Portrait of Kate Carmack (Shaaw Tlaa)

People/prospector

Kate Carmack (Shaaw Tlaa)

Kate Carmack (Shaaw Tlaa) (1862–1920), prospector, from Canada. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

Her husband George Carmack and her brother and nephew found gold on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek in 1896. Her family was camped at the Klondike River mouth when they arrived.1,2,3

The downfall

Before the strike she sewed and baked for miners to earn money. After it, the new lifestyle caused difficulties and George Carmack left her almost penniless.1,2,3

Legacy

A Tagish woman whose wage work, fish camp and family alliance sat behind the Klondike discovery. Her brother Skookum Jim built her a cabin at Carcross.1,2,3

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 16 to 17 August 1896Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek4
Drag to turn the globe

Where next

People

FamilySkookum Jim Mason (Keish)Her brother led the prospecting trip that found Klondike gold.1FamilyGeorge CarmackHe married a Tagish chief's daughter, then left her fifteen years later.5

Events

DiscoveredGold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) CreekHer husband, brother and nephew found gold on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek in 1896.1

Sources

  1. SHAAW TLAA (Kate Carmack) Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  2. KEISH (Skookum Jim, James Mason) Dictionary of Canadian Biography (University of Toronto/Universite Laval)
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  4. Discovery Claim National Historic Site Parks Canada
  5. George Carmack US National Park Service

Pictures on this page: Shaaw Tláa.jpg, Unknown author (Public domain); George Carmack - 01.jpg, H.J. Woodside (1858–1929) (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

The Super Pit gold mine at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, at sunsetMining historyGold rushes, then and nowGold and lithium · WorldwideGold drill-hole columns over the Abitibi on a satellite map of QuébecData storyUnder QuébecDrill holes · QuébecAn underground loader carrying a full bucket of rock through a dark mine roomEquipmentUnderground mining equipmentUnderground · FleetHistory of miningGold fever: the rushes that filled continents1848-1900

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0).