Anna seems to have enjoyed a love of adventure, hard work and risk taking with a good sense of business acume. When the new town of Valdez allowed women to own lots, Anna immediately purchased a lot before heaing over Valdez Glacier with her husband. On the Klutina River, she joined Copper River Joe's party in a stampede to Manker Creek, where she located a claim in July.

But when the berries ripened in August, Anna stayed with her restaurant at Amy's enjoying a sure profit from her pies while others stampeded to Quartz Creek. When her husband decided to push on to the Klondike, Anna said "No." She spent part of the winter at Amy's landing where she was Queen of the Thanksgiving Celebration. By January, Anna had successfully recrossed the glacier to Valdez where she continued to prospect, filing a claim on Gold Creek.

Settling down in Valdez, Anna started another restaurant with a bar and continued to prospect filing claims at Landlocked Bay and Abercrombie Gulch, and Slate Creek and Kotsina. By 1902, she had profitable partnerships in the Four Black Dogs Mine and Tacoma Mine at Slate Creek and had filed copper and gold claims in the Kotsina area with B.F. Millard and others.