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INTH

THOMAS

HUNTING IN THE
UPPER YUKON

His Majesty
The Osburni Caribou Bull

HUNTING IN THE
UPPER YUKON

BY
THOMAS MARTINDALE

AUTHOR OF " SPORT INDEED," "WITH
GUN AND GUIDE," ETC.

PHILADELPHIA

GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1913,

By George W. Jacobs & Company

Published, October, 191 3

TO
THE MEMBERS OF
THE POOR RICHARD CLUB
OF PHILADELPHIA
In whose company I have spent so many happy hours
amid such delightful associations, and especially
to those members who conceived and so
generously arranged for my "Wel-
come Home from the Yukon"
dinner, this book is af-
fectionately dedi-
cated.

2075367

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I How It All Came About .... i

II Up the Pacific Coast 30

III "Put Forth Thy Hand — Reach at

THE Glorious Gold" 41

IV A Lost Moose 69

V An Exciting Caribou Hunt ... 87

VI Ursus Horribilis 94

VII A Peculiar Stalk no

VIII A Change of Base 128

IX An Interesting Trail 141

X The Effect of Age on Wild Animals 151

XI Still Another Change of Base . . 159

XII "How Much Will You Bet That

You'll Not Kill a Bear To-day?" . 166

XIII "It Never Rains But It Pours" . .175

XIV Nazarhat Glacier 181

XV Homeward Bound 188

XVI The Slims Glacier 198

XVII The Wonders of a New Land . . . 208

XVIII An Indian Village 219

XIX The Return to White Horse . . . 234

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XX The Discovery of a New Territory . 248

XXI Three Notable Men 259

XXII Three Notable Women 279

XXIII An Interesting Trio 302

XXIV An Accomplished Mountain Climber 310
XXV The Moral 315

ILLUSTRATIONS

His Majesty, the Osburni Caribou Bull . Frontispiece

FACING
PAGE

Map of Mr. Martindale's Route 12

The Town of White Horse 44

Suburb of White Horse 50

The Start from White Horse 56

An Indian Grave 62

Husky Dogs on the March 72

Mr. Martindalc and Biliie the Wild .... 84

Mount Martindale 98

Hoisting the Ram to the Pack Horse .... 106

Martindale Glacier 114

A Hard Mountain to Climb 130

Five Mountain Ewes 156

The Big Moose of Ethel Creek 162

Silver Tip Grizzly Killed by Mr. Martindale . 172

Shoeing a Horse in the Yukon 184

Loading the Boat to Cross the Lake .... 196

White Mountain Rams 204

Starting on the Return Trip 216

Mr. and Mrs. Dickson's Cabin Home .... 236

Mrs. Dickson and Family 242

Kibbee's Indian Huntress in Her Cabin . . . 262

Kibbee and the Bear 270

Mrs. Harriet Pullen 294

The Husky Dog 304

THE UPPER YUKON

CHAPTER I

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT

"The way is long and cold and lone —
But I go —
It leads where pines forever moan
Their weight of snow —
Yet I go.
There are voices in the wind that call,
There are hands that beckon to the plain;
I must journey where the trees grow tall,
And the lonely heron clamers in the rain."

— Hamlin Garland.

IT has been my custom in recent years to
invite in the fall many of the big game
hunters living in Philadelphia to an evening's
mutual "Experience Meeting" at my home.

There each one is expected to narrate
briefly the most exciting or the most novel in-
cidents of his latest hunting trip.

When the hunting season of 1909 was over
and the participants in the hunting field had

2 THE UPPER YUKON

returned to the city, there were gathered one
night around the fire of the open grate a score
of hunters, some of them fresh from New
Brunswick, others from Nova Scotia, New-
foundland, Northern British Columbia,
Northern Ontario, the Province of Quebec,
the Yukon Territory, and Labrador.

One by one they told the tales of their ad-
ventures. Some of them were out of the ordi-
nary, yet not at all startling, until the last
man arose. As "an honest tale speeds best
being plainly told," he narrated in a modest
but graphic manner the history of a journey
to the Upper Yukon and back which he had
finished but a few days before. The descrip-
tion given of the section of country hunted in,
its wealth of wild animal life, its towering
mountains capped with snow or ice, its wide
river beds, its invigorating climate, together
with the fact that it was practically an un-
known territory, held us spell-bound until he
finished. Then came the eager questions of
the guests as to the distance, the privations
to be endured, the expense of such a trip, and
the length of time needed to make it.

When it was all over and the men had left
the house, I went to bed, but I could sleep but
little that night. The story excited my imagi-

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 3

nation to such an extent that all of the homely
remedies for insomnia failed me until near
morning, and then the tired brain was heavy
and I fell asleep.

From that time on I was determined that
sooner or later I would make the journey to
this "Land of Promise" — this paradise for big
game, this country where the days would be
long and the nights would be short. Two
hunting seasons to New Brunswick, Canada,
and to my own camp in the Maine wilderness,
had come and gone before opportunity and
time favored the desire to journey to the
North. Much planning was needed as to the
outfit to start with; the supplies to be taken;
the guides to be selected ; the number of horses
which would be necessary; the rifles to be
used. All of these details needed close con-
sideration.

With the kindly help and advice of Mr.
Wilson Potter — the modest young man and
splendid hunter whose story and experience in
this country had so entranced me — all the dif-
ficulties were cleared away, and on the even-
ing of August I, 1912, accompanied by Dr.
Morris J. Lewis, an eminent physician of
Philadelphia, we left the steaming city upon
our long journey. We were routed via To-

4 THE UPPER YUKON

ronto, Canada, and through the Great Lakes
to Winnipeg, and from there by the Canadian
Pacific Railroad to Vancouver.

It seems that no matter when I leave the
big city upon my annual hunting trip, let the
month be August, September or October, it
is my fate to leave on an extremely hot day.
In the season of 191 2, the day of departure
from the heated city was no exception. It
was hot on the street, and hot in the sleeping
car. Our first stop was Buffalo, then Hamil-
ton, Toronto, Port McNichol on the Georgian
Bay, the "Soo" Canal, Port Arthur, Vancou-
ver, Skagway and lastly White Horse, where
we would outfit for the hunting territory, and
when we left that famous little town we would
be in ''the land of adventure."

When we pulled out from Broad Street Sta-
tion, a woman, sitting in the seat across the
aisle from us, had to change to the seat in
front of us while her berth was being made.
Her sole concern was how she could best take
care of a great panama hat which was loaded
with a pinnacle of artificial flowers. The
porter brought her the largest sized paper bag
that was made, but alack-a-day, it wouldn't
cover it, and therefore she fretted and wor-
ried as to how it might look in the morning.

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 5

She tried to hang it up inside of the berth —
it was too big. She feared to trust it in the
upper berth, which was empty. The paper
bag was stiff, and as she shifted it from one
position to another, it was easy to imagine her
heart-felt concern for her treasure. At last
she got to bed and how she managed her pre-
cious headpiece could only be guessed at by
the cracking of the paper bag from time to
time during the hot, humid hours of the night.

In the early morning the weather turned
cold as we were crossing the mountains ; with
the cold a dense fog set in, and you know that
wouldn't be good for the "precious hat," or
at any rate for the portion that wasn't covered.
When the night had at last dwindled into
morning and the morning into day, the
woman appeared returning from the dressing-
room, fully dressed, long before any other
woman was up. As her fateful hat had pre-
vented me from having a restful sleep, I, too,
had gotten up, and we were thus the only two
passengers "up and around" in the whole car.

Quoth she to me: "You're from Philadel-
phia, are you not?"

"Yes, madam, I am."

"I'm from New York — have always been
in New York either in the city or the state.

6 THE UPPER YUKON

I've often thought of stopping off at Phila-
delphia because I've been told it's a nice,
pretty little place, and I do love towns that
have lots of flowers ; and then I believe you
have manufacturers there, and they're so in-
teresting— and the work-people are so inter-
esting, there being so many foreigners among
them. It makes the town sort of cosmopoli-
tan, as it were, and that's always interesting,
so really I must some time stop of? and see
your little town. I see you and your com-
panion have rifles, and I suppose you're going
hunting. Oh, how I should like to go along
with you, as I delight in adventure," etc., etc.

So she rattled on, and, like the babbling
brook, there was no damming her up. She
was particularly savage against those of her
sex who would monopolize the dressing-room
of a sleeping-car for an hour at a time; she
called such women "simple."

I asked her if her hat had given her much
trouble during the night, and she admitted
that it had, that she had worried about it all
night. I told her that if she went with us
she'd have to ride horseback, and astride at
that, and with her great hat on her head, with
rifle, and a pair of riding breeches, she'd
surely be an "interesting" sight to the wild

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 7

game, whose favorite haunts are on the icy
tops of the high mountains.

As we were nearing the station at Buffalo
in the morning, the passengers generally were
astonished to see a young woman standing
between the rails on a railway track without
a hat, but with her head crowned with an
enormous coiffure of red hair, while she was
dressed in a very tight, black satin hobble
gown — just that and nothing more. There she
stood, feeling apparently as proud as a queen
when the train slowly passed her, for she
surely did attract attention, and what pleases
some women more than that?

A short distance further and a large sign
on a building which we passed excited curi-
osity, as it informed the public that here
was *'The Philadelphia House Wrecking
Company." What an occupation and what a
name for a business firm to use — "House
Wreckers"!

The porter now came with his whisk to
brush us off. The brakeman called out "Buf-
falo," the woman with the hat disappeared
in the crowd, and the first stage of our jour-
ney was over. Here we changed cars, and
when the new train had run but a few miles
we crossed into Canada. The train stopped

8 THE UPPER YUKON

to permit the examination of the baggage. A
dining-car porter came through the cars ask-
ing for the owner of a locked satchel. He
went through the dining-car and the parlor-
cars without finding the owner, so the satchel
was left at Bridgeport, the little town where
customs are collected.

The train sped on its way to Hamilton. A
down-pour of rain visited the thirsty land, and
as we were nearing Hamilton — the most beau-
tifully located city in Canada — the owner of
the satchel appeared. He had been in a
smoking-car at the extreme front of the train
and never gave a thought to the customs offi-
cials. His error would make him lose per-
haps a day before he regained his prop-
erty.

At Hamilton we were met by some of my
relatives, and after a brief wait, we sped on to
Toronto — the metropolis of the Province of
Ontario.

Toronto is situated upon a noble bay shel-
tered from the winds of Lake Ontario by an
island some two and a half miles from the es-
planade front. The city has a gradual slope
from the water of the lake up to the heights
of a suburb formerly known as Yorkville, and
spreads out east and west along the lake front,

HOV/ IT ALL CAME ABOUT 9

where the railroads and the lake vessels dis-
charge and take on their cargoes of merchan-
dise and of humanity. Toronto, at the pres-
ent time, is a wonder among cities. The
population is growing at the rate of thirty-
five thousand a year. Six thousand houses
had been erected within the previous year, and
yet in a ride in an auto in the afternoon of
one day, and the forenoon of another day,
but three houses were discovered in that whole
distance, with a sign "To Let" upon them.
There is such an insistent and seemingly
never-ending demand for houses to be rented
that the builders cannot catch up with it.

A Government House is now being erected
which is to be the residence of the Lieutenant
Governor of the province, where the great
social functions and others will be held.
Here the state balls, receptions, conferences
settlements, concerts, addresses, and other af-
fairs of state will make the Government
House the center of social attraction in the
Province of Ontario.

Another notable building— I should say,
palace — is undergoing erection, which when
completed will be one of the sights of the
town, one of the wonders of modern architec-
ture and of lavish expenditure of money. It

10 THE UPPER YUKON

is for the housing and entertainment of one —
man, with but one son to enjoy all of its
grandeur and conveniences upon the death of
its founder. Dame Rumor says it will cost
over a million dollars.

So much can be said of Toronto, of its rapid
and startling growth, of the prosperity of the
rank and file of its citizens, of its great uni-
versity with its seven thousand students, of its
technical colleges, its religious schools, its
hockey, golf and baseball grounds, its social
clubs, churches, cathedrals, manufactures, and
princely business establishments, that they
cannot all be chronicled here, as I must
hasten on.

We left Toronto at 12.45 P. M. on Saturday,
August third. The train was crowded with
people, as indeed every other train was upon
this particular day, because the following
Monday was to be a civic holiday; hence the
rush to get away from the city for a holiday
from Saturday until the following Tuesday
morning.

There was to be a regatta for canoemen, but
where we couldn't find out. Canoes seemed
to be everywhere, on baggage trucks, in trains,
on the sidewalks, and on wagons. To tell
where they came from would be a puzzle, and

HOW IT ALL Cx\iME ABOUT ii

it's to be hoped that they were all found by
their rightful owners.

Our train landed us at a new port — not
Newport — but a brand new port called Port
McNichol, all owned and built by the Ca-
nadian Pacific Railroad. This great trans-
continental railroad it seems "doeth all things
well." I have traveled over its rails from
ocean to ocean ; I have hunted in many sec-
tions within the radius of its ramifications,
and I have always found its employees to be
courteous to, and considerate of, its passengers,
its steamships clean and wxU appointed, its
dining-cars well served, and its hotels a credit
to the Dominion of Canada.

As illustrating its solicitude for the comfort
and convenience of its patrons, let me relate a
single incident that happened twenty years
ago. Two cars had been provided for myself
and sixteen other hunters, one to eat and sleep
in, and the other to house our hunting dogs,
ammunition, decoys, trunks, tents and hunting
paraphernalia generally. We came to a sta-
tion called Maple-Creek, where a tribe of
Cree Indians were then scattered about for
miles in their tepees on the prairie. We did
not know that the settlement was in the Alkali
region, and that all of the w^ater was almost

12 THE UPPER YUKON

undrinkable to those unused to it. Here some
of the men were to leave for a trip to a range
of mountains thirty miles away, to hunt cari-
bou, while four or five of the men were to stay
near the village to hunt wild geese, ducks and
prairie chickens.

My younger son and the writer were to be
among the "stay-at-homes." After the cari-
bou hunters had mounted their horses and
faded away in the distance, we were surprised
to find that the C. P. R. had detached a freight
engine from a train at Crane Lake, twenty
miles away, filled the tank of the engine with
fresh water, and sent it to us. Half of its
precious load of delicious water was given to
us and the other half was needed to furnish
steam to take the engine back to its train.
This courtesy was repeated twice during our
stay, and so far as I know this expensive kind-
ness was done entirely without solicitation on
our part, and it only goes to show what a pa-
ternal care — if we may use the word — the
company takes of its patrons.

