2016 Reunion in Skagway, Alaska!

JEFF. SMITH'S PARLOR
Opening 2016

(Click image to enlarge)

et's get two dupes with one bar of soap!

GRAND OPENING OF JEFF SMITH'S PARLOR
AND
SOAPY SMITH FAMILY and FAN REUNION
July 4-8, 2016

      The restoration of Soapy Smith's saloon in Skagway, Alaska is set for completion in 2016. My source at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park tells me that they are shooting for a July 4 grand opening but there is always the chance that the date may be postponed due to unforeseen delays. What more of a perfect time to have a Soapy Smith family/fan reunion in Skagway! The park service says they can arrange a private tour if the grand-opening is delayed. The last time the family was there in force was in 1998 for the 100th anniversary of Soapy's demise. 
      This idea is in the planning stages and I am creating a site devoted to this reunion trip. It is an expensive and time consuming trip so we need to plan early. Start saving your money! This will be a trip you will not want to miss!
      Personally, I have an idea of my trip schedule, and I invite anyone to tag along. My trip includes a day trip to Seattle, Washington where McGinty (Soapy's petrified man) resides. There are also interesting places to visit, such as the building which held the Owl Saloon where Soapy has an altercation. This location also holds the famed "underground tour" and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park - Seattle Branch museum. Next is a stop in Juneau, Alaska where Soapy was arrested for selling his prize package soap. The state museum holds a few interesting Soapy related items, including a lock of his hair, and the only two known to exist, handbills of the famed vigilante Committee of 101, and Soapy's response handbill from the Law And Order Society of 317.
      Skagway has lots to do! We will be there for the July 4th parade and on July 8 for the Soapy Smith wake (held there since 1977).

ALL IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME!

 

      "I never knew anything about Jeff Smith only what my husband had said [about] his being the king of the gamblers, and that naturally made me afraid of him. Well, you remember that night when Parson Uzzell was giving out loaves of bread to all the hungry people? I went to the [People’s] Tabernacle one night, but I got there too late. Every loaf of bread was gone, and not a penny in the house. I don’t know what I was doing only standing alone when a gentleman came close up to me and … pushed a piece of paper in my hand, and before I could even talk, he said: Take that, lady, it will get you all the bread you want.
     I turned to say thank you, sir, but he was gone…. I am only a woman, but I have got a vote and so has my husband, and anybody who does an act like that for us shows that they have hearts that are in the right place, and I think that they are better than the people who abuse them."

— Alias Soapy Smith, p. 329.

SEPTEMBER 13

1878: Outlaw, James “Frank” Towle, of the Sam Bass Gang is shot dead during a stagecoach robbery. His body was hidden by the other unknown accomplices, and was found 3 months later by stage driver, Boone May, who cut off Towle’s head for evidence in order to claim an outstanding reward. Bad man Soapy Smith had witnessed the death of Sam Bass 2 months previous.

1884: Soapy Smith purchases a street venders license in Del Norte, Colorado to hawk his cash prize package soap.