We’ve boarded our Grayline of Alaska coach and as we head west back towards Skagway we see that the country side is almost completely bare and it apparently has been like this since 1896 to 1898 and the situation only worsened after the stampeders, the prospectors and miners came across the territory as a swarm of locust. Cutting as much useful wood as possible to build their boats or rafts to speed them on their ways up Lake Bennett and into the Yukon River towards Whitehorse and the goldfields farther to the North. Although, over 100 years later, there are signs that nature is repairing the destruction of the past and some areas of the region are starting to green again.
We soon arrive at the North West Mounted Police cabin near the border and then we approach the actual US Border Post to cross back into the state of Alaska.
On arrival, we head into the “downtown” of Skagway and we encounter two very interesting building that date back to the early days of the late 1800s. The first is what is known to be the most photographed building in town. It’s the Arctic Brotherhood Building that dates to 1898. The Arctic Brotherhood Building is covered with driftwood. The Hall was built in 1899 for the Fraternal Order of the Arctic Brotherhood. Eleven men organized the fraternity on February 26, 1899, while en route from Seattle to Skagway. They formed the Arctic Brotherhood to provide mutual assistance, friendship, and social interaction in the northern communities of Alaska and the Yukon.
As we proceed we come across this rather interesting art shop which has several Totem Pole carvings adorning its store front, as visit into Kirmse’s Curios shop will show some extremely interest stone carvings..
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