1960

      Summer tourists who travel over the spectacular White Pass & Yukon Railway invariably report that one of the high spots of the trip is the lunch stop at Lake Bennett, B.C. Here, where in 1898 several thousand Klondike-bound adventurers camped in the largest tent city in the world, the travellers marvel over the shifting colors of the lake, visit the old log church and savor a delicious meal served "family style."
      The responsibility of turning out hot meals for passengers on the regular daily trains and those making the excursion trip to Carcross rests on the shoulders of Manageress Vi Beatty and her capable staff.
      Bennett is a lonely spot but for lovers of the outdoors it offers many attractions. Hunting and fishing are the off-hours pursuits of Harry Lee, who has been Chief Cook since 1954, and waiter Robin Harrison of Salt Spring Island. Waitresses Linda Logue, a U.B.C. student, and Barbara Barrett of Whitehorse enjoy horseback riding while Rita Neilson, also of Whitehorse, prefers boating and swimming. Kitchen helper Melvin Baker of Carcross finds a multitude of subjects for his hobby, photography.
      When she can spare time from her managerial duties, Vi Beatty takes pride in her garden, which flourishes in the long sunlit hours of a Yukon summer. Vi has been with the White Pass since 1948.
      Staff members generally save up their time off until they have two or three free days coming and then make a trip to Whitehorse or Skagway. This gives Assistant Cook Gin Sing a chance to take in some baseball games. Occasional trips are also made by the "casey" to Carcross, Yukon, once the home of George Carmack, whose discovery triggered the Klondike gold rush.
      Main credit for the successful operation of the Lake Bennett eating house must go to Vi Beatty, whose cheerfil smile and ability to keep things running smoothly have been a notable asset to the White Pass & Yukon Route. We hope she will continue to dish out "service with a smile" for many years to come.

1963

      Rail Division is achieving the maximum utilization of their weed sprayer. With a bit of ingenuity, they have modified the sprayer into a versatile year-around machine - equally efficient for weed and brush spraying, fire fighting, and ice removal.
      The Weed Sprayer was built in 1962 in the Skagway Shops by mounting a 440 gallon tank, complete with a gasoline powered pump, on a rail track "push car." For spraying operations, a 10-foot fixed spray pipe with nine nozzles is mounted across the rear end for control of grass and weeeds on the roadbed and tracks.
      This fall, after many yeras of fighting the annual ice problem along the railroad with picks, dynamite, cats, bonfires, etc., Superintendent M. P. Taylor conceived the idea that perhaps the weed sprayer could be modified and used as a flame thrower against the ice.
      The basic device used for melting the ice is a 20-foot length of pipe equipped with six burner nozzles. The unit is alid over the ice glacier and the nozzles ignited. The intense heat from the burners soon melts the ice down to open water. As a result of the heat, a secondary benefit is derived - raising the critical temperature of the flowing water and allowing it to cut through the ice and continue to the normal steam bed.
      As soon as the ice burner claers the ice from the glacierized area, coal burning barrels are inserted in the stream to keep the water warm and flowing.
      In large glacierized areas, as many as four lengths of burner pipes are connected together. When this occurs, all the noise, heat and flame generated by 24 roaring burners create a scene srtaight out of Dante's Inferno.

1964

      Friday, January 31st, dawned clear.
      There was a sharp breeze blowing from the north but that's normal in the Skagway Valley.
      By noon the wind had veered to the south and was developing an Arctic "bite." By late afternoon it was howling up Dead Horse Gulch swirling the loose powdered snow and piling it into hard packed drifts across the railroad right-of-way.
      Veteran railroad men squinted at the sky and then at each other. They smelled trouble and they began to talk about the weather.
      By midnight, January 31st, a screaming storm was closing in on the railway's operations, and for the next twenty-eight days a see-saw battle was fought between the raging Arctic elements and the weather-wise railway men of the White Pass and Yukon Route.
      The White Passers won, although there were moments when the storm was in full control of the railroad track. But the railroaders fought back and kept the trains rolling with only two "non-operating" days chalked up against them throughout the entire twenty-eight day battle.
      "We had some very weary railroaders by the time the wind quit blowing and the sun broke through on February 28th" said Marvin Taylor, Railway Superintendent.

1968

      October 21st marked the last time the old White Pass Rotary Snow fleet would run over the railroad. Reminiscent of those former days when the "fleet" was called out to fight the winter storms, the day was cold and windy, with a new snow storm brewing over the White Pass.
      It was a sentimental journey - quite different from the previous trips, for the Rotary and pusher engine were silent. No longer would you hear the long wailing steam whistle, nor the sharper "pip" whistle from the Rotary Pilot, nor hear the hiss of escaping steam, the engine compressors and "pops", the roar of the big Rotary wheel churning up the snow and throwing it clear of the track. No longer would you hear the main drivers bite into the rail and slip as they laboured against a tough snowdrift or slide, nor would you see the belching black smoke from the Rotary as the firemen fought to keep the steam pressure up. No - the rods on the engine weren't clanking, nor could you hear the sharp staccato chuff or the other living sounds of the steam era on this trip.

1969

      The historic boundary snow shed, built during 1899-1900, has been reduced to a paragraph in the pages of White Pass history.
      The shed became obsolete with the retirement of the old 'Rotary' snow fleet, and the introduction of the more efficient bulldozer snow removal method. These dozers operate on a 24 hour 7 days a week schedule during the winter to keep the track clear.
      A new modern shed built north of the International Boundary replaces the old shed. Severe drifting problems caused by high cliffs at the boundary were cited as the reason for the 800 foot gap between the site of the old shed and the location of the new.
      Above the old snowshed stood another historic structure that time and weather had reduced to rubble. It was the old NWMP (RCMP) Post that guarded the International Border between Alaska and British Columbia during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. The Redcoats turned back many a sourdough because they carried insufficient supplies for a year in the Klondike. The Redcoats' authority came from a reutation of good police work - and an early model machine gun.
      While the old snow shed was being dismantled and the last of the old post cleared away, all that now remains is the two flag poles standing only a few feet apart - one in Canada, the other in the United States.

      "Containerization" is the big word in transportation these days. It's bandied around in articles, TV commercials and transportation circles across Canada and the United States. Unlike computers, containerization has almost become a status symbol.
      The White Pass built and tested its first container in 1955, nearly fifteen years ago, and it's been in the integrated ship-train-truck business ever since. In fact it's the first system of its type in the world, and also the biggest.

(1) It had to provide transportation at the lowest possible cost by eliminating expensive and unnecesary freight handling.
(2) To help create a better northern environment, the proposed transportation system had to be capable of providing "southern-type" living by making it possible for Yukoners to obtain "southern-type" food and merchandise throughout the year.
(3) It had to provide adequate protection for perishable commodities against extreme winter and summer temperatures.
(4) It had to provide a system for transporting goods from Vancouver, across the Alaska Panhandle and into the Yukon territory with an absolute minimum of paperwork and inspections.
(5) It had to reduce breakage to a minimum, and eliminate pilferage.
(6) It had to be capable of carrying anything from a pound of peanuts to thousands of tons of ore.
(7) It had to be capable of producing a return on capital invested - that is, turn a profit.

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