Stories and Folklore from Skagway, Alaska
William Clark Fonda arrived on the steamer Alki in 1896. He was said to be the one who broke ground for White Pass as a laborer and was later on the famous “Committee of 101”.
He is the model for the statue in front of the Pioneer’s home in Sitka which opened in 1913. He sent letters home from 1896-1909.
Skagway Bill was born in 1858 in Glen, New York and died on this day, September 1, 1938 in Olympia, Washington.
fonda.org; Pennington page 350.
Happy Birthday to Willie Feero born on this day, August 31, 1883 in Maine. The family came to Skagway from Auburn, Maine via Tacoma arriving on October 19, 1897. His father, John Eleanor or “Sandy” Feero worked as a packer until he froze to death in December of 1898 on the Chilkoot Trail.
Willie and his mother, twin sisters, and brother stayed in Skagway. Willie worked and lived in Douglas and Skagway until his death in 1950. During that time he married, had a family and worked as a White Pass engineer/fireman and a carpenter.
There are descendants in Skagway today who I am sure would have better stories than mine. Here is a picture of his son John taken in front of their house in Douglas about 1935.
1900 census;1915 directory; WWI registration; Skagway death record; Pennington.
So Happy Birthday to Victor Hahn born on this day, August 19, 1868 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to German parents.
He arrived here in Skagway on May 5, 1898 and originally worked as a draftsman. He succeeded Rogers as the Superintendent of the White Pass Railroad in 1906 and worked here until 1947. He must have been quite a politician to last that long as Superintendent!
He died in 1958 in San Francisco at the age of 90.
The photo above was taken on August 17, 1928 at Charles Walker’s house during President Harding’s visit to Skagway:
Left to right: A.F. Swenbsen, friend of Secretary Jardine, Boise, Idaho.
George A. Parks, Governor of Alaska.
William DeWitt Mitchell, Solicitor General of the United States, Washington, D.C.
William Jardine, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
Henry O’Malley, U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries, Washington, D.C.
James T. Jardine, brother of the Secretary, Washington, D.C.
Charles H. Flory, U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture in Alaska, Juneau, Alaska.
V.I. Hahn, Superintendent of the White Pass & Yukon Railroad, Skagway, Alaska.
Check out those snappy boutonnieres, did they know it was almost V.I.’s birthday?!
1900 and 1929 census; 1905, 1915, and 1923 directories; California death index
Happy Birthday to Winnifred Telfer born on this day, August 9, 1919 in Skagway. Her mother, Mary Peterson, was the matron of the White Pass Hospital since 1915 when she met Eric Telfer. Eric was an accountant for White Pass. They married in November 1917. Eric took lots of pictures in the years the family lived here and Winnifred donated them to the Canadian Archives. Some photos were of hockey teams, the one above is of the women’s curling team in 1922, Mary Telfer may be in this picture. The family moved south in 1930.
Winnifred stayed in British Columbia most of her life and became a famous artist.
Archives Canada – Eric Telfer fonds. census.
On this day, August 3, 1898 while working on the railroad track at Mile 13, there was a rockslide. A huge rock slid down and buried two workers, Maurice Dunn and Al Jeneux. I have never been able to find any record of those two men, but the story continues to this day by the train agents. At the time, Michael J. Heney decided that it would be too dangerous and costly to blow up the rock to recover the bodies so they were left in place. At first there were rumors that there were more bodies, but White Pass announced that there were only two and erected a small cross with the names there at the rock.
legends
One Hundred and twelve years ago in Skagway, the townspeople awoke to hear that Jefferson Randolf Smith who was born in 1860 in Noonan Georgia and created a bit of a ruckus here in Skagway with his business associates, died on the evening of July 8, 1898 in a shootout with that hothead Frank Reid, or maybe it was Jesse Murphy, an employee of White Pass.
On July 9, 1898 here in Skagway, the right Reverend Sinclair arranged the funeral for Soapy and buried him in the Gold Rush Cemetery. The townsfolk spent the rest of the day beating the bushes to round up the “Soapy gang” and invited them to leave. Although some were arrested, and a couple ended up in prison, few served very much jail time, for lack of evidence or witnesses.
There was a festive and excited atmosphere in Skagway on that day, followed by 112 years of boredom. Some will dispute that characterization, but it is true that shootouts seldom occur on the streets anymore although “fancy girls” hang out the windows and gold merchants line the streets.
Harry and his brother came to Skagway in 1897. Harry was known as “Flick” and his brother was known as “Tuck”. They were from Bucyrus, Ohio where “Flick” was born on this day June 23, 1867. Flick worked as a White Pass foreman and later in 1910 was a city councilman. He moved to Long Beach California where he married Ellen and then died there in 1948. In the picture above, Flick is on the left, Tuck on the right. Tuck was alot more exciting, but he will have his own blog later.
Just fyi, I am going south to deal with family business and will be back mid July. So have a good 4th of July and stay safe out there!
censuses; California death record; rootsweb.
Dr. Brawand AKA James P. Browand was a physician and surgeon at the Red Cross Hospital and the White Pass Hospital in Skagway from 1897 to his death, on this day, June 21, 1914. Brawand was born in Iowa in 1861 to Swiss parents but came to Skagway from Chicago.
In addition to being a doctor he was also a civil engineer and served on the Skagway City Council in 1910,1911, and 1912.
He had a child living with him in 1910 probably an orphan. He is buried in the Elks Cemetery which is above the Pioneer Cemetery.
Polks Gazateer, censuses, Skagway Death Record.
Charles was born in Indiana in 1854 and came to Skagway around 1902. He married Elizabeth Abigail Deshamp and they had 5 boys born between 1903 and 1910: Claty, John, Frederick, Chester and Clarence. Claty died soon after he was born, but the other boys and Abby lived with Charles in a cabin near the railroad tracks at mile 6.5 between Denver and Rocky Point. The view from there is seen above. Must have been lonely for Abby and the boys because she left Charles after the 1920 census. She then remarried in Everett Washington in 1924.
Charles worked as the White Pass athletic club janitor and died on this day, June 20, 1931 in Skagway and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.
Censuses, Skagway death record, Washington records online.
Mr. Doren was born in 1860 in Ireland. He came to Skagway in 1897 and worked as a painter. His wife Ida worked as a cook for White Pass. Their daughter Lillian worked as a laundress and later married Perry Hern here in Skagway in 1916. He is seen working on the building which is used as the Trail Center for the Chilkoot Trail today. Now it is painted a pretty blue.
Thomas died on this day, June 17, 1903 in Skagway of a pelvic abscess. He is buried in the Gold Rush cemetery.
censuses; Skagway Death Record.