From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park |
IUCN Category V (Protected
Landscape/Seascape)
|
|
|
| Location |
Alaska and Washington, USA |
| Nearest city |
Skagway, Alaska and Seattle, WashingtonNearest city: Skagway, Alaska and Seattle, Washington |
| Coordinates |
59°27′23″N 135°18′42″W / 59.45639°N
135.31167°W / 59.45639;
-135.31167Coordinates: 59°27′23″N 135°18′42″W / 59.45639°N
135.31167°W / 59.45639;
-135.31167 |
| Area |
13,191 acres (53.38 km²) |
| Established |
June 30, 1976 Established: June 30, 1976 |
| Visitors |
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 the Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska
and a fourth in the Pioneer Square National Historic District
in Seattle, Washington.
The story of the Klondike Gold Rush can only be appreciated by
looking on both sides of the Canada–United States 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.
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 Bennett Lake, 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.
Seattle
unit
The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Seattle Visitor's
Center at the Cadillac Hotel
Prior location of the Visitor's Center in the Union Trust Annex (at
right)
An integral part of the park is the Visitor's Center in Seattle,
Washington, in the Pioneer Square National Historic District.
It functions as an interpretive center and museum, and also has
information on how to visit the Skagway unit of the park. It opened
June 2, 1979,[1] and was
located in the Union Trust Annex (built 1902[2]),
across Main Street from Occidental Park.[3]
The Seattle unit is now located in an 1889 building, the
Cadillac Hotel at 319 Second Avenue South. The Cadillac Hotel
building was a major point of outfitting and departure during the
gold rush stampede. Severely damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, it
was rehabilitated 2004–2005 as home to the Seattle Unit of the
park, and was opened and dedicated 26 June 2006.[4][5]
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.
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