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Album: Seattle, Washington 2007
Image: 473 / 545
Date: 2007-09-03 10:29:54
Tags: Seattle

An Event to Remember

Welcome to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. This national park site commemorates an event that stetched across thousands of miles, crossed international boundaries, and touched the lives of people around the world.

Klondike Gold Rush

On July 17, 1897 the steamship Portland arrived in Seattle carrying nearly ten tons of gold. Sixty-eight exhausted but wealthy miners disembarked. They told stories of rivers lined with gold and easy riches in a remote region of northwestern Canada. The event sparked the imagination of people around the world. The rush was on!

Savvy city leaders seized the opportunity and advertised Seattle as THE gateway to the Klondike. Thousands of people flooded through the city spending millions of dollars. As a result a slumbering Seattle awoke, becoming a busting economic center.

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park interprete the dramatic and historic event.

Commemorating the Gold Rush

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park was established by Congress on June 30, 1976 with sites in Alaska and Washington. The Alaska sites include restored historical buildings in the Skagway Historic District, the historical town sites of Dyea, and a portion of White Pass. The Alaska site also preserves the American side of the Chilkoot Trail.

Parks Canada has actively preserved several gold rush sites, as well. Between 1996 and 1998, both Canada and the United States designated many key gold rush sites as Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park.