 The population was estimated at 8,000 residents during the spring of 1898 with approximately 1,000 prospective miners passing through town each week.By June 1898, with a population between 8,000 and 10,000, Skagway was the largest city in Alaska.Due to the sudden influx of visitors to Skagway, some town residents began offering miners transportation services to aid them in their journeys to the Yukon, often at highly inflated rates.