Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 26

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Lake Bennett, British Columbia

by Margaret Carter

Founding a Mission

In 1897 the Reverend J.M. Dickey, Presbyterian minister in Skagway, marked Bennett as the next logical centre of population. A town was already forming — a collection of tents on the south end of Lake Bennett at the junction of the Chilkoot and White Pass trails. Although many routes "inside" were publicized during the days of '98, these were both old Indian routes, and the Chilkoot had been used by white prospectors in the north for many years. They were undeniably the most popular for men who could not afford exorbitant steamer rates to travel the whole journey by water through the mouth of the Yukon River. They could be reached by commercial steamer from the south, but at the neck of the Alaskan panhandle a long self-propelled trek began.

Although the Chilkoot and the White Pass (Fig. 1) were regarded as the best trails, they were both arduous. The Year Book of British Columbia written for publication early in 1898 outlined the latter this way:

WHITE PASS

The White Pass commences at Skagway Bay at the head of Lynn Canal at which point ocean steamers may call and where a wharf has been built for the accommodation of shipping . . . The first four miles is an easy water grade to Four-Mile Flat, to Porcupine Creek, up and down the side hill, is five miles; from there it is three miles to the first bridge on the Skagway River; it is swampy for a mile and a half to two miles to the second bridge; from there to the third bridge, one and a half miles, there are some hills and swamp land; to the Crossing by the Skagway is three quarters of a mile on foot, but by the trails for pack animals it is three miles along what is known as 'Bad Hill'. From the Crossing to the Summitt to Lake Bennett twenty-two miles. The trail leads along the southern side of Summit Lake and Shallow Lake to Government House and from there touching Lake Lindeman to Lake Bennett. ¹

1 The Chilkoot and White Pass trails. (Map by S. Epps) (click on image for a PDF version.)

Edwin Tappan Adney, who travelled the route late in 1897 gave a more graphic description.

Gradually, stage by stage, the trail rises, following the sloping shelves of the bare rock, so smooth as to afford no foothold . . . Where there are no rocks there are boggy holes. It is all rocks and mud — rocks and mud.²

Animals and men often went lame on the trail (Figs. 2 and 3). They were exhausted when they reached Bennett.

2 An Hourly Occurrence (Sinclair Papers.)

3 Blockade, White Pass Trail. (Sinclair Papers.)

The Chilkoot was somewhat quicker, though no less tortuous. It was an old Indian trail and "has always been the best in summer,"³ explained one veteran Mountie. Unfortunately in 1898 most Klondikers travelled in the spring to reach the diggings in time for a full season. There were so many of them that the steps carved in the ice on the mountain side by Al Lobley and Sam Taggart⁴ thawed (Fig. 4), and the presence of would-be miners helped set off three avalanches in an already avalanche-prone area (Fig. 5). Nevertheless, one guidebook gave adventurers the following dispassionate description of the route:

DYEA OR CHILKOOT

From Dyea landing to the Canon is eleven miles, practically on the level of the Dyea River flats; from the Canon to Sheep Camp is a hilly trail five miles long, reasonable passable. Up to the Scales, three miles, is steep and rough and the trail bad. From the Scales to the Summit, which is an altitude of 3,700 feet, is a distance of three-quarters of a mile, very steep and impassable for pack animals. The distances, with bad trails all the way, with the exception of the last mile, upon which waggons are used from the Summit are as follows: To Crater Lake, three-quarters of a mile; Crater Lake, two miles; to Portage, two and a half miles; to Lake Lindeman, five miles; to Lake Bennett, one mile.⁵

4 White hundreds of men waited to start up the Chilkoot Pass, those on the thin black line were climbing the steps. (University of Washington.)

5 Snowstorm on Chilkoot summit, 1898. (University of Washington.)

Despite its apparent difficulties, the Chilkoot route was very popular. Martha Black reported that in July of 1898 "the young officer told me that since the previous May eighteen thousand men had passed the pass and I was the six hundred and thirty-first woman"⁶ (Fig. 6). By the early spring of 1898 a tramway had been built over the mountains to carry goods to Crater Lake on the other side. Indian packers also sold space in packs like those shown in Figure 7, but both of these services were expensive, and most Klondikers carried goods to Bennett themselves (Fig. 8).

6 En route to the gold mines. (Yukon Archives, MacBride Museum Collection.)

7 Indian packers carrying heavy loads. (Missouri Historical Society.)

8 A Klondiker totes his own load. (Missouri Historical Society.)

Bennett marked the end of the trails, but these comprised only the first lap of the journey to the gold-fields on the southern route. The rest of the journey from Bennett to the Klondike was made on the Yukon River itself (Fig. 9). During the winter when the river was frozen, men continued their journey by sled. Hazardous conditions near Miles Canyon and the Whitehorse Rapids made the second or river half of the journey as exhausting as the early trail portion, so Bennett grew as the half-way resting point.

9 Bruce's Map of Alaska (New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1899). Section only. (Contained as an insert in Mary E. Hitchcock, Two Women in the Klondike [New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1899].)

