Born on the 3rd pf September, Sister Agnes spent 28 days with another nun at Bonanza Creek in order to solicit funds from the miners for the hospital.
They covered 475 miles (760 km) on foot or on horse -back in snow and mud. According to their guide the Sisters’ behaved as true heroines in this adventure of multiple difficulties, After having found $10,000., they returned to Dawson City.
Besides 2 years of 2 trips out of the Yukon, this pioneer of the North remained in Dawson City until her death on April 22, 1923. Agnes Ouimette was buried in the private cemetery for religious persons in Dawson City. In 1978, her remains were exhumed and the remains of the four nuns buried there were transferred to the city cemetery.
NOTE: The personnel of St Mary’s Hospital in Dawson City was made up nearly exclusively of nuns. More than 60% of them were Franco-phones because they were members of the Sisters of Saint-Anne whose mother house was situated in Lachine, PQ. From 1898 to about 1950 approximately 60 or more French-Canadian nuns worked in Dawson City mostly as nurses but also as teachers and as cooks.
Ref. Empreinte, vol 11, pages 52-53
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