Mrs. Charles M. Crawford died at Cleary Creek in 1904 (before there were any roads of any kind) and was buried on Judge Wickersham's mining claim (it's in his book, Old Yukon). While removing laundry from the line, she put a straight pin in her mouth and accidentally swallowed it and it lodged in her throat causing her death.
Her coffin was exhumed and was reburied in Clay Street Cemetery on April 8, 1926. Her coffin was encased in ice and her body was perfectly preserved.
Her husband was Charles Milton Crawford. Efforts are ongoing to determine her given name.
Fred Crew wrote a beautiful poem about her grave at Cleary:
A CLEARY PIONEER.
You talk of the deeds of the old pioneers
and laud them to the skies, But never a word of the woman
or the grave wherein she lies, Who's asleep out here on the hillside,
where people as they pass, Oft catch a glimpse of the little grave
half hidden in the grass, That holds the first white woman
who trod this golden land. Who brighten'd the hopes of many
by extending the helping hand, Who went through all that you did —
camp'd on the same old trail — Mush'd in the lead in the wild stampede
and laugh'd at the icy gale.
There's a picket-fence around her,
but no sign of slab or stone. To tell the name of the sleeper
or explain why she's alone — Alone out here on the hillside
in a little fenc'd-off plot, Slumbering on in silence,
by everyone forgot, With none to plant a flower
or shed a single tear As tribute to the grit and nerve
of this Cleary pioneer, Who went through all that you did—
camp'd on the same old trail — Mush'd in the lead in the wild stampede
and laugh'd at the icy gale.
Mrs. Charles M. Crawford died at Cleary Creek in 1904 (before there were any roads of any kind) and was buried on Judge Wickersham's mining claim (it's in his book, Old Yukon). While removing laundry from the line, she put a straight pin in her mouth and accidentally swallowed it and it lodged in her throat causing her death.
Her coffin was exhumed and was reburied in Clay Street Cemetery on April 8, 1926. Her coffin was encased in ice and her body was perfectly preserved.
Her husband was Charles Milton Crawford. Efforts are ongoing to determine her given name.
Fred Crew wrote a beautiful poem about her grave at Cleary:
A CLEARY PIONEER.
You talk of the deeds of the old pioneers
and laud them to the skies, But never a word of the woman
or the grave wherein she lies, Who's asleep out here on the hillside,
where people as they pass, Oft catch a glimpse of the little grave
half hidden in the grass, That holds the first white woman
who trod this golden land. Who brighten'd the hopes of many
by extending the helping hand, Who went through all that you did —
camp'd on the same old trail — Mush'd in the lead in the wild stampede
and laugh'd at the icy gale.
There's a picket-fence around her,
but no sign of slab or stone. To tell the name of the sleeper
or explain why she's alone — Alone out here on the hillside
in a little fenc'd-off plot, Slumbering on in silence,
by everyone forgot, With none to plant a flower
or shed a single tear As tribute to the grit and nerve
of this Cleary pioneer, Who went through all that you did—
camp'd on the same old trail — Mush'd in the lead in the wild stampede
and laugh'd at the icy gale.
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Mrs. Charles Crawford
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