In a day when women were expected to remain in the home, she was courageous, adventurous, tenacious, friendly and strong

By Maxine Selmer (great-grandaughter)

Harriet Pullen arrived in Skagway aboard the Steamship, “Rosalie,” on September 12, 1897. She arrived alone and set out to make her fortune. However, the gold nuggets did not lay on the streets for picking as she’d imagined. With only $7 in her pocket, she knew she’d have to find work.  And thus began her 50-year commitment to this beautiful place that we call home.

Harriet’s first job was cooking for the men building Moore’s Wharf. She didn’t have a lot of marketable skills, but she could cook. By December, she was joined by her husband, Dan Pullen, and her oldest sons, Dan (12) and Royal (10). Her only daughter, and the oldest of her children (my grandmother), was left in Ellensburg Normal, a state school in central Washington. Chester, the youngest child, stayed on the Olympic Peninsula with his Dad’s sister, Sarah (Aunt Say). 

Upon his arrival in Skagway, Dan set about building a rough log cabin for his family to live in. Harriet cooked and fed the dock builders there. At one time she shared her cabin with Minerva Troy of Port Angeles. They had shared a cabin on the “Rosalie” when they travelled to Skagway. Their cabin on the waterfront was so small that Harriet slept on a cot hanging from the ceiling. She accessed it by ladder.  Minerva slept on the dining table.  She had to be an early riser to be off of the table before breakfast could be served!

 After an unsuccessful attempt to reach the gold fields, Harriet committed to making Skagway her home. She cooked meals for the construction workers building the docks, worked in restaurants, sold apple pies, clerked in a general store and submitted articles for the newspapers back home. A new opportunity arrived in 1901 when she leased the home Captain Moore had built for his wife. There she opened a small boarding house, hotel and dining room. As it grew through the years, Harriet and Pullen House became famous throughout the world.  She met her guests on the wharf and at the railroad station in a horse-drawn coach.  She served meals on elegant tables filled with fresh fruits and berries, vegetables from her garden, and cream from her cows. Fresh flowers, silver ware, and China dishes graced her tables. Her parties were elegant. Her beds were soft, and she entertained her guests with colorful stories of the Gold Rush.

Constantly improving her hotel, she added electricity, bathtubs, hot and cold running water, telephones, and in 1925 had a boiler installed for central heating. Pullen House became the most luxurious hotel in the north and Mrs. Pullen the most gracious of hostesses.

She purchased Captain Moore’s home some time after 1904 and as they say, “The rest is history.” 

As the excitement of the Klondike waned, and stampeders moved on to more fertile grounds, Harriet began collecting things that were left behind. She opened a small museum in a new room added to the Pullen House and for 50c, shared her treasures. 

Other enterprises Harriet involved herself in were purchasing Kern’s Castle, a “resort” built on the hillside trail to Upper Lake; homesteading a large plot of land in Dyea; “Collecting” buildings in anticipation of the need for housing in a growing Skagway; promoting Skagway tourism along with Martin Itjen, who had the local funeral home, was the Ford dealer, and ran tours in his Skagway Streetcar. Together they started the Skagway Tourist Agency headquartered at the Pullen House. I wonder how they would feel today about what they reaped, and we have sowed.

Harriet led the way as a lady entrepreneur of her day. A day when women were expected to remain in the home. She was courageous, adventurous, tenacious, friendly, and strong. She carved out her life on her own terms. She set out to find gold lying on the streets, but what she found was gold of another kind. The kind that you carry in your heart.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRIET! THANK YOU FOR LEAVING US SUCH A LEGACY.

In honor of Harriet’s birthday, let’s remember all the women entrepreneurs in our community who helped to bring us to this new day.  

Thank you for joining us for a snack and a cup of tea on this beautiful afternoon. Thank you to Valerie Feero for sharing her family’s teacups for the party and to Craig Lawson for washing them all.

Thank you to the Skagway Library, Crystal Harris, and Katherine Moseley (Harriet’s great-great granddaughter) for putting this party together. Harriet would love it!