Category: Goldrushers

Posted on

Stephen Joseph Rooney


Stephen Rooney was born on this day, December 29, 1864 in Sacramento. His father, John Rooney, had emigrated from Ireland at the age of 21 in 1849. John went from Liverpool to Boston to New Orleans, through the isthmus of Panama to San Francisco and finally to Sacramento. He was following the 49er’s to find gold which he did. The Alabama mine in Eldorado county, owned by Mr. Rooney, yielded as much as $800 per day, and by 1853, he had netted $25,000. John married and had four sons, among them was Stephen born on the homestead on Coloma road, five miles from Sacramento. Stephen entered Sacramento Institute and later was a student at St. Mary’s college in San Francisco (St. Mary’s moved from the city to Oakland in 1889 and now is at Moraga). Interested in agriculture, he raised hops, but at one time he also served as deputy Sheriff of Sacramento county.
So it is no wonder that in 1898, he decided to go to the Klondike to search for gold much as his father had 50 years before. He, his brother and Lee Brown landed at Skagway where they tried to move their load to Lake Bennett. However, from the very outset they had bad luck. A number of valuable pack animals had been lost with the Steamship Corona January 24, 1898 on Lewis Island (480 miles north of Victoria). A quantity of forage and provisions was lost in another vessel which went down. Finally, when his high hopes had begun to sink beneath the weight of his failures he fell ill with spinal meningitis and died in Skagway on March 7, 1898. There is a Skagway record of his body being buried in the Gold Rush cemetery, but it was then disinterred and sent back to California by his brother and was interred in a local cemetery in Sacramento. He left a wife, Mary, and three children ages 9, 7 and 5.

Seen above is the Steamship Corona in 1907 when she foundered again.

Willis, William L., History of Sacramento County, California, Pages 693-696. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.

Posted on

Walter Russell Curtin


Walter Russell Curtin was born in 1878 in California and spent a terrible winter onboard the Yukoner where he froze. He wrote about that experience in 1938, more than thirty years after the gold rush.

“I had thirty five cents in my pocket when I set foot in Alaska, but I gave that to a mission church at Dutch Harbour. I did not have so much left when I left the country more than two years later…….

I made exactly nothing, but if I could turn time back, I would do it over again for less than that”
He died in Los Angeles on March 10, 1951.

The Yukoner is seen above going through the infamous 5-finger rapids on the Yukon River.

Yukon voyage;: Unofficial log of the steamer Yukoner, by Walter Russell Curtin (Hardcover – 1938)

Posted on

Prigmore family


There was an obscure reference in the Skagway Death records to a child “Preigmore” who died in April 1898. After much research and reading of old newspaper articles and censuses I was able to piece together the story of the Prigmore family. First I will quote the San Francisco Call of August 23, 1897. It refers to Duke Prigmore who made more than one trip from Washington to Skagway on the family’s quest for gold.
“Many Outfits Lost: Bad Condition of the White Pass Trail from Skaguay where Gold Seekers are Struggling
SEATTLE, WASH Aug 22. Possibly the best description of the White Pass Trail from Skaguay is given in a letter from Duke Prigmore received in this city yesterday. It was brought down by the steamer Starr. After leaving camp on Saturday, Mr. Prigmore says, ‘The first three miles is a fairly good wagon road, which leads to the Skaguay river, a rather shallow but very swift stream. There the miners have erected an improvised bridge, over which only one horse can be taken at a time. Beyond the bridge for three miles horses and wagons can be used. Devil’s Hill is then reached. The trail is not over two feet wide here, while the climb is at an angle of 45 degrees. At the summit of the hill horses are compelled to make a jump of nearly two feet high only to alight on a slippery rock. Further on the trail is a steep incline, on which logs have been laid forming a kind of ladder.
After crossing the first hill a half mile of fairly good traveling is encountered when the big hill is reached. The path over this hill can scarcely be called a trail as Mr. Prigmore says it is quite narrow and at places is almost impassable for horses. The formation is of a soft and slippery slate rock. The trail winds crookedly around the hill or rather mountain while below it sheers off 500 feet to the river. At this locality many horses and packs have been lost. It is almost impossible for horses to pack any considerable amount of supplies around this bluff. After traveling several miles of this kind of road the big marsh is reached.
Here the packers become frightened as a horse will either flounder and roll in the mud until he gives up from sheer exhaustion, or else loses the pack and breaks a leg. This bog is one and a half miles long, and many of the miners are here camped waiting for the winter freeze so they can get over it.
A party ahead on the marsh told Mr. Prigmore that very few had passed them and they were making but slight progress, which fact leads him to believe that scarcely ten parties have thus far this summer crossed the Summit by way of Skaguay.”

