Skagway

We made it from Valdez, through Glennallen, Tok, into Yukon Territory, and camped in a roadside rest near Whitehorse, a distance of about 650 miles.  This enabled us to get up early, and make the side trip to Skagway.  On the way, we passed through Carcross.  This was a primary stop for the Klondikers on the trail from Skagway to Dawson City.  The Matthew Watson General Store is the oldest operating business in the YT.

Carcross was originally called Caribou Crossing, but due to  confusion in mail services due to duplicate names in AK, BC and the Klondike, the name was changed in 1904.    It was the place where the caribou herds crossed the narrows between Bennett and Nares lakes.  It was a major stop on the White Pass & Yukon Route from 1900 until 1982.  It is also where the rail construction crews from Whitehorse (westward) met the crew from Skagway (eastward), kind of like our Promontory Summit in the US Transcontinental railroad.

Slookum Jim (see below) called this his home and dedicated large sums of moneuy for local (First Nation) causes

We stopped at this lake as the colors captured us.  The lake is appropriately named “Emerald Lake”

Once arriving in Skagway, we went to Dyea (Di eee).  This is all that is left of the original townsite and wharves that greeted the Klondikers on the way to Dawson City.  They dis-embarked here, and had to hump their 2000 lbs. of supplies up and over the famous Chilkoot Pass, making numerous trips back and forth.  Unfortunately, the gold had already run out by the time these people made it this far, due to lack of internet services, they did not find out until they made the arduous journey.  Side note, WiFi is still scarce in Skagway.

During the gold rush, a series of small avalanches disrupted the climb over the Chilkoot, then a big one hit, taking out over 60 lives.  They are buried together, in marked graves (if they were identifiable) here in the Dyea graveyard.

After reading several books about the Klondike gold rush and its charactors, I had to make it to the gravesite of the infamous Soapy Smith.  Originally he was in an unmarked grave while his killer, Frank Reid was given the monument below by the townsfolk.  Little did they know that US Marshalls would come to town about 6 months later to pick Frank up on a murder warrant from another town…

The story goes that Frank and Soapy got into an argument on the wharves in Skagway, drew down on each other and fired simultaneously.  Soapy was killed instantly but got the last laugh, it took Frank 12 days to die from his wounds.

A short walk up the hill from the cemetery led us to Lower Reid falls, named after Frank Reid.

We had anticipated lunch at the Red Onion Saloon, but when we arrived, it had morphed into a tee-shirt shop.  There was only one restaurant open.  It was Saturday and the next cruise ship was due to arrive on Tuesday.  Everything was closed . . . BUT, it saved us from visiting all of the trinket and jewelery shops the cruise lines set up.  They have taken the old-time flair away in my opinion, downtown looked like a typical Caribbean port of call.

Like Valdez, they get a little snow here as the first set of Chugach Mountains rise over 4000 feet, and the next set to over 8000 feet,  largest vertical rise in mountains at a seaport in the world.  I would hate to be stuck on the tracks when this came along…

Since the WP&Y railroad was closed until the ships came in, I managed to go through their inventory staged in the rail yard.  Found this little guy for Ashley.

But they had normal, albeit narrow gauge trains set up, cleaned and waiting for the passengers.

Statue commemorating the Klondikers in the city park, next to the Alaska State Ferry and cruise ship docks.

While returning to our campsite, a local Skagway Police Officer pulled beside us and got out to talk.  I thought I did something wrong, but found out he had spotted the truck downtown and saw that we were from Hall county.  He was a local resident, even working on Braselton Police force before landing a job with the Alaska State Troopers.  They sent him to the villages in the north for at least two years as his first assignment.  After a couple of years, he transferred to Skagway and is one of four full-time officers on the local force.  Small world.

Just a side note:  George Washington Carmack is credited with the original gold discovery which set off  the Klondike gold rush in 1896.  George Carmack worked as a sheep herder in Modesto before leaving for the north to hunt, fish and trap. He befriended Skookum Jim Mason in Dyea and common law married a Tagish First Nation woman, Kate.  He switched to prospecting and discovered a coal deposit near what today is named the Village of Carmack. While fishing at the mouth of the Klondike river in August, 1896, he discovered gold in Rabbit (now called Bonanza) creek.  He registered claims for himself, Skookum Jim and Skookum’s nephew. He quickly became wealthy and moved back to a ranch near Modesto.

We plan on leaving early to make the trip towards Whitehorse.. . . Little did we know