(click to enlarge photos)

Published in The Seattle Times online on April 17, 2025
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on April 20, 2025

Should Seattle’s Klondike museum close? Just ask its visitors

By Jean Sherrard

On a blustery, mid-March weekend, at a beloved federal facility targeted for closure by the current administration, it was time to strike it rich with opinions.

At Seattle’s Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, inside Pioneer Square’s restored Cadillac Hotel, I launched a poll.

My first prospect was a tall, bearded, mountain of a man. Formerly a Lake Tahoe-area ranger, he was touring the Northwest. He shook his head, declining to identify himself. But as he watched a Gold Rush video, he seethed.

“Nothing I say would be printable,” he said. “If I told you what I really felt, it would ruin my vacation.”

No less passionate, others eagerly went on the record.

Theresa Lacey and Tom Calder of Redmond had just heard of the potential shuttering and made a beeline downtown.

“It feels just like burning books,” Lacey said.

“If we don’t know about the past,” Calder added, “we don’t know where we’ve been or where we’re going.”

Jason Hein, with daughter Vivian, said the museum provides a parallel lesson for today. In a dig at AI and

its investors, he said of the Gold Rush, “For the vast majority seeking the mirage of promised wealth, it was a complete bust.”

The lessons also are generational, Vivian noted: “Kids can come here and see how their ancestors lived and see how the city they live in was built.”

Connie Wall and Dawn Walker, longtime Olympia pals and “national park geeks,” said between them they’ve visited 30-plus national parks. They took the possible closure personally.

“It threatens who we are as people,” Wall said.

“As Americans,” Walker chimed in.

Ex-rangers David Monroe and Jenny Dyste, who ferried across the Sound to visit, saluted the museum’s organizational context.

“The national parks,” Monroe said, “are the greatest thing America has done. It’s a gift to the people of the United States.”

Wiping away tears, Dyste added, “It’s our shared history.”

Lifelong Northwesterners John and Sandi O’Donnell were making their first visit.

“I’m celebrating my 63rd birthday by buying a National Parks Senior Pass today,” John said.

Sandi lamented the “heartbreaking” prospect of closure. “This place is a national monument.”

Could I find supporters of closure? Try as I might, it just didn’t pan out.

Theresa Werlech of Mercer Island has worked as a tour guide for 35 of her 88 years. Escorting dozens of student choir members from Arizona, she summoned a hopeful analogy.

“This place is an absolute jewel,” she said. “I’d be devastated if it closed. Let’s hope that the Klondike continues to go in search of gold.”

WEB EXTRAS

A handful of photos show off the museum’s lovingly designed interior, upstairs and down.

For our narrated 360 video of this column, please head over here!