Chilkoot Pass Feature

Archie Satterfield’s Chilkoot Pass, then and now provides a dual historical and modern geographic portrait of the treacherous alpine corridor connecting the Alaskan coast to the interior Yukon River basin. Set against the sheer ice fields and punishing inclines of the Coast Mountains, the narrative reveals that this iconic Klondike Gold Rush route was not a newly blazed pioneer gateway, but rather an ancient, fiercely protected overland trade monopoly long established and controlled by the coastal Tlingit people. Satterfield chronicles the staggering physical and logistical realities of the 1897–1898 stampede, detailing how thousands of prospectors were forced to pack a mandatory ton of supplies over the summit's grueling "Golden Stairs." To survive the brutal subarctic conditions, avalanches, and extreme exhaustion, these stampeders relied heavily on interdependent partnerships, cooperative labor, and the specialized packing expertise of indigenous guides. Ultimately, the text documents the brief, intense industrialization of the pass through the construction of aerial tramways and boomtown tent cities, contrasting this frantic frontier engineering with the route’s modern legacy as a preserved international trail that permanently bears the physical scars of the region's defining gold rush.

vii, 183 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm