Note:  Jasper, a 120 lb labradoodle enjoys dressing up to help tell living history stories at the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude. His parents are Jerry & Rosalie (Wassmuth) Jessup of Grangeville. 
My name is Polly Bemis and I was born in northern China to a very poor farming family. To keep the rest of the family from starvation, my parents sold me to a Chinese man immigrating to America. In 1872, as a 19-year old, I arrived in Idaho Territory working for a Chinese man packing supplies into mines at Warren. Details of how I gained my freedom are sketchy, but at age 27, I resided in Warren as a free woman.  
I saved the life of Charlie Bemis, a local saloon owner, when I removed a bullet from his neck with a razor, cleaned the wound with my crochet hook, and nursed him back to health. We married when I was 41 years old and homesteaded a small plot of land on the Salmon River. The nearest town lay 17 miles away; the closest neighbor lived across the river. Charlie died when I was 69 years old and shortly after his death, our cabin burned. I moved back to Warren while the neighbors across the river built me a new cabin. I then returned to Salmon River where I lived until my death at age 80.  
My fame began in 1921, when Eleanor “Cissy” Patterson, a writer for Field and Stream magazine, took a trip down the river. My story fascinated Patterson, and her subsequent article captivated the country. Since that time, I have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, and at least four books, including the novel, Thousand Pieces of Gold. The film adaptation of the book aired nearly 60 years after my death. Starring in the movie was Rosalind Chao, who may be better known as Keiko O’Brien of Star Trek.  
I am famous more for who I was — a Chinese woman— than anything I did. Most Chinese who came to America during my time were men. My timing was good. Ten years after I arrived in Idaho, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, prohibiting Chinese workers from entering the country, and immigrants who were already here could not become citizens. Even though I was married to an American citizen, I was never granted citizenship. Congress also required all Chinese in the country to obtain a certificate of residence. I traveled to Helena in 1896 to get mine.