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ASON KL IM M ONDIK KUM J Photo Playing Cards E KATE SKOO A A ♠ ♦ famous for her A alluring “Flame A Dance.” Rockwell grew rich as a ♦ ♠ result of her fame, and left the a few years later with a bankroll of $150,000 on the arm of Alex Pantages, a waiter who had won her heart. Kitty Rockwell used her money to help Pantages establish a Skookum Jim Mason (1855-1916) sparked the Klondike Gold chain of theatres up Rush when he discovered rich gold deposits in Bonanza Creek, a trib- The most famous of two well- and down the west known “Klondike Kates,” coast, but he broke utary of the . A Indian born with the name her heart when he married

Keish, Mason earned the nickname “Skookum,” which means Kathleen Eloise “Kitty”

Rockwell (1873-1957) trav- another woman with no warn-

“strong” in the Chinook Jargon, by carrying heavy loads across the ing in 1905. Rockwell eventu-

Chilkoot Pass in the 1880s. elled to the Yukon in ally married a Yukon miner, but

Mason’s brother-in-law, , registered the initial ♠

♦ 1899. She was a dancer she never recovered the

claim in his notown accept name that because an Indian they thoughthad made that the other discovery. miners might and vaudeville performer fame she had enjoyed as

who quickly became “Klondike Kate.” Skookum Jim and his nephew, , A A ♠

staked a claim on either side of the original one, ♦

and the three men shared close to $1,000,000 in

gold from those claims. A HOW T A ITY O PAN ON C K FOR WS K G DA OLD ♦ Playing Cards with ♣ K 52 DIFFERENT IMAGES K ♦ ♣

Panning was the main tech- nique used by prospectors the population peaked at searching for gold during the sand and silt to be washed over 40,000. 22,000 people Klondike Gold Rush. Using a the edge. The heavier gold did not exist arrived in one week in the sum- metal pan resembling a large dust—and hopefully nuggets— pie pan, a miner scoops up before the Klondike Gold Rush. mer of 1898 alone! are left in the bottom of the pan.

some “pay dirt”—sand, dirt and When gold was discovered in A year later, however, the pop- The gold found in the bottom

creeks off of the Klondike River ulation had fallen to 8,000, gravel from the creek bot- of a pan was called “color,” and

and by 1902, when the city in August 1896, a townsite ♦ tom. After adding some depending on how much there

was incorporated, only

quickly sprung up at the junc- ♣ water, the pan is then was, the prospector would

tion of the Klondike and Yukon 5,000 people lived there. swished around and decide whether it was

Rivers. It was a boom Today, its permanent K around, allowing the worthwhile to stake a town in the truest sense population is only about K claim and begin more

♦ of the word. By June, 2,000. However, 60,000

lighter extensive mining opera- Poker ♣

1897, 4,000 would-be tourists tions.

Size “O prospectors had arrived NE T K EK ON there, and oneCR Eyear later, Q ” SUP P K NANZA Q LY LI O ST B Superior Print Quality ♥ Q ♣ Q ♣ ♥ • LIST OF ALL 52 TITLES IS AVAILABLE • WATERCOLOR ILLUSTRATION IS FEATURED ON THE BACK OF THE

CARDS To ensure that people didn’t starve to death, the Northwest Mounted Police required prospectors carry a year’s worth of food • EYE CATCHING DISPLAY BOX POP-UP and supplies—about one ton—when they entered Canadian terri- claims by prospectors. tory. Here is a typical stampeder’s grocery list: It wasn’t the richest stream in PHOTO the Klondike Gold Rush—that When Skookum Jim Mason 150 lbs bacon and George Carmack discov- distinction goes to Eldorado • SAMPLE DISPLAYER AVAILABLE

Creek, which flows into it just 400 lbs flour

ered gold in this creek in 1896, 25 lbs rolled oats 15 lbs salt

it was actually called Rabbit above the original . But as the site of the orig- 125 lbs beans 1 lb pepper

Creek, but the name was quick- ♣ ♥ 10 lbs tea 75 lbs dried fruit

ly changed to Bonanza as a inal discovery. Bonanza Top Quality

Creek flows northwest, 10 lbs coffee 8 lbs baking powder reflection of the rush of Plastic Coated 25 lbs sugar 2 lbs soda

prospectors who flooded reaching the Klondike Q

in to stake claims there. River directly across from Q 25 lbs dried potatoes 1/2 lb evaporated vinegar

♣ Within two weeks after Dawson City, Yukon. 2 lbs dried onions 2 ounces of compressed

the initial discovery, its soup ♥

entire 20-mile length had 1 can of mustard Q ER been staked into 500-foot Q ER FF EN FF EN I T I T D D 52 Sea to Sky Photography 52