The National Register of Historic Places has produced a series of lesson plans that deal with a wide variety of both public and private historic places across the United States. Fortunately, there are two that deal with Seattle, Washington and Skagway, Alaska and the Klondike Gold Rush. The lesson plans are:
The Seattle lesson plan, Gold Fever! Seattle Outfits the Klondike Gold Rush, has various activities that deal with how the merchants outfitted the miners as they traveled north to the Klondike gold field.
The Skagway lesson plan, Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike, focuses on the role that this small town played in the trail north to the gold fields.
For more information on other historic sites, please visit the Teaching With Historic Places web site. Many of the lesson plans are now on the web.
There are a number of resources that are on-line that are rich in information about the role Seattle played in the Klondike Gold Rush. These sources can be used by teachers for lesson planning as well as by students who are doing projects that deal with the Klondike Gold Rush. Currently, we have links to the following resources:
The park has a digital version of its Educators Resource Guide. This guide provides a brief overview of the KlondikeGold Rush and the role that Seattle played as an outfitting center.
The National Register of Historic Places has published an on-line version of A Guideto Historic Seattle. This guide identifies historic structures throughout Seattle.
The most complete source on Seattle and the Klondike Gold Rush can befound in the park’s Historic Resource Survey, Hard Drive to the Klondike: Promoting Seattle During the Klondike Old Rush. This study explores the specific attributes that prepared Seattle of its role as the primary transportation and outfitting center during the Klondike Gold Rush. If you are interested in howand why Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park was established, thepark's administrative history, Legacy of the Gold Rush, is also available.
The Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington has put together a comprehensive curriculum guide to the Klondike Gold Rush. It includes a widerange of primary source materials and photographs that can be incorporatedinto lessons on the Klondike Gold Rush.
We would like to highlight a number of web sites that might be helpful in planning lessons or finding information, which relate to Seattle's history and the National Park Service. These links include:
National Park Service. There are nearly 400 units in the National Park Service and they all have web pages that have typical visitor information and, many have education resources that can be used in the classroom.
On-line Encyclopedia of Seattle and King County History. History link is one of the most comprehensive resources on the history of Seattle and King County.