George Carmack
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George Washington Carmack (September 24, 1860 – June 5, 1922) was an American
prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...
in the
Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
. He was originally credited with registering Discovery Claim, the discovery of gold that set off the Klondike Gold Rush on August 16, 1896. Today, historians usually give the credit to his
Tagish The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan ( Tagish: ; tli, Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon of Canada. The Tagish intermarried heavily with ...
brother-in-law, Skookum Jim Mason.


Early years

Carmack's mother died when he was 8 years old and his father when he was 11. His great-grandfather was Abraham Blystone. Carmack briefly served in the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
aboard the USS ''Wachusett'' and in Alaska before deserting in California in 1882 when he was refused leave to visit his sick sister.Guide Carmack returned to Alaska in 1885 to engage in trading, fishing and trapping. In 1887 he made a common-law marriage to a
Tagish The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan ( Tagish: ; tli, Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon of Canada. The Tagish intermarried heavily with ...
First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
woman who went by the name of
Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...
.SHAWW


Prospector

Carmack was not popular with other miners, who nicknamed him "Squaw Man" for his association with native people and "Lyin' George" for his exaggerated claims. Nevertheless, he did find a
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
deposit near what is today the village of
Carmacks, Yukon Carmacks is a village in Yukon, Canada, on the Yukon River along the Klondike Highway, and at the west end of the Robert Campbell Highway from Watson Lake. The population is 493 (Canada Census, 2016). It is the home of the Little Salmon/Carma ...
which was named after him. In August 1896, he and Kate were fishing at the mouth of the
Klondike River The Klondike River (Hän: ') is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada that gave its name to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Klondike River rises in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at Dawson City. Its name comes from the Hà ...
when Skookum Jim, his nephew Dawson Charlie and another nephew found them. Prospector Robert Henderson who had been mining gold on the Indian River, just south of the Klondike, suggested that he should try out Rabbit Creek, now Bonanza Creek, where the gold discovery was made. The finding of gold made him wealthy and the Carmacks moved to a ranch near Modesto, California and lived with Carmack's sister, Rose Watson (Rose Curtis).


Later years

In 1900, he abandoned Kate, moved to Seattle, and married Marguerite P. Laimee in
Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. Europea ...
. They settled into a twelve-room white frame house in Seattle with a garage in the back. Marguerite was a good business woman, and she directed her husband's money into real estate. He owned office buildings, apartment houses, and hotels. He grew fat, eventually weighing well over two hundred pounds. With the passing years, his fortune multiplied as well.Guide Yet throughout his life George could not stop looking for gold. He worked several claims in California, on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, and in the
Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, a ...
east of Seattle. George was determined to find another mother lode and re-create the exciting moment of discovery he had experienced as a young man on Bonanza Creek. George died in 1922, at age sixty-one, while working a new claim. He is interred at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park. George's daughter with his first wife, Graphie, married Marguerite's brother. Together with his sister, Rose, Graphie challenged and settled out of court the appointment of Marguerite as administrator of Carmack's estate.


See also

* Jim Robb (painter) * Mount Carmack


References

* * * Blum, Howard (2011). ''The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush''. Crown Publishers. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Carmack, George 1860 births Place of death missing 1922 deaths People of the Klondike Gold Rush Gold prospectors Canadian gold prospectors