Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

Le parc national historique de la ruée vers l'or du Klondike (Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park) est un parc national historique des États-Unis commémorant la ruée vers l'or du Klondike à la fin des années 1890. La recherche de l'or se faisait dans le territoire du Yukon au Canada mais le parc comprend les zones d'étapes pour le chemin et les routes menant dans cette direction, situées pour en grande partie en territoire américain. Le parc consiste en quatre unités : trois à Skagway en Alaska et une quatrième situé dans le district historique de Pioneer Square, à Seattle dans l'état de Washington.

L'histoire de la ruée vers l'or du Klondike s'est déroulé des deux côtés de la frontière entre le Canada et les États-Unis. Les sites historiques de Whitehorse et de Dawson City dans le Yukon aussi bien que des sites en Colombie britannique évoquent également cette histoire. En 1998, le parc national américain s'est donc joint au site historique national du Chilkoot Trail, au site historique national du complexe historique de Dawson et à d'autres parcs canadiens pour former le Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park.

Unité de Skagway

Skagway unit museum

The Skagway unit protects much of downtown Skagway including 15 restored historic buildings. The visitor center in Skagway is located in the historic White Pass and Yukon Route railroad depot building at 2nd and Broadway. From the visitor center, visitors to the park can experience the history of Skagway and the gold rush by participating in ranger led walking tours or by watching the park movie. The park also preserves portions of the White Pass Trail and the Chilkoot Trail, which leaves from the historic townsite of Dyea, Alaska and runs to Bennett Lake, from which prospectors could raft to Dawson City, Yukon. The historic townsite of Dyea is also part of the historical park. The trail center in Skagway is operated by both the National Park Service and Parks Canada and has information regarding current traveling conditions along the Chilkoot Trail. A permit is required to hike the 33-mile historic trail.

Unité de Seattle

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Seattle Visitor's Center at the Cadillac Hotel

Prior location of the Visitor's Center in the Union Trust Annex (at right)

An integral part of the park is the Visitor's Center in Seattle, Washington, in the Pioneer Square National Historic District. It functions as an interpretive center and museum, and also has information on how to visit the Skagway unit of the park. It opened June 2, 1979^[1], and was located in the Union Trust Annex (built 1902^[2]), across Main Street from Occidental Park^[3].

The Seattle unit is now located in an 1889 building, the Cadillac Hotel at 319 Second Avenue South. The Cadillac Hotel building was a major point of outfitting and departure during the gold rush stampede. Severely damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, it was rehabilitated 2004–2005 as home to the Seattle Unit of the park, and was opened and dedicated 26 June 2006^[4],[5].

Un parc international

In 1969, the US and Canadian governments jointly declared their intention to make Chilkoot Trail a component of a Klondike Gold Rush International Historic Park. The US portion was eventually established in 1976 as part of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The B.C. portion of the trail became Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, one of several sites in the national park system associated with the Klondike. But it wasn't until the centennial of the gold rush, in 1998, that the dream of an international park was realized, when Klondike Gold Rush NHP and Chilkoot Trail NHS joined to form Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park. Their previous legal names were retained, while the new name reflected co-operative management between the two park services, and the formalization of relations which had in fact been going on for years.

Beyond this, the International Historical Park includes Dawson Historical Complex National Historic Site, in Dawson City, Yukon, which includes some 16 significant buildings^[6]. In addition, "The Thirty Mile" section of the Yukon River, a national heritage river from Lake Laberge to the Teslin River, is a unit of the international park^[7].

Notes

Liens externes

• Klondike Gold Rush NHP: Skagway Unit
• Klondike Gold Rush NHP: Seattle Unit
• Gold Fever! Seattle Outfits the Klondike Gold Rush, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
• Cadillac Hotel
• Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park
• Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, B.C.
• S.S. Klondike National Historic Site, Yukon
• S.S. Keno National Historic Site, Yukon
• Dawson Historical Complex NHS, Yukon
• Dredge No. 4 NHS, Yukon
• Thirty Mile National Heritage River (a section of the Yukon River)

• Portail de la conservation de la nature
• Portail des musées
• Portail de l’Alaska
• Portail de l’État de Washington