More than 30 years after Flo Whyard edited a book about a former Yukon pioneer woman, it's finally being published in Canada by a Whitehorse printer.

The book, which chronicles the life of Martha Louse Black and is written in her own words, was originally published as memoirs entitled My Seventy Years in 1938.

In 1976, Whyard, a former Whitehorse mayor and journalist, edited this work under the new title, Martha Black: Her Story from the Dawson Gold Field to the Halls of Parliament.

'I interviewed her many times,' Whyard, who is now 90 years old 'or so,' said in an interview Tuesday.

'I worshipped at the hem of her garments,' she said, looking down at Black's portrait on the book's cover.

She credits Pat Reece of P.R. Services Ltd. for being the first Canadian to publish and distribute the book in its fifth printing, after only being published in the United States.

'I'm sure she would be happy to see it published here,' said Whyard.

Black was the second woman member of Parliament, elected in 1935, taking the place of her sick husband George in the House of Commons.

Whyard said Black led a full life as a Yukoner, brought here by the Klondike Gold Rush, as a mother, an MP representing the Yukon and 'other little things along the way.

'You have to read the book,' she said, raising her voice with a smile. 'It's a Yukon primer; you have to read it to understand the Yukon.'

Whyard said in her days as editor of the Star in the 1960s, she would send new reporters to the Blacks' house on First Avenue to talk with them and learn what it was to be a Yukoner.

When asked how much work she has put into researching Black over the years, Whyard replied, 'Work? Oh, it's not work. More like hero worship. I am an editor, her promoter, fan member number one!

'She was so special; I can see why old George loved her.'

Whyard's home office in Riverdale is filled with books and pictures of Black, a testament to her admiration of the woman, she said.

She throws her hands up to the air and looks to the sky when explaining why Black was so important.

'How much time do you have? Years? You need to read the book,' she said.

'Talking with her, you just wanted to hear more, to travel with her.'

Reece said about 1,000 copies of the Canadian edition will be printed 'within the next couple of weeks,' with the majority of those copies being distributed in the Yukon.

'This is a deserving bit of history, out within people's reach,' he said. 'We're really pleased to be local publishers and, more importantly, distributors.'

Black died in 1957 at age 91, and Whitehorse continues to commemorate her work and that of her husband.

Black Street is named after them, as are two Yukon mountain peaks.