In the summer of 1897, after several tragic accidents, Sam Steele of the North-West Mounted-Police declared that no women or children were allowed to travel through Miles Canyon and the White Horse Rapids by boat. Instead they had to walk around the dangerous waters. Steele's goal was to prevent further injuries or drownings, but some women had no wish to hike five miles of mosquito-infested forest. Flaunting Steele's threat of a $100 fine, they found ways to make the trip by boat.
Kate Rockwell, who became known as Klondike-Kate, claimed in an interview late in her life to have defied Steele's order by dressing as a man. In overalls and a
