Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Skagway Museum
Sheldon Jackson Museum
June 23 and June 26, 2018
Skagway, Alaska
Sitka, Alaska
The National Park Service has several museum buildings in Skagway, right near the cruise ship landing. We watched a 25 minute video about the Klondike gold rush of 1896-1899 at the visitor center. Skagway and the nearby (now deserted) town of Dyea were jumping off points for “stampeders” who came by ship then went overland on the Chilkoot Trail from Dyea or the longer but less steep White Pass Trail from Skagway. They endured great hardships because they had to traverse the trails many times, hauling food and gear sufficient to last through the winter, a requirement imposed by Canadian Mounties as a condition of entering their country.
The historic district is about twelve blocks long and two blocks wide. The National Park Service maintains several museum buildings: the visitor center, the Mascot Saloon, a junior ranger center, and the Moore Homestead. Skagway boasts many gold rush era wooden buildings, and we enjoyed strolling up and down its main street, stopping to enjoy some spruce tip blonde ale.
We visited the Skagway city museum and learned about local Native American cultures as well as more about the gold rush era.
There was also a sobering display about the wreck of the S.S. Princess Sophia in 1918, which sank with no survivors after it hit the Vanderbilt Reef on the way from Skagway to Seattle. Although the ship remained on the rocks for about 40 hours, and other ships were nearby, the weather was too severe to allow for putting off lifeboats. At least 343 lives were lost. Reading about it made us slightly nervous to be sailing the same waters by ship, but of course navigational equipment has improved, and we enjoyed better weather.
In the town of Sitka we found an excellent museum devoted to native Alaskan peoples, the Sheldon Jackson museum. Meredith’s mother Margaret would have really loved it! There were many fine pieces on display – baskets, tools, clothing, kayaks and canoes, and a number of other items.
The building’s octagonal structure allows for maximum display room, with cases on the exterior walls, a ring of tall cases inside that, and then another ring of chest-high cases with displays on top and drawers that can be pulled out to see additional items. In the very center were several totem poles. Everything was well organized and labeled.
