Beer, beer, beer.....it doesn't matter where we travel we are always able to locate beer. Much surprise as we came upon a display in Skagway, Alaska comprised of a famous beer from Seattle. Rainier Beer was never on the menu, but finding the label was a great memory of home and a reminder of the importance of Seattle to the Gold Rush of the 1890's.
Skagway remains a bust and boom city born out of necessity with the discovery of gold and the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897. Overnite a small town's population grew to over 20,000 people, most with visions of striking it rich on gold. As a natural port and gateway to the gold fields many set out from Skagway with 1 ton of goods as required by the Canadian government. The trip to the north proved insurmountable for many and treacherous to all. Very few men succeeded in getting rich from gold, but providing services to those traveling over the Chilkoot Trail and beyond proved profitable. Many offered fair services for a fair dollar, but the region was also filled with those who took advantage of the gold seekers. One scrupulous fellow offered "gold lotion". Apply it all over your body and then roll around in the gold fields. The gold will attach to your body! Another gentlemen sold trained gophers. The specific gophers had been bred for large pouches in their mouths. They would tunnel and do all the work and at the end of the day drop the gold nuggets at your feet. One ingenious man developed a bicycle with a sidecar. The owner could then ride the bike over the narrow, steep trail carrying his 2000 pounds of supplies!!! This never worked due to a trail that was barely single file and difficult to walk on, let alone carry anything.
1899 brought the end to the gold rush, leaving the town to shrink to almost nothing. By 1903 only one settler resided in Skagway. Today it is back on the map with a summer population near 1000 to accommodate and service the 3 to 4 cruise ships that arrive daily.
The sheer beauty of Alaska and the area around Skagway is certainly displayed in the above photo of Tormented Valley as viewed from the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway.
Leaving Skagway we truly began our trip back towards British Columbia and the USA. Our next few stops were at Provincial Parks where somehow we were fortunate to score lake front campsites. Another rare occurrence on our trek was rain. Yes it did interfere with a few plans, but considering 60 days on the road our weather was superb. We encountered a pretty good thunder and lightning storm at Boya Lake. Always a joy to watch the lightning over the water. The following day the blue skies reappeared as we headed down the road. Shortly after leaving Boya we spotted a fox. I quickly grabbed the camera for what I presumed would be a brief photo-op. After my photo of the fox walking away from the passenger side, he walked over to Bruce's side of the truck and looked up, much like a dog greeting his master. After telling Dave this story, it seems that is his M.O. This fox did the same thing to them when leaving the campground. Both Dave and Bruce admitted that while this was "cool" they did question how high can a fox jump?
As Dave and Jeannine headed south, the Draper's and the Ode's made a short jaunt back to Alaska to visit the town of Hyder. Population 90 and all we could find to eat at was the Road Kill Café. No one got sick, but that is all I will report on that unique dining experience.
Our reason for visiting Hyder was to view the Bear and the Salmon Arm Glaciers.
The glaciers were beautiful and the town was unique...or should I say sparsely populated. While there were no customs as we enter the USA, appropriate signage was visible as we left Hyder and traveled back into Canada.
No comments:
Post a Comment