Last day in Skagway--July 30

The staff prepared a breakfast for us and we helped. It was omelets in a zip lock bag and they turned out real good also with toast, juice and coffee and hot chocolate for Bob. After the breakfast we had our briefing concerning the next day's trip. Then we were on our own. Marvin and Dee were going to stay in but eventually they went at least to the Gold Rush Cemetery and I don't know where else. Bob was going to stay home but went off gallivanting with Ira. Marilyn, Monique and I(I drove) went into town for the 11 am tour of the town done by a ranger. Because many of the buildings in town are owned by the National Park Service and leased to business owners. Up here lots of things cooperatively function with city, state, federal and native. I don't know how they do it but I guess it works. Unfortunately we were too late to join that group and couldn't get another until 4pm; however they had a good movie that was definitely worth seeing. We've been hearing and seeing a lot concerning the gold rush and each time we see or hear something else it reinforces what we heard and invariably adds another piece to the puzzle so we get a more complete picture. After that we looked around the museum and bookstore(I didn't buy a book).

We ran into Bob and Ira and they had been out to a cemetery where a famous scallywag and con man (Jefferson Randolph"Soapy" Smith) was buried along with Frank Reid who he shot and was shot by Frank. In the process the Deputy Marshall who was waiting for his first child to be born was also shot and killed but died in the Dr's office where his wife gave birth. We wanted to see the cemetery which was on the way to Dyea where we were also going to take a tour at 2pm. We rushed back to the RV park to pick up Barry and drop off Marilyn so she and Bill could go to Dyea also in their car. It's confusing I know.

I drove Monique and Barry and we went to the cemetery first and saw the White Pass R.R. leave town. Up to the cemetery on the hill, found the graves and almost forgot about the waterfall which Bob had told us about so we practically ran the rest of the way up the hill to see that. Rushed back down the hill to get to Dyea and then Barry couldn't find his lens cap so while he went back toward the cemetery Monique found it in the car. Men can't locate anything!!!

It's only 8 miles to Dyea but the road is mostly dirt and bumpy in places and goes in and out around the side of the mountain next to the water and it's barely a two way road. We made it just by 2pm(I'm so good--poor car). Dyea was a native settlement(Tlinget natives) before it was invaded. They were traders originally--trading with the explorers coming into the area and then taking things over the Chilkoot Pass to other groups for others things. They were a very shrewd people.They also had slaves from other tribes. When the gold rush began they saw other ways of surviving and prospering. They became pack carriers for the stampeders but the women did the negotiating but when they got up to the very steep section of the trail they began to negotiate again. And since the prospectors had to take up about 1000lbs of stuff(enough to last a year) they didn't have much choice if they had the money. It also didn't take long for the natives to realize that paper money was no good so they would only take gold coin for gold dust or nuggets. At one time this town was bigger than Skagway but due to Skagway having a much better water port(deeper) it became the only town to remain. But at the time Dyea had a Military Reservation, a native village and the town.The military was a group of black soldiers who were to keep the peace and to show a U.S. presence in the area. We walked around where the town stood and the ranger showed us pictures and told us all about the town because nature has taken back it all. There was only boards left and one store front. It was very interesting to see how it started as meadows and now had gone back to forest. Six years after the gold rush there were only about a dozen people left in the area and they were farming. Harriet Pullen(a hotel owner) and she ran a farm to provide her food.

The glaciers had been here and receeded so the mountains with rounded tops were worn down by the glacier while the taller peaks were above the glacier. Also over the years since the glacier receeded the land has risen about 10 inches--like a sponge it rises after being flattened. There is much more but have to stop somewhere or it will be a book.

We rushed back into town in order to make our 4pm walking tour of downtown. The ranger was an older man and he did a great job. The land that Skagway was built on (160 acres) first belonged to a Capt. Moore who had been a ship's captain but when the stampeders started coming in droves they came into his port and just began to become squatters and take over so it became Mooresville. They just started building things on the land. Capt. Moore's philosophy was "never quit-look for opportunities" which he did. He had built a dock and so he charged people to use it to load and unload goods off the boats. He also built warehouses to store the 1000lbs. of stuff each stampeder had to take up the Chilkoot trail to his claim. He found a number of ways to make money off those who stole his land. Eventually it was renamed Skagway from a native name for it. Many women came here also with and without men. One of them was the Harriet Pullen, I mentioned earlier. She bought a wagon and worked as a teamster hauling stuff back and forth between small towns in the area and she also baked pies in the evenings and sold them. She did so well that eventually she bought a hotel in Dyea and ran it for a number of years while also owning a farm to produce food and milk for her customers in the hotel. We saw Capt. Moore's cabin dating back to 1887 and the house his daughter and family lived in as well as a cigar store and a warehouse. We also saw "Soapy" Smith's Parlor from which he ran his scams and bar(yet to be restored-but in progress). Skagway was a very lawless town. Jefferson Randolph"Soapy" Smith ran it with his minions for a few years until he was killed and then law and order did come to town.

As soon as the tour was over we set out to go to Northern Lights Pizza where Bob, Marvin and Dee were waiting. We were followed by probably another dozen people. The pizza was good. We stopped by the grocery with Barry and Monique and then went home.