Category: Tragedy

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James G. Hornbaker


Mr. Hornbaker was born in 1875 on his family’s farm in Bonaparte, Iowa. The farm must have been a dangerous place since at least two of his brothers died young – in their teens/20’s before he left.
James was another young man who came to Alaska to seek his fortune; he worked in Skagway as the manager for the Foard & Stokes Company store.
He died on this day, February 24, 1898 of meningitis but his body was shipped back to Iowa. The cemetery there also has this amazing gravestone of another Hornbaker who died in the first World War.

His name was misspelled or mis-transcribed on the Skagway Death Record as Hamlaken.

The Foard and Stokes store was owned by Martin Foard and J.J. Stokes who ran it in Astoria since 1882 and apparently wanted to expand to Skagway.
Foard’s beautiful Victorian house built in 1892, in Astoria is on the walking tour there and is still owned by a descendant.

Ancestry posting under Skaguay; Skagway death record as Hamlaken.

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William Cornell Ostrander


William Ostrander was born in 1868 in Orange, New York. His family moved to Portland Oregon in the 1890’s. By 1895 he was living with his parents in Portland, but he decided to travel to the north in search of his fortune. Unfortunately he succumbed to meningitis on this day, February 23, 1898 in Skagway. He was a member of the Woodmen of the World in Portland and so, his body was shipped back to Portland, that being the main reason that men signed up to these organizations back then.
Ostrander may have been an artist as there was a painting by William Ostrander that was auctioned off in 2006.

Portland Death Records; Skagway Death Records; familysearch.

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baby Nellie Dick

Nellie was born on this day, February 22, 1899 but died two days later. I am reminded of a headboard in the Calico Ghost Town cemetery:
“Since I am so soon done for, I wonder what I was begun for.”

Skagway Death Record.

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Sophia victims


While researching Albert David Pinska (born on this day, February 10, 1877 in Minnesota and drowned on the Princess Sophia), I found some interesting facts about other victims on the Princess Sophia. The dates of death of some of the victims were later reported in news accounts that put the death dates later than the actual death dates of October 25, 1918. Some victims even fail to show up in the Ken Coates book on the Sinking of the Princess Sophia, 1991.

The Daily Alaska Dispatch Newspaper of 29 OCT 1918, Juneau, Alaska stated that additional victims of the Princess Sophia had been identified. “Advices from Skagway show there were ten more people on the vessel than shown by the list, to-wit: Geo. Allen, W. Barton, Jim Kirk, N. McLeod and wife, C. P. Queen, H. F. Robinson, D. Williams, W. Wright and George Williams, the latter being aboard without having purchased a ticket.” (Mrs. Pinska was later identified as a victim also).

There was a G.W. Williams who worked for Soapy but left Skagway June 16 1898.
The San Francisco Call, on March 16, 1905 said that John Lee Kirk, a Soapy Smith collaborator, was arrested in Victoria for crimes committed in Nome, in 1905 – however he was released three hours later for lack of a warrant. (See SoapySmiths.blogspot of April 17, 2009)
The Fairbanks News reported the deaths of a G.W. Williams and a William Wright on December 10,1918 – these reports could have been delayed and the deaths occurred earlier, such as in October, not December 1918.

Could G.W. Williams and Jim Kirk actually have been the G.W. Williams and John Lee Kirk who worked for Soapy? Or just a case of similar names. The fact that George Williams on the Princess Sophia was reported to have been onboard “without having purchased a ticket” throws suspicion his way. Whether the Jim Kirk is the same as the John Lee Kirk who was arrested in 1905, and released is pure conjecture, I know, but its a delicious thought to think that these scoundrels were still working their tricks in 1918.

And furthermore, was James Kirk’s middle name Tiberius?

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=shook&id=I22324
see British Colonist online March 16, 1905.

