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Charles Henson Meadows “Arizona Charlie”


“Arizona Charlie” had a dance hall in Dyea in the goldrush. He also had a saloon at Stone House and then a Grand Opera House in Dawson. He was born in Visalia California in 1860. Charlie was tall, dashing, and flamboyant. He wore a flowing moustache and long hair, in the manner of the Wild West showman he was. He had a dozen careers and a thousand schemes. Occasionally, one paid off. He prospered during the Klondike gold rush. Charlie’s Grand Opera House, now called the Palace Grand Theater, is a landmark in downtown Dawson City. He was a legendary sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
He apparently bled to death on this date, December 9, 1932 in Yuma Arizona while operating on his own vericose veins w/pocket knife.

lots more on Charlie at Wickenburg-az.com; Frank Norris 1986 article

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The Tailor of Skagway


I first became interested in compiling the history of individuals in Skagway when I visited George Mowl’s grave in the Elk’s part of the Pioneer Cemetery (difficult to find without directions). His gravestone and the two stones on each side of him were vandalized years ago, so it was difficult to read them and so I decided to do some research.

Turns out, he came here from Ouray Colorado in the goldrush. He was a tailor born in England in 1840. He started a men’s clothing and tailors at 461 Broadway in Skagway with Mr. Ehrlich. He later started the first moving picture theatre here in 1915.

His wife Annie was a ladies tailor and she died in 1911. George then married another English lady, Mary Ann who came to America in 1918. George lived in Skagway over 20 years, and died on December 5, 1919 and was buried next to Annie. Mary Ann died in 1920 and was buried on his other side. He never had any children.

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Godfrey Otto Chealander

Mr Chealander was born in Kalmar Sweden in 1867 and came to America where he settled in Kankanee Illinois. He married Mary Cecelia Costello there in 1893 and then moved to Tacoma. The family then decided to move to Skagway in 1897. Godfrey opened a cigar store business and was later the Skagway City Clerk in 1901. He was one of the organizers of the Arctic Brotherhood Camp #1 in Skagway and served as the Grand Arctic Recorder in 1905.

While living in Nome in 1907, he had been helping to collect the official Alaska exhibit for the Portland fair. But something about that exhibit was bothering him. It just wasn’t going to do Alaska justice, he thought, tucked away in a corner of the U.S. Government Building, alongside every other government department. Homeseekers and investors might never notice.

Chealander had an idea-and now he knew where to write. He sat down in the lobby of Nome’s Golden Gate Hotel, picked up a pen, and wrote a letter to his friend John Edward Chilberg. This was the letter that started everything. It opened with a bang:

“An Alaskan exposition for Seattle in 1907-how does the idea strike you?”

He was very involved in organizing this Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle Washington, the world’s fair that in 1909 drew more than three million visitors. Of course, being Swedish they also made sure there was a “Swedish Day” for all the Swedes in the area. (Yay Swedes!)

Godfrey later became involved in Washington politics and history. He died on this day, December 4, 1953 in Los Angeles.

from Washington history online

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Martin G. Itjen


Martin Itjen died on this day December 3, 1942 in Skagway. Born in 1870 in Germany, Martin was a showman who promoted Skagway in many ways. He arrived in Skagway in 1898 as a stampeder. He later worked as a White Pass laborer, he owned a transfer business, was an entertainer, owned the Bay View House hotel, and was even an undertaker.

In 1935, as a great publicity stunt, Martin took his “street car” to Hollywood to promote Skagway tourism. He called on big screen starlet, Mae West, to “come up and visit him sometime.” His image of standing in front of his bus with Mae West is the most famous image.

He is buried in the gold rush cemetery next to a large gold-painted boulder which is chained down.

A fellow bloggist has lots more info on Martin’s family:
http://wiekingderviking.blogspot.com/

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John McCubbin – White Pass explosion


John McCubbin died on December 2, 1898 in a premature explosion on the White Pass between camp 9 and 10. He is buried in the Gold Rush cemetery and that is all that we know about him.
In doing research about that name, we can tell that he was of Scottish heritage and that there were McCubbins in New Zealand, Ontario Canada, Yukon Canada, Scotland and in the U.S.

A good example of how difficult it is to trace someone with a somewhat common name and without any other information. So if you have any more clues please let us know – here is a link to help you on your search:

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

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George C. Holt


George Holt, a Quaker, was a very early arrival to the Dyea area. He crossed the Chilkoot Pass to Marsh Lake and back about 1874 (variously reported as 1872 to 1878), first white man to do so. He brought out a small quantity of gold, but he’s best remembered for making the return trip through the pass without the knowledge or consent of the Chilkoot Indians who guarded it against outsiders. Holt was lucky to get out alive.
Born in 1850 in Ohio, he died in December 1885 at the Knik River (said to be about 45 years old), murdered by local natives.

The Alaskan 10.2.1897; Pierre Berton; many other books.

