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Skagway - The Vibrant Feel of the Past


August 03, 2018

Today, I plan on spending it around Skagway. I first visited the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Visitor Center to get some information. While here, they mentioned a few tours they do and that they were free, but you needed to get a ticket to be part of the group as they only permit 30 people per tour. The first tour that I took involved part of the historical buildings in Skagway and the focus was on the women that had come to Alaska. This was a very interesting tour and very informative. This tour was about forty-five minutes long.

The next tour started up at 11:15am and was an inside tour of Jeff Smith’s Parlor. This was pretty cool, it was free, but you had to have a ticket to go inside. This was the building owned by Jeff “Soapy” Smith, an outlaw in Skagway. More information on Soapy will be linked to a story during my visit to the cemetery.

After this interesting tour, I visited the Gold Rush Cemetery that was on the outskirts of town. This cemetery indicates that there are over 133 gravesites with the earliest being 1898 and the last burial in 1908. I took a photo of a sign in front of the cemetery that had interesting stories linked to some of those buried in this particular cemetery.

I first walked up to visit the Lower Reid Falls. They were just behind the cemetery and were very nice indeed.

I then visited different grave sites, specifically ones linked to stories that I read. I found these ones particularly fascinating:

JR “Soapy” Smith.

He was the notorious con man of Skagway. He had many slimy businesses, such as an expensive wire tap to send messages back to loved ones … the wires were not connected to anything. There was a shoot-out between Soapy Smith and Frank Reid.The shots simultaneously hit each other.Soapy Smith was shot through the chest and died instantly.When Soapy Smith was buried there were only two people at his funeral … the carriage driver and his mistress.He was buried outside of the cemetery. His actual grave was washed away in a flood.

Frank H. Reid

Frank Reid was the town surveyor.He got this role after winning the surveying equipment in a bet. Frank Reid was shot by Soapy Smith in the groin and died 12 days later. His monument is the biggest one in the cemetery. He is still considered to be Skagway’s hero.

Ella Wilson

Ella lived in the Red Light District and had been strangled. She lived in the cribs of the Red Light District in Skagway. It was not a large turn out to her funeral.

Bert and Florence Horton

In retaliation for the murder of two First Nation packers, the Hortons were ambushed and killed by a group of Indians during a honeymoon trip near Haines in the fall of 1898.

An Unknown Man

There are several unknown persons buried in this cemetery, like most older cemeteries. However, this man walked into the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Skagway wearing several sticks of dynamite. When he asked the teller for all the money, she fled to the rear of the bank. In an attempt to pull out his pistol, his gun discharged and caused the dynamite to explode.

I had just visited the third grave site when someone hollered up, there are more interesting ones down here. I looked up to see Shea and Erin walking up the path! They told me they left a post-it note on my truck to make sure I didn’t drive off before seeing them. HaHaHa

They went up to see the falls while I finished taking photo’s of some of the grave sites. We chatted for quite some time and after seeing their lovely camper van, we said our good-bye’s and hope to see each other again. Erin again offered me salmon, but I just couldn’t take it. Talk about nice people. I headed back to the old part of Skagway and decided to do the self-guiding walking tour. I took quite a few photo’s and the places I found most interesting were:

Jeff “Soapy” Smith’s Parlor:

This was the actual building that belonged to Soapy Smith and shows the saloon pretty much how it looked back in the day. This building was eventually turned into a museum and had quite a collection of oddities.

Red Onion Saloon:

It was built in 1898 as a saloon, dance hall and bordello. When it was moved to its present location in 1914, the movers had put it in backwards putting the rear of the building onto Broadway Street. Today, it is still a working saloon and you can also do tours of the “Working Girls” section upstairs for ten dollars. Note: I had a beer and pizza here … should have stuck with the beer. LOL

Arctic Brotherhood Hall:

This was a unique building as the front was designed using 8,800 pieces of driftwood and was built in 1899.

Frank Reid and Soapy Smith Monument:

The monument was placed in the location where Frank Reid and Soapy Smith had the shoot-out.

After taking about two hours walking around town, I drove passed the airport and did a short hike to Yakutamia Point. The view wasn’t as nice as I was expecting, but it was still a nice hike.

Tomorrow, going to explore the old Dyea townsite, close to where I am camping. I know, I know, I always seem to say this, but it is true … another great day!


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