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
![A hike on the Chinook Trail by Alaskan author Deb Vanasse inspired her to write Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Klondike Race for Gold, chronicling the story of Carmack (far left), her daughter, Graphie, and husband, George, seen here at their Bonanza Creek cabin in 1897. – Courtesy Yukon Archives, James Albert Johnson fonds, 82/341, #15 –](https://www.truewestmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Vanasse-interior-photo1_scaled.jpg)
– Courtesy Yukon Archives, James Albert Johnson fonds, 82/341, #15 –