Searching for Fannie Quigley: A Wilderness Life in the Shadow of Mount McKinley

I have just returned from Kantishna and visited Fannie Quigley's last cabin (which the Park Service maintained), heard about this book from the interpretive ranger who apparently admired this woman. So I read this book and discovered it to be well written, well researched and bringing in a good balance between a personal biography and history of Alaska. The book also come well endowed with photographs of Fannie Quigley and the maps that helped with the narrative. Obviously the author's interest in this woman was great enough for her to do justice to her life. From her hard childhood in Nebraska to the Klondike Gold Rush to her hike to Rampart and finally into Kantishna where she found her home. Along the way, she perfected her skills as a cook, as a gardener and just about everything else. She learned to hunt after her arrival in Kantishna and proves to be quite an able huntress as well. I think even the author was bit surprised by her abilities to do all things well, including many skills attributed only to men during those days. I read with relative interest at the author's struggles to find Fannie Quigley's original cabin as part of her research. From the book, it is very clear that Fannie Quigley represent the exemplification image of what a true Alaskan pioneering woman was and she was definitely not a paramour like Klondike Kate. If this book did have one singular failing, it didn't get into the personal feelings that Fannie Quigley had during her life. Outside the fact that she uses salty languages a lot and drank too much, there wasn't anything truly negative in this book. Why didn't she have children on her own? Was her marriage to Angus McKenzie and Joe Quigley platonic?? Was she a lesbian? Was she sterile and can't have kids? What were her feeling toward the native Indians? Were they welcome to her table as the white folks? It may be impossible to figure all that out with the limited primary sources out there on this woman. But still, I would have expected this author to take an educated leap of faith on these issues. A well rounded biography explored the negative issues as well as the positive ones. Overall, one of the best biographies of Alaska pioneers I have read in a long time. The book come highly recommended for anyone who plan to visit the area of Kantishna by private means or by Park Service means. My interpretive ranger on my Kantishna Experience Bus Tour, talked in volume about the Quigleys. So reading this book might be handy in that aspect.

As someone who doesn't live in Alaska and has no knowledge of the Gold Rush, I found "Searching for Fannie Quigley" to be a fascinating book. Jane Haigh manages to combine Fannie's personal story with historical background in a very readable way. I enjoyed the way the author interweaves her own account of "searching for Fannie" including driving around the Nebraskan homesteads where Fannie was born and searching for papers documenting Fannie's two marriages, numerous gold mine claims, and other information. The numerous photographs and maps greatly enhance the value of the book. I would recommend this biography to anyone who would enjoy reading about a remarkable pioneer woman and gaining an insight into an interesting slice of Alaskan history.