Martin, Carl E.

Search the database

1883-1958 | Master Steamfitter, Plumber, and City Councilman

Carl Martin was a freighter and contract U.S. mail carrier who carried the first mail from Seward to Iditarod by dog team after the Iditarod trail was opened in 1910. He was a plumber by trade and worked as a master steamfitter for Anchorage Commercial Company before establishing his own business. He served three terms on the Anchorage City Council (1929-1936).

Carl Ernest Martin was born in Red Oak, Iowa on February 8, 1883, the eldest of three sons of George and Martha Martin. By 1900, the family had moved to San Jose, Santa Clara County, California, where the elder Martin was a farmer.[1]

Martin arrived in Seward, Alaska, in 1909 and headed for the Cache Creek country in search of gold. Unsuccessful in his quest, he began hauling freight out of Knik and Susitna Station, Alaska. In 1910, after the Iditarod trail was opened, he carried the first U.S. mail from Seward, Alaska to Iditarod, Alaska via dog team.

Lucille Black was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 11, 1898. She arrived in Knik, Alaska in 1911 with her mother and stepfather who were working a gold claim on Friday Creek. She and Martin first met when she was thirteen at Susitna Station, while he was prospecting and freighting into the Cache Creek country located on the other side of Talkeetna. Martin usually wintered there in his cabin, and often tended bar as a wintertime occupation. They were married in 1917, when she was eighteen, in a private ceremony at Oscar Gill’s home in Anchorage. The young couple lived a hard life, as Lucille accompanied Carl on the trail, sleeping outdoors on spruce boughs and putting up with the rigors of the trail. Soon afterwards, they gave up the freighting business and they lived on a homestead near Matanuska for one year, raising potatoes for sale at local markets.[2]

In 1919, Carl and Lucille Martin moved to Anchorage from their Matanuska homestead. Carl was employed by the Anchorage Commercial Company, which later became the Northern Commercial Company, as a master steamfitter and head of their mechanical department. He later was engaged privately in the plumbing business.

Martin’s civic activities included serving on the Anchorage City Council for three two-year terms (1929-1936).[3] He was the town's first volunteer fire chief and superintendent.

Martin was very active in community affairs in Anchorage. He was an exalted ruler of Elks Lodge 1351. He was a member of Masonic Lodge No. 221, F & AM, and a member of the Pioneers of Alaska. In 1958, Martin was a candidate for the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives, after many years of service to the local Republican party. Lucille was noted for her large garden, where she raised hybrid tea roses.

Carl Martin died on March 5, 1958, of acute liver deficiency while on an airliner enroute from Mazatlán, Mexico to San Diego, California, following a vacation in Mexico.[4] Lucille Black Martin passed away on April 4, 1983, in Anchorage. Their remains are buried in the Elks Tract of Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.[5]

The Martins had three children. Son Carl Jr., born in 1919, was lost in his plane while on a flight to interior Alaska in 1945. Their two daughters were Dorothy Martin Rogers (1920-1996) and Bonnie Martin McGee (1921-1996).

The Martin home at 626 D Street, Anchorage, remained standing long after their passing, and because of its location in the center of downtown Anchorage, it was remodeled to house various business enterprises.

Click an image to see more

Carl E. Martin (1883-1958) and Lucille Black Martin (1898-1983)

Lucille Martin and friend at Susitna Station, Alaska 1916.

The Martin home at 626 D Street, Anchorage.

Digging potatoes at the Martin homestead, Matanuska Valley, 1918.

Lucille Martin, a friend and dogs, Susitna Station, Alaska, 1916.