Skagway, at the head of the White Pass Trail, was founded by a former steamboat captain named William Moore. Prostitutes made more money than laundresses, cooks, dressmakers, or nurses. Criminal boss Jefferson “Soapy” Smith preyed on naive gold seekers. Merchants built a two-mile dock on beaches where Tlingit people traditionally fished. Both mushroomed from tents to towns in a matter of months. Through the fall and winter of 1897-98, ships delivered gold seekers to Skagway and nearby Dyea, Alaska. ![]() On a homemade boat, stampeders traveled over 500 miles by river to reach the gold fields. They disembarked, then hiked over the Coast Range mountains to reach the head of the Yukon River. A stampeder taking this "poor man's" route sailed up the Inside Passage. Most stampeders opted for the cheapest, most direct routes - the White Pass and Chilkoot Trails. In a sea of icy towers, many of these people got lost or went snow blind. Other stampeders tried crossing the glaciers near Yakutat and Valdez. Folks taking some of these routes arrived two years after everyone else. Some stampeders tried walking the entire way with one of the overland routes. Some chose the all water or "rich man's route." Sailing around Alaska and up the Yukon river was easy, but expensive. Stampeders faced several routes to the Klondike. They headed north thinking they would strike it rich. A wave of gold seekers bought supplies and boarded ships in Seattle and other west coast port cities. Almost a year later, news ignited the outside world. Nearby miners immediately flocked to the Klondike to stake the rest of the good claims. Their discovery sparked one of the most frantic gold rushes in history. In August, 1896, Skookum Jim and his family found gold near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory. Alaska Native and First Nations communities adapted to hold onto another kind of wealth: their culture, land, and way of life. ![]() 100,000 hopeful miners sprinted toward Alaska and the Yukon with their eyes on riches. ![]() While many routes existed to the Klondike, most took the Chilkoot or White Pass routes.Ĭries of "Gold! Gold! Gold in the Klondike!" started a race.
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