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Clara Nevada


On this day, February 4, 1898 the Clara Nevada was docked in Skagway and no one knew that the following day, February 5 would hold disaster. Several people were preparing to take the boat to Juneau, little did they know it would be the last time they would see their loved ones and feel the ground beneath their feet.
The Nevada was formerly the Hassler of the United States Revenue Service and was built at Camden, N. J., in 1872. As a pioneer iron steamer, the Hassler had both advantages and disadvantages. Her innovative steeple compound engine made the ship economical to operate during survey work. Roomy enough for 30 or 40 people, the ship usually proved a comfortable place to live and work.

Unfortunately defects in the iron hull worsened over time. The Coast Survey spent significant sums of money annually to keep the ship afloat. The amount of maintenance, however, proved insufficient. By the early 1880s, Hassler Captain Henry Nichols cautioned his superiors that due to inadequate maintenance, the ship was beginning to show her age. In October 1892, during a voyage from Alaska to San Francisco, one iron plate from above the waterline cracked outright and at least one other warped severely during a major storm. Later inspection revealed that the cracked plate had rusted through and the wood bracing behind it had rotted. Observers in the engine room noted that the ship flexed enough to alter the distance between the main steam pipe and the inside hatch of the engine room by 1 inch. Although repairs were made, the working of the ship and creaking of the bulkheads continued during subsequent storms. By the fall of 1893, Hassler Captain Giles Harker described the ship as being on “her last legs” but capable of a few more years of service “barring accident.” The Coast Survey officially decommissioned the Hassler on May 25, 1895. In August, the vessel sold to the McGuire Brothers, a dubious pair whose nefarious reputation helped to create the legend of the Clara Nevada. They paid $15,700, or 25% of the ship’s original cost. The McGuire’s insisted on secrecy regarding the sale, requiring that the announcement of the transfer take place via mail rather than telegraph so they could “take possession without publicity.” The Hassler was quickly overhauled for Alaskan service and renamed the Clara Nevada.

On January 26 1898, the 26 year old Hassler/Clara Nevada departed Seattle for the first time under the management of her new owners.
The voyage north was beset with problems. The Clara Nevada hit another ship while leaving the dock, and there were constant problems with the boilers, and at one point she even caught fire. Somehow she reached Skagway and most of her passengers got off, but some were already so discouraged by the whole “adventure” that they remained on board, and on February 5 they headed south with an unknown number of passengers between 25 and 150 by various reports. There is no proof yet of what exactly happened to the Clara Nevada. It is thought that in order to maintain control in the high wind and sharp following seas, the steamer would have had to maintain a reasonable level of forward progress with her steam engine. This made the force of the collision on Eldred Rock especially great—and could have led to the overturning of lamps, fireboxes, and stoves, which would account for the reported fire. Impaled on the rock, the helpless vessel became subject to the strong waves and winds that swept the stern first toward the west and then 180 degrees to the south. Catastrophic hull failure occurred, with the brittle bottom giving way amidships and hull plating probably pulling away from the degraded frames. Sinking would have been almost immediate.
Witnesses reported “a flash, a burst of flames and all was over.” Everybody on board was killed in the explosion. Today, the wreck, lying in pieces in 25-40 feet of water, is a popular spot for divers.
Here is a very partial list of the passengers:

Robert Bruce Banks, a woodcutter – see earlier blog
Jesse Theo Wilkins, from Alabama
George Foster Beck, ship’s purser (the only body recovered)
Kelly, also reported as being the Captain of the ship
C.H. Lewis, Captain of the ship
Al Noyes
Rogers, freight clerk
Frank Whitney of Cripple Creek, Colorado

Pennington; http://canadianhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/ship_tragedies_of_the_klondike_gold_rush; NY Times article of 2/18/1898; Seattle Post Intel obit 2/5/1895; familysearch; genforum

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Typhoid

On this day, January 31, 1904, Thomas E. Briggs, a White Pass engineer, died of typhoid in Skagway. He was buried in the Gold Rush Cemetery by White Pass at the direction of Superintendent John P. Rogers (not to be confused with President Clifford Rogers). There were various epidemics of Typhoid in both Dawson and Skagway from 1898 through 1904.

