Albert P. Sharpe

Albert Sharpe was my step-father. He came to Whitethorn in the late thirties or early forties and bought the Whitethorn Lumber Company. He also owned about 700 acres of land in and about the Whitethorn Valley. He was born in Canada and ran away from home in his teens because his parents wanted him to work in the family store rather than go on to school. His first stop was a coal mine where he worked for several yearss. He was a master poker player and the way he got his stake to go to the Redwood timber country was by playing poker with the minors.

At Whitethorn (Thorn) Al eventually bought or built the Whitethorn bar in joint ownership With George Martin and his wife Virginia. Virginia ran a restaurant in back of the bar and was quite the cook. Many families bought their children to the restaurant and children were allowed in the bar because there was no law enforcement in the valley.

Al was greatly respected in the valley because he owned the mill and employed many of the men in Thorn and partly because no one was ever able to put his arm down. He also played poker in the bar in winter and was viewed as not only the best poker player in town but the best bluffer. He never let anyone see his hand unless they put up the money in the pot. When he won he would smile and tell who ever he was playing with to come back next time when he had learned how to play. Copyright 2008 Sharon Porter Moxley