Port McNichol is planned upon such a
scale as to provide room and conveniences for
many years to come for the greatest possible
increase in the traffic passing through the
Great Lakes.

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 13

We left our train an hour late, and with a
head wind and a cold night we were glad to
take the steamboat and be in the shelter of a
warm stateroom. Many of the passengers
were going to the far West from the "Old
Countries" of Europe — quite a number being
from England. Their comments upon the
sights and upon the fleet of passing vessels as
our good ship, the Assiniboia, plowed her
way through the inland sea, were good to hear.
"Hope, eternal hope," and wonder were ex-
pressed upon their faces in an unmistakable
manner. When we came to the famous "Soo"
Canal and our boat entered it, the crowds on
the wharf who had come to meet friends on
our steamer, or from idle curiosity, were of
prime interest to the newcomers.

Behind us were two tugs, one pushing and
the other towing a big barge loaded with small
poplar logs. This barge had to be deftly
handled so as to get it in as close to the north-
ern side of the canal as possible, and also it
had to be brought near to the stern of our
steamer so that both vessels could be locked
through at one time. This situation retarded
us considerably, so two of the newcomers
with a little boy left the steamer and walked
across the top of the front locks. They soon

14 THE UPPER YUKON

were wandering afield and time with them
flew happily on.

But now the vessel was moving — the locks
were open, and we were fast leaving the en-
trance to the canal when the men and boy
came hurrying and running back, gesticulat-
ing for the ship to stop. "Stop! — Stop!
— Dinna leave us," shouted one of them, with
a strong Scottish accent. The captain rang
the bell for the engines to stop. Men were
sent to fasten a hawser to an iron post on the
side of the canal where the men had strayed
away. The vessel was warped slowly up to
the concrete walls, and the truants were gath-
ered in. There was much diversity of opinion
both among the crew and among the passen-
gers as to what the captain should have done,
the majority declaring he should have left
them on shore. One lady was asked by a man
what sort of people these men were who had
delayed us. .She naively answered, "I would
much rather that you should say it, and I will
agree with you." And so he said it for her,

and "it" sounded very much like "d

fools." The captain could not have been
blamed if he had left them, but such an act
would hardly have been in harmony with the
way in which the C. P. R. Company treats

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 15

its patrons. This company is always most
courteous and considerate, as those who have
traveled over its lines can vouch.

No one who has not made the journey
through these inland seas — the Great Lakes —
can have the faintest idea of the number and
the size of the passing vessels, every one of
which seems to be loaded to its limit. It
must be remembered that most of the craft
navigating these northern waters are built es-
pecially for a particular class of trade, and
to conform to the dimensions of the locks of
these famous canals, one on the Canadian side,
and the other on the American side.

When we had passed through the canal we
were then sailing on the cold waters of Lake
Superior, which contains the greatest volume
of fresh water of any lake in the world. The
temperature changed to a lower reading of
the thermometer and the passengers ransacked
their trunks for woolen underwear, heavier
clothing, sweaters and overcoats. When sup-
per time arrived the weather glass was down
to 49 degrees — a big contrast to the tempera-
ture of but a day and a half before in Toronto,
which was close to 90 degrees in the shade.
Not many out of our large number of pas-
sengers had the courage and hardihood to

i6 THE UPPER YUKON

walk the upper deck, and so the cabins below
were crowded with those who were compelled
to embrace the shelter of roof and heat. This
immense inland sea with its cold waters must
have a far-reaching effect on the atmospheric
conditions of the surrounding country. The
following morning was colder still, and as the
glass had registered 40 degrees during the
night, almost every one was anxious for a lit-
tle more heat.

The passengers were much pained to hear
that a baby had died at about three in the
morning and that the mother was so poor that
the only covering she could give to the little
corpse was a newspaper. Sympathetic women
soon remedied this impoverished condition of
things, and their kind ministrations made the
good woman realize that to her the cruel
world was not so bleak after all. It was a
comfort to know that a kindly physician had
been found among the passengers, and that the
best help that medical skill could give had
been tried without avail.

The lake journey ended at Port Arthur,
where we left the steamer with much regret
and entered a waiting train which would be
our traveling home until we arrived at the
terminus of the line, the city of Vancouver.

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 17

Port Arthur and Fort William are less
than a mile apart, each town being the ter-
minus of a railway connection, hence there
is much rivalry between them. As each bor-
ough has its own set of officials, it must be
amusing — if not too dramatic — to the citizens
to keep in touch with the official doings and
methods of the two municipal rivals.

As our steamer had been fighting a head
wind from the "Soo" Canal all the way to Port
Arthur, we were more than an hour late, so
that when our first important city — Winnipeg
— was reached we were too late to inspect any
of its wonders. Twenty years before, in mak-
ing this same journey across the Continent, a
stop of three hours was made at Winnipeg.
The growing city then boasted a population
of over thirty thousand inhabitants. The citi-
zens were then enthusiastic in their predic-
tions of a future great and growing city, but
they never dreamed of such a transformation
as has taken place in the period covered by
these two visits of twenty years apart. I re-
member then standing in the main street,
which I think is one hundred and thirty feet
wide, and watching long lines of horses pull-
ing heavy wagons loaded with wheat from the
Red River territory of the North. A man,

i8 THE UPPER YUKON

who proved to be a banker of Winnipeg, was
standing near by, and entered into conversa-
tion with me. I confessed to a feeling of
enraptured wonder at the enormous quantity
of wheat that was being transported to the
elevators, there to be loaded into the waiting
railroad trains for transportation either to the
Atlantic or to the Pacific, or to local points.

"Where do you live?" said the banker.

"In Philadelphia."

"Well, you are now about a thousand miles
north from Philadelphia. A thousand miles
Still farther north of us is more wheat, and
better wheat, than that which you see passing
to the elevators. In perhaps ten years from
now this country north of us will be opened up
by railroads and other forms of transportation.
People will pour into it from the northern
sections of your country, immigrants will ar-
rive from Europe, Asia, and even Australia
to till this fertile and easily farmed land, and
then in a few years more a new empire to the
north of us will be pouring its rich freightage
of the products of these northern prairies
into the lap of the then great city of Winni-
peg."

At that time his talk made but a fleeting im-
pression upon my mind, but can you not see

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 19

how prophetic it was? Do you realize that,
in the twenty years since then, the population
of Winnipeg has grown to nearly three hun-
dred thousand people? Do you know that
another great transcontinental railway, hav-
ing a terminus on the Pacific Coast five hun-
dred miles north of the terminus of the
C. P. R., is nearly completed and that it even
now passes through Winnipeg? Do you
realize that some day in the near future— say,
in another score of years — Winnipeg may
boast of a population of a million? The pres-
ent growth of this wonderful city has meant
the erection of large manufacturing plants, of
great distributing wholesale houses, the ac-
cumulation of rich banks and other deposi-
tories for the capital needed to finance the
movement of the crops, the building of sub-
sidiary lines to the trunk lines of rails, the
erection of schools, colleges, churches, thea-
ters, skating rinks, public halls, new sewage
disposal plants, public buildings, etc., etc.
What the needs of the next twenty years will
be, no living man may predict. It is a timely
thing to dwell for a little upon the fairy-like
story of Winnipeg's growth in a single score of
years, because it is an illustration of what sev-
eral other Canadian towns and cities have ex-

20 THE UPPER YUKON

perienced in the same period. Calgary, Maple
Creek, Moosejaw, Saskatoon, Regina, Revel-
stoke, Edmonton on the Saskatchewan, West-
minster, and particularly Vancouver, all have
been blessed with a prosperity beyond the
wildest dreams of the average citizen of twenty
years ago. The question may well be asked,
how has it come about that this unprecedented
growth and expansion of a new empire to the
north of the United States has proceeded along
a constant and well-developed line?

The answer is not a difficult one.

First, by the cultivation of the ground by
the residents and the ever-incoming hordes of
farmers — men of capacity in the tilling of
the extended fertile wheat belts of land that
were to be had for a price almost akin to noth-
ing. Next, by the ease with which capital
could be obtained from the Mother Country,
"the tight little island" called England, to
finance the various enterprises made neces-
sary by the ever-increasing population, and
third, by the opening up of new sections of
virgin land to modern methods of scientific
farming.

Another reason may be found in the fact
that while Canada cannot boast of having
nearly as many laws on her statute-book as

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 21

her great neighboring Republic to the south
of her, yet what laws she has are generally
well enforced; so that, although the immi-
grants that have poured into her domain are
made up of Russians, Poles, Serbs, Bulgars,
Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Laplanders, Scan-
dinavians, French, Spaniards, Portuguese,
Germans, Turks and Arabs, besides a host
from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England
herself, they all bow to the laws of their
adopted country.

Therefore, as law and order have been uni-
formly maintained in all of the provinces and
territories of the Dominion of Canada, cap-
ital has been safe, as well as the lives and prop-
erties of the great public at large.

It is a remarkable tribute to the efficiency
and the administration of the law by the Ca-
nadian Judiciary that the Dominion has been
able to assimilate all of the discordant human
factors that make up her population and weld
them together into one harmonious and indus-
trious whole.

There has been nothing in the world's past
history that has ever approached this devel-
opment of a new country-empire (may we
so call it?) in such a short space of time, and
that, too, without the use of military force,

22 THE UPPER YUKON

war, or even "rumors of war." It is true that
migrations have often occurred in ancient
times, but generally they were caused by the
forceful ejection of tribes, or communities of
people who were driven out from their home-
land, either because of religious or racial con-
tentions, or from some other compelling cause,
which made a wholesale evacuation of a large
population an absolute necessity for the pro-
tection of life, and the possible enjoyment of
peace and happiness.

The migration into Canada has ever been
a peaceful one, and such may it always remain
in the future. It is not hard to predict that
the close intermingling and the intermarriage
of a conglomeration of many foreign races
will result in the creation of a new type of
manhood — a new cosmopolite race, having the
industrious and economical ideals and meth-
ods of these various foreign races blended
with the artistic, law-abiding, scholastic, opti-
mistic, self-reliant, and courageous ideals of
the descendants of the original English,
Scotch, Irish and French settlers of Canada.

From the pen of the brilliant writer, Agnes
Dean Cameron, comes this timely paragraph :
"On the benches of one schoolroom in Ed-
monton I found children who had been born

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 23

in Canada, the United States, England, Scot-
land, Russia, New Zealand, Poland, Switzer-
land, Australia and Austria-Hungary. They
were all singing "The Maple Leaf Forever!"
It is the lessons these children are to learn
in that little red schoolhouse, which will de-
termine the future of Canada, and not the
yearly take of forty-bushel wheat. In the
past, nations out of very fatness have decayed.
Many signs here are full of hope."

At Winnipeg, berths were taken in sleep-
ing-cars that were to be our traveling home
until we arrived at Vancouver. The train
was filled with just as many (if not more)
different races and conditions of people as we
had met on the steamer, the largest number of
any one class being from Great Britain.

Isn't it curious how the average Englishman
on his travels will find fault with everything
that is new and strange? Being an English-
man myself, I have perhaps noticed this pecu-
liarity more than a born American would.
For to them there is nothing done anywhere
"like it is done in England, you know."

A friend of mine — also an Englishman —
had a friend who came to Philadelphia on a
visit. This man was interested in the con-
struction of bridges, so my friend, whose name

24 THE UPPER YUKON

was Knight, took the man out in a carriage
and drove him all around the city and its en-
virons and allowed him to inspect every one
of the numerous bridges that cross the Schuyl-
kill River. Each bridge was carefully ex-
amined, and at the end of each inspection the
man would praise it faintly, and then start with
his "buts." It was not like this or that bridge
in England, "you know." Finally the Girard
Avenue bridge, built and opened about the
time of the Centennial Exhibition in 1876,
was reached. This bridge is generally con-
sidered to be a model of architectural beauty,
and as Dr. Knight explained its cost, the time
taken in its erection, and its dimensions, the
man was so much impressed with it that he
made a tour of the upper and lower decks,
and also went down to the river's edge to look
it over from water level. Then he com-
menced to praise it, but soon having exhausted
all the compliments that he could find to say
in its favor, he came to the inevitable "but."

Dr. Knight at once lost his temper. "Oh,
damn your 'buts' — what's the matter now?"

"Don't be angry, doctor," the man replied.
"I was just going to say that the bridge is
creditable in every respect, but it doesn't have
as many people crossing it as London Bridge.'*

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 25

Now there were a number of just such peo-
ple on our transcontinental train, most of them
being bound for the terminus of the line, and
it was very amusing to listen to their criticisms
of the country, the people, the railway, and
more particularly the climate. One woman
said: "The 'eat is a roastin' of me. I never
in my life sufifered from so much 'eat." The
good woman was wearing clothes heavy
enough for an Alaskan climate. She had an
" 'at" made of felt, large enough in dimen-
sions to cover an ash-barrel, and this she in-
sisted on putting on and wearing on the plat-
form of the station every time the train would
stop for a period of fifteen minutes or more,
as it did when changing engines or stopping
at lunching stations.

In a few months or years these same people,
when finally down to work in their varying oc-
cupations, will readily become acclimated and
fall into the "New Land's" way of doing
things. They then become earnest boosters
for Canada to their home people, and the time
is but short until they induce some of their
relatives or friends to come and spy out the
wonders of this new promised land.

Our train pulled into Vancouver on time,
and the journey across the Continent was com-

26 THE UPPER YUKON

pleted. This was another city that I had vis-
ited a score of years before, and, in keeping
with Winnipeg and other growing cities of
the Dominion, its development during this
period has been equally astonishing.

In this time a great fire had swept over the
city, which might well have blasted all of its
future growth, yet the grave disaster only
stimulated it to further exertions, enlisting
men of all classes and ranks to help in the
building of a new and greater Vancouver. I
did not recognize the place at all — it was so
different from the city that I had seen on the
same soil in the year 1892. The fire turned
out to be a blessing in disguise after all, be-
cause the new city was developed and erected
on a larger plan, with modern methods and
modern standards, the result now being an
enormously increased population with an in-
flow of new capital on a scale commensurate
with the new conditions. Enthusiasm and
harmony prevail in the community, and it
would seem that every individual unit of the
population was bent on doing something or
saying something to help the growth and ex-
pansion of the city. In talking of it the resi-
dents of both high and low degree were equally
optimistic of the future greatness and exten-

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 27

sion of their city and equally proud of its
present status as well. A community that
works together for the common good as earn-
estly as the citizens of Vancouver and Winni-
peg are doing, is bound to grow in wealth and
influence.

