This publication is essential historiography. It was the primary historical research document used in establishing the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Historian Edwin C. Bearass was tasked with determining whether or not the story of the 1897-1898 gold rush to the Yukon was worthy of American national park status. Prior to this there had been no specific work on the overall event from this perspective. NPS officials needed the study to be able to justify the final push for the new park from within the historic record. Bearss' detailed and scholarly work answered that question once and for all in the affirmative, and his 1969 document (published in 1970) became the cornerstone for the historical library in new park. The Park was dedicated in July of 1976.

KGRNHP has four seperate units: the Seattle Unit, with a museum and visitor center located in Pioneer Square, Seattle (just above the docks where the gold rush stampeders boarded their steamships to head north); the Skagway Unit, located in the Historic District in Skagway, Alaska (comprised of a museum and visitor center as well as 15 historic structures owned by the NPS); the White Pass Unit, comprising the old White Pass horse trail, the abandoned tent community of White Pass City, and bordered by several miles of the White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad; and the Chilkoot Trail Unit, comprising 17 miles of the 33 mile Chilkoot Trail. The 17 miles in the Park are those miles of the trail in the UNited States (in Alaska) while the remaining 16 miles are in Canada, in the province of British Columbia. The Chilkoot Trail is a popular hiking trail for Alaska backcountry visitors.