July 18 2010

Today we drove out to the site of the old town of Dyea. It was a bit of a town before the gold rush, but during the gold rush it became a significant port and a boom town quickly grew up. A two-mile dock was build to receive the ships coming in with thousands of hopeful gold-rushers and their ton of supplies. And as quickly as it started, it was over. There is almost nothing left now. A few posts are all that remain of that massive dock –



















And of the town, there is only one false front left from the 1898 town.



















The rest of the town has disintegrated and a forest has taken its place. Some of the trees are odd looking – they have branches growing from the ground level, but only on one side. I thought they looked like porcupine trees, with their quills stilling out behind them.













The local spruce trees have unusual red tips – very pretty.


















Probably the most significant event in Dyea history was the awful avalanche on April 3, 1898. On that Palm Sunday all the snow on the side of the mountain broke loose and fell. It is not clear how many people died, but there are 49 headboards in this cemetery, which is known as Slide Cemetery. My fascination with cemeteries continues so we visited this one. There is supposed to be at least one original headboard, but most have been replaced at some point.












































At least one person in the cemetery was not a victim of the avalanche. The assumption is that Noscitur is a mis-spelling of "nescitur", which is Latin for "(it) is not known."