I was fortunate enough to meet the Hon. H.
H. Stevens, member of the Dominion Parlia-
ment for Vancouver — and, by-the-way, he is
the representative in Parliament of the most
populous constituency in the Dominion of
Canada. His career will fittingly illustrate
in itself the opportunities of advancement in
wealth, position, influence, and standing in the
community that await the men or women who
realize when "opportunity knocks at their
door" and who have the wisdom to embrace it.

Mr. Stevens is comparatively a young man,
and but sixteen years ago was driver of a stage
that ran from Siccamus — a station on the
C. P. R. — to Vernon, a small town at the head
of Okanogan Lake in British Columbia.
The Earl of Aberdeen, formerly Governor-
General of Canada, owns large tracts of land
on the shores of this famed lake, where cattle
raising is conducted on one side, and fruit
growing on a large scale is carried on upon
the other.

28 THE UPPER YUKON

From stage driving, young Stevens, having
come to Vancouver, became a real estate agent
upon a small scale. He took an interest in
politics and being helped by his brother-in-
law, a bright and forceful young man, he was
elected an Alderman of the city of Vancouver.
He was then, as now, a sturdy advocate of the
rights of the common people as against cor-
porate influence. In other words, he was the
champion of the people. They realized this
fact, and when the next general Dominion elec-
tion for representatives to Parliament came
up, he, being the candidate of the Conservative
party, was elected by a large majority, and he
now represents his constituency in the present
Parliament.

I talked with a number of men about him,
because I was really much interested In him,
having made his acquaintance at a lecture he
gave In Philadelphia a year or more before,
and in substance every man said the same:
"Stevens is the best man we could possibly
have as a member of Parliament, because he
always looks out for the common people, and
at the same time he is fair and square with
the corporations and so has their respect and
co-operation,"

Mr. Stevens was good enough. In conjunc-

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT 29

tion with his brother-in-law, to take us
through the city and its beautiful suburbs in
.an automobile, and thus gave us an opportu-
nity of seeing with our own eyes the "why and
wherefore" of Vancouver's steady growth and
of her plans for the future. We thus had the
additional benefit of the explanation given us
by these two up-to-date men. It is one thing
to ride through a city with a chauffeur, and
another thing to be accompanied by men who
know the "ins and outs" of the city, its accom-
plishments, and its aspirations.

CHAPTER II

UP THE PACIFIC COAST
"The air breathes upon us here most sweetly."

LEAVING Vancouver on August loth at
1 1.40 P. M., we soon were speeding north
in a steamer that ran as smoothly and as
quietly as any one could wish for. The fol-
lowing morning we were favored with mild
weather, but had to face a head wind. Among
the passengers were five big-game hunters,
bound for the Gassier District in Northern
British Columbia. One of them is a famous
surgeon of Milwaukee, Dr. H. A. Sifton, who
was born in London, Canada, my old town
where I spent many of my boyhood days. He
was accompanied by Robert A. Uihlein of
Milwaukee, a sturdy athletic young man who
has large business interests in that city. He
is compelled to take to hunting so as to balance
up for his close devotion to business pursuits.
Then came J. A. Burnham, a hunter just
fresh from Sumatra, where he had been after
elephants and other big game. He was ac-

UP THE PACIFIC COAST 31

companied by his young wife, who seemed to
be getting weary of "globe trotting." She
was longing for some place where they could
settle down and live a quiet life with their two
little children.

Next came a self-made and confident man
from Victoria, B. C. He was going to Dease
Lake, up the Stikine River, and would carry
a pack of eighty pounds overland besides his
6-50 caliber Mannlicher rifle. This man
knows the "how" of hunting by himself, doing
his own cooking and going into an unknown
section of country with confidence in his abil-
ity to "make good" and get out again in safety.

We soon became acquainted with all, and
as they were to be with us until we reached
Fort Wrangell, in Alaska, the time passed
quickly and we mutually enjoyed each other's
society.

From Fort Wrangell they were to take a
small powder boat called the Black Fox, which
we afterwards saw. She is about forty feet
long, covered over with canvas, and very
narrow. She was to take the whole party up
the swift Stikine River — a journey of nearly
five days — to Telegraph Creek, where they
were to outfit. On the return trip she can
run down in about ten or twelve hours.

32 THE UPPER YUKON

Telegraph Creek got its name in a very
curious manner. Some forty-seven years ago
the Western Union Telegraph Company ran
a line of wires via the "Ashcrof t Trail," which
starts in at the town of that name, located on
the C. P. R. system about two hundred and
forty miles from Vancouver. The Western
Union's purpose was to carry this line up to
.Behring Strait and lay a cable under that
body of water — which is but a few miles across
— and then build a line to St. Petersburg, to
Paris, and other European capitals, and finally
to London.

M^hen the line reached this creek, a message
came that the Atlantic cable, just laid, was a
complete and successful line, and was then in
operation. The engineer corps in charge of
the work of stringing this overhead line was
ordered back to New York. Thus the creek
became known as Telegraph Creek.

In the Bear River country, in Upper Brit-
ish Columbia, I came across several bridges
built by Indians with the wire left stranded
from this abandoned line. They would fasten
the wires firmly to trees or rocks on each side
of a canyon or stream, and then lay boards —
sawed with the whip saw — over the wires.
The bridge work was rude, but it was safe and

UP THE PACIFIC COAST 33

lasting, and that was all that the Indians
required.

Now Telegraph Creek boasts of a Hudson
Bay Company's store, and another general
merchandise store, together with a church and
a hotel, and quite a cluster of small houses.

Mr. W. B. Close, of London, England, the
man who had the pluck and ability to finance
the White Horse Pass Railroad, and his sec-
retary. Captain Gordon Cummings, also an
Englishman, were aboard the boat. Mr.
Close's trip was to explore a new section of
country in which large deposits of copper have
been found, and perhaps his visit may lead to
the building of a new railroad in this virgin
section of the Yukon Territory.

Four priests and three nuns helped to add
variety and interest to the more than one hun-
dred passengers that were crowded into the
steamer.

One of the most Important of the passen-
gers— Mr. Treadgold — is an Englishman, and
the most noted gold-mine operator in the
Klondike field. He told us about a man who
conducted a novel method of transportation
in the Klondike rush days. This man in-
stalled a strong cable across a deep canyon,
through whose valley all the supplies to the

34 THE UPPER YUKON

Klondike would have to be carried both down
and up its steep banks. He charged $ioo a
ton for carrying the freight across by means of
his cable, and the man admitted that he coined
money as long as the rush lasted.

Mr. Treadgold was full of anecdotes of
those days, which throw some light upon the
desperate chances men took during that cru-
cial time, and the hardships they endured.

At Dyea, a closed house had this legend
written on the door, "Klondike or Bust." The
owner went to the Klondike and later on he
returned from his venture, erased the first two
words, and "Bust" was left. It told the story
as eloquently as a whole book could have told
it.

Over the door of a house occupied by a
white woman, these words in large bold letters
were written, "Fortunes Told," and in small,
letters as if to be spoken in a whisper, "Wash-
ing Taken." Who is there who could not see
the tragic side of that mute message?

A squaw was asked, "Whom did you marry,
an Indian?"

"No."

"Did you marry a white man then?"

"No."

"Well, whom did you marry?"

UP THE PACIFIC COAST 35

"A Scotchman," she said.

Some gold seekers on a train on the C. P. R.
were made very angry by the repeated changes
in time, always of an hour later, as they jour-
neyed farther and farther from the rising sun.
The last change was made before reaching
Vancouver, and in their eagerness to get to
the fabled land of gold and adventure, many
of them cursed the train people for making
them "lose" so much time. A wandering He-
brew silenced them, however, by saying:
**Vel, don't ve get once an hour's traveling
mitoud paying notings for it?"

Our steamer stopped at Alert Bay, Port
Simpson, and Prince Rupert. This last town
will be the terminus of the New Grand
Trunk Pacific Railroad, which will not be in
operation as far as this port for a year and a
half, or until 19 14. The town site is not at-
tractive. It is covered with high rocks
through which several openings for streets
have been blasted. There are perhaps a
dozen stores here — some of them being quite
pretentious, while a couple of churches look
after the spiritual wants of the populace, and
branches of two big Eastern banks take care of
the financial end. The prices asked for store
sites seem to be outrageously high. Opposite

36 THE UPPER YUKON

a liquor store were two vacant lots which be-
longed to the Canadian Government and were
to be sold by it on the 28th of August. It
was expected that they would bring $90,000.
A corner lot of forty feet front was offered
for sale at $54,000.

A Welshman, who owns a fruit store, en-
deavored to interest us in its purchase by
offering the frame building for $10,000, the
ground for $40,000, and an assortment of fresh
vegetables, oranges, meat, etc., he said he
would throw in as an additional inducement.
This man had been through the Boer War in
South Africa, had come to Prince Rupert in
the very early days, and had bought his bit
of ground when it was not so " 'igh" in price
as it is now.

We were of the opinion that many Investors
In building lots here would be cruelly sur-
prised by a big drop in prices before very
long.

At Port Simpson we heard that the Great
Northern Railroad Company was trying to
purchase 500 acres of bay-front for a ter-
minal, but so far had been unable to acquire
the desired land. Port Simpson has but a few
scattered houses, a couple of churches, one so-
called hotel, a stone monument to the memory

UP THE PACIFIC COAST 37

of the late chief of a tribe of Indians that re-
side here, and on the opposite side of the bay
a lot of empty houses which were erected in
the belief that a railroad was surely going to
use the port as a terminal.

We were very much interested in Fort
Wrangell. The Alaska Sanitary Cannery is
located here, where they pack the salmon as
they come in from a salmon trap a few hun-
dred yards from the cannery. It may well be
called a ''sanitary cannery," because every-
thing is as clean as the cleanest home kitchen.
There is not a particle of disorder in the can-
nery and the noble-looking fish, as they lie
on the racks before being cleaned, are very
enticing to the appetite as well as to the
eye.

A man who had been engaged in seal hunting
for years walked around the village with me.
We saw a small shop with its front window
filled with sealskin slippers. My friend said
that if I wanted to buy a pair of them he
would pick them out for me. This he did,
and I asked the proprietor — a fat, stupid-look-
ing man — what the price was.

"Two dollars," he answered.

In an endeavor to take a "rise" out of him,
I asked if that was the best he could do.

38 THE UPPER YUKON

"Yes, sir," he replied. "I can't make them
there slippers no less."

"Don't you take anything off for minis-
ters?"

"Hell, no; there's nothin' to take off."

I turned towards the door as if I was going
to leave.

He at once called to me: "Say, I'll tell ye
what I'll do, if you'll buy this pair of slippers,
I'll wrap them up in the last edition of our
town paper, which costs five cents."

This was assented to. The "town paper"
was produced and duly wrapped around the
slippers. The whistle of the boat sounded
the signal that she was about to leave, and
we hurried back to her, and when aboard we
eagerly looked through the little paper to get
the news contained in this "last" edition. It
was now close to the middle of August, and
the date of the paper was February first. It
was evidently the very "last" edition, as one
of the passengers said the paper had ceased
its publication on that particular day. That
man was not so stupid as he looked.

In due course of time we arrived at Skag-
way, several hours late. The train for White
Horse had waited for us, so that there was
much hurrying to and fro to get aboard the

UP THE PACIFIC COAST 39

train with our belongings — trunks, satchels,
rifles, and suit-cases.

This done, with a toot of the steam whistle
of the Baldwin locomotive, w^hich pulled our
train, we were off for a ride over the famous
narrow-gauge White Pass Railroad. This
road is perhaps the most talked about of any
small railroad in the world. It is but a hun-
dred and ten miles long, but the difficulties of
its construction and the attendant cost, have
made it one of the greatest engineering feats of
the world's history.

For a short distance the train runs over the
old White Pass Trail. It was over this trail
that the hordes of gold seekers slaved and
toiled along their weary way in i897-'98.
The men were pack-laden, yet eager-hearted
and hopeful, most of them believing that
Dame Fortune would surely smile on them
after all their labors and hardships.

Our locomotive sputtered and worried up
the steep ascent until Dead Horse Gulch was
reached, where hundreds of tired and over-
laden horses in the lively times of these two
'fabled years, unable to go any farther, tottered
and fell over the sharp edge of the slippery
mountain, down — down, into the weird depths
of the forbidding-looking canyon below.

40 THE UPPER YUKON

Next came a section where the train seemed
to be crawling under huge boulders, and then
hanging almost by the teeth above an almost
bottomless abyss with a foaming stream tear-
ing through it. Here was a notable bridge
spanning a canyon two hundred and fifty feet
deep and here the White Pass trail was left
behind. After a ride of an hour and a half
we reached White Pass Summit, three thou-
sand feet above sea level. Here the Stars and
Stripes and the red flag of Britain float side
by side, because it is the boundary line be-
tween the United States and the Yukon Terri-
tory, belonging to the Dominion of Canada.
If you want to, you can stand with one foot
on British soil and the other on Uncle Sam's
possessions.

CHAPTER III

"PUT FORTH THY HAND — REACH AT THE
GLORIOUS gold"

SIXTY-NINE miles away from Skagway,
we reach the town of Caribou. Here is
a college or advanced school for Indian girls,
where the eldest daughter of our head guide-
to-be is a student. Although he is a white
man, born in Canada, yet the girl's mother is
an Indian woman.

Here you may take the steamer Gleaner
for the Atlin Gold Fields. At Taku you
leave the steamer and ride on a train to Atlin
Lake, and for a few minutes we will talk
about the gold mines of this particular
vicinity.

Like many another man, I have frequently
been induced to invest more or less money in
gold mines. I regret to say that my judgment
has been very bad in their selection, as I do
not recollect ever having received a single dol-
lar in return therefrom.

Among these much-vaunted prospective

42 THE UPPER YUKON

mining enterprises was one that promised sure
and large dividends, because of the fact that
the proposed company would control the wa-
ters of a considerable sheet of water called
Atlin Lake.

The projectors laid much stress on their
plan of having a large and powerful dredge
built in San Francisco; the same to be for-
warded piece-meal to this lake at an enor-
mous expense of time and money. When it
arrived and was finally put together, with
boilers and all the attendant machinery in-
stalled, it was calculated that they would move
the dredge to and fro over the water, and lift
up the rich sand from the bottom. They
would then abstract the abundant gold dust
from it at little cost, and thus realize large
dividends in return. Such was the plan.

