Kate Carmack

Infobox Person
name = Shaaw Tláa


image_size = 200px
caption = Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack)
birth_name = Shaaw Tláa
birth_date = c. 1862
birth_place = close to Bennett Lake
death_date = 29 March 1920
death_place = Carcross, Yukon
death_cause = Influenza
resting_place =
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residence = Carcross, Yukon
nationality =
other_names = Kate Carmack
known_for = With her husband and brother, credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush
education =
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employer =
occupation = seamstress
home_town =
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religion =
spouse = Kult’ús
George Carmack
partner =
children = Daughter1
Daughter2, Graphie Grace Carmack
parents = Father, Kaachgaawáa
Mother, Gus’dutéen
relations = Brother, Keish (Skookum Jim Mason)
Nephew, Dawson Charlie (Káa Goox)


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Shaaw Tláa, also known as Kate Carmack ("c." 1862 – 29 March 1920) was a Tagish First Nation woman born near Bennett Lake. She lived with her parents, and seven sisters and brothers, near Carcross, Yukon. Her father, Kaachgaawáa, was the head of the Tlingit crow clan, while her mother, Gus’dutéen, was a member of the Tagish wolf clan. [SHAAW TLÁA] Her name in Tlingit means "gumboot mother".

Early years

As a young woman, she married her first cousin, Kult’ús. In the early 1880s, her husband and their infant daughter died of influenza in Alaska, at which time Shaaw Tláa returned to her village. It was here, in 1887, that Shaaw Tláa's brother, Keish (Skookum Jim Mason), and nephew, Dawson Charlie (Káa Goox) started a packing, hunting, and prospecting partnership with George Washington Carmack, an American. She became Carmack's common-law wife within the year. She took the name Kate Carmack. [SHAAW TLÁA]

Beginning in 1889, and for the next six years, the couple lived in the Forty Mile region. Carmack prospected, trapped, and traded, while Shaaw Tláa made winter clothing that she sold to miners. They had one daughter, Graphie Grace Carmack (born 1893, Fort Selkirk - 29 March 1920, Carcross). [SHAAW TLÁA]

Gold discovery

Kate and her husband were fishing for salmon at the mouth of the Klondike River in August 1896, when a party led by her brother, and including two nephews, came looking for her. The party then discovered gold in Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza Creek), setting in motion the Klondike Gold Rush. [SHAAW TLÁA] Some accounts claim that Kate made the actual discovery.

After becoming wealthy, the Carmacks moved near Hollister, California to live with Carmack's sister, Rose Watson (later Rose Curtis). Subsequently, Carmack left California, Kate, Graphie, and his former partners. Kate and Graphie stayed with Rose. [Guide]

Carmack married Marguerite Laimee in 1900, in Olympia, Washington. [Guide] Kate, unable to prove she was Carmack's lawful wife, entitled to alimony, returned to Carcross in July 1901.

Later years

Keish built her a cabin near his, and daughter, Graphie attended mission and residential schools in Carcross and Whitehorse that were run by Bishop William Carpenter Bompas, before Graphie moved to Seattle, Washington. [SHAAW TLÁA]

She died of influenza in 1920 in Carcross.

References

*
* cite web |url=http://www.lib.washington.edu/SpecialColl/findaids/docs/papersrecords/CarmackGeorge5176.xml
title=Guide to the George W. Carmack Papers |accessdate=2008-06-05 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=lib.washington.edu

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7698 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]

Persondata
NAME = Carmack, Kate
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Shaaw Tláa
SHORT DESCRIPTION = With her husband and brother, credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush
DATE OF BIRTH = c. 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH = close to Bennett Lake
DATE OF DEATH = 29 March 1920
PLACE OF DEATH = Carcross, Yukon