BOOM TOWNS
The ports of Dyea and Skagway, through which most of the prospectors entered, were tiny settlements before the discovery of the gold along the Klondike river. There were no docking facilities, and ships had to unload their cargo directly onto beaches where Cargo often became smashed, stolen or lost in the process. Within weeks, storehouses, salons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Dyea and Skagway, surrounded by tents and hovels. Skagway built wharves out into the bay, drawing prospectors who might otherwise have gone to Dyea. Yet the town was still ungoverned, dominated by drinking, gunfire and prostitution. However, by the summer of 1898, with a population of 15,000 to 20,000 people, Skagway became the largest city in Alaska. In the late summer, 1897 Skagway and Dyea fell under the rule of Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith and his men, who arrived from Seattle shortly after Skagway began to develop. He was an American gang leader with 200 to 300 followers. Hostility against Smith steadily grew and, after weeks of vigilante activity, he was killed in Skagway during the shootout on Juneau Wharf on July 8, 1898. Other towns also prospered, such as Wrangell, the port of the Stikine route increasing in size, with robberies, gambling and prostitution rising along with the population. Beyond the prompt Gold Rush region, cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria all saw their populations soar as a result of the stampede and the trade it brought along.