Keish: Difference between revisions
→Klondike discovery: add a bit more |
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He assisted the government surveyor [[William Ogilvie (surveyor)|William Ogilvie]] in his explorations of the upper [[Yukon River]]. He reportedly packed 70 kilos of bacon over the Chilkoot Pass for the surveyor which was more than double the regular load.<ref name=":1" /> |
He assisted the government surveyor [[William Ogilvie (surveyor)|William Ogilvie]] in his explorations of the upper [[Yukon River]]. He reportedly packed 70 kilos of bacon over the Chilkoot Pass for the surveyor which was more than double the regular load.<ref name=":1" /> |
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Keish met [[George Washington Carmack]], an American trader and prospector, while working on the Trail at [[Dyea, Alaska|Dyea]]. Keish and Carmack become friends, and together with Keish's |
Keish met [[George Washington Carmack]], an American trader and prospector, while working on the Trail at [[Dyea, Alaska|Dyea]]. Keish and Carmack become friends, and together with Keish's nephew Káa Goox (Dawson Charlie), formed a partnership and spent two years packing on the Chilkoot Pass.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Carmack later started a family with Keish's sister Shaaw Tláa ([[Kate Carmack]]).<ref name=":0" /> In 1887, Keish helped Captain William Moore with a survey of the [[White Pass]], a low lying pass to the east of the Chilkoot Trail. This was later developed as an alternative route to the Klondike.<ref name=":0" /> |
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== Klondike discovery == |
== Klondike discovery == |
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Through Carmack, Keish became interested in prospecting, and in 1888 Carmack, Keish and Goox began prospecting together up the Yukon River.<ref name=":2" /> In summer 1889, George and Kate Carmack left Tagish to go prospecting in the Forty Mile region.<ref name=":2" /> Keish remained in Tagish,<ref name=":2" /> and in the early 1890s married Daakuxda.éit (Mary) a Tlingit woman.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|url=https://yukon.ca/sites/yukon.ca/files/tc-people-yukon-bibliography.pdf|title=People of the Yukon|publisher=Government of Yukon Archives|year=2016}}</ref> In 1891, the couple had a daughter Saayna.aat, also known as Daisy.<ref name=":5" /> |
Through Carmack, Keish became interested in prospecting, and in 1888 Carmack, Keish and Goox began prospecting together up the Yukon River.<ref name=":2" /> In summer 1889, George and Kate Carmack left Tagish to go prospecting in the Forty Mile region.<ref name=":2" /> Keish remained in Tagish,<ref name=":2" /> and in the early 1890s married Daakuxda.éit (Mary) a Tlingit woman.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|url=https://yukon.ca/sites/yukon.ca/files/tc-people-yukon-bibliography.pdf|title=People of the Yukon|publisher=Government of Yukon Archives|year=2016}}</ref> In 1891, the couple had a daughter Saayna.aat, also known as Daisy.<ref name=":5" /> |
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Several years later, having heard no news of the family, Keish and his two nephews Koołseen (Patsy Henderson) and |
Several years later, having heard no news of the family, Keish and his two nephews Koołseen (Patsy Henderson) and Káa Goox went to search for them.<ref name=":2" /> They discovered the Carmacks and their daughter at the mouth of the Klondike River. Keish, George and Káa Goox then set off from the fishing camp to go prospecting in the Klondike basin.<ref name=":2" /> The men discovered gold in mid August 1896 on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek<ref name=":2" /> when one of them found a nugget the size of a dime.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=News|first=Nunatsiaq|date=2006-09-23|title=Taissumani: Sept. 24, 1896 - Skookum Jim Stakes His Claim|url=https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/Taissumani_Sept_24_1896_Skookum_Jim_Stakes_is_Claim_/|access-date=2021-10-30|website=Nunatsiaq News|language=en}}</ref> Who saw the gold first is a matter of dispute. Carmack claimed that he noticed it first, but Keish and his nephew asserted that it was Keish who was the discoverer.<ref name=":6" /> At any rate, in September 1896 Carmack staked a double “discovery claim”, while Keish and Charlie staked claims on either side of it. From 1896 to 1900, the men worked together on the claims, and between them found gold worth almost a million dollars.<ref name=":2" /> |
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This sudden wealth drastically changed the lives of Keish and his family. Seeking to live by non-native standards, in 1898 Keish built a large, ornately furnished house in Carcross for himself and his family. He lived there in the winters before returning each spring to the Klondike.<ref name=":2" /> |
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He died in [[Whitehorse, Yukon]] in 1916, survived by a daughter, Daisy Mason, sister, Kate Carmack, and cousin, Tagish John.<ref name="will">{{cite web|url=http://north-land.com/ypa/SkookumJim%20Mason.html|title=Skookum Jim Mason's Last Will and Testament|access-date=June 5, 2008|date=September 22, 1916|publisher=Yukon Prospectors' Association|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509122419/http://north-land.com/ypa/SkookumJim%20Mason.html|archivedate=May 9, 2008}}</ref> |
He died in [[Whitehorse, Yukon]] in 1916, survived by a daughter, Daisy Mason, sister, Kate Carmack, and cousin, Tagish John.<ref name="will">{{cite web|url=http://north-land.com/ypa/SkookumJim%20Mason.html|title=Skookum Jim Mason's Last Will and Testament|access-date=June 5, 2008|date=September 22, 1916|publisher=Yukon Prospectors' Association|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509122419/http://north-land.com/ypa/SkookumJim%20Mason.html|archivedate=May 9, 2008}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 00:08, 30 October 2021
