Mr B.L. Tingley took this photo of the muddy road in front of the Grand Pacific Hotel in Sheep Camp. Mr. J.P. Rupp owned this fine establishment. No news on what became of him after the gold rush.
Emory Valentine
Mr. Valentine was born in 1858 in Dowagiac, Michigan. He first opened a jewelery store in 1895 in Juneau. He would have built a jewelry store in Skagway, but he faced competition from Herman Kirmse, a well-known jeweler. In 1897 he built and was co-owner of the Sylvestor-Valentine wharf where Soapy and Frank Reid were shot. He also owned the Princess Saloon in Skagway in 1898. He died on this day, September 14, 1930 at the age of 72 in Juneau and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.
Yukon genealogy; Spude book; Evergreen records; Juneau Parks and Recreation website.
Who’s Who in Alaska Politics: A Biographical Dictionary of Alaskan Political Personalities, 1884-1974; Wikipedia.
Harriet arrives in Skagway
Although we have covered Harriet Pullen before, it was on this day, September 8, 1897 that she arrived in Skagway full of hope for a new life. She left behind a bankrupt farm and four children to join her husband here to scratch out a living. Starting a restaurant in a tent and cooking meals, her husband ran a string of horses across White Pass. After earning enough money, she bought a log cabin and then sent for her boys to help her.
Soon after, she and her husband split and sold the packing business. She told people that she was a widow. She purchased a large frame house from Captain Moore and named it the Pullen House. All that is left today is the chimney, which is now more clearly seen since the city has cut down all the trees in the area in the past month. Nasty trees, who needs them?
from Alaska: Saga of a Born Land by Borneman
Charles Lincoln Parker
Charlie Parker was born on this day, August 30, 1897 in Oregon. He is famous for being the youngest person to cross the Chilkoot Trail in that era of the Gold Rush. I would think his mother would get more credit for that – carrying a baby over the pass was no picnic. He had 4 sisters and 3 brothers, 3 of whom were born in Atlin. His father Abraham Lincoln Parker moved the Golden North Hotel by horse and capstan in 1908 to its present location. The Parker family moved to Juneau in 1913. The brothers Leslie and Charlie moved to Gustavus and had families there. Charlie wrote many letters and supported many causes for Gustavus. You can read them online at the Gustavus Historical site.
This 1928 photo of homesteaders & brothers Leslie “Les” & Charles “Charlie” Parker in everyday Gustavus, Alaska “scruff” (working clothes & untrimmed beards). Seen in front of Charlie’s white painted house on east side Salmon River and south of Salmon River bridge along “Charlie’s River” (slough).
1910; Juneau Parks and Recreation website; Gustavus Historical photo online
Harriet Matilda Pullen
photo by Henry Alaska Dedman
Happy Birthday Mrs. Pullen!
Hattie Smith was born on this day, August 5, 1869 in Hope, Dane County Wisconsin. she married Mr. Pullen in 1880 and the clan moved to La Push Washington.
When the call of gold came, Harriet packed up and came to Skagway where she lived the rest of her life. She saw it all, horses that could not be off-boarded at Dyea – she jumped on their backs and rode them off through the water to the beach. She made pie tins out of flattened cans and started selling pies. With the money she made there she built a hotel that became the pride of Skagway, the Vanderbilts, President Harding and movie stars stayed there.
I first read of her in an article in Reader’s Digest in the 1960’s as one of their “Most Unforgettable Characters”. Quite a lady!
She died on August 8, 1947 in Skagway and is buried near her home on the east side of the railroad tracks.
John Williams
John Williams was probably not his real name, since he was born in 1870 in Russia and came to Skagway shortly after the Gold Rush. He managed the St James Hotel for decades.
The St James Hotel is famous for a meeting which occurred between Michael J. Heney and the scouts sent from British investors to determine if the building of the railroad was possible. Despite the story that they came to agreement based on Heney’s influence, there had actually been years of scouting, measuring and evaluations on the project by the British. In the book “The White Pass” Minter spends chapters – at least 1/4 of the very large book describing those years of efforts.
No, the investors saw in Heney someone who had the determination and on-hands experience to carry the project of building the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad to completion.
Back to John Williams, he lived in Skagway until he died on this day, May 9, 1938 and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. Pictured above is the St James Hotel that sits adjacent to and just behind the Skagway Hardware Store on 4th Avenue.
William E. Britt
Mr. Britt was a druggist born in 1873 in Norway. Like many Scandinavians (my grandparents included) he came to Chicago. From there he came to Skagway in 1898 to seek his fortune. He stayed for many years and was a member of the Arctic Brotherhood and Skagway City Council. He was also very involved in gardening. He ran a drug store in a building which is still standing, but forgotten, on 5th Avenue. It is known as the Board of Trade Saloon, but it was acquired by the city and used for many years as the city hall and as the library. It sits next to the old Mabel G’s, between there and the “Wandering Wardrobe” little crib building.
