In the summer in Skagway the best free tour is the ranger led walking tour of downtown. They leave about every hour, just like Old Faithful, and the groups are limited to 30, so people have to go in and get a free ticket for the next available walk. As you can see from their attire, a cool windy day is not uncommon and so a light wind breaker and rain hat is a good idea. If you’re lucky you may get a smart and handsome ranger like Arlen!
Fraser Lake in fall
mid-century photo of Skagway
A cool photo from the 1950-60’s shows the Mission School with the 5 long buildings in the middle of the picture. I put a little red arrow pointing to the location of our house (for sale, by the way). Two blocks south of the Mission School, is the old Skagway School building on what is now the field next to the Rec Center. Although the Catholic Church still owns the property between Main and State and 15th and 17th, it is leased to someone who runs the Garden City RV park. Over the years there has been talk of the Municipality buying the property from the Catholic Church. My personal opinion is that it should be bought and developed as a large housing complex with units designed for all levels of income – efficiencies to 3 bedroom units. A good architect could make a beautiful project that would really enhance the town. As it is now, the RV park is half filled with old trailers that seasonal workers live in during the summer. During the winter when anyone is coming to town to work there are no homes to rent since many are boarded up. In the summer, the housing crunch is terrible with many just living in the woods in a wet soggy tent.