Alaska-Canadian border cities: a long stretch of road/water/wilderness connects unique towns.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: REGIONAL REVIEW

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The border between Alaska and Canada winds through 1,538 miles of wilderness. At 20 feet wide, the Alaska-Canadian border cuts a path that equals the distance between the cities of San Francisco and St. Louis.

In some places, the boundary between Alaska and Canada is quite clear, such as the Yukon River valley, but on the summit of Mount Saint Elias, the line is inconspicuous. The spectacular Mount Saint Elias is the second-highest mountain in both the United States and Canada. The U.S. side of the mountain lies within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and the Canadian side is part of Kluane National Park.

BORDER CITIES IN ALASKA

Notable cities on the Alaska side of the border include Skagway, Haines, Prince of Wales Island and Tok. Following is a summary of the history and events surrounding these towns.

SKAGWAY

Skagway, located 100 air miles north of Juneau, has a golden history in Alaska. The 1896 discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon Territory sparked the Klondike Gold Rush that would last several years and help to make Skagway what it is today. Skagway became the first first-class city in the Territory of Alaska in 1900. Now it has about 850 residents and is incorporated as a borough known as the Municipality of Skagway.

As with many communities in Southeast Alaska, Skagway thrives off the tourism and fishing industries, according to Alyssa Shanks, Southeast economist for the State of Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development Research and Analysis Section. Located at the northern end of the famed Inside Passage, a vast majority of cruise ships visit Skagway. In 2007, more than 800,000 passengers spent at least part of the day in Skagway, according to the June 2008 Alaska Economic Trends.

The cruise ship traffic contributes to Skagway's job count tripling from its winter low to its summer high. The seasonal job pattern creates an interesting situation for Skagway: There are more jobs than local residents. "Skagway's average annual employment is higher than the residents who live there year-round," Shanks says. "They have so many people who come just in the summer to work."

Not counting summer jobs, Skagway's population from 2000 to 2007 has been fairly stable, Shanks says. "When you look at the economy of Skagway, it is not that surprising that the population hasn't grown because a lot of those jobs are seasonal," she says.

Many visitors to Skagway come to see the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Created in 1976 to interpret the history of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898, it is an important employer in the area. The park accounts for about 20 year-round jobs and an additional 30 jobs in the summer.

As Alaska's most famous gold rush town, Skagway is known for attractions such asJewell Gardens that features a G-Scale model railroad, White Pass and Yukon Route Railway, Trail of '98 Museum, the Chilkoot and Dewey Lake trails and the well-preserved historical buildings.

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HAINES

With a 2000 Census population of 1,811, Haines is more accessible than many other communities in Southeast Alaska...