THE ALL CANADIAN AND ALL AMERICAN ROUTES
Instead of travelling from the South-east Alaskan ports, there were also the All-Canadian routes, because they mostly stayed on Canadian soil throughout their journey. These routes were popular with the British Empire because they avoided American customs and for patriotic reasons as well. The prospectors started from Ashcroft in British Columbia and crossed through swamps, river gorges and mountains until they finally met with the Stikine River route at Glenora. From Glenora, travellers would face the same obstacles as those who travelled from Wrangell. Around 1,500 attempted the Ashcroft route and 5,000 along the Stikine. The routes were very exhausting due to the mud and slush ice. Three routes started from Edmonton Alberta which were barely trails at all. One was called the overland route. It headed north-west of Edmonton, meeting the Peace River and continuing on overland to the Klondike, crossing the Liard River during the course of the journey. They other two trials were known as the “Water Routes” because they involved more river travel. One went by boat alongs rivers and overland towards the Yukon RIver system at Pelly River, and then to Dawson. The other one went north of Dawson near the Mackenzie River to Fort McPherson, and then entering Alaska and meeting Yukon River, going downstream to the Klondike.
An alternative to the All Canadian Routes was the All American Routes, which aimed to reach Yukon from Valdez which laid further along the Alaskan coast. 3,500 men and women attempted it in late 1897 but were delayed due the winter snows, but tried again in the spring. The huge Valdez glacier stood between the port and the Alaskan interior. Only 200 managed to climb it by 1899 and the cold and scurvy caused many deaths. Other prospectors tried a different across the Malaspina Glacier just to the east but they suffered even greater hardship. Those who crossed the Malaspina had to navigate miles of wilderness before they could reach Dawson. Many were forced to turn back, re-crossing the glacier and with only four men surviving.
An alternative to the All Canadian Routes was the All American Routes, which aimed to reach Yukon from Valdez which laid further along the Alaskan coast. 3,500 men and women attempted it in late 1897 but were delayed due the winter snows, but tried again in the spring. The huge Valdez glacier stood between the port and the Alaskan interior. Only 200 managed to climb it by 1899 and the cold and scurvy caused many deaths. Other prospectors tried a different across the Malaspina Glacier just to the east but they suffered even greater hardship. Those who crossed the Malaspina had to navigate miles of wilderness before they could reach Dawson. Many were forced to turn back, re-crossing the glacier and with only four men surviving.