Soapy Smith's Skull: Monument to a bad man.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not
Unknown newspaper
1937
Jeff Smith collection

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OAPY SMITH'S SKULL
STRANGE MONUMENT TO "SOAPY" SMITH
Famous Bad Man of the Klondike, Fashioned from natural rock 25 feet high.

On Moore's old wharf, alongside the bay and the railroad dock in Skagway, Alaska is an impressive wall of solid granite that is home to one of the most unique art collections in Alaska. Among the art pieces is a giant painted skull, with the inscription, "Soapy Smith's Skull." 

     In the fall of 1926 some members of the small town noted a peculiar rock formation, the natural configuration of a human skull on the hillside. It is believed to have been painted in the fall of 1926. It is Alaska's grim memorial to its most celebrated bad man gangster, whom some called "Alaska's outlaw." The "strange monument" made it's induction into Ripley's Believe It Or Not publication fame in 1937.
     For decades I had a xerox copy of the newspaper clipping someone in family had sent my father in 1937. In December 2020 a seller on eBay sold me the original clipping shown at the top of this post. The newspaper is unknown, but Ripley's published this in 1937, so at least that much is certain. It's going to be displayed in a nice frame, which is the easy part for me. The hard part will be finding a spot on my overfilled wall-space to hang it.

Soapy Smith Skull
Postcard
Circa 1920s-30s
Jeff Smith's collection

 

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Soapy Smith's Skull
As it looks today

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Soapy Smith's Skull
3D effect
Photo by Mark Larsen

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"He was noted for the generous side of his nature, and his friends shared in his luck—just as they always did if they needed money and ‘Soapy’ had any."

—Rocky Mountain News, July 11, 1915