The best part of Skagway was the Liarsville Gold Rush Camp. It was a real gold rush camp where prospective gold miners would rest up and gather supplies for their trek into Canada (The Canadian government required that any gold prospector had to be carrying 6 months worth of supplies.) and those returning from the gold fields. It was also a gathering place for reporters who would interview the returning prospectors and file their stories in the first person as if they were the ones with the adventures. The question that has never been answered was "Who was the liar, the prospector and his story or the reporter and his embellishments? Or both? They have museum-quality exhibits of the camp as it was way back when, including a doctor’s tent, a laundry tent and a “ladies of the night” tent. All in all, it was one of the highlights of our Alaska trip.
We saw the camp on our way back from riding the White Pass & Yukon Railroad up into Canada. There is one spot on the trail that the prospectors took that is called “Dead Horse Canyon”. The terrain was so rough that the horses and mules that were carrying that 6 months worth of supplies very often broke a leg and had to be put down on the spot. The place is full of horse and mule bones.
White Pass was supposedly the easier way up to the gold camps because it could be traversed by horses. That’s why Skagway is where it is and why Soapy Smith set up his operations cheating and killing prospectors there. The reason Dead Horse Canyon became infamous is that so many of the prospectors didn’t know how to pack horses – there were a lot of city people in the gold rush – and they overloaded the animals and didn’t adjust the straps properly. There more than a few terrible stories, including one about a horse that literally committed suicide by throwing itself off a cliff. Another story is about an ox that was so weighed down that it refused to go any further, so the prospectors lit a fire under it to get it to move and ended up with an ox that burned to death. Often horses just collapsed and died and were trample into the mud by men and other horses.
The alternate route, the Chilkoot Pass from the town of Dyea was unpassable by horses but could be climbed, particularly in the winter. Prospectors would haul their ton of goods up the “golden stairs” that were cut into the snow. It was like a conveyor belt, each man or woman moving up behind the one in front. You couldn’t stop to take a rest because you wouldn’t be let back in line. It is on the Chilkoot Pass that the famous photos of a dark line of men from the foot of the mountain to the summit was taken.
Once you had your ton of goods at the top of the mountain – in Canadian territory marked by the Northwest Mounted Police and their two machine guns – you had to build a boat at Lake Bennett which was the headwaters of the Yukon River. The Mounties had to certify that the boat was properly built. Then, when the ice on Lake Bennett finally melted the prospectors could sail their boats down river through the White Horse Rapids to make it to Dawson. And when they got there they found that the best claims were gone. And yet in the entire gold rush period in Dawson City there was not one murder.
davidf42 about 7 years ago
Morning, Anniephans!
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The quiet before the storm.
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Here’s today’s link:
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http://www.gocomics.com/annie/2008/03/24
JanLC about 7 years ago
The best part of Skagway was the Liarsville Gold Rush Camp. It was a real gold rush camp where prospective gold miners would rest up and gather supplies for their trek into Canada (The Canadian government required that any gold prospector had to be carrying 6 months worth of supplies.) and those returning from the gold fields. It was also a gathering place for reporters who would interview the returning prospectors and file their stories in the first person as if they were the ones with the adventures. The question that has never been answered was "Who was the liar, the prospector and his story or the reporter and his embellishments? Or both? They have museum-quality exhibits of the camp as it was way back when, including a doctor’s tent, a laundry tent and a “ladies of the night” tent. All in all, it was one of the highlights of our Alaska trip.
We saw the camp on our way back from riding the White Pass & Yukon Railroad up into Canada. There is one spot on the trail that the prospectors took that is called “Dead Horse Canyon”. The terrain was so rough that the horses and mules that were carrying that 6 months worth of supplies very often broke a leg and had to be put down on the spot. The place is full of horse and mule bones.
bmckee about 7 years ago
White Pass was supposedly the easier way up to the gold camps because it could be traversed by horses. That’s why Skagway is where it is and why Soapy Smith set up his operations cheating and killing prospectors there. The reason Dead Horse Canyon became infamous is that so many of the prospectors didn’t know how to pack horses – there were a lot of city people in the gold rush – and they overloaded the animals and didn’t adjust the straps properly. There more than a few terrible stories, including one about a horse that literally committed suicide by throwing itself off a cliff. Another story is about an ox that was so weighed down that it refused to go any further, so the prospectors lit a fire under it to get it to move and ended up with an ox that burned to death. Often horses just collapsed and died and were trample into the mud by men and other horses.
The alternate route, the Chilkoot Pass from the town of Dyea was unpassable by horses but could be climbed, particularly in the winter. Prospectors would haul their ton of goods up the “golden stairs” that were cut into the snow. It was like a conveyor belt, each man or woman moving up behind the one in front. You couldn’t stop to take a rest because you wouldn’t be let back in line. It is on the Chilkoot Pass that the famous photos of a dark line of men from the foot of the mountain to the summit was taken.
Once you had your ton of goods at the top of the mountain – in Canadian territory marked by the Northwest Mounted Police and their two machine guns – you had to build a boat at Lake Bennett which was the headwaters of the Yukon River. The Mounties had to certify that the boat was properly built. Then, when the ice on Lake Bennett finally melted the prospectors could sail their boats down river through the White Horse Rapids to make it to Dawson. And when they got there they found that the best claims were gone. And yet in the entire gold rush period in Dawson City there was not one murder.