating the railway that went from one train a day to almost one per hour during the peak of the war effort to complete the Alaska Highway and Canol pipeline.[61]

Following the war, White Pass got into the bussing business with their new Highway Division. They took over the American Army bus service to Dawson Creek, bought their own buses, and built some highway lodges. The railway depot was also the bus terminal for several years. White Pass ran the bus service for about 20 years before selling out to Canadian Coachways.

In the 1950s, the ailing White Pass came under new management and was modernized. They were one of the first in the world to explore container shipping. The expansion was made possible by the increase in Yukon mining production and White Pass thrived again. This led to yet another expansion of the depot. In 1953, they added an addition to the south end of the building that balanced the north end addition of 1942. There were interior office rearrangements as well as painting and new finishes. This was done several times in subsequent years. The split log siding was added to the exterior in 1953 to give the depot a northern flair.[62]

Citations:

60: J. Edward Martin, Railway Stations of Western Canada (White Rock: Studio E. Martin, 1980), p.75.

61: Midnight Arts, The White Pass and Yukon Railway Depot, Whitehorse and associated buildings, pp.22-23.

62: Ibid., p.36.