It's time for the classic joke: Q.: How many people do you think are dead in this cemetery? A.: All of them.
This is the infamous Gold Rush Cemetery of the 19th-century community, just before the Skagway River highway bridge and footbridge and a mile and one-half up the tracks from the railway depot. Among those buried here are desperado i.e. outlaw Soapy Smith and the man who killed him, town hero Frank Reid who shot it out in '98, 1898 that is, along with the graves of many other stampeders (and I'm not referring to the football team) and early day residents. Frank Reid's epitaph reads "He gave his life for the honor of Skagway" and nearby is Madam Ella Wilson who "gave her honor for the life of Skagway." A quick eye will catch the "Largest Gold Nugget in the World" chained to a tree for protection from thieves by early tourist promoter Martin Itjen.