Kate was born to dentist John Goodson Powell and Hannah Skinner/Keefer, probably in San Bernardino, CA. Her father died when she was 4 years old. She became a cook for miners, and inherited a 160 acre ranch from her mother on Mill Creek Canyon in San Bernardino, and eventually turned it into a fishing and vacation camp. Her first husband was Louis Harvey. According to articles in the San Bernardino Sun, he and his brother abused Kate and treated her as a slave. Her brother Robert became so enraged of her treatment that he shot and killed Louis's brother. Kate stood up for her brother, and he was acquitted in court in a very sensational trial. The jury made their decision in just 10 minutes. Kate divorced Louis, and eventually married William D. Howard. Once again, Robert shot his sister's husband. He also accidentally shot his sister. Both survived, but Kate stood up for her brother again in the trial. Robert, a trapper and miner, was in jail for several months before being released on bail. It is unknown if he was charged or acquitted, however 2 years later, there was an article in the paper that he had shot 2 large mountain lions. Kate's husband left town, and Kate ran the camp by herself. News articles related events involving the camp. It was one of the controls to the road that passed through, called Kate Harvey's control, and was the scene of auto accidents. It was devastated in a flood one year, and threatened by a fire in another. About 1926, Kate sold the ranch, and it was subdivided. She became a cook at the Onyx mine, by Pipe Canyon. In 1920, she was mentioned in an advertisement of Butler's Chiropractors that she was cured of neuritis by their treatment. In January of 1937, she was one of 8 people marooned in the back country after severe snowstorms, and was rescued after 18 days, the final 4 days having no food left. In that same year, she suffered paralysis due to a stroke, and died in July of 1944 in a San Bernardino hospital. From the articles, one can surmise that she was a well known and liked mountain woman with a generous heart, and a survivor. She was known as Cactus Kate. It appears she didn't have any children, but as a second cousin, I am proud to honor this tough but kind pioneer woman