Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park | Alaska Geographic
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park In 1897 when word of a rich gold strike in the Canadian Yukon first reached the world, thousands of prospectors stampeded north to Dawson City. The park commemorates the world’s last great adventure through restored historic buildings and trails in the Skagway area.
Tips for Visitors • Watch the 30-minute film “Days of Adventure, Dreams of Gold” at the visitor center.
• Take a guided tour of Dyea and Skagway and step back into gold rush history.
• Hike the 33-mile-long Chilkoot Trail and follow in the footsteps of early stampeders.
• Ride the historic White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad and look down on the worn Trail of ’98, still visible more than a hundred years later.
Natural Highlights
The 90-mile-long Lynn Canal is a stunning fjord that cuts deep into the heard of the coastal mountain range and still brings adventurers to the Klondike from ports in Seattle and Vancouver. Historical Highlight
Most of the stampeders who followed the Klondike gold rush found no gold at all. By the time they reached the gold fields of Dawson City, most of the claims had already been staked.
Cultural Highlight Native people had lived here for thousands of years before the first prospectors arrived. Tlingit and Tagish First Nation people cut trade routes across the mountains, like the Chilkoot Trail, to trade goods from the coast to the interior and later to trade with Europeans and Americans.
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