The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-01-09

clave of the bishops of the church sit
up and take notice with his dissertation
upon the theology OF his church. his
scholarship and his broad and militant
Christianity. So impressed were those
snug other bishops of civilization with
this old sort that could out-mush a
musher on the Alaska trail and out
preach half the preachers in London
town that the staid old British press
gave to him long columns Of praise,
all Of which he did not half so much
care for as he does for the occasional,
much less scholarly columns he gets
In the Fairbanks News. the Nome Mug
get or the Skagway Alaskan.
In these two incidents, each intend
ed 10 typify the man. seek the reason
for the mold which Bishop Rowe has
upon Alaska, its aboriginals and its
pioneers
Bishop Rowe is sourdough of the
sourdoughs. Alaska was his charge
when the great northern empire was in
the valley of yesterday-before gold
was struck In the Klondike-when
there were still more Russians on the
Yukon than children of Uncle Sam.
BY his work the uttermost outposts Of
present day exploration in Alaska are
Episcopal mission houses. where Gods
word Is preached and His work done
among the aboriginal tribes. He is
known and loved of every old pioneer
of the north. Trappers. prospectors.
saloon men. are his children and his
tilicums. The last time he preacehd in
the little log church which the Rev.
Charles Betticher built In Fairbanks.
there were in his congregation IL sa'
loon men and boss gamblers and ahu-
kutty tilicums. mis- chums OF the earlier
days, not one In all that crowd wor
shipped more revercntly. OF listened
with greater pride to their good
friends eloquence than they
1t is with hooks of steel like these
that he has anchored the church he
represents in the north. With his hos
pitals and mission refugees he has
made the ways into the remotest dis
tricts by comparison. safe. Before nis
march the Russians have gradually
gone out of the country by the way
that they came In, by the mighty fu
kon, until today their one foothold OF
note Is down we'll toward the delta Of
the big stream at wnat is known as the
Old Russian Mission
It is there Bishop Innoent, the pa
triarch of the Greek church, wrapped
in his dignity and ponderous melan-
choIy at what has been and is not
watches tue broad, practical. initiative
Christianity OF Bishop Rowe .as IL
overwhclms the religious order and
system of the older and unprogressive
days
Bishop IDnocents flock has been re-
duced TO handful of aboriginals and
Russian half breeds-some of them on
the Yukon; some OF them at Sitka and
one OF two otner places along the
coast For their livelihood they fish
and hunt. which gives them precarious
existence. only recently has their aus
tere old bishop permitted the introduc
ton of a modern idea. After much
persuasion and more argument ne has
consented TO let the Indians them
selves gather together the exhibit of
relics OF Russian rule in Alaska, which
will be made feature of the Alaska
Iukon-Pncific exposition.
Rowe has had his Indians at work
on their exhibit for two years past.
thankful Tor the educational value Oh
the work TO his charges. Innocent
however. was never believer in edu-
cation for the aboriginal. The church
sent him there TO make Russians OF
them and shock 10 tradition when
finally he gave his ent TO them 10
help In the worlds work.
Rowe stands as the symbol OF the
virile Alaska OF today
Bishop Rowe makes mis- headquar-
ters at Sitks. where he has hand
some home and has erected a Jog
church.
His church is only a short distance
from the Greek CHURCH Of Father In
nocent, which instead OF being primar-
lily a place OF worship. has become.
with its almost mediaeval decorations
and architecture. show place for
tourists. to which an admission fee is
charged.