Today was a free day to do whatever we wanted to do. It's sort of sad too because it is the last day of our land tour. We slept in a little but not much. There are just too many things to see and do!
We walked over to the Visitor's Center for the Ranger Walk. He took us around to several buildings in town and also the parlor of Soapy Smith. Soapy was a famous con artist during the gold rush days. He opened a fake telegraph office and would charge $5 for men to send their family a telegram but the wires only went as far as the wall. He got the nickname of Soapy from his most famous scam, the prize package soap. He would wrap a few bars of soap with money and then "someone" (one of his men) in his audience would buy a bar of soap for $1. Of course, they would wave it in the air saying they got some money in their bar. That encouraged the rest of the people to want some but they only got a bar of soap. He was also involved in many more scams and schemed to get people out of town by scamming them and stealing their money.
Soapy Smith's Parlor
The Arctic Brotherhood Building is Alaska's most photographed building. It says 1899 above the door. The outside of the building was restored in 2004. All of the 8,883 pieces of driftwood were removed . Forty percent (3.533) had rotted and were replaced, while sixty percent (5,350) were still able to be preserved over one hundred years later. The driftwood was collected from Skagway Bay and nailed to the front of the building.
The Arctic Brotherhood Building, now one of the
Visitor Center buildings. There were several in town
Close-up of the driftwood
A popular saloon in town - the upstairs was formerly
a brothel. More on that tomorrow when we take the tour!
The White Pass and Yukon Railroad Station
The part of Skagway near the railroad station
Downtown Skagway
The steam engine coming in to the station
Annual snowfalls of over 20 feet often brought rail traffic to a halt. Until 1964, White Pass & Yukon Route maintained a fleet of rotary snow plows used to keep the vital link of rail open. Experienced rotary operators worked with pusher engines to clear the track often churning through drifts higher than the engines themselves. The workers communicated using a series of whistles signaling stop, back up and forward. Rotary Plow Number One remains operational and is occasionally used to clear the track before the railroad opens in spring.
Conrad standing in front of the rotary snow plow
Late afternoon we wandered over to the Skagway Pizza Station for a little happy hour! The mosquitos in Alaska are HUGE! I killed one while we were there and just had to take a picture to show you how big they are!
We were worn out by now and headed back to the hotel for a get-together hosted by our tour director with our group before we board the ship late tomorrow morning. When that was over, it was dinner time.
Conrad ordered the salmon with rice and asparagus.
I ordered the pecan crusted chicken.
This is our hotel in Skagway. The building blends in with
the others in town. It looked much newer on the inside.
We walked around again after dinner and then back to the room to pack up one more time. Tomorrow we will board the ship but have one more excursion planned for tomorrow afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment