Sourdough Pancakes Klondike Kate

During the Klondike gold rush in Alaska many women in the Eastern States desired to 
trap a rich husband in Alaska.  One woman, Nellie Armitage from New York sent her 
photograph to a Dawson newspaper with an advertisement stating her measurements and 
weight.  The advertisement stated that the first man to pay for the advertisement and 
deposit $50,000 in a bank account could have her address and hand in marriage.  The 
newspaper was swamped with offers of men to pay for the advertisement and deposit the 
money.

Kate Mulrooney came to Alaska from Dublin, Ireland.  She married Maurice Pellet, a 
wealthy French Count.  He had come to Alaska with the rest of the gold rushers.  His 
gold claims made him one of the wealthiest men in all of Europe.

Kate Rockwell came to Alaska to get as much gold as she could from the gold miners.  
Kathleen would do anything to shake the miners loose from their gold.  She would play 
mother, sister, mistress -- whichever worked the best and the quickest.  She coined the 
word "condominium".  It meant you could buy an apartment or home with a built-in 
mistress.  Today it is more difficult to get a real condominium.  The mistress is often 
missing.  Kate became "Klondike Kate".  She liked the name.

In Dawson Kate lived with Alexander Pantages.  He was a nice man.  Alex had never 
kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach.  Pantages knew Kate had a lot of money.  He 
was a Greek and never did like the snow and ice.  He wanted to go south. Kate was 
stupidly conned into going along with him.  He got her to give him $150,000. Pantages 
established a vaudeville chain with the money.  He not only threw Kate our but publicly 
proclaimed that he had never known her.  Pantages became a multimillionaire "King of 
Vaudeville".  He never got over his nice winning ways.  He was taken to court for raping 
a seventeen-year-old dancer.

Kate at 39 married a twenty-year-old man from Bend, Oregon.  He noticed Kate coming 
out of a hotel room with another man.  When she tried to enter the door of their home, he 
stood in the doorway and barred the way.

"Over my dead body."

Kate sputtered, "Don't give me any ideas."  They were divorced.

Kate married John Matson, a gold miner from Dawson.  Life in a miner's cabin was a 
little trying for Kate.  She complained Johnny smelled like a wet buffalo hide.  There 
were fleas in the cabin waiting for them.  You needed ten hands to sit still.  Johnny hung 
his long john underwear out on some bushes to air out.  An Indian woman passed by and 
cut all the buttons off the underwear.  Wearing long johns without buttons is quite an 
experience and made Johnny irritable.  One thing led to another.  Kate went back to 
Seattle.  John Matson was found dead in his cabin.

Kate said this time she wanted a simple husband.  She married a man that had a dog for 
years and never could teach him to bark.

Kate died in her sleep February 1, 1957 at the age of eighty.

People differed a great deal in their opinions of Kathleen Rockwell but all of them agreed 
that her sourdough pancakes were second to none.  She carried the recipe sewed in the 
top of one of her hats.  This is the original recipe right from her hat.

At night add to your sourdough pot 2 cups of lukewarm water and 2 1/2 cups of flour.  
Beat out all of the lumps.  Cover and allow to set in a warm place overnight.  In the 
morning stir down the dough.  Remove 1 cup of the dough and save for your sourdough 
pot.  To the remaining dough add 2 whole eggs, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, vegetable 
oil or bacon drippings and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of evaporated milk or enough to make the dough 
into the proper consistency for pancakes.  Beat well to remove all lumps.

In a small bowl combine 1 level teaspoon of salt, 1 level teaspoon of baking soda and 2 
tablespoons of sugar.  Blend them together until no baking soda lumps are left.

Now sprinkle evenly over the sourdough batter and mix together gently.  Let the batter 
rest 10 to 15 minutes.

Fry on a hot, lightly greased griddle until golden brown on both sides.  A cast iron griddle 
is by far the best to use.  Do not throw out any leftover pancakes.  The leftover pancakes 
are delicious with a little jelly or jam.

Kate often used blueberries in her pancakes.  She hit John Matson over the head one day 
with the pancake griddle when he complained that two of the blueberries were fighting.  
He said she better watch what she was putting into the pancakes more closely.

Skiff note:  In one of Herter's cookbooks he mentioned making "wilderness sandwiches" 
(or something like that) by putting crumbled bacon, bacon grease, and brown sugar on a 
left-over pancake and rolling it up, wrapping it in (I don't remember, maybe waxed 
paper) and putting it in your pocket.  I found we liked buttered left-over pancakes with a 
little brown sugar and "phony" bacon bits.