Who is Cherokee Sal and why is she so unique to the town in "The Luck of Roaring Camp"?

In the second paragraph of the story, Bret Harte mentions Cherokee Sal: "She was a coarse, and, it is to be feared, a very sinful woman. But at that time she was the only woman in Roaring Camp." The most important statement is the last, that she was the only woman in the camp. This camp was a mining camp, and those tended to be largely male in population. But, Harte also tells the reader...

In the second paragraph of the story, Bret Harte mentions Cherokee Sal: "She was a coarse, and, it is to be feared, a very sinful woman. But at that time she was the only woman in Roaring Camp." The most important statement is the last, that she was the only woman in the camp. This camp was a mining camp, and those tended to be largely male in population. But, Harte also tells the reader that Cherokee Sal was a "sinful woman," which the reader can infer means that she was a prostitute, a lucrative position for a woman in a predominately male town. And Harte does state that hers was "a name familiar enough in the camp."

Cherokee Sal is also important because she gives birth to the character for whom the story is named, the baby "Luck." Some of the coarsest characters in the story become enamored with the baby and see him as a sort of good luck charm for them.