This guy looks really familiar, I know I have seen him in other photos. But obviously a little too casual around this bear. Case & Draper photo taken in Skagway area around the turn of the century.
The Steamer Union at Skagway 1904
The Steamer Union was built by Albert J. Apperson and his brother in the 1880’s for $16,000. Apperson had gone to the Fraser River gold strike and earned enough money to build this little steamship. Obviously it was still in service some 25 years later still chugging up the Inside Passage. “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can……”
Ancestry message boards for Apperson; ebay.
Steamer Romonia at Railroad Dock 1904
Another Case & Draper photo at the Railroad dock.
Railroad dock full
So who says you can’t put more than 2 cruise ships at the Railroad dock? Here in 1904 Case & Draper photographed 5 steamers tied up.
Skookum Jim, Mary his wife, and Daisy 1900
Skookum Jim or Keish, Mason (1856-1916) was the brother to Kate Carmack who was married to George Carmack. Keish could carry 156 pounds of bacon over the Chilkoot Pass in one trip. Mary (1874-1927) was his wife. Daisy, his daughter, or Saayna aat, (1895-1938) studied Drama in San Francisco but had to sell her Dad’s house to pay for his funeral.
George Carmack by Johnson; Life Lived Like a Story.
Shipwreck
E. Hazard Wells took this photo of a ship sinking in Lynn Canal on August 6, 1897. He was aboard the Rosalie when he took this photo. But which ship was it?
Laplanders
Alpine Village in Skagway
For the last time, this year we will set up the amazing Alpine Village and Train Display at AB hall for Yuletide. The Open House here is scheduled for November 30, 2012 after the tree lighting at 5th and Broadway.
Hundreds of hours were spent designing and building these lodges, cabins and stores out of Legos. The largest and most complex structure is the Lodge, designed after the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. To build this, Arlen had to build it from the top down, but upside down, so that the roof sat on the floor as he built it from a small photo of the OF Inn. Truly a remarkable accomplishment. For more details you can visit the sites where they are featured.
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/25227
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/25315
As some of you already know, we will be retiring and moving back to California this spring. I am beginning to sell off my collection of gold rush books on Ebay. I will continue to write blogs when I can until then. I’m sorry for the sporadic postings of late, as I had some medical issues due to mis- and over-prescribed drugs and medications. The experience has made me very wary of the medical field in general and certainly more conscious of my own health.
Ready to Mush on!
Not sure if this is Skagway, but it sort of looks like it. The sign says Mascot, perhaps the Mascot Bar on Broadway, but quite different.
Ships Lost at Sea
I was re-reading the book “Dynamite Johnny O’Brien” by Herron and found this passage:
“The hazards of the trips to Alaska were suddenly intensified as ships ran ashore or simply disappeared forevere with no trace of t hem or their passengers. The Clara Nevada was one, and to the growing list of lost ships that he kept in his cabin, Johnny added during that dread year of 1898 the names of the Whitelaw, the Alfred J. Beach, the Momo, the Stikine Chief, Eliza Anderson, the Brixham, and eight others.”
Some of these I have never heard of, let alone the names of the people that went down with them.