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Kate Carmack

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Full Name
  
Shaaw Tlaa

Name
  
Kate Carmack

Cause of death
  
Influenza

Spouse
  
George Carmack (m. 1887)


Other names
  
Kate Carmack

Residence
  
Carcross, Canada

Occupation
  
seamstress

Siblings
  
Keish

Kate Carmack httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons44

Born
  
c. 1862
close to Bennett Lake

Known for
  
With her husband and brother, credited with making the gold discovery at Discovery Claim that led to the Klondike Gold Rush

Children
  
Daughter1Daughter2, Graphie Grace Carmack

Parent(s)
  
Father, KaachgaawaaMother, Gus’duteen

Died
  
March 29, 1920, Carcross, Canada

Kate Carmack: Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Inductee 2019


Shaaw Tláa, also known as Kate Carmack (c. 1857 – 29 March 1920), was a Tagish First Nation woman born near Bennett Lake. She lived with her parents, and seven sisters and brothers, near Carcross, Yukon. Her father, Kaachgaawáa, was the head of the Tlingit crow clan, while her mother, Gus’dutéen, was a member of the Tagish wolf clan. Her name in Tlingit means "gumboot mother".

Contents

The induction of Kate Carmack.


Early years

As a young woman, she married her first cousin, Kult’ús. In the early 1880s, her husband and their infant daughter died of influenza in Alaska, at which time Shaaw Tláa returned to her village. It was here, in 1887, that Shaaw Tláa's brother, Keish (Skookum Jim Mason), and nephew, Dawson Charlie (K̲áa Goox̱) started a packing, hunting, and prospecting partnership with George Washington Carmack, an American. She became Carmack's common-law wife within the year. She took the name Kate Carmack.

Beginning in 1889, and for the next six years, the couple lived in the Forty Mile region. Carmack prospected, trapped, and traded, while Shaaw Tláa made winter clothing that she sold to miners. They had one daughter, Graphie Grace Carmack (born 1893, Fort Selkirk).

Gold discovery

Kate and her husband were fishing for salmon at the mouth of the Klondike River in August 1896, when a party led by her brother, including two nephews, came looking for her. The party then discovered gold in Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza Creek), setting in motion the Klondike Gold Rush. Some accounts claim that Kate made the actual discovery.

After becoming wealthy, the Carmacks moved to Hollister, California, to live with Carmack's sister, Rose Watson (later Rose Curtis). Subsequently, Carmack left California, Kate, Graphie, and his former partners. Kate and Graphie stayed with Rose.

Carmack married Marguerite Laimee in 1900, in Olympia, Washington. Kate, unable to prove she was Carmack's lawful wife, entitled to alimony, returned to Carcross in July.

Later years

Keish built her a cabin near his, and daughter, Graphie attended mission and residential schools in Carcross and Whitehorse that were run by Bishop William Carpenter Bompas, before Graphie moved to Seattle, Washington.

She died of influenza during the Worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918-1920 in Carcross.

References

Kate Carmack Wikipedia


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