Alaska frontierswoman Fannie Quigley had a reputation for cultivating amazing gardens near her wilderness cabin in Kantishna.
A pint-sized, foul-mouthed, bear-hunting frontierswoman left her mark on the harsh Alaska wilderness. Weighing in at about 100 pounds, which included a bottle of homebrew she always had tucked inside her boot, Fannie Quigley was made for the tough life she carved out for herself near Denali.
Born in 1870 to Czech immigrant farmers in Wahoo, Nebraska, Fannie grew up enduring blizzards, droughts, and plagues of locusts that instilled in her an unbreakable pioneer spirit. At just 16 years old, she fled the hardscrabble existence of the Great Plains, following the construction of the Union Pacific railroad westward. She took jobs as a cook and waitress in work camps, honing her rudimentary English, and learning to bake and cook hearty fare that later would make her a legendary backcountry hostess.
News of gold found in the Klondike sparked her desire to seek adventure farther north. She crossed the punishing Chilkoot Pass into the Yukon, one of the first white women to do so, and tried her hand at prospecting along the Forty Mile River.
The 27-year-old quickly discovered she could earn more cooking and baking for the hungry stampeders. Soon she was hiking from strike to strike serving thousands of hot meals from her tent restaurant, which earned her the name "Fannie the Hike."
It was in the remote Kantishna region near then-Mount McKinley (now Denali) that Fannie finally found her home in 1906. She met Joe Quigley, a seasoned sourdough prospector whose 6-foot frame towered over her not-even-5-foot height, and the two were soon partners in work, life, and legend. While Joe, who was one of the first white men to have crossed the Chilkoot Pass before the Klondike rush, searched for the next big strike, Fannie hunted bear, moose, and caribou with a skill that dazzled folks.
She was as adept as any man in those rough and tough early days. As her husband worked his Red Top Mine, she prospected and worked her own sites. Between 1907 and 1919, she staked more than two dozen claims, including one that originally belonged to Alaska explorer/adventurer Joe Dalton.
However, her prowess as a hunter truly set her apart. Despite never shooting an animal before she arrived at Kantishna, she quickly became renowned throughout Alaska for her hunting skills.
One visitor marveled at how Fannie "tracks, prefers to hunt alone, skins and dresses, packs and caches even such massive beasts as moose and bear, skins out the cape and horns of mountain sheep and can both butcher and cook any game meat to the queen's taste." Her rhubarb pies, baked with lard rendered from the bears she killed, were widely praised.
The couple hosted scads of people who came through Kantishna over the years. From grubstakers to park rangers, scientists to nobility, big game hunters to geologists, all those who shared company with the Quigleys found their cabin a welcome place to rest and enjoy the fine fare Fannie provided.
Her spreads held an abundant harvest from her garden, including treats like potatoes, carrots, beets, celery, onions, radishes, turnips and rhubarb. Wild fruit and berry jams, jellies and pies also graced her table. The Quigleys used tunnels of the mine to keep their wild meat and vegetables preserved during the winter months. Guests often were surprised to be served what appeared to be fresh vegetables in the dead of winter.
Her husband sold the Red Top Mine in the late 1930s and moved to Seattle. Fannie chose to stay in the tiny cabin at the end of the dirt road into what now is Denali National Park. The couple divorced several years later.
For nearly 40 years, the tiny but indomitable Fannie Quigley embodied the pioneer spirit of the Alaska wilderness. In August 1944, at age 74, the "droll, spunky and tenacious little pioneer" passed away peacefully in her sleep.
Her rustic cabin still stands today, a monument to the adventurous woman who defined what it meant to thrive on the final frontier. She was inducted into the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame in 2000.
This column features tidbits found while researching Alaska's colorful past for Aunt Phil's Trunk, a five-book Alaska history series written by Laurel Downing Bill and her late aunt, Phyllis Downing Carlson. The books, including the newest titled "Pioneers From Alaska's Past," are available at bookstores and gift shops throughout Alaska, as well as online at http://www.auntphilstrunk.com.
