The first place we visit is the Gold Rush Cemetery. Soapy Smith, a famous con man of the time, is buried here, as well as his killer and town hero, Ried. Behind the cemetery, it's just a short walk to Ried's Falls.
From Wikipedia:
[Soapy Smith] mixed the money-wrapped packages in with wrapped bars containing no money. He then sold the soap to the crowd for one dollar a cake. A shill planted in the crowd would buy a bar, tear it open, and loudly proclaim that he had won some money, waving it around for all to see. This performance had the desired effect of enticing the sale of the packages. More often than not, victims bought several bars before the sale was completed. Midway through the sale, Smith would announce that the hundred-dollar bill yet remained in the pile, unpurchased. He then would auction off the remaining soap bars to the highest bidders.
Through manipulation and sleight-of-hand, he hid the cakes of soap wrapped with money and replaced them with packages holding no cash. The only money "won" went to shills, members of the gang planted in the crowd pretending to win in order to increase sales.
Reid's Falls:
Soapy Smith's grave:
Skagway served as a gateway town for the Yukon goldrush. Many folks that came searching for gold were ill-prepared for the harsh trip and died along the way.
The gold that was found in the Yukon was Klondike gold--22 karat--the purest found naturally.
We also saw some mountain goats!
Skagway Brewing Co. is a microbrewery and the only place to find Spruce Tipped Ale, a brew made from spruce tips (though I'm sure not the only place to find an ale made of spruce tips). This brew was used to protect people from scurvy back in the day. The large glass is the Spruce Tipped. It's deeeelicious.
It's tradition at the port to paint the names of the ship and captain on the cliff on the maiden voyage visit here. Supposedly, the crew got to do the painting, and the more respect they had for the captain, the higher on the rocks they would do the painting.
Someone also painted Soapy Smith's skull.
Back to the ship.
We see some humpbacks that night.
Unfortunately they are not feeling very photogenic today.
We search the sky for potential northern lights, but didn't see any. It's really the wrong time of the year to see them.
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