J.B. Graham
J.B. Graham was a first-class passenger on his way to his home town of Tacoma, near Seattle when he became a victim of the Valencia disaster. Graham had recently sold a gold mine in Alaska for $60,000. Valencia survivors picked up by the Topeka recalled Mr. Graham frantically offering a bag of gold to anyone who would place him on shore. The bag of gold, thought to be worth $1500 was refused by those he offered it to. The bag of gold would likely have weighed close to 5 pounds and in today’s prices the bag would be worth over $125,000 US. The bag of gold was reportedly last seen laying on the broken desk of the crumbling ship, kicked underfoot, with nobody even bothering to pick it up. The February 3rd, 1906 edition of the Seattle Star reported several bodies arriving in Victoria and one of them identified as J.B. Graham.