Mrs. Harriet Pullen and horse-drawn carriage in front of the Pullen House Hotel, Skagway

• Main Author: Dedman, Henry
• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Carriages & coaches > Alaska > Skagway; Hotels > Alaska > Skagway; Pullen House (Skagway; Alaska); Pullen; Harriet S; White Pass; Skagway; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/alaskawcanada/id/1214

Caption on image: D-195 Mrs. Pullen and Pullen House Bus in Early Days. Dedman Filed in Alaska--Cities/Location--Skagway One of Skagway's founders, Captain William Moore, needed someone to cook for his crew of construction workers. When farm woman Harriet Pullen approached him, looking for any kind of work (she only had $7 in her pocket) she landed the job - at $3 a day. Enough to keep her going, if not enough to support her four children living with a friend back in Seattle. In her spare time she went around town scrounging discarded tin cans. She flattened the metal to make pie tins, then used the Moore kitchen to make apple pies, hawking them to hungry miners with a sweet tooth. Soon she had enough money put aside to have seven horses from her Washington farm shipped north to her. Obtaining some wagons, she went into the freight hauling business. Most of the men coming across the White Pass trail knew only slightly more about handling horses then they did about nuclear fission, and the mortality rate for the animals was horrendous. Harriet had the advantage of first-hand knowledge. As long as the supply of gold seekers held out, she was able to turn a handy profit, often as much as $25 a day. When the transportation business began petering out, she bought Moore's home from him, opened the Pullen House Hotel, and sent for her kids. Turned out she had a husband as well. When he arrived it was only to visit for a brief while before setting out to make his own money in the gold fields. Now known affectionately as "Ma" Pullen, she began the task of making the Pullen House a luxury hotel, importing fine china and silverware, soft beds. and an even greater rarity, bathtubs. She then found time for a hobby, amassing a huge collection of gold rush memorabilia and regaling guests with tales of Skagway lore. When she died, on August 9, 1947 she was buried near the site of her hotel. [Source: http://home.eznet.net/~dminor/TM000624.html ]