A crude centre appeared at the southeast end of the lake as men pitched tents and took up temporary residence (Fig. 10). By September of 1897 a sawmill had been built near the "settlement" to provide lumber for boat-building,⁷ and tent stores had been erected to buy outfits from discouraged men returning home and sell them to the hopefuls on their way north. Canvas beaneries and saloons were also set up. In response to this activity, the Reverend James Robertson, Superintendent of Home Missions, decided to act on Skagway minister Dickey's recommendation and establish a mission at Bennett. Consequently, the second Presbyterian minister to the Klondike, Rev. Andrew S. Grant from Almonte, Ontario, arrived in Skagway on 22 January 1898, and moved straight inland (Fig. 11). He reached Bennett in mid-February and reported to Robertson that the journey on the White Pass had been "the herculean task of my life."⁸ His comments were similar to those of the thousands of other gold-seekers accustomed to city life who made the trek north. "The trail is a brute," he wrote, "but thanks to the Lord we have conquered it, and our stuff is all over here. It would have cost our party $1,800 to have our stuff freighted over and we took it ourselves in three weeks."⁹ The task meant doubling back again and again to carry the heavy outfit along the trail (Fig. 12). A large supply of staples had been required by the North-West Mounted Police for entry into the country since the previous winter when Dawsonites had almost starved to death. This made travel quite a hardship, but it was only one of many the ordinary Klondiker had to brave. "It is not the most comfortable thing sleeping on the snow 40° below, and doing our own cooking but we are all right."¹⁰

10 Boat-building camp, Bennett, 1897 or very early 1898. (R.N. DeArmond, Juneau.)

11 Revs. Dickey and Grant, Presbyterian missionaries at Skagway en route to Klondike, January 1898. (University of Washington.)

12 While these men are not Grant's party the size of their outfit gives an idea of what the ordinary Klondiker brought "inside." (Provincial Archives of British Columbia.)

Despite the difficulties, Grant's sense of mission was strong. His parting address to the civilized world reveals a determination to succeed in the north: "When the Superintendent faced me with the question 'will you go to the Klondike?' every personal and selfish consideration said 'No!' but all that was best in me said 'Yes!' But I would not go, were I not overwhelmingly convinced that I am called."¹¹ An impartial observer would have found his attitude refreshing, for many have commented on "cold-bloodedness of the gold-seeking multitude"¹² found around Lake Bennett in the winter of 1897-98.

On 28 February, Grant informed Robertson that "Those who ought to know affirm that Bennett will have a large population this summer."¹³ Even at that time, men were braving the searing chill of Yukon winter to travel downriver by sled (Fig. 13). Few would stop for long at Bennett until The melting ice signalled danger. Then, there would be a back-up of men waiting for the shift to summer modes of transportation. "I have selected a site for a Church in Bennett and think of ordering a large tent and erecting it on this site, put a block floor in, and a sort of framework to support the tent. We must occupy this post at once,"¹⁴ wrote Grant to Robertson. He evidently expected there would be a large influx.

13 During the winter men traveled on Lake Bennett by sled, continuing their journey. (R.N. DeArmond, Juneau.)

By the middle of March, Grant had built a 12 by 16 foot log cabin as a residence or "manse," as he called it, to act as shelter from the cold. He paid gold-rush prices for his supplies, and although he cut the logs himself, the building cost over $200 to complete. "For three short boards for a door I paid $9.00. For the tar paper for the roof $21.00 &c."¹⁵ (Fig. 15). Gold-rush prices were high, and Grant was on a normal salary. It is a tribute to his dedication that he borrowed money to complete the work he felt necessary and promised to pay it back himself if the church did not consider it a worthwhile investment.¹⁶

14 Hotel Dormitory. Two men to a bunk of split slabs and blankets that smelled like axle grease. (Sinclair Papers.)

15 The congregation at a church service in the spring of 1898. Note Grant's "manse" in the background on the left, the tent church on the right, and the bell and scaffold in between. (Public Archives Canada.)

Grant was finding little support among the Klondikers. Earlier, on his way up the trail, he had commented on their disinterest in the establishment of a church. In the Klondike "Gold is God" recalled another man looking back on his experiences,¹⁷ and Grant found it was a vicious competitor. On 28 February he wrote to Robertson, "I tried to conduct services at bunk houses along the way but with little success."¹⁸ In these canvas or poorly chinked log houses, two or three men squeezed on a single bunk of split slabs to restoke for the day ahead¹⁹ (Fig. 14). They slept in shifts, mindless of the stench and discomfort in their push north to the gold-fields. "Most of the people work on the Sabbath," continued Grant, "and it is difficult to interest them in Christian work. A man requires much of the grace of God to sustain him in the midst of difficulties of exposure and all such like, perhaps when we get down to work it will be easier."²⁰ But the first three services held in the new "St. Andrew's Manse" in Bennett attracted only 30 people of varying denominations. They "were comfortably seated on logs laid across blocks of wood, and the logs were up held and stored with my blankets and sleeping bag under them."²¹ Still, the collection of $5.00 did little to finance the construction of the building — a measure traditionally used to evaluate the success of the work.

A subscription fund for the new St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Lake Bennett, had nevertheless been started, and by 29 March, Grant was able to report, "so far as I have gone with the Manse and Church everything is paid for." This may have satisfied readers at home, but Grant himself was much less certain about the venture. "I am sure that short of my medical mission work the manse . . . would not have been an accomplished fact," he wrote. In the brutal, competitive Klondike situation, Grant applied his practical talents as a medical doctor to yield the slim margin he obviously felt was essential for continuation. "I got a number to subscribe small amounts and then having had occasion to treat a great many patients (some days as many as 15) when asked my fee, asked a subscription."²² Still, the mission at Bennett, the first of a series in Canadian territory, was in operation by March 1898.