August 14, 1951 – “VICTORIA, B.C. – Mrs. Josephine Cassidy, an energetic woman of 86, recalls that she made a fortune in the Yukon gold rush days by taking in washing.
In 1897 she was a dark-haired beauty with flashing eyes and a strong arm. It had to be strong because she did so much washing. She earned from $50 to $150 a day.
‘I used to mush my dog team eight or 10 miles up the trail from Dawson to the R.C.M.P. station. Oh, those trousers with the yellow stripe! Washed so many of them I can’t count. Never see those yellow striped pants that I don’t want to rush up and shake the hand of the man who owns them.’
Mrs. Cassidy first achieved fame when she won a race with her dog team. ‘Col. Steele of the Mounties, the bank manager – everyone bet on me,’ she said. ‘The race was eight miles over unbroken trail and I won $2,000.’
She and her husband had bought equipment to join the gold rush. A series of misfortunes dogged them, culminating in the loss of all the expensive equipment.
One day someone asked her if she could wash, ‘And that is how I started my business,’ she said. ‘I did very well, for when I left the Yukon I came out with a stake of $100,000.’
At her home here Mrs. Cassidy observes an old unwritten law of the Yukon by keeping her table at at all times.”
(The Edmonton Journal – Edmonton, Alberta)
