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Ten Female Trailblazers of Western Canada
As prospectors, mountaineers, farmers and homesteaders, women played an important role in the development of Western Canada. This list of ten female trailblazers includes Black American settlers and prospectors; a Tagish prospector whose discovery helped spark the Klondike Gold Rush; a glacier specialist and founding member of the Alpine Club of Canada; and one of the first women hired by the North-West Mounted Police. Some travelled from overseas or the United States, others from Central or Atlantic Canada — all were lured to the Canadian west by the prospect of land, freedom and opportunity.