Nero became famous in history because of his owner Belinda Mulrooney, the richest woman in the Klondike - thanks to the gold rush.
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| Belinda & Nero |
At a young age Belinda Mulrooney displayed her entrepreneurial skills. She started with a sandwich stand in Chicago at the Colombian Exposition. Then she opened an ice cream parlor in California. After the parlor burned down, she worked on a passenger steamship as a stewardess. Because of previous gold strikes in Alaska and the Yukon, Mulroooney headed north and worked at a small clothing store. When she heard about a gold rush in the Klondike, she headed to the Yukon and opened a restaurant near the miners.
One day, an Englishman who was down on his luck asked Belinda if she could care for his St. Bernard puppy while he worked during the mining season. He told her if the dog chooses to stay with her when he returns she can keep him. When it was time to choose, Nero chose Belinda.
Her restaurant business was booming and Belinda was becoming a wealthy woman. She was paid with gold dust, and did not trust anyone but herself to take it to the bank. The trip to the bank was 18 miles away so she would use Nero to help carry the heavy sacks of gold dust on his back. One day when making the trip, Nero slipped on a wet log while crossing a deep stream and fell into the water. The dog was unable to save himself because of the weight of the gold he was carrying so Belinda came to his rescue. She held on to a tree and was able to grab Nero's collar but she couldn't pull him in and she didn't have enough hands to cut the sacks off of him. A couple of miners walked by and one of them tried to help but when he held onto the thin tree it snapped and both fell in the water. Once in the water, Belinda was able to cut the sacks off Nero. Everyone survived the ordeal but two sacks of gold dust were lost.
Belinda's business was so profitable she soon built a grand hotel in town. She included a kennel in the cellar for both Nero and the miners dogs. One day, the hotel staff was instructed to take care of Nero when she visits her family in Pennsylvania. When the steamship carrying her moved away from the wharf, Nero jumped into the water in hopes to catching up with Belinda. Knowing the dog wouldn't make it, the ship stopped and some miners pulled Nero on board. The two traveled together to Seattle and Belinda was able to find someone there to care for Nero while she went to Pennsylvania. Months later, when she went to pick Nero up she was told her dog had run away. She went looking for him and eventually found her dirty and hungry dog. After a Turkish bath and some good food, Nero was back to his old self.
Belinda married and later moved to Paris with her husband. She had to leave Nero behind. A few years later, she divorced and returned to Canada. It is uncertain to what happened to Nero.
Nero's story, as well as other dog stories, is included in the book called Gold Rush Dogs.
