Skagway

In 1897 news of Klondike gold reached Seattle and tens of thousands landed here to cross into Canada, where the Mounted Police required each man to bring a ton of supplies - roughly a year's food and equipment - which meant carrying it up the Chilkoot or White Pass in relays over many trips. Most never reached the goldfields and most who did found the claims already staked. Skagway boomed to between eight and ten thousand by June 1898, the largest city in Alaska, and by 1900 the rush was nearly over. A historic district of about a hundred false-fronted gold-rush buildings is preserved as a national historical park. The White Pass and Yukon Route railway, a narrow-gauge line begun in 1898 and finished through the pass in 1900, still runs excursions on grades and trestles cut into the rock.

What's there

• Preserved boomtown blocks - false fronts from 1897-98.
• The ton of goods requirement - explained in the park exhibits.
• The White Pass railway - narrow gauge, begun 1898, still running.
• The pass itself - the route the stampeders carried loads over.

When to go

May to September; the town largely closes in winter. A full day.

Before you go

Cruise days can put several thousand people into a town of a thousand. Almost everything shuts from October to April. The railway is expensive and books out. Weather in the pass closes services.

Nearby

Dyea and the Chilkoot trailhead are west; the Yukon is over the pass.

Key facts