Skagway Museums Part 6

The Red Onion Saloon Brothel Museum

The Red Onion was considered an “upscale” brothel. Down and out prostitutes worked cribs as shown in this picture.

Wow. Just when you think you are totally done with museums in Skagway, you hear there’s a museum about the local Gold Rush sex trade and you think, “Well, I guess I have time for one more museum.” Smart move, because The Red Onion Saloon Brothel Museum is like taking a step back through time when prostitution was a vice enjoyed by far more people than politicians and clergymen. In fact, Skagway’s sex trade was socially acceptable at the time, but you have to remember that Skagway was a giant dump back then, so there’s that.

A few words about vice, sin, and temptation

During the Gold Rush Stampede, there were countless people coming and going through Skagway. The one thing they had in common? They wanted to get rich. Many young men left their families to seek their fortune in the Klondike Gold Fields. They came from places where vice wasn’t offered like candy to children. When they set foot in Skagway, they were greeted with gambling, booze, and sex for money. This lead to some poor choices.

For the few who found gold and returned to Skagway, this created an even bigger problem. Temptation is easier to resist when you’re broke. When you have a pocket full of gold burning a hole in your wool pants and you haven’t seen a woman in months, it’s easy to justify wanton desire as something “earned.”

Lastly, if you were a young woman in Skagway during that time, there may have been very few worthwhile job opportunities. Prostitution offered a means to a better lifestyle, albeit one fraught with danger. Violence, murder, and incurable sexually transmitted diseases were all par for the course. Many women were forced into the sex trade. Some entered the sex trade because their husbands were killed in the Klondike and they had no other alternative. In other words, the sex trade was never glamorous and never will be, regardless of how it’s represented in popular movies and television.

The Red Onion Saloon Brothel Museum doesn’t sugarcoat history

As you go through the museum, you have a Red Onion Madam as a guide. These costumed tour guides are hard working women that bring a lighthearted air to your tour even though some of the subject matter is pretty heavy. Treat them with respect. You will hear some great stories about the Gold Rush, and see some leftover remnants of those long lost days of ’98. When you’re all done with the museum tour, you will be able to paint a picture of what life was like during that time, which should be the goal of every museum.

So, what was an average night in the brothel like?

Potential spoilers ahead. Let’s say you were a randy miner that just returned from the gold fields in the Klondike. You have a few fresh nuggets and a poke full of gold dust worth a considerable amount of money. For almost a year, you’ve been thinking about your best girl back in Seattle and can’t wait to snuggle up by the fire and do what people do. However, you have two nights in Skagway before your steamship departs. What to do?

After a few hours of drinking cheap whiskey and playing cards at Soapy Smith’s bar, you wander down the street and hear the sound of ragtime piano pouring out onto Broadway. You wander around the corner and see people dancing and cavorting in the Red Onion Saloon. You heard that it’s a brothel, but a dance with a pretty girl and a nightcap certainly won’t lead to trouble. After all, you EARNED it!

Once inside you notice there are a half dozen dolls behind the bar. Four are standing up and two are laying down. You wonder if they’re for sale because one would make a great gift for your niece back home. You order a shot of whiskey and before you know it, you’re joined by a beautiful young brunette girl dressed in a sexy outfit. She also smells really nice, especially since you’ve been wearing heavy wool for 3 months straight without bathing. GROSS!

A few minutes later she’s leading you upstairs (where the museum is today). As your resolve dissolves into resignation, you hand over some gold and it’s placed into a tube that leads down to the bartender. The barkeep counts it out and when he is satisfied, he places the brunette doll on its back. You see, each doll represents a sex worker at the Red Onion. Get it?

The next day you wake up with a wicked hangover and a lifetime of regret.

If you’re visiting Skagway, don’t miss the Red Onion Saloon Brothel Museum. It’s a much a lesson in human frailty as Gold Rush History.