BISHOP ROWE
RELATES HIS
EXPERIENCES
“The Bishop of All Outdoors,” says
Fred A. Lockley, writing in the Port
land Oregonian, is the proper title for
Bishop Rowe of Alaska, who visited in
Portland recently. It is a very cold
and dangerous “outdoors” that the
Bishop oversees, so much so that his
life has been referred to as a “con
tinuous Jack London performance.” A
few weeks before the world went wild
about the Klondike, the bishop
camped right on top of that great ban
anza and didn't know it. Even if he
had known it, he would not have been
as much excited as the rest of the
world became, because, says the Ore
gonian, hd is more concerned with
finding the gold in human character;
and he declares he finds it in abund
ance even in the soul of the untutored
savage of the northern wilds. Never
theless, the said untutored savage has
managed to give the good Bishop some
anxious moments. Mr. Lockley writes
about these moments, and about the
Bishop, as follows:
Bishop Rowe is known all over
Alaska and loved wherever he is
known. He was born in Toronto on
November 20, 1858, and was educated
at Trinity University, being prepared'
for the mission field. He served his
apprenticeship among the Chippe
was on the shore of Lake Hurou. He
followed his charges in the summer
by canoe and in the winter by dog
team.
“I learned as much as I taught,”
said Bishop Rowe. “I learned wood
craft of the Chippewas and I learned
to make the best of circumstances. I
also learned to respect the Indian’s
code of honor. Few white men have
the integrity possest by most Indians.
I have known Indians to be starving
while camped where a white man had
cached abundant food supplies. I
doubt if the thought of stealing the
white man’s supplies ever occurred to
them, for they know what it is to
travel hard and far, depending upon
a. cache for food, and what it would
mean if some one had stolen it.
"I was elected bishop of Alaska in
October, 1895. I spent the winter of
1895-96 in Juneau. In March, 1896, I
chartered a boat at Juneau to go to ,
Dtfea. We’had to ii^ftk tie Ice ti) get }
aehOre. I hired a ‘Stick,’ as the Stic
keen Indians are termed, as my help
er. We packed our camp dunnage on
a sled to the foot of Chilcoot pass, but
getting it over Lhe pass was a matter
of more difficulty. We carried it over
on our backs. This was before the
gold discovery, so there was no trail.
We mushed from the summit of Chil
coot to Cariboo Crossing, traveling on
snowshoes and hauling our dunnage
on hand-sleds. We camped at the
head of the first lake and whipsawed
out the lumber and built a boat. We ;
carried the boat on our sleds, for the
lakes were frozen. When we struck
the headwaters of the Yukon we i
launched our home-made boat. I
steered through White Horse Rapids,
Miles Canyon and Five Fingers. One
needs a quick eye, a strong wrist,
and a dependable pabble to negotiate
the swift waters of the Upper Yukon.
Two years later I was holding fre
quent services for inexperienced argo
nauts on the rush to the Klondike
who met with disaster in the rapids.
[ helped bury a good many miners that
year.
"On our first trip we were captured
by the natives and were held for three
days. I understood Chinook and I
found they were debating whether to
kill us or not. I told the Indians that
if they killed us the Supreme Being
would avenge our deaths. They re
leased us but would not allow us to
leave. I told my ‘Stick’ helper to
make a rush for the boat. While I
held the Indians back he cut the rope
and shoved off into the current. I
made a run for it, jumped in, and we
bent to our work. They had no fire
arms, so we escaped. We made our
way to Fort Selkirk on short rations,
for the Indians had seized our sup
plies. At Fort Selkirk we found a
white trader and secured additional
supplies, including potatoes raised
under a blanket in lieu of a green
house.
"Two hundred miles below Selkirk
we landed at Klondike creek, a little
stream coming into the Yukon from
the right. We camped here and found
no sign of life. That same year, a few
monthsMater, in August Skookum Jim
and his brother-in-law, a ‘Stick’ Indian,
found colors where we camped. They
filled some empty cartridge shells
with coarse gold-dust. They were on
their way to Forty Mile when they dis
covered gold, and as they were out of
food they stayed there but one night
staking claims and then going on to
Forty Mile for their grub. They com
plied with the unwritten law of the
North to tell others of their discov
ery, but the white men said, ‘There
can be nothing to it, or we would have
found colors there before. They are
liars.’ This was in August, 1896. The
big stampede to Klondike Creek didn’t
take place till that winter. Where
we had camped in the summer of 1896
the town of Dawson was built two
vears later.
