ERIC ED439057: Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike. Teaching with Historic Places.

30 Pages·1999·0.58 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
SO 031 362
ED 439 057
AUTHOR
Czuchna-Curl, Ardyce
Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike. Teaching with Historic
TITLE
Places.
National Park Service (Dept. of Interior), Washington, DC.
INSTITUTION
National Register of Historic Places.
PUB DATE 1999-00-00
NOTE
29p
Teaching with Historic Places, National Register of Historic
AVAILABLE FROM
Places, National Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW, Suite
NC400, Washington, DC 20240; For full text: http:
//www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/
lessons/75skagway/75skagway.htm
Classroom
PUB TYPE
Guides Teacher (052)
EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.
Built Environment; Curriculum Enrichment; Foreign Countries;
DESCRIPTORS
Historic Sites; *Local History; *North American History;
Primary Sources; Secondary Education; Social Studies; *State
History; Student Educational Objectives
Canada; National Register of Historic Places; Urban
IDENTIFIERS
Development; Yukon Territory
ABSTRACT
This lesson aims to help students understand the impact of
the Klondike Gold Rush on the development of Skagway, Alaska, a town which
now has a year-round population of only 800 but which hosts half a million
tourists annually. The lesson can be used in units on western expansion, on
late 19th- and early 20th-century commerce, and on urban history. It notes
that Skagway (located about 100 miles north of Juneau) was established as a
result of an 1897 gold strike which began in the Klondike region of Canada's
Yukon Territory, and it points out that even though Skagway's "boomtown" era
lasted only briefly, it remains alive in the many turn-of-the-century
buildings that survive. The lesson is divided into the following sections
"Routes from
which include maps, readings, photographs, and activities:
(1)
"Gold Is
"Chilkoot and White Pass Trails";
Seattle to Klondike";
(3)
(2)
Discovered in the Klondike";
"Settlement and Commerce";
(5)
(4)
"Skagway, Alaska 1898";
"Transportation: Key to Survival";
"Trail
(6)
(7)
"Historic Development of William Moore Cabin and
Street, Skagway 1897";
(8)
(10) "Golden
"Ben Moore and Family Moore House 1904";
Ben Moore House";
(9)
"Arctic Brotherhood Hall";
North Hotel";
(12) "McCabe College Building";
(11)
"Gold Rushes"; and (14) "History and the Use of Local Buildings."
(13)
Contains 11 Web sites that are supplementary resources to the Klondike.
(BT)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
Teaching with Historic Places
Skagway: Gateway to
the Klondike
Teaching with Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
National Park Service
1849 C. Street, N.W., Suite NC400
Washington, D.C. 20240
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/75skagway/75skagway.htm
N
1999
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND
TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
EDU
DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS
CENTER (ERIC)
BEEN GRANTED BY
This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
O
M. Gceenberi
originating it.
Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality.
Points of view or opinions stated in this
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
document do not necessarily represent
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
official OERI position or policy.
1
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2
Skagway: Gateway to
the Klondike
Majestic mountains rise abruptly
on either side of Skagway, a town
.t.f?'';
Lsituated in a narrow glaciated
"`,
valley at the head of the Taiya
t
Inlet in Alaska. Positioned along
one of the main transportation
corridors leading to Canada's
interior, Skagway was established
as a result of a gold strike in the
Klondike region of Canada's
Yukon Territory. Beginning
in the summer of 1897, thousands
of hopeful stampeders poured in
to the new town and prepared for
the arduous 500-mile journey to
"4.
the gold fields. Realizing the
j-11."")
grueling challenges that lay
(JB Moore Collection lAcc. #76- 35 -53N], University of
ahead on the route and the
Alaska, Fairbanks Archives, photo by H.C. Barley)
economic potential of supplying
goods and services to other stampeders, some chose to remain in Skagway and
establish a permanent community. Although it lasted but a brief period, and few
obtained the wealth they dreamed of, the Klondike Gold Rush left a lasting mark on the
Alaskan and Canadian landscapes. Today, Skagway's "boomtown" era remains alive in
the many turn-of-the-century buildings that survive. The city now hosts half a million
tourists annually and has a year-round population of approximately 800.
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
About This Lesson
Setting the Stage: Historical Context
Locating the Site: Maps
Routes from Seattle to Klondike
1.
Chilkoot and White Pass Trails
2.
Determining the Facts: Readings
Gold is Discovered in the Klondike
1.
Settlement and Commerce
2.
Transportation: Key to Survival
3.
Visual Evidence: Images
Skagway, Alaska, 1898
1.
Trail Street, Skagway, 1897
2.
Moore Cabin and Moore House
3.
Moore and Family, 1904
4.
Golden North Hotel
5.
Arctic Brotherhood Hall
6.
