Alaska Part 3: Yukon Trail

Last post of Alaska stuff...

The Yukon Trail game came free with our first home computer back in 1994. For a while, it was the only game my brother and I could play; we did so a lot. The game is like Oregon Trail but about the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896-99. In the game you stop at a town named Skagway. When we found out we were actually going there, we got really excited, and we thought it was funny that we knew the city already, but from a game!

My brother Kevin mimicing the game layout... he's on the wrong side -_-

Skagway was one of the port cities that one could stop on their way to the Klondike. The name comes from the Tlingit word "skagua" menaing "origin of the north wind" the north winds pass through the mountains. The city was used as a point to replenish supplies and food before heading on the treacherous White Pass trail. During the peak of the gold rush, the population boomed and prospered with many types of businesses including restaurants, prostitution, and gang activity. Today the population is only 800.

You can meet this character in the game. He's a bad guy!

Turns out he's the real deal, the most well-known character in Skagway! He basically took over Skagway during the gold rush and became the leader of an organized gang and con men. Ex: he set up telegraph lines, charging stampeders wanting to contact their families, the lines would lead to one of his men who sent back fake responses.

See his saloon there on the right...?

That really exist too!

That is the momenta he left behind... great... a skull

So it was fun reliving our gaming past. Of course we played it again as soon as we got home.