George Washington Carmack (1860 – 1922)

George Carmack was born in Contra County, California to parents Hannah and Perry Carmack. The family lived on a ranch near Bull Valley (Port Costa). George’s mother died when he was three and he was mothered by his older sister Hannah Rosella (Rose). Rose married when she was fourteen, and her husband put George to work as a sheepherder after he completed grade five. A month after his twenty-first birthday George was free to do as he please, and he joined the United States Marine Corps. In 1882 he sailed aboard the U.S.S Wachusett, bound for Sitka to keep peace in southwestern Alaska. He soon picked up the Chinook trade language. Sitka was full of prospectors, back from the Cassiar gold fields, and/or excited about the recent discoveries near present-day Juneau. The Wachusett returned to San Francisco that fall and Carmack was denied leave after he received news of Rose being ill with pneumonia. The entire ship was under containment and Carmack was one of fifteen men who deserted. He wanted to go back north and had saved enough by 1885 to buy a ticket with some money left over for an outfit. In Juneau, he joined up with three other men who had never been in the interior and they each put up $200 for shared supplies. Carmack and his partners travelled with the Day brothers who had experience prospecting in the interior. They crossed the Chilkoot Pass to Lake Lindeman where they whipsawed lumber for flat-bottomed boats. The Days went on to the Stewart River while the Carmack party took their time, prospecting as they went. They went as far as Miles Canyon before Carmack turned back. ¹⁾

That winter there were many stories about gold on the Stewart River and Carmack was determined to return to the Yukon watershed. He was unable to find work in Juneau, so he hired a boat for Dyea and camped near John Healy’s post. ²⁾ In the summer of 1886, Healy used his double-masted schooner, Charlie, to transport prospectors from Juneau to Dyea. He hired a sea captain and George Carmack served as second mate. Healy and Carmack knew one-another from Juneau. George travelled into the Yukon that summer with Barney Hill and they explored the Big Salmon River. Barney stayed to prospect, and Carmack turned back to the coast with three other miners. George got separated from his travelling companions and met a group of Tagish at Lake Bennett. He was without food, and they took him in. He already knew Skookum Jim from his time on the coast. Jim was related to the Tlingit headman L’unáat in two ways: he was married to L’unáat’s sister, and Jim’s sister Aagé was one of L’unáat’s wives. Carmack spent the winter in Tagish. He was adopted into the Deisheetaan Clan and married Skookum Jim’s niece, Kitty in the traditional way. The marriage was advantageous for the Tagish who might be able to trade directly with Carmack’s friend John Healy. Kitty died within a few months of the marriage, and three weeks later, George married Shaaw Tláa (Kate), Skookum Jim’s sister. ³⁾

Gold was discovered in the Fortymile River drainage in the fall of 1886 and the Chilkoot packers were busy in the spring of 1887. George Carmack was the only white man packing on the Chilkoot Trail and was allowed only because of his marriage to Shaaw Tláa (Kate) and her connection to the Tlingit headman L’unáat. In 1887, William Ogilvie needed 120 packers to carry his surveying equipment over the pass and Kate, Jim, and George were among those assigned to the task. The Tlingit packers quit at the summit and Carmack persuaded nine Tagish men to help pack the equipment down to Lake Bennett. In the fall, Carmack helped Healy repair the schooner Charlie, which had been damaged in a spring tide, and then he and Kate returned inland to travel with the Tagish for the winter. ⁴⁾

In 1888, George, Kate and her nephew Charlie spent the summer trading for furs on the Yukon River and doing a little prospecting on the Hootalinqua (Teslin) River. The winter was spent hunting and trapping with the Tagish. More prospectors came into the country in 1889, and George, Kate, Jim, and Charlie travelled to the Big Salmon River. The Tagish were reluctant to travel in Northern Tutchone territory, so they waited at the Yukon while George explored on his own. After that, Jim and Charlie returned south, and George and Kate went down the Yukon River to Forty Mile. The sternwheeler with winter supplies did not reach Forty Mile that fall. One account says that the Carmack spent the winter at Gordon Bettles’ post near the mouth of the Tanana River. ⁵⁾ Another account says they went up the Porcupine to Rampart House where they spent the winter trapping. ⁶⁾ The Carmacks were back in the Fortymile River drainage in the spring of 1889. George was mining on Nugget Gulch and Kate had a good business making and selling moccasins and mittens. They left Forty Mile in September 1892, boarding the sternwheeler New Racket for Harper’s post at Fort Selkirk where Reverend Thomas Canham and his wife were getting settled. Carmack brought logs down from Ladue’s sawmill and he and prospector Henry Davis built the Anglican rectory. Kate and George’s daughter, Graphie Grace (Aagé) was born at Fort Selkirk in January 1893. Harper’s post was busy in the spring of 1893, and he was able to trade for 9,000 marten plus ten bales of lynx and fox skins. Harper staked Carmack in a half interest in a post that Carmack established on the Yukon River above the Big Salmon River and near an outcrop of coal. [The current site of Carmacks village.] George lost his boat on a trip to Forty Mile and Reverend Canham hired him to build the school at Fort Selkirk. They stayed in the area for the next two years. ⁷⁾