Mr. Britt eventually moved to Juneau and died there on this day, May 4, 1932 and is buried in the Evergreen Masonic Cemetery.
The picture above is of that building when it was used as city hall.
censuses; Skagway News; AB book
John C. Hilbert
Mr. Hilbert was a German goldrusher who died on this day, April 21, 1899 on an island of Lake LeBarge of pneumonia, he was 40 years old. His body was sent to San Francisco for burial.
Here is the entry from the Skagway Death Record:
“Died on [Richthofen] Island in Lake LeBarge; recorded 6/23; embalmed 6/23; brother’s address: Holbert Bros. Wholesale Liquor, Powell & Macon Sts, San Francisco; eye color-dk; height-5’9″; weight-~160 lb; hair color-dark; shipped to ER Butterworth for exch to SF on the Humbolt, 6/29/1899”
Hilbert Brothers produced whiskey in San Francisco from 1890-1902 when they became a mercantile company. See advertisement glass above.
So, what was he doing on an island in Lake Lebarge anyway? The Yukon Archives does have an estate record for him which I have not yet viewed.
from Skagway Death Records and a really cool website that shows liquor advertisements: http://www.pre-pro.com/midacore/view_glass.php?sid=KWS274
Mary Bernhoeffer
Mary came to Skagway in the Gold Rush and started a restaurant called the “New Home Restaurant and Lodging House” which she ran with her sister Caroline for a number of years. By the 1929 census she was still listed as a cook in the restaurant.
Born in 1853 in Germany, she was listed in the 1910 census as single but in the 1929 census as a widow.
Her son Henry (born 1887 in Germany) died tragically on July 4th 1914. He was crossing the bay from Haines when the boat sank and everyone onboard drowned.
Mary died on this day, April 9, 1941 and is buried in the Catholic Evergreen Cemetery in Juneau.
Censuses; directories; Evergreen Cemetery records.
Albion S. Towle
Albion Towle was born in 1863 in Venzie, Maine. He came to Skagway in 1898 from Snohomish Washington where he had a shingle business. He was a hotelier at Lake Bennett, when he died on this day, March 31, 1898. He was a member of the order of foresters, AOUW and so was shipped home to Snohomish to be buried. This from the online obit:
“…Mr. Towle wanted to go in but did not get away until last January. He went to Skagway and in February sent for his wife. They then started over the pass for Lake Bennet, where they opened a log cabin hotel, and were doing well financially, until early in the morning of March 24th, Mr. Towle was suddenly taken very sick with puenmonia, and in less than an hour was delirous, never again wholly recoving consciouness.
The folling Sunday morning Mrs. Towle secured a sled and dog team, and with the assistance of one man, started with her husband for medical aid at Skagway. She walked bside the sled, watching over him and keeping his face and hands from freezing, while passing through the fearful cold part of the journey at the summit.
They arrived in Skagway at nine o’clock at night and Mr. Towle was placed in the hospital. During the entire trip from morning till night walking thirty-seven miles, Mrs. Towle did not take a particle of nourishment, and this with her anxiety for her husband and the fathigue of the long hard climb, was too much for her, and after she had secured his comfort, she completely collapsed, and was herself prostrate until after arriving in Snohomish. The Snohomish boys at Skagway immediately came to her service, and everything possible was done for Mr. Towle, but on the following Thursday he succumbed to the disease.
The body was brought back to Seattle on the first steamer, and Messrs. M.J. Bird and James Sipprell accompanied the beraved widow and her dead through from the north and take the body was laid to rest in Woodlwan cemetery. Mrs. Towle and the bereaved relatives have the sympathy of the entire community in their sad bereavement.”
The symbol above is for the Ancient Order of United Workmen:
“The American fraternal benefit network began with the organization the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Meadville, Pennsylvania on October 27, 1868. The AOUW was founded by John Jordan Upchurch, a Mason, with the aim of adjusting “all differences which may arise between employers and employees, and to labor for the development of a plan of action that may be beneficial to both parties, based on the eternal truth that the interests of labor and capitol are equal and should receive equal protection.” Each member paid $1 into the insurance fund to cover the sum of not less than $500 in benefits paid to a members dependents when he died. Each time a member died, $1 was due from the surviving members to reestablish the fund. Fraternal benefits societies soon became quite popular as a means of providing financial protection to working class people at an affordable rate.”
obit online in rootsweb: Snohomish County Tribune,4-15-1898