I traveled to Alaska on a cruise ship and discovered that Alaska is the most amazing state in America. When I arrived in Skagway I did not anticipate that I would go on incredible excursion, the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway train ride. According to the website the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway is the "Scenic Railway of the World." Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, this narrow gauge railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. The WP&YR climbs almost 3000 feet in just 20 miles and features steep grades of up to 3.9%, cliff-hanging turns of 16 degrees, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. The steel cantilever bridge was the tallest of its kind in the world when it was constructed in 1901.
Gateway to the Klondike Goldrush of
1898: Skagway
A place exists in Alaska where the past lives on,
where the cries of “gold in the Yukon” still echo from steep canyon walls,
where the sounds of barroom pianos and boomtown crowds ring out in the night. A
place where the romance and excitement of yesteryear linger around every street
corner, every bend in the trail. That place is Skagway!
What to do in Skagway!
Klondike
Gold Rush National Historic Park
Located in the former White Pass and Yukon Railway depot, the visitor's center for the park has Gold Rush exhibits and regular showings of films. Interpreters give special programs and lead walking tours along Broadway during the summer months. The park has a number of other properties, including the Moore Cabin, for visitors to tour. Information about hiking the Chilkoot Trail is also available. (907) 983-2921.
Located in the former White Pass and Yukon Railway depot, the visitor's center for the park has Gold Rush exhibits and regular showings of films. Interpreters give special programs and lead walking tours along Broadway during the summer months. The park has a number of other properties, including the Moore Cabin, for visitors to tour. Information about hiking the Chilkoot Trail is also available. (907) 983-2921.
Trail of '98 Museum
(Winter months upon request; open daily during summer) The museum's collection of artifacts, memorabilia, photographs, and historical records cover one hundred years of Skagway history. The Gold Rush collection of artifacts, the finest in Alaska, were actually used by the stampeders. Skagway businesses, schools, churches, social and fraternal organizations and family life collectibles are all represented in the collection.
Gold Rush Cemetery
Skagway's most famous graveyard is the Gold Rush Cemetery. Records indicate that the first burial occurred there early in 1898. With the exception of two families, the cemetery was no longer used after 1908. One hundred and thirty-three grave sites have been located there but burial records are available for only sixty of them.
Broadway
Skagway's most famous street brings the Gold Rush era alive every day. Shops, galleries, saloons, and shows provide a colorful and entertaining experience. Broadway is also the central business district. Many buildings date to the Gold Rush or resemble turn-of-the-century structures.
Arctic Brotherhood Hall
The Skagway Arctic Brotherhood Hall, built in 1899, is perhaps the most photographed building in the state. Over 20,000 individual pieces of driftwood from Skagway beaches make up the mosaic covering its false front. Currently, the Trail of '98 Museum is using the building.
Dyea and the Chilkoot Trail
Dyea was settled long ago by the Chilkoot Tlingit. The trade route established by the Tlingit from Dyea across the mountains to the interior is called the Chilkoot Trail. During the first year of the Gold Rush, Dyea rivaled Skagway as the largest town in Alaska. After the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad was opened, Dyea underwent an abrupt decline, leaving hotels, banks, and stores vacant. Today, all that remains are some scattered foundation ruins, the rotting stubs of the two-mile-long wharf, the Slide Cemetery where some 60 victims of the 1898 avalanche on the Chilkoot Trail lay buried, all poignant reminders of the hardships, uncertainties, and tragedies of Klondike times. The National Park Service maintains a ranger station during the summer here to check people crossing the Chilkoot Pass and give tours of the valley.
Klondike Highway and Trail of '98
The Klondike Highway is one of the most scenic and historic routes to the Yukon and Interior Alaska. The highway shares the narrow Skagway River Valley with the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad and the historic White Pass Trail of '98. The highway goes through West White Pass while the other two routes pass through White Pass. The route leads through the breathtaking Coast Range with its gorgeous waterfalls and glaciers to the pass and Continental Divide, where the headwaters of the Yukon begin, and on through subarctic terrain and gorgeous lakes. There are several interpretive stops.
McCabe College Building
This granite masonry building was built in 1899 as a Methodist College for Women. It had operated less than a year, when purchased by the U.S. Government, serving the next 60 years as a courthouse and jail in District Court I, Territory of Alaska. The City of Skagway took it over in the early 1960s.
“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger
visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune
carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.” – Samuel Johnson
