The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-11-10

" TO this appellation, which was
Il FIRST given her by the miners of
her native country
She is q little. broad-faced, dark
Skinned. straight haired woman, whose
rieasant smile is made more un-American
bv three or four dark blue vertical lines
rartooed below her mouth. This good
agel the wife of one Of the most promi-
nent American miners in the Golofnin dis
lrict. is d fulI-blooded Eskimo.
When her husband first met her she was
q Ettle bundle Of furs. speaking the Ian
euage of her native north. Now she
dresses as an American and is regarded
a. queen among her own people, the
AIaualute Eskimo. with whom she has
great influence. Years ago. long before
t.se great white world of Alaska was her
aided TO an adventurous public as a rich
i-eld for mining bonanZas. John Z. DeX-
Ter was Drawing many hardships as one OF
the earliest pioneers in that frozen region
Nhre but few white men had before
r-essed foot
After some years of work and wander
.ngs this white ADVENTURE made his way
10 the Eskimo village where the little
Eskimo Mollie lived. happy in her furs
and diet OF raw fish and berries, and
with not the slightest idea of how much
happier she was going 20 be made. John
Dexter worked in a mine neac there
and Mollie worked there for him. II was
hard 10 deal with the Eskimo and make
them understand and still harder TO get
tfe-n 20 stay by the work in the mines for
any length of time. So. perhaps in Curl
0sity Nollie bega. 70 help the man from
z far and strange customBi country by
acting as interpreter for him and inhuenc-
ing her people and AT the same time
L right him love a. it is spelt in Eskimo
There was gossip and Large doings'
Of f=-n xH-f1a hnsr
later became husband and wife. Perhaps
good share Of the comment was caused by
the fact that the ceremony was performed
by missionary. which was not regarded
a. entirely necessary in orthodox Eskimo
unions
From that date began a new and
strange but happy era in Mollie Dexters
~ life.
John Dexter left the work in the mines
and established a fur-trading station a.
Chignik. in the Golofnin Bay district, OF
the route from Dawson to Nome. Here
they began their married life in a. little
place built Of drIftwOod, the rough places
filled by sea moss.
Later they built hotel for Dexter had
made millions once or twice since his
marriage, and only a few years ago was
known as the gold king" by the Yukon
miners
But il was in the little house of drift
wood that the big heart of MOllie Dexter
first earned for her the title Of good an
gel" Here they were living, trading
beads Cor furs when the first news of the
strike at Nome beach reached Dawson
and the stampede of the miners for the
new oiggings commenced. Old and young,
expert and inexperienced joined IN the
chase for the hidden wealth, with terrible
physical results TO a large proportion o.
the yentUresonle ones.
The Dexter camp was the forced stop
ping place for hundreds who were suffer-
ing the untold privations and terrible
nardships entailed by the winter journey
over the ice and snow from the Klondikc
to Nome. More than once did this WARM
hearted little Alaska woman open her
door only TO End half-frozen miner ly-
ing on the threghoId. In no kinder spot
could the cruel elements have thrust him.
and nowhere could he have been more
tenderly nurse5 and cared for than at the
hands Of this little dark-skinned woman
and her husband. Every miner through
out Alaska knows something OF John
Dexter, and most OF them have reason to
speak in thankful praise of his womanly
wife.
II was no uncommon thing for the little
house of driftvood 10 have as many ar
seventy-hve half-frozen, belated miners
sleeping on the tables or in any other
place that could possibly be found for
them. Once when John Dexter was away
MoIlie herself rescued two men from tho
grasp of the snow and the unconscious
sleep that Is the forerunner OF beiny
frozen TO death. Out with her dog team
and sledge. she found them. and one at a
time, wrapped in part of her own furs.
she dragged them on the sledge and drove
them TO the warmth and good cheer of
the home that never refused a shelter and
care 10 any one.
Many miner who stopped at the Dex-
ter camp after long struggle made
while in no way properly equipped for
the trip. as 30 many Of these gold seek
ers failed to be, will remember the home
u Mollie Dexter as the place where he
was warmed and fed and cared for pa
tIently, and sent on his way with a fresh
stock Of provisions. Lindblum, the man
who ran away from a whaling ship and
made his way TO Nome TO find one of
the biggest paying claims of the strike.
was visitor at the home of the Dex-
1ers when fortune had not found him.
II miner was sick as the result of
EiE exposures and hardships or too utter
ly exhausted to continue the journey at
Unce. he was tenderly nursed and taken
care OF by this little Eskimo woman, I'M
I'll he was thoroughly recuperatcd, and
able TO go on his way. And there were
cften quite a number of these unfortu-
mates who left the Dexter home with
thankfulness and blessings on fits occu-
pants I'm their hearts.
No wonder that Molly. Dexter should be
regarded by SO many Alaskan miners