Cordelia Karshner

Cordelia Karshner. First Homesteader in the Tanana. , Cordelia Karshner was a well-known seamstress here in Fairbanks who arrived in the Tanana Valley in 1904. She married John F. Karshner of Manley Hot Springs in 1910 and two years after his death in 1913, she made history:, HOT SPRINGS WOMAN GETS CLEAR TITLE TO VALUABLE PROPERTY.. "Signed and sealed by the President of the United States, the patent for the homestead of Mrs. Cordelia Karshner arrived in Fairbanks Thursday afternoon in the mail from the States. Mrs. Karshner succeeded in getting the title to the property without great difficulty. In securing the patent at this time, Mrs. Karshner has the distinction of being the first person in the Fourth judicial division to get a patent on a homestead. The Karshner homestead is particularly valuable, in that it contains the hot springs at which F. G. Manley built a beautiful hotel a few years ago. The hotel has since been destroyed by fire. Should Interior Alaska become thickly populated, as it is expected that it will someday, the hot springs will be particularly valuable as a health resort., The application for the patent and all papers pertaining to it were prepared through the office of H. A. Day, while the notice, required by law, was published in the Times." , Fairbanks Daily Times, December 18, 1915, Later, Cordelia moved back to Fairbanks where she lived out the rest of her days until her death in 1933., Story provided by the Fairbanks Igloos of the Pioneers of Alaska..