Every tale of the Klondike gold rush of 1897-’98 begins with the discovery of gold by George Carmack and his Tagish brothers-in-law. In Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Klondike Race for Gold (University of Alaska Press, $24.95), Alaska writer Deb Vanasse retells this iconic Yukon legend through the perspective of Shaaw Tláa, Carmack’s Indian wife. In doing so, she lends a voice to the women who served as an important bridge between native peoples and those who exploited the North’s mineral riches, a story echoed throughout the North American mining west. Her account relies on well-researched secondary literature, supplemented with period newspaper articles and interviews of descendants. Vanasse with her experience writing Alaskan novels, delivers a compelling narrative of differing perceptions of wealth.
—Catherine Holder Spude, author of All for the Greed of Gold: Will Woodin’s Klondike Adventure
– Courtesy Yukon Archives, James Albert Johnson fonds, 82/341, #15 –
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