Florence M. Hartshorn papers, 1909-1934

Florence M. Hartshorn was born in 1869 in Michigan. In 1898, she joined her husband Albert in the Yukon, where he owned a blacksmith shop. They had one daughter, Hazel Hartshorn Goslie. Florence Hartshorn saw firsthand the bodies of approximately 3,000 packhorses and mules that perished in the trek over White Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush, an experience that would influence her for the rest of her life. In many interviews with reporters, she recounts how her horse hesitated to step over heaps of horse corpses, and that she pressed a lemon peel against her nose to protect against the terrible smell. In response, Hartshorn worked with the Alaska Division of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Ladies of the Golden North to fund the erection of a monument dedicated to the pack animals that died at White Pass. The monument was dedicated on August 24th, 1929 at what is now known as Dead Horse Gulch. By 1930, Florence and Albert were divorced and Florence moved to Seattle. Florence passed away on October 21st, 1943.