A rather 'Svindy" promoter visited the
large cities of the East, including New York
and Philadelphia, carelessly carrying with
him numerous big nuggets of gold in a bag
to show to the prospective stock buyer how
easy it would be under their novel plan of
mining, to lift barrels of just such nuggets
from the depths of the lake.

The season when work of this kind could
be done in this sterile and cold country be-

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 43

ing very short — in fact, only about six weeks —
the assembling of the component parts of the
mammoth dredge was rushed to completion,
and yet it was too late to be of service during
that particular season.

The following one, however, found every-
thing ready for lifting the precious metal to
the surface. The machinery was started and
the big dredge was towed to the most favor-
able place to make the richest and quickest
hauls of golden nuggets.

What happened?

The great bucket descended over and over
again to the bottom, but nothing ever came
up. It was whispered about that the floor of
this part of the lake was all paved with gi-
gantic boulders, and so the dredge was taken
to another portion of the lake, but with the
same result. After vainly endeavoring to find
a place at the bottom where sand and gold
might be found, with no boulders to interfere
with the dredge, the idea was abandoned and
once more "Hope, Eternal Hope" was shat-
tered.

Nearly a half-million dollars had been ex-
pended in building and getting the dredge
ready for its work, in addition to salaries to
the so-called engineers and commissions to the

44 THE UPPER YUKON

sellers of stock, and now ruin stared all of the
officials in the face. The very simple precau-
tion of having the bottom of the lake explored,
before making such a costly experiment, had
never apparently been thought of.

There was nothing to be done but to leave
the dredge where it was, and so when a man —
any man — wanted something that could be
removed from it, he came and took what he
needed, and there was '^none to say him nay."
So the small army of "succors" who had lis-
tened to the siren voices of the "windy" pro-
moters received no returns for their hard-
earned investment in the "British American
Dredging Company."

I tell this story because it is typical of so
many similar gold-mining fakes, trusting that
it may act as a brake to the eagerness with
which men part with their money to follow
the "Will-o'-the-wisp" in vainly searching for
gold in far-away countries.

About ten years ago a young man from New
York with nearly two hundred thousand dol-
lars in cash came into a district one hundred
and seventy-five miles from Atlin and near the
head of another notable lake. This young
man had no practical knowledge of mining.
He was but a youth — inexperienced in the

X

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 45

world's ways. He had a hobby, and that
hobby was to have plenty of bosses. It is
said that at one time he actually had thirty-
five superintendents and bosses, with only five
real workmen to dig for the gold and to do
all of the work. He became fascinated with
the many lures in and around the lively town
of White Horse. "Wine, women, and song"
did for him what it has done for thousands
of other men, and so his mining experience
was fitful and erratic. The inevitable end
came sooner than was expected. His money
vanished, he ran into debt, the work on the
mine was shut down, the houses for the oper-
ators and the road-house for visitors w^hich
had been built at heavy expense were left to
the mercies of wind and rain.

The valuable machinery and tools, besides
the livestock, were mostly left uncared for,
and the buildings, though still standing, are
rapidly going to ruin. In such a fashion
came the ending of another gold-mining
dream.

As I rode through this "deserted village"
one day, not a living thing could be seen, —
not even a dog. We saw the untenanted
houses with wide-open doors as if beckoning
some one to come in and occupy them. The

46 THE UPPER YUKON

famous road-house and its big stable were go-
ing to wrack and ruin and I wondered how
and where the youthful owner could ever rec-
ompense himself for his folly and incompe-
tence.

"Gold — all gold — this is fairy gold, boy,
and 'twill prove so" — and so it did prove.
The youth wended his way back to the me-
tropolis a much chastened and humiliated
young man.

In due time the train arrived at White
Horse, after passing through gorges and
mountains and over circling bridges, including
the great cantilever bridge spanning a can-
yon two hundred and fifty feet deep. We
were five hours late, and reached the famous
town of White Horse at 9.30 P. M. in place of
4.30. The custom house closes here at 4.30,
but the Chief Officer of this department was
courteous enough to be on hand to inspect our
baggage, which he did in a few minutes, so
that we were permitted to remove it to the
hotel that night.

The Hotel White Horse is a clean, well-
managed inn, with a woman In charge of the
house proper, while a man controls the liquid
end. A stout woman has charge of the cook-

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 47

ing and eating department, for which she ex-
pects a goodly sum from each traveler for the
food that he eats. Thus the hotel is run un-
der a sort of a tripartite management.

I lay down on my bed to wait while my
partner took a hot bath (there was but one
bath-room) and while waiting for him to get
through with his ablutions I fell asleep. I
was awakened by a chorus of voices singing a
familiar song — "We'll not go home till
mornin' " — and they w^ere telling the truth,
as it was then nearly one o'clock in the morn-
ing. The noise of singing came from a lot of
citizens who were doing the honors to a major
of the Northwest Mounted Police, who had
recently been promoted to a higher position.

In the morning we got out our hunting togs
and donned them for the first time for use in
the hard work of the days to come. We left
everything that couldn't be used, or rather that
wouldn't be absolutely needed in the hunt, in
our trunks, until our return. After break-
fast, the first thing in order was to see that
the men, the horses, and the supplies to be
taken with us, were ready for an early start.

The evening before we had met Thomas A.
Dickson, the head guide; Louie Jaquotte, the
wrangler; and Eugene, his brother, the cook.

48 THE UPPER YUKON

They said that in the morning everything
would be in readiness, but it was not. There
was still much preparation to be made, not
only during the early morn, but all the fore-
noon.

In the previous month, July, one thousand
nine hundred and twenty-eight pounds of sup-
plies had been sent ahead of us to a central
camp over two hundred miles away. Now
we had to take the necessary supplies with us
to last us on the journey until that point was
reached.

The outfitters of merchandise seemed to de-
sire to prolong our stay in White Horse rather
than to help us to start on our way, and they
couldn't or wouldn't be hurried, so that when
we finally did leave, we went without our in-
voice for the supplies.

At 2.30 P. M. a four-horse wagon drove up,
followed by a two-horse rig. A few bags,
cases, and bundles of supplies were loaded
into the big wagon together with a large bolt
of tent cloth and a coil of rope. At four
o'clock two mules and a horse were brought
to the front of the outfitters' stores, and we
were told to mount our steeds.

I found that instead of "the finest saddle
horse in the Yukon," which Dickson had

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 49

promised me, I was to ride a mule. The
Chief said that when we came to a lake one
hundred and fifty miles away, I would get the
famous horse — not before that — but he was
a paragon, having all the virtues that could
be possessed by any horse; in the meantime,
I was to ride a mule.

The Chief passed a high eulogium upon
the mule whose name he said was "Billie" —
"Billie" with no prefix or subfix whatsoever.
He forgot to say that among the natives he
always went by one of two names — "Billie the
Wild" or "Wild Billie," and he also neg-
lected to say that he was famous because he
had thrown more men and wrecked more bug-
gies and sleighs than any other five horses or
mules in the Yukon. It was perhaps better
or more polite that he should keep this infor-
mation to himself, as the sequel will show.

While sitting on Billie and waiting for the
cavalcade to begin the journey, a man came
to me and advised me to demand of the head
guide that a start be made for the "Meadows"
— a camping spot five miles away on our road,
— where plenty of grass and w^ater w^ere to be
found, saying that if we didn't make such a
beginning we might be held back from one
cause or another for one or more days. So

50 THE UPPER YUKON

I insisted upon a start without any further
delay.

Then a stout woman came up to me and
told the story of her experience in White
Horse. She was a cook — had been six weeks
in the town. She was "Oh, so lonely," and
wanted to go back home to St. Paul, Minn.
She was willing to go in "any old way."
Wouldn't I take her with me when I came
back? If I did she would never forget me as
long as she lived. Couldn't I pack her in my
big trunk — bore holes in it, so that she w^ould
get air — then when the trunk was put on the
steamer and the steamer had started she would
get out on the deck and nobody would know
that she hadn't paid her fare? The woman
had all she could do to keep from crying right
there in the open street. Of course, I only
laughed at her — that being the best tonic to
give her.

Before leaving my home city, I had ordered
a pair of riding breeches to be made of the best
and heaviest moleskin, and I had pictured to
myself much ease and comfort as well as
warmth in wearing them. I had very hard
work to get them on. The tailor's plans had
evidently "gone aglee," for they were so tight
that the buttons from the knees down could

m

13
CO

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 51

not be buttoned ; worst of all, I could not bend
my knees in them, therefore I could not mount
the mule without help. The "help," which
was tendered me by a man on each side of the
mule, consisted in actually lifting me into the
saddle. What an ignoble way this was to in-
augurate a trip that before it was over might
cover over a thousand miles in the saddle!

Having been thus laboriously "chucked"
into the saddle, the Chief rode up to me and
said that "no mule could equal Billie for gen-
tleness, easiness of movement, and fast walk-
ing or even running." He hesitated a minute
or so after this laudation, and then said as
carelessly as he could, as if it was a matter of
little consequence, "There's one thing, how-
ever, that you must watch out for — Billie is
afraid of an Indian, and the scent of a red man
a mile off will frighten him; to come close
enough to see one would be still worse." I
was then cooly advised to keep a sharp lookout
for the "coming of the red man."

As I had never before been on a mule's back,
and was at a distinct disadvantage by reason
of my tight breeches, which would prevent me
from getting off in a hurry if such a movement
would be necessary, I did considerable hard
thinking while waiting for the caravan to

52 THE UPPER YUKON

start. We were delayed about something, but
what that something was no one I questioned
was able to tell. In the meantime the
whole populace of the town seemed to be
intent upon watching our departure. Some
men from the railroad across the street saunt-
ered over, the boarders at the hotel forgot to
imbibe fiery liquids at half a dollar a drink,
the clerks and employees in the stores crowded
the sidewalk. There were also quite a num-
ber of women spectators. In fact, it looked
as if all of the population was determined to
do us the honor of seeing us start upon our
fateful trip, and I really felt proud over the
apparent ovation.

Alas for me, I little knew of ''Billie the
Wild's" reputation. For he was better
known in White Horse than most of the citi-
zens, and just think — hadn't the man who was
to ride him been actually lifted into the sad-
dle? And what happenings might not be
seen if but a solitary Indian should now stroll
up to the caravan? How long would the
man with the new breeches stay on the mule
then? I might soon be ingloriously thrown,
and with Othello I might cry: "Reputation,
reputation, reputation, Oh, L have lost my
reputation."

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 53

Of all of this I happily knew nothing, and
at 4.45 P. M. we at last — ^at last — started away
without any circus performance on the part of
the mule.

We were to go but five miles and then pitch
tents for the night. Billie, true to his reputa-
tion, easily led the procession, as he was a won-
derful walker. All went well for a couple of
miles, and the wind, blowing in our faces as
we rode, made "the green leaves quiver with
the cooling wind."

Then Billie commenced to throw his right
ear back and his left ear front, which actions
the Chief having observed, he rode up and
said: "There's sure an Indian ahead of us;
now keep cool, stick to the mule and don't let
him throw you."

How was that for a man riding in tight
breeches — so tight as to lock his knees? But
holding the bridle of the fearsome mule with
my left hand, I patted his neck with my right,
and talked to him in a "soothing" tone, at the
same time keeping a sharp watch for the In-
dian. Sure enough he finally appeared. He
was only a young Indian, however, a lad of
eighteen; perhaps had he been a full-grown
Indian the situation might have been more
difficult, as the scent might have been

54 THE UPPER YUKON

"ranker." However, Billie walked past him.
x\gitated he was undoubtedly, but I flattered
myself that my affectionate treatment of him
had won the day.

Another mile-stone was reached, and once
more there was trouble and once more I tried
the "loving" treatment, but in this case he
bolted, swung clear around, and started for
White Horse. Now that was not the direction
in which I wanted to go. A sharp cut with
the willow stick and a strong pull at the bridle
brought him to face the music, whatever it
might be. Then we discovered that a large
grizzly bear's fresh tracks crossed our trail,
and the Chief hastened to apologize for not
telling me that Billie was also always badly
frightened when he struck the fresh trail of a
bear.

Without further excitement the "Meadows"
were reached, at 7.30 on the evening of August
fifteenth.

In a walk of a mile that night after supper
six Arctic hares were seen, and from that time
on until the end of the whole trip we must
have seen many thousands of these agile but
rather foolish animals. It is hard to imagine
how the native Indians and the small white
population could get along without these

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 55

harmless but necessary animals, as they make
a good meal at any time of the year, but more
particularly in the fall when they're fat and
in prime condition. We shot quite a few of
them on the journey, together with plenty of
grouse and ptarmigan, and they made an ac-
ceptable addition to our food supply.

When we got to the mountain sheep country
and tasted for the first time the flesh of a three-
year-old mountain ram, however, we didn't
hanker much for rabbit meat.

On the sixteenth — our first full day's travel
— we covered twenty-six miles, crossing the
Takiki River, a deep and swift-running
stream, by means of a cable. The ferry was
run by the rapid current carrying a raft at-
tached to the cable with our outfit loaded on
it. At this crossing we had our first noonday
dinner in the open. Later, as we journeyed
on, Louie Jaquotte regaled me v/ith stories of
what they did during the cold winters and
how they lived. He was eloquent in his des-
cription of the usefulness of the husky dogs
in the Yukon. He had more or less to do with
the huskies, and he recited the incidents of one
journey of three hundred and twenty-three
miles which he covered with his own dog team
in nine days. The dogs were fed principally

56 THE UPPER YUKON

on frozen fish. On this trip quite a few ptar-
migan were captured or shot — I forget which
— and most of the birds were given to the dogs,
who ate them with great relish.

A dense cloud came up during this day and
the temperature dropped 40 degrees, so that
we had our first frost at night. We passed
through an Indian village, but all the inhabit-
ants were away on a salmon fishing excursion.
At night-fall we reached a good stopping
place with plenty of grass and water. We
had made twenty-seven miles for the day.

