Alaska’s Panhandle is a rocky, narrow strip of land closely abutting British Columbia, running some 644 kilometers (400 miles) from Ketchikan to the upper end of the Inside Passage at Skagway. During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, Steamships carried thousands of prospectors through Inside Passage from Seattle to jam the docks of Skagway and […]
A Woman who went to Alaska: Travels of M...
A Woman who went to Alaska details two astonishing trips made by May Kellogg Sullivan to the goldfields of the Yukon and Alaska Territories. A true survivor, Sullivan stakes mining claims, works at menial jobs and experiences life with native people of the region. The very presence of women in the North during this era […]
Historic Cape Spencer Light – Guarding t
Historic Cape Spencer Light is located on Cape Spencer at the entrance of Cross Sound and Icy Strait from the outside waters of the Gulf of Alaska. It is found inside the boundaries of Glacier Bay National Park. Cross Sound marks the northern exit for vessels traveling along the Inside Passage of Southeast Alaska. The […]
Ukivuk or King Island: One of Alaska’s E
Ukivuk or King Island is one of Alaska’s endangered historic places. A ghost village, residents lived on the bitter edge of the Bering Sea and migrated to Nome. Abandoned for nearly four decades, Ukivok is one of Alaska’s ghost villages hovering precariously on a rocky cliff facing the Bering Sea on what is known as […]
Skagway and the White Pass Route
For over a hundred years, Skagway has served as the primary port access for the Yukon Territory. A small town at the northern reaches of Lynn Canal, Skagway attracts nearly a million visitors a year. They come to see the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, ride the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad (WP&YR), […]
John Muir Comes to Alaska – Escapades in
Naturalist John Muir first explored Alaska during a trip to the Island of Wrangell on July 14, 1879. Muir wasn’t impressed, saying “the most inhospitable place at first sight I had ever seen…There was nothing like a tavern or lodging-house in the village, nor could I find any place in the stumpy, rocky, boggy ground […]