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| Skaguay Rises in Righteous Wrath The Dyea Trail July 9, 1898 |
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man named Murphy had done his best to kill Soapy."
An extremely rare opportunity slid by me in an eBay auction listing for the July 9, 1898 (Vol. 1,No. 26) issue of The Dyea Trail (Dyea, Alaska), which sold for $406.00.
This 8 page weekly publication measuring app. 12"x18" was started on January 12, 1898 and was one of two weekly newspapers in Dyea (the other being The Dyea Press). The inner pages (3-6) are printed on slightly smaller paper (10¾"x17"). This Newspaper only lasted about a year, roughly coinciding with the peak and ebb of the Klondike gold rush. There were 5,000 to 8,000 inhabitants in 1898 but by 1900 the town had dwindled to just 250, and by 1903 it had become a ghost town.
This 8 page weekly publication measuring app. 12"x18" was started on January 12, 1898 and was one of two weekly newspapers in Dyea (the other being The Dyea Press). The inner pages (3-6) are printed on slightly smaller paper (10¾"x17"). This Newspaper only lasted about a year, roughly coinciding with the peak and ebb of the Klondike gold rush. There were 5,000 to 8,000 inhabitants in 1898 but by 1900 the town had dwindled to just 250, and by 1903 it had become a ghost town.
This issue is important because it is the first report of Soapy's death from the shootout on Juneau Wharf, in Skagway, five miles away. Being published the day after the gunfight, it contains the earliest mention of Jesse Murphy shooting Soapy. The Skagway newspapers make no mention of Murphy having fired a single shot. I really hated not being able to get it.
Unfortunately, the photographs used by the eBay seller are too poor to transcribe properly.
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| "Midway Saloon" The Dyea Trail July 9, 1898 "Renie Baker, Proprietress" |
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"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
—Ecclesiastes 9:11
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