Skagway, Alaska- Goldrush Town Alive and Well
by Paul H. Green
Skagway is a popular destination for cruise ships during the summer and is also connected to highway transportation to the interior of Alaska and Canada. This is your opportunity to drive into the interior in a rental car and see the sites of the Klondike gold rush in Canada's Yukon Territory. Skagway is also only 15 miles by water from the nearby town of Haines.
The Klondike Highway was completed in 1978 and then there is also the historic and now only tourist attraction railroad from Skagway to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. The highway allows access to the United States and Canada through the Alaska Highway. This also makes Skagway an important stop on the Alaska Marine Highway (the state run ferry system.) The tourist trade is a big part of the city's business. Some say that tourism is Skagway's only business and that the reconstructed town is just a giant Disneyland of the North. If that is the case, it is still an incomparable opportunity to see the good old days of the gold rush. Skagway is the gateway to the gold rush route that includes a railroad, now used largely for tourism purposes in the summer months.
The Skagway area today is home to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. This was the port end of the trails that went up to the White Pass and Chilkoot Trail which connected to Bennett Lake and the Yukon River. After that it was a quick raft ride down the Yukon to the gold prospecting areas of the Klondike. In terms of cultural and historic thrills this is the ultimate in those interested in the phenomenon known as the Gold Rush. Skagway has a historic district of about 100 buildings from the gold rush era. It receives almost a million tourists annually, most from cruise ships that stop at Skagway's docks. The recreation of preservation of the town and its fantasies, barroom crowds included, is truly remarkable. One can spend a day viewing the biggest, authentic gold rush ghost town in Alaska and probably the world. In 1896, gold was found in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory near Dawson City. Miners came from throughout the world and prepared themselves for the journey to the gold fields. This journey begins in Skagway, and heads over the White Pass, and the Canadian border to Lake Bennett, or one of its neighboring lakes, where barges were floated down the Yukon River to the gold fields.
Today about three thousand hikers a year make the hike up the Chilkoot trail all the way to Dawson City, Yukon. We know the number, because all of these hikers have to register with the Canadian Park service and pay a fee, and it's a pretty serious hike. It is the ultimate hike, but it takes 5 or 6 days. For those on a tighter schedule, you can hike the lower Dewey Lake Trail, less than a mile, or a fairly steep hike over 2 miles to Upper Dewey Lake. While Skagway is a real town, nine miles to the north is the totally deserted remnants of the ghost town Dyea. A century ago, Dyea was a bustling city. True, though the site is a protected historic site, there is not very much left of the town, but it is still a wonderful opportunity for hiking and viewing the mudflats and nature. You can see the coastal tidal mud flats, where you'll view eagles and other large birds.
The top day trip in the area is to ride the world-famous White Pass and Yukon Railroad, one of the engineering wonders of the world. It originally ran over 100 miles to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. Nowadays, the popular summit excursion railroad trip goes up 20-miles to an elevation of almost three thousand feet and then goes back to Skagway. This trip takes about three hours. There is also an all-day trip to Lake Bennett, from where the Gold Rush prospectors launched their boats up the Yukon River to the gold fields near Dawson City, Yukon.
You can take a helicopter ride to the Chilkoot Glacier system, for a special Alaska style treat. And, if you happen to be an experienced kayaker, you can paddle your way the 15 miles between Skagway and Haines, and see the Lynne Canal, the largest fjord in North America.
Skagway has cool summers and mild winters like the rest of the panhandle region of Alaska, with summer temperatures usually only going up to the sixties Fahrenheit. In terms of precipitation, it is a good deal dryer than wet Ketchikan and even Juneau, only 90 miles southeast as the birds fly. It has a rainfall of only 26 inches per year, with a substantial amount of snow, which will melt after a while. The Skagway Airport receives service from three charter flight operations. For a great gateway to Skagway related sites, see www.explorenorth.com/library/communities/alaska/bl-skagwayindex.htm and don't forget to see pictures of the hillside hugging White Pass and Yukon Railroad, at www.wpyr.com .