Ranger Liz: Skagway, AK

A little bit of Skagway! The joke here is, it was created to make money and sell things to people who were only in town for a brief amount of time - and it's still here for the same purpose (but now it's mostly jewelry and overpriced sweatshirts, instead of food and supplies). Skagway had 80 saloons at its height!

The "Arctic Brotherhood" was established as a fraternal organization in 1899 by stampeders rushing to the Klondike. No, I don't know what it does or why the building is covered in drift wood. I do know that President Warren G. Harding was inducted into the AB when he visited, and that it's the most photographed building in Alaska (apparently someone is counting?).

The Visitor's Center is the old train depot, this is where I'll be spending a lot of my time! Down that row of trees there is the water.

When the city was first built, these boardwalks were installed to keep everyone's feet out of the mud. They're replaced every year because they get used so much... but they're still here so you can imagine what Skagway looked like way back when.

This was at the front of most trains in the winter to clear up to 12ft + of snow!

The Skagway River - I just live a couple blocks from here.

This is part of the gold rush cemetery just outside of town; the grave marker on the left is that of Martin Itjen, who started the Skagway Scenic Streetcar service and really brought Skagway into the tourist trade. He and his wife Lucy owned a home on the water to greet people right as they stepped off their ships. Someone, somewhere, thought he may want a huge, gold-spraypainted boulder next to his grave for all of eternity...

The gold rush cemetery is where many of Skagway's gold rush era residents have been buried. There's a nice little hike up to Reid Falls behind it. Oh, and Jaclyn said she caught the tail end of a tour here last week - the guide said that these graves had to be blasted out of solid rock, and if the holes weren't big enough, or a odd shapes.... they made adjustments. Apparently because the town is so small and usable land is scarce, they wanted to use an area that wouldn't otherwise be used for business, farming, etc. But solid rock?

Pretty cool picture! No, none of these are mine, they're still Jaclyn's...

Oh, Soapy. There's quite a story behind this guy and I guess his body is missing... He came to Skagway in the era of the gold rush as a conman. He started a gang and pretty much ruled the city during its height. I'll add some more stories soon... there are a lot.

So beautiful!

One of the few stone markers not replaced by those students back in the 70s...

On the way up to Reid Falls.

Of course we hiked up there!

The "Devil's Club" plant.... we thought it was kind of terrifying. It has thorns everywhere!

Looking down Reid Falls...

A cave! The ground around it was packed... like people (or something else) has been frequenting it. We didn't explore further. Plus it was across rushing, freezing cold water.

So Soapy Smith was a pretty bad guy - and took advantage of those gullible stampeders. Frank Reid was the man who originally surveyed the town and gave the streets the names they're called today. He was part of a vigilante committee who got fed up with Soapy's cons and gang; they fired shots at each other down by the docks. Soapy was killed instantly, Reid died twelve days later. The large monument here is dedicated to him; it reads "He gave his life for the honor of Skagway."