Alaska PersonalTours; Your one-stop Skagway, Alaska Travel, Alaska Tour Center

Many thanks to Dave Rocke, Family Air Tours, Ketchikan, AK; Larry Dupler, ORCA Enterprises, Juneau, AK; Bear Creek Outfitters, Juneau, AK; Kenai Fjords Tours, Seward, AK, Doug Ward, Dolphin Jet Boat Tours, Juneau, AK, Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau, Alaska Tourism Marketing Association, Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau, Anchorage, Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Alaska railroad and the State of Alaska Division of Tourism, Juneau, AK for the pictures on these pages. All pictures are copyrighted and all rights are reserved to the owner of the picture.

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Gold in the Klondike!

The news spread round the world. Thousands of stampeeders descended on Skagway, off to claim their share of the Gold "just lying on the streets waiting to be picked up." Most had no idea of the ruggedness of the wilderness they would have to navigate in the face of an unseasonably cold Alaska winter.

These adventurous times are chronicled in the Klondike Gold Rush National Park Skagway Unit; which along with the Klondike Gold Rush Park Seattle Unit and the National Historic Sites of Canada in the Yukon form an inter-state, international memorial to "the last great gold rush."

   Today Skagway is the Williamsburg of the North -- preserving the turn of the century ambiance of those historic times. Now you can experience the rugged beauty of this area in a Skagway tour by air, van, bike or on the Skagway train --historic narrow gauge White Pass and Yukon Railroad. You can enjoy the beauty of this land, which is the real Gold.

     We highly recommend that you plan to take one of the longer tours into the Yukon. British Columbia and the Yukon along the South Klondike Highway are unlike anywhere else you will encounter on your Alaska adventure.

     For a unique tour, away from the crowds take a short ferry ride or small plane hop from Skagway to the town of Haines, Alaska. Haines is both the home of the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, and an artist colony.

Things to do in Skagway:

Hike the Chilkoot Trail
Ride the White Pass Railroad
Pan for Gold
Stroll the historic streets
of Skagway
Mush a dog team
Shop
Float down a River
Learn about the Gold Rush
Visit Soapy Smith's Grave
Fish for salmon
View whales
Visit Klukwan Native Village
See Eagles
Bike from White Pass Summit
Discover the Yukon
Visit the artists in Haines

The awesome forlorn beauty of the area was lost on them as they struggled up the pass moving the ton of supplies required to get into Canada and then on to the Klondike Gold fields. They endured incredible hardship as they single-mindedly concentrated on Gold!

Very few found Gold. For most of the stampedeers there was only the adventure. Of those that did find Gold, the majority of them, squandered their money; ending up as broke or broker than when they arrived. The real winners were the shopkeepers, bar owners and ladies of the night. Times were rough and tough, especially since Skagway was a magnet for con artists who soon fell in with the notorious Soapy Smith to create what one writer described as "the most lawless town in America." Life in Skagway was so onerous that it took vigilante justice, in the form of a shoot-out to bring an end to Soapy's reign.