A couple warehousey buildings
A depot from days gone by
Canadian Port of Entry
Just a brief pause, and then we'll fly...
Perched along Lake Bernard in the odd miniaturized glacial tundra landscape, Fraser is a spot to stretch your legs after the White Pass climb on the excursion train -- and for some, the to/from transfer to 'motorcoach.' For others, it was our Port of Entry into Canada -- we were on to the end of the tracks at Carcross, YT.
Explore North's concise description says most:
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visit link)
Fraser is located at Kilometer 36.5 of the South Klondike Highway in northwestern British Columbia. It is 34 km north of Skagway, Alaska and 69 km south of Carcross, Yukon. It is a Canada Border Services Agency ("Canada Customs") port of entry and a maintenance camp for the Yukon's Department of Highways and Public Works, which maintains this section of highway under contract to the British Columbia government. Fraser has no permanent residents and no businesses. A privately-owned micro-hydro project supplies electricity to the community. All housing is for Customs and Highways employees.
Fraser began as the location of a water tower for the steam engines of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway, which was built in 1898-1900 to connect Skagway and Whitehorse. The water tower structure still stands, but today the railway primarily uses Fraser as a place to transfer passengers between buses and trains.
"Fraser" is correctly pronounced fray-zer, but many people pronounce it fray-zher like the television sitcom Frasier.
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An Interpretive sign overlooking Fraser reads:
The present-day location of Canadian Customs is also the site of one of the White Pass & Yukon Route railway stations. The station was named Fraser, probably to honour a politician from eastern Canada who had helped the railway company in its early days.
Construction of the White Pass railway began in May of 1898 and was completed to Whitehorse in July 1900. The 180-kilometre (110 mile) narrow-gauge line ran from Skagway, at tidewater, through Alaska and British Columbia to Whitehorse, Yukon.
Fraser is located on the stretch of track between the Summit, site of the International border, and Bennett, at the south end of Bennett Lake.
This section of track was built during the winter of 1898-99, a winter that saw exceptionally heavy snowfall and cold temperatures. Not only did this section of track have to be constructed at the worst time of the year, but it also involved the most backbreaking work: cutting a railway roadbed through solid rock.
In those days, there was no heavy equipment available for blasting. Rock debris had to be hauled by hand or by horse-drawn wagons, and in some places near the Summit, the slopes were so steep that even horses couldn't be used.
In the words of the company's first president, Samual Haughton Graves, "Between Skaguay (sic) and Fraser, near Log Cabin, a distance of 28 miles, there was not a wheelbarrowful of gravel or loose earth ... the line was entirely on solid rock or bridges."
A second sign reads:
Fraser
Welcome to Canada; Welcome to the Yukon
This section of the Klondike Highway from the U.S. Border to Log Cabin passes through terrain not usually accessible by road -- a sparse and sometimes eerie subalpine landscape of lakes and stunted trees. This transition of vegetation between the treed lower elevations and the true alpine above the treeline is sometimes referred to as a 'moonscape.'
The small twisted alpine firs that you see have survived decades of fierce winter storms. Every winter the dense and matted lower branches are buried under the snow while the sparse and distorted upper branches are exposed to icy winds. These misshapen firs ... are also known as mopheads and have a pleasant smell which is characteristic of alpine fir.
Subalpine and alpine regions are fragile environments and are easily damaged. There is very little soil over the glacial carved gravel and rock. When walking in these areas, visitors will leave the fewest traces if they follow an existing track in single file. Where there is no trail it is best to spread out across a wide area or walk along gravelly lakeshore, creekbed, or through rocky terrain where vegetation will not be disturbed.
An average of 721 centimetres (24 feet) of snow falls at Fraser each year. Snowplows are sometimes guided only by the orange and black tips of the poles you see lining the road. Many people take advantage of the abundant snow to ski at the summit on sunny spring days.
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My own impressions of Fraser -- basically passing through:
We crested the Pass and passed into Canada, pausing at Fraser, the Canadian Port of Entry. “Hold your passport up by your face. Do not smile. Do not chat. DEFINITELY do not take pictures, as you value your freedom and your camera.” The fellow was official, but quick, and we spilled out onto the platform to take in the scene.
Fraser is pretty much a half dozen structures, dominated by the corrugated steel Port of Entry building. Wide pull-out for busses. The train track. And an old red frame building (with restrooms) that was the old water tower and ‘station house.’ It sits on the westmost of the Fraser Lakes, Lake Bernard. This summit landscape is round upon round of glacial domes, with what they call ‘Glacial Tundra’ – which is miniature trees, miniature bushes, etc. What nature does when the soil ain’t but a frog’s hair thick, and pretty thin (as in nutrientless). The lake is glacier blue-green.
We headed onward, passing by the inventively named Middle Lake and finally the equally romantically monikered Shallow Lake. Shallow lake is also called Portage Lake, and the fishing is pretty good. To whit, it is lined with fishing cabins (I’ve seen campers bigger ‘n some of them), including a modified freight car. Most of the fishermen are/were employees of the railroad.
There is a 2 part lake – sand bar keeps snowmelt and glacial water from mixing – so you have azure vs that milky blue green....