204 results for: Railroads
Photograph
Railroad construction workers and locomotive at the Green River crossing, 1885
In the 1880s, Chinese laborers were recruited by railroad companies because they worked for lower pay than whites. Chinese men were often assigned to such dangerous tasks as blasting through rock and laying tracks in tunnels or on river bluffs. Of the 20,000 men that built the Northern Pacific branch line between Pasco and Tacoma, 15,000 were Chinese.This 1885 photo…
ID Number:SHS5907
Date:1885
Photograph
White Pass & Yukon Route train, trestle, and tunnel, circa 1899
The first leg of the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad line was the most difficult to build. Between Skagway and White Pass, the tracks climbed 2,885 feet in just 21 miles. This required several switchbacks and careful tracklaying in order to make the route safe and passable. A 250 foot tunnel had to be blasted through solid rock. This…
ID Number:SHS10117
Date:Circa 1899
Photograph
Locomotive hauling powder through Skagway, circa 1902
Gold seekers who had made the long boat trip north to Skagway came ashore in an unfamiliar place described as "little better than hell on earth," and "about the roughest place in the world." They were 1,000 miles from Seattle, which was cosmopolitan by comparison.This photo of Skagway was probably taken between 1898 and 1905. The Hotel Seattle and other…
ID Number:SHS10681
Date:Circa 1902
Photograph
Rail wharves at Skagway, Alaska, circa 1899
By 1899, the port of Skagway had several large piers and a railroad line to Canada. This helped make Skagway, rather than Dyea, the main port of entry to the Yukon gold fields.This photo, probably taken around 1899, shows the rail wharves at Skagway. Freight and passengers could be unloaded here and loaded directly onto railroad cars for the trip…
ID Number:SHS14114
Date:Circa 1899