“Thh Canadian government had
made Jim a ‘free’ Indian, which en
abled him to buy liquor. He was so
constantly drunk and so constantly
In the ‘Skookum House' or ‘Strong
House,” as they term the jail, that he
vas called ‘Skookum Jim.’
“In 1897 I happened to be up Anvik
way, when a verw friendly and likable
young chap asked me to tell him
ibout the country. I was looked upon
as a ‘sour dough,’ as I had been in
the country a year or so. He told me
lie was reporting for the San Francis
co papers, and that hl(| name’ wa«fac*c
London. " f
“I came very near ‘cashing in my
checks,’ as the miners say, in 1898.
We had an abnormal flood on the
fukon. I was going down the Yukon
ay boat and in rounding a point the
current swept us in toward the bank,
md a ‘sweeper,’ as we call the tree
whose roots have been undermined,
etting the tree fall into the water,
caught me and swept me from the
coat into the swift ice-cold water,
fortunately I grasped a submerged
imb gs I was’being swept downward
ind held it with a death grip, and fln
illy was able to inch my way up
igainst the rushing water till I se
cured a better hold and crawled out
cn the ‘sweeper.’
“The natives of Alaska are unmoral
lot immoral. They do not know our
standards, but live up to their own
code of honor. I nave traveled by
dog team all over Alaska. > Many a
time I have broken trail on toy snow
shoes for my dog team when the
spirit thermometer registenJid 75 be
low zero. Up north one travels to
keep from freezing. I have often trav
eled afoot fifty miles in a day of ten
hours. One can go for hours at a
swinging trot.
‘‘For more than twenty years it has
boen my habit to travel by boat till
the weather made boat travel Impos
sible, when I would choose some suit
able spot along the river and ‘freeze
in.’ When everything wag nicely
frozen, then T would get out my sled,
hitch up my huskies, and start on my
travels to points I could not reach by
water in summer.
“The people of Alaska are a virile
and splendid race. Manhood is the
test of character. You must be able
to stand the gaff. They possess the
elemental virtues of c.oura?e, hardi
hood, and helpfulness. Thev have the
true pioneer spirit.
“There are tragedies in plenty. In
the spring of 1898 an avalanche tore
loose at the Scales and wiped Sheep
Camp off the map. I helped dig out
and bury seventy-six miners,
“The Church of England jdoes not
plan its compensation on Alaska
prices. I found, with eggs $1 each,
with flour $50 a sack, and otter things
in proportion, that I had better con
fine my diet to bacon and beans. I
came down from Alaska one trip with
Joe Matthews, an old sour dough. We
had traveled all over Alaska together.
You learn to know a man inside and
out if you eat a sack of flour with him
on the trail. We reached Seattle and
made a bee line for a restaurant. Joe
ordered five orders of strawberries
and cream, and one order of beans.
I thought it was a singular combina
tion, but I said nothing. When his
order was served Joe took the beans
and put them on top of the sugar-bowl
and said, ‘Now then, beans, damn you,
sit up there and watch me eat these
strawberries’.”
The Alpha School of Dancing, which
has been located in Cordova since
January 1, does not teach, classic,
stage or jazz, but does teach the
American Dancing Masters’ Associa
tion perfect ballroom dances. Refer
ences given of pur fifty pupils, in
private lessons. Inquire at the Ameri
can Bakery, or phone 203, 3t
If you change your address, do not
notify the carrier boy—report your
new address to the office.
-•
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CORDOVA
SHEET METAL WORKS
Phone 143
FOR SALE
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Pish and Clam Power Boat
Hulls now ready at shop on Sec
ond street, next to jail building.
E. D. LACY
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NOTICE.—We are making new additions to our Machine Shop in Cordova, which before April thcfa*^111 he «»d comprise the fol- §
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