1905 directory; Skagway death record;Crisis and Opportunity:Three White Women’s Experiences of the Klondike Gold Rush by Carolyn Moore

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Plane crash at the pass


Very often people ask how they can get to Whitehorse from Skagway and we tell them that there is a bus in the summer, but the road is the only way (the train only runs to Carcross in the summer). It would seem to be a simple thing to fly over the pass and on to Whitehorse, just 110 miles away. However, several pilots have found that the pass is deadly and unforgiving. While it seems to be clear when they take off, once at 3400 feet the fog becomes so thick you cannot see, even on the road. And so that is what happened on this day, January 30, 1935 when Lawrence William Muehleisen, (see earlier blog) the pilot aged 28, and his three passengers hit the side of the mountain. Charles C. Larsen, aged 44, John R. Muralt and Archie King, a White Pass employee, were the other three men who died. Muehleisen and Larsen are buried in the Pioneer Cemetery here in Skagway.

I talked to one old timer recently who said that at the time of this crash, people said that they suspected White Pass of sabotaging the gas tank on this plane because it threatened to undermine the train’s profits. An interesting comment…..

Skagway Death Record; 1910 and 1920 censuses.

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Railroad Accident


All that we know about this accident is from the Skagway Death Record which states that John Phillips, a White Pass worker was run over by the train and killed on this day, January 29, 1900. But Minter wrote that two Native American workers were killed that day and he only knew the name of Phillips.
Curiously, in February 1900 another worker, John McAllister was killed, also by falling below the wheels of the train near the White Pass summit and he is buried at Bennett Cemetery. There are also at least four other railroad workers buried at Bennett who died in the construction of the railroad between 1899 and 1900: Andrew Aidukewicz or Ajdukewicz, J. Cumberland, A. Kelly, and William Nelson. It is possible that William Nelson was the other Native American worker killed on January 29 1900 that Minter mentions since there were other Nelsons living in Skagway at the time who were Native. In all that makes at least 6 men who were killed around 1900 while working on the line, winter is a brutal time to be up at the pass.

Minter; Skagway Death Record

P.S. the three things missing from front of AB Hall in yesterday’s pic are:
1. the flagpole, 2. the hanging projecting sign, and 3. the bench.

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Fred and Clara Patten


Fred Patten was born in Nebraska in 1873 and Clara was from Wisconsin. They met and married in Auburn, Washington and had a daughter there in 1900. They had moved here to Skagway around that time. Sadly, Clara died on this day, December 14, 1905 of blood poisoning and is buried in the Gold Rush Cemetery.
Fred stayed on and made a partnership with Chris Shea as carpenter and contractor. Together they wrote a book called “The Soapy Smith Tragedy” in 1907. (If you can find this book, it is worth quite a bit now.)
By 1907-1908, Skagway’s glory days as a gold rush boomtown had passed. Vacant buildings, derelict shacks and debris were visible everywhere. One visitor described Skagway as “the scrap-heap of creation.”
In an attempt to revitalize the town, Fred and Chris led a drive to centralize the town’s business district on Broadway. In 1908, Shea and Patten purchased two barracks, sawed the longer one in half, and moved all three to their present location on Broadway. The two halves were remodeled with a new false front to make up the Pack Train Inn and the Trail Saloon. By 1910 they had both moved on.
The building currently houses a fur store and a diamond store in the summer and says “U-Ah-to-no” on the side.

Washington records online; 1880 and 1900 census; Skagway death record

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Allen Wayne Dennis


Allen was born in 1949 probably in this area and worked for White Pass. On this day, December 13, 1969, he was hit by a Casey Car on the railroad and killed. He is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.

Pictured above is a Casey Car in Carcross. These small cars are used by the Maintenance of the Railroad workers every day. The workers take these cars up the tracks early each morning in the summer to check the tracks to make sure there has not been a rock fall or other damage to the tracks.