Skagway, Alaska

How Skagway is governed

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

Website

skagway.org

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Population over time

From 968 in 2010 to 1,240 in 2020 (+28.1%).

History

Etymology and the Mythical Stone Woman

Skagway is the English adaptation of sha-ka-ԍéi, a Tlingit idiom which figuratively refers to rough seas in the Taiya Inlet, that are caused by strong north winds. Literally, sha-ka-ԍéi is a verbal noun which means pretty woman. The verbal noun was derived from the Tlingit finite verb theme -sha-ka-li-ԍéi, which means, in the case of a woman, to be pretty.

The story behind the name is that Sha-ka-ԍéi or Skagway ["Pretty Woman"] was the nickname of Kanagoo, a mythical woman who transformed herself into stone at Skagway Bay and who (according to the story) now causes the strong, channeled winds which blow toward Haines, Alaska. The rough seas caused by these winds have therefore been referred to figuratively by using Kanagoo's nickname, Sha-ka-ԍéi or Skagway.

The Kanagoo stone formation is now known as Face Mountain, which is seen from Skagway Bay. The Tlingit name for Face Mountain is Kanagoo Yahaayí [Kanagoo's Image/Soul].

Early Skagway

Source:

One prominent resident of early Skagway was William "Billy" Moore, a steamboat captain and veteran of the Stikine and Cassiar gold rushes. As part of an 1887 Canadian boundary survey expedition, he investigated the Coast Mountains pass—later known as White Pass—and identified the route for the future White Pass & Yukon Route railroad. In 1887, Moore and his son claimed a 160-acre homestead at the Skagway River mouth, and his vessel, the Gertrude, faced delays during U.S. customs blockades.

Vaguely defined boundaries along the Alaska Panhandle created overlapping territorial claims. While Canada proposed a joint survey in 1871, the U.S. rejected it as "too costly" given the region's remoteness and limited perceived value. This rejection was disingenuous, as politicians and southern newspapers simultaneously touted the area's strategic timber, fisheries, and mineral potential, framing the purchase as a step toward annexing British Columbia. Because the head of the inlet remained unsurveyed in 1887, Captain William Moore and his son considered the Skagway River mouth British territory, formally registering a 160-acre pre-emption claim in Victoria through the British Columbia Lands Office and registry under the Land Act. Frustrated by American delay, Canada dispatched surveyor Joseph Hunter in 1877 to establish a provisional boundary on the Stikine River, compelling the U.S. to recognize the territorial limits.

This lack of diplomatic consensus had already caused localized friction. In 1874, during the nearby Cassiar Gold Rush, despite treaty guarantees of free navigation by British vessels to access the transmontane interior via the Taku and Stikine rivers, the U.S. Army reinforced and reoccupied Fort Wrangell and began to impose restrictive customs blockades on the Stikine River where it transitioned out of American-claimed coastal waters, a campaign that heavily targeted and disrupted Moore's riverboat operations, the first vessel to be seized being his Gertrude. This blockade resulted in a flurry of cables between Whitehall, Ottawa, and Washington, which ultimately ordered the commander at Fort Wrangell to stand down and allow British vessels access to the river, although exorbitant duties and fees witnessed a continued imposition. Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, defied the attempts by the Fort Wrangell commander to subject him to this jurisdictional squeeze; he famously voyaged to the Cassiar goldfields by canoe and held court and assizes to decisively underscore British tenure and judicial sovereignty in the region.

Among these cases was that of an Irish-American criminal named Martin who escaped custody and fled downriver and was re-arrested near the Great Glacier; Lord Carnarvon, British Colonial Secretary, alongside Canadian officials then in BC dealing with controversies due to the lack of even a start on the transcontinental railway, sought to intervene. However, Canadian authorities were ultimately convinced by American diplomatic pressure that Martin's physical re-arrest had technically occurred on U.S. territorial soil, leading to his release and handover to U.S. custody. As a direct result of this infamous case, a pro tem "working boundary" or modus vivendi was agreed upon many miles upstream from the sea; while never intended to be permanent, this compromise line effectively became formalized via the 1903 boundary tribunal's final verdict.

The Klondike gold rush changed everything. In 1896, gold was found in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory. On July 29, 1897, the steamer Queen docked at Moore's wharf with the first boat load of prospectors. More ships brought thousands of hopeful miners into the new town and prepared for the 500-mile (800 km) journey to the gold fields in Canada. Moore was overrun by lot jumping prospectors and had his land stolen from him and sold to others.

The population of the general area increased enormously and reached 30,000, composed largely of American prospectors. Some realized how difficult the trek ahead would be en route to the gold fields, and chose to stay behind to supply goods and services to miners. Within weeks, stores, saloons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Skagway. The population was estimated at 8,000 residents during the spring of 1898 with approximately 1,000 prospective miners passing through town each week. By June 1898, with a population between 8,000 and 10,000, Skagway was the largest city in Alaska.

Due to the sudden influx of visitors to Skagway, some town residents began offering miners transportation services to aid them in their journeys to the Yukon, often at highly inflated rates. A group of miners upset with the treatment organized a town council to help protect their interests. But as the members of the council moved north to try their own hands at mining, control of the town reverted to the more unscrupulous, most notably Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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