Ruins of the Vining and Wilkes Warehouse in Dyea
Dyea, near Skagway, Alaska
The town of Dyea existed for only one reason — to get the stampeders and their goods off their boats and onto the Chilkoot Trail to the gold fields. For two years it was probably the busiest town in Alaska. Vast quantities of goods came in by lighter, or from ships at the long pier, and were sorted out and stored at the Vining and Wilkes Warehouse.
But from the very beginning it had a nearby rival, Skagway, with its White Pass route to the interior. Gradually Skagway gained a larger share of the traffic, due to its better harbor and the fact that White Pass was slightly less terrible than Chilkoot Pass. But it was the railroad that killed Dyea. Once the W.P. & Y.R. Railroad was completed, in 1900, there was no reason for a town on the tidal flats at Dyea, and everyone moved away.
Now all that remains is one single store front, carefully propped up, and several piles of debris from collapsed buildings. The contrast with Skagway, once again thriving, is vivid.