The Klondike Gold rush was a turning point for women in Canadian history. The women of this era were not typical women of their times. They were determined to shake off the Victorian restrictions, and ready to defy the structures built by society. “The search for gold in the Yukon started in 1874 with the arrival of a small handful of prospectors.”[1] “Worldwide publicity of the discovery of large gold nuggets on Bonanza Creek on the Klondike River (wholly in Canadian territory) in 1896 led to the most famous rush of them all, the Klondike Gold Rush (1897-98), and there followed smaller rushes to Nome, Alaska, and to Atlin in the northwest corner of British Columbia.” [2 ] Many came to the Yukon in search of wealth and adventure, while others saw it as an opportunity to build a life outside the regular framework of the social order; giving women the freedom to strive for more than being just a wife. This influenced many diverse professions and very few women worked as miners. But with “Gold Fever” being so contagious, many caught the flu and left their mundane live behind; setting out on their own, hoping to strike it big. At the same time, other women sought out a stable life that they could build, while others edged towards the night life of the Yukon, bringing a variety of forms to the entertainment business. Thanks to the Klondike gold rush, the image of white women on the western frontier underwent a transformation-to that of sturdy, resourceful pioneers.
The women of the Klondike came for similar economic and social reasons as the male miners, but they were attracted to other jobs in the service industry. Both men and women opened various types of businesses (ie. Road houses), but women were considered to be better at running them. Some women became private servants for the wealthier patrons in the Yukon, while others worked alongside the mining industry by packing goods on their backs to sell to the prospectors. A perfect example of this type of entrepreneur was Belinda Mulrooney. Although she came from a humble beginnings, Mulrooney displayed an ambitious attitude and, “At age 25, Belinda Mulrooney arrived to get rich and departed a multimillionaire as the mining camp of 400 became a raucous, raunchy city of 30,000 in only 2 years.” [3] She transported and sold a variety of cloth and hot water bottles when she first arrived in the Klondike. With the profits from those sales, she first built a roadhouse at Grand Forks, and later, a grand hotel in Dawson. She invested widely, including acquiring her own mining company.opxz “Belinda soon turned her attention to the gold fields themselves. Instead of trying to dig gold out of the ground, she mined the miners…In addition to the traditional profits from the hotel and restaurant, Mulrooney was able to profit from information gathered from miners sitting around talking about the digs. By the end of the year, she owned five mining claims either outright, or in partnership.” [4] By the end of the gold rush, Belinda Mulrooney’s hotels and mines had brought her a considerable fortune, earning her the title, the “Richest Woman in the Klondike”.
With a high percentage of gold miners being men, there was a high demand for different forms of entertainment in the Yukon. A small number of women worked in the entertainment and sex industries, but the most exclusive and sought after job was to be an actress or courtesan, as they were highly paid. Kathleen Eloise Rockwell, also known as “Klondike Kate”, was an entrepreneur of the entertainment business. She achieved her fame as a dancer/burlesque star during this time. “She gained her fame as a dancer and vaudeville star during the Klondike Gold Rush, where she met Alexander Pantages who later became a very successful vaudeville/motion picture mogul. She gained notoriety for her flirtatious dancing and ability to keep hard-working miners happy if not inebriated.” [5] Chorus line dancers were also a popular, highly sought after profession, and they usually doubled as a hostesses. After their dances on stage, the performers, like Klondike Kate, would entertain the men for the rest of the night by mingling with the patrons and mixing drinks, and encouraged the miners to spend their hard earned money at the bar. Variety girls were lower down in the ranks and often their only source of income was the commission they received in keeping company with the often lonely and miserable miners. The role of these women was to talk to and amuse their escorts, provide a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on, but above all, to keep the drinks flowing. Because of the small female population in the Klondike, all women attracted attention, but actresses and dance hall girls endured the greatest publicity. The lowest form of entertainment was the sex industry, where women made a living as prostitutes.
Harriet Pullen was another entrepreneur hoping to make it big in the Yukon’s Gold Rush. After several weeks there, she realized that the best way to earn her fortune wasn’t through a gold pan, but through her pans of baked goods. She arrived to Skagway in 1897, as “A wily entrepreneur, she used her spare time to collect empty tin cans, which she beat into pie pans. Before long, she was making a good profit by selling apple pies to stampeders. As the crowds flooded the town, she recognized that the real money was to be made not in looking for gold miles away, but by tending to the needs of stampeders on their way into the fields. She used her pie money to set up a freighting business. She still owned seven horses from her farm at Cape Flattery, Washington, and sent for them. Her freighting outfit over the White Pass trail was successful from the start, bringing her as much as $25 a day.” [6]. By taking advantage of the hungry crowds, Harriet Pullen was able to turn a small amount into a big profit, enabling her to start a booming business, and eventually, leading to her own hotel. The hotel-keeper became famous for her hospitality, and became known as “Ma” Pullen.
The women at this time were not only important, but essential to the growth of the occupations during the Gold Rush. Women left their homes and started to head north not only for gold, but for new job opportunities. Harriet Pullen, Klondike Kate, and Belinda Mulrooney were but a few of the many that came to the Yukon in search of wealth and adventure, and ended up succeeding; becoming entrepreneurs of their time. They all became very profitable women, and were able to beat the shortcoming that most people faced in the Klondike. By breaking the chains of the Victorian restrictions, and the social standards, these innovative women transformed the variety of professions a woman could do; establishing a critical juncture for women across Canada. There definitely was no such thing as a conventional woman in the Klondike; leading them to be the original pioneers of the Yukon gold rush.