Thursday, August 11, 2011Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2003 at the Los Angeles Zoo. Mattie was a year old and even at that young age three things were apparent: 1) he loved being outside, 2) he hated crowds and noise, and 3) he loved animals. These were givens with Mattie! Because of Mattie's interests, I quickly learned to love being outside and appreciating nature. A gift he gave me which will always be a part of me.
Quote of the day: The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced. Every other wound we seek to heal -- every other affliction to forget: but this wound we consider it a duty to keep open -- this affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude. ~ Washington Irving
Last night when Peter and I got back to our cabin, we found this sight right on our desk. Our cabin steward surprised us with a towel elephant and then placed Peter’s glasses on top of it. I am partial to elephants. If you are expecting a logical reason for this affection, I may disappoint you. I love elephants because my favorite stuffed animal as a child was of an elephant. Ellie went everywhere with me and this poor thing was so loved, every ounce of its plush fur had eventually all worn off.
We arrived this morning in Skagway. Skagway got its name from the Tlingit Indian name “Skagua,” which means the place where the north wind blows. The temperature today seemed cold and very damp, maybe in the 40s with non-stop rain! The irony is that Skagway is NOT typically a rainy part of Alaska, since they only receive 26 inches of rain a year. Skagway has around 800 residents in the summer and in the winter it drops down to about 400.
I learned the following about Skagway today: 1) It has ONE grocery store that receives food by barge on Tuesdays. By Thursday of each week, there is little to NO food on the shelves. 2) There are NO doctors, a hospital, or dentist in Skagway at ALL! The only medical professional available is a nurse practitioner. This left me stunned, since I can’t seem to function without a host of medical doctors in my life. 3) The law regulates pregnant women. All pregnant women are flown OUT of Skagway in their 8th month, in order to have their babies in a hospital in Juneau. Juneau, the capitol of Alaska, is the only place nearby with a hospital. Mind you however, that this hospital is NOT equipped to handle intensive care and trauma issues! The new mothers and their babies are not allowed back into Skagway until the babies are over 6 weeks old. Interesting, no?! 4) If you work and live in Skagway, you must bring and supply your own house, a RV to be exact. The cost of living in Skagway is very high, with rent being about $1800 a month for a one bedroom apartment.
The first non-Native settler was Captain William Moore in 1887, who is credited with the discovery of the White Pass route into Interior Canada. Gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896 and by 1897, the first boatload of prospectors landed in Skagway. In 1897, Skagway grew from a tent city to a fair sized town with well laid out streets and numerous frame buildings, stores, saloons, gambling houses, dance houses, and a population of about 20,000. Keep in mind Skagway only has 800 residents NOW!
When our ship docked in Skagway, we were faced with a very interesting mountain, a mountain that is unofficially titled, Skagway’s Ship Registry. Since the 1800s, when ships arrived in port, they would mark their arrival on this mountain. Currently, when a new ship comes into port, the crew from the ship paints its logo on a rock, and also lists the ship’s name and the name of its captain. The legend is the more popular a ship’s captain, the higher up on the mountain his crew paints the ship’s logo.
The sensation about the Klondike Gold Rush started with newspaper reporters reacting to the two tons of gold that sailed into the Seattle harbor on a ship called The Portland. At that time, the Country was coming out of a depression, so when The Portland arrived filled with gold, it signaled hope and opportunity for America.
Sensational journalism manufactured the gold “rush” in Alaska. This news was simply a tale, not based on facts or reality. These reporters in many ways are responsible for the thousands of people and animals who lost their lives in search of gold in parts of Alaska, GOLD that was never found, or ever existed.
Thousands came to Alaska in search of gold and quick ways to get rich which were described in newspapers. The local towns in Alaska, like Skagway, were deluged with people needing provisions, supplies, guides, and animals.
There were only two ways to get to where the gold was, which was not actually in Alaska but in Canada. However, everyone had to go through at least 33 miles of Alaska territory to eventually get there. One of the towns that gold stampeders needed to traverse to get into Canada was Skagway. Once in Skagway, there were two different hiking trails one could select to get into Canada. One was labeled as impossible and the other was labeled as easier and could be done in two weeks. This easy trail was called The White Pass Trail. However, the press LIED about the ease of this trail. Lying is NOT my terminology, it is the word of all those who live in Skagway and have researched the Klondike Gold Rush. The press basically wrote in newspapers that in two weeks time, a person could hike the White Pass trail which would put him in Canada. Once in Canada, the gold stampeder could board a boat and be taken to the Klondike River area, where the gold could be found. What the press failed to mention was the hike alone could literally take months, and even if you survived the trail, the hardship and weather conditions you had to endure were overwhelming. In addition, once in Canada, there was NO boat service. The gold stampeder had to build his own boat to get to the Klondike River. Keep in mind that over 30,000 people fell for this scam, and only about 100 actually survived and became wealthy from this venture (such as the Nordstrom and Levi families).
