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A Constantly Changing Tide: A Historical Memoir
A waterfront town. A lifetime of work. A story only Skagway could write.
Skagway, Alaska has always lived on change. Gold rush chaos. Wartime pressure. Ore, freight, and tight shipping windows. Then the cruise ship wave. Then the sudden quiet of COVID.
In A Constantly Changing Tide, John “JRT” Tronrud tells the true story of more than fifty years on the Skagway waterfront, from the inside. This is not a tourist postcard version of Alaska. It is the working port, the people who kept it running, and the moments that shaped a town built on tides, deadlines, and hard choices.
JRT takes you onto docks and decks where weather can turn fast, jobs are physical, and everyone relies on everyone else. You will meet the characters who made Skagway what it is, hear the stories that never make the brochures, and feel what it means to watch your home change again and again while you keep showing up.
Inside you will findWaterfront stories from a long life in SkagwayFreight, ore loads, ships, and the real rhythm of port workUnion life and what it meant to stand up for the crew
Local history told through lived moments, not lectures
Humor, grit, and the kind of details only an insider can shareIf you love Alaska history, true memoirs, and real working-life storytelling, this book will pull you in like the tide.
Skagway, Alaska has always lived on change. Gold rush chaos. Wartime pressure. Ore, freight, and tight shipping windows. Then the cruise ship wave. Then the sudden quiet of COVID.
In A Constantly Changing Tide, John “JRT” Tronrud tells the true story of more than fifty years on the Skagway waterfront, from the inside. This is not a tourist postcard version of Alaska. It is the working port, the people who kept it running, and the moments that shaped a town built on tides, deadlines, and hard choices.
JRT takes you onto docks and decks where weather can turn fast, jobs are physical, and everyone relies on everyone else. You will meet the characters who made Skagway what it is, hear the stories that never make the brochures, and feel what it means to watch your home change again and again while you keep showing up.
Inside you will findWaterfront stories from a long life in SkagwayFreight, ore loads, ships, and the real rhythm of port workUnion life and what it meant to stand up for the crew
Local history told through lived moments, not lectures
Humor, grit, and the kind of details only an insider can shareIf you love Alaska history, true memoirs, and real working-life storytelling, this book will pull you in like the tide.
221 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 25, 2025
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January 26, 2026
A Constantly Changing Tide captures the life of a longshoreman in Skagway. John Tronrud shares his own personal journey of coming to, and the five decades of working in Alaska. He captures quite a bit of the town's history, and the boom and bust of gold mining and other ores, as well as the development of tourist trades, mostly through cruise ships coming to port in ever bigger vessels. It is not uncommon for Skagway, population 900, to host up to four cruise ships, with 10,000 tourists per day, as well as others arriving via the ferry, planes, or driving in from Canada.
Displaying 1 of 1 review