Juneau Company Wharf, Skagway, Alaska 1898-1899.

SKAGUAY ALASKA 1898

(Click image to enlarge)

kagway, Alaska
Juneau Company Wharf
1898-1899.

      I came across some interesting wharf photographs from the University of Washington archives. The top photograph was taken after May 1898 by photographer H. C. Barley. He titled it Skaguay Alaska 1898. Note the original spelling for Skagway, with a "u". It was the U.S. postmaster who decided on his own, that Skaguay should be spelled Skagway, changing the "u" to a "w." Although the change was immediate, in regards to the post office, many residents refused to change over, and the Skaguay spelling can be found on documents, postcards, photographs, and letters, into the early 1900s.

Close-up

In May 1898 the White Pass and Yukon Railway tracks were being laid. Note the rails in the above photograph, going out to the wharves. Everyday, high-tide covered the rails (see photograph below).

Photograph taken in 1899 showing high tide.

 Photographs courtesy of the University of Washington, digital archives.

 










The following link will open a new window for additional research. Remember to scroll.
Juneau Company Wharf

Everything is orderly now, but there is a character there now by the sobriquet ‘Soapy Smith’ and he seems to have the gambling element completely under his control.

—Alaska Governor John G. Brady
Alias Soapy Smith, p. 523.

OCTOBER 14

1865: The stagecoach to Helena, Montana Territory is established.

1865: Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians sign a treaty with U.S. Commissioners at a camp on the Little Arkansas River, Kansas. None of the parties of the treaty abide by it.

1879: Thomas Edison signs an agreement with Jose D. Husbands for the sale of Edison telephones in Chile.

1880: Apache Indian chief Victorio and twenty-eight of his men are killed in Mexico during a battle with Mexican troops lead by Colonel Joaquin Terrazas in the Tres Castillo, Mexico. Earlier in the summer Victorio and his band had been chased out of the Candelarias by two thousand U.S. troops along with a hundred Texas Rangers.

1882: Arizona bad man Johnny Ringo, is found dead in Turkey Creek Canyon, Arizona Territory. It is reported as a suicide. Some said he was murdered.

1887: Thomas Edison and George E. Gouraud reach an agreement for the international marketing rights for the phonograph.

1889: A Wyoming grand jury fails to indict anyone for the slaying of rustlers Jim Averill and Ella Watson alias “Cattle Kate.”

1890: Future U.S. President, Dwight David Eisenhower is born in Denison, Texas.