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Skagway Overview Skagway, Garden City of Alaska, is located at the northern tip of Alaska’s Inside Passage -- 90 miles northeast of Juneau and 110 miles south of Whitehorse, Yukon. Skagway got its name from the Tlingit (Indian) name “Skagua”, which means “the place where the north wind blows”. The maritime climate brings cool summers and mild winters. Average summer temperatures range from 45º-67º F.; winter temperatures average 18º-37º F. Within the shadow of the mountains, Skagway receives less rain than is typical of Southeast Alaska, averaging 26 inches of rain per year, and 39 inches of snow. Skagway is home to 850 year-round residents and encompasses 455 sq.miles of land and 11 sq. miles of water. The first non-Native settler was Captain William Moore in 1887, who is credited with the discovery of the White Pass route into Interior Canada. In August 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike, and the first boatload of prospectors landed in July 1897. By October 1897, according to a Northwest Mounted Police Report, Skagway “had grown from a concourse of tents to a fair-sized town with well-laid-out streets and numerous frame buildings, stores, saloons, gambling houses, dance houses and a population of about 20,000”. Skagway became the first incorporated City in Alaska in 1900; its population was 3,117 at that time, the second-largest settlement in Alaska. Skagway is now a restored gold rush town and headquarters of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. For more information on Skagway, visit www.skagway.com or call the Skagway Visitor’s Center at 888-762-1898. Image Gallery:
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