Sounds like a problem of time and distance.
http://www.alaska-map.org/images/map-alaska_04.jpg
Getting to Juneau from Skagway would mean a trip by air or sea.
You could ask for directions. Bing computes the distance to Juneau as 103.5 miles, including 89 miles on the ferry, and estimates the time as 7h 45m, depending on the ferry schedule. To Whitehorse, Bing calculates the distance as 108.7 miles and estimates 2h 35m driving time.
Canadian healthcare, which had only just started its socialist decay in the late 60s, would have been the obvious choice if you burned your foot in Skagway (pop 800 in the off-season).
Yeah, this kinda strikes me as a non story just sexed up to reflect badly on Palin.