Once gold stampeders got themselves to Skagway, they needed a place to rest before hiking the White Pass Trail. So a tent city was established. We visited this tent city today and the city itself is called LIARVILLE. Telling, no?! Any case, gold stampeders needed to rest before hiking, because in order to hike on the White Pass Trail they were expected to cart along with them supplies and provisions. Actually about 1 TON of provisions per stampeder was mandated by the Canadian government (remember the Klondike is in Canada). Keep in mind there were NO cars or easy transports. The only way stampeders got their ton of provisions through this harsh trail was by horse. Thousands of horses died on this trail, and in fact the trail is unofficially called the dead horse trail. Because the trail was so treacherous, a railroad was constructed in 1898 that would take people from Skagway into Canada.
The railroad was constructed by stampeders who needed a job and money. Keep in mind that the majority of these stampeders used their life savings ($2500) to get to Skagway and to buy provisions in order to search for gold. If they were lucky enough to survive the experience, they were left destitute, and therefore in need of ANY job to get money, which in essence is how the railroad was built. Britain financed the railroad but the actual construction was American ingenuity.
Today we went on the White Pass Railway. It was like being a part of history and seeing what these courageous stampeders had to endure as they were trying to fulfill the American dream…. or a better life and wealth.
You can see the train on the tracks and the terrain of the journey. Many people on the train today were actually scared at times because when you look out the window there is a steep grade over the side of the mountain. It was easy to see that the terrain is difficult, rocky, mountainous, and simply impossible to traverse by foot.
Notice the intense fog. This is during the summer, and yet today was frigid and rainy. These stampeders traversed this trail even in the winter. During the winter, this area can get over 28 FEET of snow.
I love this picture, because Peter was able to capture the beautiful fireweed plant that freely grows all over Alaska. Even at high attitudes. The train trip took us to an elevation of about 3000 feet!
I title this picture…. FOG! A fog that seemed intense combined with raw weather.
After the train climbed up 3000 feet, you can see the terrain changed. It because more flat, however, despite that, it was still rocky and jagged and impossible to cross (with a ton of supplies) on foot!
The train trip took about 90 minutes. We boarded the train in Skagway, Alaska, and ended the trip in Fraser, Canada. So after going through customs at a border check we took a picture by the sign welcoming us back into the USA.
After the train trip, we had the opportunity to spend two hours in Liarsville. It was fascinating to see this Tent Camp and how these stampeders had to live. The camp has various tents, such as the bath house tent (in which CLEAN water cost 50 cents a wash; dirty water only 25 cents), a supplies tent (where stampeders could buy tools and even animals), and a tent for “negotiating affections.” This tent absolutely got me. Basically the stampeders were all men and this tent featured women who would sell their services to men, $5 for 15 minutes. In fact, the whole town of Skagway had this same tone, since one brothel in particular has been preserved right in the middle of town as a landmark and a part of history. LOVELY (and I am being very sarcastic!)!!!!
Here is a picture of what the reporter’s tent looked like on the camp. Technically these reporters were to be reporting from the field, but they knew how HARD life was on the trail, and they instead fabricated stories and tales from the comfort of their tent in this tent city.
We attended a show at the tent camp and got to hear some of the music and poetry stampeders may have participated in while living at the site. Interestingly enough one of the songs sung was “You are my sunshine.” For many people this maybe a happy song or a song that even reminds them of their childhood. For me, this song brings about sadness, since this was a song Mattie and I used to sing together all the time. As I heard the song, I was basically visualizing Mattie, his eyes, and his presence.
The last thing they taught us at the tent camp was how to pan for gold. I learned for myself today this is NOT an easy process and certainly the reporters who stated that you could literally pull gold out of the ground, were not only bending the truth, but were lying.
The last photo I would like to share with you tonight is of the city of Skagway. Skagway works hard at preserving its past and thereby its buildings. So in many ways, what we are seeing now is in part what may have been seen in the 1880s.
We have now set sail for Victoria, British Columbia. It will take us over a day to get there. We will be at sea all day on Friday and part of Saturday. It is hard to believe that our voyage ends Sunday morning. I think Alaska is a must see, but I also think one has to be prepared for the fact that this trip is NOT a relaxing vacation. This trip is about rising early, seeing and experiencing nature, and being active.
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