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A Little History...
Irish-born Nellie Cashman was an American pioneer, philanthropist, entrepreneur and gold prospector. From the time she came west in the late 1860s, Nellie exhibited her unique style of courage, compassion, determination and spunk that made her one of the most famous women in the American West. Born about 1850 in County Cork, Ireland, Nellie emigrated to the U.S. with her mother and sister. Working as a bellhop in a Boston hotel, Nellie had an encounter with General Ulysses S. Grant, who encouraged her to “go west, as the west needs people like you.” Not expecting to spend the rest of her life being a bellhop or Irish servant girl, Nellie and her family headed toward better opportunity. Nellie set sizable goals for herself: to make lots of money, and to help anyone who needed it. She started as a mining camp cook and progressed to running a series of boardinghouses and ultimately owning restaurants and grocery stores. Her culinary skills were highly regarded. And as she gradually tried her hand at mining and prospecting, she maintained a shrewd attitude about not risking more than she could afford to lose, and always having her trade to fall back on. In 1877, Nellie went in search of gold and became the first white woman to travel to the remote Cassiar wilderness in British Columbia. In the fall of that year, she went to Victoria to give the Sisters of St. Ann a large donation towards their hospital building fund. While there, she learned that her fellow miners were stricken with scurvy and were dying. Not heeding official warnings that a midwinter trip would be mad, Nellie organized a rescue party and mustered the supplies necessary to return to camp and restore health to the survivors. The camp’s death toll dropped to zero after her arrival, and the prospectors told anyone who would listen of her defiance of the elements and her tireless care. The “Angel of the Cassiar” legend was born. From Tucson and Tombstone, Arizona, to Nevada and the Klondike, Nellie continued her life of prospecting, mining and business ownership until her death in 1925. She became as well known for her philanthropy as she was for being a rare woman to not only mine and prospect, but to lead veteran frontiersmen in mining expeditions. It is the spirit of the pioneering Nellie Cashman that Women Business Owners salutes with our annual award in her name. |
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Nellie
2008 
