Even without the Corps of Engineers and the 1942 invasion, Skagway offers a fascinating story—a story few people outside Yukon know.
Signal Corps Photo
The harbor and the railroad amounted to an economic reason to exist—if not much of one. Like the soldiers in ’42, Freight into Yukon came through Skagway. The railroad had to have engineers and brakemen and conductors and mechanics, and management and it took people to keep the docks open. The WP&YR headquartered in Skagway, so its employees lived there.
And tourists came in the summer to hunt game and to explore the legendary country of the great Gold Rush. The railroad joined Skagway and Carcross/Whitehorse, up in Yukon, at the hip—international border be damned. Visitors to Skagway visited Carcross and Whitehorse. And some WP&YR employees lived in Canada.
Harriett Pullen originally came to Skagway in ’98 with the miners and brought her three young sons. The pies she made and sold to the miners became legendary. When the miners left, she opened a small hotel; continued to bake pies; raised her sons; sent them to college. Her son Danny graduated from West Point with the general who would command US forces in Alaska in 1942—Simon Bolivar Buckner. Danny won WWI medals in France before succumbing to the Flu epidemic in 1918.
Joseph and Theresa Rapuzzi migrated from Italy to Seattle. When Joseph went to try his luck in the Klondike, Theresa remained behind with their children. Joseph didn’t strike it rich, but he found a home for his family in Skagway. Theresa, ‘Ma’ ,Rappuzzi, ran the Washington Fruit Store until her death in 1941.
Ma’s son Charlie drove WP&YR trains over the pass. Her daughter Della was secretary to the General Manager of the railroad. Son George worked for the road as a machinist. And Son Louis became Federal Deputy Marshall for Skagway and the surrounding area in 1930.