Snow was something of a character, being noted for his ability to draw the long bow. No one could ever beat him in tales of prowess; he was always able to cap it with something better; and of one man telling of a race he ran against an Indian on horseback with him on foot.

Snow said he had run a race under similar conditions and won with a sack of flower on his back. Another time he said he had had an argument with a ferryman who refused to row him across the river, and he got so mad he lost his temper and “threw him plumb across the river”. One of the most experienced of these men was a colored man named Cook, who must have been something of a rustler, for he covered a great deal of territory, and discovered the outcroppings of ore on what is now the Roosevelt, Mountain Boy, and George Copper. He also found a large copper showing near the head of American Creek, the Arizona Copper, which has yet to be located, although it is believed to be within the boundaries of the claims now held by Excelsior Syndicate, or the Northern Aerial ground, adjoining.

Cook told several members of the party of his discoveries and, although he staked what he found, he never recorded his locations, nor did he ever return to the district, as some of the others did.

When the party learned of the escape of Burgess they held a meeting and decided to go prospecting on their own. For this purpose they divided into two parties, one of which prospected Bitter Creek, another American Creek, and a third party, crossing over the Bear River divide, gradually worked it’s way down the Nass River to Aiyansh. There they secured their canoes from the Indians and continued to Nass Harbour, where they found the other parties waiting for the fortnightly steamer for the South. They had found nothing in the way of placer ground and had constructed boats to enable all of them to leave, with the exception of two who had lost their lives drowning.