Heroine of the gold rush

By Jackie McKay – CBC News

In the common telling of the story, Carmack, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie find gold at Bonanza Creek after getting a tip from prospector Robert Henderson.

But James and her mother Bessie Jim say it was Skookum Jim who found the gold. 

“Skookum Jim … went down to the creek to drink some water, they were packing moose meat at the time, and saw gold or the colour of gold in the creek, and picked it up and took it back up to George and said, ‘Is this what we’re looking for?'” said James.

Deb Vanasse, author of Wealth Woman, a book about Shaaw Tláa, said she found accounts where Carmack admitted it was Skookum Jim who found the gold.