Jujiro Wada

Jujiro Wada (Japanese: Wada Jujiro) (ca. 1872-5 March1937) was a Japanese adventurer and entrepreneur who achieved fame for his exploits in turn-of-the-20th-century Alaska and Yukon Territory.

Origins

According to his own account, Wada was born on February 12, 1872,County of San Diego--Standard Certificate of Death #37-023109, filed March 11, 1937.] in Ehime Prefecture, Japan, to wealthy parents. Wada said that he arrived in San Francisco in late 1891, and that his purpose of traveling to the United States was to attend Yale University.Cotter, Frank. "Ju Wada As I Knew Him," "Japanese-American Courier," July 3, 1937, p 2.]

Researcher Yuji Tani provides an alternative story. According to Tani, Wada was born in Ehime Prefecture in 1874 or 1875. He was the second son of a former samurai fallen on hard times, and his father died when Jujiro was four. Subsequently, Jujiro and his mother went to live with his mother's relatives. In 1888, when he was 13 or 14 years of age (by Japanese counting, which would mean 12 or 13 by American), Jujiro went to work in a relative's paper factory. At the factory, he heard tales about the fabulous wealth of America.Miyahara, Fumiko. "The tale of the Yukon's dog-mushing Samurai," "Yukon News," March 13, 1996, 14, summarizing the Japanese-language "Orora ni kakeru samurai" (Samurai Who Ran to the Northern Lights) by Yuji Tani. Japan: Yama to Keikoku, 1995.] Consequently, in March 1890, he took a steamship to San Francisco. [ Ancestry.com. Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956 [database on-line] . Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Arrival date September 6, 1920, age 46, born about 1874, in Iyo, Japan.]

Whaler

Either way, Wada was a cabin boy and cook aboard the Pacific Steam Whaling Company's bark "Balaena" from March 1892 until October 1894. During this time, the ship was hunting baleen whales in the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans. [Dates of service are from John R. Bockstoce, "Steam Whaling in the Western Arctic." New Bedford, Massachusetts: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1977, p. 114.] Wada learned English during this voyage. His teacher was the ship's master, H. Havelock Norwood.DeArmond, Robert N. "This is My Country," "Alaska Magazine," March 1988, pp. 37-38.] [A photo of Wada in Dawson City, on a site dedicated to H. H. Norwood. [http://www.rootsweb.com/~canbrnep/hhnrp.htm] ]

Wada returned to Alaska in 1895, this time as a shore hunter at Barrow.Miyahara, Fumiko. "The tale of the Yukon's dog-mushing Samurai," "Yukon News," March 13, 1996, 14, summarizing the Japanese-language "Samurai Who Ran to the Northern Lights" by Yuji Tani (Japan: Yama to Keikoku, 1995).] Shore hunters hunted whales using land-based boats, and also hunted caribou with which to provision visiting whale ships. The company Wada worked for was the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Company. The local manager was Charles Brower. [Brower, Charles D. "Fifty Years Below Zero: A Lifetime of Adventure in the Far North." Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1994.] Shore hunters were a multi-ethnic group, so this is probably when and where Wada learned to handle sled dogs and speak Alaska native languages.

Wada was still a shore whaler at Barrow during September 1897, ["Dawson Daily News," October 18, 1909; "Dawson Daily News," January 11, 1913; "Seattle Times," May 9, 1916. Wada's accounts of his participation appear in "Seattle Times," September 18, 1909, and "Dawson Daily News," September 22, 1909.] when an early freeze trapped eight ships of the U.S. whaling fleet in the ice off Point Barrow. Naturalist Edward Avery "Ned" McIlhenny (of the Tabasco sauce family) and two assistants were then living at the Point Barrow refuge station, and the McIlhenny party and Brower's shore whalers helped the crews of the stranded whale ships. [Bockstoce, John. "The Arctic Whaling Disaster of 1897," "Arctic Whaling," 1977, pp. 27-42.]

