So the Iowa boy arrive in the Klondike. Dawson was the hub. Here the record gets confusing. Apparently they split into different teams. Marsh and his team took the small boat they built. Sometime here the party finally spit, with some staying for the winter.
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| Note the piles of tailings in the river. | Front Street, Dawson, looking north. (Dogs and mud. Old timer in foreground had an interesting pipe. | Front Street, Dawson, looking south. | Gravel bar in front of Dawson covered with tents. (Boats in a lagoon, while tents are on a mud bar beyond.) |
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| Suspension bridge over the Klondike River. |
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| The Marsh collection had this photo by Haag. | Since this is the first trip downriver of the year for this boat, this photo is probably from the party's arrival, not departure. |
Things were bad in Dawson. Marsh does not discuss the other Iowa parties, except that in July 26th, he says:
"Dawson is a city sure enough. They claim 25,000 people here now and the outlook is not very bright as the spring work is over and there is no work and everybody wants to go home and are going as fast as possible." On August 4th he says: ... "There are about 10,000 men out of work, broke and want to get home and as yet there is no chance. All well [?]. Hear that the Iowa was all O.K. as far as Circle City." Since that is far downriver from Dawson, it seems that someone took the Iowa down river, while Marsh and some others stayed in the gold fields. He reports working for some others for a while. In August 17th he says he is fine, but 10 to 20 people are dying each day from "sickness."