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Joseph H. Brooks


Mr. Brooks came to Skagway in 1897 from Vancouver. He was a merchant and wrangler. His company “J.H. Brooks, Packer and Freight” was headquartered in the St. James Hotel.
He is famous for taking 15 mules over the Chilkoot Pass and later took 335 mules over. He claimed that he and a Mr. Turner had first blazed the trail. He returned to Skagway in 1934 to collect information for his book and died on this day, July 13, 1934 on the Chilkoot Trail. He was born about 1867 and was about 67 years old when he died and was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. Pictured above is the St. James Hotel where it now sits behind the Hardware Store on 4th Avenue.

Dahl book; photo of his card on p.25 of Skagway, District of Alaska 1884-1912 by Robert L.S. Spude,; Minter; Pennington

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Daniel George Cock


The Reverend Daniel Cock was the Presbyterian minister in Skagway from 1899 until 1901 for Reverend Dickey.
Rev. Cock was born in Truro, Nova Scotia on this day July 12, 1874 where his forefathers had been Presbyterian ministers since 1770.
This Reverend Daniel George Cock died on April 20, 1958 in Canada.

Above is a headstone from the cemetery in Truro of the first Daniel George Cock (grandfather probably):
“Rev. Daniel Cock the first minister of this township He was a native of Clydesdale Scotland and was ordained to the office of the holy ministry at Greenock where he held a charge a number of years. In 1772 he accepted a call from the People of Truro where he continued to discharge the duties of his office until disabled by the infirmaties of age. He died on the 17th day of March 1805 aged 88”

Mills p 29, 69; Yukon site; Ulster-Scot History site online; findagrave.com

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Skookum Jim Mason

Tagish-Tlingit packer Jim Mason or Keish which meant “Lone Wolf”, was also known as “Skookum (the Chinook term for strong) Jim” for his feat of carrying 156 pounds of bacon over the pass in a single trip. As a young man he worked as a packer, carrying the equipment and supplies of early prospectors over the mountain passes from the seacoast to the headwaters of the Yukon river. It was while doing this that he met Carmack, and the two formed a partnership that included Dawson Charlie as well.

Skookum Jim, his sister Kate Carmack and her husband George Carmack as well as Dawson Charley discovered gold at Bonanza Creek in the Yukon. This eventually led to THE GOLD RUSH which affected the entire world.

Jim was part of the Carcross Tagish band born in either Carcross or Dyea about 1856. He died on this day, July 11, 1916 in Carcross of a kidney ailment or Bright’s disease at the age of 60.

Johnson book: Canadianmysteries.ca; Gates; Yukon Archives 1087#8

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Soapy Smith

One Hundred and twelve years ago in Skagway, the townspeople awoke to hear that Jefferson Randolf Smith who was born in 1860 in Newnan, Georgia and created a bit of a ruckus here in Skagway with his business associates, died on the evening of July 8, 1898 in a shootout with that hothead Frank Reid, or maybe it was Jesse Murphy, an employee of White Pass.
On July 9, 1898 here in Skagway, the right Reverend Sinclair arranged the funeral for Soapy and buried him in the Gold Rush Cemetery. The townsfolk spent the rest of the day beating the bushes to round up the “Soapy gang” and invited them to leave. Although some were arrested, and a couple ended up in prison, few served very much jail time, for lack of evidence or witnesses.
There was a festive and excited atmosphere in Skagway on that day, followed by 112 years of boredom. Some will dispute that characterization, but it is true that shootouts seldom occur on the streets anymore although “fancy girls” hang out the windows and gold merchants line the streets.

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Harry Burton Flaharty

Harry and his brother came to Skagway in 1897. Harry was known as “Flick” and his brother was known as “Tuck”. They were from Bucyrus, Ohio where “Flick” was born on this day June 23, 1867. Flick worked as a White Pass foreman and later in 1910 was a city councilman. He moved to Long Beach California where he married Ellen and then died there in 1948. In the picture above, Flick is on the left, Tuck on the right. Tuck was alot more exciting, but he will have his own blog later.

Just fyi, I am going south to deal with family business and will be back mid July. So have a good 4th of July and stay safe out there!

censuses; California death record; rootsweb.

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Hem Hess Jang

Hem Jang is one of the few Chinese men who were in Skagway in the Gold Rush. He died while in jail of “acute insanity” which could mean anything. He died on this day, June 22, 1902 and is buried in the Gold Rush Cemetery but there is no headboard for him.

Pictured above is another Chinese man, Chew Chung Thui who was a kind and generous benefactor to goldrushers. He was also known as Joe the Baker or China Joe for his work in Juneau. He lived there between 1882 and his death in 1917.

Skagway Death Record; Juneau historical websites.

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Dr. John P. Brawand

Dr. Brawand AKA James P. Browand was a physician and surgeon at the Red Cross Hospital and the White Pass Hospital in Skagway from 1897 to his death, on this day, June 21, 1914. Brawand was born in Iowa in 1861 to Swiss parents but came to Skagway from Chicago.

In addition to being a doctor he was also a civil engineer and served on the Skagway City Council in 1910,1911, and 1912.

He had a child living with him in 1910 probably an orphan. He is buried in the Elks Cemetery which is above the Pioneer Cemetery.

Polks Gazateer, censuses, Skagway Death Record.

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Charles Leroy Cartwright

Charles was born in Indiana in 1854 and came to Skagway around 1902. He married Elizabeth Abigail Deshamp and they had 5 boys born between 1903 and 1910: Claty, John, Frederick, Chester and Clarence. Claty died soon after he was born, but the other boys and Abby lived with Charles in a cabin near the railroad tracks at mile 6.5 between Denver and Rocky Point. The view from there is seen above. Must have been lonely for Abby and the boys because she left Charles after the 1920 census. She then remarried in Everett Washington in 1924.

Charles worked as the White Pass athletic club janitor and died on this day, June 20, 1931 in Skagway and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.

Censuses, Skagway death record, Washington records online.

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Annie Maria Maltby

Annie Maria Hanson was born in 1860 in Canada and married John Robert Maltby in 1882 in New Brunswick. John was an attorney who practiced in Dawson until 1903 when he died of tuberculosis. Annie moved to Skagway and roomed at Ma Pullen’s Hotel where she died on this day, June 18, 1910 of heart disease (she was 50).

census; family obituary online.

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Thomas Joseph Doren

Mr. Doren was born in 1860 in Ireland. He came to Skagway in 1897 and worked as a painter. His wife Ida worked as a cook for White Pass. Their daughter Lillian worked as a laundress and later married Perry Hern here in Skagway in 1916. He is seen working on the building which is used as the Trail Center for the Chilkoot Trail today. Now it is painted a pretty blue.

Thomas died on this day, June 17, 1903 in Skagway of a pelvic abscess. He is buried in the Gold Rush cemetery.

censuses; Skagway Death Record.