This Day in Yukon History

Alaska railway isn’t a new concept

July 12, 1886 – “The project of building a railway through Alaska to the Bering Strait, to connect with a road on the other side of that waterway, is not a new idea, though the reports of the government surveyors have given it a standing which it has not before possessed.

So far as our own territory is concerned, there are no difficulties in the way which modern engineering science could not readily overcome. In winter the temperature is very low, in the valley of the Yukon the spirits in the thermometer often ranging as far down as 60 deg. and 70 deg. below zero; but this is not greatly under the point indicated on the thermometer in the districts through which the Canadian Pacific railroad has been built.

Special precautions would have to be taken in winter to ensure the comfort and safety of the passengers and employees exposed to the rigors of such a climate; but here again the obstacles are of an allayable character.

There is reason for believing that large deposits of coal are to be found at a number of different points in the territory, thus partially meeting objections that might be urged on the score of expense for fuel.”

(Savannah Morning News – Savannah, Georgia)

Murray Lundberg

Travelling, writing, and photographing for articles and blog posts at ExploreNorth.

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