The eighteenth was a bright pleasant day
but very windy. A start was made at 5.15
A. M. as a hard day's trip was before us. I
rode Billie most of this forenoon. The pre-
vious days I had been walking more than rid-
ing. Now, overhearing the Chief telling Eu-
gene the cook to be sure to get me to dismount
before going down a steep incline to an Indian
village, I "took time by the forelock" and dis-
mounted before we came to the drop in the
road. Keeping a sharp lookout, I saw an old
Indian and his squaw sitting out in the open
before an outdoor fire of logs. They proved
to be the chief of the tribe and his wife; all
the rest of the bucks, squaws, and children had
gone off on a moose hunt some days previous.

a

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 57

I led Billie by the chief's cabin without any
trouble, as the heavy wind was blowing
directly towards the old Indian, so the mule
didn't get the scent. Having passed by him a
couple of hundred yards, our Chief's voice
was heard above the wind asking me to tether
Billie, and run back and help him with
"Beck," a lady mule who was wild with fright.
The old Indian chief and his wife had in the
meantime come out to the front of their cabin
and "Beck" had not only seen, but scented
them. When I reached the panic-stricken
mule, we found that we needed even a third
man's help before we could get her under con-
trol, and then not until we had asked the
Indians to go back into their cabin — which
they graciously did — could we get her by. It
was surmised that both Billie and Beck had in
their younger days belonged to Indians, and
perhaps had been cruelly treated by them;
hence the scent of an Indian, and particularly
the sight of one, drove them into a frenzy of
fear.

We now saw everywhere along the trail the
fresh signs of a large grizzly bear which had
been tearing up gopher holes, to catch, kill,
and eat these fat and juicy little animals,
which at this time of the year are at their best.

58 THE UPPER YUKON

The amount of soil and roots that had been
ripped up by this one bear was remarkably
large.

We pitched camp at 6.30 P. M., having
covered thirty-one miles for the day.

Next day a drove of horses was encountered
and the two men in charge lost about ten out
of the bunch and necessarily had to go back
after them.

Another Indian village was reached, but
not a human being was there. The inhabit-
ants, like those of the other settlement, were
off on a moose hunt. Here we found quite a
number of caches raised on high poles, some
of them being quite pretentious affairs, and on
a mountain near by we saw a grave covered
with a pretty little house, crowned with a
flag. The occupant of the grave was a young
Indian girl eight years of age. Laid on
the mound were some needlework, some beads
and thread, a piece of flannel, and a strip of
caribou hide for her to embroider in the
happy hunting ground. This particular tribe
of Indians take considerable pride in showing
respect to their dead.

On the twentieth we stopped for a short
visit at the cabin of a man who had a month
previously bought from an Indian a little

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 59

grizzly bear cub which was then but a day
old. The Indian had killed the mother, then
captured the little one, and sold it for a trifle.
The purchaser built a strong cage for the
young stranger and had been feeding it upon
bread and milk only until we arrived. One
of our men had killed a hare, and with the
blood dripping from it, some of us thought
that we might give it to the cub. We did so
and watched the result with lively interest.
Although the young grizzly had never seen
such a thing in his life, yet his instinct in-
stantly advised him what to do, and the savage
way in which he tore that hare to pieces, ate
the flesh, sucked the blood, crunched the bones,
and even ate the skin was an object lesson to
us of what a strong and terrible animal a full-
grown grizzly bear must be.

The wife of this man (the owner of the bear
cub) was a white woman from Montreal. She
seemed to be very lonely so far away from her
mother and sister, and listened with intense
interest to all that we had to tell her of the
doings of the outer world; more particularly
so because I had at one time been in her home
city and could tell her something about the
news from there, and especially of the late
visit of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught,

6o THE UPPER YUKON

the new Governor General and his wife. She
brightened up greatly before our departure,
and if our visit did nothing else, it gave her
something to think about after we were gone.
She told us that the weather had been very-
cold in that locality, and they had only had
seven ''decent" days all summer; the balance
of the time they suffered from high winds,
much rain, and extreme cold for that time of
the year.

Since my arrival home a letter has come
conveying the sad news of her death, probably
from homesickness. At the time the letter
was sent her husband was taking her out on a
dog-sled, for although she had been ill twenty
days no medical aid could be sent for.

On this day we came to the divide or sum-
mit, and I took much pleasure in walking over
it, a distance said to be eight and a half miles.
At the summit we found two considerable mo-
raines that had come from a great glacier now
dead and extinct. It was a most interesting
thing to see how the rocks had been shoved
and forced along by the impact of these
slowly moving ice packs in the ages that are
gone, and what great power these glaciers
exert when they are in the fulness of their
strength. Without seeing the effects of their

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 6i

work no one can appreciate it. We after-
wards found many glaciers on our journey,
and all of them were dying — slowly dying.

In the evening we met a bright and intelli-
•gent young man of whom we had heard much
before we reached him. He held a govern-
ment position, and had a deal of time on his
hands to spare. He was an assiduous maga-
zine reader, boasting indeed that he took every
prominent magazine in the United States but
•one, and that missing one was "Hearst's Maga-
zine." He was said by our men to take a
fiendish delight in picking out the big words
occasionally found in the magazines, and com-
miting the same to memory. He used these
words with keen relish, whether they were
warranted or not by the conversation, on the
unfortunate man or men with whom he came
in contact. As neither his auditors nor he
himself, perhaps, knew the meaning of many
of these almost impossible words, some of the
men asked me if I couldn't "take a rise out of
him when he got a-goin'."

After supper we sat down around the camp
fire and, as he needed no encouragement to
start talking, he was soon floundering in a
ludicrous assortment of big words, some of
them entirely unfitted to the conversation he

62 THE UPPER YUKON

was indulging in. He went gaily along for a
quarter of an hour or so, when he drifted to
talk on the subject of ornithology and soon be-
came almost hopelessly involved in some clas-
sical Latin names. I excused myself for in-
terrupting him, and asked him what relation
the incident that he was narrating had to do
with "the hypothenuse of a rectangular tri-
angle."

He stared with wide open mouth, and was
undoubtedly painfully staggered for a while.
Then he slowly said that he hadn't given any
thought to that subject but that he would at
once "take it under consideration."

Two of the men were so much overcome
with this "solar plexus" blow, that they had to
get up, "go- away- off," and have a laugh loud
and long, where he could not hear them.

In spite of this young man's harmless pro-
pensity for the use of large words he is very
popular among the men of the community.
He is kind-hearted and is helpful to every one
who seeks his aid and advice, and, moreover,
he is an unusually well-informed and interest-
ing man.

Early this morning we saw a great volume
of dense smoke on the very top of a mountain
covered with timber, and near the foot of the

u

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 63

same elevation another "big smoke" was in
sight. The two fires were said to be signals
from some Indian hunters to their squaws
that they had killed a moose; or, to be exact,
the top fire was to signal them to come — both
they and the children — as a moose had been
killed; the lower one was built close to the
dead animal, so as to lead them directly to the
carcass.

When Indian braves have killed an animal,
they feel that they have done their work, and
depend upon the squaws to dress and cut up
the meat, to cure it as w^ell, and then to carry
it to their cache and there deposit it. We
were advised that the squaws are very partic-
ular to empty the stomach of the dead animal
quickly of its contents. Then, after washing
it out thoroughly so that it is absolutely clean,
they catch all of the blood that they can, put
it into the empty stomach, and thus transport
it to their camp. Blood puddings are made
out of it, and many of them drink the blood
when it is luke warm.

As the wind was blowing a gale when the
fires were started, it was not long before they
spread into a fierce conflagration, which
swept everything before it. The smoke of
this sweeping fiery furnace was seen for two

64 THE UPPER YUKON

days afterwards, and it burnt over a large sec-
tion of good and useful timber.

We met a man who had been a resident
guide on the Island of Vancouver. To us he
featured the generally wet condition of the
woods there, the slimy bark on the fallen
trees and the torrential rains that afflict
that interesting island. He was guiding a
timber prospector through the dense woods
when they came to a deep canyon over which
a log had fallen. The prospector was a stout
man and one who liked to have his own way.
The guide went down to the bed of the creek,
and advised the prospector to do the same, for
it was a dangerous proceeding to walk over a
wet log, as his foot was liable to slip. How-
ever, the man persisted. His foot did slip,
and so did the man, and the fall broke three of
his ribs. He was picked up and helped away
to the city of Vancouver as fast as they could

go-
There he found a letter of considerable im-
portance which caused him at once to board a
train for New York, without waiting to have
any surgical attention paid to his injuries.
When he reached New York he had to be
taken to a hospital, where he died in two days.
Being asked what it was that killed the man,

''PUT FORTH THY HAND" 65

the guide said he had "heard tell that his ribs
had gone bad on him." This much and noth-
ing more he said, and yet it was a sufficient
and good reason for the untimely fatality.

At night, Tuesday, the twenty- first, we ar-
rived in the dark at the head of a large lake.
Here we were lodged in a cabin belonging to
the Chief. The floor and walls were covered
with skins of animals, — caribou, moose, wol-
verine, and fox skins.

Here our horses were to go around the lake
on a trail which wound up and down several
steep mountains, while we were to cross the
water by a power boat. Louie, with another
man, was dispatched to take the horses and
mules across a dangerous river where quick-
sands abounded, and where the utmost care
had to be taken not to let either horse or man
get into such a critical locality. The horses
had to swim across the stream which was fed
by a great glacier — the water, therefore, being
ice-cold. They were led by two men in
a row boat. In some way Louie got into the
quicksands and it was some time — even with
the help of his companion — before he could
extricate himself, having sunk down in the
quicksand up to his waist.

A fine day was frittered away at the head of

66 THE UPPER YUKON

the lake without doing anything in particular.
From some unknown reason the Chief did not
seem to care about getting into the power boat
to cross the forty miles to the foot of the
lake.

The following morning the wind was blow-
ing a gale, and we loafed around until the late
afternoon, when, the wind having subsided,
we boarded the boat and were off at last.

When a couple of miles had been passed,
another storm arose, blowing at right angles
to the boat, and we were forced to steer for the
shelter of the lee-shore, where we put in an
hour waiting for the subsidence of the wind.
It was by this time nearly dark and it looked
like rain. Some sail cloth was procured and
battened down over our heads and on each side
of the boat, so that we were sheltered from a
wetting.

The threatened storm came quickly in the
form of a squall, which blew the hissing water
over the top of the canvas. The boat com-
menced to take water and as there were seven
of us in it, with a considerable weight of sup-
plies and dunnage besides, for a while it
looked dubious as to whether we could get
across. To make things worse, after a run of
four hours we ran head on upon a gravel bar,

"PUT FORTH THY HAND" 67

and it was a wonder that the boat did not break
amidship, from the force of the impact against
the sharp stones. But at last, when "the iron
tongue of midnight had tolled twelve," we
rounded a point, and ran alongside of a little
wharf. We mentally thanked God we were
safe, and near a cabin, in spite of wind, rain,
and a gravelly bottom.

The sun rose bright and warm the next
morning, which was the twenty-fourth of Au-
gust. We put in some time fishing with the
fly for graylings in a swift and rocky-bottomed
river. I had read much about the good qual-
ities of this far-famed fish, but my anticipa-
tion of some splendid sport in catching a mess
of them was rudely dispelled when one of
them jumped at the fly and swallowed it, and
then calmly gave up the fight, actually swim-
ming towards the shore so as not to give me
any trouble in hauling him out of the water.
"The pleasantest angling is to see the fish cut
with her golden oars the silver stream," but
the stream was not silver, and the fish didn't
do any "cutting" ; so I gave up in disgust.

The afternoon was spent in sitting with a
twenty-two calibre rifle on the edge of a pond
waiting for some wild ducks to drop in, but
none "dropped." A member of the Ashiack

68 THE UPPER YUKON

tribe of Indians, who went by the name of
"Old Joe," went with me. A lean, thin In-
dian he was, who in some way managed to get
a square meal every other day, and by force of
circumstances had to fast the balance of the
time. He had helped a young Indian to kill
four large bull moose having a respective
spread of antlers of sixty, sixty-two, sixty-three
and sixty-four inches, apparently in the belief
that we would purchase the heads, even though
the animals were killed out of season.

We soon disabused them of their dream of
sudden riches. Then Old Joe brought to us
a hind quarter of moose meat which he tried
to sell us. But we much preferred bacon and
eggs to the rump of a bull moose, so there was
''nothing doing" in the way of moose trade.

We invited Joe to take supper with us, and
we had rare enjoyment in watching him stow
away food. When he had eaten all that his
stomach could apparently hold, he lay down
on the ground without a blanket or fire, and
fell asleep. The next morning he and the
hind quarter of moose were gone, and we saw
him no more.

CHAPTER IV

A LOST MOOSE

"Night's candles were burnt out, and jocund day
Stood tiptoe on the misty mountain's top."

WE had now journeyed nearly two hun-
dred miles through a comparatively
gameless country. From now on, however,
until we reached a permanent camp where we
were to stay at least two weeks, we would be
liable to strike big game any day, so said the
Chief.

I have always taken a keen interest in bird
life, and hence was on the lookout to note the
different species of birds as our journey pro-
gressed day after day. I must confess that I
was disappointed with the meager number
(outside of the birds of prey) that we passed
in this long stretch of territory.

The grouse family, however, was well rep-
resented, for we saw many spruce grouse, pin-
tail prairie chickens, willow ptarmigan, rock
ptarmigan, and ruffed grouse. We saw

70 THE UPPER YUKON

plenty of surf scoter ducks, mallards, pintails,
and butter balls.

Of birds of prey there were a great plenty
and variety, including the golden eagle,
horned owl, sharp shinned hawk, pigeon
hawk, goshawk, and raven.

Of small birds, the Alaska jay, belted king-
fisher, chickadee, water ouzel, water thrush,
spotted sand-piper, and one solitary Wilson
snipe were seen.

Of fur-coated animals I, personally, saw
three silver foxes, one black fox (a real beauty
he was), two red foxes (both full grown and
well furred), some weasels and red squirrels,
myriads of gophers, and six grizzly bears.

We had expected to see a great many whis-
tling marmots, but they had all holed up and
not one was seen. This was quite a disap-
pointment, as I had set my heart on bringing
out enough of these skins to make a coat.

We saw a lot of porcupines — some very
large ones indeed. Of ovts-stofiei— the white
mountain sheep — a goodly number were seen,
but not as many as we had expected. The
same may be said of caribou, moose, and
mountain goat. We saw but one of the latter
— a large male goat — which I stalked by
making a laboriously high and difficult climb.

A LOST MOOSE 71

and tried to get by firing from a very awk-
ward position, partly lying on my left side. I
missed him by a foot, and he was gone in-
stantly. The native Indians and some of the
white residents kill a large number of sheep
and cache them for winter food.

