I live in a Yukon town called “Whitehorse”. As a result of the Klondike Gold Rush, a combination of English money and American engineering pushed through a railway from the deep water port of Skagway, over the White Pass to a place that is BELOW a white rapids (Whitehorse). From there, paddlewheelers took people and supplies down the river to Dawson City where the Klondike was.

Things died down, of course. In 1939, there were some 300 people in Whitehorse. Then, with WWII and the building of the Alaska Highway (done in 9 months, before environmental reporting!!!), the White Pass Railway provided transport of soldiers, material, etc etc. Now, Whitehorse is a bureaucratic center. And the Railway goes only part way to Whitehorse. It is a tourist thing now. Dawson City still has gold miners. And lots of environmentalists.

Cities are all about people doing stuff. I noticed that the port of San Francisco is chock a block with lawyers and tourists. Over the way in the port of Oakland, ugly old economy flourishes.