A3 (c. 16"x12") print on:
Permajet Gold Silk (£26)
Innova Soft-textured matt (£24)
You’ve probably seen the famous 1898 photograph of the enormous column of gold-rush
hopefuls struggling, in deep snow, up the mountain track on the first leg of their (mostly
abortive) journey to Dawson City and the gold fields of the Yukon. That epic struggle to cross
White Pass still exists as a trail for those hardy enough to try it, but for the rest of us mortals
there’s now a railway line - one of only two in Alaska - that ferries tourists across White Pass.
Crossing Dead Horse Gulch, it slugs on to Lake Bennett and other highlights of the era towards
journey's end at Whitehorse, capital of Yukon Territory in Canada’s far northwest. This is the
locomotive that used to run on the railway, though it’s mostly used only for special occasions
now, its place normally being taken by a narrow-gauge diesel. The fare includes lunch for all at
Lake Bennett and a visit to the lakeside wooden church built by the miners - to pray for gold,
no doubt. Most of them never made it to minerhood, having spent their time, before giving
up, milling around Dawson and watching the lucky ones (literally) bathe in champagne.
For the picture, I have introduced a subtle sense of movement into the wheels as it sits in the
siding at Skagway, SE Alaska, gateway to the dream factory that was the Klondike.
You’ve probably seen the famous 1898 photograph of the enormous column of gold-rush
hopefuls struggling, in deep snow, up the mountain track on the first leg of their (mostly
abortive) journey to Dawson City and the gold fields of the Yukon. That epic struggle to cross
White Pass still exists as a trail for those hardy enough to try it, but for the rest of us mortals
there’s now a railway line - one of only two in Alaska - that ferries tourists across White Pass.
Crossing Dead Horse Gulch, it slugs on to Lake Bennett and other highlights of the era towards
journey's end at Whitehorse, capital of Yukon Territory in Canada’s far northwest. This is the
locomotive that used to run on the railway, though it’s mostly used only for special occasions
now, its place normally being taken by a narrow-gauge diesel. The fare includes lunch for all at
Lake Bennett and a visit to the lakeside wooden church built by the miners - to pray for gold, no
doubt. Most of them never made it to minerhood, having spent their time, before giving up,
milling around Dawson and watching the lucky ones (literally) bathe in champagne.
For the picture, I have introduced a subtle sense of movement into the wheels as it sits in the
siding at Skagway, SE Alaska, gateway to the dream factory that was the Klondike.
A3 (c. 16"x12") print on:
Permajet Gold Silk (£26)
Innova Soft-textured matt (£24)