The Angel of the Cassiars

Nellie Cashman came to the rescue of stranded miners.

Nellie Cashman was one of the great figures in the Old West, an entrepreneur who was famed for helping people in need. In the 1870s, she learned that dozens of miners were trapped by snow in Canada’s Cassiar Mountains. She put together a six-person rescue team; it took them 77 days, trudging through drifts of up to 10 feet, to reach the stranded men. Many were suffering from scurvy; Nellie gave them a vitamin C-rich diet to make them well. She and her crew saved 75 lives.