Keish

Infobox Person
name = Keish


image_size = 200px
caption = Keish (Skookum Jim Mason)
birth_name = Keish
birth_date = c. 1855
birth_place = close to Bennett Lake
death_date = July 11 1916
death_place = Whitehorse, Yukon
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residence = Carcross, Yukon
nationality = Tahltan
other_names = Skookum Jim Mason
known_for = credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush
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occupation = packer over the Chilkoot Pass carrying supplies for miners
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children = Daisy Mason
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Keish (c. 1855 – July 11 1916), better known by his European name Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born close to Bennett Lake. Skookum Jim Mason was born to a Tahltan women in the Telegraph Creek area, which under matriarchal society made him Tahltan. He lived in Carcross, Yukon.

In the mid 1880s, he worked as a packer over the Chilkoot Pass carrying supplies for miners, where he earned his "Skookum" nickname because of his extraordinary strength. Skookum means "strong" in the Chinook Jargon used on the Pacific coast.

He assisted William Ogilvie in his explorations of the upper Yukon. He also showed members of the expedition the way over the White Pass. Keish is today credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush, although, in keeping with the prejudices of the time, it was originally attributed to George Carmack, his brother-in-law. It is also possible that the discovery was made by Keish's sister Shaaw Tláa.

Carmack described Keish as:

“straight as a gun barrel, powerfully built with strong sloping shoulders, tapering…downwards to the waist, like a keystone. He was known as the best hunter and trapper on the river, in fact he was a super-specimen of the northern Indian” (Skookum Jim Oral History Project- Archives) [cite web |url=http://www.destinationcarcross.com/ccacsamples.htm |title=Sample Interpretive Tour Program: Skookum Jim Tour |accessdate=2008-06-05 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=destinationcarcross.com]

He died in Whitehorse, Yukon in 1916, survived by a daughter, Daisy Mason, sister, Kate Carmack, and cousin, Tagish John.cite web |url=http://north-land.com/ypa/SkookumJim%20Mason.html |title=SKOOKUM JIM MASON'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT |accessdate=2008-06-05 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=1916-09-22 |work= |publisher=Yukon Prospectors' Association]

References

External links

* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7489 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]

Persondata
NAME = Keish
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Skookum Jim Mason
SHORT DESCRIPTION = credited with making the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush
DATE OF BIRTH = c. 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH = close to Bennett Lake
DATE OF DEATH = July 11 1916
PLACE OF DEATH = Whitehorse, Yukon