Belle Brennon
Margaret Shand first met Belle Brennon during a stampede up the Stewart River. Belle spoke about mining in men's language and knew all about placer mining. She was raised in northern California and her people were gold miners. Her grandfather came around the horn in 1849 with his family from Virginia. She was brought up on mining and came to the Yukon to try her luck. Her husband gave up his job as a violinist with the San Francisco Symphony and was mining at Thistle Creek. Belle was returning from a trip outside when she heard about the stampede and decided to stop and try to find a claim. The stampeders staked a few claims but they were not rich. After a while Belle's husband went back to his profession in San Francisco. She went out as well but her mining interests often brought her back to the Yukon. She lived alone on Thistle Creek with her dog and managed her hydraulic operation on Thistle Creek. Belle Brennon was a clever carpenter and a seamstress. She had two dogs, Jip and Captain. Jip went after a bear one time when he had a pack on his back. He came back after two days without it. Months later it was returned to her by a man who knew it was hers. It contained $460 worth of gold nuggets.1)
Belle was getting ready to go outside to spend Christmas in San Francisco with her husband in December 1918 and she stayed to have Christmas supper with the Shands. She was there when the roadhouse burned down. Belle lost whatever she had with her including two trunks and several boxes she wanted to store while she was outside. She stayed and managed the construction of the new roadhouse. Belle was still working the mine at Thistle when Davy Shand died in 1929. She came and got Margaret Shand and took her back to Thistle. They stayed overnight at the trading post and the next day travelled up to Belle's cabin. The fence around the cabin was made of 12 - 5 mastodon tusks washed out of Belle's mine. The men who worked for Belle lived in a bunkhouse down by the creek. Lew Bower had a cabin four miles away with a good garden. Belle Brennon left the Yukon when she heard that her husband was ill in the hospital at Oakland. Belle took him to southern California and had no reason to return to the Yukon.2)