Chilkoot Pass

This photo was taken in the winter of 1898, as packers were climbing up to the summit of Chilkoot Pass between the Alaska-British Columbia border just north of Skagway.

Back in 1897, Ballentine stowed the starter in a flour sack and trekked over the Chilkoot Pass on his way to the Klondike gold fields.

In Yukon, there are still a few sourdough starters that came over the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush and have been maintained over the last one hundred and eighteen years.

The area was traditionally used as a staging area for Tlingit traders who would travel up and over the Chilkoot Pass to meet interior Athabaskan tribes and exchange goods.

When the Klondike Gold Rush erupted the following year, he took off for the Chilkoot Pass to join the adventure.