Skagway, Alaska was once a lawless boomtown of 30,000. They arrived with dreams of riches and left penniless. Walk the boardwalk streets and explore the historic buildings of today’s borough with less than 1,000 people … the most northern port of the Inside Passage on the Alaska Panhandle.
In 1998, the Klondike Gold Rush National Park was established to protect, manage and educate visitors about the gold rush boom town of Skagway, Alaska. This building, on the corner of Broadway and Second Avenues in the historic downtown, is the National Park Service’s welcome center.
291 Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
Although Skagway, Alaska, typically enjoys a mild winter climate, the WP&YR railroad needed to carry passengers to a 3,000 foot summit into the Yukon, Canada’s smallest territory, where the average snowfall is over 140 inches and the wind chill is well below zero for five months a year. This specially built engine, called Rotary Snowplow #1, was used from 1898 until 1965 to efficiently clear the railroad tracks of snow.
Broadway and 1st, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
Skagway, Alaska, is a quiet town on the Inside Passage of the Pacific Ocean. Many of its 100 historic buildings are managed by the National Park Service. During the peak of the Klondike Gold Rush, the population ballooned to 30,000. Today, less than 1,000 people live here year-round. About a century after the last gold prospector, a new surge of adventurers started visiting Skagway. From May through September, about one million tourists arrive by cruise ship for a one-day excursion.
205 Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
This fascinating façade has nearly 9,000 small pieces of driftwood assembled into a checkerboard design. Camp Skagway No. 1 was a brotherhood of gold speculators and miners. It was established in 1899 when approximately 600 men a day arrived in Skagway by steamers from Seattle. This was the first of eventually thirty camps or brotherhood halls created in Alaska and neighboring Canada. At the peak of the Klondike Gold Rush, membership exceed 10,000 prospectors.
253 Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
During the Klondike Gold Rush, Skagway was a lawless town with about 80 taverns. After an 1899 law required a substantial licensing fee, most saloons closed including the Mascotte. But new management soon reopened as the Mascot Saloon and began serving male-only customers beer, liquor, cigars and access to secret gambling rooms. In 1974, the National Park Service purchased and remodeled the tavern to its original appearance including artifacts from the early 1900s.
351 Broadway Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
This mural at the intersection of Broadway and 3rd Avenue in historic downtown Skagway is of Engine No. 73. The locomotive belongs to the WP&YR railroad. The Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikado class steam engine was built in 1947 and, after a two-year restoration, was put back in service along the White Pass excursion route.
300 Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
Skagway is located in a narrow valley that was formed by glaciers within the Taiya Inlet. Ships dock right at the edge of town at the northern tip of the Lynn Canal. The borough (it is no longer classified as a city) is at the northern end of the Inside Passage on the Alaska Panhandle. I took this photo of the Effy luxury jewelry store because its roofline matched the AB mountains behind it.
300 Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
When I toured Skagway, the sustained wind was probably 30 m.p.h. with higher gusts that really churned the waters in the Taiya Inlet. Frankly, it was hard to hold the camera. According to legend, the culprit for this strong wind is a stone woman named Kanagu. The Tlingit, who are native to the Pacific Northwest Coast, nicknamed her Shgagéi or Skagway, which is how the town was named.
315 Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
It takes less than an hour to stroll through historic downtown Skagway because Broadway, its main street, is only seven blocks long. One block on either side of the boardwalk has more retail shops that are designed for tourists. Interestingly, by the third week in September when the million-plus cruise ship passengers stop arriving, most of these stores close and their employees leave town for a warmer winter location.
336 3rd Ave, Skagway, Alaska Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
You will see plenty of totem poles in every town in Alaska’s Inside Passage. The originals are the craftsmanship of native clans such as the Tlingit and Haida. They almost always feature an eagle or raven because all tribe members are descendants of one of them. The poles are not religious but instead were carved and painted with only three colors to honor the dead, to tell a story or to represent a family’s crest.
5th Ave & Broadway, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions
The Museum and City Hall in Skagway was Alaska’s first stone building when it was built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush era by McCabe College. It displays a collection of artifacts and photographs that, during an hour visit, will tell you all about the rich and colorful history of Skagway.
7th & Spring St, Skagway, AK 99840 Enlarge/Slideshow See On Map Directions