Skagway is located at the northernmost point of the Inside Passage near the Canadian border and derives its name from the Tlingit word “skaqua” – windy place. It was a hunting and fishing camp for local Indian tribes for centuries until the discovery of gold 600 miles north at Bonanza Creek in 1896. By 1898, the town had grown to nearly 10,000 people and had become an important staging area for gold prospectors preparing to make the arduous trek through White Pass north of town to seek their fortunes in the Klondike. The nearby settlement of Dyea offered a different route, through Chilkoot Pass, but both routes merged at Bennett Lake just inside the Canadian border and formed a single route, now referred to as the Trail of ’98. Skagway’s fortunes declined with the end of the gold rush, but its downtown area still retains its late 1890s charm, with wooden sidewalks, false-fronted wooden buildings, and the restored turn-of-the-century White Pass & Yukon Railroad passenger depot and steam engine. Much of downtown Skagway is now part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park and well-prepared adventurers can once again hike the 33-mile Chilkoot Trail, beginning at the long-abandoned Dyea townsite.