At the foot of the lake the pack horses were
assembled and loaded with our dunnage, am-
munition, spare rifles, and some supplies.
Here I first met Charley, the horse I was to
ride, while Billie was sent off loaded with a
pack like any common mule. The caravan
got away in good time in the early afternoon.
After covering five miles of travel we forded
a river, and on the farther side an almost per-
pendicular ridge loomed up before us. It
was a novel sight to see the mules and horses
zig-zag their tortuous way up this stiff piece
of trail. With the exception of one pack
which turned, all wxnt well, and when the
sun was about to set we pitched camp upon a
high elevation, ate our supper, and soon went
to sleep.

The half day's ride on Charley, the horse,
was a continual torture. Changing the sad-
dle was tried, and the stirrups were adjusted
over and over again, but all to no use. The
following day the situation did not improve

72 THE UPPER YUKON

one iota and the next day I gave it up entirely
and made the Chief change things around and
give me Billie again. I was indeed glad to
mount Billie once more, as he was as easy to
ride as a rocking-chair, and he was the quick-
est walker and the best runner of the whole
bunch of animals. There was no doubt that
Charley was a fine horse, but he had been eat-
ing too plentifully of grass all summer and his
body was as round as a barrel.

The fourth day after leaving the lake we
were given a chance to see some big game.
On one of the high mountains a bunch of four
sheep was seen and their immaculately clean,
white coats looked handsome and unique
against the dark background of some jack
pines near a patch of green grass which they
were feeding upon. But instead of being
rams with big horns, as they appeared to us
when first seen, they were only ewes.

The Chief led us across a river, then up
stream for four miles, and we plunged into a
rather thick forest of spruce and jack pines.
A slightly marked trail led us up through the
timber belt at a sharp pitch. Arrived at the
summit, we came to a large grassy basin slop-
ing down a bit on all sides so that in the center
we found the bed of a dried-up pond. Here

Husky Dogs ox the March

A LOST MOOSE 73

was plenty of grass for the horses. They were
picketed and a lunch was prepared, a small
fire having been kindled for boiling the mate
(the South American herb that we were using
instead of tea). In due time we sat down to
a refreshing lunch. The men who smoked lit
their pipes and were just settling themselves
for a little rest, when some one exclaimed:
"Look, oh look, did you ever see such a
sight?" Away up on top of the mountain that
we had ascended but a little while before, was
the biggest bull moose that I had ever seen
He was running as fast as he could go, and in
a minute or so had reached the divide and
dropped down out of sight on the other side.
There was some quick mounting of steeds and
ofif we went at full gallop after the moose.
He was too quick for us; when we scaled the
summit he was not to be seen, but his tracks
were very plain and showed that he had been
calmly feeding alone on some lily pads grow-
ing in a tiny bit of a lake, located in another
little depression like the dried-up pond near
which we had lunched. He had scented us,
although from where he had rushed out of the
water the distance was a good mile from us.
and the wind was not directly in his favor
either, but it must have made a sort of angle as

74 THE UPPER YUKON

it swept around the basin of the lake. We
followed his well-defined trail for some dis-
tance, but failed to get in sight of him
again.

We now came in view of a fine caribou bull.
He was on a divide opposite us and standing
half-way up on the mountain. He was paw-
ing the earth with his fore feet and throwing
the soil over his back. He was all alone, and
seemed to be fascinated vvath looking at our
horses. Above him a considerable distance
two ewe sheep fed complacently. They, too,
kept looking at our horses with interest, and
seemed not to mind us. The wind being in
our favor they leisurely took their own time in
moving around the mountain's side and thus
getting out of range.

It was all in all a really delightful introduc-
tion to certain species of animals that we ex-
pected to hunt a few days later, as it was still
close time — the open season starting Septem-
ber first.

We had some lively scrapes descending the
mountain from the front face rather than from
the back. We arrived at camp at lo P. Al.,
well pleased, indeed, with our first experience
in seeing sheep, caribou, and bull moose in the
Upper Yukon.

A LOST MOOSE 75

An early start the following morning took
us up the stony bed of a tortuous creek. We
saw a few fresh grizzly bear tracks made by a
mother and two cubs. The mother had been
digging in gopher holes and evidently with
success, as a little blood here and there near
the mounds she had piled up showed that she
had sent her teeth through more than one
gopher. The wind being in our favor, a keen
watch was kept upon her trail, yet we saw
nothing of her.

In the afternoon we passed through a can-
yon. In the ages that are gone the present
stream flowed through a channel, the marks
of which were plainly in sight on the rocky
face seventy-two feet higher than the one in
use at present. One day the pressure of water
from melting snow and ice became so irre-
sistibly great that a large section of solid rock
was swept away, and the broken rocks were
carried or shoved along in the lap of the flood
and deposited miles below. But the dam was
broken, and now^ the stream tears through a
channel that once was a rocky barrier seventy-
two feet in height. We camped at the lower
end of the canyon for the night.

The next day was ushered in with a fierce
snow storm which came in intermittent gusts

76 THE UPPER YUKON

of strong wind that increased in velocity as
the day wore on.

Our tent was fairly well sheltered from the
worst of the storm by the friendly willow
brush, but it was irksome to be kept a prisoner
in the tent. The storm performed all kinds of
vagaries. In the early morning it brought
soft snow, with large flakes; towards noon the
wind increased in vigor and the flakes dis-
appeared, giving way to hail, which fairly
screamed as it rushed by us. At about one
o'clock it had calmed down enough to war-
rant a suggestion to the Chief of making a
climb up the face of the mountain directly in
front of our camp. He shook his head, and
said the storm was not over by any means, and
if we got up on top and it should start to blow
again in hurricane fashion when we were up
there, we might be blown off. He was cau-
tious enough to want to wait until all danger
was past.

It should be remembered that this was the
last day of August and it seemed peculiar to
us that such a wild storm should visit us this
early in the season.

In the high Sierras of California snow
usually does not fall until about the end of
October or early in November, and then it

A LOST MOOSE 77

comes down gently and soon melts, but this,
our first storm, started with a dense darkness
which gave way to bright sunshine only to
have darkness again; storm succeeded storm,
until all the mountains and valleys were
covered with the white mantle.

From hail, it now came towards us in the
form of dry snow-dust, filling all nooks and
crannies, from which the wind would pres-
ently suck it out and carry it up to the sky line
like floating banners. Following this diver-
sion it commenced to form bossy drifts that
were heaped up in fanciful pyramids, making
a most beautiful panorama as the light snow-
dust circled about the tops of the drifts like an
aerial whirlpool. The sight was really grand
in every way, and the more I watched it the
more anxious I was to climb the mountain and
be really in the storm. Two o'clock had come
and with it a slight cessation of the wind.
The Chief now yielded to my request, and we
struck out bodily across the dashing stream,
soon reaching the foot of the mountain, and
the climb was commenced by making a trail
in the snow zig-zaging backwards and for-
wards.

We pushed up as fast as we could go, stop-
ping now and then to breathe. The higher

78 THE UPPER YUKON

we went the grander the storm appeared. To
me it was a gala day of furious wind and
snow, for being on the sheltered side of the
mountain we were safe from the worst out-
burst of its wrath. The valley which we had
left below now seemed to vibrate with weird
musical sounds as the wind played on the gi-
gantic rocks and whistled through the narrow
gap in which the stream was rushing like a
torrent. Up and up we went; fortunately the
days were long, and the mantle of night was
not due until ten of the clock. When near the
top, one of the frequent lulls in the storm
came, and "casting caution to the winds" we
climbed to the very peak, for, "as we often see,
against some storm a silence in the heavens,"
the temptation to be at the top was too great
to withstand.

A few minutes only were granted to us for
observation, as w^e plainly saw the elements
gathering for another attack and we hastily
descended far enough to reach the shelter of a
large boulder that had a natural cavity in its
face, and into this blessed haven of safety we
squeezed ourselves.

Now we were safe, well sheltered, and just
high enough to see the snow tearing by us,
whistling, screaming, and at times roaring, as

A LOST MOOSE 79

it swept past driven by the fury of the gale.
We only saw the storm, it was not felt. What
few trees were in sight bent themselves in
lowly manner nearly to the ground, but many,
unable to withstand the storm pressure,
snapped and fell to earth like broken reeds.

Where were the birds and the wild animals
in all of this confusion of sound and whirl of
snow? They had "taken time by the fore-
lock" and were safely housed behind friendly
shelters. Although we spent a full hour in
our niche in the rock, not a living thing was
to be seen. Oh, what an hour that was! In-
deed, it was one that I shall never forget. It
was with deep regret that I followed the Chief
down to the bottom of the canyon once more,
but the night was becoming most unnaturally
dark and very cold, and "discretion being the
better part of valor" we walked and slid, ran
and jumped from drift to drift, until our tent
was reached. Thus ended our experience
with the great snow storm of the Yukon.

During the following night, the storm
abated and a warm wind sprang up. In the
morning the snow commenced to melt in the
valleys and melted faster than one could
imagine.

September first had arrived. Now we

8o THE UPPER YUKON

were at liberty to hunt and kill the mountain
sheep, and to secure specimens of these most
interesting animals, all of course within the re-
striction of the game laws.

To a hunter entering a new and strange
country on which his imagination has been
centered for several months— perhaps years,
the first day of the open season is one of prime
interest. Will his dreams be realized? Will
his hopes be fulfilled? Will the stories told
him by guides and hunters prove true? Will
success be his portion? Now the planning of
months, the travel of thousands of miles, and
the bringing into the wilderness of an elabo-
rate equipment necessitating the use of a large
drove of pack horses, is to be finally tested.

In the early morning the Chief led the way
through the canyon to a small stream running
into the river from the right. This stream
was nearly choked by great rocks of different
shapes and sizes showing volcanic origin.

Around these Charley and Billie carefully
felt their way. The stream drained a consid-
erable area of bench land or foot hills. We
worked our way through this to the foot of the
mountains themselves, and followed a caribou
trail that turned sharp corners and twisted in
and around cliffs, with here and there a spot

A LOST MOOSE 8i

where green grass was growing deep. By
eleven o'clock we emerged on the top of a
divide.

So far, no game worthy of mention had been
seen, yet there was an abundance of sheep and
caribou tracks on the route with an occasional
grizzly bear trail to lend additional interest.
While the horses were feeding on the few tufts
of grass to be found on the summit, the Chief
and I were scanning the horizon with glasses.
For a time no moving creature was to be seen,
and things looked dubious for our first day's
hunt.

Then a young ram appeared, coming over
the edge of an opposite divide. He was fol-
lowed by four more young rams, and lastly
came an old ram with such big horns that he
was a giant in contrast with the other five.
The Chief at once became somewhat excited
as he viewed "his majesty" through the
glass.

"Do you feel like stalking that old fellow?
If we tackle him we'll have to go down to the
canyon below, and climb up over the other
summit, and it will take us three hours and a
half at least, as it will be a hard climb."

"Chief, wherever you lead, I'll follow," I
replied; "this I mean in every sense of the

82 THE UPPER YUKON

word, not only now but until we have finished
our hunt."

"Then we go," he said, and leading the
horse and Billic we commenced the descent to
the canyon. Over a portion of the way it was
so very steep that our animals had to nearly
slide down.

After crossing the canyon our course, by
reason of the wind, was to the left; we were
to climb the mountain on which the rams were
feeding by going around it and up by the
"back door" to a level plateau on top. The
going up was not very bad, until we had
climbed say two thousand to twenty-five hun-
dred feet, and all of this distance was done in
the saddle. Here the side of the mountain
was very precipitous, with a sheer uninter-
rupted slope down to the bottom. This slope
was mostly of soft earth, with here and there
a flat stone clinging to its face. We came to
a place where there was a long overhanging
shelf of rock, and directly under this the Chief
rode Charley carefully, on the very edge of
the steep decline. I took good care not to
look down the slope, but to keep my eyes
focused on the tops of Billie's long ears. All
went well until a sharp turn was made to the
right. A step before this turn was taken, we

A LOST MOOSE 83

saw a large flat rock with a round bottom hav-
ing a weight of perhaps fifty pounds. Char-
ley placed his left fore-foot carefully on this
rock before putting his whole weight upon it.
It held firm; he made just one step more,
turned the corner, and was lost to my sight.
When Billie reached the rock he also placed
his left front foot on it. At the first impact
of the foot it held, but when Billie's whole
weight was placed upon it, it slipped from
under him.

A mule in such a situation as this is as quick
as the proverbial lightning, and Billie did the
only thing that he could do — he lifted his foot
like a flash from the sliding rock, jabbing it
down into the round hole which the rock had
left exposed. This naturally threw the mule
to the left with a sharp, sudden jerk, but fortu-
nately I had my right knee tightly pressed
against his side. For a second I thought Bil-
lie and I would surely go over the precipice
(and if so, I should never have lived to tell
this tale), but he held his ground firmly, and
the next step we also turned the corner, Billie
appearing as calm and as placid as if by his
adroitness he had not just saved himself and
his rider. My heart was very thankful to
him, and I leaned over and patted him on the

84 THE UPPER YUKON

neck and told him what I thought of him.

To the Chief I said never a word of our
narrow escape. This was the first day, mind
you, and it would have looked bad to start it
with the tale of a hair-breadth escape before
even a shot had been fired.

The plateau having been reached, we rode
slowly towards the edge of the mountain.
Our cook, for certain reasons of his own, had
brought with him a husky dog that was three
parts wolf. This animal, unknown to us, had
followed along, like his forebears circling
from side to side of the trail, seldom, if ever,
traveling in a straight line, and often, when
reaching a place where deep grass grew,
crawling on his belly. He had no business
with us, and his near presence and scent made
Billie nervous. For a while we could not ac-
count for the mule's actions. We stopped to
look around, thinking that an Indian might be
approaching or that a grizzly bear was in the
vicinity. When the skulking dog was dis-
covered, he was crawling through the grass
and Billie promptly went up on his hind feet.
The Chief at once dismounted, picked up
some stones, and pelted the dog so that he
turned and ran away.

The horse and mule now were tethered, and

.'i *" ■ . JlA>-- -■

i

A LOST MOOSE 85

we commenced to pick our way to the face of
the mountain to look for the rams. When
near the edge a commotion was heard in our
rear. On looking back Billie was discovered
with his rope twisted and trying to jump over
Charley. The wolf-dog had returned and
was the active cause of this commotion. The
Chief resorted to firing stones at him once
more. One of them hit him, and away he
went howling and barking as if he was injured
for life. This unusual uproar would cer-
tainly startle the rams, and I therefore ran as
fast as I could to the edge of the precipice
and, lying down flat, looked over. I saw the
six rams running here and there in wild alarm,
caused by the howling of the wolf-dog. The
big ram happened to be the farthest away, and
although I was badly blown by the fast run-
ning, I opened fire at once without waiting to
get calmed down. The first shot was a clean
miss, but it changed the ram's course and he
now ran towards me. The second bullet hit
him back of the shoulder, but he turned again
to run straight down the mountain. The third
bullet was another clean miss; the fourth hit
him in the paunch, and once again turned
him. The fifth was also a miss. Now he was
running down hill at a fairly good pace, but

86 THE UPPER YUKON

tottering from side to side. The sixth and
last bullet was a fatal shot. As he ran
straight away from me the bullet hit him
astern and he went head over heels, rolling
down the mountain until he was caught in a
*'draw."

