yukon | The Filson Journal

The Pack Horses and Mules of White Pass Trail

The journey to the Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush was infamously arduous. Many lost their lives, including the overworked and overburdened pack animals. To this day, their loss and sacrifice are still remembered.

The Yukon Quest: The Toughest Race in the World

Toiling along in relative anonymity, Yukon Quest is a much grittier and demanding race than its older and more established cousin, the Iditarod. t has a relationship akin to that of K2 and Mt. Everest in the Himalayas. While the latter is the tallest peak on the planet and acts as a magnet for public attention, K2 is renowned among climbers as the harder and purer peak to summit. It’s the one that doesn’t have huge lines of people snaking up its slopes.

Journey to the Yukon: Passage Aboard the Steamships from Puget Sound to the Far North

The month of July 1897 was an exciting time to be living on the West Coast. Steamships with names like Excelsior and Portland were docking in the ports of San Francisco and Seattle, respectively, loaded down with tons of gold mined from the Klondike region of the Yukon territory of Canada. Alaska was the gateway by which anyone with a desire to strike it rich could make the journey northward and, if well prepared and lucky, eventually return to civilization a millionaire.