Marie Suize

Marie Suize (July 14, 1824 – January 8, 1892), also known as Marie Pantalon and Marie Pantaloon, was a French gold miner and businesswoman who came to California during the Gold Rush. She earned her name because of her insistence on wearing pants, even though she was arrested several times for it.

Early life

Marie Suize was born on July 14, 1824, in the Savoy region of France. She was the seventh child - and second daughter - of a family of twelve boys and five girls. Her father was Claude Suize, originally from La Clusaz, owner of the Hôtel de la Russie de Thônes, and her mother was Marie Adélaïde Machet. Like many people in that impoverished region, she moved to Paris at age 22 to try to better her life. There, she worked odd jobs as a housekeeper. She fell into poverty and was rescued by a Parisian woman, who gave her a place to stay and helped her get a job with a Parisian newspaper. While working at the paper, she found out about the discovery of gold in California.

In search of gold

Suize left for San Francisco on a ship from LeHavre in 1850, along with a travelling companion named Francis Jaquart, whose ticket she had paid for. She cut her hair short and travelled wearing men's clothing. She listed herself on boarding papers as 'male' and 23 years old. The trip took five months.

In order to mine for gold, Suize entered into a partnership "by handshake" with André Douet, a Charentais, who agreed to back her in return for reimbursement and some of the assets. Under this agreement, if the sponsor was not re-imbursed, the contract continues until the death of the debtor, when all the debtor's assets become property of the financial sponsor. In this way, Marie Suize acquired a mining concession.

1850 Woman and Men in California Gold Rush. Suize was a gold miner who was arrested three times for wearing pants.

She did not go unnoticed; the few women found at mining sites were usually there as helpers, laundresses, or cooks. Suize caused quite a stir; a woman as head of a mining concession was already an exceptional case, but one day she appeared in trousers, solid miners' pants, because she was tired of wearing petticoats while digging in the middle of damp gravel.

An enterprising miner, she led her teams to extract gold, and defended her mines with weapon in hand. She earned the nickname "Joan of Arc". It was noted that she handled the shovel and pick-ax better than a man, and did not hesitate to take out her revolver as needed.

Mining dispute

Smithsonian-Nahl and Wenderoth-Miners in the Sierras-2099 (cropped. Near Jackson, California, Suize had to clear out a group of rival miners from a mining tunnel like this one.

In 1860, Suize was working a mine at Humbug Hill near Jackson, on land adjoining a claim owned by a group of Canadians. The Canadians began excavating on Suize's land, and her French compatriots took her side, ready to invade the shaft where the Canadians were working. "Leave it to me," Suize said, "I'll take care of it". Suize handled the incident by blocking an opening in the shaft that let air in for the Canadian miners.

The Canadians, in danger of being asphyxiated, came out on their own. So she reopened the hole, and, armed with two revolvers and a soup tureen full of pepper, sat down at the entrance to the tunnel, where she had had her bed carried. She warned the Canadians that if they tried to enter, it would be pepper first, full in the face, then, at full force, the revolvers. For eight days and eight nights, the mine remained blocked by a company of 14 men, who did not dare to come close enough to force her to use her weapons. During this time, her workers were rapidly exploiting the land in dispute, without the Canadians being able to oppose it. When the task was finished, they admitted to being defeated and peace was concluded.

The dispute made her a local celebrity, and because of her pants, she was nicknamed Marie Pantalon.

Later in 1871, during a stopover in a San Francisco tavern, she was arrested again and sent to court.

In Jackson, the third and final trial took a different turn, when an organization of suffragists became interested in her cause, and demonstrated in the streets to support her.

To publicize her products, she ran ads in the local newspapers, in which she sometimes referred to herself as Madame Marie Suize Pantalon or as "Mrs. Pants".

Her ranch was immediately transferred to her business investor and partner André Douet, but it took him ten years before he could sell it in 1902 to other French people, the Lintillacs. Douet died in 1904 near Clinton.

Legacy and tributes

Susan G. Butruille, drawing from her book Women's Voices from the Mother Lode, created a show based on Marie Pantalon, which she presented in Thônes, France in 1999 and in several places in California and Oregon. Monique Fillion, honorary president of the Friends of the Val de Thônes, presented several multimedia conferences on Marie Suize.

In the early 21st century, the house built by Suize was the only building of that era that was still standing, because it was modeled after the chalets of the Val de Thônes. Made of wood, it is placed on a stone base, while the other buildings were built on planks on the ground.