Whitehorse, Whitehorse Copper Belt, Whitehorse mining district, Yukon, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Whitehorse	- not defined -
Whitehorse Copper Belt	Belt
Whitehorse mining district	Mining District
Yukon	Territory
Canada	Country

The town of Whitehorse was significant in the history of the Klondike Gold Rush. During 1897-8, it was the site of the treacherous Whitehorse Rapids. Five stampeders drowned in the rapids and at one time 300 boats lay wrecked in the rapids causing a jam that had to be cleared. In 1899 Whitehorse became the northern terminus of the White Pass and Yukon Railroad bypassing the rapids. Today a dam in the Yukon River has submerged the rapids under Schwatka Lake at the southern end of town.

During the 1970’s the huge mine at Faro, Yukon Territory, 117 miles northeast of Whitehorse, was in peak production. The mill at Faro produced a lead-zinc concentrate that was trucked to Whitehorse and then carried to Skagway by the White Pass and Yukon Railroad. A typical train leaving for Skagway in the 1970’s would consist of 5 diesel locomotives, 27 double gondola ore cars, 11 passenger cars and 2 flat cars one with a bus and the other with a pickup camper for good measure. The gears in the locomotives were required to slow the train during the decent from White Pass to Skagway.

The method of transporting the ore was unique. Parabolic “tear drop” containers were filled at the mill with 33 tons of concentrate each and trucked to Whitehorse. At Whitehorse two containers were loaded on each modified flat car for the rail trip down to Skagway where they were removed from the flat car and dumped into the hold of a ship headed for Japan. This procedure was in effect from 1969 to 1982 when the mine at Faro closed due to falling metal prices. The White Pass and Yukon Railroad also closed and the unique “tear drop” buckets were sold to the company cleaning up the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. They were water tight and perfect for the job. The WP & YR was no longer able to transport ore shipments and when the mines restarted the ore was hauled to Skagway by truck on the newly opened all season road from Whitehorse to Skagway.
In 1988 the White Pass and Yukon Railroad reopened as a tourist train offering breathtaking excursions over the most scenic part of the route.

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