As told to ELIZABETH BAILEY PRICE Mrs. George. Black was the wife of the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, and, after he retired. was elected, at seventy years of age, as M.P. for the Yukon, one of the pIOneer woman members in that assembly. The main part of her story deals with her adventurous life, during the early years of her womanhood, on the Klondike goldfields. She was in London during the Great War and made many interesting contacts with British people at that time in the limelight. Here is a racy record of a most remarkable life, which begins with an announcement that Mrs. George Black is now about to begin a new career! 8/6 MI MY SEVENTY YEARS FrMl/ispiece Mrs. George Black (Martha Louise Black) ; taken February 27, I936, my 70th birthday. MY SEVENTY YEARS By MRS. GEORGE BLACK, F.R.G.S. M.P. FOR THE YUKON As told to ELIZABETH BAILEY PRICE With Sixteen Illustrations THOMAS NELSON AND SONS LTD LONDON EDINBURGH PARIS MELBOURNE TORONTO AND NEW YORK All rights reserved THOMAS NELSON lk SONS LTD 3S-36 PATElINOS11!R ROW, LONDON, B.C •• ; PAIlXSIDB WORKS, EDINBURGH; 2S RUE DBNl'IIIlT-ROCHBJlBAU, P AllIS; 3 I2 FLINDERS STJlI!I!T, MELBOURNB; 91-93 WELLINGTON STJlEET WEST, TORONTO; 3S1-3SS POUJlTH AVENUE, NEW YOH. First published, November 19J8 CONTENTS Prologue. 9 PART I-CHICAGO I. I am Born. 17 II. A Cow kicked a Lamp . 24 m. Poverty Flats . 31 IV. Childhood Days 38 V. My Higher Education 47 VI. I am a Young Lady 56 VIT. I am Married . 63 vm. The Gay and Naughty '90'S. 69 IX. I become a Club Woman 79 PART II-YUKON x. The Gold Fever 89 XI. "The Trail of'98 " 102 XII. Lake Bennett to Dawson 109 xm. Dawson City in '98-'99 120 XIV. wild Winter in Dawson.. 133 vi CONTENTS XV. I become a Sourdough 139 XVI. I go out 146 XVII. Yukon lures me back 154 XVIII. Dawson's First and Only Hold-up 164 XIX. Dawson settles down 169 XX. I become Mrs. George Black 177 XXI. Early Yukon Political History 185 XXII. Dawson on the Wane 193 XXIII. Gathering Wild Flowers for a Railway 205 XXIV. Chatelaine of Government House 216 PART III-LONDON AND OTTAWA XXV. I go to London 231 XXVI. Yukon Mother 241 XXVII. Overseas Service 249 XXVIII. Joe Boyle-Saviour of Roumania 258 XXIX. Good Times in Blighty . 270 XXX. The Armistice is Signed 277 XXXI. Buckingham Palace. 284 XXXII. In and out of Yukon 289 XXXIII. Wife of the First Commoner 295 XXXIV. My" Career" begins at Seventy l 309 Epilogue . 316 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Mrs. George Black on her 70th Birthday . Frontispiece Facing page My Mother (Susie B. Owens) at 16 20 A Skagway Street Scene in 1898. The Summit of White Pass Trail 100 Scales and Summit of Chilkoot Pass, 1898 10 4 .. Home, Sweet Home." First Home in Yukon, 1898 . 128 Pasque Flower, or yukon Crocus 140 Crossing the Klondyke just after the Ice Jam broke 144 Near Clifton, White Pass and yukon Route To-day 152 Robert Service's Cabin 200 Mrs. George Black in 1908 . 208 Commissioner's Residence, Dawson, Yukon Territory . 220 On the Yukon River . 224 Joe Boyle at a Children's Picnic at Dawson 260 George Black 296 Mrs. George Black, Wife of the First Commoner, 1933 304 vii PROLOGUE I AM seventy years old. I have lived the allotted span of life-threescore years and ten. The rest of my days, I realize, will be what is frequently called " borrowed time." Two weeks before my seventieth birthday, as the "Honourable Member for Yukon," the second woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons, I took my place in the " green chamber" at Ottawa. Ever since my election I have been inundated with these questions: "What did you do to reach this high point in your career ~ " " What do you intend to do to further your career l " My career ~ I never had one; never wanted one. Furthering a career at the age of seventy ~ It is ridiculous. I don't know what to do to further a career! Then, after I have laughed that off, during the long listening-hours, while " the House sits," I think of careers, their making and furthering. Across from me is the Right Honourable, the Prime Minister, W. L. Mackenzie King, who is at the very height of a career-for was he not elected to power with a majority unequalled in the history of our country l I know that he has given a lifetime of service to reach this eminent position. I am an eye-witness to his success-that he is seeing