"Skagway And Its Alaska-Canada Railroad at Critical Junction"

"JUNEAU -- The new boom industry in Skagway is tourism, providing the bulk of the jobs and at the height of the summer, regularly giving the big cruise port the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

But tourism isn’t Skagway’s first boom. After the Klondike Gold Rush began in 1896, Skagway was the quintessential boom town.

The miners and supplies that supported the gold fields flowed through Skagway and over White Pass into the Yukon. And on the Skagway docks, legendary con man Soapy Smith worked hard to separate returning prospectors from their gold before coming to a bloody end."

Pat Forgey reports for the Alaska Dispatch News September 6, 2015.