Roughly 110 people make their home in Beaver Creek, some 320 miles from Fairbanks and about 280 miles from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

One of the community's few exceptions to the wintertime exodus is a large log structure with bright Christmas lights and decorations on its front face, located just south of the Canadian port of entry. Robert and Caulene Beatty own and operate the 1202 Motor Inn, which provides fuel, a restaurant, a general store and grocery line, overnight lodging and summertime RV camping.

Maintaining the Beaver Creek business during winter months provides a significant financial challenge, Robert Beatty said. Electric bills, along with diesel and propane costs add up to the tune of more than $8,000 a month. Adding to those winter operating expenses are more frequent septic pumping costs, thanks to the cold temperatures that create ice and hinders perking of sewage.

"It costs us $70,000 over what we take in, so we max out the credit cards and hope for a good summer," he said. "We live in a socialized government that has raised the prices of goods above what the people can afford."

Summer for the Beaver Creek business hasn't been good the last few years, either, Beatty said. Road reconstruction and improvements have left the Alaska Highway a dusty, rough route in that portion of the Yukon, Beatty said, motivating tourists to pass on through with few stops at either Beaver Creek or the couple's wilderness campground, the White River Crossing Trading Post and RV Park, located some 33 miles down the Alaska Highway.

"With gravel on the road, tourists want to keep on going because of the dust," he said.

Self-contained highway construction camps prevent additional business from road crews, Beatty said, although workers tend to loiter during off-hours in the 1202 Motor Inn restaurant, drinking coffee while waiting to use the local telephone.

The couple closes White River Crossing during winter months, saying any business would be taken from the Beaver Creek operation. "If it stayed open down there, it would just be competing with ourselves here," he said.

Beatty is uncertain about the impact from an Alaska natural gas pipeline project following the highway corridor. "It goes through White River, right into our property," he said. "I think construction will really be fast through here, it will not slow down."

His businesses might benefit from housing people, he said, although then he would be replacing the tourism and the Alaska clientele he now enjoys. And he doesn't expect much of a long-term employment opportunity for Beaver Creek residents, thanks to computers and cameras that can provide much of the needed monitoring of a gas line.

Beatty is more optimistic about construction of a rail line, linking the existing Alaska Railroad with train infrastructure in northern British Columbia. "I've heard more about the railroad than about the pipeline," he said in early January. "I see more of a chance for a railroad than a pipeline."

Such a transportation project could open up the Yukon to additional mineral exploration and development, he said. "Small mining companies would thrive, because they could haul concentrate and ore out to be loaded and shipped overseas ... now they can't haul any commodities. It only makes economic sense with that transportation."

One key to development of either a railroad or a gas pipeline through the Yukon is land settlement with the Canadian First Nations population, he added.