the enactment of legislation and the establishment of principles for which he has worked all his adult years. II 10 MY SEVENTY YEARS To my right, two benches away, is the Right Honour­ able, the Leader of the Opposition, R. B. Bennett. He, too, has worked faithfully and unswervingly toward a fixed ambition to which he has given a sincere and ardent devotion, even to the detriment of his health. Near me is my colleague, Miss Agnes McPhail, who, at the age of thirty-two, was the first woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons, and who has been returned term after term. I know that she has deliberately sacrificed love, marriage, and a home, that she might give herself entirely to the parliamentary advancement of Canadian women, a cause she serves so well. N one of these things have I done. Yet, like every Commoner taking his seat in Parliament for the first time, I confess I am inspired by this high calling. I will devote all my time and energy to it-and no one realizes more than I do the limitations of my" borrowed time." I made no pre-election promises, nor gave any fiery orations. My campaign was almost entirely personal canvassing. In fact, at one of my few political meetings the most popular part of my speech consisted of only four words. " What are you going to promise us when you get to Ottawa ~ " someone shouted. " To do my best ! " " Atta girl! Atta girl ! " was the response. After my campaign, when I was resting from the fatigue of it (and at seventy we pay these tolls with interest), I asked myself, "Why did you want the men of the North (for the Yukon is a man's country) to send you as their member to Ottawa, when you should have been spending this time that the poets call the 'sunset of life,' knitting, resting, reading, or pursuing your best-beloved hobby- PROLOGUE II gathering and studying wild flowers l Why and how did you do this ridiculous thing-a woman of seventy in parliament l " And then I am confronted with echoes oflong-forgotten incidents of my life, in those early, stirring days of the Klondyke .... " Do you remember when you lived on the flats," I hear someone saying, "the night I asked if I might live in one of your mill cabins ~ " You said, , Sure, but that one is so dilapidated, it isn't fit for a dog.' Then I cut my foot. You came over to help me, and every day you sent your son with food. ." " Do you remember the fall I came to your house to tum off the water l You said, 'You look half frozen ; come in and get warm. I'm just making a cup of coffee for myself Come and have one with me.' . ." "You're such a damned good cook. You got my vote because you could bake beans better than any woman I know.... " "It's the only blow-out I ever get," said a friend from the creeks, who comes to Dawson each year. "Always a bWlk and a feed, and ' sit as long as you like.' ..." "I didn't want you a damned bit, but you're George's wife. No matter what hour of the night I went by your house, I could always open your door and call up : " , George, are you in l ' " , HInph l ' "'Anyone In. the spare bd'e l " , No ! ' " Then I'd tum in and come down to those thundering good breakfasts of yours with the family ...." " It was those election night parties of yours, to which 'all your friends were invited,' supporters and non­ supporters. Remember the only time George lost, and I 12 MY SEVENTY YEARS went over to commiserate-but came away vowing I would never again vote against ' The Blacks ' ? ••• Always open house . someone to tell your troubles to . a meal and a drink . some new stories. ." I'm not telling you this to dramatize myself as a good fellow, but it just goes to show how sometimes the very smallest deeds, all in a day's work, may have a hundredfold return. They may even get you into the Parliament of Canada! I'm sure that my Sourdough pancakes and baked beans played a big part in my hundred and thirty­ nine majority. Yes, that's the only key to this so-cJllled career of mine. It's the life I've lived-my day-by-day living. My people have always been what the world calls " comfortably well off." There has been the wherewithal to follow the pursuits which interested me. These have led to places of hardships and tragedies, to the humblest and to the highest in the land-to Sourdough shacks of the Klondyke and to Buckingham Palace and the White House.