September 7, 2012

Skagway, Alaska

We departed Juneau in the evening in the course of dinnertime. It was a pleasurable day while there. As far as we know, no one was left behind. LOL.

We cruised again all night and when we pulled into port in the early morning daylight I was flabbergasted, to say the least! I walked out onto the balcony with a cup of coffee in hand and immediately to my right was this colossal, incredibly stunning piece of ice. It was at least 10 times the size of our ship.

All that I could articulate was OMG! OOOOMG!  OOOH MMYYY GOODD!!!  Just then I heard laughter from all around me. Apparently there were additional passengers out at the same time. When I looked around, they all looked at me in unison. The women directly above me, looked down and said, don’t worry, we all felt the very identical way, and we just did not vocalize it. Everyone laughed again and we all just stood there taking in the magnificent, naturally wondrous beauty of the icy landscape before us.

The name of Skagway was originated from Shagwei, the nickname for Kanagu, a mythical woman transformed into stone who lived at Skagway bay. By association, Shagwei also became the name for the tempestuous seas that Kanagu caused when angered, and for the river that Kanagu “personified.”

According to Tlingit mythology as of 1882,the Kanagu rock is most likely to be Face Mountain, which looks out over Skagway bay.

Once again, this, like so many others, is a very small town. Population: 920. During the summer months it can have over 900,000 visitors.

At port

It is known for being the gateway to the Klondike, during the gold rush. At one point there were over 14,000 residents living full time in Skagway. Today it survives strictly on tourism. Medium income is just over $30K. Most of the residents are of Indian decent

Skagway is also part of the backdrop for Jack London’s book: The Call of the Wild. It is a quick, good read. It’s about an affluent young man, who gave up family fortune to explore Alaska. It is a story of his trials and tribulations along the way. It is a true story and grippingly written. The author was a reporter who happened along the young mans tragedies in a news article and then spent years from his own life investigating and conversing with any person along the young man’s pathway.

Back in town there is a scandalous bar/saloon/brothel. This one is called the Red Onion Saloon. It is in the heart of Broadway, Main Street, and a magnet to tourism. It opened in 1898 and recommends a tour of the brothel conducted by fittingly attired young ladies. Its fun, but again, a tourist trap. They do offer a pretty good lunch menu.

upstairs brother in the Red Onion

Scandalous Lady of Pleasure

As you stroll downtown (ha, ha – there is only one street), you also pass the ‘Artic Brotherhood Hall’. It is very interesting. The entire front of the building is made of driftwood.

inside Red Onion

The Arctic Brotherhood is a fraternal organization which consists of men who’s motto is: “Ordinary Men Sharing Extraordinary Adventures Since 1899”. Essentially, it’s a boys club of braggers. LOL.

Arctic Brotherhood Hall

There is a celebrated shankster that settled in Skagway and helped place it on the map to outsiders. His name was Jeff ‘Soapy” Smith. He was a con man. He moved to Skagway from Georgia in 1860. Imagine the journey way back then?

He opened a saloon in town during the gold rush and set himself up as an underworld boss and philanthropist. He would charge people money to send ‘wires’ across the telegraph back to family members. The wires never left the building and they were never actually received by anyone. It was all a fake setup.

Soapy Smiths Saloon

Once the townspeople figured him out they elected, as a whole, to arrest him. They placed one guy, Frank Reid, in the saloon – to watch Soapy - while others went to retrieve additional townsmen in order to confront the fraud. However while Frank was waiting for the return of the others, he gave way to Soapy, of their intentions.

Soapy and Frank got into a shoot out. They both shot at the same time and both went down. Soapy was shot in the groin and underwent a week long agonizing death while Frank died instantly.

incredible icebergs

There is a museum in town that the residents are extremely proud. It houses Native basketry, a woolly mammoth tusk found on nearby land, and a collection of walrus ivory scrimshaw.

Skagway is cute, quaint, but if you should pass it by, you really wouldn’t miss much. Every little town has a villain and Soapy was their claim to fame. It was a rainy and cold day while there and if we were to have remained on the ship that day, it would have been okay. Pulling in the port and waking up to the ice was the unsurpassed part of Skagway. Go there just for the shear beauty of it all.

Thanks for reading, and please click on the pictures to enlarge. In two days, I actually WASH my camera so the good pictures are here now! Once on land, the remaining pictures are all on my IPhone Enjoy!