DONE! White Pass Rotary Pilot Mike O'Daniel watches from the pilot house as the Rotary Fleet finally busts through the 10 foot high drift that was blocking the platform at Bennett Station in Bennett, BC. During the winter, strong winds off nearby Lake Bennett blow snow off the ice-covered lake, and it accumulates at the first obstacle, which happens to be this depot building. WPY Superintendent Ed Hanousek had predicted we'd see a deep drift here, and he was right on target. This last stretch of plowing was the first time I had ever seen or heard of a railway plowing a station platform with a rotary plow. It was quite a spectacle to watch. The goal of the 2011 Rotary Run was to get the line open all the way from Skagway to Bennett, a total of 40 miles. With the station platform now open, it was time to retreat back to Skagway, a journey that would take nearly 3 hours.
Although the plowing mission was now over, the day's activities were not. On the train back to Skagway, the railroad folks advised the photographers to go back to their hotels, get cleaned up, and show up at the main depot in downtown Skagway at 2PM for a little party they were throwing just for the train crews and photographers, so they could celebrate the plowing mission over some cold brews. It was a fantastic finale to 4 incredible days on the final frontier.
