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Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023 -- Skagway

On Wednesday we had the final excursion scheduled for our cruise in the town of Skagway.  Take a town of 900 permanent and 300 seasonal residents.  Now drop the passengers from 4 cruise ships there on the same day (roughly 15,000 people).  Yeah, it was full.

Fortunately, we didn’t stay in town long.  We were aboard the White Pass Railroad to follow a very small part of the route of the Gold Rush folks, who thought they were going to rush to Alaska between 1897 and 1899 and make their fortunes in gold.

Unfortunately, they got there 9 months later to find out that most of the good locations had already been claimed so it was a lot of effort for very little financial return.

Miners who wanted to go to the gold fields had to have one ton of supplies, since they had to pass through Canada and this was what the Mounties had decided was necessary to live for a year.  The logistics of that – carrying a ton of supplies – defies reason, but apparently that was the rule.  The poor pack animals that were pressed into service didn’t fare so well.

We rode the train up to the top of the pass to take in the views – as always, amazing – and then started down via shuttle bus in the rain.  Still some spectacular views, but impeded by the rain and fog.

Once we were in Skagway, we opted to walk through town back to the ship, our only purchase being a salted pretzel and 2 bottles of water.  




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