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

Denzaburo Nakano


Mr. Nakano is one of the few Asian people buried with markers in the Skagway cemeteries. He died on this day, May 21, 1900 of typhoid. His marker is in Japanese and can be found up the hill behind Soapy’s marker.

Skagway Death Record

Lepha Mae Mary Bennett Edgren


Lepha was the daughter of Captain James Bennett. In October of 1897 she threatened to shoot a man in Skagway who was abusing his dogs.

She married Jesse L. Edgren and moved to Dawson where she had a baby, Mae Eldorado Edgren in December 1898. Unfortunately Lepha died of typhoid January 6, 1899, leaving Jessie with newborn Mae. Jessie took the baby back to Wisconsin to the grandparents. He then died there in Hennepin, Wisconsin in 1915. There is a record in the Fairbanks newspaper that Mae Eldorado Edgren died in 1921 perhaps in Alaska, so it would seem the family suffered another Alaska tragedy.
This photo of Lepha’s funeral procession led by her faithful dog team was probably taken by Larss.

from: Mills p. 14; Larss photo at AK State Library; Andromeda Romano-Lax “Mothers of Gold” 1997.