The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-12-26
SEEk0 hiUsEl-sss Uf
kLONDIKE MINER
Daughter of George w. Carmack
by Tribal Marriage Fights
for His Wealth.

klondike, Kate Mason, Tagish squav
known as Mrs. Carmack, was til
sharer Of his joys and sorrows.
She went trapping with him, pack
Ing their belongings on her back. Sh
toiled by his side as burden bearer
She lived with him in cabin and ten
and on the trail. 1t was pot luck witt
them. Sometimes they had enough t.
eat sometimes not
The child she bore him for share,
OF their hardshipsl and privations
The day in 1895 when Carmack, pros
pecting up Rabbit creek and down
Bonanza creek, found gold, the won.
an and child were waiting for him at
the mouth of the Klondike.
When fortune made the pathfinder
forgetful of the past he put away the
Indian mother of his child and es-
poused woman of his own race.
Carmack is dead and the Tagish
woman is dead. But the child of the
white man and squaw is fighting today
for the good name of her mother and
for daughters share in the Klon-
diker's estate.
The question which the courts of
Washington state are called upon to
answer is whether there was a cere-
m0ny which made Kate Mason, daugh-
ter of former chief Of the Tagish
tribe, the wife Of the white man.
Proof of a ceremony is lacking
Estate Valued at 100000.
fIhnrc ie. 1oo l- Of hos hn
Indian woman, with Carmack's full
cognizance, was recognized as his
wife, and that he acknowledged him
self as the father of her child, but in
after years he swOre that she had
never been anything but his "klootch.''
Besides the good name of her moth
er, Mrs. Graphic Carmack Saftig, the
daughter, stands to win all of the es-
tate, valued at one-half million dol
lars. If the courts decide that Car
mack was married to the Indian wom-
an, Mrs. Sattig VIII be the only heir
Failing to establish a ceremonial mar
riage, Mrs. Saftig may still win half
of the estate.
Carmack, born in California, was
tNSAIy yCdAc Oiu3 NIOA LII 1901,
he started to the Yukon over the Dyea
trail. The following spring he es-
tablished the Kealy trading post at
Dyea. 1t was there that he met Kate |
Mason. She was twenty and pretty. |
There was no young white woman, In |
all that region to be the wife of the
trading post man. So it was quite
The natural thing, the mating of
George Carmack and Kate Mason.
OF the marriage ceremony, IL there
vas one, there Is no record, and no
living witness has been found.
Discovered the kIondike.
In the fall of 1892 he went to Fort
,elkirk. In the dead of winter, Jan
larry IL, 1898, the child was born
When Carmack, with Tagish Charley
nd Skookum Jim, brothers of the
5oman, as companions, went prospect
ng, he left the woman and child where
hey could have sheltcr and the
,eager comforts which native village
+ trading posts afforded.
Carmack spent the early part Of the
ummer Of 1898 salmon fishing at the
louth of the Kondike. In August he
nd Sko0kum Jim went prospecting
p the north bank as far as Dominion
yer. On Bonanza creek, beside an :
Id birch tree, on the edge of the rim ]
,ck, he found a sprfnkling, Of gold,
ashed there by the running water. +,
nd that wss the discovery of what
lme to be known as 'the Klondike."
They staked their claims, one for
armack, one for Skookum Jim and I
lie for Tagish Charley.
Meets the Other Woman. {
The woman and child Joined Car 7
ack on Bonanza and the woman :
,lped him as he cleaned his gold, and F
'lped him carry it to the safe at
ealys trading post
He "came ont" In the fall of 1898 :
tn between 100000 and $500, 600 of
Id. He blAught the woman ara r
lid along to Seattle and from Sext-
! went to Hollister, Cal, where the
rec lived with his sister, Mrs. Rose +
,rtis.
In the spring of 1899 Carmack re-
rned to the Klondike, leaving the F
imam and child at the home of his
ter. In June at Dawson City he
It Mrs. Marguerite Laimee. She +
is large woman, handsome, ac- o,
ding to Yukon standards. and was
mired by the men who came. from f.
Z diggings eager to lavish their gold
the refnements of civilization
ich Dawson City offered. She sold =
IN cigars and tobacco and it NAV
u he believed, as she saws. that thev =,
re lavish in payment. splitting their =
st on the counter and not botherinc L.
brush it back into their pouches.
She mentiRps this detail of her bust w
IS career at Dawson by way of off 70
ting the claim that her present af- y. ~
ance was derived altogether from
mack.
he, two came cut together in 1900 Ii
went to San Francisco. Carmack
'te to his sister from there that he =
lost his affection FOR Kate and
lid not have anythin. more to do
IL