[#12559] THE GREAT GOLDRUSH - Yukon Klondike - hvem var den norske GULLGRAVEREN?

[Guest Nina Møller Nordby]

'There is a historical TV show here about the old days of mining in British Columbia. The last program was about the Klondike Gold Rush.There was a woman who went to the YUKON in the Klondike Gold Rush named Kathleen who became KLONDIKE KATE. She was about 18 years old and was very pretty, and was a dancer in the saloons there in the City of Whitehorse, I think. Dawson City was the other big City there in those days so it may have been DAWSON CITY where she lived. Anyway she became very wealthy as the miners gave her their GOLD when she danced. They would throw their GOLD nuggets on the floor where she danced.You must remember that there were very few women that went to the Klondike Gold Rush. Most of the women that went to the Yukon were married or were prostitutes. Kate was not a prostitute,but was very friendly towards the miners. They adored her and would stop on the street and stare at her when they saw her. I might add that there was another woman who was quite famous in those days as well. She had a DIAMOND put inside her front tooth of her mouth. That must have been most unusual in those days. It would probably be most unique even in these days.Anyway back to Kate. .....................She left the Yukon and was probably the richest woman in Canada and the most famous woman in the Yukon to this day. She moved around travelling to Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle - I think ending up in Oregon State in the USA. Somehow she lost ALL her money , and was interviewed by a newspaper reporter about her life. She had gone back to the Yukon one time before but was living in a small town in Oregon. Well this story appeared in many newspapers at that time and finally was printed in the newspapers in the Yukon Territory. A Norwegian miner living in the Yukon read the story and was one of the many men who was madly in love with her.He asked her to return to the YUKON and marry him. She married the Norwegian miner and returned to the YUKON. ..............................I thought you might like this story....'Ja hvem var denne norske gullgraveren. Kjenner noen av dere til historien? Han kan meget mulig være en av disse personene[url="http://www.holum.net/holum/gen/golddiggers.htm#Einar>LenkeEller kanksje han finnes i denne databasen

[Guest Nina Møller Nordby]

Hennes norske mann het Johnny Matsson [url="http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/8336/yukon_kate.html>Lenke Her står det også å lese om omstendigheten rundt hans død.'R.C.M.P. Return with Bad NewsDawson Weekly News January 7, 1947After 26 days on the trail, during which time they encountered some of the severest weather of the winter, Const. Wilf Lee R.C.M.P. and his guide Johnnie Sestak, returned to Dawson December 27 after completing a 200-mile round trip patrol to Matson Creek where they buried the remains of the late, pioneer Yukoner placer miner and trapper.Thus ends one of the year's most unusual sagas of the northern wilderness.Perturbed because she had no word from her miner husband who was supposed to 'come outside' this summer, Mrs. Kate Rockwell Matson, widow of the late pioneer, flew in here late last fall to ascertain the fate, if any, that might have befallen her husband. Joe Sestak, experienced Sixtymile trapper and woodsman, whose cabin is about thirty miles away from Matson's and who was his closest neighbour, made a trip to the old timer's cabin, fifty miles up the Sixtymile, shortly before the close of navigation. Joe returned with the tragic news that he had found Matson's body, mutilated by animals at one of his smaller trapping cabins, 8 miles from his main headquarters. Mrs. Matson received the news here in Dawson and knowing that she could do nothing further, returned to her home at Bend, Oregon....John was to have joined his wife outside this past summer. But the winds of fate had other plans. The oldtimer was destined to remain forever in the country that he loved, his remains interred on the bench overlooking his lonely cabin where he'd made his home these past forty years or more. He most likely would have wanted it that way.' Men hvem var Johnny Matsson? Hvor kom han fra?Johnny satte også spor etter seg: 'The Matson Creek Placer Area, Yukon Territory has long been considered an important placer mining production region in the Yukon Territory. The Creek is named after John Matson, a Norwegian miner who spent much of his life mining the area. He is perhaps better known as one of the husbands of the famed 'Klondike Kate' to whom he was married from 1933 to his death in 1946'. Kilde

[Guest Nina Møller Nordby]

John Matson/Johnny Matson - noen som gjenkjenner hans navn, fødselssted og sjebne?