McCabe College Building
7.
Putting It All Together: Activities
Gold Rushes
1.
History and the Use of Local Buildings
2.
Supplementary Resources
About This Lesson
The lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file,
"Skagway and White Pass District," and other materials about the town and the
Klondike Gold Rush. It was written by Ardyce Czuchna-Curl, a former park ranger at
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
Where it fits into the curriculum
Topics:
This lesson will help students understand the impact of the Klondike Gold
Rush on the development of Skagway, Alaska. It can be used in units on
western expansion, late 19th and early 20th-century commerce, and urban
history.
Time period: Late 19th to early 20th Century.
Objectives for students
To explain the impact of the Klondike Gold Rush on Skagway, Alaska.
1)
To trace the development of Skagway from a homestead, to a gold rush
2)
boomtown, to a permanent city.
To describe some of the buildings in Skagway and explain what they can
3)
tell us about the people and the city.
4)
To examine local buildings that help tell the story of their community's
development.
Materials for students
The materials listed below either can be used directly on the computer or can be printed
out, photocopied, and distributed to students. The map and images appear twice: in a
low-resolution version with associated questions and alone in a larger, high-resolution
version.
two maps of the routes to the Klondike gold fields, and Chilkoot and White
1)
Pass Trails;
three readings to understand the impact of the Klondike Gold Rush on
2)
Skagway, Alaska and how buildings can help reveal the stories of a
community's past;
3)
a drawing of the historic development of William Moore Cabin and Ben
Moore House;
5
six photographs of Skagway, Alaska and its historic buildings.
4)
Visiting the site
Skagway is located approximately 100 miles north of Juneau, Alaska, at the northern tip
of the Inside Passage in Southeastern Alaska. The Skagway Historic District, Dyea and
Chilkoot Trail, White Pass Trail, and the Pioneer Square Historic District in downtown
Seattle, Washington, make up Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The
Skagway unit Visitor Center is open June, July, August: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily
,
May -September: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily. Winter: variable open hours. The
administration building is open Monday through Friday throughout the year. The Trail
Center is open 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. daily, mid-May to September. For more information
write to the Superintendent, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, P.O. Box 517,
Skagway, Alaska, 99840 or visit the park's web pages at http://www.nps.gov/klgo/
6
Setting the Stage
In August 1896, prospectors George Washington Carmack, Skookum Jim, and Dawson
Charley discovered gold on Rabbit Creek (renamed Bonanza Creek) in the remote
Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory. News of the Klondike discovery spread
slowly over the next year until miners began to return with their fortunes. In July 1897,
the S.S. Portland arrived in Seattle, Washington, with more than a ton of Klondike gold
on board. This event touched off the great Klondike Gold Rush as thousands of people
who dreamed of becoming wealthy began booking passage on steamers heading
north from Seattle and other West Coast ports. Upon arriving at the northern end of the
Inside Passage, however, these adventure-bound stampeders found no easy route
leading to the still distant Klondike region. The most direct route involved climbing over
either the White Pass Trail from Skagway, Alaska, or the Chilkoot Pass Trail from Dyea
(pronounced Die-ee) to Bennett Lake, the headwaters of the Yukon River. Stampeders
then had to build a boat to navigate 500 miles down the Yukon River. Their final
destination was Dawson City, a town that developed near the gold fields. Between 1897
and 1900 more than 100,000 people, from many nations and from all walks of life, set
out on the arduous journey to the Klondike. No more than 40,000 actually reached
Dawson City, however, and only a few obtained the wealth that they dreamed of along
the route.
7
Locating the Site
Map 1: Routes from Seattle to the
Klondike Gold Fields
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(Reprinted with permission, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
Questions for Map 1
Identify the boundaries of the United States and Canada.
1.
Locate Seattle, Skagway, Dyea, and Dawson City. What role did each city
2.
play in the Klondike Gold Rush?
Trace the "poor man's route" and the "rich man's route" to the gold fields
3.
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8
near Dawson City. How long was each route? Why do you think the "poor
man's route" was the most used? What might have been the
advantage of
taking the more expensive and longer "rich man's route?"
Locating the Site
Map 2: Chilkoot and White Pass Trails.
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Chrtkoot Trail, Hothago
(Source;
Routo to tho Kionolleor
published by
Lost Moose. The Yukon Publishers]
Chilkoot Trail, Heritage to the Klondike, published by Lost Moose, The Yukon Publishers)
The Chilkoot Trail, stretching from Dyea to Bennett Lake, had been used by the Tlingit Indians
as a trade route for hundreds of years before the Klondike Gold Rush. The White Pass Trail was
a newer route that stretched from Skagway to Bennett Lake. Once stampeders arrived at Bennett
10
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