On June 1, 1908, John Albert Krohn dressed up in colonial garb and set out to win $1,000 by walking the U.S. border within 400 days – pushing a wheelbarrow. He called himself Colonial Jack. Krohn, a 35-year-old former newspaperman, relied on his flair for publicity to defray his expenses. As “Colonial Jack,” he dressed in broad-brimmed hat and homespun clothes. His wife traveled ahead of him by rail and put up posters announcing his imminent arrival. She also restocked his supply of commemorative tokens. Colonial Jack had made the aluminum tokens stamped with his image on it, which he sold along the way. He also collected money from the sale of souvenir postcards and the public talks he gave
