The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1920-05-14
KATE CARMACK CROSSES DIVIDE.

- v ulC0 at NdIGIISS,
on the morning of March 20 from
pneumonia, following an attack Of the
influenza. She had been sick about ten
days.
The life story of Kate Carmack Is
closely interviewer with the history of
the Yukon since the discovery of gold
in the klondike creeks in the summer
OF 1896. for she claimed, and it is be-
iieved by many of those who were ia
miliar with the circumstances, that to
her Is u the credit of finding the
dull yellow nuggets in the rifles in
the bed OF Bonanza creek, a discovery
which, when the news of it reached the
outside set the whole world aflame and
caused a rush of adventures into this,
at that time UNEMPLOYED wilderness in
search of the new Eldorado in the land
OF the midnight sun, such as has never
been witnessed either before or since;
a discovery that has made the nam of
the klondike a familiar word in the
most remote civilized sections of the
habitable globe and has caused to APP
pear tame indeed the tales told in the
middle of the 18th century by the Pc
ruvian explorer, Francisco de Orel-
lana, who avered that he had found on
the river Amazon and it's tributaries
evidences Of the existence of auriferous
deposits. the gold from which, If re-
covered, would enrich the peoples OF
the world.
The boastings of Orelana have since
been proven to have been untrue to a
great extent, although gold has been
found in paying quantities on the head
waters of the Amazon river and the
streams flowing into It; but the dis
covery made by Kate Carmack, or by
one of those by whom she was accom-
panied. on that Hateful day, nearly a
quarter of a century ago, has added &c
commerce and arts almost if not quite
a billion of dollars worth of that prec-
iOus mental, for the possession of
which both men and ome sometimes
imperil their souls and barter their
honor.
AS the story goes a party Of moose
hunters, comprised of George Carmack
a white man, his Indian wife Kate, and
four other Indians, Dawson Charley
and wife and ''Skookum" Jim mason
and wife, were encamped in the sum-
mer of 1896 on Bonanza creek, which
drained a section of country famed far
and wide among Indian hunters and
the few white trappers that inhabited
what is now known as the Yukon terri
tNrxy oo tbo fnx,Ar;fo faaliv, onI hrood-
ing ground of the moose and other wild
game animals; also it was on the d.
rect route over which treked each fall
from their northern haunts countless
numbers of caribou in herds of such
immense size that 1t often o them
days to pass a given point in their
l~eisurely, erratic wanderings in search
of the reindeer moss, grass and herb
age on which they subslsted. The cook
ing utensils of the party were few and
the manner of preparing food almost
as primative as that in vogue among
the natives previous to the coming in
to the country of the first Of the voy-
ayers of the Hudson's Bay company,
many years before.
On the day referred to, in perform
ing duties incident to an after-meal
cleaning up of the camp, Kate Car
mack went down to the creek for some
purpose and 1t was at this time she Is
said to have made the discovery OF
placer gold that afterwards threw i'm
mense fortunes into the hands Of her
husband, George Carmack, her BROTH
err, "Skookum" Jim Mason, and her
cousin, Dawson Charley.
The possession of these easily &C
quired riches, however, proved HARM
full, rather than of a benefit, to both
"Skookum" Jim and Dawson Charley,
for the most of the money which they
received was either squandered In
drink or else was wheedled out OF
them by INSCRIPTIONS schemers. Sew
eral years ago Dawson Charley, while
intoxicated, fell into the river at Car
cross, n night and was drowned;
"Skookum" Jim died at Carcross about
three years ago. OF their former poses
sions but little remained at the time
of their deaths.
George Carmack and wife lived on
Bonanza creek for some time after the
discovery of gold there. They had n
daughter, and perhaps two, but the
number is immaterial to this story, ex-
cept that the daughter Of whom we
know, afterwards accompanied her
parents to Seattle, where she married
a white man.
After %disposing of their holdings In
the Klondike Carmack and family as
above stated, went to Seattle and put
up at one of the principal hotels. At
that time Kate Carmack was a fine
looking woman and her husband took
pride in clothing her in silks and sat
ms and loading her with diamonds and
other expensive jewelry. But she soon
tired of the ways of the whites and the
never ending noise and turmoil of the
city and, deserving her husband, she
returned to the land Of her birth, TAX
ing up her abode at Carcross, where
she has since lived. She brought back
with her from the outside, sealskin
garments, tailored gowns, diamonds,
an expensive gold watch on which her
initials had been cut by a skilled en-
graver, and various other accessories
of a fashionable woman's attire, but in
the years which have passed since then
her dearly priced possessions have left
her one by one until at the time of her
death there only remained to her a
pair of sealskir gauntlets and the gold
| watch.
George Carmack, after parting with
the Indian woman who bore his name
married a white woman in Seattle. So
far as known, he is still living and
| mite Observation-Disclosures Star.