 |
| https://wpyr.com/excursions/product/summit-excursion/ |
In Skagway, Alaska we were scheduled to take a railroad tour of the White Pass – Klondike Summit. However, our train tour was cancelled because some rocks had fallen onto a portion of the tracks that ran over a trestle which had to be inspected and certified as safe before the train tour could re-start.
In lieu of that trip, we booked a van tour which drove along the road that led up to the summit and into Canada. As it turned out, I am kind of glad things worked out the way they did because our tour guide on the trip was excellent in telling stories and describing how the Gold Rush went down back then.
One of his stories involved a bartender named C. J. Barry. He described C.J. as a “failed fruit farmer from Fresno, California.” That phrase stuck in my mind and I made a mental note to learn more about C.J. and how he became one of the ring leaders of the Klondike Gold Rush.
The tour guide described how C.J. was tending bar in a place called Forty Mile Creek when in walked Lyin George Carmack who was somewhat of a local character. Hence, his nickname.
 |
| From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carmack |
Lyin George instructed C.J. to “Give everybody a drink.” Suspicious of Lyin George’s abilities to pay for the round, C.J. asked that George pay for the round before he made the announcement. Lyin George then pulled out a bag and dumped a pile of gold nuggets on the bar. C.J. announced to the patrons in the bar that not only was that round on the house but so were all subsequent rounds as he promptly quit tending bar and departed that night for the Klondike area to stake his claims. As they say, the rest is history.
 |
| Clarencebarry.wiki.com |
This Johnny Horton song kept running thru my mind as I heard the stories about the Alaskan Gold Rush: