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Anton C. "Frank" Schow
ANTON C. SCHOW is the owner of large mining interests in
Seward Peninsula. He is better
known as Frank Schow. In his younger days he went to sea as a sailor, and
when the crew was drawn up in line
and the mate asking each one his name,
several slanting-browed natives of Portugal gave their names as Anton. When
the mate asked Mr. Schow his name,
he promptly replied, Frank, and by the
name of Frank he has since been known.
Mr. Schow is a native of New York,
and was born August 25, I860. He
was educated in the public schools, and
went to sea when he was fourteen years
old. He followed the sea for seven
years. After 1 876 his home was in
California. He was assistant foreman
for Goodall, Perkins & Company, of
San Francisco, at their Broadway
wharf, prior to the discovery of gold
in the Klondike. Upon receipt of the
news of the Dawson strike in 1897 he
started for that region. He and thirty-nine other men paid $500 each for
the schooner South Coast, in which they embarked for St. Michael. At St. Michael
he realized that the plans of the company would not enable him to get to Dawson
that season, so he shipped as a mate on one of the river steamers. On the way up
he purchased five tons of outfits for $300, and when he arrived in Dawson with them
he was offered $8,500 for the supplies they contained. These supplies included 2.200
pounds of flour, and he refused an offer of $4,400 for this flour. Mr. Schow is an
Elk, and he held the flour for the accommodation of his brothers in the order.
He engaged in mining in the Klondike country, and during his residence there
owned twelve mining claims, but they were all "dead ones." He came down the
river during the summer of 1899, arriving in Nome June I. Shortly after his arrival
the beach diggings were struck, and Mr. Schow claims the distinction of having weighed
the first product of the beach, which consisted of dust valued at fifty-two dollars.
In 1899 he got a bench claim off Discovery Claim on Anvil Creek. This claim
adjoins the property wheie the big nugget was found. Mr. Schow sold this claim in
1903 for $32,000 cash. He is now interested in 6,000 acres of mining land in various parts of Seward Peninsula, and is an owner in some valuable water rights. In
the fall of 1 899 Mr. Schow went to the states and took a trip to Europe. He was the
first man to go to Europe on money made in Nome.
Frank Schow is a whole-souled, generous man. He is a plunger as his extensive
holdings in mining property in this country would indicate. If this property prove to
be as good as the prospects indicate he will make a big stake.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula by
R. S. Harrison. Seattle: The Metropolitan Press, 1905.
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