The Kevin review., 1927-09-22

frozen North" of Movies
H. Owen, veteran Of the gold rush
days, sOur-dOugh" and Alaskan old
timer, was in Montana recently, out
from under the circle for the first
time since Nome was a pup" Cali
fOrnia bound by way of Butte and
Salt Lake, Owen is having the time of
his life, according to his own state
ment, with his discovery of an en-
tirely new world in the Northwest,
viewed with delight and surprise after
an absence of 20 years in the more or
less WeIl-knOWn land of Robert Serv-
ice and Tex Rickard.
The movies, according to the Alaskan,
have got his land Of adoption all wrong
Far from the dance hall and gambling
den idea of the country which the
czars of cinema have seen fit to foist
ON an unsuspecting public, Alaska is a
real mans land. with all the appliances
connected Herewith. .'I'll admit we had
one bad town." he said but that was
only one and lasted for only short
time The country at this time is about
as clean as the creator makes it, and
defy any land or any section OF the
universe to hold a candle to our scenery"
Early in Territory
Harking back to the old days, when
as a boy he left the States, Owen
recalled some vivid bits OF the Alaska
first 20 white men in the territory" he
said "and / was lucky enough to be
among the white men who stayed When
I first came to the place where Nome
now stands, there were only four men
there living in a tent In later ciavs /
met Tex Rickard-he was running a
saloon at that time-and also met Rex
Beach,
The inside story Of the miners law, as
governing the famous rush to the beach.
near Nome, was brought out in his mar
rative. THE gold was in the sands OF
the beach," he said, and because OF the
government ruling relative to stalking
out claims below the high water level
every man had to work for himself and
watch that no other fellow might step
over into his territory. There were no
boundaries, no lines, no protection; we
stood side by side within hitting dis
tance of the waves, washing the sands
as fast as we could. When a storm
came up. all claim rights vanished and
q man had to start the next day with
what he had left Of equipment"
He Ate Indian Grub
The raw winter cold Of the north and |
the impossibility of getting to the golden
sands through the 14-foot-deep snow /
banks along the shore, the mushroom
growth of the town, the inability of |
many to stand the winter and the break
ing OF spring, with a feverish rush of
activity, were depicted by Owen I
in realistic terms. II had the edge on I
a number Of them at that" he said, "in /
that learned the essence Of living IN 7
the climate from the Indians You know, /
q lot depends on the ability to do things
when you have to do them. When I first
landed there, the smell of some OF the
camps and the look Of the food made
me sick. It finally came to the point
where I decided that the only way out
vas to make the best of things, SO 1
earned to eat Indian grub"
Can you imagine" he asked, Illus
rating his point with an eloquent ges-
,ure, sscOoping up a handful Of seal fat
md swallowing it2 Well" said Owen,
I couldn't either at first" The rest he
eft to the Imagination.
Like Seeking New World
Owen expects to return to Alaska
bout Christmas time TITS iust like
oming into new world" !" he said When ]
left the country there was little Of the |
asst improvement I have seen coming {
trough" He was appreciative Of the I
dVantages made in the Northwest and s
escribed the night illumination Of Se- :
title as being comparable to the north J
IN lights. He stated, however, that the
lea Of Alaska being the frozen North /
Fas erroneous. When the growing sea-
On is on and the sun is up for most Of
ne 4hours Of the day, it gets plenty
arm, so warm in fact that you wonder
oW 1t could be as cold as it gets IN
inter-"
In paying tribute to Montana, he said
1at the people Of the state were more :,
ke the people at home" than at any
cher place along the way 4 like the
1tside. it's interesting and it's new.
We been learning new things about it
7ery day, but somehow or other I think d
II be glad to get back north when the
low starts to pile up around Christ
as, was his final word.