Skagway is so interesting that I will make more than one post to tell you about it. One of the great things is that our ship parked close to town and we just walked in.
According to the ship information sheet Skagway is a Tlingit word, Skagua, which means "water bunched up" or fiord. Another source said it means "windy place."
You can see our ship at the end of the street in the picture below. The historic area of downtown has been restored including false fronted buildings and wooden sidewalks. There is nothing like a wooden sidewalk to make you feel you are back in the wild west. Or in this case, back in the Gold Rush era.
In this photo you can see the outline of another cruise ship parked next to ours. Parking is at a premium in Skagway.
This is an eminently walkable town. It has been restored to resemble the original. It still looks like the Gold Rush town of 1897. There are dance halls, inns and saloons.
This is the building where the Arctic Brotherhood holds their meetings. Notice the large A and B on the front.
We picked up a walking tour map at the Skagway Convention and Visitors Bureau. It's on Broadway between 2nd & 3rd. You can easily pick it out because the front is covered with driftwood.
We listened to an introduction to the town by a man dressed as an old-fashioned undertaker.
He asked us all if we wanted to join the Arctic Brotherhood. I asked him if there is an Arctic Sisterhood. He said there is but they are all up at the brothel! Hahaha!
We all laughed but we later heard stories of women who made a living in Skagway without being prostitutes. Harriet "Ma" Pullen put her four children in the care of friends in Seattle and made her way north in 1887. She was hired to be on a crew building piers. In her spare time she collected tin cans and beat them into pie tins. She made good money selling to miners and soon that became her main job.
Another successful non-prostitute was Belinda Mulrooney. She bought supplies of "silk underwear, bolts of cotton cloth and hot water bottles". She transported them to Dawson City where she sold them for six times the purchase price in 1897. She went on to buy into mining claims and built a hotel in Dawson City.
Back to the Arctic Brotherhood. We joined and got cards to show we are members.
Here is a picture Bill took of me sitting on the stage.
While we were walking around we saw an old machine that was used to clear snow off the railroad tracks.
