The Famous Buckwheat's Skagway Audio Guide

Once you’ve met this Skag­we­gian, you may con­sid­er mov­ing to Skag­way and nev­er leav­ing the place. Buck­wheat just can’t get enough of the city, the peo­ple, and its history.

Stop and take your pic­ture in front of the most pho­tographed build­ing in Alas­ka. In times past, it was a fra­ter­nal hall; the local chap­ter of the Broth­er­hood first met here in August 1899. (Step across the street, and you’ll notice the let­ters ​“A.B.” and the ​“1899” above the door, and ​“Camp Skag­way No. 1” on the over­hang. The orga­ni­za­tion’s sym­bol, a gold pan and nuggets, is up near the roof line. The façade, which dates from 1900, has been…  ...more

Ever heard of the depart­ment store Nord­strom? Well the founder, John Nord­strom, made his first for­tune in Skag­way dur­ing the Gold Rush.

Take a ride on the Yukon Route Rail­way and head east just like the min­ers of the Gold Rush days. This loco­mo­tive cut trav­el time to White­horse from sev­er­al weeks to just a few days.

His sto­ries of strug­gle for sur­vival aren’t based on fic­tion. This Amer­i­can writer found inspi­ra­tion from his expe­ri­ences in the Klondike territory.

In the rum­bling and tum­bling days of the Gold Rush, the train tracks ran right down the cen­ter of Broad­way. The bois­ter­ous activ­i­ty of the loco­mo­tives was only 30 feet away from the board­walk and store fronts.

Ghosts haunt these walls. Mary con­tin­ues to wait for the prospec­tor who promised to mar­ry her and who nev­er returned.

Learn how small town locals con­tin­ue to cel­e­brate this yule­tide tra­di­tion! Peo­ple from all over gath­er in Skag­way to see San­ta deliv­er toys.

“Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dan­ger­ous Dan McGrew, And watch­ing his luck was his light‑o’-love, the lady that’s known as Lou.” The famous poet moved up to the Yukon Ter­ri­to­ry just 8 years after its discovery.

Dur­ing the Gold Rush, Skag­way was one of the largest cities on the West Coast next to Seat­tle and Van­cou­ver. With­out any laws at the time, the city had a rough and tum­ble reputation.

Com­pare today’s prices to those of 1900 Skag­way. The Skag­way Hard­ware Store still sells items to locals for just 3 cents or even a penny. 

A man with a bright vision for Skag­way is bam­boo­zled by mon­ey hun­gry thieves in 1897. 

Get a kick out of the can­can girls – this build­ing is host to the longest run­ning sum­mer stock the­atre pro­gram in the West­ern Unit­ed States.

When you look around the City Muse­um, at first glance, you might not notice that it used to be the town jail…or, a Methodist College. 

If you’re curi­ous about what nightlife was like dur­ing this era, look no fur­ther. The Red Onion Saloon was host to tens of thou­sands of row­dy cus­tomers who filled up the bar and await­ed the ladies of the evening.

Unlike most of Amer­i­ca, Skag­way had dirt road­ways and board­walks up until the mid-1980s.

Stick your ear up to the front of the old safe on dis­play and try to crack the code. You may find you have some­thing in com­mon with Jef­fer­son ​“Soapy” Smith.