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The little
blind girl, the Cassiar
miners and Fort Wrangel
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Copyright 1994 Patricia A. Neal
First published in Wrangell Sentinel,
May 12, 1994 |
In 1885, the
Cassiar district in British Columbia was
still begin worked by hundreds of
prospectors. Stateside newspapers were
constantly reporting that Alaskan
prospectors were a "depraved and
worthless class of men" and were
repulsed by the thought of missionaries
coming into the territory. It no doubt
is true that there were a few "low lifes"
who made it to the Alaskan Territory,
but a few bad apples doesn't necessarily
mean everyone is like that! A group of
Cassiar prospector proved that when they
decided to take care of a little blind
girl and help her to receive medical
attention.
Little "Agnes" was about 12 years
old at the time and had been born in the
Taku country of Alaska. Her father was
of the Taku tribe and her mother was a
member of the Tahltan tribe but the
parents weren't living together. In late
1884, little Agnes' eyes had begun t
cloud over, causing her to become almost
blind. She could see things held close
to her ace but the blindness was become
worse.
The summer of 1885, a group of
Cassiar miners took pity on Agnes and
rescued her from an abusive situation
there. A collection was taken up ty the
group raising $122.50 in gold dust and
coing to send Agnes down the Stikine
River to Fort Wrangel and placed in Rev.
S. Hall Young's care.
John C. Callbreath, of Callbreath,
Grant and Cook Merchants at Telegraph
Creek, was placed in charge of seeing
that little Agnes was taken to Fort
Wrangel so that she could be sent
somewhere for medical attention.
Callbreath wrote to Amanda McFarland,
explaining the situation and asking for
assistance in seeing to it that Agnes
was taken to a physician in hopes that
her blindness could be cured.
Accompanying Agnes was a purse
containing 7-10/16 ounce of gold and 50
cents in silver for a total of $11.50 to
be given to the physician in hopes that
she could be healed, with whatever was
left to go towards her care at Fort
Wrangel.
"We have raised $122.50 for her as
the enclosed list will show which are
sent to Mr. Young to be forwarded to you
or as much as may be left of it to be
used as your good judgement may
indicate. Her name is Agnes Tuyea. Tuyea
is the name of the second north branch
of the Stickeen." Wrote Callbreath to
Amanda McFarland, August 25, 1885. (The
Tuyea River [Tuya present-day spelling]
flows into the Stikine River north of
Telegraph creek about the middle of the
Grand Canyon.)
Callbreath hoped that the child
could be healed and then educated so
that she could return to her people and
share her knowledge with the people.
Agnes arrived in Fort Wrangel in
August 1885, and was soon placed in
charge f the purser of the next steamer
leaving for Portland, Oregon. Once
there, she was placed in charge of
another person on board a vessel sailing
for San Francisco, California where she
was to be taken to see an eye specialist
in that city.
The physician determined that her
eyesight had been irrevocably destroyed
and recommended that she be sent to a
facility for the blind as nothing more
could be done for her. Agnes was taken
to the facility but only to await the
next northbound ship back to Alaska
because she could not be kept here since
she was not a resident of California.
Agnes returned to Rev. Young with
$56.00 of the miner's money still in the
little pouch she carried with her. She
had made the round trip on board the
steamers blind and alone, and only in
the care of the caring pursers who saw
to her needs during the voyage.
Rev. Young wrote to Callbreath
letting him know the outcome of the
diagnosis, to which Callbreath
responded: "…please accept my thanks for
the interest yourself and friends take
in our little unfortunate AgnesTuyea. I
shall be interested in hearing from her
whenever it may suite your convenience."
December 24, 1885.
A year later Agnes was doing well
living in the Young's home and attending
school. "Miss McAvoy has a blind
scholar, a girl who was brought from
Cassiar, BC. last summer and is now an
inmate of Mrs. Young's home. This girl
thought blind and unable to speak
English at the opening of the term now
reads I the second reader, using the
raised letters. "The Alaskan, June 23,
1886
Agnes was not the only child from
the Telegraph creek area to be sent to
the care of the Presbyterian
missionaries. July 1886, saw Callbreath
sending another little girl down the
Stikine River in the care of her mother.
He had paid the mother $3000 to
accompany the child and place her in the
training school, relinquishing all
control to the school. Thus, Nellie
Carter joined Agnes Tuyea at the Fort
Wrangel missionary school.
Life in the gold fields was hard
with only the fittest of men surviving
the rigors of the cold north. The
majority of the miners were caring souls
and respectful of others. Their
tenderness towards little Agnes is only
one example of their humanitarianism.
Excerpts from John C. Callbreath's
letters from "Callbreath, Grant and Cook
Merchants Letterpress Books," University
of Washington Library, Seattle, WA
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