Alaska Cruise - Skagway, 6/12/2019

Skagway is a small town in the Alaska "panhandle" with about 1200-1400 permanent residents.  The population doubles during summer months due to the arrival of more than a million tourists, many by cruise ships such as ours.  It may be best known as the gateway to the Klondike gold rush in the late 1800s, but it is also the setting for Jack London's "Call of The Wild". 

In 1896, gold was discovered in Canada's Yukon Territory in an area known as the Klondike.  For the next couple of years, thousands of prospectors arrived by ship and set out over White Pass, then later via Chilkoot Pass, to enter Canada.  Either route was extremely difficult, made more so by Canada's requirement that each miner bring one ton of supplies to assure survival.  Many were intimidated by the challenge and stayed in Skagway to work in supplying the miners, many of whom died in the effort. 

Skagway's most famous citizen, other than london, was a con man named Soapy Smith who cheated the miners in many different ways.  His grave is now one of the stops on the tour of downtown.

Trams were later built to the top of both passes, and a railroad was built over White Pass that now carries tourists into the mountains.  Unfortunately, by the time the train was completed, the gold rush was pretty much over.

As we arrived in Skagway's harbor, an Alaska Ferry was pulling in, and we could also see a huge splotch of muddy water joining the bay from the Skagway River.  Obviously, all the rain had resulted in silt being brought down from the mountains.  Land slides are common in Alaska, as are earthquakes.

We saw very little of town as we were whisked to our excursion departure point, but I got a few photos of some of Skagway's colorful buildings and an old Chevy truck that looked in "show-room" condition.

On my recommendation, our group had signed up for the van ride over White Pass.  I had driven the Klondike Road in 2004 when visiting interior Alaska in an RV and it was beautiful scenery.  While it was a dramatic ride into the Yukon Territory, the low clouds and occasional rain diminished our views somewhat.  I doubt that any of the alternative excursions fared any better, given the inclement weather.