The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-12-26
HAS ALL ALASKA
FOR HIS DIOCESE
Bishop ROw0'S Territory Covers
100000 Square Miles.
A MAN OF IRON NERVE

pectors For Gold and of Evil Element
Which He Helped Drive Out-TraVels
Thousands of Miles on Snowshoea
Every Year.
The hardest man In the house OF
bishops OF the Episcopal convention
recently held at st. Louis. was the
Right Rev. Peter Il. Rowe, bishop OF
Alaska, says the st. Louis Post-Dis-
patch. He is fifty-nine years old and
for twenty-one years has braved the
elements of arctic winters in covering
the 100000 square miles Of his diocese,
the whole of Alaska, once every three
years on snowshOes and by canoe, mia
istering to whites. Indians and NskA-
mos. He Is known from Sitka to the
shores Of the Arctic ocean as the min
istering brother Of tho lonely pros
pector.
To be bishop of Alaska, Bishop Rowe
says, one must have cast iron digestive
organs. The bishop Of Alaska frequent
ly finds it necessary to sit down In a
blizzard to a norsel Of raw whale for
luncheon or IL hard pressed raw dog In
order to sustain life. He must make
forced marches over icy wastes with
the mercury so to 80 degrees below zero.
A Man Of iron Nerve.
Bishop Rowe related that year ago
last winter he stumbled upon members
Of Stefansson's arctic expedition near
Point Barrow, Alaska, cropping their
way back to civilization. The men had
tion and were in pitiable plight.
Bishop Rowe Is stOcky and powerful
ly built and has scant iron gray hair
and steel blue eyes.
Bishop Rowe was clergyman at
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich, when he was
consecrated bishop Of Alaska In 1895.
He reached Alaska two years before
the rush of prospectors to the Klon-
dixie and was one of the first Ameri
cans to go over ChilkOOt pass, where
q snowslide killed seventy eight men.
He was one of the rescuing PARTY that
helped dig the bodies out of the snow.
In all his years in Alaska he never
nad the gold feVer.
'The results Of that memorable
craze made other work for me-" he
said. "and never had time to get the
fever. was at Skagway at the time
There was an epidemic of meningitis,
and many who did not die OF that dis
ease succumbed to shooting ARRAYS.
During a period of two months con-
Quoted almost daily the funeral of
some murdered prOspector or gambler" "
At that time gambler called
"SOapy" Smith headed gang that in
tested the KlOndike and mulcted pros
pectOrs. The activities OF the band
grew to be such menace that Bishop
Rowe and others organized vigilance
committee, which was sent after the
gang. Smith was killed and others
were driven out of the country.
Goes Thousands Of Miles on Snowshoes
Bishop Rowe said his winter trips
take him 1000 miles into the interior.
On snOwshoes, in company with an
Indian guide, he follows a dog sled
across the country where there are no
trails. guided only by a compass
through the river valleys and over
snow clad mountains to the remote
camps Of Indians and lonely prospec-
tors.
His narrowest escape occurred win
ter before last, when he was caught
in blizzard on the banks OF the Yu-
kon river. with the temperature at 80
degrees below zero.
"We succeeded in making the sheltes
Of a mountain SIDE" the bishop said,
else would not be here to tell of It
I unleashed the dogs and they bur
rowed into the snow. An Eskimo dog
knows instinctively what to do under
such circumstances, and we did like
wise. For three days we lay buried iu
the snow while the blast ragged.
AFTER the fury Of the storm had
abated we scrambled out and uncov-
cred the dogs. They had slept through
1t all. A short distance OFF we found a
white man bundled in furs, but frozen
to death. There. on the snowbound
wastes. read his funeral service and
buried him In grave of snow, the
rainbOw's end Of many another gold
seeker" Pushing on. they ended that
trip at Point Barrow. where they met
Stefansson's men.
Many Go insane
One fine spring day ON another trip
Bishop Rowe came upon what appear
ed to be wild man standing on the
banks of creek.
1--WE were a hundred miles from any
trail." he said. land ! wondered what
he could be about. Drawing near l
found him to be only another prospec.
tor. He apologized for having no more
than -four and a bit of tea to offer,
upon which he had existed through the
previous winter. but declared that food
was not the tlrst essential with gold In
sight.
"At least twenty-five such fellows
wander out of the interior every year
under the delusion that they are rich
have heard them come in. poor men,
tai wrecks, shouting that they were
richer than Guggenhelm."