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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Alaska History > Item 191
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Gold Rush Women
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by Claire Rudolf Murphy and Jane G Haigh
Sales Rank: 535404
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List Price: $16.95
$11.53
At Amazon
on 8-5-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 126 pages
Published by: Alaska Northwest Books June 1, 2003
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0882404849
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0882404844
Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches
Weighs: 12 ounces
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up. When gold was discovered in Alaska's Klondike region, one in ten of the adventurers who stormed the territory was female. Although women were central to the commerce and social life of this rugged frontier, their pioneering roles have been downplayed or ignored for over a century. These 23 short biographies reveal the depth and variety of their experiences. Native women Kate Carmack (Tagish) and Jennie Alexander (Athabaskan) participated in the first discoveries of gold and taught vital survival skills to the white settlers. Sisters Belinda and Margaret Mulrooney established the Dome City Bank. Ethel Berry panned gold by lantern light to become one of the first Klondike millionaires. Lucille Hunter, the first African-American lady in the territory, gave birth to a daughter on the rugged trail to Dawson. These stories of triumph, tragedy, hard work, and hard luck create a vibrant and multilayered picture of early Alaskan and of American society in the 1890s. Lavish use of period pictures helps tell the story, as do boxed insets on subjects from sourdough cooking to Native life. The authors do not gloss over the realities of the time, including the effects of racism, gender roles, and sexual exploitation. Nonetheless, these portraits show what women of the era did accomplish, given the freedom of the frontier and their own abundant determination.?Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 7^-12. The women who joined the gold rushes in the Yukon and Alaska between the late 1880s and the early 1900s get scant attention in the history books. This collective biography draws on primary sources to tell their stories, with fascinating historical photographs and portraits on every page. Some women went with men, some went alone. They panned for gold, ran boardinghouses and grub tents, worked as dance-hall girls and prostitutes. Ethel Berry was one of the first Klondike millionaires. Klondike Kate, a Tagish native, never got any money from the gold she helped discover. One whole section is devoted to the important roles played by Native American women in the region. Martha Louise Block, a wealthy Chicago matron, said of her adventure: "What I wanted was not shelter and safety, but liberty and opportunity." Lots of sidebars provide general information, including one newspaper article telling women what to pack and what to leave behind. With its handsome, browsable design, this will be welcome for classroom reports and for personal reading. It's a great companion to Karen Cushman's gold rush novel, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (1996). Recommend it also to adult readers. Hazel Rochman
Reader Reviews
Jane G. Haigh and Claire Rudolf Murphy have compiled a book about women of Alaska that is both concise and comprehensive. Glancing through this slim volume reveals a starting place on every page and creates an urge to read it all in one sitting. That would be a mistake, however, since the history contained in the pictures, biographical sketches, journal excerpts, maps, and historical cameos deserves to be savored in small slices and contemplated at length. Haigh and Murphy not only catalog names, dates, and places, but they have managed to create a view of the Gold Rush Women of Alaska and the Yukon that instills a sense of pride in their daughters, granddaughters, sisters, and nieces. These women defied not only the hardships of survival in the north, with its harsh climate and unforgiving nature, but most of them also defied the social conventions of their day to travel alone, or in small groups, seeking adventure, employment, and riches in much the same way as the men usually associated with the gold rush. Many of them found all they were seeking and more, while others died trying. Some took up the illicit trade of prostitution or worked to deprive successful miners of their treasure. Most simply worked hard, took advantage of opportunity as it presented itself, and prospered in the self reliance and skills they possessed. Gold Rush Women includes stories of educated, sophisticated women from the privileged societies of America and Europe, illiterate but highly skilled women from poorer levels of those societies, and the Native women who adapted to the invasion of their homeland and created new lives for their own families. From Harriet Pullen, who owned the most elegant hotel in Alaska, to Klondike Kate Rockwell, known as the Belle of the Yukon, to Sinrock Mary, Reindeer Queen, every story in this book inspires admiration for the women who settled, civilized, and survived one of the most famous human stampedes in history. Not all of these women succeeded in reaching the goals they set for themselves, but every one has a fascinating story to tell her late 20th century sisters. We are not the only ones to establish our independence, prove our abilities, and conquer life with all the adversity it may throw at us. The Gold Rush Women were here first!
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Gold Rush Women
Available from Amazon
Price: $11.53
Updated on 8-5-2008.
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