Skagway: City of the New Century

Shgagw i, as it was first called centuries before by the Tlingit for the "bunched up water" in its bay caused by strong winds, was "discovered" in 1887 by a father and son with visions of a gateway port to the riches of the Yukon and Alaska. Ten years later, after the discovery of gold in the Klondike, their vision came true with the arrival of prospectors from all over the world. The towns of Skaguay and nearby rival Dyea boomed. Each had multiple newspapers which chronicled the stampede and the competition between the White and Chilkoot passes, but Skagway would win the war with the construction of the White Pass & Yukon Route railway and settle on a way to spell its name. The community has survived smaller booms and busts since, but remains a vital tourism and industrial port as the Gateway to the Klondike. In 1898 editors called Skagway the "City of the New Century." In this book of stories and photographs, the rich history of this area and its people is chronicled through that new century, and into the next. This revised edition contains a chapter of new historical features written since the first edition appeared in 2013, covering the community's hospitals and health care, historic adventure clubs, entertainment and film history, the World War I years, and a rare interview with a man connected to the demise of Soapy Smith.

Jeff Brady has been a student of Skagway history since he first arrived in the community in the summer of 1974. Four years later, with a degree in American Studies and a background in writing and journalism, he revived the town's original newspaper, The Skagway News, and also produced a summer visitor newspaper, the Skaguay Alaskan. The Alaskan was designed to resemble a gold rush newspaper and included articles from the 1897-1910 era mixed with researched historical features by himself and other writers about Skagway, Dyea, the trails, and the Yukon gold rush. As secretary of the Skagway Centennial Committee during the town's 13-year celebration of centennial events, he also developed stories around various themes and wrote an historic timeline updating the town's history into the new century. This book is a compilation of 40 years of work by Brady and other writers and photographers, along with historical photos collected by Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, the Skagway Museum, and many other institutions and collectors. Jeff has since sold the newspaper but remains active in the community's literary and arts scene. He and his wife Dorothy own Skaguay News Depot & Books and have restored old homesteader cabins on their Dyea property for the Alderworks Alaska Writers and Artists Retreat, which opened in the summer of 2016. Jeff is also a founding director of the North Words Writers Symposium, which is held annually in Skagway in late May. Brady is donating his royalties from sales of this book to the Margaret Frans Brady Fund, which supports arts and education programs and projects in Skagway and northern Southeast Alaska.