Skookum Jim was born, in the 1850's, into the Dakl'aweidi
clan of Tagish, son of the Tagish Deisheetaan Chief Kaachgaawaa and Gus'duteen,
his mother, who was from the Telegraph Creek area. His birth name was Keish,
which means wolf. He came by the name 'Skookum', which means 'strong' in
Chinook trade jargon, by carrying 156 pounds of bacon over the Chilkoot Pass for
William Ogilvie, almost double the load most prospectors could carry.
Jim was well known for his strength. In the summer of 1892,
from a boat he saw two bears fighting, and decided to hunt them. They ran up
the mountain from him, but he shot and killed the black bear, then shot and
wounded a big brown bear. He had a hand to hand fight with the wounded bear,
ramming his rifle into the bear's throat and hitting him on the head with big
stones. The bear went downhill and hid in some bushes, where Jim finally killed
him with one shot.
When work ran out in Skagway, Jim went with his nephew,
Dawson Charlie, and his brother-in-law, George Carmack, to prospect for gold.
There is some confusion about who actually made the discovery. George Carmack
said it was himself, but Dawson Charlie, Jim and each of their wives said it
was Skookum Jim. As Jim told of the discovery to William Ogilvie, the three men
were along what is now called Bonanza Creek when their supplies ran out and Jim
had to hunt for moose. He called to George and Charlie and, while he was
waiting for them, decided to look in the sand of the creek where he had gone
for a drink. He found gold, more than he had ever seen before, and consequently
set off the Klondike Gold Rush. Their first pay-off was about $150,000. The
three men leased their claims and took a celebration voyage to Seattle. After
selling his claim in 1904, Jim settled in Carcross.
Incidentally, Jim and Charlie also set off the Kluane Gold
Rush when they made a discovery on a creek in the Kluane Lake area a few years
later.
http://hougengroup.com/yukon-history/yukon-nuggets/skookum-jim-mason/
