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Chilkoot Pass

Chilkoot Pass
Miners climb Chilkoot.jpg
Miners and packers climbing the Chilkoot Pass, September 1898, during the Klondike Gold Rush
Traversed by Chilkoot Trail
Location United States: Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska
Canada: Atlin District, British Columbia
Range Boundary Ranges
Coordinates 59°41′49″N 135°14′19″W / 59.69694°N 135.23861°W / 59.69694; -135.23861Coordinates: 59°41′49″N 135°14′19″W / 59.69694°N 135.23861°W / 59.69694; -135.23861
Topo map NTS 104M11

Chilkoot Pass (el. 1067 m./3057 ft.) is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett Lake, British Columbia. The Chilkoot Trail was long a route used by the Tlingit for trade.

During the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century, it was used by prospectors and packers to get through the mountains. During the gold rush, three aerial tramways and several surface hoists were constructed and operated briefly over the pass. When the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad was built in neighboring White Pass, the Chilkoot Pass route fell out of favor with miners.

The Pass and the Trail are administered by the national park services of the U.S. and Canada. On the B.C. side, it is administered as Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site. On the Alaska side, it is one unit of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. In the summer of 1998, the Site and the Park united to form Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park. Modern-day visitors can hike the 33-mile trail after registering and paying a fee.

The Klondike Gold rush had begun on August 16, 1896 on Bonanza Creek. This was located near Dawson, and 50 miles east of the Alaskan border. The Chilkoot Trail is reported to have spanned between 28 miles and 33 miles from sea level at Dyea, Alaska to Lake Bennett, British Columbia. The Chilkoot Pass was an important milestone which travellers had to conquer in order to reach the Klondike. The travellers were called ‘stampeders,’ and some had earlier sought the riches of the 1889 gold rush in Alaska.


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