mong the many who came to Alaska seeking gold, Ulysses Grant, “U.G.” Crocker was born in Placer County, California in 1864 and landed in Dawson in 1898. Like so many others, he found that all of the good claims were taken and immediately returned to Seattle, where he purchased a load of assorted merchandise and returned to Dawson. He sold out his inventory in a short time and then headed for Nome. He went down the Yukon on a barge and sold baked goods on the way to Nome. He opened a bakery in Nome in 1905, and from 1905 to 1913 he established stores in Seward and Valdez. He still, however, had the gold fever and embarked on a prospect in the Koyokuk region. He hit a short pay streak and then moved to Anchorage, where he opened a tent and awning store and a mattress factory.

Mary Ida Anderson was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1876 and came to Anchorage in 1916 to marry a local homesteader, but met and married U. G. Crocker instead. Mary was known for her cooking abilities, and took great pride in entertaining friends. The Crockers built a two-story frame building on the corner of 4th Avenue and G Street and developed a full-scale department store in 1916. Their son, Eugene, was born in 1918.

Along with his son Eugene and guide Elmer Simco, U.G. embarked on a boat trip in 1937 up the Koyokuk River, in search of a gold claim that he had worked some thirty years earlier. Before they had gone very far, he collapsed from a heart attack and died. Mary Ida and her son continued to run the department store until she retired. She moved to Seattle, Washington and died in 1968. Eugene married Irma Wahl and they had three children; Linda Gene White, Arlene Mary Bennett and Eugene Charles. Eugene Crocker, Sr. died in 1990.