This book gathers the riveting stories of adventurous women -- miners, madams, merchants, and mothers -- who went North during the gold rush era.

"The phrase ’seeing the elephant’ symbolized for ’49 gold rushers the exotic, the mythical, the once-in-a-lifetime adventure, unequaled anywhere else but in the journey to the promised land of fortune: California. Most western myths . . . generally depict an exclusively male gold rush. Levy’s book debunks that myth. Here a variety of women travel, work, and write their way across the pages of western migrant history."-Choice "One of the best and most comprehensive accounts of gold rush life to date"ˆ–San Francisco Chronicle

An edited volume exploring the role women played in California politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

During the frenzied Klondike Gold Rush, many daring women ventured north to seek riches and adventure or to escape a troubled past. These unforgettable, strong-willed women defied the social conventions of the time and endured heartbreak and horrific conditions to build a life in the wild North. At the height of the gold rush, Martha Purdy, Nellie Cashman, Ethel Berry and a few hundred other women were conquering what came to be called the Trail of '98--a route that proved to be an impossible ordeal for many men. From renowned reporter Faith Fenton and successful entrepreneur Belinda Mulrooney to Mae Field, "The Doll of Dawson," and other "citizens of the demimonde," the Klondike's rebel women bring an intriguing new perspective to gold-rush history.

Morgan offers an authentic and deliciously humorous account of the prostitutes and other "disreputable" women who were the earliest female pioneers of the Far North.

Here are the stories of those fascinatingly diverse women -- entrepreneurs, domestics, nuns, doctors, nurses, and journalists -- who played a critical role in the Klondike gold rush at the turn of the century.

Read about the daring women of the Yukon during the gold rushes between the 1880s and early 1900s, and learn about the unique contributions each woman made.