Prospectors who wanted to reach the gold fields by the most direct and proven route left either San Francisco or Seattle by steamer and landed in Skagway, Alaska to hike the rest of the way inland. There were a few variations on the route, and one major fork in the road, but the trails were basically similar -- challenging and dangerous. Starting in July of 1898, after the arrival of the SS Portland in Seattle, passenger steamships began hauling people up the inside passage. Every available berth for the next few months was sold out in a matter of days. Ships began to oversell, sometimes filling creaky and dangerous northbound steamers with four times the normal passenger load. Any seagoing vessel available was converted into an Alaska-bound passenger vessel. It was not uncommon for a load of cattle to be offloaded from a ship on one day, and paying passengers to embark the very next day. Fares from Seattle ranged from $25 to $55 to reach Skagway or Dyea, up the Lynn Canal.

   Adventursome or foolhardy prospectors might choose a shortcut and disembark in Wrangell, almost 200 miles south of Skagway. From Wrangell one could attempt the Stikine River route into the interior, but less than 200 did and even fewer made it through. For the majority who sailed past Wrangell, one major decision had to be made -- which pass to take to get to the interior. Initially, the White Pass out of Skagway proved to be more popular than the competing route, some dozen miles away, the Chilkoot Pass. White Pass looked more direct on a map, and was rumored to be simpler and less steep. Stampeders were told they could make the journey north using pack horses to haul their goods. But White Pass proved itself to be a treacherous route for all involved. Uneven ground, slippery mud, boulders and rocky trails injured and killed thousands of horses. One area was so littered with carcasses it became known as Deadhorse gulch. Pack animals were abused and pushed past their limits to make it to the Canadian Border and inland.

   Just down the Taiya Strait, a few miles from Skagway, lay Dyea, a small boomtown that staged stampeders as they prepared for the upcoming Chilkoot Pass. The Chilkoot started just outside Dyea, and continued for another sixteen miles into Canadian territory. The trail was marked by uneven paths, boulder-strewn valleys, and the Golden Stairs, a quarter mile climb near the middle of the pass that rose over 1000 feet. Once into Canadian Territory, every stampeder had to gain the approval of the only authority for hundreds of miles aroud -- the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP made sure travelers had a years' supply of goods and that all horses were in good shape. If supplies were low or animals were ailing, they were not allowed to pass.

   Once past customs, the trail snaked another few miles to the shores of Lake Lindemann, or another mile or two to Lake Bennett. The winter of 1898-99 arrived just before the bulk of stampeders, freezing the lakes and cutting off any further access to the interior. Thousands of hopeful prospectors arrived on the shores of these two lakes over the autumn and winter months. They spent their hours keeping warm, building boats, and planning what they would do with their gold when they got it.

   On May 29th the ice melted enough to break loose, and the lakes and rivers became navigable. Thirty thousand men and women in 8,000 boats set sail within two days. Sailing down the Yukon River through rapids and the dangerous Miles Canyon, most arrived in Dawson City within a week. New arrivals generally found themselves in a luckless position. The initial gold strike had occurred in 1896, nearly two years before their arrival. Local miners had staked every available claim, and much of the gold had been removed.

   Dawson swelled beyond its capacity, to nearly 100,000 residents. The explosion was brief, as many boarded steamships to return south or move on. A gold strike occurred in Nome shortly afterwards and many of the stampeders followed the gold. Dawson became nearly a ghost town in a matter of years.

   Today the town of Dyea is only a memory and a few loose boards from abandoned shacks. Its neighbor, Skagway, lies at the end of a major Highway and is a major tourist destination. Thousands of hikers cross the Chilkoot every summer now, and the route is an international park.