I could not help shouting out in my excite-
ment over killing the first big ram I had ever
seen, and that too on the first day of the open
season. While the shooting had necessarily
been wild, yet under the peculiarly unfavor-
able circumstances, I could not but feel that
my success was an omen of good luck for the
future. The Chief was profuse in his praise
of my coolness in the shooting, and said that
either of the first two hits would have proved
fatal in a few minutes, even if the last one
had not bowled him over. We reached camp
that night long after the others had gone to
rest, yet there was but little sleep for me be-
cause the remarkable incidents of the hunt and
the attendant excitements had to be gone over
again and again in my mind's eyes.

CHAPTER V

AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT
"Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible is the land."

THE section of the country in which we
were hunting is the home of the Os-
borni caribou, a species distinct from the
Woodland and the Barrenland caribou, and
we were anxious to secure our quota of these
noted animals. The bull caribou, when we
first saw them, were hiding by themselves
away from the cows and calves, and were
always found in secluded places. I have
already mentioned seeing one fine bull all
alone before the open season had arrived.

For several days after September first, we
frequently saw the cows and calves feeding
by themselves, but the bulls were not to be
seen at all. There came a day, however,
when we found four large bulls herded to-
gether on a divide opposite one that we had
been exploring. They were seen in the deep
snow on the top of the mountain and seemed
to be interested in watching our mounts. A

88 THE UPPER YUKON

careful descent was made and, the wind being
right when the canyon was crossed, we left
Charley and Billie tethered in a spot covered
with rich grass, and commenced the climb on
foot, going up on the right side of the moun-
tain, as it looked the easiest to climb. The
going was fairly good until the deep snow was
reached, and then we slipped and stumbled
— sometimes sliding down more than we
climbed. We did not expose ourselves to
the quarry when the top was nearly won, but
by going around and behind a ledge of rocks
we managed to rise above where we had ex-
pected to find the animals. However, they
had fled. Their tracks in the snow showed
that we should find them down on the other
side of the divide. Cautiously dodging be-
hind rocks as we followed the trail, we finally
located them near the top of still another
divide, out of range of a Mannlicher rifle. If
they should succeed in crossing the second
range, we would lose them altogether, as the
conformation of the ground would, if we fol-
lowed them, bring them in line with our scent.
I told the Chief that the only chance to bring
them to a halt and probably to start them
back down the elevation rather than over it,
was to fire a few shots. This I did. The

AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT 89

sound of the exploding bullets reverberated
among the mountains and completely puzzled
the bulls, as they stopped and looked in all
directions. Then they commenced to retrace
their steps, coming directly towards us and
keeping a sharp lookout all the while. Un-
doubtedly they were suspicious, and not quite
sure that the enemy was behind them, as the
reverberations had seemed to indicate. They
walked down a few hundred yards slowly
and carefully, stopping frequently to watch
and to listen. A patch of green grass was
reached. They began to nibble this luscious
and tender salad. In this occupation they
seemed to forget their fright and the sound
of the shots, and set to feeding in real earnest.
Up to this time we had been hiding behind
a rock quite a bit to the right of their line
of probable descent. Taking advantage of
their enjoyment of the noon-day feed (it was
now after one o'clock) we worked to the left,
dodging from rock to rock, until we came to
the back of a round butte. This we carefully
climbed from the rear. When we were able
to peer over the top of the butte, the caribou
bulls were not in sight. We felt nonplussed
at this, and could not understand how we had
lost them. With the glasses the snow was

90 THE UPPER YUKON

industriously scanned, and what do you think
we discovered had happened? They had
come directly down the decline, so that they
must be almost under us at the base of the
butte. Crawling to the very top of the pin-
nacle and then dragging myself on the snow
to the far edge, I saw them lying down almost
directly beneath us. They had cleared the
snow away with their feet, and were resting
and taking things easy.

The Chief having also climbed up, we de-
cided which were the best two in the bunch
and I got ready to shoot. Two were lying on
their sides with their backs to us, and they
were the ones I wanted ; the remaining two
were facing the butte. It was an awkward
shot to make, as it was almost a straight drop
of eight hundred to nine hundred feet to the
foot of the butte. Aiming carefully, I fired
at my first choice. He was up and ofif in a
jiffy, running around the right side of the
butte and so past us. The three remaining
animals also sprang up, and were off, too, but
I bowled over the second one with the next
shot. I then turned to look for the first one
and a trail of blood was seen on the white
snow spattered about on both sides of his
tracks, showing where he had run up the in-

AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT 91

cline. A hundred yards or so up the hill he
was seen lying dead.

Having taken my eyes off the second one,
who had fallen, to follow the route of the
first one around the right of the butte, I now
turned back to the second. To my amaze-
ment he was nowhere to be seen ; then he sud-
denly appeared almost at our feet, rapidly
climbing the butte. This was a complete sur-
prise, as I had counted him as being dead.
His bolt was of short duration, however, for
when he got so close to us that we could al-
most touch him with the rifle, he slipped and
fell, rolling over and over until he landed
at the bottom — dead for sure. This feat
of his showed with what strong muscular ac-
tion these animals are gifted. The bullet had
passed through the heart and its force had
knocked him over, yet he had risen and made
a rush up the face of the butte where the snow
was at least a foot deep.

In 1906, I made a shot at a fine buck deer
on my own grounds in the Maine woods.
The buck was standing broadside on, two
hundred and thirty paces away, and close to
a dead-fall of trees five feet high. When the
bullet struck he cleared the dead-fall as easily
as an expert jumper would get over a four-foot

92 THE UPPER YUKON

fence, and with one bound, started down the
road, and then swung to the left up a ridge. I
found him there, dead, and on opening him it
was seen that the bullet had passed directly
through the heart, tearing it all to pieces; yet
he had cleared the dead-fall, and run one hun-
dred and seventeen yards to where he was
found.

So, after all, the two shots at the two cari-
bou had been well placed. Both bulls were
very fat. They were carrying a deep layer
of suet on their shoulders, as well as a con-
siderable quantity on their intestines. I
have been told that, during the mating sea-
son, the bulls do not eat a morsel of food, but
live on this generous accumulation of fat
which nature stores up for them. In other
words, they live upon their own tissues dur-
ing that time, which is divided in two equal
periods ; nine days of solicitation and nine days
of participation.

It may be readily surmised that before we
had gotten the bulls skinned, dressed, and
fixed up where we could come for or send
after them the following day, the daylight
was nearly over. We hurried through the
snow, over the divide, and down the other
side into the canyon, where we found Char-

AN EXCITING CARIBOU HUNT 93

ley and Billie standing waiting patiently for
us. Billie by this time had come to know my
voice, and w^hen I spoke to him and patted
him on the neck, he showed that he was well
pleased to see me. I had already made it a
point always to have some little tid-bit in
the saddle bag to give him on my return
from an excursion away from him. In the
mornings before starting I would get from
the cook a few pancakes, or a mutton chop,
or a few stale buns. He would eat anything
but raw meat, and it was interesting to see
how he enjoyed the mutton chops, crushing
the bones with his teeth as easily as if they
were sticks of candy. In the end this sort
of treatment made Billie and me great friends,
and he was so intelligent that he almost
seemed to sense what he ought to do, and then
act without being told.

CHAPTER VI

URSUS HORRIBILIS

"Oh well I mind, Oh well I mind,
Tho' now my locks are snow
How oft Langsyne I sought to find
What made the bellows blow!
How cuddling on my Grannie's knee,
I questioned night and da3%
And still the thing that puzzled me
Was where the wind came frae."

— Burns.

TAKING two men and two extra horses
with us to bring in the carcases of the
two bull caribou which I had shot, w^e were
ofif early in the morning of the eighth of Sep-
tember. We had gone a distance of five miles
along the river bottom and had passed the
mouth of a large tributary that enters into
the river at right angles to it, w^hen the Chief
with his keen eyesight saw a dark object near
the center of a high mountain on the right-
hand bank of the tributary.

For a few minutes the object did not move,
but when it did it was easily seen to be a sil-

URSUS HORRIBILIS 95

ver-tipped grizzly bear busily engaged in
digging out gophers. The wind was in our
favor and the distance to be traveled before
getting within range would be perhaps four
miles. The Chief gave instructions to the
men as to where the two caribou killed the
day before would be found, and the route to
reach them; then we parted company, the
Chief and I riding away to try our luck at
getting a shot at the grizzly.

It was necessary to climb from the river
bed to a plateau where much willow brush
was growing and, behind this friendly screen
of brush, to follow a line parallel with the
stream for a good three miles. Then we
crossed the water and, after proceeding cau-
tiously along the base of the mountain on
which the bear was working, we tethered the
horse and mule and commenced the stalk. It
was half an hour before we came in sight of
Bruin, and he was still busily engaged in dig-
ging out gophers. The wind at this time was
blowing with considerable force directly to-
wards us with the much-coveted quarry nearly
a mile away.

We now found it necessary, in order not
to be seen, to keep in line with the rocks and
the occasional bunches of willow brush, dodg-

96 THE UPPER YUKON

ing from one bit of cover to another. It was
interesting when stopping for breath in the
hard stiff ascent to watch the bear at work.
When he commenced digging at a new
gopher hole, he would work away leisurely
for a few minutes, presumably until he heard
his prey either running or uttering its pecu-
liar little bark. Then the big animal would
get into a fever of excitement, tearing away
the soil, stones, and roots as if he had a per-
sonal animosity for these inanimate things
that kept him away from his luscious break-
fast. Where no rocks or roots interfered
with his digging, he would throw the soil
up quickly, very soon making quite a hum-
mock of earth. We were too far away to
hear the agonized bark or yelp of the fated
gopher when he was finally caught, but once
we imagined that we saw the bear crunch his
prey with his powerful jaws and swallow the
gopher almost instantly.

By one of those peculiar vagaries which
frequently occur in this section of God's
earth, the wind suddenly changed. As soon
as we realized this we literally "threw dis-
cretion to the winds" and made a dash to get
within fair shooting range.

Alas for us! Bruin had already gotten our

URSUS HORRIBILIS 97

scent, and without looking around to see us,
or hesitating a second, he was off as fast as
his enormous strength could carry him. He
was much too far for a shot, and nothing could
be done but to watch his swiftly disappearing
form.

There was a deep "draw" on the left-hand
side of the mountain yet farther on. His
first break was for this draw, and once in this
shelter he lost no time in getting to the top
of the divide. He then showed himself but
for a second, running to the left along the
peak; then he disappeared down the other
side and we lost him for good. If the wind
had but held steady for fifteen minutes more,
I most certainly would have had a shot, but,
alas! it didn't and that was all there was to it.

Remembering that disappointments come
in other pursuits besides hunting, we made
the best of a bad thing by crossing the draw
and following up the other mountain. We
worked around a large, rocky protuberance
that made us wonder how it had ever gotten
there, and how it stayed without sliding down
to the stream below. Here we saw three
rams in a picturesque position near the apex
of the mountain. Their horns seemed at first
to be of a uniform size, and as they stood

98 THE UPPER YUKON

abreast looking down upon us with the curi-
osity natural to them, they presented a most
beautiful sight. A hundred paces above the
large rock around which we came was yet
another rock, and crawling to this on hands
and knees we were out of their line of vision.
In due time we peered over the edge of this
friendly protection, and the rams, standing
like statues, watched us. The ram to the left
looked to be the best. The one in the center
the next best, and the one to the right the
poorest; yet they were all fine rams. The
center one was standing on a boulder, while
behind him was yet another boulder that tow-
ered above his head, so that he looked as if
he was standing upon a huge stone settee.
The distance between us was too great to
guarantee a successful shot, yet knowing that
our quarry would bolt the moment we left
our shelter, I decided to try to hit the one on
the left. With the sight on the rifle raised
to three hundred yards, I took a long and
careful aim at this ram, resting the rifle on the
rock while I lay down behind it. The shot
was a clean miss, although it must have al-
most grazed him, as after the shot he was
quickly off for good.

The next shot was made at the one stand-

• V. i:

URSUS HORRIBILIS 99

ing on the rock, which was broadside on.
We distinctly saw the bullet strike the rock
behind him, making a flying shower of dust
and sand. The Chief said: "You are over-
shooting; you hit the rock behind and above
him." I then fired the third shot at the ram
on the right, but again missed, and he disap-
peared over the top of the peak.

But to my intense surprise the center ram
had not bolted at all. He now sprang or
tumbled off the rock, and commenced to roll
down the steep mountain side, soon lodg-
ing in the draw. When we came out from
our rocky shelter and commenced to go up
after the dead ram, we realized what a long
and steep climb was before us. The Chief
went ahead zigzagging, driving his big hob-
nailed shoes into the sliding soil. Follow-
ing him I placed my feet in his tracks
until the ascent became too steep even for
that. Then lying down flat, by the aid of
some small bunches of willow brush we drew
ourselves up several yards and across to the
draw, up which we finally were enabled to
reach the ram. He had fallen head down,
and to prevent the blood from getting around
his head and scalp, which would ruin it for
mounting, it was necessary to turn him so that

loo THE UPPER YUKON

his head would be up. This took much time
and care, as we were in peril of slipping down
to the bottom of the draw because of the sharp
and easily moved small stones that coated the
surface of the mountain.

On dissecting the ram, we found that the
bullet had gone through the heart, and, pass-
ing through the body, had struck the big stone
behind him. This accounted for our seeing
the missile hit the rock. When the head was
removed, the balance of the carcase was al-
lowed to roll all the way down to the foot
of the mountain.

Carefully picking our way down by using
our upward tracks, we counted, as well as the
situation would permit, the number of paces
it was from where the ram fell to the rock I
shot from. It seemed almost impossible of
belief that the distance was no less than eight
hundred paces, and yet both of us reached the
same calculation. If we were only fairly cor-
rect in our measurement, it will show what
a wonderful weapon the new 8 M Mannlicher
rifle is to carry a bullet almost vertically and
kill at that distance.

