The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1919-02-20
witnessed her heroic deed on gale

witnessed her heroic deed on gale
swept sea.
! Mr.. and Mrs, White, when they
came to Alaska, settled at q small
village near Tyonic, ION Cook inlet.
There Mrs. White gave birth to her
daughter, also named Martha, the first
white child born in the Cook inlet
country, and there Mrs. White, made
widow and forced to support son,
daughter and herself, engaged in
her first business venture. She
opened small store. Her trade al
most entirely was with Indians, who
paid for their purchases in furs. She
had profted to the extent of several
thousand dollars when pay dirt was
struck at Hope, on Turnagain arm,
and, with her two children, she STAN
peded there.
At Hope Mrs. White went into the
hotel business. and then, by grubstak-
ing prospectors and investing in To-
Gated claims, became heavily inter
ested in mining. During the activities
at Hope and at the neighboring camp
of Sunrise she made and lost in min
ing several comfortable fortunes. In
later years she delighted to tell, when
in a reminiscent mood, of trip she
made to the States to visit her chill
dren, then in boarding school, on
which occasion, before leaving Hope,
she sewed, for safekeeping while trav-
cling, $4,000 in currency--cheechako
money--in her skirt.
Mrs. White came to Anchorage at
the time the government laid out the
town. At the first auction sale of
lots she bought q piece of property
on the principal business street sand
erected on it two-story hotel. It's ap-
pointments are modern, but aside from
this fact the personality of it's pro-
prietor always assured it Of good pat
ronage. Mrs. White died there.
During the participation of the
United States in the world war Mrs.
Whites loyalty to the nations cause
found expression in efforts that she
exerted to raise funds for the Red
Cross. She was not an officer of the
organization. Her aspirations were
directed to obtaining liberal contribu-
lions to its treasury. For instance,
early in 1918, while travelling over the
winter trail from Anchorage to Sew
ard, she found mans wooden sock,
badly worn, which had been thrown
away by trail musher. She sold it
Tor $500. The sale was negotiated at
an auction she held during an enter
tainment one evening in the social hall
OF the south-bound steamship. A few
months afterward, on her return to
Anchorage, she planned, arranged and
managed "The Days of 49," which
was given under the auspices of the
ladies auxiliary of the order of Alaska
Pioneers. Az q result Of this affair
sne turned over to the Red Cross
nearly $4,000.
Mrs. White by. thousands of her
friends and acquaintance was known
and will be fondly remembered as
Mother White. To some the term
mother" when used In public fash
ion of woman who for more than a
quarter of century struggled with
the vicissitudes of life on Alaskas
frontier, might connote negligently.
kept gray hair, careworn' face, stoop-
ing shoulders, a scarcely discernible
waist line, and clothing not at all re-
lating to present modes. But no such
attributes could be credited to Mrs.
White. Her figure, to the day her last
illness put her to bed, was strong,
erect and graceful; her face, with its
regular well-proportioned features
and fresh complexion, seemed to belle
the age evidenced by the : silver
strands in her luxuriant growth of
hair; her attire, which inclined to
tailored modes was ALWAYS stvliah