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The Golden Gate



A bad weekend for the Atlin-Skagway Mail carriers. On the 28th of November 1902, John “Jack” McIntyre and Joseph Abbey and their mail team all drowned while crossing Atlin Lake at the “Golden Gate”. The Golden Gate is a narrow passage leading into Taku Inlet and Atlin, about 42 miles south of Tagish, an area said to have rich deposits of quartz gold.
The photo above shows the tramway that was built to connect the Taku Inlet with Atlin Lake. The little Dutchess engine which sits in Carcross used to be used on this line.

From the Geological Survey of Canada, 1926; ExploreNorth; Graves “On the WP Payroll”; rootsweb postings.

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Bob Oscar Siegrud Selmer Jr.


I met Oscar when we first moved here in April 1998. I was walking down the street and he hailed me from his truck and asked if I needed a ride. I told him no, I was happy walking. I always regretted that, I should have ridden with him then and gotten to know him better than I did. Oscar was born on this day, November 25 1918 in Skagway. He spent most of his life here in Skagway working for White Pass, marrying and having children. After his first wife, Alice died he often visited her grave at the Pioneer Cemetery. Every Memorial Day for many years, Oscar would clean up around her grave, and those of other family members and old friends.

A few years later, Oscar met Judy Camp, a veterinarian whom he had befriended while hiking the trails and picking up trash. He took her with him when he decided to re-measure the width of the valley and tell the new editor his findings. Oscar and Judy also loved singing together and they were married in 1979.
After his White Pass years, Oscar never really retired. He served on the city council a time or two, and ran the senior citizens program for 11 years. He was proud of being “Mr. February” in the “Seniors on the Last Frontier 1988 Calendar,” and even prouder of his senior gold pass to Skagway School activities. He was a lifetime member of the Eagles and Elks, and a member of the Juneau Igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska. As Skagway’s longest living resident, he was called on in 1997 to unveil the Centennial Statue, along with members of the valley’s oldest family, the Dennis’s.
Late in life, with his health in decline, Oscar still liked to spend time on the benches downtown or riding around in his cart greeting friends and visitors. He entertained various writers and even joked with one last summer that he might not be home later because he bounced around town “faster than a fart on a skillet.”
If you caught up with him in a restaurant, he usually had an old photo in his pocket and a story to tell over many half cups of coffee. If he got your interest, he might bring along a prop for the next time he saw you.
He died in 2000 and is truly missed by me and many others.

from personal reminiscences and a 2000 “Skagway News” obit.

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Captain John Irving


Happy Birthday to John Irving born November 24, 1854 in Portland Oregon. He was an early member of the Arctic Brotherhood in Skagway in 1900 and also a member of the Provincial Government. His navigation business was in the building that is now Richters on Broadway near 2nd.

His wife was Jane Munro daughter of Alexander Munro the Chief Factor of Hudson Bay Company, she probably lived in Victoria. His shipping business was the early main competitor to Capt William Moore on same routes around 1860; in 1882 after Capt Moore lost boats and his Victoria home, Irving hired Moore’s three sons: Billie, Henry and John to be captain, mate & purser on Western Slope sternwheeler.

His boat the “Willie Irving” was said to be the first boat through the Whitehorse Rapids under her own steam. It was built on Lake Bennett 1900, by Alex Watson.

The Captain was also a member of the Yukon Order of Pioneers. In his later years Captain Irving lived in a small converted store on West Pender Street in Vancouver. With his tall spruce figure and his white goatee beard he was a very handsome gentleman. His favorite remark when meeting an old friend on the street was “How about a smile?” He died in 1936, poor in everything but friends.

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Thomas Alfred Marquam


Nicknamed “Fighting Tom,” he was elected to represent Republicans from Skagway and Haines at the 1900 territorial Republican convention in Juneau. He lost his bid to become Alaska’s delegate to the National Republican Convention, but represented Haines as a witness before a U.S. Senate subcommittee investigating conditions in Alaska in the summer of 1903.

Tom Marquam came to Skagway with some lawyer friends in 1897 to follow the gold rush as his father had done in 1849 in California. He met a young woman, possibly a prostitute, here and married her. She died a few years later and he then married another prostitute named Ray Alderman pictured above with President Harding.

In 1923, when it became obvious that Dan Sutherland, Alaska’s delegate to Congress, was at odds with the president and would not escort Harding on his visit, Tom happily volunteered to do it himself, with his bride at his side. Harding, a man of the world with a mistress of his own, appreciated the mayor’s pretty wife. He invited the Marquams to accompany him in his private railroad car, and Tom’s appointment as ambassador seemed assured until Harding died less than three weeks later.

Tom Marquam’s death on November 23, 1931, at age fifty-seven was not well explained. One newspaper reported he had died of a heart attack; another referred to several operations and a long illness. There were rumors that he had been murdered and it was also suggested that he had committed suicide in a fit of depression over the still unsettled charges against him.

http://www.alaska.edu/opa/eInfo/index.xml?StoryID=299