Carl Mulvihill of Skagway, Alaska, is an authority on the history of the White Pass and Yukon Railway.
Like the late Roy Minter, who wrote a wonderful book on the railroad, Carl has a passion, particularly for the White Pass railway.
His letter follows …
Thanks, Jim, for the May 12 edition of the Yukon News. For some reason, we don’t receive the News as often as we once did, so I didn’t see this particular issue.
The slide on the White Pass railway is named 15 Slide because it is at milepost 15 on the railroad.
Snow slides come down every spring at this location, but not always as deep as this one.
It was cleared away by a steam-driven rotary snowplow, but because it was so deep, the upper portion had to be shoveled down by hand so that the plow could handle it.
The rotary plow had only a 10-foot diameter rotary wheel, and this particular level can be seen about five feet above the two men standing in the track.
Everything about that level had to be shoveled in relays to the track so it could be removed by the rotary.
I would like to obtain a copy of this photo for my collection. I have a similar one, but from the other side. I don’t know if it was the same date.
Carl Mulvihill
Skagway
Anybody with information about the photo, 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.