Martha Black
Her story from the Dawson Gold Fields to the Halls of Parliament

February  24,1866 - October 31,1957

Author: Martha Louise Black

Edited And Updated: Flo Whyard

Number of pages:166

Accomplishments: Adventurer, Member of Parliament, First woman Member of Parliament 

from the North.

Being the second woman elected to the House of Commons in 1935, at the age of 70,was just one of the many adventures that Martha Munger Black experienced during her lifetime. She gave up the wealthy Chicago life she was born into to partake in the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. She also gave up her wealthy husband, William Purdy, who was reluctant to venture into the Yukon's rugged northern terrain, a voyage that necessitated travelling 92 kilometers on foot over the Rocky Mountains through Chilkoot Pass.     

Chilkoot Pass:

Martha survived this treacherous journey, the outbreaks of typhoid fever and smallpox, and the crushing northern winter. Unable to afford a doctor, she gave birth to the couple's third son alone in a small log cabin in January 1899. She went on to form a gold-mining partnership and later a successful sawmill business in Dawson City.

In 1904 she married George Black, who became commissioner of the Yukon Territory and an MP. In 1935 Martha herself was elected to Parliament, replacing her ill husband as the representative for the Yukon. Among the issues she pursued as an MP were public health, pensions for the blind and nature conservation.

She was a noted collector of the Yukon and British Columbia wildflowers. She was a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and in 1949 received the order of the British Empire.

She was also an avid writer and published in the IODE magazine, Echoes, Canadian Home Journal and the Delineator.

Martha Black was the co-author of her biography, My Seventy Years with Elizabeth Caily Price in 1938 and wrote Yukon Wild Flowers in 1940.

Martha Munger Black, "Mother" of the Yukon, died in Whitehorse at the age of 91. Black Street in Whitehorse commemorates the accomplishments of the Blacks, as do two mountain peaks in the Yukon, named in their honor.

George Black, Martha's second husband, played an important roll in her life.He was a lawyer and served as a captain in WWI. He later became the Commissioner of the Territory and Member of Parliament for the Yukon and the Speaker of the House.

This is a great read to  learn more about the Canadian history, especially woman in history. Martha tells the story of her life full of excitement, adventure and accomplishments.It catches your attention on the first page with her birth and holds your attention throughout with her endurance and doesn't fail even in the ending with this poem she wrote:

"Let me grow lovely, growing old.
So many fine things to do;
Silks and ivory and gold
and lace, need not be new.
There is a magic in old trees,
Old books a glamour hold.
Why may not I, as well as these 
Grow lovely, growing old?"