Skagway

About Skagway

Skagway is the northern terminus of the Inside Passage and a near-perfectly preserved Klondike Gold Rush boomtown, with wooden boardwalks, false-fronted saloons, and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park spread across the compact downtown. The signature shore excursion is the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, a narrow-gauge train built in 1898 that climbs 3,000 vertical feet of cliff-hugging track to the Canadian border. Dog-sledding on Denver Glacier, hiking the Chilkoot Trail trailhead, and Liarsville salmon bakes fill out most passengers' days ashore. Cruise ships moor at one of four berths within a short walk of Broadway, the main drag.

• Skagway served as the primary saltwater gateway for the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, with tens of thousands of prospectors funneling through its port en route to the Yukon goldfields.
• The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow-gauge railroad — a relic of the mining era — still runs today purely as a tourist attraction, climbing 2,865 feet in just 20 miles.
• With a permanent population of only about 1,240 (2020 census), Skagway's population roughly doubles in summer to handle the surge of cruise-ship visitors.
• The Tlingit name Shg̱agwei (historically Skaguay) refers to rough seas in the Taiya Inlet caused by strong north winds.
• Skagway's historic district is managed by the National Park Service as part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, preserving the boom-town streetscapes of the 1890s.