Well, Duke came south and got more horses to pack over the pass and in the winter of 1898 his father, Isaiah Daniel Prigmore, and Duke’s younger brother, Leroy, came along. It must have been on this trip that young Leroy succumbed to pneumonia and died in Skagway on April 2, 1898. Isaiah took his body back to Washington and buried him in Bayview Cemetery in Bellingham. Isaiah and his wife Francis were also buried there in 1926 and 1935. Although I could not find an age for Leroy, or “Roy” as his headstone says, he must have only been about 9. Duke was 22 when he started this adventure, but he too died (of typhoid) in 1903 back in Ellensburg Washington at the age of 28. In all Isaiah and Francis had 8 children, the rest of whom remained in Washington and had families.

Seen above is the lovely Bayview Cemetery in Bellingham, Washington.

Bayview Cemetery online; various news accounts, family rootsweb info; Skagway Death record.

Posted on

First ship to Skagway?


MJ Kirchoff, noted Alaska history author and “Alaska Historian of the year” for 2008 and 1993 has written this excellent review on the subject of the first ship to land in Skagway during the Gold Rush:
“I recently found an August 2, 1897, letter written from Camp Skagway for sale on the internet, and from that posting I made the following discovery. I assumed the letter must have been written by one of the early arrivals from the steamer Queen, as many websites and print sources cite the Queen as being the first vessel to land at Skagway Bay during the Klondike Gold Rush, on July 29th, 1897. As it turns out, the Queen didn’t land on the 29th, nor was she the first. The Queen landed at Skagway Bay on July 26th, and she was preceded in by the steamship Al-Ki.

One of the Queen’s passengers, a Rev. Alfred Kummer, said in an interview on his return to Puget Sound that the Queen landed 200 passengers at Skagway, “who, with the small party left by the Al-Ki, comprised the gold seekers at the place.” (San Francisco Call, Aug 4, 1897). The Al-Ki arriving first is also mentioned by a Queen passenger named Lancelot Pelly, who wrote from Dyea on July 29: “Her [the Al-Ki’s] passengers were not all off the rocks when we arrived.” (San Francisco Call, August 12, 1897)

When I mentioned the Al-Ki coming in first to historian Karl Gurcke of the Klondike National Historical Park, he asked a good question. How did I know that the Al-Ki landed her passengers at Skagway, rather than at Dyea? Well, I don’t, at least not yet, but there is an interesting reference in the July 24, 1897, issue of the Juneau Searchlight that helps shed light on that: “The steamer Al-Ki, Capt. James Patterson, arrived here from Puget Sound ports yesterday noon with a full cargo of merchandise and live stock and the following passengers: . . . For Dyea-H.R. Raymond, Miss Annie Hughes, and twenty-eight second-class. For Skagua Bay-Dr. J. Brown, Fred Banner, C.J. Rowine, Miss K.M. Smith, D.W. Ward, P. Schoock, A.K. Taber, E.M. Ward, T.J. Harris, Robt. Evans, T.B. Carey and seven second-class.” It seems probable that if the Al-Ki had passengers booked for Skagway, she would have landed them at Skagway, particularly when Skagway was an easier port to get into than Dyea.

There’s one more twist to this story.

