Well, this afternoon we are going to first of all have a look around Haynes before we
brought the ferry to Skagway.
Fort Seward here in Haynes was built in 1902 for a reason that to this day is not quite
clear. It housed up to 400 men in its heyday.
Due to confusion with other sewers already named in Alaska, the fort's name was later
changed to Chilcook Barracks.
Haynes, Alaska is the home of a truly unique museum. The Hammer Museum is the world's
only museum dedicated to hammers. It provides a view of the past through the use of man's
first tool. You'll find over 1500 hammers on display, ranging from Roman times to the
modern day.
A short 30 minute ferry ride up the Linn Canal takes us to the Gold Rush town of Skagway.
Here in 1898, miners from around the world flocked as the town became a transit point
on the way to the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada's Yukon Territory.
So much so that it became a railway town for the White Pass Railroad, which was built to
carry miners over the mountains to the Klondike Gold Fields.
Skagway was favoured over other towns as it was a deep water port. In fact, the waters
of the Linn Canal here are so deep that the Empire State Building could stand on the bottom
and it would not pierce the surface.
During the Gold Rush, Skagway was a rough, lawless place with fights, liquor and prostitution
ever present on its streets. The glimpse of this life is available today here at the Brothel
Museum at the Red Onion Saloon.
This room right here is our only intact 10x10 crib. Now when you pass through here you will
notice some pinups on the back of this wall. Those were left for us by the Army Boys in
World War II. This building was an army barracks, it was also a laundromat, a pharmacy, I believe
a telegraph station, a telephone station and a radio station.
Today Skagway's main street looks much as it did at the turn of the 20th century. One
of its most famous buildings is still standing after over 100 years. Clad in driftwood, the
Arctic Brotherhood Hall was built in 1899.
The biggest change to the town's skyline today is the cruise ships which dominate the
wharf and in this case the main street as well.
Here we are, the main street of Geno, capital of Alaska.
Located on the mainland of southeast Alaska opposite Douglas Island, Geno was built at
the heart of the inside passage along the Gastono Channel. One of the premier tourist
attractions here in Geno is the Mount Roberts Tramway. This cable car climbs from 27 to
2,000 feet bringing us into a pristine alpine environment in just 6 minutes. At the top
we can find plenty of trails, observatories, nature centers and restaurants as well as
a stunning view over the Geno area.
Geno is unique as capital cities go, in it there is no road access whatsoever. It's
only three ways into Geno, by air, by sea or as locals like to point out by birth canal.
The state sport of Alaska is sled dog mushing. It is the home of the Iditarod sled race.
Just outside of Geno we were able to visit a sled dog mushing camp and got to see some
of the very adorable little puppy dogs as well as the main mushing race dogs. Unlike
the traditional Huskies you would expect, they cross breed a lot of the dogs and there
is a fair bit of Australian kelp in some of them too. We also got to go for a ride.
While there is no snow around they put us on these buggies and take us for a spin.
I hope this thing got braked. I was going to leave some record, I'll pick this
away a bit later.
The last stop on our journey through Alaska is Ketchikan, located on an island in the
inside passage at the far southeastern corner of the state. This is home to one of the region's
fishing fleets, including some of the boats that fish the Bering Sea for Alaskan king
crab. These are two of the boats that featured on the Discovery Channel program, Deliast
Catch. The island also has one of the largest collections of Indian totem poles in the state.
In 1938 the US Forest Services began a project to salvage, reconstruct and create totem poles,
a tradition which was dying out. Woodcarvers from among the older natives were engaged
to restore or recreate old abandoned totem poles. These craftsmen were able to pass on
their skills to people of the younger generation.
Despite early misunderstandings by European missionaries, totem poles were not worshipped.
They were silent storytellers as there was no written language. Tinglet Myth tells that
the people were inspired to carve totem poles after finding a carved log washed up on the
beach.
Upon our return to Ketchikan, we made our way to the town square. Today was a special
day as it was the 4th of July, American Independence Day, so we went and joined in the festivities
before returning to our cruise ship.
At the end of our day, we cruise down the last stretch of the inside passage towards
Canada, bringing to an end our journey through Alaska.
This is certainly a place that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetimes.
