 SE Alaska
Skagway is located on the north end of Taiya Inlet on Lynn Canal, 2-1/2 hours by fast ferry or 90 air miles northwest of Juneau; 108 road miles south of Whitehorse, YT, via the South Klondike Highway. Skagway is 15 miles by water and 359 miles by road from Haines.
Visitor information:
Skagway Convention and Visitors Bureau, Box 1029, Skagway, AK 99840; phone (907) 983-2854; www.skagway.com
Skagway is the oldest incorporated city in Alaska (1900). In July 1897, the first boatloads of gold stampeders bound for the Klondike landed at Skagway and Dyea. By October 1897, Skagway had grown to a population “of about 20,000.” By the summer of 1899 the stampede was all but over. The newly built White Pass & Yukon Route railway reached Lake Bennett, supplanting the Chilkoot Trail from Dyea. Skagway persisted, both as a port and as terminus of the White Pass & Yukon Route railway, which connected the town to Whitehorse, YT, in 1900. Cruise ships, and later the Alaska State Ferry System, brought tourism and business to Skagway. Scheduled state ferry service to southeastern Alaska began in 1963.
Skagway has a post office, gas station (with diesel), a hostel and several churches. There is 1 bank in town with an ATM. There are several restaurants, cafes and bars; a grocery and True Value Hardware; the Klothes Rush clothing store; and many gift and novelty shops offering Alaska and gold rush souvenirs, photos, books, gold nugget jewelry, furs and ivory. The Skaguay News Depot on Broadway carries books and newspapers.
Skagway offers a variety of accommodations from hotels to bed and breakfasts, including The Historic Skagway Inn B & B (www.skagwayinn.com) in town and Chilkoot Trail Outpost (www.chilkoottrailoutpost.com) on Dyea Road. RV camping at Garden City RV Park, Pullen Creek RV Park and Skagway Mountain View RV Park. A tent campground is located at the Chilkoot Trail trailhead near Dyea.
Attractions: - Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park encompasses a 6-block historic district in Skagway’s business area; the Chilkoot Trail and Dyea; and a visitor center with exhibits and films on the history of the area and information on hiking the Chilkoot Trail. www.nps.gov/klgo
- Skagway Museum in the McCabe College Building preserves Alaskan historical material and displays of Alaskan pioneer life; www.skagwaymuseum.org
- Hike 33-mile the Chilkoot Trail over Chilkoot Pass (elev. 3,739 feet) to Lake Bennett, following the historic route of the gold seekers of 1897–98. www.nps.gov/klgo and www.pc.gc.ca/chilkoot
- The Days of ‘98 Show, the longest running show in the North, is a lively 1-hour musical/drama about con man Soapy Smith’s reign over Skagway during the days of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897-98.
- Corrington Museum of Alaska History offers 40 exhibits featuring scenes from Alaska history, each hand-engraved (scrimshawed) on a walrus tusk.
- Soapy Smith and Frank Reid are buried at the Gold Rush Cemetery (both men died in a gunfight in July 1898).
- Drive Dyea Road to the old Dyea Townsite. The National Park Service offers daily walking tours of the Dyea historic site in summer.
- Jewell Gardens & Glassworks, at the historic Clark Farm at Milepost 2 on the South Klondike Highway, is Skagway’s showcase garden: glass-blowing studio; gift shop; G-scale railroad; and a restaurant.
- Ride the historic White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad; www.wpyr.com
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