Stories and Folklore from Skagway, Alaska
Near Tunnel Mountain and Slippery Rock there is a famous cut in the rock called “Fisk’s Cut”. All that we know of the tunnel foreman was his name, Mr. Fisk. He was able to blast a nice tunnel which is still used many times a day!
Seen above is a scene of the area that they worked on near Slippery Rock. Looks slippery!
Minter p. 239
Once again I return to Maori sagas. In the diaries of William Hiscock, a New Zealander in 1898, he traveled with two Maoris on the trail. He later met up with them near Dawson and this little story:
“Coming back we called in to see the Maoris and found they were not doing too well. They were about two miles outside Dawson. Both of them had scurvy. They had built a nice cosy cabin, in appearance outside it was like an old-fashioned beehive. As so many cabins were being built logs soon became scarce and people had to go longer distances to get them, so the Maoris used willow sticks. They peeled the bark off them, and being only about one and a half inches thick they made the cabin round, about twelve or sixteen feet diameter at the base and brought them all to a point at the top. As there were plenty of will sticks at hand they placed them close together. The outside was first covered with a thickness of moss of which there was an abundance, and on that was placed a good thickness of turf and dirt. A nice porch over the door opening and the usual Maori figurehead on the porch finished it. It looked very nice inside. these two Maoris had a very hard time knowing nothing about mining and they suffered from the intense cold. They stayed in their cabin and with the plainest of food and lack of exercise they soon had scurvy nor did it leave them until spring came. They eventually got a passage on one of the steam river boats that came up the river from St. Michaels and then worked their way back to New Zealand.”
The only name he gave for one was “Bob the Maori”. So, looking at the records of the NWMP at the time of their crossing, there was a Robert Doe, a R. Kibblewhite, a R. Hisk and a R. Gane all from New Zealand. Kibblewhite and his traveling companion, C.V. Ledebur were both from Drury New Zealand which was a Maori community. So, by process of deduction, it might be them. Seen above is an African traditional twig beehive house which probably resembled the cabin that the Maoris built in Dawson.
John O’Neil worked for White Pass and was struck by a falling rock up at White Pass and died. His death record said his complexion was sandy, his height was 5’6″, and his weight was 140 lb. He was born in 1867 and died on this day, July 20, 1898 and was buried in the Gold Rush Cemetery on the 23rd of July.
This Barley photo shows workers removing rubble after a blast. White Pass still uses explosives to remove hazardous rock, their storage shed for explosives is suitably up in the mountains near the track but far from mischievous fingers.
Skagway death/coroners/probate records.
Growing up in Southern California, my family and I would visit Yosemite every summer. There was a famous ranger there named Scharschmidt, but I don’t know if he was related to the Percy Scharschmidt that was here in the Gold Rush.
Percy was born on this day, July 19, 1867 in Lewisham, England. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1887 and served with the 10th Battalion in the Riel Rebellion before settling in Cumberland in 1892 with a pharmacy.
His biography at Cumberland Heritage site says that he worked as a Superintendent of the “Yukon” railroad, but I have no record of that. He was the editor of the Bennett Sun from May 24, 1899 through 1901. He retired to the Comox Valley (on Vancouver Island) and was involved in politics there, passing away in 1932. Seen above is his house which is on the Cumberland walking tour of historic houses.
library.state.ak; wikipedia; Minter; Cumberland Heritage site.
Adison Hill’s wife, Divena (born 1870 in Iowa) died on April 1, 1898 from puerperal fever or childbirth fever, in Everett, Washington. Adison came to Skagway with his three daughters to manage the Allen Brothers Hardware Store on Broadway.
Hill was the former Postmaster of Arlington, Washington.
On this morning, July 18, 1899 he shot himself in the head at the hardware store. He had for some time been despondent, and often expressed the wish that Mr. George Allen would return from Arlington soon and relieve him. Hill was thirty years of age. His remains were sent to Everett for burial. I wonder what became of the three girls? I found the two older girls, Eva and Helen, living with grandparents in 1910 on a Washington State census, but the baby girl born in March 1898 is missing.
The Allen Brothers Hardware store from 1898 to 1903 was at the location of the former Moe’s Bar.
Seen above is a cute picture of Mae Busch who was an actress who played with Oliver Hardy in early movies. She has nothing to do with the Hill family.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer 7/29/1899; rootsweb posting; Skagway death record.
William Henry Judge was born into a religious family in Baltimore, Maryland, April 28, 1850. In addition to William, four of his siblings also entered Holy orders.
As a youth, he was frail and sickly, but he survived, and at age 25, he embarked on years of study and teaching, in the Jesuit order. At the age of 40, in 1890, he volunteered for service in Alaska.
After a lengthy journey which lasted several months, he arrived at Holy Cross Mission, the principal Jesuit centre on the Yukon River, where he joined the Father Superior, two brothers, and three Sisters of St. Ann, who taught fifty resident school children.