Prospector and Cook

Wada was in San Francisco during 1898-1899,Kagan, Norm. "Wada the Wanderer." [http://www.usfamily.net/web/norman.kagan/wada/english.htm] ] and in August 1914, a young girl from San Francisco calling herself Helen Wada Silveira wrote the postmaster in Fairbanks, claiming to be Wada's daughter. She wrote a message to the Fairbanks Times and when presented to him by an acquaintance, Wada replied back, calling her "Himeko." ["Dawson Daily News," September 5, 1914; "Fairbanks Times," August 5, 1914.] Her sixteen children and their families live throughout Northern California today.

Wada was in Nome during 1901.Kagan, Norm. "Wada the Wanderer." [http://www.usfamily.net/web/norman.kagan/wada/english.htm] ] ["Seattle Post-Intelligencer," July 21, 1912.] He apparently spent the winter of 1901-1902 in Seattle, because on May 26, 1902, he arrived in Skagway on a steamer out of Seattle. ["Yukon Sun," January 17, 1903.]

From Skagway, Wada caught a different ship to St. Michel, and then took a gasoline launch up the Koyukuk River. In August 1902, Wada took a job as a cook for E.T. Barnette's steamboat "Lavelle Young." Thus, he was on the scene when Barnette established a trading post on the banks of the Tanana River that subsequently became the site of modern Fairbanks. [Cole, Terrence. "E.T. Barnette: The Strange Man Who Founded Fairbanks." Anchorage, Alaska: Northwest Publishing Co., 1981.]

=Booming Fairbanks=

On December 28, 1902, Wada drove one of Barnette's dog teams into Dawson City to tell the Canadians about the recent gold strikes near Fairbanks. [A photo of Barnette's dog team appears on page 217 of E. Tappan Adney, "The Klondike Stampede," Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1994. The rig shows five dogs in a row, but a photo of the fan harness that Wada seems to have preferred appears on pages 219-220.] Reporter Casey Moran of the "Yukon Sun" subsequently wrote a front-page story whose headline screamed "Rich Strike Made in the Tanana." ["Yukon Sun," January 17, 1903.] The story caused several hundred miners to leave Dawson City for Fairbanks, where most were disappointed to find that prices were high and the best sites were already staked. An angry mob approached Barnette's store, and threatened violence against both Barnette and Wada. Nonetheless, said Wada in September 1907: ["Dawson Daily News," September 28, 1907.]

: cquote|The story that I was about to be hanged for causing a thought-to-be-fake stampede was not correct. The fact is that the miners held a meeting to decide as to the price of flour then being offered by one of the trading companies. They thought the price exorbitant. It was rumored that the miners had a rope on my neck, and were about to hoist me. Now that is not true. The other part of the story, that I showed a copy of the [Seattle] Post-Intelligencer saying that several years before I had rescued a party of shipwrecked whalers in the Arctic in dead of winter is true. I did show that paper to let some of the boys know I had been up North, but it was not in a plea to save my neck.

More Trials

After this experience, Wada left Fairbanks for Nome, where, in July 1903, he was arrested on the charge of failing to report the sale of 40 mink pelts. He paid the fine, and left town. ["Seattle Times," July 27, 1903.]

During the winter of 1904-1905, Wada was hunting seals along the Beaufort Sea. ["Yukon Daily News," September 22, 1909.] He was accompanied by several Indians. In August 1906, he was back in Nome. He promptly lost the money he'd made selling pelts in a card game, and he was arrested yet again, this time because some of the money he'd lost belonged to his Indian companions. The two Indians testified against him, but an all-white jury acquitted him anyway. ["Dawson Daily News," December 10, 1906."] Wada was arrested a third time, in Candle, on the same charges, and he spent the rest of the year in and out of court.DeArmond, Robert N. "This is My Country," "Alaska Magazine," March 1988, pp. 37-38.]

