Klondike Gold Rush Shipping
F1. Maritime HistoryDefinition
1897 to 1899 Pacific steamer rush to Skagway.
Klondike gold rush shipping was the surge of Pacific coastal steamer traffic carrying prospectors and supplies to the Yukon goldfields after the 1897 news of the strike. Tens of thousands sailed from Seattle, San Francisco, and Victoria to Skagway and Dyea in the Alaska panhandle, from where the Chilkoot and White Pass trails led inland. Overloaded, often unseaworthy vessels ran the route during 1897 and 1898; the sinking of SS Islander off Alaska in August 1901 marked a notable later loss.
Source: Documented Klondike Gold Rush, 1897 to 1898; Pacific steamer routes Seattle and Victoria to Skagway and Dyea; SS Islander loss off Juneau, 15 August 1901.