Even though the Al-Ki beat the Queen into Skagway, she still wasn’t the first steamship to land stampeders there. That honor would probably have to go to one of the small steamers operating from Juneau. When William Moore announced on July 14, 1897, that the trail over White Pass was going to open, Juneauites immediately took notice. On July 17, 1897, the Juneau Searchlight reported: “Several men are busy at work this afternoon loading a scow with lumber and feed for Skaguay. The horses which will arrive on the Topeka will be put on this scow and the steamer Rustler will take it in tow as soon after the arrival of the Topeka, as the passengers can get ready to leave.” Soon thereafter, on July 19, the Rustler did go to Skagway, and by July 24 the Juneau Searchlight reported that there was quite a little crowd at Skagway. George Rice and his wife had arrived with 9 head of horses to be used in a pack train, and there were at least 22 other stampeders on the beach, including a Mrs. Ed Lord, who was proclaimed to be “the first woman ever over the White Pass.”

To summarize then, on July 26, when the Queen arrived at Skagway Bay, Skagway and the White Pass trail was not the wilderness sometimes portrayed. Rice’s horses were already packing, several dozen stampeders from Juneau and Puget Sound were already on the beach (delivered by the Rustler and the Al-Ki), and Moore had close to 20 men employed building his sawmill, planking his wharf, and blasting rocks out along the trail. Skagway was a busy place!

Respectfully submitted, MJ Kirchhoff”

We’re hoping that any other history sleuths out there have some more clues to offer!
Seen above is a scan of the Steamer AL-KI. probably at Skagway.

Posted on

The dubious story of M.C. Daly


“A thrilling story of starvation and death in the wilds of Northern Alaska is recorded in Skagway, Alaska. The victims were M. C. Daly of Boston, Mass., and two Frenchmen, names unknown. The story was brought to Skagway by William Lawlor, an Arizona miner.”

Although this appeared in the Seattle papers in November 1899, it is dubious in my opinion that it happened in Skagway or the Yukon because it is a year after the gold rush at a time when businesses and roadhouses had been set up. Further there is no record on this day of Mr. Daly or two Frenchmen dying here.
However there was a tragedy at Kotzebue where at least 48 people starved to death under horrible conditions in August 1899 until Lt. Jarvis and the revenue cutter Bear arrived to rescue the miners there. read that story here:
http://genealogytrails.com/alaska/northwestarctic/goldrushdeaths1899.html
The photo above is of Kotzebue in winter-I think I will go get a hot cocoa now.

(Seattle, Washington, The Evening News, November 15, 1899, page 1)

Posted on

Michael Bernard McKanna

Michael McKanna was born in 1849 in Waterford County Ireland. He moved to Alaska with his family and went mining in the Yukon gold fields with his two oldest sons, Jim and Emmet. There, he came down with Brights Disease, a kidney ailment. Making his way back toward Douglas with Jim as his support, Michael died near the shores of Lake Bennett on June 13, 1899. When news reached Douglas, his daughter Elizabeth took a boat to Skagway and the White Pass train to Bennett. She and Jim buried their father’s body in the small Bennett cemetery.

family McKanna website:lauralei.com; familysearch; headboard 2009; listed in Atlin bios

The McKanna Family: Pioneers of the Northwest

Posted on

August Konalski


This photo was taken by Howard Clifford before 1975. It shows a few headboards which were probably replacements. Eve Griffin is currently doing a project on the cemetery, photographing all the remaining grave markers and doing a careful measurement and map – apparently something which has never been done before. When her project is finished, very soon, I will post the new map!
August Konalski is an example of someone who did not appear in the Skagway Death Record but who obviously died here on this day, October 7, 1898. Other than the fact that the name Konalski is the second most common Polish name, we know nothing else about him.

Posted on

Fred Cope


On this day, September 19, 1897 two men died – one on each summit.
Fred Cope, the ex-mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, drowned in Summit Lake which is just over the White Pass. He was buried on the shore there.
The election of Fred Cope in 1892 was the closest in Vancouver’s history, with a winning margin of 11 votes over his rival Dr. J.T. Carroll. Cope was the youngest mayor in Vancouver history, only 32 when elected.
The obituary at the Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver says this about him:
“During Fred Cope’s mayoralty, Vancouver was experiencing its first economic slowdown and Mayor Cope’s efforts were directed to limiting expenses. City staff were laid off and those remaining had pay cutbacks. The Canada-Australia Steam Line began servicing Vancouver because of Mayor Cope’s efforts, with the first ship (RMS Minonuera) arriving in Vancouver June 8, 1893. He was elected mayor for two consecutive terms. Cope died while prospecting in Alaska during the gold rush. He fell from his horse while crossing a stream and drowned.” His photo is above.

