Skagway is a borough on the Alaska Panhandle near Canada. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 862. There is no doctor -- only a nurse practicioner. The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad, opened in 1900, part of the area's mining past, is still in operation. It has been designated an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, a designation shared with the Panama Canal, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. Skagway is also part of the setting for Jack London's book The Call of the Wild.

The population grew to 30,000 following the Yukon Gold Rush in 1896. Between 1897-1898, Skagway was a lawless town, described by one member of the Northwest Mounted Police as "little better than a hell on earth." Fights, prostitutes and liquor were ever-present on Skagway's streets.