Matilda P. Rothweiller
Mrs. M. P. Rothweiler was a Seattle milliner who had success in real estate dealings. She arrived in Dawson in June 1898 after being trapped by the weather between St. Michael and Dawson. Her travelling companions booked passage out but Mrs. Rothweiller stayed to assess business opportunities. In the spring of 1899, she bought Mary’s Place near Magnet Hill and demolished the shack to replace it with a log structure. She named it the Magnet Hotel and over the summer added a couple of large two-story buildings to the site. They held a bar, dining room, kitchen, barber shop, and a lending library of several hundred books. A separate bunkhouse had spring mattresses. Magnet City grew up around the hotel as the creeks proved to be rich in gold. The Dawson Daily News claimed the settlement to be the biggest and busiest between Dawson and Grand Forks.1) The hotel was located on Claim #17 Below Bonanza.2)
David McKay was in the Klondike from 1896 to 1903/4. He originally had Claim No. 3 Below Discovery on Bonanza and traded it for #18 Below. Family stories indicate he may have married Matilda Rothweiler in Dawson.3)