Moore House and Cabin

Explore the story of the Moores, a young family who lived in this home from 1897-1900.

NPS Photo/A. Rogers

Quick Facts

Location:

Skagway, AK

Significance:

Victorian-era construction from the turn of the 20th Century, home to the Moore family.

Designation:

NHP and part of an NHL

Amenities

10 listed

Accessible Sites, Benches/Seating, Fire Extinguisher, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present, Junior Ranger Activity, Junior Ranger Booklet Available, Tactile Exhibit, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Wheelchair Accessible

A cabin? A house? A cabin-house? All could be used to describe the Moore family’s place of residence. Born in Germany, Captain William Moore arrived in Skagway already set on what we call “mining the miners.” In 1887, Captain Moore and his son, J. Bernard “Ben” Moore, started building a small cabin on their 160-acre homestead claim. They sustained their wealth using various ventures, including a sawmill and a wharf, and eventually started building up a larger home in 1897. 

But more can be told about the Moore House by looking at those who lived inside it. Looking at Ben’s relationship with his wife provides a way to examine the relationship between the native Tlingit people, indigenous to Southeastern Alaska, and the stampeders that arrived rapidly and hungrily in Skagway and Dyea. After spending the winter of 1890 working at a cannery near Haines, Ben attended a potlatch held by a prominent Tlingit named George Shotridge. In Tlingit he was always called Yeilgooxú. His daughter, Klinget-sai-yet, caught Ben’s eye, and they were married 6 months later. But what were the motivations behind this marriage? It is best to take a look at the context surrounding it. The Chilkoot Trail, a historic trading route that the Tlingit people used to procure materials available in the interior, was suddenly overrun by outsiders. As more and more pressure mounted on the landscape from sheer influx of people, the difference between Tlingit understanding and European American understanding of land ownership loomed: for the former, place was a part of being, but for the latter, “ownership” was a concept with strict boundaries and delineations. For the Tlingit people, it may have been thought advantageous to breach that gap through interpersonal relations. For Ben, knowledge was power; connections with a powerful Tlingit family would certainly increase economic possibility for the already prosperous Moores. At the same time, the intercultural marriage between Ben and Klinget-sai-yet caused a major rift between Ben and his father. 

The marriage had a complex beginning, but also a complex end. In 1909, Klinget-sai-yet filed for divorce, citing cruelty, abuse, and Ben’s lack of financial prowess. In 1917, Klinget-sai-yet committed suicide. Frances remembers this of her mother: “Mother was never very happy. I have heard her threaten to do away with herself quite a while ago but she has been alright lately.” It is impossible to assume exactly how Klinget-sai-yet felt in her marriage, her time in Skagway, and the years that followed it. This is partially because there aren’t many resources written in her voice.  

What we can do is look to the past and infer; how might you have felt in Klinget-sai-yet's situation? How might the Tlingits have felt watching their homeland be scourged by stampeders?