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Historical map of gold rush routes around Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Alaska. The west coast of North America is shown in off-white, the coastline shaded blue, and routes shown in dark yellow.

Extended Description

Routes span Canadian provinces and territories as well as US states, which appear from north to south as Alaska, Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Alberta, and Washington. Five cities along the routes are color-coded and numbered as follows:

Seattle, Washington in maroon,

Dyea, Alaska in gray,

Skagway, Alaska in blue,

Bennett Lake, Canada in mustard yellow, and

Dawson City, Canada also in maroon.

Beginning in Seattle, a route passes between Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia then forks a third of the way into the province. From here, the All-Water route veers out over the Pacific Ocean, past the Gulf of Alaska, and Alaska Peninsula. Curving back to the mainland, it lands across the bay from Nome at the city of St. Michael, then squiggles in a loop that ends with an arrow pointing upward toward the Yukon River.

A continuation of the route runs along the Yukon River and across the midsection of the state before making a 90-degree turn south to approach the US-Canada border. Here it turns back down with the river and meets up with the Skagway/Dyea Route at Dawson City.

At the fork in the original route, the Skagway/Dyea Route continues along the coast past Skagway, Dyea, Bennett Lake, and Whitehorse near the confluence of the northeast Alaskan panhandle, northwest British Columbia, and southwest Yukon territory. From here, it runs along the Yukon River to Dawson City, where it meets the All-Water Route with an arrow pointing upward.

To the east, the All-Land Route begins at Edmonton, Alberta and stretches diagonally along the Pelly River. It ends with an arrow pointing to the Skagway Dyea Route between Whitehorse and Dawson City.

The Northwest Territories are shown in the northeast, while Oregon and California are shown to the south with San Francisco located along the California coast.