LE3 .A278 2012

2012

Poulter, Gillian

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

History

History & Classics

The women who participated in the Klondike stampede of 1897-1901 were a different breed than their Victorian mothers and grandmothers. In many cases they dreamed of something more for themselves than settled society could offer. A unique opportunity was offered to them in the gold rush frenzy of 1897. In the far corners of Canada was the geographically isolated Yukon. Dawson City, at the centre of the Klondike hullabaloo, was a town of men, mining, and mud. Here, women were able to transcend the gender roles of their foremothers and find a place in the predominantly male dominated public sphere. Some women were able to do this easily, having the personality or the education to stand strong against their male peers. Diaries, newspaper articles, and published accounts of Klondikers give positive and encouraging feedback on those women who were making an effort to transcend the accepted gender ideology in the Klondike. Some of these women took significant strides by offering their domestic services for a price in the frontier boomtown of Dawson - duties expected rather than appreciated in settled society – and sometimes making personal fortunes. Other women, with strong personalities, pushed further by becoming authoritative figures in the Klondike community. This was unprecedented. There was something new arising in the opportunities for these women.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:859