Skagway was the gateway to the gold fields for the thousands who flocked to Alaska and the Yukon with the hope of striking it rich. Skagway may have boasted the shortest route to the Klondike, but it wasn’t the easiest. Over the White Pass route through the Coast Mountains and the shorter but steeper Chilkoot Trail were used by countless stampeders. Many a would-be miner perished on the treacherous Chilkoot Trail. The gold rush was a boon and by 1898 Skagway was Alaska’s largest town with a population of about 20,000. Skagway residents as well as the 10,000 people living in nearby tent city of Dyea. But when the gold yield dwindled in 1900, so did the population as miners quickly shifted to new finds in Nome. Today Skagway has less than 1,000 residents. (Princess Patter)
For our excusion today, we took the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.
Tomorrow we will be going to Tracy Arms Fjord, where I am sure there will be no internet service:) I will report again in Ketchican.
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