Token

What an amazing token! It's pristine!

I wonder if the guy ever made it??

Couldn't resist looking up your Colonial Jack - here's what I found. I think the token you have has to be one of the actual coins referred to in the story...

The remarkable walk of Colonial Jack

Daily News of Newburyport

Back in 1908, a Newburyport man embarked on a remarkable walking trip of about 9,000 miles that took him around the border of the United States. Not only did he walk but he pushed a wheelbarrow carrying his needs. He constructed a pyramid-shaped top for the barrow to keep the weather out.

John A. "Colonial Jack" Krohn, a native of St. Peter, Minn., was married to Elizabeth Morton of Newburyport. At the time of his walk they had a 6-year-old daughter, Beatrice. Colonial Jack, as he liked to be called, was a printer by trade and had worked for several firms in the local area including The Daily News. To help meet expenses on his trip, he planned to sell a souvenir coin about the size of a silver dollar. On one side was a reproduction of himself with his wheelbarrow and on the reverse a brief description of his intended trip. His coin supplier would mail coins ahead to a post office along the route and Colonial Jack would pick them up when he got to that town. He sold hundreds of these coins.

His wife would travel by train and meet him from time to time. She would also go ahead of him and put up posters and seek publicity from local newspapers. As a result, he was greeted with great fanfare in most communities. He also carried a book and in each town he would go to the post office and get that town's postmark in the book. He also carried a pistol for his own protection. Throughout his journey, he rarely had to pay for meals or overnight accommodations as restaurants and hotels were eager to have a person of fame as their guest.

At 1 p.m. on June 1, 1908, Colonial Jack, then age 37, started his walk before a crowd of several hundred people in front of the Portland, Maine, post office. He headed west across Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont and reached New York in three weeks and Niagara Falls in five weeks. From there he headed along Lake Erie passing through Cleveland and then, in several weeks, Detroit. From here he went north through Michigan's upper peninsula and into Wisconsin.

On Aug. 21 he crossed Lake Superior to Duluth, Minn., his native state. Here he was met by many friends and relatives, and was treated like a king. He made his way west through North Dakota and Montana without any great difficulty, walking railroad beds most of the way. In Idaho, his wife met up with him again and, unfortunately, she became ill and was forced to return home. They would not meet again until early spring in New Jersey. In Washington, he encountered his only snow, but it not being too severe did not slow him down.

At the end of his 23rd week, he made it to Seattle where he spent a couple of days visiting his sister whom he had not seen for many years. From Seattle, he headed south, crossing into Oregon on Nov. 17 and into California Dec. 7. It was Christmas in Elmira and he passed the major cities of the Golden States' Pacific coastline, and then headed east across the desert and into Yuma, Ariz. He later described the desert, Arizona and New Mexico as the most difficult part of the trip. He entered Texas at El Paso and spent six weeks crossing the Lone Star State. Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were crossed with no great difficulty and Jack was focused on Jacksonville, Fla., where he would head north for the final leg of the journey. He reached that goal about May 1 and, accompanied by fine spring weather and his desire to reach home, he again made good time through the south Atlantic states. In Lakehurst, N.J., he was met again by his wife for the first time in several months.

Colonial Jack arrived in Newburyport on July 16, 1909. He was met on the road by his wife and Beatrice whom he had not seen for 14 months. He then stopped on Prospect Street to visit his in-laws and then it was on to The Daily News where he was interviewed and photographed. A large photo of him and the wheelbarrow appeared on Page 1 that day. He then went to the post office to get his book stamped. His arrival drew large crowds to the downtown area. The following day he started out for Portland to complete his historic trip. He arrived there on July 21 and was greeted at the post office by another large crowd including family and friends from Newburyport. He gave interviews, posed for photos, shook hands with well-wishers and then dined with the dignitaries of that city.

Colonial Jack had spent 357 days walking, never on a Sunday, and took 19 other days off, mostly because he was ill. He wore out 11 pair of shoes and purchased new ones as needed. His book, upon the journey's completion, contained the postmark or railroad station stamp of 1,209 places. He also wore out five wheels on the wheelbarrow. His record walk for one day was 51 miles, this being near Pensacola, Fla.

In 1910, Colonial Jack wrote a book giving a week-by-week account of his travels and the experiences he encountered. There are still a few of these books in the area and I am told that from time to time both the book or one of his coins appear for sale on eBay.

Some time in the late '20s, he and his wife took up residence at 278 Elm St. in Salisbury. Here he conducted a roadside fruit and vegetable stand for many years. Many Salisbury people still alive today remember him quite well.

Colonial Jack died on Aug. 12, 1956 after a long illness and he is buried in the Long Hill Cemetery in Salisbury.

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If you do a google search it will show a real photograph postcard of him on ebay.

That is a great find!

Cool Find Jeff!!!

Congrats!!!!
What a Nice Find.
Awsome Research Information Too...

Incredible! I can't wait to find something like that myself!

Nice find, and thanks for the info Kerry.

Great find, Jeff.
Thanks for the story, Kerry.

RD

Thanks all.
I found a small cashe of items. This being one of the items.
I also found a wall street tolken. All in great shape.

Jeff

Thanks Kerry for the intel. I am considering adding the post card to the collection.

Here is Colonial Jack's picture

Very nice find. Very historical. Thanks for sharing it!

Here is a photo of Colonial Jack.

Paul

Great find and story. Thanks for sharing everyone

.....and here's a token from ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/UNUSUAL-AMERICA...oryZ3455QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cool find with good history behind it congrats!

Very cool find. Great history lesson.

And we complain about sore arms after swinging a detector for a few hours! Imagine carrying that wheelbarrow around for a year!

Dutch
I am on my way to visit you. It will take me 37.15 days to metal detect my way to your back yard. IF I can metal detect as fast as Colonial Jack could push his wheel barrel!
Amazing!

Now THAT'S cool. Congrats on the cache.

Jeff - you find the coolest stuff...... :-)

awsome find and story.