The Skagway & Yukon Transportation & Improvement Company was formed October 13, 1897, to build a wagon road, and later a narrow gauge railway, through the White Pass. From the beginning the company was in trouble: its route was based on a fraudulent survey, and many initial investors dropped out. Only weeks after work began, the company had dwindled to one man -- George Augustus Brackett.
Brackett had decades of experience in transportation and railway building, but the challenges of building through the White Pass were enormous. The project was seriously undercapitalized, and Brackett had no legal authority to build the road or charge tolls on it. He faced fierce competition from White Pass horse packers and from promoters of the Chilkoot Trail. Nevertheless he persevered, paying wages out of his own pocket, making quick trips south to cajole money out of unenthusiastic investors, and lobbying for legal status.
By the end of March 1898 the wagon road was complete to White Pass City, four miles short of the summit, and Brackett was charging tolls, still without legal authority. Despite confrontations with packers unwilling to pay, he was grossing between $1200 and $2000 a day by mid-April.
However, the end was already in sight -- the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway. In June, Brackett signed a preliminary agreement allowing the railway to use his road and his rail right of way through Skagway. In November, he signed a final sale agreement.
