THE MISSING LINK

The Klondike Gold Rush started in 1897, and our summer home of 4 years in Skagway, Alaska was where most of the gold seekers passed through, on their way to the goldfields near Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory of Canada. About 35 years ago, several venues were incorporated into the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, with Skagway, Alaska as the centerpiece. The other locations named as part of the park in addition to Skagway, were the White Pass, the Chilkoot Trail Pass, and an area near the waterfront in downtown Seattle. Over the years, particularly when I was a tour guide in Skagway, I became a history student of this "Last Great Adventure", and have physically been to all the venues except the location in Seattle, where most of the estimated 100,000 gold seekers got on boats, and set sail for Skagway.

A couple of days ago, when we drove into Seattle, I had the chance to tour the Seattle venue of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park. There are two floors in this century old brick building, that are dedicated to the history of the Klondike Gold Rush, and this was the only part of the National Park that I had not visited.
Even though I didn't spend a lot of time in the building, there was some new information that I learned, and it was important to me, to complete the missing link. Yesterday, we drove into Chehalis, did the Wal-Mart thing, and found a tourist railroad that I might just have to take a ride on in the next few days. This morning, the sky is overcast, and the forecast is for cooler weather, in the 70's. Yahoooooo!