An Explorer's Guide to Skagway, Alaska

Skagway Historic Postcard Album

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These images are all © 2006-2013 by Murray Lundberg.

Looking down on Skagway from the trail between Upper Dewey Lake and the Devil's Punchbowl. This is probably the toughest of the many hiking options in or close to Skagway.

The Coral Princess and Star Princess at the Railroad Dock, seen from the breakwater that protects the Small Boat Harbor.

The Small Boat Harbor in late April, just before the start of the cruise ship season, which runs from the first week of May until the third week of September. This photo was taken at low tide - the water at high tide will be 15-20 feet higher.

The seasonal opening of the ice cream shop on Broadway in late April always brings out the crowds :)

One of the upper windows of the Red Onion Saloon, with one of the "Ladies of Negotiable Affection" watching passersby.

The famous antique-replica tour buses of Skagway Street Car Company wait for passengers outside the shop where visitors can get their Starbucks coffee fix.

Looking north up Broadway in January. The National Park Service offices are in the red building to the right, the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad depot is further to the right.

This bronze statue by the late Chuck Buchanan of Carcross, Yukon, honors the hardy Tlingit packers made famous during the Klondike Gold Rush. It's the centrepiece of a small park at the foot of Broadway.

A cruise ship docked at the Broadway Dock dominates the view down Broadway.

One of the Skagway Street Car Company's reproduction antique buses, with the historic Red Onion Saloon in the background.

Glass blowing at Jewell Gardens. The artisan is rolling out the hot glass during the process of making a Christmas ornament.

Alongside the Railroad Dock in Skagway is an impressive wall of solid granite that is home to one of the most unique art collections in Alaska. Since 1928, the crews of ships have been "autographing" this wall to commemorate their first voyage to Skagway. Though access to the dock has been severely curtailed since "9/11", passengers on the cruise ships which use the dock and off-season visitors can spend hours reading the signatures, which comprise a virtual "Who's Who" of Alaska passenger ships from the past 80-odd years. The skull, known as "Soapy Smith's Skull", is believed to have been painted in the Fall of 1926 on a natural rock formation shaped like a skull. See more information and photos in our article about it, "The Ship Signature Wall".

An Alaska State ferry sails up Taiya Inlet towards Skagway, with the dramatic peaks of the Chilkat Range towering in the background.

The Alaska State ferry Le Conte with a heavy coat of ice after a run up the Marine Highway in February.

Much of the bulky material of all types that Skagway needs arrive on barges, at the Alaska Marine Lines dock. Until 1979 when the South Klondike Highway opened, everything and everyone arrived at Skagway by water, air or rail.

Cathy and Bobbie with the photographer's husky, Monty, watching the spawning salmon in Pullen Creek, which runs through downtown Skagway. The best stretch of the creek to watch the salmon is just east of the railroad depot (at the foot of the cliffs).

Most people are respectful of the salmon in Pullen Creek as they perform the final act of their lives, but even the sign saying "Do Not Touch the Fish. It is Illegal and Disruptive" wasn't enough for these cruise ship crew members, so we clarified it for them.

The small Gold Rush Cemetery is a very popular site for visitors, and it's on most tour itineraries so can get quite crowded. The large monument marks the grave of City engineer Frank H. Reid, who died on July 20, 1898, 12 days after shooting and killing notorious con man Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. Reid's monument is inscribed "He gave his life for the honor of Skagway". Smith's wooden headboard is at the opposite end of the cemetery.

Lower Reid Falls is reached via a short trail through the forest above the Gold Rush Cemetery. The water flow in this photo is still quite small as it was shot on May 4th when much of the high country that feeds it was still frozen.

Although Yakutania Point was a wild looking place during this October storm, the trail to it is one of the nicer walks in Skagway. A steel footbridge takes walkers and bikers across the Skagway River at its mouth, and it's less than a mile return from there, with minimal elevation gain, though the trail has some uneven rocky parts. At low tide, the beach is a nice walk as well, right from the bridge.

Temsco has a fleet of helicopters based at Skagway each summer, offering heli-hiking and dog sled tours on one of the surrounding glaciers.

The final cruise ship of the season at Skagway, the Zuiderdam, is met with cold rain and huge sales banners in the windows of the discount t-shirt shop, and many shops already closed for the season.

Looking down the Railroad Dock after a heavy March snow. Being in the rain shadow of the coastal mountains, snowfalls like this are not common - Skagway only gets 39 inches of snow in an average winter.

There have been many changes along Broadway in recent years as businesses relating most closely to the cruise industry move in. Moe's Frontier Bar, seen here in February 2008, was demolished a few months later. Skagway Air Services next door had closed permanently the previous year.

Stores selling diamonds, tanzanite, ammonite and whatever else is "in" that year have proliferated as the number of cruise ship visitors increases. Many of these shops have branches in various Caribbean ports.

Looking down Broadway, with the final train of the year unloading passengers from the Zuiderdam in late September.

If you'd like to see what the South Klondike Highway really looks like, clicking on the photo to the left will open (in a new window) an 18-minute Youtube video of one of my motorcycle rides along the most dramatic part of it. Our guide to the South Klondike Highway will show you more about that road.

The first heavy snow of the season in the White Pass on September 24, 2006.

Here's a look back a few years - this is the Dawn Princess at Skagway in 2000, with tour buses waiting.

Although men get all the glory, many women joined the Klondike Gold Rush as well - this bust of Mollie Walsh stands in a children's park in Skagway that was named to honour her.

The beautiful new Skagway School on May 17, 2001.