Veazie Wilson travelled the Yukon River in 1894. He found ‘Cormac of Fort Pelly’ doing some coal mining about 5 miles above Five Finger Rapids. He drove a tunnel into the bank of the river, nearly 60 feet above the water. This he timbered and Wilson was told he mined some coal which which was fairly good blacksmith use. ⁸⁾ George Carmack’s old trading post is a few miles above Five Finger Rapids. A mile or so below that on the right-hand side of the river, before turning to Five Finger, A.C. Harris noted the evidence of McCormick’s drift into the side of the mountain. Harris talked to prospectors who saw Carmack taking out good specimens of coal. ⁹⁾
In May 1896, the Carmacks moved to Forty Mile. In June, George had a dream of two large king salmon with scales of gold. He and his family, and prospector friend Lou Cooper, left for the Klondike River, a river staked with fish weirs where large salmon could be caught. The salmon run was poor that year and Carmack decided he would have to hunt for winter meat. Late in July, Skookum Jim and his two nephews, Charlie and Kulsin (Patsy Henderson), arrived at the Klondike fish camp. In late July 1896 Robert Henderson met George Carmack, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie at the mouth of the Klondike River. Henderson was returning to his claims on Gold Bottom and told George he could stake there as well but the First Nation men were not welcome on the creek. George, Jim, and Charlie cut logs up the Klondike River with an idea of rafting them down the Yukon and selling them to the sawmill at Forty Mile. After that they went prospecting, leaving Patsy and Kate and her daughter at the fish camp. They followed a small tributary later renamed Bonanza Creek. In George’s letters to his sister, George said he panned good prospects on the creek, and they then visited Robert Henderson on Gold Bottom and told him about the results. Acting on Henderson’s suggestion, Carmack staked a claim on Gold Bottom but did not stay to work it after Henderson refused to sell him some tobacco. On the way back to the Klondike River, Carmack, Jim, and Charlie stopped near their last camp on Bonanza and panned out the coarse gold that would start the Klondike gold rush. ¹⁰⁾
On 17 August, they staked some claims they intended to work in partnership. George staked Discovery Claim and No 1 Below, as the first staker on a creek was allowed two claims. Skookum Jim staked No. 1 Above and Charley staked No. 2 Below. Annoyed with Henderson, they did not consider going back to Gold Bottom to tell him of their find. On the way down the Klondike, they met Dan McGillivray, Dave Edwards, Harry Waugh, and Dave McKay and told them of their discovery. McKay went on to stake Claim No. 3 Below Discovery and the other members of McGillivray’s party staked Nos. 15, 16, and 17 Below Discovery. Back at the mouth of the Klondike, Carmack hailed two French-Canadians who were headed down the Yukon River to Forty Mile and told them of his discovery. Alphonso LePierre staked Claim No. 12 Below on Bonanza and George Remillard staked the neighbouring Claim 11. Carmack then rowed across the Yukon River and told Lou Cooper and his partner Ed Monahan. Cooper staked Claim No. 32 Below Discovery. ¹¹⁾ Carmack’s letters indicated that Monohan staked claim No. 29 but a list of original indicators puts this claim in the hands of H. Hamilton with no claim listed for Monahan. ¹²⁾
Jim stayed on the Bonanza claim while George, Charlie, and Patsy rafted the logs they had cut down to Forty Mile. George announced the Bonanza strike in Bill McPhee’s saloon and the Klondike stampede began on a local level. Canadian law required that each claim applicant appear in person before an authorized official and the claims were properly recorded on 24 September 1896. George, Jim and Charley worked their separate claims as one, and over the next four years divided almost a million dollars’ worth of gold into three equal shares. When William Ogilvie surveyed the claims on Bonanza and Eldorado, he found that Jim’s claim No 1 was over the legal size so Patsy, now eighteen years old, was able to stake the fraction known as Claim 1A Above. It was recorded in the name of Tagish Patsy on 1 March 1897. By June 1897 they had sold Claim No. 2 Below for $13,750, and still had a claim each. During the winter of 1897/98, they hired a dozen men to work underground on the claims. They sluiced the winter paydirt dumps and recovered more than $150,000 after royalties. They divided up the money three ways and then leased their claims to other miners. ¹³⁾
