
Jujiro Wada () (ca. 1872-5 March 1937) was a
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
adventurer
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...
and
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entreprene ...
who achieved fame for his exploits in turn-of-the-20th-century
Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
and
Yukon Territory
Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s westernmost territory and the smallest ...
.
Early life
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
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, to wealthy parents. Wada said that he arrived in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
in late 1891, and that his purpose of traveling to the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
was to attend
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
.
[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 on January 6, 1875, in
Komatsu,
Ehime Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...
. He was the second son of a former
samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
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 what is today
Matsuyama
270px, Matsuyama City Hall
270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building
is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, in Japan and is also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243,541 h ...
City. In 1886, when he was 13 or 14 years of age (by Japanese counting, which would mean 12 or 13 by American), Jujiro went to work at Toda-Seishi Company, which was a local paper factory. In 1890, he went to work for the Yamaya Transport Company in
Mitsuhama
Mitsuhama (三津浜), formerly also known as Mitsugahama, is the main port of Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan. The port operates local ferries.
In October, 1888, the Iyotetsu light railway line connecting Mitsuhama with Matsuyama
270px, Matsuyama City ...
. Meanwhile, he heard tales about the fabulous wealth of
America
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
[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; Ronald Inouye, "Jujiro Wada: musher, long distance runner, and Fairbanks co-founder?" ''Fairbanks News-Miner'', September 13, 2009, http://newsminer.com/news/2009/sep/13/jujiro-wada-musher-long-distance-runner-and-fairba/]
According to subsequent US immigration data, Wada took a steamship to San Francisco in March 1890. However, according to his own account, he stowed away aboard a ship out of Kobe in 1891.
Whaling
Wada was a
cabin boy
A cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy or young man who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain. The modern merchant navy successor to the cabin boy is the steward's assistant.
Duties
Cabin boys ...
and cook aboard the Pacific Steam Whaling Company's
bark
Bark may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick
* Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog)
Arts and entertainment
* ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...
''Balaena'' from March 1892 until October 1894. During this time, the ship was
hunting
Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...
baleen whale
Baleen whales (), also known as whalebone whales, are marine mammals of the order (biology), parvorder Mysticeti in the infraorder Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises), which use baleen plates (or "whalebone") in their mouths to sieve plankt ...
s in the North
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
and
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
s. Wada learned
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
during this voyage. His teacher was the ship's
master
Master, master's or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
In education:
*Master (college), head of a college
*Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline
*Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...
, H. Havelock Norwood.
[ DeArmond, Robert N. "This is My Country," ''Alaska Magazine,'' March 1988, pp. 37-38.]
Wada returned to
Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
in 1895, this time as a shore hunter at
Utqiagvik
Utqiagvik ( ; , ), formerly known as Barrow ( ), is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the world and the ...
.
Shore hunters hunted whales using land-based boats, and also hunted
caribou
The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...
with which to provision visiting whale ships. Wada worked for the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Company. The local manager was Charles Brower. This is probably when and where Wada learned to handle
sled dog
A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in Dog harness, harness, most commonly a Dog sled, sled over snow.
Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transpor ...
s and speak Alaska native languages.
In 1896, Wada returned to Japan to see his mother. He was in Japan about three months.
Following his trip to Japan, Wada returned to Alaska, where he went back to working as a shore whaler at Utqiagvik. In September 1897, an early freeze trapped eight ships of the U.S. whaling fleet in the ice off
Point Barrow
Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, northeast of Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow). It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at , south of the North Pole. (The northe ...
. Naturalist
Edward Avery "Ned" McIlhenny (of the
Tabasco sauce
Tabasco is an American brand of hot sauce made from vinegar, tabasco peppers and salt. It is produced by the McIlhenny Company of Avery Island in southern Louisiana, having been created over 150 years ago by Edmund McIlhenny. Originally the ...
family) and two assistants were then living at the Point Barrow refuge station, and during the next few months, the McIlhenny party and the Barrow shore whalers helped the crews of the stranded whale ships.
Prospector and cook
Wada was in San Francisco during 1898-1899,
[Kagan, Norm. "Wada the Wanderer."](_blank)
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." Her sixteen children and their families live throughout Northern California today.
Wada was in Nome during 1901.
He apparently spent the winter of 1901-1902 in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, because on May 26, 1902, he arrived in
Skagway
The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with the large ...
on a
steamer out of Seattle.
[''Yukon Sun,'' January 17, 1903.]
From Skagway, Wada caught a different ship to
St. Michael
Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...
, and then took a
gasoline
Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...
launch
Launch or launched may refer to:
Involving vehicles
* Launch (boat), one of several different sorts of boat
** Motor launch (naval), a small military vessel used by the Royal Navy
* Air launch, the practice of dropping an aircraft, rocket, or ...
up the
Koyukuk River
The Koyukuk River (; ''Ooghekuhno' '' in Koyukon, ''Kuuyukaq'' or ''Tagraġvik'' in Iñupiaq) is a tributary of the Yukon River, in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the last major tributary entering the Yukon before the larger river empties int ...