Judge had acquired many useful skills before he became a priest: carpenter, cabinet-maker, blacksmith and baker. Later, at Nulato he spent his time teaching native children in their own language, constructing a church, and travelling widely to visit both whites and natives in a large region. Here he had established himself happily and was content with his assignment. From there he was sent to the small mining town of Forty Mile, hundreds of miles up the Yukon River from Nulato.
His fortitude was tested at Forty Mile, where he alone served the spiritual needs of the Catholic community. Father Judge noted: “…everybody is looking for gold, some finding it and some getting nothing, a few becoming rich, but the greater number only making a living, and all working very, very hard. You would be astonished to see the amount of hard work that men do here in the hope of finding gold… Oh if men would only work for the kingdom of heaven with a little of that wonderful energy, how many saints we would have.”
In March 1897, Father Judge went to Dawson and secured 3 acres of land near the north end of town. Once he was settled there, he set about building a church, a residence, and a hospital. The hospital was completed August 20th, 1897.
With harsh climate, poor nutrition and deplorable sanitation conditions in the new town, the hospital was in immediate demand. He was soon tending to 20 patients a day, which rose to 50 during the winter, then, with the influx of humanity and typhoid epidemic in the fall of 1898, 135 patients daily. This dramatic increase made necessary the construction of an addition to the hospital.
For two years, he worked without thought or concern for himself, devoted solely to the care of others. Worn out and exhausted by his own labors, in early January of 1899, he fell ill and for days battled pneumonia, finally succumbing at the age of 52, on January 16 1899.
When Father Judge died, the sadness was shared by the entire community, regardless of religious persuasion. His contributions to the community were widely recognized, as was his spiritual work. He was indeed a hero of the Klondike and is known as the “Saint of Dawson.”
At the north end of Dawson today you will find a quiet clearing overlooking the Yukon River near where his great works were performed. It is here that his grave is found, and nearby, a plaque, mounted on a huge block of stone by the people of Canada, which recognizes his contribution to the physical and spiritual well-being of the miners.
Michael Gates in an article for the City of Dawson history webpage; Pierre Berton; Charles Judge: An American Missionary – A record of the work of the Rev. William A. Judge, S.J. Catholic foreign Missionary Society, Ossining, NY; Mills.
Albert was born in Roxburgh, Otago, New Zealand in 1875. He paid his 20 pounds for passage and boarded the S.S. Monowai in January 1896 in New Zealand heading for San Francicso. From there he went to Alaska and on to Dawson. Though only 21, he was a blacksmith. Shortly after arriving in Dawson he fell ill with a fever, possibly spinal meningitis or typhoid and died. His friend, William Hiscock wrote in his diary that when he inquired after him with the local police they could not find a record, but he ran into a mate of Albert’s who showed Hiscock the grave and the headboard in the snow. This account is from the book “A Kiwi in the Klondike, A New Zealander’s Quest for Gold” published by his granddaughter, now 103 years old. Her daughter just gave me this book yesterday, so I will bring you more New Zealand stories in the coming days!
Seen above is the S.S. Monowai.
Stella M. Hull, 242 Hull Rd, RD 2. Waiuku 2682, New Zealand.(copies available for $20 pp); immigrantships.net – an online listing of people onboard ships.
Captain William Moore and his wife Hendrika Fenn Moore retired to Victoria after founding Skagway, or Mooresville as they preferred it to be called. When they died in 1909 and 1911 they were buried in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I could not find his grave after hours of searching, but recently a fellow sleuth, Suzy Kerrigan took the tour by the local docent and found the grave. It is not marked but there is a big tree growing there. She sent me a photo of it which I am sharing with you all. Hats off to Capt. Moore and Hendrika!
Happy Birthday to Johnnie Johns who was born in the midst of the Gold Rush at Tagish on this day, July 10, 1898. He was the eldest son of Maria and Tagish Johns and was a member of the Crow clan of the Deishheetaan tribe. His Tlingit name was Yeil Shaan, which means Old Crow.
During his lifetime, his contributions towards the development of the Yukon were numerous. At the age of 19, he started his own guiding outfit. During his time as an outfitter he was known as one of the top ten guides in the world. As a life-long trapper and fisherman, these talents were second to none. He helped blaze the way for the construction of the Alaska Highway.
He was one of Yukon’s best gems and most widely respected elders, who generated warmth and kindness. His domain was the outdoors and all it had to offer. He sang, drummed and danced the stars to bed.
Johnnie Johns died in 1988.
from A CKRW Yukon Nugget by Les McLaughlin
Mssr. Lelouvier entered the great race of automobilists from New York to Paris on January 30, 1908. He decided to race his Werner Car and for kicks, drive across the United States then take it on a boat from Victoria to Skagway. Then on the railroad to Dawson and down the Yukon River. Then he and his two companions would go across the Bering Strait, across Siberia and Europe.
I wonder if they made it Skagway?
Anyway, off to the Soapy Wake!
I think I hear the theme from “Those Amazing Young Men in their flying Machines”…
New York Times, January 31, 1908.