Iditarod pioneer., 1917-01-13

vens lived with his parents on farm Ill Maine But in that year he got together his few belongings, took affectionatc leave of his parents and told them ha would return when he had 5000, and then set his footsteps toward the West. In 1896 he drifted to Alaska.
 When the strike of '97 was made, Stevens, together with other prospectors, hit the trail northWard
 You see, the excitement at that time was so high that a great deal of gold, all at once, was the only thing that could satisfy its seekers To stop and pick 1t up, little by little never entered their heads, IL was very much like an impetuous boy and painstaking little girl going blackberry picking. The urchin rushes by the smaller clumps of berries, hardly giving them glance in his hurry to find the bush where they grow most thickly The little girl, on the contrary, stops and picks every berry that falls in her way, no matter how scat tered them may be. The result is, of course, thet by the time the sun has gone down the boy is still hunting for the pienltude of berries he set out to seek, and the little girl has her apron filled with them.
 Stevens made his strike eventually, and n short time he took $6S0O0 in gold cut of the ground Here was more than the s5OOO he had promised to return home with. But did he do it? Not he He admits that the more money he got the more he wanted He mined great deal of money, but it went again in prospecting other claims that proved worthless, For wears his life was a see-saW. There Wcr" ,:. bo arl cumbers for dollar apiece, and there were other times when he was hard put to 1t for crust of bread.
 Finally he found himself with 3 large tract of rich land on his hands, and np money to work it. Unable to raise the money up there and unwilling to abandon his projects, he returned to Maine with q few thousand dollars.
 He placed his parents beyond want for the rest of their lives. Then he came to New York, accompanied by his daughters His wife remains in Alaska.
 In New York Stevens interviewed likely millionaires, but they all seemed chary of taking a chance. He was never too proud to work, so when he found his funds run ming low he took his job on the ice wagon And there he is today, playing Apollo, but very willing one, to the ice company, Admentus.
 New York is somewhat of mystery [, Stevens
 "It is the biggest city n thc co@atr..-." said lie, "and Pm doggoned if it sin't the lonesomest. Back in Fairbanks, ani that's considerable of town, know everybody in it, and I've been living in this apart ment here for months, and l don't know 8 soul
 of you an't got the money, you needn't come around seems to be the motto here. The people of this city have sure got me buffaloed. I don't get them nohow. There are some know of that get about fourteen bucks week, pay thirty for rent, wear swell clothes, and if you was to see 'em on the street you'd swear they was worth 8 million. Are they? Ask the butcher CT the baker or the grocer. But they're get ting away with it just the same, while l, with seventy millions in gold tied up, am driving an ice wagon for living.
 "Yes, sir. New Yorks over my head. l don't get it, and l don't get its people. Some day pretty soon, with or without money, I'm going to pull up stakes and hit for the land 1 know'