The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-02-19
With Wonderful Stories of the
Cape Nome Country.
HAS RETURN FEVER
And VIII Again Go Back to the
Arctic Circle.
Two Thousand Miles Northwest
of Dawson City.
Hardships on the Trip We're
Extremely Unpleasant.

Atchison. Feb. led Bowen, who
left Atchison July q, 1897 for the Klon-
dixie, has returned. He viii be here
only 4 few weeks, when he will leave
for a little jaunt up into the Arctic
circle. two thousand miles northwest
of Dawson. He will go with J. l. Dill
lon, an old prospector of Seattle, and
William 7. Sauls, formerly a detective
from Florida. The object is to seek
gold.
The trio control lot of placer ma
chinery which will be sent by steamer
to Cape Nome, and the men will either
go by sailing vessel, or make the trip
overland from Dawson, using dogs to
draw the provisions. He has the pros
pecting fever, and says that no hard
ships are too severe when there is
possibility of finding gold. Ed Bowen
and Julius Pohl the Horton druggist,
were Grub Staked in 1897 for a trip to
the KlOndike by a syndicate, and Will
Evans, the Hiawatha jeweler, accom-
panied them on his own account. The
party was afterwards Joined by a DR..
McDougal an English adVenturer, who
turned out to be a distinguished fellow.
When the party landed at Skagway,
August u, 1897, the town consisted of
nothing but rocks and a few tents.
When Bowen returned last fall he found
a big town with a railroad. 1t took
Bowen and his party forty-five days to
go forty-five miles from SkagWay to
Lake Bennett. Twelve horses were
bought, and all of them died. One horse
toppled over a precipice 500 hundred
feet high, with three sacks of flour on
it's back The -four was rescued. For
days the horses were fed dry flour for
food, and terrible Snow-stormS were
encountered although it was mid-sum
mer. At Lake Bennett, DR.. McDOugal
was discovered. He had been all over
the world; had hunted big game in
Africa; was something of an explorer;
knew China and japan like a book,
and had seen everything worth seeing
except the KlOndike. He was the son
of wealthy English parents, and sim
ply out for adventure. DR.. McDougai
became one of the prominent men OF
Dawson in a few weeks. He was unan-
imously selected to make formal COM
plant on behalf of the miners to Great
Britain against the system of taxing
claims and he did it to the greatest sat
isfaction. When Bowen left Dawson
last fall, DIR. McDougal had seen every
thing in that country worth seeing,
and at the last minute decided to leave
it, coming to Seattle on the same
steamer with Bowen.
During the summer of 1898. Bowen
had the scurvy, and was not able to
do any work but he says he now has
several claims which he believes will
pay. However, he places great faith
in the country around Cape Nome, up
near the Arctic CIRCLE, and will make
thorough investigation on his forth
coming trip. He says Louis Rochat.
formerly a we'll known Atchison jew
eler, is now at Cape Nome. He says
Al Harrison, also formerly of Atch-
ison, is at Dawson, and doing we'll.
His wife is with him. Bowen has
bench claim on Last Chance creek, near
Dawson, of which he expects much.
When at Dawson, beans sold at a doll
lar a pound Now they sell at fifteen
cents a pound. The thermometer gets
down IN GjNfV-fWO degrees below zero
at Dawson, but mosquitoes are not at all
troublesome Since returning from
Dawson, Bowen has been on d pros
pecting tour up into British Columbia.