BOBILLIER, MARCEL (2-1A) (118 ENGLISH)
The year 1958 marked the 60th anniversary of the famous Klondike gold rush.
At Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon, and at Dawson, the old capital, festivals and celebrations recalled this historic event.
Because the crossing of the Pacific Coastal Chaine was at this time a remarkable episode in history, thousands of people hurled themselves into the line-up for the Chilkoot in the direction of the Klondike gold fields.
To recall the sixtieth anniversary of this famous rush for gold, a group of men and women from Whitehorse had walked, in July 1958, from Skagway on the Psacific coast to Bennett, in the interior following the railroad which crossed the Coastal Chain through the White Pass. This trip of about 40 miles was certainly not difficult and did not demand too much endurance, even though the railroad would climb gradually up to 3000 feet of altitude before reaching the White Pass where in 1898 and 1899, thousands of men and horses penetrated into the country. This pass is less dangerous than the famous Chilkoot Pass, which was known many years before by the Indians and the first miners who penetrated into the Yukon from the Pacific side.
When escorting the searchers for gold en route towards Dawson, Father Gendreau, o.m.i., first superior for the Oblates in the Yukon, and Brother Dumas, had already climbed the sharp sides of the Chilkoot Trail, but no Oblate had, for the past sixty years, gone through this pass, which was totally abandoned since then because it was too high and too difficult; however, more direct for the foot travelers than the old route which climbed towards the White Pass.
With the intention of redoing these pages from the past, and of establishing what was left of the route for the miners passed the Chilkoot, Father Leo Boyd, o.m.i., and myself, we wanted to redo the journey and to relive the epic. In order to do so, we took the train on Monday the 25th of August , 1958 from Carcross, in the Yukon, to Skagway in Alaska.
When wee arrived at 2:30, Father Cowgill, assisteant at the Sint Pius X School drove us by car from Skagway to Dyea, nine miles farther. From there, our with knapsack on our backs, we left as soon as possible to go up the Taiga River Valley which takesits source from the Chilkoot gorge.
First Day: the beginning trail
Father Boyd carried the food and his sleeping bag. I carried mine and a light tent, the kitchen utensils and my photographic equipment.
After having climbed about one hundred feet, on the side of a slope, we found the path that descended the mountain towards this valley. For the first two miles it was impossible to follow the approaches of this river because they are overhung by precipitous rocks.
The walk is relatively easy. The forest surrounds us on all sides. It is a thick coniferous forest through which the shorter bushes and the "devil's clubs" (a plant with large leaves*** and whose branches are covered in sharp stinging needles grows in profusion) it is advisable not to touch them because their thorns penetrate very easily into one's skin and can even infect it, but this will be nearly impossible in the jungle which awaits us higher up.
It took us half an hour to cover the distance on this lovely picturesque path which in the bottom of the valley we could have covered had we been able to cross by a previously -existing bridge this large river.
This path made us climb to many hundreds of feet above the river but, at its extremity, we are back down to its level and we find an old 3-4 miles route which led formerly to an old sawmill.
Where we met the first traces of the two men who preceded us, On the flat trail, the walk is easy. In fact we were told that the two days previous, two Americans from Montana had also left for the Chilkoot Pass.
On a wooden bridge under which salmon swam, we crossed an arm of a river. A horrible stench of putrefaction was spread in the surrounding air: dead salmon covered both sides of the river. Many bear tracks are visible on the earthen road and it is not surprising that one of them shows himself about two hundred feet from us, a little black bear, who in front of our very eyes snuck into the forest close by.
The road is quite good up to the saw-mill where immense piles of sawed wood, of debris, and two old cabins are the only vestiges of this industry which has been abandoned for quite a few years.
At 7 o'clock that evening, we reached the end of this road where the last pines had been cut and where we penetrated into the jungle of his valley. We try to follow closely the course of the river where tall mountains have precipitous over hangs on each side, where glaciers seem suspended on the crest, and where real bluish-white glaciers descend very low into the ravines.
At 7 o'clock, the day seems to end and we decided to camp. We passed from a river bank to a sand bank where we raised our tents. The wood is damp and we have difficulty lighting a fire on which we wanted to boil some water for coffee.
One hour later we were lying under the tent. We had put up rubber sheets on the damp sand then placed our tents on them. We were not comfortable.
During this first night we spent in the bottom of the valley, a few hundred feet from a glacier, the ground however is too rough and I can only sleep a few hours. However my companion seems to rest well.
ref: Marcel Bobillier, o.m.i. Photo Marcel Bobillierhauling water.
photo: Yukon Archives
Marcel Bobillier
coll. NO. 8744
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