Archeology and the Gold Rush in Skagway, Alaska

Archeology at Moore Cabin, Skagway.

NPS photo

The quest for gold first attracted prospectors and miners to Alaska in the late 1870s. Not until the winter of 1897-98, however, did the world become riveted on discoveries of gold along the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory. These discoveries set off a series of dramatic gold rushes. Skagway, by virtue of its location as a gateway to the interior, quickly turned into a boom town.

Captain William Moore and his son Bernard (Ben) began building a log cabin – the first of its kind in Skagway – in 1887. Ben, his wife Minnie, and their two children took up residence in 1896, just shortly before the rush to the Klondike began. The Moore Cabin itself served as their primary residence for only a short time. Ben soon began construction of additions which evolved into the Moore House. The log cabin moved west of the new house in 1900. The Moores occupied the house on a permanent basis until 1904.

Archeologists recovered materials from the Moore Cabin attic floor, including roof shakes, nails, and several pieces of clothing used for chinking. The clothing included a mutton-chop sleeve and dress bodice that may have belonged to Minnie. Some of the old and battered discards used for chinking were hand-stitched or mended and made from inexpensive materials, reinforcing the picture of a hard-working frontier family at the turn of the 20th century.

Assortment of bottles and glassware from excavations in Skagway.

NPS photo

The Moores’ privy was identified using palynological evidence. Historic photos show that Moore kept goats, pigs, poultry, and horses on his property, along with a pet moose. Dung fungal spores from grazing animals were found in the Moore privy deposits. The Moore privy contained 56 whole medicine bottles, mostly colorless and many still sealed with cork stoppers. The only embossed ones were cobalt blue Bromo-Seltzer bottles. Medicinal use might be attributed to the presence of children in the Moore household at a time period of high infant and child mortality rates. (Learn more about the Moore family and their homestead.)

By the spring of 1898, the population of Skagway reached 8,000. About 1,000 stampeders passed through each week on their way to neighboring Dyea and up the Chilkoot Trail to the goldfields. The construction of the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad in 1899, connecting Skagway to northwestern Canada and interior Alaska, began transforming the town into a settled railroad and supply center. By 1900, the population of Skagway had declined from its rowdy heyday and people settled down to the business of running their new community. In 1908, Skagway could boast of churches, fraternal halls, and a school. Ornate hotels, shops, offices, and saloons lined Broadway by the end of the following year.

The Kirmse family, whose livelihood was made by selling jewelry and tourist curios, moved into the Moore House in 1910 and maintained it as their residence for the next 65 years. They installed privies (one right above the Moore family’s), then indoor plumbing in 1917. In comparison to the Moore family, the Kirmse family disposed of many fewer medicinally-related artifacts but more pertaining to grooming and hygiene. The Kirmses completed a number of structural improvements over the years. (Learn more about Herman D. Kirmse’s shop.)

By 1918, the number of Skagway residents dwindled to 600 or less. Skagway could no longer claim to be the pre-eminent population center in Alaska, but the historic structures left standing and archeological resources underground remained for a the town quickly emerging as an important tourist destination. Archeology helps us to remember life in Skagway during its boom and tell authentic stories of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Bibliography

Blee, Catherine H.
1988 Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska, Volume 2: The Moore Cabin and House, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, Denver.

1991 Sorting Functionally-Mixed Artifact Assemblages with Multiple Regression: A Comparative Study in Historical Archeology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Colorado-Boulder.

Cooper, Doreen
1998 Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska, Volume 6: Residential Life on Block 39. U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, Anchorage.

2001 Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska, Volume 8: A Century at the Moore/Kirmse House, U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, Alaska Support Office, Anchorage.

DePuydt Ray, Gwen Hurst, Stephanie Ludwig, and Alfred Cammisa
1997 Archaeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska, Volume 5: Additional Investigations at the Mill Creek Dump and the Peniel Mission. U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, Anchorage.

Higgs, Andrew
2005 2004 Moore Property Excavation Summary Report (draft). Klondike Gold Rush NHP. On file, NPS Alaska Regional Office.

Kardatzke, Tim A.
2002 Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska. Volume 9: Excavations at the Pantheon Saloon Complex. U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, Alaska Support Office, Anchorage.

Rhodes, Diane Lee
1988 Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska. Volume 3: The Mill Creek Dump and the Peniel Mission. U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, Denver.

Spude, Catherine H.
2006 Archeological Investigations in Skagway, Alaska, Volume 10: The Mascot Saloon. U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, Alaska Support Office, Anchorage.

Spude, Robert
1983 Skagway, District of Alaska, 1884–1912: Building the Gateway to the Klondike. Anthropology and Historic Preservation, Cooperative Park Studies Unit, Occasional Paper No. 36. University of Alaska, Fairbanks.