George had not seen his sister for thirteen years so all six travelled to California, taking a riverboat to St. Michael and then a steamer to Seattle. Carmack stopped there to see a dentist. They all had chains and watch fobs made from some of their nuggets. Carmack invested in a hotel, bought some silver claims in the Cascade Mountains, and lent money to those with hard-luck stories. At the end of September, Carmack’s party moved on to San Francisco and travelled out to his sister’s ranch near Hollister. Carmack paid off the mortgage on the ranch and he, Kate, and Graphie settled in for the winter. Jim and Charlie were bored and, after partaking in a drunken brawl in nearby Paicines, they agreed it was time to return to the Yukon. George and Kate returned to the Yukon in March 1899, leaving Graphie with Rose and her husband James in California. The spring clean-up brought the partners almost $200,000 in gold. They travelled to Seattle in July to shop and Carmack looked after some business. Kate and Jim ended up in the drunk tank and drew attention from the press. Carmack was trying to impress the business community, and he started to distance himself from his Tagish family. ¹⁴⁾
In June 1900, Carmack met Marguerite Laimee in Dawson and he asked her to marry him. This despite having Kate, his common-law wife, and their daughter living with Carmack’s sister in California at the time. George let his sister Rose tell Kate of his plans and that she should join Jim and Charlie in Seattle. He also instructed Rose to keep Graphie and Kate’s niece Mary in California. In Mid-August Carmack returned to Seattle to settle the partner’s account and transfer his Klondike holdings to Skookum Jim. His share of the last clean-up was $58,000 and he sold his interest in the double Discovery Claim and No. 1 Below. He valued the sale at $20,000 and he traded that for Jim and Charley’s share in the Seal Rock Hotel in Seattle. He mortgaged the hotel to his sister for $30,000 so it was not in his name. In the spring of 1901, George and Marguerite moved into the Fremont Hotel which he owned. George deeded the hotel to Marguerite, and she changed the name to the Carmack Annex and operated it as a boarding house. Carmack worked on getting his Cascade Mountains lode mine into operation. After spending about $30,000 of his own money he tried selling shares but could not raise enough money. The Carmack Gold & Copper Mining Company closed down in 1903, but Carmack continued to work at the mine hoping to increase production over the first and only shipment. Marguerite managed the Carmack’s property, and they eventually moved to a spacious home close to the downtown business district. In 1917, Carmack closed the Cascade mine and turned his attention to mines in the Westville, California region. ¹⁵⁾
Around 1922, Carmack started a book on his Yukon experiences. He had completed one chapter when he and Marguerite travelled to Seattle in May 1922.They attended a meeting of the Seattle Yukon Order of Pioneers lodge and then went on to Vancouver where Carmack read his finished chapter at a meeting of the Vancouver Cabin of the Yukon Order of Pioneers. About thirty old-time prospectors attended the meeting and, after his presentation, the organization passed a resolution declaring Carmack the man who started the Klondike gold rush. ¹⁶⁾ Carmack developed pneumonia on that trip. He died at the Roycroft Hospital in Vancouver and Marguerite shipped his body to Seattle. Graphie learned of her father’s death in the newspapers, and neither Graphie nor Rose were notified of the funeral. Marguerite was appointed administrator of the estate, and Rose and Graphie contested the appointment. A court-appointed administrator took over, and a cash-strapped Marguerite could not afford a tombstone for George. In 1923 the court decided that all of Marguerite’s assets were the community property of Marguerite and George, and the estate was valued at $150,000. Marguerite lived in California, managing Carmack’s gold mines and visited Seattle every year to manage her properties there. In 1933, she published an eighteen-page booklet called “My Experiences in the Yukon” by George W. Carmack. It was based on Carmack’s manuscript with all mention of Kate and Graphie removed. Marguerite gradually sold off the Seattle property to support the California mines. In 1941, she closed the mine and moved into Auburn where she died the next year. Her ashes are buried next to George’s grave in Seattle. ¹⁷⁾