The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad, part of the area's mining past, now in operation purely for the tourist trade and running throughout the summer months, has its starting point at the port of Skagway.

The name Skagway (historically also spelled Skaguay) is the English divergent of sha-ka-ԍéi, a Tlingit idiom which figuratively refers to rough seas in the Taiya Inlet, which are caused by strong north winds.

Skagway is the English adaptation of sha-ka-ԍéi,[7] a Tlingit idiom which figuratively refers to rough seas in the Taiya Inlet, that are caused by strong north winds.

[8] The verbal noun was derived from the Tlingit finite verb theme -sha-ka-li-ԍéi, which means, in the case of a woman, to be pretty.

He believed that gold lay in the Klondike because it had been found in similar mountain ranges in South America, Mexico, California, and British Columbia.

In 1887, he and his son, J. Bernard "Ben" Moore, claimed a 160-acre (650,000 m2) homestead at the mouth of the Skagway River in Alaska.

More ships brought thousands of hopeful miners into the new town and prepared for the 500-mile journey to the gold fields in Canada.

Some realized how difficult the trek ahead would be en route to the gold fields, and chose to stay behind to supply goods and services to miners.

[14] Due to the sudden influx of visitors to Skagway, some town residents began offering miners transportation services to aid them in their journeys to the Yukon, often at highly inflated rates.

But as the members of the council moved north to try their own hands at mining, control of the town reverted to the more unscrupulous, most notably Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith.

[citation needed] Between 1897 and 1898, Skagway was a lawless town, described by one member of the North-West Mounted Police as "little better than a hell on earth."

Fights, prostitutes and liquor were ever-present on Skagway's streets, and con man "Soapy" Smith, who had risen to considerable power, did little to stop it.

He was gracious to some, giving money to widows and halting lynchings, while simultaneously operating a ring of thieves who swindled prospectors with cards, dice, and the shell game.

[15] Smith also controlled a comprehensive spy network, a private militia called the Skaguay Military Company, the town newspaper, the Deputy U.S.

Smith was finally shot and killed by Frank Reid and Jesse Murphy on July 8, 1898, in the famed Shootout on Juneau Wharf.

Others disembarked at nearby Dyea, northwest of Skagway, and crossed northward on the Chilkoot Pass, an existing Tlingit trade route to reach the lakes.

The Dyea route fell out of favor when larger ships began to arrive, as its harbor was too shallow for them except at high tide.

[citation needed] In 1898, a 14-mile, steam-operated aerial tramway was constructed up the Skagway side of the White Pass, easing the burden of those prospectors who could afford the fee to use it.

It was not until May 1898 that the White Pass and Yukon Route began laying narrow gauge railroad tracks in Skagway.

Much of the history of Skagway was saved by early residents such as Martin Itjen, who ran a tour bus around the historical town.

[22] Skagway is located in a narrow glaciated valley at the head of the Taiya Inlet, the north end of the Lynn Canal, which is the most northern fjord on the Inside Passage on the south coast of Alaska.

There are visitors to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and White Pass and Chilkoot Trails.

The White Pass and Yukon Route operates its narrow-gauge train around Skagway during the summer months, primarily for tourists.

], trains travel several times a week from May through September from Skagway to the small community of Carcross, approximately 45 miles south/southwest of Whitehorse.

Skagway and the surrounding goldfields in 1897-8 is the main setting for George Markstein's 1978 novel 'Tara Kane′, which also features fictionalised versions of Jefferson 'Soapy' Smith and his gang, along with photographer Eric A. Hegg (called Ernst Hart in the novel).

Skagway is a featured setting in the 1946 film Road to Utopia, starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

In Jack London's short story "The Unexpected," the main characters spend the winter of 1897–98 in "the mushroom outfitting-town of Skaguay" before moving on to stake a gold-mining claim elsewhere.

Skagway and the surrounding region is a campaign available in a modification of the helicopter combat simulator "Enemy Engaged: Comanche vs.

Chief Inspector Fenwick often dryly referred to nearby "big city" "Skagway" when sending his mounty, Dudley Do-Right, to capture the show's evil nemesis, Snidely Whiplash.

The facility is usually staffed by three advanced nurse practitioners and three medical assistants, and is it open Monday through Friday year-round with limited Saturday hours during summer.