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Skagway

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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(a native name said to mean "home of the north wind"), a city in S.E. Alaska, in lat. 59° 28' N. and long. 135° 20' W., at the mouth of the river Skagway, on an indentation of Taiya Inlet, a branch of Chilkoot Inlet, leading out of Lynn Canal. Pop. (woo) 3117. It is the seaward terminus of the Yukon & White Pass railway, by which goods and passengers reach the Klondike; and is connected with Dawson by telegraph and with Seattle by cable, and with Seattle, San Francisco and other Pacific ports by steamers. The climate is comparatively dry (annual precipitation about 21.75 in.); between 1898 and 1902 the minimum recorded temperature was io° (March), the maximum 92° (July), and the greatest monthly range 73° (March). Though settled somewhat earlier, Skagway first became important during the rush in 1896 for the Klondike gold-fields, for which it is the most convenient entrance by the trail over White Pass, the lower of the two passes to the headwaters of the Yukon. A post-office was established here in November 1897.