Let’s learn about Skagway’s original street car

Martin Itjen, Mae West, and Soapy’s effigy on Skagway’s original street car tour

There is an excellent shore excursion you can take in Skagway called The Skagway Streetcar Tour. It’s a 90-minute romp through town with a couple of interesting and historical stops. The tour includes the Skagway Story Program, which was featured on the A&E Network. That’s some cool stuff, but this tour is based on Skagway’s original street car. Wow! Let’s learn about that!

Skagway’s original street car tour starts with Martin Itjen

Who the heck is Martin Itjen? He was Skagway’s first real tour director. Like so many others, Itjen came to Skagway during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. He was looking for gold but his fame and fortune came not from the gold fields but from Skagway itself. In 1915, Itjen became an undertaker but he began making modifications to his old Ford bus. He called it his “streetcar” and began offering tours, presumably removing the corpses before the tour began.

Skagway’s original street car tour was a big success

By the 1930s, Itjen was the Number-One tour agent in Skagway. Itjen was like Walt Disney before Walt Disney was Walk Disney. He built animated mannequins that appeared to move on their own. One was a bear cub that sat on the front of the streetcar and pointed right or left before making the respective turn. It was controlled by a foot pedal, which makes me think the street care wasn’t really street legal.

There was an effigy of Soapy Smith on one of the cars. Considering Itjen’s embalming skills, it makes you wonder if it was the real Soapy Smith. Itjen would pull a handle and the Soapy effigy would salute passing tourists. It was almost like people were dying to go on Itjen’s tour. You can see the effigy in the Soapy Smith Museum on 2^nd Avenue, which Martin Itjen actually opened because he was a real go-getter.

Skagway’s Original Street Car Tour all about spectacle

Itjen was also quite the showman. He told stories, recited poetry, and told tall tales from his Gold Rush days. In 1935 he took a streetcar to Hollywood in an effort to promote Skagway as a tourist destination. He ran into Mae West and said, “Come up and see me sometime in Skagway, Alaska!” She did because Itjen was a smooth talker. He also got his photo taken with many other silver screen divas, because undertakers are well nigh irresistible.

Martin Itjen is arguably the reason why people still come to Skagway. He was a pioneer, and Skagway’s original street car tour was where it all started. You can find his grave, and that of his wife’s, at the Gold Rush Cemetery. They are located next to the giant gold nugget he created to wow the tourists. Something tells me I would have really liked that guy. Rest in peace, Martin Itjen. You were truly one of a kind.