Establishing The Iditarod Trail
Wada left Seattle on November 24, 1909. The Seattle Times published later that day recorded his departure. Said the newspaper article:
| “ | Clad in a suit of blue serge with white starched collar, Jayerio Wada, a well known Japanese Alaskan musher, who left for Seward on the Yucatan, of the Alaska Steamship Company, this morning, resembled an agent for an Oriental firm rather than a veteran adventurer... Wada, as he ran up the gang plank, was recognized by several Alaskans, who were on the pier to witness the sailing of the steamship, he turned and said: 'Good luck everybody. Follow me and you all will have money.' | ” |
After arriving in Seward, Wada and Alfred Lowell, Dick Butler, and Frank Cotter helped pioneer the Iditarod Trail. After finishing this project, Wada returned to Seattle. From Seattle, he went to Louisiana, where he visited Edward McIlhenny, probably to raise money for further expeditions. He returned to Alaska via Seattle in April 1911.
In early 1912, Wada was in the Kuskokwim area, looking for traces of a Japanese man known locally as Allen, who had disappeared there. On March 11, 1912, Wada was in Iditarod. In July 1912, he and his partner, John Baird, made a gold strike on the Tulasak River. Wada took about $12,000 in gold with him when he went to Seattle to report the findings to his backers, who included McIlhenny and the Guggenheim brothers.
Wada returned to Seward in November 1912. He brought with him two sled loads of mining equipment, another sled load of miscellaneous supplies, and four Japanese companions who would serve as assistant dog drivers. The Japanese and their twenty dogs then drove to the Bear Creek strike. Wada remained at the Bear Creek site until February 1913.
Read more about this topic: Jujiro Wada
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