In the fall of 1897, after hearing of the gold strikes in the Yukon Territories, Hegg joined the thousands of gold seekers heading north. Accompanied by a group of men from Bellingham Bay , he traveled by steamboat up the Inside Passage through British Columbia to his destination in Alaska. Finding his passage further north closed due to the freezeup on the Yukon River, he settled temporarily in Dyea, Alaska which was the jumping off point for the Chilkoot Trail to Dawson. Here he opened a small photography studio. Later, during the winter of 1897-1898, he established a second, more substantial, studio in Skagway.

The photographer Per Edward (Ed) Larss who had arrived in Skagway in March of 1898, was employed by Hegg to assist in documenting the huge migration to the Yukon known as "the Stampede". For a short time, he and Larss made frequent trips to the Chilkoot Pass following the footsteps of the thousands of Klondikers who wound their way up the Dyea River to the Golden Staircase and over over into British Columbia. They also documented scenes along the White Pass Trail. Along the trails they recorded the sail driven sleds, temporary tent towns, piles of snow covered food caches and the many hardships endured by the Klondikers as they neared their goal.

Bar at the grand opening of the Opera House, Dawson, Yukon Territory, July 4, 1899.

Captain Jack Crawford and group of people at social event, Dawson, Yukon Territory, ca. 1899.

Four men using rocker to mine for gold on Nome beach, Alaska, ca. 1900.

Aftermath of a fire in Dawson, Yukon Territory, October 14, 1898.



Captain Jack Crawford and group of people at social event, Dawson, Yukon Territory, ca. 1899.

Exhausted Klondiker resting on the trail, probably Alaska, 1898.