Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)

Location:	Alaska & Washington, USA
Nearest city:	Skagway, Alaska & Seattle, Washington
Area:	13,191 acres (53.38 km²)
Established:	June 30, 1976
Total Visitation:	Skagway unit: 888,255 (in 2005) Seattle unit: 70,783 (in 2005)
Governing body:	National Park Service

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park commemorating the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. The gold rush was in the Yukon Territory, and this park comprises staging areas for the trek there, and routes leading in its direction. The park consists of four units: three in and around Skagway, Alaska and a fourth in the Pioneer Square National Historic District in Seattle, Washington.

To story of the Klondike Gold Rush can only be appreciated by looking on both sides of the border. National historic sites in Whitehorse and Dawson City, Yukon, help complete the story. Klondike Gold Rush NHP and Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, in British Columbia, form Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park.

1 Skagway Unit
2 Seattle Unit
3 An International Park
4 External links

[edit] Skagway Unit

The Skagway unit protects much of downtown Skagway including 15 restored historic buildings. The park also preserves portions of the White Pass Trail and the Chilkoot Trail, which leaves from the historic townsite of Dyea, Alaska and runs to Lake Bennett, British Columbia, from which prospectors could raft to Dawson City, Yukon. Portions of Dyea are also part of the historical park. The visitor center in Skagway has information regarding current traveling conditions along the Chilkoot Trail. A fee is required to hike the 33-mile trail.

[edit] Seattle Unit

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Seattle Visitor's Center at the Cadillac Hotel

An integral part of the park is the recently refurbished Cadillac Hotel Visitor's Center in Seattle, Washington, in the Pioneer Square National Historic District. This location was a major point of outfitting and departure during the gold rush stampede. With the completion of the renovation of the historic Cadillac Hotel, the Seattle Unit has moved to its new facilities at 319 Second Avenue S. The Seattle Unit was dedicated at its current location on 26 June 2006.

The Visitor Center in Seattle also has information on how to visit the Skagway unit of the park.

[edit] An International Park

In 1969, the US and Canadian governments jointly declared their intention to make Chilkoot Trail a component of a Klondike Gold Rush International Historic Park. The US portion was eventually established in 1976 as part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The B.C. portion of the trail became Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, one of several sites in the national park system associated with the Klondike. But it wasn't until the centennial of the gold rush, in 1998, that the dream of an international park was realized, when Klondike Gold Rush NHP and Chilkoot Trail NHS joined to form Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park. Their previous legal names were retained, while the new name reflected co-operative management between the two park services, and the formalization of relations which had in fact been going on for years.