Prospectors preparing for ascent of Chilkoot and Pederson Pass, Spring 1898 En Route to Klondike Gold Fields, 603. A Goetzman iconic photograph.

To reach the goldfields, most stampeders sailed north from Seattle on steamships to the port of Skagway, in southeast Alaska. Here, the stampeders could follow either the Chilkoot or the White Pass trails to the Yukon River and sail down to the Klondike.

The Chilkoot Trail was one of only three passes in southeast Alaska that could be crossed year-round. The twenty-six-mile trail over Chilkoot Pass was steep and hazardous. The trail shot up about 1,000 feet in the final mile. Travelers climbed the "golden staircase," 1500 steps cut in the snow and ice, and used a guide rope for support. Most had to make the trip up the Pass at least forty times because in 1898 the Northwest Mounted Police ensured that all stampeders had a ton of goods necessary for a year's survival.

Goetzman is believed to have reached the Yukon via the Chilkoot Trail in winter 1897-1898 with his wife Mary W. and their daughter Miss Edith C. Goetzman. To take these photographs, the Goetzmans would have been challenged not only by the climate and terrain but also by his need to pack and carry heavy photographic equipment plus a year's supply of food. The camera itself was bulky and had to be set up on a tripod. Fragile glass plates, large quantities of water and chemicals, and a darkroom tent were all needed to create that one breathtaking photograph.

The ascent of Chilkoot Pass, Spring of 1898. En Route to Klondike Gold Fields, 602. A Goetzman iconic photograph. 

The rush over the Passes reached its zenith in the winter of 1897-98 when an unprecedented number of stampeders scrambled over the mountain barrier to the Klondike. When the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway (W.P. & Y.R.) was built in neighboring White Pass, the Chilkoot Pass route fell out of favor with miners.

After reaching the end of the Pass, the stampeders still had more than 800 km of lake and river travel ahead of them before reaching Dawson City.