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SKAGWAY |
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SKAGWAY , the northernmost ferry stop on the southeast route, sprang
up overnight in 1897 as a trading post serving Klondike Gold Rush
pioneers about to set off on the five-hundred-mile ordeal. It was also
the last stop before the harrowing White Pass Trail, known as the "Dead
Horse Trail," on which over three thousand horses perished during the
winter of 1897-98 from severe weather, rugged ground and exhaustion.
Having grown from one cabin to a town of twenty thousand in three months,
Skagway, rife with disease and desperado violence, was reported to be "hell
on earth." It boasted over seventy bars and hundreds of prostitutes, and
was controlled by organized criminals, including the notorious Jefferson
"Soapy" Smith , renowned for cheating hapless prospectors out of their
gold. One of his scams was to operate a bogus telegraph office through
which he concocted false messages from loved ones in the Lower 48
urgently demanding money, which Soapy, of course, took responsibility
for sending. He finally met a nasty end in 1898 after a shoot-out with
Frank Reid, head of a vigilante group.
By 1899, the Gold Rush was over, but the completion in 1900 of the White
Pass and Yukon Railway from Skagway to Whitehorse, the Yukon capital,
ensured Skagway's survival. Today, the town's 800 residents have gone to
great lengths to maintain the original appearance of their home, much of
which lies in the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park , and in
summer as many as five cruise ships a day call in to appreciate the
effort.
The Town
Strolling up Broadway you can't miss the eye-catching facade of the 1899
Arctic Brotherhood Hall , decorated with over ten thousand pieces of
driftwood and housing the Skagway Visitor Center. Many of the other
buildings hereabouts |
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