Marathon Man

Needing money to pay his lawyers, Wada began running indoor marathon races. These were gambling events, in which prizes were measured in thousands of dollars. Wada ran well, too, winning a Nome marathon in March 1907. [Hunt, William R. "North of 53 Degrees: The Wild Days of the Alaska-Yukon Mining Frontier." New York: Macmillan, 1974, 163.] Said the "Dawson Daily News" on May 6, 1908:

: cquote|All the Japanese boys in town had wagered their last cent of money on their fellow countryman, and their confidence in their man was never lost. Wada was the surprise of the race. Many people believed that he would make a strong showing, but only a few had given the dark-skinned boy credit for the wonderful powers of endurance which he displayed... During the entire race he was off the track but once -- and for only six minutes, the actual time consumed in changing his shoes. While on the run he ate a little raw egg and some tomato, drank a little mineral water, and that was all.

In August 1907, Wada took his money to Vancouver, British Columbia. The "Vancouver Daily Province" of August 7, 1907 reported that Wada was a fine storyteller, a favorite being the one about the time he trained two polar bear cubs to pull his sled.

After a month in Vancouver, Wada returned to Dawson City. He secured a dog team, and then drove to Rampart, Alaska, to do some prospecting."Dawson Daily News," April 27, 1908.] He visited whalers wintering at Herschel Island on March 15, 1908. ["Dawson Daily News," April 28, 1908.] He left the whalers on March 21, and returned to Dawson City via Rampart House, Yukon Territory. It was on this trip that Wada, running short of dog food, reportedly fed the animals his sealskin pants. "Fortunately," he said, "the spring days were so warm that I did not suffer so keenly as such a sacrifice would have entailed in winter." "Dawson Daily News," April 27, 1908.] Then, after filing some mining claims and buying a new worsted suit and brown derby, Wada caught a series of steamers to Nome. ["Dawson Daily News," April 29, 1908; "Seattle Post-Intelligencer," July 5, 1908.]

Wada left Nome on December 18, 1908, and arrived in Fairbanks on January 11, 1909. This meant his sustained rate by dog team was about 35 miles per day. The reason for this haste was an indoor marathon scheduled for January 15, 1909. Wada finished second. ["Dawson Daily News," February 2,1909; "Seward Weekly Gateway," January 30, 1909; "Yukon World," January 30, 1909.]

Wada signed up to run in Fairbanks' Independence Day Marathon, which was scheduled for July 1, 1909, but he fell ill and so didn't participate."Dawson Daily News," July 8, 1912. [http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/~agraham/news/wada.htm] ] ["Seattle Times," August 19, 1909.] After recovering, Wada went south, to run in more long-distance races. On October 7, 1909, he ran a 20-mile race in Vancouver, British Columbia. He lost. ["Seattle Times," October 8, 1909.] He was scheduled to run an officially sanctioned marathon in Seattle on October 17, but did not. The winner, Henri St. Yves, set a world record in that race (2 hours, 32 minutes, 9 and 1/5th seconds). ["Seattle Times," October 18, 1909.]

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:

: cquote|Clad in a suit of blue serge with white starched collar, Jayerio ["sic"] 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. ["Seward Weekly Gateway," December 4, 1909; "Seward Weekly Gateway," January 15, 1910; "Seward Weekly Gateway," February 5, 1910; Frank Cotter, "Japanese-American Courier," July 17, 1937.] 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."Dawson Daily News," July 8, 1912. [http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/~agraham/news/wada.htm] ] He returned to Alaska via Seattle in April 1911. ["Seattle Times," April 11, 1911; "Seattle Times," July 12, 1912.]

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. ["Fairbanks Daily Times," March 12, 1912.] In July 1912, he and his partner, John Baird, made a gold strike on the Tulasak River. ["Fairbanks Daily Times," June 15, 1912; "Seattle Post-Intelligencer," July 21, 1912.] 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. ["Seattle Times," October 30, 1912; Letter of Agreement between Jujiro Wada and E.A. McIlhenny dated September 14, 1912, in McIlhenny Company Archives; Mary J. Barry. "Seward, Alaska: A History of the Gateway City, Part I: Prehistory to 1914." Anchorage, Alaska: Self-published, 1987.]

