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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Vern, post: 31816, member: 347&quot;]Alright, I just want to throw this out there because this seems to be the most promising lead on a early history of this thing…</p><p><br /></p><p>Because these numbers are a rigged game, I&#039;ve been researching crooked gamblers.&nbsp; One, in particular, sticks out and was known to own saloons and roulette wheels from Skagway to Dawson; Jefferson &quot;Soapy&quot; Smith….</p><p><br /></p><p>The numbers are obviously rigged on this wheel.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know how the betting worked, but if it was a ten dollar, one dollar, or ten cent bet the payout could simply be the value of the number on the wheel.&nbsp; You basically have only a ten percent chance of getting your money back or better.&nbsp; For example, you bet ten dollars and the wheel, which has mostly 6,7,8, and 9, spins a 7.&nbsp; You lose three dollars.&nbsp; It is kind of clever because you&#039;d still have money to bet with for a long time, but no way anybody can beat those odds over time.&nbsp; Especially if the wheel is weighted, too. </p><p><br /></p><p>So, Soapy owned a hotel and saloon in Dawson where photographs in the collection have been proven to be from now.&nbsp; Then, I found this story about how Soapy paid $1000 to have a wheel shipped to Skagway.&nbsp; That seems preposterous given that in the late 1800&#039;s this was like a well to do man&#039;s salary.&nbsp; From what I gather, and I am still researching this info, is that it was dismissed as a special order to rush and get there to make money.&nbsp; That still sounds insane. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now, what if Soapy couldn&#039;t have the wheel made there because people wouldn&#039;t trust him so it had to be &quot;shipped&quot; in like a legitimate gambling wheel.&nbsp; A thousand dollars could be paid in fifty ounces of gold. Maybe the price of shipping was normal, probably less than twenty dollars, but what if the bulk of the gold went to the wheel and its maker?&nbsp; Say maybe a portion went to the jeweler/engraver for making the crooked wheel and the rest went to the composition of it as a way to hide some or satisfy some kind of passion or superstition he had? There was an engraver/jeweler/gunsmith/assayer/goldsmith/eventual mayor in Juneau named Emery Valentine that rented places to Soapy and was known to do business with him.&nbsp; Interesting that the design of the wheel has Victorian hearts in the negative space of the spokes and a man named Valentine that knew gold and engraving dealt with Soapy.&nbsp; If Valentine signed the photo on wikipedia himself, The E in his name has resemblance to the loops or circles at the termini of the numbers on the wheel.</p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emery_Valentine" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emery_Valentine" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emery_Valentine</a></p><p><br /></p><p>At this point, these are suspects in an investigation, to me.&nbsp; Soapy just seems like the most likely owner of an extravagantly rigged wheel like this somewhere near Alaska. </p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;It is known that Soapy had interest in at least 3 saloons and gaming houses in Skagway, Alaska so there is no reason to believe that Soapy only had one wheel. Interesting to note that the wheel and table my father purchased, cost Soapy $1,000 to ship to Skagway!&quot;</p><p><a href="http://soapysmiths.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://soapysmiths.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html" rel="nofollow">http://soapysmiths.blogspot.com/2014_01_01_archive.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>It is also interesting to note that the author&#039;s father had no way of absolutely authenticating that the wheel, which may have well been Soapy&#039;s, was the one he actually paid that much for…&nbsp; The author also fails to mention saloons that soapy owned in other towns, like Dawson City.</p><p><br /></p><p>Interestingly though, the wheel on that website has very similar brass casting on the top and similar wood variety.&nbsp; The brass inlays, almost in some ways, resemble the spokes of the wheel when two are put together.&nbsp; Maybe because I&#039;m so far removed from the time period the styles are just the same and I read more into it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now I&#039;m just talking, but I needed to get all of this down before bed so I don&#039;t lose my train of thought. It is fun to share, too.&nbsp; Maybe someone will pass through here and just happen to be an expert on Soapy and his rigged wheels.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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