[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 32 (Monday, August 10, 1998)]
[Pages 1570-1571]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7114--Designating Klondike Gold Rush International 
Historical Park

August 5, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    A century ago, the Klondike Gold Rush began a migration that forever 
changed Alaska and the Yukon Territory. More than 100,000 people headed 
north during 1897 and 1898, catapulting a little-known region from 
obscurity to the center of the world stage. While the Klondike was not 
the first or largest western gold rush, coming nearly 50 years after the 
1848 gold discovery at Sutter's Mill, California, it is remembered for 
the sheer drama by which it was announced to the world and for its 
century-long influence on Alaska and the upper Yukon River basin.
    The United States and Canada have been engaged for 30 years in joint 
planning and cooperation to commemorate the Klondike Gold Rush and 
preserve historic structures and trails on both sides of the 
international boundary. In 1976, the Government of the United States 
established Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, consisting of a 
Seattle unit, a Skagway unit, a Chilkoot Pass unit, and a White Pass 
unit, to preserve the historic structures and trails. The Government of 
Canada has recognized the national significance of the Chilkoot Trail 
and Dawson Historical Complex by designating them as National Historic 
Sites. It has also designated a section of the Yukon River as a Canadian 
Heritage River and taken other steps to commemorate the rich history of 
this region.
    It is the desire of the United States to join our Canadian neighbors 
in celebrating our shared history on the occasion of the centennial of 
the Klondike Gold Rush and to reaffirm the commitment of the United 
States to continuing the joint efforts of both nations to preserve our 
shared Klondike history.

[[Page 1571]]

    In 1996, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien proclaimed that, 
``the governments of Canada and the United States and of Yukon and 
Alaska in a long-standing spirit of cooperation have agreed to establish 
the Klondike Gold Rush International Historic Park, incorporating the 
resources of the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site in British 
Columbia and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Alaska . 
. .''
    Section 3(a) of U.S. Public Law 94-323 states, ``At such time . . . 
that planning, development, and protection of the adjacent or related 
historic and scenic resources in Canada have been accomplished by the 
Government of Canada in a manner consistent with the purposes for which 
the park was established, and upon enactment of a provision similar to 
this section by the proper authority of the Canadian Government, the 
President is authorized to issue a proclamation designating and 
including the park as a part of an international historical park to be 
known as Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 
3(a) of Public Law 94-323 of June 30, 1976, do proclaim that Klondike 
Gold Rush National Historical Park is designated and included as part of 
an international historical park to be known as Klondike Gold Rush 
International Historical Park.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of 
August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., August 6, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on August 
7.