Innocent in Alaska: The story of Margaret Knudsen Burke

Innocent in Alaska, first published in 1963 recounts the lively adventures of Margaret Knudsen Burke, a young woman telephone operator who, at age 18, left her family's farm in Nebraska to brave the wilds of Alaska in 1904. She describes life in the small cities of Alaska (especially in Fairbanks and Nome), in the rural areas, and her sometimes hazardous travels by land and sea. Also portrayed are her romances with Jack Bartlett, a handsome yet violent-tempered lawyer, and with Will Burke, whom she would eventually marry. Along the way Margaret Burke would parlay her modest earnings into a small fortune, a fitting testament to this courageous woman.