Re: Retail in the Rockies

Similar in Skagway in the 1970s.

Back in early October 1976 I flew to Whitehorse and then made a round trip by train to Skagway and return. I stayed there two or three nights. The town was pretty much shutdown for the winter; I stopped by Deadman's photo and talked with the two ladies there. They explained several things to this outsider:

The cruise ship that was in town was unexpected. This was the era of smaller ships with only a few hundred passengers. Generally the last scheduled trip would be canceled due to lack of sales. But this one was mostly filled with a fraternal group.

Most of the people who ran stores that depended on the tourist business had shut down their shops were packing up and leaving town for the winter -- report was that many were going to Arizona to run shops during its winter tourist season.

The new building being built on Main Street would quickly get its exterior finished so that the interior work could continue during the winter.

Later that day I talked with the Assistant GM for the Alaska section of the railroad. He said he reluctantly added the four wooden parlor cars for cruise passengers to the regular train for a round trip to Bennett. He would rather run a separate train for the cars; but, could not justify the extra crew costs. [This was when the parlor cars had individual wicker seats facing inward and carried between 22 and 36 passengers depending on their size.]

Brian Norden



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2020 06:30PM by Brian Norden.