The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-17


is rather hard to suit.
Princess Tom lives in Juneau, and If
one of the Klondike gold-hunters could
manage to captivate her and win her
over to the point Of chasing out Of
doors the six large and able-bodfed
husbands she has amassed, he would
find himself in possession of more gold
than, in all human probability, he would
ever see if he persisted in pushing on
over the Chilkoot pass.
For Princess Tom is the richest
woman in all Alaska. She is the Hetty
Green of the far Northwest. She has
the accommodating talents Of a Gould
combined with a far-seeing grasp of
the science of not giving up anything
which would not discredit a Russell
Sage.
She has been a rich woman now for
years, her wealth is rapidly increasing
every year, and if her black, restless,
greedy little Indian eyes do not see
chance to make something out Of the
new boom the Klondike Eldorado has
given to Alaska affairs, it will be be
cause there is nothing to make.
1t was all through an original gift
of skill and tact and sound judgment
in trade that Princess Tom got rich.
She was a young Yakutat squaw when
she began her brilliant career of dick
ering. She is a fuIl-blooded Indian
woman. and her husband-that is, the
husband who was the original nucleus
of her now large collection of husbands
was likewise z full-blooded Indian.
Princess Tom learned to trade by ped
ding the furs this husband had taken.
She very early found out her skill in
this line of business.
When her husbands supply of furs
had been disposed of, she took the job
of peddling those of other Women's S
husbands. She did not overlook her
own commissions in these transactions.
Then she began buying furs on her own
account and disposing of them at a
wide margin of profit at the various
trading posts. Thus she got a good
collection of Alaska Indian wealth
copper kettles, Yakutat baskets and
blankets-abOve all, blankets. They
are, or were not long ago, practically
the currency of the Alaska natives.
An Indians wealth was estimated by
the number of blankets that he had.
That is how Princess Tom came to fix
the market price of a husband at 500
blankets. The Indians of our own
plains used to, and do now, compute
their wealth in the same way by their
holdings in ponies.
But Princess Tom was far too keen
witted not to see that gold, the white
mans token of wealth, was more far
reaching in its power than blankets So
she set to work accommodating gold.
Twenty dollar gold pieces were the ar
ticles she most coveted after that, and
she coveted them to a purpose. 1t If
estimated that she has got together
nearly $20606 worth of them. She
makes bracelets, bangles and long
clinking necklaces of them, and, when
she is loaded down with these, the
Klondike Argonaut who saw her would
hardly feel the necessity of continuing
his travels any further, if there ap-
peared a reasonable prospect of stalking
an exclusive claim to her.
But Princess Tom is fully aware that
history has afforded instances of the
white mans actions not being wholly
above suspicion when a question of gold
was involved. She has shown herself
very alert to all efforts made to detach
her from her gold. She has secret hid
ing places for it which have thus far
baf1ed even the most experienced pros
pectorS who have, in an unoStentatiouS
way, explored for it. Besides, she
never was known to spend a cent of it.
Next TO her collection of $40 gold pieces,
Princess Tom most valuable treasure is her
large stock of sea otter skins. These skins
have become quite rare, and good ones rough
dried, are worth from 500 to $500 each. In
ene room OF her comfortable house in Juneau
Princess Tom has stacks of cedar chests
filed with these valuable skins. There is no
doubt she has over $50 of them. and she
is as eager in the pursuit of more as she ever
was. Her keen business foresight tells her
that the scarcer the skins become the higher
the price they will br -ng in the market, hence
she is no hurry whatever to part with any
of her stock.
In the beautiful Yakutat Indian baskets
Princess Tom has another large treasure
These baskets are woven of grasses and of
willow, wood, split into long silky strips
and in some of them these strips are SO COM
pactly iutertwined that the baskets will hold
water. Thev are much priced and are of
great value. Princess Tom owns hundreds
OF them CT all shapes, sizes and Dimensions
And besides all these treasuFers this astute
old Indian woman owns a schooner, two or
three Sleeps and no end of kyaks or skin
boats, which the Alaskan Indian prizes SO
highly and in which he does such marvellous
feats on the water.
The princess is 65 years old new. heavy
laced, fat woman, with nothing to tell of her
extraordinary ability save her eyes which
are marvellouSly keen and alert and not
without sIaouidering gleam of fun in them.
moreover when grave and reyerand
American professor was talking to her nat
long ago about her treasures she poizted with
pride TO the collection of husbands she had
among her other pure.y ornamental brie-a-
bfae She wanted him particularly to note
the last one, a 2B-yedr-old she had iISt
bought. This one te be reared as a net
she sa1d- She disposed of the others accord
ing to their age and mer is The two tn
Wnom sac mad been longest married for III
stance, were exempt from weFk. Then she
shocked the professor still more by asking
f he was for sale and Offering 5e9 t,,arlza4S
for HIN, delivered on the spot