In 1897 and 1898, Dyea was one of the busiest ports in Alaska. It had everything the stampeder could want -- at a price. There were stores selling hardware, clothing, food, animal feed, and baked goods. There were hotels, saloons, dance halls, restaurants, packers for hire, and con-men and prostitutes.
Alfred McMichael, a 40-year-old Detroit photographer, arrived in Dyea in April 1898. McMichael stayed at the Hotel Ballard, and his description of it shows Dyea's boomtown character: "It is about 20 x 40 feet, one board thick all around with the wind whistling through the walls and floor which is about a foot and half above a pool of water. The sleeping apartments are in a room above, the same size. For beds there are bunks, one above the other, running up and down the room. These are frames with canvas stretched across and we furnish our own blankets."
A year and a half later, the White Pass and Yukon-Railway had eliminated the need for the Chilkoot Trail, and Dyea was almost deserted. Today little remains of the town beyond some pilings sticking up from the shallow bay, the half-hidden foundations of a few buildings, and a cemetery.
