Five things define the tiny town of Carcross in Yukon Territory, a train depot, an empty but famous hotel, Matthew Watson’s Store, the world’s smallest desert, and, most important, a full-time population of 512 people—people with attitude.
Tourists flock to the tiny downtown and provide life blood to Carcross’s economy. When you join them do not stop with the collection of attractions next to the depot. To see all five things, walk away down a side street or two. Talk to people you see and listen to their stories. You will see what I mean by attitude.
Bessie Gideon—A Carcross Legend
For centuries Caribou used the land bridge connecting Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. And for centuries Inland Tlingits, camping there to hunt and fish, called the spot Caribou Crossing.
Then the Klondike Gold Rush brought outsiders. Outsiders built a narrow-gauge railroad from Skagway up to Whitehorse and ran it through Caribou Crossing. A little town grew there; acquired a railroad depot, a hotel, and Mathew Watson’s Store. And the outsiders renamed it Carcross.
Trains out of Skagway headed directly up into the coastal range to Lake Bennett then ran forty miles along the lake shore to where Carcross nestled into the backdrop of Caribou and Nares Mountains. The little town existed to serve the outsiders who came to experience the famous old gold rush town, to hunt the animals of the North Country, or both.
In 1942 the Corps of Engineers inundated the little town much as the Gold Rushers had. They came, of course, to build the Alaska Highway. And like the Gold Rushers, they soon left the little town on its own again.
But at the hotel Polly the parrot remained to sing operatic arias and offer a running commentary in the form of truly colorful and creative profanity. Johnnie Johns continued to lead hunting parties to bear, sheep and caribou.
As fascinating a place as you can imagine, Carcross still exists to serve us, the tourists who come to experience it.