On the fourth day of the cruise, Tuesday Sept 20, we were in Skagway, Alaska. We arrived at 6 am. The weather again was overcast with light scattered rain.
Our train ride on the White Pass and Yukon River railroad was at 12:40 pm so we had several hours to walk into Skagway and do some shopping before the train left. But because it was raining Tammy decided to wait until after the train ride was over to shop. We would have three hours after the train ride - plenty of time.
The train boarded right next to the cruise ship. A long line was waiting for the train when we arrived and we were at the back of the line. The train hostess told us people at the back of the line that after the people at the front of the line began to board she would give us a signal and we could go around the back of the rope barrier and we could board the rear cars of the train. I don't know if she gave the signal because as soon as the front of the line began to move to the train the rear of the line went around the barrier and began to board in a rush.
Tammy and I boarded the last car of the train which was great. Once the train left Skagway people could step out of the passenger cars to the platforms at each end of the train cars to better see the view and take photos. Being at the back of the train allowed me to see more than if I was between train cars.
The train was 15 cars long and each train car had a wood stove to provide heat. The black pipe going to the ceiling from the wood stove can be seen in the photo below.
We followed the Skagway River up to the White Pass at the U.S. Canadian border.
Because of the sharp turns and limited space to lay the tracks, the train tracks are narrow gauge. They are only three feet across.
The following photo shows the grave site where a very large boulder fell on a couple men and their pack mules when the railroad was being constructed.
An original bridge no longer used.
Along parts of the railroad tracks you can see the original trail the miners used before the railroad was built. Here the trail is hard to see due to the clouds that moved in during our journey.
The U.S. Canadian border.
The train went past the border to almost Frazier, British Columbia.
The train circles around on the tracks short of Frazier. In the second photo that is Frazier in the distance. Apparently only 13 people live there.
Just outside Skagway, near the train tracks, is the Gold Rush Cemetery. In this cemetery - or near it - is where the infamous "Soapy" Smith is buried. I wanted to see the cemetery and Soapy Smith's grave site.
Tammy had gotten a bracelet in Juneau and each Alaskan town at which the cruise ship visited one could get a free charm to add to the bracelet. Tammy wasn't interested in the cemetery so I suggested that she do her shopping in town while I visited the cemetery. However Tammy was afraid I would lose track of time and miss getting back on the cruise ship before it departed. So she went with me to the cemetery.
It was 4:30 pm and we didn't have to be on the ship until 7:30 pm. But Tammy had overheard some women tell their husbands who were planning on going to a bar after the train ride to be on the cruise ship at 7 pm. I didn't realize Tammy was referring to the controlling wives and their hapless husbands. If so, I would have discounted the 7 pm time instead of believing it. Because one had to be on the ship 15 minutes before the ship left, our ending time morphed into 6:45 pm.
We walked along the train tracks back to the cemetery as this was the shortest way to get there. We walked along a creek. The salmon spawn was over and there were dead salmon in and near the creek.
We were told that the winter population of Skagway is 800 people and the summer population is two thousand. A tent site like this rents of $350 a month. A pad for a camper or RV rents for $550 a month.
A bowling ball sculpture outside a house that we saw during our walk.
The cemetery is in the trees up ahead. Yes, it was raining lightly during our walk.
Soapy Smith's grave. The second photo is the grave site of the man who shot and killed Soapy and then who died 12 days later.
The cemetery seems to be a miss-mash of sites and not orderly at all.
Here is a youtube video someone else made of the cemetery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rjUgJ6SFGc
The cemetery about two miles from town. We walked from the ship to the cemetery in 45 minutes. After 15 or so minutes of looking over the cemetery we walked back to town at 5:37 pm.
Part way back to town we left the railroad tracks and took a city street that went to downtown. We entered the town at State Street and 23rd Ave. The business district started at about 8th Ave. The rest was residential houses and not many people were out and about. It was quiet. At 6 pm one of the cruise ships blasted their horn which caused Tammy further anxiety about missing the ship.
Once we reached the business district it was mostly empty of people. People had been shopping and on excursions since 6 am and now were back at the ship. The lack of people contributed to Tammy's unease that we would miss the ship. I still talked her into visiting a few stores to get the charms for her bracelet.
The difference in the stores in Skagway and Juneau was in Juneau the stores were crowded with shoppers when we shopped. Here the stores had more employees than shoppers and often we were the only shoppers in the store.
At 6:25 pm I relented and we walked back to the ship. We walked into rain and wind. Only a few people were walking back to our cruise ship and the sister Princess cruise ship docked next to our ship. Tammy thought we'd be the last to board our ship - if we made it in time. I told her I would wave and yell to get the ship's attention if they started to leave.
We made it on board to Tammy's relief. It turns out I was right: the time to be back on board was 7:30 pm. We had dinner and had just started to watch one of the ship's musical shows when I could feel the ship's engines start up. It was just after 8:15 pm. We could have done more shopping.
Another historic saloon to visit, and one we did not visit because Tammy didn't want to miss the ship. In the old days the saloon has a brothel upstairs. Now-a-days some of the saloon's female employees dress as "saloon girls" - and I missed seeing that.
