The Gold Rush Cemetery is the final resting place of Skagway’s good, bad and ugly. (Paul Garson)

Traditional stopping off points in Skagway include the original Arctic Brotherhood Hall located on Broadway, the building decorated with over 10,000 pieces of driftwood. A photograph is almost mandatory. The ABC was the first of many that burgeoned around Alaska dedicated to bringing culture in the form of theater and music to the isolated communities. That tradition is carried on at a newer Arctic Brotherhood Hall located just down the street where you can hear history and song delivered by talented cast members who also swear you in as official, card-carrying members of the Arctic Brotherhood. Make sure you stop in and say hello to Linda Plock at the National Parks Service Visitors Center. A trained archeologist, and a plucky veteran of five seasons in Skagway, she knows all the nitty-gritty and can point you in all the right directions.

Taking the vintage car tour will also take you to Skagway’s “Gold Rush Cemetery” and there lies the tale of the notorious Soapy Smith. Soapy was a particularly slippery fellow who through various scams bilked miners out of their hard-earned gold dust. One day, it all caught up with him in a blazing gun battle between the con man and one of Skagway’s reputable citizens, Frank Reid, the town’s engineer. Firing their guns almost simultaneously, Soapy was dead before he hit the ground, poor Frank taking several days to pass. A handful saw Soapy off at his funeral while 2,000 paid their respects to Reid who had rid the town of the scourge. Some time later, the story took a twist as it was learned that Reid had apparently originally fled to Alaska to avoid his own arrest. Meanwhile Soapy was more or less “rehabilitated” thanks to the “Days of ’98 Show with Soapy Smith,” a musical review that has been in production for more than 70 years. Complete with can-can girls, it’s regularly staged at the Eagle’s Hall at Broadway and 6th Avenue.

To see some of the Skagway countryside, the best way is the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad that takes you on a three-hour, 40-mile roundtrip chug through both scenery and history. It’s truly mind-boggling that men, with the most basic tools circa 1898, carved and hacked their way through solid rock and precipitous mountains to make it all possible. Even the kids will like it as the trip’s narrators keep up a spirited storytelling.

Skagway’s oldest structure, the cabin of founder William Moore, was built in 1887. (Paul Garson)

For those so-called off the beaten track Skagway attractions, ask one of the locals to point out the house where you’ll find the “Discarded Lawnmower Museum” or the front yard of a local residence that sports a ceramic duck dressed daily in different clothes. Don’t forget to ask about the notorious “duck bikini bathing suit” escapade. Well, things do get a bit dull during the darker months and people find different ways of expressing themselves in Skagway. To learn the facts behind these stories and to really see how the locals express themselves, buy a copy of the “Best of the Skagway, Alaska Police Blotter” compiled by Jeff Brady and Mike Sica and available at the Skagway News Depot and Books located on Broadway. While there get a replica copy of their vintage newspaper as well as the current Skagway News that’s printed every two weeks. News stays fresh longer in Skagway.

To get the latest scoop on Skagway, call the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Oh, about the name Skagway. Its origins are traced to the native Tlingit name Skagua, meaning “home of the north wind,” because it can get pretty blustery. But others say more accurately it stems from Sch-kawai meaning “end of salt water.” In any case, the 1890’s goldrushers called it Skaugway, but the U.S. post office had the last word. They wanted something less “foreign” looking and changed the spelling to Skagway. Go figure.

For Further Information:

Skagway, Alaska Convention and Visitor’s Bureau
Telephone: (907) 983-2854
Website: www.skagway.com