Jujiro Wada - Late Life

Late Life

Wada went to Seattle for a short while, then he returned to Alaska in May 1913. That same year, he was described in John Underwood's Alaska, an Empire in the Making, as one of Alaska's best long-distance dog sled drivers.

In 1915, a man named Ernest Blue wrote in the Cordova Daily Times that Wada was a Japanese spy asserting that Blue had seen cash and a map of Alaska in Wada's possession. This story reappeared in 1923 and during WWII. During May 1915, Wada was in San Pedro, California, working at Van Camp's tuna packing plant, but left town swiftly after receiving a phone call. As with many stories about Wada, the published accounts are contradictory. In the Seattle Times on May 15, 1916, Wada insisted the phone call was a job offer in Alaska, and he traveled to New York. However, on page 217 of Tani, 1995, Wada wrote a letter to his friend Sunada, written on Van Camp Sea Food Company stationery. that reads, "Sorry to say but I am compelled to leave here... otherwise they will kill me."

During 1917-1918, Wada resumed prospecting in the Yukon, mostly along High Cache Creek. In 1919, he went to the Northwest Territories.

On September 6, 1920, he entered New York State via Niagara Falls. He listed his last residence as Herschel Island, Northwest Territories, and his employer as E.F. Lufkin. He listed his height as 5'2", his hair as black, and his complexion as dark.

From 1920-1923, he was trapping foxes on the Upper Porcupine. He also searched for gold around Herschel Island and for oil around Fort Norman (modern Norman Wells). His business partners during this time included the veteran trader Poole Field.

Wada left Canada in April 1923. On May 3, 1923, he arrived at Ketchikan aboard the SS Princess Mary. He listed himself as a citizen of Canada, but was not allowed entry into Alaska because he had no passport.

His subsequent whereabouts are not currently documented, but in 1930, he was in Chicago, Illinois. In May 1934, he was in Seattle, having recently arrived from San Francisco. During January 1936, he was in Green River, Wyoming. During the winter of 1936-1937, he was in Redding, California.

He died at the San Diego County hospital on March 5, 1937. The cause of death was listed as peritonitis caused by diverticulitis.

Wada was buried at county expense, probably in the city-owned Mount Hope cemetery. But he was not forgotten, at least not in Alaska and the Yukon, and in 2007, a Yukon Quest sled dog race was dedicated to his memory.