September 2nd – Tuesday - 2008:
We woke up the following morning on the dock of Skagway, Alaska. We signed up to take the Yukon White Pass Rail Tour up to the Canada Border; we woke up at 5AM because our tour picks us up in the dock at 6:30 AM. We barely had time to eat breakfast, and then we disembarked. Our tour guide for this excursion was Miss Dolly Dawson, the official make believe Madam of the Red Onion Saloon.
Our Escorted tour began with a private train car, only 20 of us in this group, all the other groups seemed larger and they were not guided. Miss Dolly Dawson shared with us the colorful history of Skagway:
Skagway – in 1898, the news of the Klondike Gold electrified the world and sparked the most fantastic gold rush ever known. Over 20,000 prospectors stampeded into Skagway looking to take a shot at discovering their goldmine. The 40 mile Yukon White Pass trail was one of the trails that the miners used to make their trip to the Klondike, required to carry 2,000 pound of food supply, the miners paired in fours, each load they would take to the summit, once they reach it, one would stay behind to guard the supplies while the other three would trek back down to carry the rest of the required supplies. When they have weighed the supplies at the Canadian border, they are allowed to make their trip to the Klondike to work the mines.
Perhaps the greatest inhumanity of the White Pass Trail was suffered by over 3,000 horses used to cross the trail perished, the animals plunged off the trail in tangled masses, died of starvation or pure exhaustion. During this time, Skagway was known for lawlessness and terror. Skagway’s worst criminal was Soapy Smith, with his band of crooks and cutthroats, Soapy literally ran Skagway. Until a confrontation ensued in July 8, 1898 where Frank Reid shot and killed Soapy Smith. Frank Reid was also shot and died 5 days later. Because he killed the town’s worst citizen, Skagway declared him the Town’s Hero.
Now if you visit Skagway, you can actually visit the gravesites where these two men are buried at the local cemetery which is right along the White Pass Trail. Most of the town’s permanent residents work in the curio shops, hotels, bars, restaurants and café houses in the restored false-front buildings that line Main Street.
Our train ride to the border took 3 hours, passing through beautiful vistas rivers, streams and majestic Pine forest. When we crossed the border, we had enough time to eat our sack lunch and drink included in the tour package. The ride back down seemed a lot faster and you almost want the trip not to end. After we got back into the dockside, we were ushered to a tour bus and we went to Klondike Old Dredge where we learned to pan for gold. This whole tour was excellent and fun for any age to do.
When we finished at the Klondike Old Dredge tour, we asked our tour guide to drop us off on Main Street, to have lunch and see if we could take a tour of the Red Onion Saloon, the original saloon that catered to thousands of miners in Skagway’s heyday. We visited the Driftwood house, the main City Museum, the whole city reminded me so much of Disneyland. Everything is very clean, not a single trash on the street, and people greet you everywhere you go.
We went crazy shopping for all sorts of souvenirs, we picked a bunch of T-shirts, key chains, postcards, ball caps, packaged salmon, knick knacks and we avoided all the jewelry stores. We had lunch at the café we found not as crowded, they served soup and pizza and cost too much for my taste, we should have just waited to get back on the ship, the food would have been free.
After hours of shopping, we hailed a pedicab because every shuttle bus heading back to the ship was packed with tourist, Mom needed to sit down, for $15 I had the cab driver take Mom, Sandy & Vanessa back to the ship while I decided to walk back so I can take more pictures of the town.
As I got to the pier, I caught up with Sandy going up the ramp, we quickly changed and got ready for dinner. The menu seemed even better than the night before, after that we went to watch a musical dance extravaganza before retiring for the night.
Our Escorted tour began with a private train car, only 20 of us in this group, all the other groups seemed larger and they were not guided. Miss Dolly Dawson shared with us the colorful history of Skagway:
Skagway – in 1898, the news of the Klondike Gold electrified the world and sparked the most fantastic gold rush ever known. Over 20,000 prospectors stampeded into Skagway looking to take a shot at discovering their goldmine. The 40 mile Yukon White Pass trail was one of the trails that the miners used to make their trip to the Klondike, required to carry 2,000 pound of food supply, the miners paired in fours, each load they would take to the summit, once they reach it, one would stay behind to guard the supplies while the other three would trek back down to carry the rest of the required supplies. When they have weighed the supplies at the Canadian border, they are allowed to make their trip to the Klondike to work the mines.
Perhaps the greatest inhumanity of the White Pass Trail was suffered by over 3,000 horses used to cross the trail perished, the animals plunged off the trail in tangled masses, died of starvation or pure exhaustion. During this time, Skagway was known for lawlessness and terror. Skagway’s worst criminal was Soapy Smith, with his band of crooks and cutthroats, Soapy literally ran Skagway. Until a confrontation ensued in July 8, 1898 where Frank Reid shot and killed Soapy Smith. Frank Reid was also shot and died 5 days later. Because he killed the town’s worst citizen, Skagway declared him the Town’s Hero.
Now if you visit Skagway, you can actually visit the gravesites where these two men are buried at the local cemetery which is right along the White Pass Trail. Most of the town’s permanent residents work in the curio shops, hotels, bars, restaurants and café houses in the restored false-front buildings that line Main Street.
Our train ride to the border took 3 hours, passing through beautiful vistas rivers, streams and majestic Pine forest. When we crossed the border, we had enough time to eat our sack lunch and drink included in the tour package. The ride back down seemed a lot faster and you almost want the trip not to end. After we got back into the dockside, we were ushered to a tour bus and we went to Klondike Old Dredge where we learned to pan for gold. This whole tour was excellent and fun for any age to do.
When we finished at the Klondike Old Dredge tour, we asked our tour guide to drop us off on Main Street, to have lunch and see if we could take a tour of the Red Onion Saloon, the original saloon that catered to thousands of miners in Skagway’s heyday. We visited the Driftwood house, the main City Museum, the whole city reminded me so much of Disneyland. Everything is very clean, not a single trash on the street, and people greet you everywhere you go.
We went crazy shopping for all sorts of souvenirs, we picked a bunch of T-shirts, key chains, postcards, ball caps, packaged salmon, knick knacks and we avoided all the jewelry stores. We had lunch at the café we found not as crowded, they served soup and pizza and cost too much for my taste, we should have just waited to get back on the ship, the food would have been free.
After hours of shopping, we hailed a pedicab because every shuttle bus heading back to the ship was packed with tourist, Mom needed to sit down, for $15 I had the cab driver take Mom, Sandy & Vanessa back to the ship while I decided to walk back so I can take more pictures of the town.
As I got to the pier, I caught up with Sandy going up the ramp, we quickly changed and got ready for dinner. The menu seemed even better than the night before, after that we went to watch a musical dance extravaganza before retiring for the night.
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