Folk Figure. Born Kathleen Eloise Rockwell, she gained stardom as a flirtatious dancer and vaudeville star during the Alaskan Klondike Gold Rush. She was raised in Spokane, Washington where her stepfather had stature in the community and the family lived in a large mansion. Known to be an independent spirit, or "tomboy" as a youngster, she would often impersonating boys and playing with them rather than with girls. She became a rebellious teenager and her parents sent her to boarding school, but was expelled, as she had little interest in any formal education. In 1899 she went to Alaska to try her luck at show business. Refused entry by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police, she is reputed to have dressed as boy and boarded a boat headed for the Yukon. First working as a tap-dancer in Whitehorse, she eventually found her stride in Dawson City as a member of the Savoy Theatrical Company. Her act was very popular with the miners, and she was dubbed "Klondike Kate" as a result. It was in Dawson that she met Alexander Pantages, at that time a struggling waiter and bartender who eventually rose to become theatre owner. Their intense love affair became legendary in the Yukon, although streaks of jealousy insured that they found more stability in their professional lives than in their personal ones. They were not above swindling unsuspecting miners, and this dubious quality eventually infected their own relationship. She later accused him of reneging on a promise to marry her as well as attempting to cheat her of her money. By 1902, the Klondike Gold Rush was dying out and she headed south, first to British Columbia where she set up a store-front movie theater and eventually to eastern Oregon, where she became a recluse and social outcast. She died in obscurity at the age of 76.