Horst Moritz sent some interesting information and photographs taken in 1975. He helped take down Yukon’s most famous tramline - Calumet to Elsa. It ran on gravity only, no power involved.
He mentioned there was a small electric motor at “No Cash” to sometimes give it a push start if the tramline was not stopped with loaded buckets downhill.
In a previous column about the Hector claim, I mentioned the late John Scott had told me when he came to work one morning his boss, Mr. Wernecke, told him he had the job to design him a tramway. John, who was a mining engineer, had never attempted anything close to that. The end result was a wonderful accomplishment, the Calumet to Elsa tramway. I understand my friend in Keno, Mike Mancini, used to play on the tramway when he was a kid. I hope he writes in some information about the tramway.
The following letter is from Horst Moritz. Many thanks for this, Horst:
Hi Jim:
I worked in Elsa starting in 1966. In 1975, I was working as a welder when I retired the tramline, cutting the cable and dropping it to the ground. There was, at one time, some interest from South America to buy the whole works, but the company backed out and it never materialized.
Regards,
Horst Moritz
then better known as “Goldfinger”
Anyone with information about this subject, please write Jim Robb: The Colourful Five Per Cent Scrapbook - Can You Identify? c/o the Yukon News, 211 Wood Street, Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 2E4, or e-mail through the News website, www.yukon-news.com.