Ed Jesson (d. 1942)
Ed Jesson and his wife came to Dawson from Juneau in late 1897. Mrs. Jesson died in February 1898 from a gunshot wound when Ed dropped a bag containing a gun, and it discharged. She is buried in the Third Avenue cemetery in Dawson.1)
Ed Jesson left Dawson during the Nome gold rush in 1900. Even though he owned a good dog team, he bought a bicycle from a man who had ridden it in from the coast. He defended his choice of conveyance saying that he did not have to cook it any food at night and could potentially cover 100 miles a day. He practiced in Dawson and learned how to keep the front heel in a sled track. On the trail, the temperature went down to 48 below Fahrenheit, the oil in the bearings thickened, and his rubber tires froze stiff. He was a month on the trail, but he pulled into Nome in relatedly good condition.2)
Ed operated a hotel in Nome with his father, mined with brothers Levi and John, and remarried in 1909. He and wife Georgina went to California in 1914, and he opened a Nash auto dealership. Ed is buried in San Mateo, California.3)