. In August 1902, Wada took a job as a cook for
E.T. Barnette
Elbridge Truman Barnette (1863 – May 22, 1933) was a Yukon riverboat captain, banker, postmaster and swindler, who founded the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, and later served as its first mayor.
Biography
He was born in 1863 in Akron, Ohio to Truma ...
, who had established a
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...
on the banks of the
Chena River
The Chena River (; Tanana Athabascan: Ch'eno' "river of something (game)") is a tributary of the Tanana River in the Interior region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows generally west from the White Mountains to the Tanana River near the ...
that subsequently became the site of modern
Fairbanks.
Fairbanks
On December 28, 1902, Wada drove one of Barnette's dog teams into
Dawson City
Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon.
History
Prior t ...
to tell the
Canadians
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
about the recent gold
strikes near Fairbanks. Reporter Casey Moran of the ''Yukon Sun'' subsequently wrote a front-page story whose headline screamed "Rich Strike Made in the Tanana."
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:
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
Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...
pelts. He paid the fine, and left town.
During the winter of 1904-1905, Wada was hunting
seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
along the Beaufort Sea. He was accompanied by several
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Associated with India
* of or related to India
** Indian people
** Indian diaspora
** Languages of India
** Indian English, a dialect of the English language
** Indian cuisine
Associated with indigenous peoples o ...
. 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
Racial discrimination in jury selection is specifically prohibited by law in many jurisdictions throughout the world. In the United States, it has been defined through a series of judicial decisions. However, juries composed solely of one racial ...
acquitted him anyway. 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.
[
]
Marathon runner
Needing money to pay his lawyers, Wada began running indoor marathon race
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...
s. These were gambling events, in which prizes were measured in thousands of dollars. Wada ran well, too, winning a Nome marathon in March 1907. Said the ''Dawson Daily News'' on May 6, 1908:
In August 1907, Wada took his money to Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
. 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
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of 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
Herschel Island (; Inuvialuktun: ) is an island in the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean), which lies off the coast of Yukon in Canada, of which it is administratively a part. Part of the Arctic Archipelago, it is Yukon's only large of ...
on March 15, 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." Then, after filing some mining claims and buying a new worsted
Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...
suit and brown derby
Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
, Wada caught a series of steamers to Nome.
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.
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](_blank)
/ref> 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. 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 1/5 seconds).
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:
After arriving in Seward, Wada and Alfred Lowell, Dick Butler, and Frank Cotter helped pioneer the Iditarod Trail
The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaska n ...
. 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
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yupʼik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanekʼ''; (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the Unit ...
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.
Late life
Wada went to Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
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
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...
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
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, working at Van Camp's
Van Camp's is an American brand of canned bean products currently owned by ConAgra Foods, Inc. Their products typically consist of beans stewed in a flavored sauce.
Founding
The brand traces its roots back to Indianapolis
Indianapolis ( ...
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
Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
, mostly along High Cache Creek. In 1919, he went to the Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
.
On September 6, 1920, he entered New York State via Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
. 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 fox
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
es on the Upper Porcupine. He also searched for gold around Herschel Island and for oil around Fort Norman (modern Norman Wells
Norman Wells (Slavey language: ''Tłegǫ́hłı̨'' "where there is oil") is a town located in the Sahtu Region, Northwest Territories, Canada. The town, which hosts the Sahtu Regional office, is situated on the north side of the Mackenzie Riv ...
). His business partners during this time included the veteran trader Poole Field.
Wada left Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
in April 1923. On May 3, 1923, he arrived at Ketchikan
Ketchikan ( ; ) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough on Revillagigedo Island of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic Landmark District.
With a po ...
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
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, Illinois. In May 1934, he was in Seattle, having recently arrived from San Francisco. During January 1936, he was in Green River, Wyoming
Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
. During the winter of 1936-1937, he was in Redding, California
Redding is a city in and the county seat of Shasta County, California, and the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, California, Sacrame ...
.[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
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...
hospital on March 5, 1937. The cause of death was listed as peritonitis
Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...
caused by diverticulitis
Diverticulitis, also called colonic diverticulitis, is a gastrointestinal disease characterized by inflammation of abnormal pouches—Diverticulum, diverticula—that can develop in the wall of the large intestine. Symptoms typically include lo ...
.
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
The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race, is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon, switching directions ...
sled dog race was dedicated to his memory."Yukon Quest - East Meets West at the Yukon Quest." January 25, 2007
References
External links
Jujiro Wada Memorial Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wada, Jujiro
1870s births
1937 deaths
Deaths from peritonitis
Deaths from diverticulitis
Dog mushers from Alaska
20th-century Japanese businesspeople
Japanese emigrants to the United States
People from Ehime Prefecture
Businesspeople from Fairbanks, Alaska
People from Nome, Alaska
People from Utqiagvik, Alaska
People from the Territory of Alaska
People of the Klondike Gold Rush