Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-09-23

II. 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
f0rnia bound by way of Butte n
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 well-kn0wn land Of Robert Serv-
ice and Tex Richard.
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 q
real mans land. with all the appliances
connected Herewith. TN admit we had
one bad town." he said, but that was
only one and lasted for only a 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 ONE vivid bits Of the Alaska
that 1t used to be. II was among the
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
o stands, there were only o men
there, living in a tent. In later days ]
met Tex Rickard-he was running q
saloon at that time-and l 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. 1.-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 a had to work for himself and
watch that no other fellow might STEP
over into his territory. There were nc
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
a 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 i~mpossibility 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
iiluil1 ~ Sth1iN liz WllibC ILL bllC blCdh-
ing of spring, with a feverish rush OF
renewed activity, were depicted by Owen
in realistic terms. Il had the edge on
a number of them at that he said, "in
that / learned the essence of living in
the climate from the Indians. You know
a 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. 1t finally came to the point
where I decided that the only way out
was to make the best of things, 80 ]
learned to eat Indian grub"
Can you imagine he asked, Illus
trating his point with an eloquent ges-
ture, "scooping up a handful of seal fat
and swallowing itP Well" said Owen
II couldn't either, at first" The rest he
left to the imagination.
Like Seeking New World
Owen expects to return to Alaska
about Christmas time. IT'S just like
coming into a new world, he said. "Wher
l left the country there was little Of the
vast improvement l have seen coming
through He was appreciative of the
advantages made in the Northwest and
attic as being comparable to the north
ern lights. He stated, however, that the
idea of Alaska being the frozen North
was erroneous. when the growing sea-
son is on and the sun is up for most OF
the 2 4hours of the day, 1t gets plenty
warm, SO warm in fact that you wonder
how it could be as cold as 1T gets in
winter"
In paying tribute to Montana. he SAID
that the people of the state were more
like the people at home" than at any
other place along the way. Il like the
outside, it's interesting I'M it's new
I've been learning new things about II
every day. but somehow or other, I think
I'll be glad to get back north when the
snow starts to pile up around Christ.
mas" was his final word.