Keish | |
|---|---|
 Keish in 1898 | |
| Born | c. 1855 near Bennett Lake, Yukon |
| Died | July 11, 1916 Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada |
| Nationality | Tahltan |
| Other names | James Mason; Skookum Jim Mason |
| Occupation | Packer over the Chilkoot Pass carrying supplies for miners |
| Known for | Credited with making the gold discovery at Discovery Claim that led to the Klondike Gold Rush |
Keish (c. 1855 – July 11, 1916), also known as James Mason and by the nickname Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born near Bennett Lake[1] on what is now the British Columbia and Yukon border. He lived in Caribou Crossing, now Carcross, Yukon, Canada.[2]
Childhood
Keish was born around 1855 near Lake Bennett into the Daḵl'aweidi clan of Tagish.[3][4] His mother, Gus'duteen, was from Tahltan country around Telegraph Creek while his father was Kaachgaawáa, chief of the Tagish Deisheetaan.[5] His family was involved in trade between the coastal Tlingit and the inland Tagish.[3] The family had two sons and six daughters who reached adulthood.[3][5] The name Keish is a Tagish word meaning "wolf".[6][4]
Packing career
In the mid-1880s, Keish worked the summers as a packer, carrying supplies from the Alaska Coast, over the passes to the Yukon River system.[1] He earned his Skookum nickname because of his extraordinary strength: he could carry huge loads of more than 45 kilos.[3] Skookum means "strong", "big" and "reliable" in the Chinook Jargon and regional English as used in the Pacific Northwest.[7][1]
He assisted the government surveyor William Ogilvie in his explorations of the upper Yukon River. He reportedly packed 70 kilos of bacon over the Chilkoot Pass for the surveyor which was more than double the regular load.[6]
Keish met George Washington Carmack, an American trader and prospector, while working on the Trail at Dyea. Keish and Carmack become friends, and together with Keish's nephew Káa Goox (Dawson Charlie), formed a partnership and spent two years packing on the Chilkoot Pass.[3][1] Carmack later started a family with Keish's sister Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack).[3] In 1887, Keish helped Captain William Moore with a survey of the White Pass, a low lying pass to the east of the Chilkoot Trail. This was later developed as an alternative route to the Klondike.[3]
Klondike discovery
Through Carmack, Keish became interested in prospecting, and in 1888 Carmack, Keish and Goox began prospecting together up the Yukon River.[1] In summer 1889, George and Kate Carmack left Tagish to go prospecting in the Forty Mile region.[1] Keish remained in Tagish,[1] and in the early 1890s married Daakuxda.éit (Mary) a Tlingit woman.[8] In 1891, the couple had a daughter Saayna.aat, also known as Daisy.[8]
Several years later, having heard no news of the family, Keish and his two nephews Koołseen (Patsy Henderson) and Káa Goox went to search for them.[1] They discovered the Carmacks and their daughter at the mouth of the Klondike River. Keish, George and Káa Goox then set off from the fishing camp to go prospecting in the Klondike basin.[1] The men discovered gold in mid August 1896 on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek[1] when one of them found a nugget the size of a dime.[9] Who saw the gold first is a matter of dispute. Carmack claimed that he noticed it first, but Keish and his nephew asserted that it was Keish who was the discoverer.[9] At any rate, in September 1896 Carmack staked a double “discovery claim”, while Keish and Charlie staked claims on either side of it. From 1896 to 1900, the men worked together on the claims, and between them found gold worth almost a million dollars.[1]
This sudden wealth drastically changed the lives of Keish and his family. Seeking to live by non-native standards, in 1898 Keish built a large, ornately furnished house in Carcross for himself and his family. He lived there in the winters before returning each spring to the Klondike.[1]
He died in Whitehorse, Yukon in 1916, survived by a daughter, Daisy Mason, sister, Kate Carmack, and cousin, Tagish John.[2]
A fictionalized version of Skookum Jim appears in the TG4 series An Klondike, portrayed by Julian Black Antelope, where he is depicted as a Hän and is killed by the fictional character Pat Galvin in 1898.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Porsild, Charlene (1998). "KEISH". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Skookum Jim Mason's Last Will and Testament". Yukon Prospectors' Association. September 22, 1916. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Keish (Skookum Jim Mason) (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
- ^ a b Wilkie, Rab and The Skookum Jim Friendship Centre (1992). Skookum Jim: Native and Non-Native Stories and Views About His Life and Times And the Klondike Gold Rush (PDF). Yukon Tourism Heritage Branch.
- ^ a b Cruikshank, Julie (August 1, 2000). The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowledge in the Yukon Territory. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 74–82. ISBN 978-0-8032-6409-0.
- ^ a b "skookum jim packer and prospector extraordinaire". Yukon News. March 31, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
- ^ Phillips, Walter Shelley (1913). The Chinook Book: A Descriptive Analysis of the Chinook Jargon in Plain Words, Giving Instructions for Pronunciation, Construction, Expression and Proper Speaking of Chinook with All the Various Shaded Meanings of the Words. Seattle: R. L. Davis Printing Co. pp. 86–87.
- ^ a b People of the Yukon (PDF). Government of Yukon Archives. 2016.
- ^ a b News, Nunatsiaq (September 23, 2006). "Taissumani: Sept. 24, 1896 - Skookum Jim Stakes His Claim". Nunatsiaq News. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)
