Valdez daily prospector., 1913-05-20
|hAN.0f MYSTERY HEADS FOR NORTH
skagway Alaskan Tells of Annual Pilsrimages of Cobb, Who
 Returns With Gold.

Mysterious" Cobb, accompanied by Mrs. F. w. Cobb. were chair car passengers to the north on the White Pass railway this morning. There is nothing un- usual in people travelling in chair cars to the north, and to Hook at Mr. and Mrs. Cobb reveals nothing extraordinary in their conduct. Yet they are two of the most mysterious people in the world.
 Five OF six years ago Myster- ious Cobb was editor of the Nome Nugget. One day he retired froili thc newspaper business, and since that time the two have made a,i- nual pilgrimages to the interior of Alaska, going down or up the Yukon, to some of the most des- olate places, and lqading their provisions in smHl river boat at some obscure landing, they pull away into the unknown. In the autumn they appear perhaps two ] hundred miles from where they left the river steamer, and re- nmbarking they go outside for the winter only to return the next season and repeat the pcrform- ance.
 When these two strange prO- pie, strange only in Ihis one par ticular, take passage on the boats. they are plentifully supplied with money. occupying the most eX- pensivc quarters both on boat and hotel, spending money lavishly. Perhaps the most inscrutable part of the mystery which sur trounds them is the fact that Cobb. having formerly been an editor. is now plentifully supplied with !money.
 Mysterious Cobb is a we'll in- formed man; there is scarcely subject of human interest with which he is not familiar. He talks equally we'll on politics. geology, history. literature. and the arts and sciences. Only on one subject is he rrticent. and that pertains to the region in which he makes his annual appearance. and what he finds there.
 Sometimes he goes up the Iu- knn via Nome and st. Michael. Once he disembarkrd at kaltae: another time at Nnly Cross. again he stops al a wood landing hun drNdS of miles from a settlement. i Then he will go in via Skagway as al present. only tu disappear in the wiIds and swamp lands Of i the unlamcd places: always ar- rumpanied by Mrs. Cobb. and al ways rpapprarin2 in thr fall. su- ing outside and coming. back again flush with money.
 InuuiSIive persons have asked l. he mysterious man if he was en- gagged in gold mining. His reply invariably is that he has some thing better than gold. He owns some placer claims in the north. but pays no attention to them. To a reporter of the Daily Alas kan he said that in his opinion there would never be another gold stampede equaling that of the Klondike and the Tanana' but says there will be stampede some day to the interior for a more precious article.s and the coming stampede will surpass anything seen in the early days of gold discoveries.
 1 Where does the Mysterious Cobb go?
 Is h" another Death Valley Scotty? ,.... Has he discovered the volcanic pipe which anciently belched out I diamonds from the argillace"us womb of the earth? I Ask him, and he will tell you /! of the geological formation of l gems and of the deposits of pre- cious metals. He will tell you ev- ,erything but what you are most ganxious to know. Upon that sub >, feet he is a sphynx. Woodrow IWilson.--Skagway Alaskan.