The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-18
WOMEN OF THE YUKON.
They DO Many Things and Withstand
Hardship Better than Men.
Chicago Record.

Chicago Record.
last spring several hundred women
reached the land of gold They came from
every nook and corner of the earth; they
came from every rank and condition. Once
fairly launched INTO life of pioneering
the women seem to withstand hardship bet
ter than men. never have heard of the
death of woman the trail to Dawson,
although they encountered vicissitudes as
varied and trying as the men.
All last winter there stood poised on the
fee out in the middle of Lake La Barge
small boat with its bow tilted in the air.
1t was cast up there by the waves one
stormy night in October just at the time Of
the freezing of the lake. In the boat were
a young woman named MacDougal and a
young man. In the effort to get to Dawson
before winter closed they had continued
travelling after the river and lakes were full
of drifting ice. A foe carried Miss Mac
Dougal and her companion into a gorge at
the upper end of La Barge, where for day
and night they were wedged in heaving,
Tumbling. mass of ice A very long night
passed. AS the jam became thicker the boat
was forced upward, luckily, rather than
downward. Before morning the wind died
down and it stopped showing, and at day.
light they could see on the nearest point
of land the smoke of a cabin. They were
near the village of the La Barge Indians,
where there were also a few white men,
but it was many hours after their discov-
cry before the ice had solicited to a suffi-
Gent degree to permit of their being taken
Off
The long, exposure gave the young woman
rheumatism, from which she was almost
helpless fer months The men into whose
hands she came cared for her as best they
could for some weeks. Finally the people
of Skaguay heard of her plight and sent a
man-one Long Shorty'-with a dog team
nearly two hundred miles to her relief The
valiant Long Shorty brought her to the
coast in safety.
a Chicago woman, Mrs. Kraft, with her
husband wintered at a point on the Yukon
a few miles above Five Finger rapids last
winter. They fed outgoing "mush men
those with dog teams. This station was
proyidential for travellers and was very
profitable to Mr.. Kraft and his wife.
Women do a great variety of things at
Dawson, even stampeding when there is a
new strike. They are not asking for equal
rights with the men, for at present they
have much the best of it. At the postofice
cry of mail is always vastly in arrears, and
sometimes it happens that after a man has
stood there all day waiting his turn he has
to go away without having chance to ask
for his letters. At the gold commissioners
Office the situation is even worse for the
reason that often the unfortunate male
citizen has to wait for several days as a
rule With a woman it is different At the
DOgtOffIpR n a eli lie
right in and gets her mail. incidentally, she
gets mail for five or six of her friends
When a woman goes to the gold commits
sioner's office the man at the head of the
line grabs off his hat and backs into the
next one behind him with momentum that
threatens to topple over the whole row.
The policeman at the door admits her at
once and her business has preference over
all other 1t must be said that this courtesy
10 the sex has been abused. Precedence
especially at the recorders office, sometimes
IS worth a vast amount of money. Women
have been known to undertake commissions
Tor others for a consideration.
Last winter seamStresses and those with
q knack for making fur caps or mittens
MADE a great deal Of money. Mrs. Hamill,
with two or three others in her employ
turned out drilling parkas at a wonderful
speed and at the price of $40 each. A parka
is a. little harder to make than a pillow
case, and it has about 81 worth of material
IN 1t at Dawson prices. When the supply of
fur and tanned cariboo skin ran short last
nesseS of fabric-WOolen blanket inside COW
cred with cotton drilling.
Two or three young women are doing well
at dawson as stenographers and typewrit-
ers. They have familiariZed themselves with
the common legal forms OF the country, and
consequently have made themselves very
useful to the miners in drawing up leases,
dee s and contracts.
A little woman with a French name went
down the river Dawsonward on the ice last
spring. She had a pretty good outfit part
of which was a dog team and two men,
whom she had hired to do the work She
was known along the trail as the Nut
Woman" Whenever they stopped for a mid
day lunch the men laboriously cooked vic
tuals-bacon and bread, dried apples and
French woman felt no such need. She got
out a. small paper sack of nuts. of which
she ate a few, and a chocolate caramel or
two and was as good as ever
Mrs. Wood, 1.-The stampeder," is a familiar
figure in nearly all the mining camps of the
Yukon. If there is a new strike, whether it
Is far or near. she is one Of the first on the
ground, and she probably has seen as much
OF tho mining territory as any person there.
"A miner has only four rights in the whole
territory-that is, can only make that many
placed locations. When Mrs. Wood had ex-
hausted her allotted number on the Cana
dian side OF the line she went down the
river into Alaska, where she stalxed several
claims In addition she got a number of
interests by reason of her knowledge of the
country. She would offer to give newcom-
ers or less energetic people information of
available locations for an interest, usually
one-hah of each claim so staked. In August
the stampeder'' returned to Dawson and
was very active in inducing unemployed
men to do down the river to the Forty-nile
and Seventy-mile districts. Her theatrical
costume always attracted attention on the
street. She wore q short black dress. a
monserous fire-red sunbonnet and high kid
boots. She usually is seen giving an alb
eGrhed knot of men an animated description
of the lower country, or striding rapidly
along in the lead of one or two companions.
Four Chicago girls-the Saunders sisters
have made their way very well in Dawson
by doing anything that any plucky self-re-
specting girls could do. They kept a small
store for time, until a change in the own
ership OF the building compelled them to
discontinue. Then they started laundry
which paid them $50 day. Having an am
bition to go into mining they built halfway
house up on Hunker creek and divided their
force. two of them taking charge of the
hotel. which gave them better chance for
early information of strikes. Now they
have some claims. OAER MARIS.
Love VIII Find the Way.
Love will find the way
Or so the poets songs and proverbs say,