Meanwhile, in a letter by George Young, a goldrusher on the summit of the Chilkoot Pass, he stated: “An old man who had his goods as far as the summit of the pass went back to Skagway to get horse feed and died of heart disease. His wife was along, but she has turned back. This is the saddest thing that has occurred.” -from George Young’s letter Sept 19, 1897.

Obituary Met Vancouver newspaper Oct 2, 1897; Skagway death record; Victoria Colonist says he was buried in situ because of advanced decomposition; The Vancouver Sun online obituary.

Posted on

William Smith Cobleigh


William Cobleigh was the assistant postmaster in Skagway in 1897 and part of 1898 until he moved to Dawson. He succumbed to typhoid once he got there. Should have stayed in Skagway. Here is the obituary from his home state where he was an esteemed birder:

“THE Cooper Ornithological Club has suffered the loss of an esteemed member in the death of Mr. William S. Cobleigh, who was perhaps best known to our readers as a worker in Illinois ornithology, although, for three years past he had been an active member of the Club. His excellent writings on the birds of his native State, Illinois, in many of the older magazines have made his name familiar to all the older workers. In August 1897 he left California for the gold fields of Alaska, where, a year later he was stricken with typhoid fever and died at Dawson [on this day] September 14, 1898.

The “Klondike Nugget” says: “William S. Cobleigh, formerly assistant postmaster at Skaguay, who came to Dawson in July last and who recently died at St. Mary’s Hospital, was buried Sunday afternoon (Sept. 25) in the Dawson cemetery under the auspices of the Order of Elks, attended also by members of the Masonic Fraternity and Knights of Pythias, of which organizations he was a member. In life he was a mgnificent specimen of physical manhood, being over six feet in height, and in good health, weighing 225 pounds. Contracting typhoid fever, despite the most diligent attention medically and otherwise he succumbed to the dread disease. At the cemetery a simple but beautiful service was rendered, the Rev. R. J. Bowen officiating. Bro. Captain Jack Crawford, the famous poet scout, made some feeling remarks after which Bro. George Noble of Seattle Lodge of Elks sang Nearer My God to Thee, ‘his magnificent voice and the beautiful rendition of this hymn touching the hearts of all. It is expected to forward his remains to his former home at the opening of navigation next spring.’

William S. Cobleigh, whose portrait we present, was born in Pekin, Illinois, August 30, 1868, being 30 years of age at the time of his demise. In 1880 he moved to Peoria, receiving his education in the public schools of that city and Pekin, after which he spent two years at Knox College, Galesburg Ill. In 1889 he removed to Canton, Ill., where he followed farming til his departure for California in 1897. He was married to Miss Jessie Justus of St. Cloud Minn., on Dec. 1892, but no children survive him. He leaves a wife in Peoria, Illinois, father, mother and sister in Los Angeles and a brother in Canton, Ill. He was an authority on the birds of Illinois and donated his large collection to the Peoria Scientific Association a few years since.”

Bachelder diary; jstor.org; The Condor Vol 1 Issue 1 obituary online by Chester Barlow; familysearch

Posted on

Marshall Latham Bond

Marshall Bond was born in 1867 in Orange, Virginia and he came to Skagway with his brother Louis from Santa Clara California in 1897. He was a miner who started the government in Skagway in 1897. He had many mining interests and he knew Jack London.

The photo above is from his descendent Richard Bond: “The second photograph from my family’s file at Yale University Beinecke Library was taken later. It shows my grandfather Marshall Bond holding the dog that inspired Buck then left to right Oliver LaFarge, Lyman Colt and Stanley Pearce.”

Mr. Bond died on this day, September 6, 1941 in Santa Barbara, California.

Richard Bond. Read Marshall Bond’s eulogy for Jack London at:
http://www.jack-london.org/05-mat-bond_e.htm