LAST DAY IN SKAGWAY

Our last full day in Skagway was Sunday (yesterday).  We stayed an extra couple of days to pick up our mail, which Marc had forwarded from Tucson on the 4th.  According to the USPS tracking data, our mail arrived in Skagway on the 11th, so this morning, I was second in line when they opened the doors.  I gave the clerk the tracking number, and he went to the back, looking for the priority envelope.  I was ready to do battle, but to my amazement, he returned with the package.  It had been sitting in the back somewhere for 5 days, and up until this morning, no one could find it.   With that skirmish settled very quickly, we drove out to the Dyea Valley, which sits at the base of the famous Chilkoot Trail.  Our first destination was the Slide Cemetery.

On April 3rd, 1898, an avalanche buried approx. 70 people on the Chilkoot Trail.  When the bodies that could be found were removed from the slide, they were buried in what is no called the slide cemetery, near the ghost town of Dyea. 

 

When the Klondike Gold Rush began in the summer of 1897, most of the early gold seekers got off the boats, and traveled inland over the Chilkoot Trail, an established native trading route.  The town of Dyea quickly sprang up at the base of the Chilkoot Pass, and at the height of the gold rush, there was an estimated population of 5,000.  When the White Pass RR was completed over the mountains, the Chilkoot Trail became obsolete, and so did the town of Dyea.  Many of the buildings were moved to Skagway, and those that couldn't be moved were dismantled for the lumber.  This one storefront is all that remains, and it's been stabilized by the National Park Service.

After lunch at our favorite halibut & chips eatery, we watched the daily Alaskan Marine Highway Ferry pull into Skagway.  The unloading, and loading process is fascinating to watch, particularly when it seems that more vehicles keep coming out than you would imagine the boat could possibly hold. 

Our stay in Skagway was a little over a week, and leaving was indeed bittersweet.  We grew to love this small Alaskan town that we called home for several summers, and returning was something we both were excited about.  There were a few cosmetic changes to the town, but the incredible beauty of the area, and the warmth of our many friends had not changed at all.  Now, it's all about moving on up the Alaska Hwy, and seeing what's over the next hill, and what's around the next corner.