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. ["Seattle Times," November 23, 1912; "Dawson Daily News," January 11, 1913.] The Japanese and their twenty dogs then drove to the Bear Creek strike. Wada remained at the Bear Creek site until February 1913. ["Fairbanks Daily Times," February 18, 1913.]

The End of the Trail

From Seward, Wada went to Seattle for a short while, then he returned to Alaska via a fishing boat in May 1913. ["Seattle Times," May 2, 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. [Underwood, John Jasper. "Alaska, an Empire in the Making." New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1913, pp. 320-321. [http://books.google.com/books?id=pDmzvxDN4mAC&pg=RA36-PA319&lpg=RA36-PA319&dq=jujiro+wada&source=web&ots=WuQ19-OkgV&sig=JtHmZWlh_d5nkU9vFHTKzLfvwMA#PRA36-PA320,M1] ]

During 1915, a man named Ernest Blue wrote in the "Cordova Daily Times" that Wada was a Japanese spy. The basis for the assertion was that Blue had seen cash and a map of Alaska in Wada's possession.Miyahara, Fumiko. "The tale of the Yukon's dog-mushing Samurai," "Yukon News," March 13, 1996, 14, summarizing the Japanese-language "Samurai Who Ran to the Northern Lights" by Yuji Tani. Japan: Yama to Keikoku, 1995.] Blue's tale appeared again in 1923 and yet again during World War II. ["How the Japs Spied on Alaska 50 Years Ago," "The American Weekly," date unknown but circa 1943.] That a prospector needed cash and a map apparently never occurred to anyone. As for Wada himself, during May 1915, he was in San Pedro, California, working at Van Camp's tuna packing plant. There, he received a phone call that made him leave town so fast that his friends feared he had been killed. Wada later said that his quick departure was because someone in New York wanted to hire him to return to Alaska. As with many stories about Wada, the published accounts are contradictory. In the "Seattle Times" on May 15, 1916, Wada insisted that he got that phone call that took him to New York. However, on page 217 of Tani, 1995, there is a letter from Wada to a friend named 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." [Tani, Yuji. "Samurai Who Ran to the Northern Lights." Japan: Yama to Keikoku, 1995.]

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. [Ancestry.com. Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956 (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.]

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). [Newport, Rhode Island, "Mercury," December 17, 1921.] His business partners during this time included the veteran trader Poole Field. [Daniel, Hawthorne. "The Canadian Oil Rush, Limited," "World's Work," 43, December 1921; "Winnipeg Evening Tribune," March 22, 1922.] [Northwest Territories Archives. [http://pwnhc.learnnet.nt.ca] ] [Struzik, Ed. "Ten Rivers: Adventure Stories from the Arctic." Winnipeg, Manitoba: CanWest Books, 2005, p. 23.] [Film of Poole Field [http://marina.fortunecity.com/reach/361/films1.htm] ]

Wada left Canada in April 1923. ["Dawson Daily News," May 17, 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. [ Ancestry.com. Alaska Alien Arrivals, 1906-1949 (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Alaska. Alphabetical Index of Alien Arrivals at Eagle, Hyder, Ketchikan, Nome, and Skagway, Alaska, June 1906-August 1946. Washington, D.C.: National Archives. Micropublication M2016. 1 roll.]

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.Svinth, Joseph R. "Tall Tales and True Stories: Ju Wada, Sourdough," unpublished paper read for the Alaska Historical Society, September 2002.]

He died at the San Diego County hospital on March 5, 1937. The cause of death was listed as peritonitis caused by diverticulitis.County of San Diego--Standard Certificate of Death #37-023109, filed March 11, 1937.]

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. ["Yukon Quest - East Meets West at the Yukon Quest." January 25, 2007. [http://www.yukonquest.com/servlet/viewnews?id=643&resolution=1440&referer=] ]

References