Chilkoot Trail
| Chilkoot trail | |
|---|---|
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| Length | 33 miles |
| Summit | Chilkoot Pass; 1067 m / 3,525 feet |
| Legacy | Trail for Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) |
| Use | Tourist attraction |
| Location | Southeast Alaska - Northwest British Columbia |
| Port | Skagway |
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| Official name | Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | 1987 |
| Official name | Chilkoot Trail and Dyea Site |
| Designated | 1978 |
The Chilkoot Trail is a 33-mile (53 km) trail through the Coast Mountains that leads from Dyea, Alaska, in the United States, to Bennett, British Columbia, in Canada.
It was a major access route from the coast to Yukon goldfields in the late 1890s. The trail became obsolete in 1899 when a railway was built from Dyea's neighbor port Skagway along the parallel White Pass trail. The Chilkoot Trail and Dyea Site was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1978. In 1987, the trail was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. In 1998, the centennial of the gold rush, Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site in British Columbia merged with the U.S. park to create the Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park.
Tlingit Indians used the trail as a vital trade route to trade for resources available in the interior. As pressures from American settlers and the Hudson's Bay Company weakened the traditional Tlingit trading system, the Chilkoot Trail slowly became utilized by explorers and prospectors.
The Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899) transformed the Chilkoot Trail into a mainstream transportation route to Canada's interior. The gold rush was primarily focused in the region around Dawson City in Yukon and the Yukon River. Of the several overland routes, the Chilkoot Trail was the most direct, least expensive, and, soon enough, most popular.
The other primary route to the headwaters of the Yukon River, however, was also based out of Skagway: the rival White Pass route. The White Pass route was slightly longer but less rigorous and steep, whereas the Chilkoot was shorter and more difficult. Skagway, because of its deepwater harbor, served as the principal port for both routes (nearby Dyea, the beginning of the Chilkoot Trail, was built on the extensive, shallow Taiya River delta).
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