Captain Moore's Vision: The Gateway to the Klondike Goldfields

In June 1887, Captain William Moore and Native guide Skookum Jim Mason (Keish) scouted a relatively unknown Tlingit route through the coastal mountains to what became known as White Pass, leading to the Canadian interior. Convinced that a gold rush to the Yukon would soon come, Moore envisioned a gateway for prospectors headed to stake claims, centered on a homestead and support operations that would control commerce to the Interior, including a trail and eventually a railway over White Pass. His self-named and short-lived "Mooresville," dating to 1887, was a small company town centered on what later emerged as Fifth Avenue in downtown Skagway. Moore and his son, J. Bernard (Ben), chose 160 acres for their homestead inland from the tidal flats in the valley lands of Shghagwei, which, though previously unsettled, had long served as Tlingit seasonal resource gathering areas. By 1888, the Moores had built a log cabin, cleared eight acres, and begun constructing a wharf and trail as part of a venture aimed primarily at financial gain rather than a typical pioneer family homestead. In 1896, financing from the British Columbia Development Association, Ltd., later incorporated as the Alaska and Northwest Territories Trading Company, backed a "Trading and Manufacturing Site" owned by Ben Moore, with the company taking a half interest and paying the Moores to enlarge the wharf and build a pack trail, sawmill, and business offices. U.S. Survey no. 13 in July 1896 showed the log cabin within cleared and fenced acreage beside tidal flats, wooded ground, and trails. Within a year, news of a major gold strike on the Klondike River brought thousands of prospectors to Mooresville and overtook Moore's carefully laid plans, while his log cabin endured as a symbol of the original vision of a gold-rush gateway.

Skagway, Alaska · United States