A memorandum of understanding among the White Pass and Yukon Route railway, the Carcross-Tagish First Nation and the territorial government will see White Pass extend rail service from Bennett, B.C. to Carcross for charters.

The Destination Yukon agreement was signed last Thursday morning at the White Pass depot in Whitehorse. It will see the three parties work together on tourism projects for Carcross.

'Today is a major milestone,' Michael Brandt, vice-president of marketing and planning for White Pass, told a news conference marking the signing.

The three parties will begin working on pilot projects to prepare for the charters. They'll also host a follow-up to the Carcross Summit held last year. That event saw various companies and interest groups came together to discuss economic development in the community.

The agreement, Premier Dennis Fentie said, speaks to the territory's approach in engaging the corporate community, first nations and others in enhancing economic development.

The initiative will enhance tourism and economic opportunities in Carcross, he said.

'This is another example of why we want economic partnerships, because they are mechanisms that allow us to develop mutual benefits for all people,' Fentie said.

New business opportunities in the area will be substantial, said Economic Development Minister Jim Kenyon.

'The timing couldn't be better, actually, to work with our partners and make Carcross a tourism destination,' he said, noting the community is a major gateway to Alaska.

Kenyon said the three parties want to see local jobs, product development and a sustainable economy that respects the heritage and quality of life for Carcross residents.

Mark Wedge, chief of the Carcross-Tagish First Nation, recalled White Pass' history in Carcross when it was a year-round service. He also recalled Skookum Jim's involvement when the route was first built more than 100 years ago.

The first nation and its elders' council have been looking at how an economic base with year-round employment can be created.

Working with business is important in creating that economy.

'Governments are not the only employers, and we have to expand into private enterprise,' Wedge said. 'So that's why it's important to have participants from the community to look at this, is that we need to create an economy on a large area.

'And it does take governments' responsibility the first nations government, Yukon government, federal government responsibility to work with private enterprise to work at how do we create these things?'

The agreement is just the beginning, as it provides some employment, he said.

'This will create a lot of work,' Brandt said.

This year, White Pass' maintenance crew, made up of 30 workers, including an additional 15 this year, will prepare the 48 kilometres of track between Bennett and Carcross for the 2005 service.

The charter service this year is being done with a goal of establishing scheduled service for 2006.

'This puts the Yukon back into White Pass and Yukon Route,' Brandt said.

He suggested the first land claims agreement of its kind was between White Pass and the Carcross-Tagish First Nation.

'And that culture of commitment and partnership is very much alive in (White Pass president) Gary Danielson and it's echoed by the chief,' Brandt said.

'And this partnership has been integral to getting to this point because we've got to champion our history that's been largely lost, and we've got to position Carcross as a made-in-Yukon solution, preserving the authenticity of our history and maintaining the integrity of the culture.'

While there's a lot of work to do in that, with a common vision and commitment, it's possible, he commented.

One major charter has been booked for the summer for a round trip from Carcross to Bennett with the Ride Yukon motorcycle tour in June.

Engine 69, built for White Pass in 1907, will be used this year with its inaugural charter being the Ride Yukon event.

Brandt said there's a lot of interest in Canadian products from bus tour operators and cruise lines.

'That's what's so important about this MOU and this initiative; it sends the signal to industry about what will happen in Carcross,' Brandt told reporters.

'Otherwise, we have to wait until the infrastructure's there and you got this continuous chicken-and-egg thing happening.'

Through the partnership, both ends of the project the marketplace and the infrastructure will work toward the middle, where both are in place, he said.

'So we think this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy,' Brandt said.

The White Pass has outgrown the red line train it currently uses for its Skagway-to-Bennett route, he noted, which is way the company is selling the car to the Yukon government. The government announced its purchase of the car in the legislature last year.

Kenyon said the deal will likely be completed this week. Part of that will see it leased back to White Pass for its use on some of the projects for the next two years, he said.

'Beyond that, we'll see what happens,' Kenyon said.

One of the possibilities may be to leave the car in place if there are good programs where it can be used, or to use it for waterfront development in Carcross or possibly Whitehorse.

'You can expect to see steam engines and diesel engines pulling in, many coaches, into Carcross,' Brandt said.

In 2000, the golden spike ceremony held in Carcross was supposed to be the stepping-off point for scheduled service into Carcross, but there wasn't the market for it, he explained.

The marketplace has since grown, with the capacity of Skagway reached while the demand for Canadian products, scenery and more land programs has increased.

'So the timing's right for this,' he said.

The project will see White Pass spend $750,000 on maintenance work and $200,000 in marketing.

This summer, a number of pilot projects will be underway, though details on those initiatives are still being worked on.

'So you take a Ride Yukon and we've got all these motorcyclists coming up and its all about the Yukon and it's all about the ride and it's all about the scenery and the history,' Brandt said.

'So when we bring them to Carcross, what all will we do, how will we showcase our first nations culture for them it's been one of our objectives; that's the type of tourism product people want. But what is it, who's going to do it, how will we price it those are the things that we have to work on.'

As for how many tourists the project will bring into Carcross, Kenyon said each charter will likely bring in between 600 and 800 people.

'If the product looks good, we could see 10,000 or 20,000 people coming into Carcross,' he said. 'It might not be that high, it might be more; we don't know.'

Brandt said scheduled service in 2006 could bring in 20,000 people. White Pass will make the initial charters as large as it can, but it has to be able to host, feed and entertain the tourists.

Tour companies want to know that the product is there, Kenyon stressed.

With a lot of films being made in Carcross over the last couple of years, Wedge said services like catering and snowmobile operations have also been developing. Tours have been coming to the community with things like button-blanket making being made available to tourists.

This has brought about discussion in the first nation's elders' council on how to honour the first nation culture.

'As we begin to grow and develop, there's things like walking tours,' he said. 'And so what we need to begin to do is really to start honing, to start saying, how do we start building these things?'

Things like dog mushing and northern lights viewing are occurring already, Wedge said.

'It didn't start today,' he said.