A member of the Tagish people, Shaaw Tláa, also known as Kate Carmack (circa 1857 – 1920), was part of an expedition that discovered large quantities of gold in Canada. For a long time she will not be credited with the discovery.
Young widow
Born in Carcross in the Yukon in northern Canada, Shaaw Tláa is the daughter of two First Nations people:her mother, Gus'dutéen, is from the Tagish [English] people, while her father, Kaachgaawáa, leads the Tlingit clan. of the crow, native to southeast Alaska. the child lives and grows with his parents and his seven brothers and sisters. Tagish storyteller Angela Sidney will be descended from her family.
As a young girl, Shaaw Tláa married her cousin Kult'ús with whom she had a daughter. In the early 1880s, her husband and daughter died during a flu epidemic and the young widow returned to live in her village. His brother Keish, also known as Skookum Jim Mason, and nephew K̲áa Goox̱ or Dawson Charlie embarked on a partnership with white American prospector George Carmack. Shaaw Tláa marries him in the year and takes the name of Kate Carmack. Their daughter Graphie Grace Carmack was born in 1893.
The Gold Rush
In 1896, Kate and her husband traveled and fished at the mouth of the Klondike River, west of the Yukon. His brother and his nephew, gone in search of them, join them. During their expedition, the small group discovered large quantities of gold at Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River then known as Rabbit Creek. The discovery will be claimed by George Carmack, despite the participation of Kate and her brother Keish, today generally credited as co-discoverers; some stories make Kate the real discoverer.
The discovery sparked an impressive gold rush, drawing an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region within three years. The Carmacks got rich and moved to California with a sister of George, Rose Watson. Shortly after, George leaves wife and child - leaving them destitute - to marry another woman, Marguerite Laimee. Kate tries to assert her rights but does not have proof of her marriage and her request is denied.
Returning to Carcross, Kate and Graphie settled in a dwelling built by Keish near his. Shaaw Tláa – Kate Carmack died in March 1920, during the global Spanish flu epidemic. His grave is marked "Gold I bring to crown him again" (“I bring gold to crown him again”). In 2018, long after the male members of the expedition, Shaaw Tláa – Kate Carmack was inducted into Canada’s Mining Hall of Fame.