​SKAGWAY (a native name said to mean “home of the northwind”), a city in S.E. Alaska, in lat. 59° 28′ N. and long. 135° 20′ W.,at the mouth of the river Skagway, on an indentation ofTaiya Inlet, a branch of Chilkoot Inlet, leading out of LynnCanal. Pop. (1900) 3117. It is the seaward terminus of theYukon & White Pass railway, by which goods and passengersreach the Klondike; and is connected with Dawson by telegraphand with Seattle by cable, and with Seattle, San Francisco andother Pacific ports by steamers. The climate is comparativelydry (annual precipitation about 21·75 in.); between 1898 and1902 the minimum recorded temperature was 10° (March),the maximum 92° (July), and the greatest monthly range 73°(March). Though settled somewhat earlier, Skagway firstbecame important during the rush in 1896 for the Klondikegold-fields, for which it is the most convenient entrance by thetrail over White Pass, the lower of the two passes to the ​headwaters of the Yukon. A post-office was established here inNovember 1897.