The Chief was so much impressed with the
incident that he promised to send official no-
tice to the Geographical Department of the

URSUS HORRIBILIS loi

Territorial Government, together with the
location of this mountain, asking that the
mountain be registered on the map as "Mount
Martindale."

As but a small fraction of the mountains and
streams are named, the department is more
than pleased to comply with such a request.
In this way we already have Potter Moun-
tain, called after Mr. Wilson Potter, who
killed a goat on that mountain under pe-
culiar difficulties. There are also Havermyer
Mountain and Disston Mountain, named for
similar reasons.

Some days after this, my companion also
shot a ram up a precipitous mountain, the
dead animal rolling down quite a piece until it
bounced over a rock a distance of fifty feet
into a swiftly running stream, necessita-
ting a trip of nearly a mile to secure it.
This mountain is to be called Lewis Moun-
tain.

The Ashiack tribe of Indians, inhabiting
and hunting in this section of the Yukon Ter-
ritory, have a superstition against either going
close to, or climbing over, a glacier. They
tell a story of an Indian brave and an Indian
maiden, who, against the admonitions of the
medicine man, attempted to defy this super-

I02 THE UPPER YUKON

stition by ascending the famous '^Nazarhat"
Glacier, which in one portion of it has a deep
depression or cavity. The pair of lovers met
with no difficulties whatever until from the
top of the rim they looked down into the won-
ders of this ''big hole." They were then
speedily entranced, and became rooted to the
spot. Neither of them being able to break
the spell, they were both frozen to death, as
they were incapable of flight. Their bodies
were soon turned into gigantic pillars of ice,
which remain to this day as everlasting monu-
ments to warn all Indians from defying the
stern decrees of "the Great Spirit." Thus
runs the legend, and for this reason the Indi-
ans give a wide birth to glaciers.

For several days we had been hunting in
the close neighborhood of a glacier which
formerly filled a huge gorge shaped like an
inverted letter "V," but which has, during the
ages since its creation, been slowly shrinking,
so that now it forms a gap through which flow
the warm south winds from the coast — dis-
tant say eighty miles. The well-marked
trails of caribou and mountain sheep on the
snow covering this glacier could easily be
seen from the top of other mountains.
Without expressing the desire, I often

URSUS HORRIBILIS 103

thought I should like to climb this glacier
and go down the other side.

One day, after a very long stalk of a big
bull caribou, we found ourselves late in the
afternoon quite close to this glacier. Then,
in turning the foot of a steep mountain, we
saw at the head of a draw a band of seven
large rams, one of them having an exception-
ally fine head.

They were on a narrow ledge of hard rock,
which extended along the tops of three other
draws, making a sort of aerial sheep-walk. A
careful survey of the situation showed us that
as the wind was, we could not get at them
from the rear. They must be approached
from the front, and in full view. The Chief
suggested tethering the horses where they
could be plainly seen. Then he would cross
over to the third draw to the left, and climb
up that draw as fast as possible, while I
climbed the face of the mountain. When
the sheep finally turned and ran, he believed
they would run to the left over the elevated
sheep-walk. Then I was to climb quickly
and get behind a rock that was located about
half-way up. The Chief would fire a shot
when they arrived at the far draw, and thus
turn them back again. This was done and

104 THE UPPER YUKON

worked out to perfection. When the Chief's
shot was fired, I had already gotten to the
rock, behind which I kneeled, resting the rifle
on its edge.

I had just a little time to quiet down and
give my lungs a rest after the exertion of the
climb, when the rams came pouring over the
draw. Numbers one, two, and three ran to
the right and disappeared; next came the
grand big fellow of the bunch, running at a
remarkably fast pace. I aimed directly at
the back of his head — the bullet struck him
on the right fore-shoulder, going through to
the left shoulder and making a fatal shot. He
rolled down until stopped by a rock half-way
between us. It was a long shot and one that
the Chief praised much, on account of the
great speed with which the ram was going,
and because of the high elevation of the
quarry.

To get up to the ram, dress him, and mount
him on Charley, took considerable time, and
now we were confronted with the fact that we
were twenty-five miles from the camp and it
would soon be night. Besides this, a hot wind
had been blowing all day directly from the
coast and the snow and ice were melting on
the mountains, the water tearing down their

URSUS HORRIBILIS 105

sides into the streams below, thus filling them
to overflowing. The Chief said not a word,
but led Charley directly towards the glacier
of which I have previously spoken. When
we had gotten to it, he promptly led his horse
out upon it, and I asked him what he meant
to do. He said he was going to cross it. He
had never climbed this glacier, neither had
any other white man so far as he knew, but
we must get over it in some way or else lay
out all night.

When I remarked that I could not climb
that sheet of snow and ice and go down the
other side, as I had nothing on my feet but
moccasins, he soon settled the question by cut-
ting two pieces of rope and tying one around
and under the instep of each foot, saying:
"Come on now, you won't slip."

He led Charley, and I led Billie. There
was a goodly crust of frozen snow on top of
the ice, and this, when broken through by our
steps, brought us in touch with the rapidly
melting ice and running water underneath,
which in turn filled my footwear with icy wa-
ter. There was no time or place to remedy
this condition, so we grimly plodded on, yet
always slipping back some with each step.

At last we reached the top, which was found

io6 THE UPPER YUKON

to be nearly flat, and then, without stopping
to rest, commenced the descent. Here my
ropes did not help me as well as in going
up. The slipping was almost continuous,
and in one of these unavoidable slides,
I slipped down with a slap-bang thud. It
was up to my trousers to keep me from in-
jury, as I was in the position of a boy coast-
ing down a steep hill seated on a sled, only
there was no sled between me and the ice.
But the trousers proved themselves to be
staunch and tough and I slid safely. When
the ice pack was finally crossed we struck the
swiftly- running water; in the water were big
stones and with the aid of these I was soon
able to brace my feet and once more rise to
a perpendicular position.

We found the moraine on this side im-
passable, so we were compelled to make a de-
tour to the right where we struck a large
inclined plane. It now became dark, so I
mounted Billie and gave him the freedom of
the bridle to pick out the path leading down
to the river bottom. He had frequently been
on this incline feeding, so he was supposed
to know the way. Carefully yet confidently
he jogged along in the darkness, and all went
well until he suddenly stopped on the edge

URSUS HORRIBILIS 107

of a bank with a sheer drop of perhaps fifteen
feet to the bed of a roaring creek below.
Both of us dismounted, and the Chief said that
Billie had led us to where a trail ought to
be, down which we should have reached the
bottom, but the roaring flood had washed it
away. By feeling, it was found that the
ground was soft and free from stones where
the descent had to be made, so we concluded
to break off a bit of the edge and then, leading
Billie up to it, to let him slide down on his
four feet. This was done, and when Billie
understood w^hat he was expected to do, he
reached down with his front feet as far as
he could, then, quickly letting himself go, he
brought his hind feet up to his forefeet, and
in a jiffy was safely down. Charley came
next, and he also landed below^ without trou-
ble. Next the Chief slid down, and I
followed.

In a short time we emerged from the mouth
of this roaring creek into the river bottom.
The rumbling of water rushing down the
mountain sides and the occasional crashing of
blocks of ice from the glacier made a noise
that was almost deafening.

The river, in place of being confined en-
tirely to two main streams, had now over-

io8 THE UPPER YUKON

flowed its banks, and auxiliary streams were
running in many different directions. We
avoided fording the main streams as long as
we could, but finally we came to a place where
we must cross, and that, too, in the dark, at
about half-past eleven at night. The Chief for
some reason thought Charley was the best
animal to find the way across, so he mounted
and carefully led the way until the deep rush-
ing water was reached. Then he let Charley
choose his own path, and this he did by at-
tempting to cross at right angles to the flow
of the stream. This carried him off his feet
and he had a hard and wet time of it before
landing on the far side.

I w^aited with Billie until the Chief had
gotten across, and then gave Billie the bridle.
Now notice the difference. Billie would put
down one foot and carefully feel for a stone,
then with the other foot grope around until
he found another stone, and so on, all the
while taking a slanting course. He thus
crossed without losing his footing at all. Of
course the Chief and I were both wet. We
soon found some wood and started a fire.
Fortunately I had a couple of pairs of dry
socks in my saddle bag and an extra pair of
shoes fastened to the pommel of my saddle,

URSUS HORRIBILIS 109

and with dry shoes and socks, and a cup of
hot mate to warm the inner man, we crossed
the various little streams, and rode on until
we landed in camp at 12.30 in the morning.

Now the Chief, insisting that I was the
first white man to cross this particular gla-
cier, has promised that in future it shall be
called the "Martindale Glacier," and shall be
so placed upon the maps of this region.

CHAPTER VII

A PECULL\R STALK
" 'Tis the unexpected that always happens."

WE waited for several days to see if our
friend, the silver-tipped grizzly, would
have forgotten that he had come in contact
with our scent when he made such a quick exit
over the divide.

Early on a particularly fine morning we
went back again and, posting ourselves high
up on the opposite side of the canyon, sat
down to watch through the glasses. We were
there most of the forenoon, but no bear
appeared.

After eating our midday lunch we saw a
couple of cow caribou come over the divide,
then a few more, and soon still others, until
nine cows were in sight. These were fol-
lowed by a spike-horn bull and lastly the herd
bull appeared. Something must have dis-
turbed them on the other side, as they com-
menced one by one to lie down and rest.
However, they were restless and seemed to be

A PECULIAR STALK iii

afraid of something back of them, as their
heads were frequently turned that way.
Where they were located it was impossible
to stalk them, as the wind was bad. We came
down to the canyon from our elevation and
I fired a shot to see if it would bring them
down to where a safe shot could be had. The
reverberation of the rifle had hardly ceased
when they were up and moving downwards.
Their line of travel was a slanting one
that took them a mile or more up the
canyon. They soon passed entirely out of
sight.

Following their general direction of travel,
we leisurely led the horses until perhaps a
mile had been covered. The horses were then
tethered and we slowly and carefully con-
tinued the stalk. For a long time their lo-
cation was a conundrum. It seemed as if
they had been spirited away, but where, was
the question.

W^e had been picking our way along the
sides of the canyon; now we came to a piece
of bench-land well covered with willow
brush, and some spots where rich grass was
growing. A sudden twist in the wind came
and the whole herd, which had been lying
down, jumped up right before us. How they

112 THE UPPER YUKON

did "sail" away! The bull as he ran was
blanketed on both sides by one or more cows
and at first it was impossible to get a clean
shot without hitting a cow. They ran to the
bed of the stream, w^hich at this point was
half a mile wide. Here they spread out,
and a long shot at last brought down the bull.
He was in fairly good condition, having some
little fat on his back and intestines. His
stomach was filled with the white moss which
they are so fond of, and his antlers were mas-
sive and regular.

The young bull that we had seen at a dis-
tance and thought but a spike horn we found
had a fairly developed set of antlers when
seen at close range. The cows looked espe-
cially sleek and fat and well conditioned.
The stalk had lasted so long and we were so
far away from camp that we left the head and
scalp to be brought home next day by one of
the men. We did not reach camp until about
eleven o'clock that night.

The Chief had for some days been plan-
ning a "moose drive" and the following morn-
ing was to give us a taste of this new plan
of hunting the moose.

In other sections of the continent where

A PECULIAR STALK 113

moose abound, I have hunted them by stalk-
ing; by using the moose-horn in calling —
both by day and night; and by sitting down
and watching by the side of either a run-way
or a lick. I remember well lying out one
cold night behind a big rock close to the lake
on my own grounds in Maine. A bull and a
cow moose had for several nights been using
a trail that led past this boulder on their way
to a portion of the lake where the lily pads
grew in plenty.

It was in the latter part of October, and
the wind was right. With plenty of cover-
ing I fixed up a place behind the rock where
I could lie, and where a shot might be ef-
fective even before the rock was passed. The
night w^as overcast and tow^ards nine o'clock
it became quite dark. Just back of the hid-
ing place was a good-sized spruce tree, with
two of its lower branches extending out over
the rock.

In such a tryst the minutes as they pass
seem to be of extra length, while a whole
hour's watching and listening makes one
think that morning must be near. When sit-
ting out all night it is hard to gauge the pass-
ing hours. Nothing was heard of the coming
of the pair of moose; in fact, there were no

114 THE UPPER YUKON

sounds of any kind whatever. Absolute still-
ness reigned supreme, and the drop of the
proverbial pin could have been heard.

Then, without previous warning, a pierc-
ing screech came from some object apparently
on one of the two extending limbs of the
spruce tree directly over my head, I divined
that the animal was a Loupcervier, or, in
common parlance, a Lucevie — a species of
Lynx.

Hastily drawing my hunting knife, as 1
expected every second that the big cat would
jump on me, I waited breathlessly for his
spring, but nothing more was heard. The
hours rolled slowly by and daylight appeared
and as "the sun with one eye vieweth all the
world," so I made a careful s-earch of the
ground to see if the tracks of such a blood-
thirsty creature were anywhere to be found.

There were many tracks engraved in the
soft bottom that hereabouts prevailed, but
none that showed the sharp claws or the pad-
ded-like feet of a large cat. Neither did
the bark of the tree show any signs of a large
animal having climbed it. What, then, could
it have been? Careful investigation showed
that it was nothing else than a screech owl —
the owl that is *'not able to endure the sight

^

r^ \

-. O c

A PECULIAR STALK 115

of day." He is by kind nature provided with
a soft down which lines the underside of his
wings, so that his flight is noiseless, and this
provision helps him in hunting for his sus-
tenance, even on the darkest of nights. It
is thus that an all-wise Creator enables birds
of prey that hunt only by night to seek for
and secure their food.

But now we were to hunt the moose In a
different manner, by means of a moose-drive,
and this is how it was arranged. To the
north of where we had been hunting, the
river on both sides w^as fringed with a fairly
thick cover of timber consisting for the most
part of balsam fir and spruce trees. The
banks of the river were quite steep, and only
in places where a stream poured its waters
into the river could the horses, by following
the bed of the stream, be taken to the plateau
above.

The plan was for the two guides and we, the
hunters, to leave camp at six o'clock, travel
down the bed of the river for a distance of
five miles, and then, following a creek up to
the highlands, pick out a place where each
hunter could keep his eyes on a moose run-
way for some distance in front of him.

Two hours after the hunters had left, the

ii6 THE UPPER YUKON

two wranglers were to follow us on horse-
back, and travel along the plateau leading
from the first stream they came to. One was
to travel close to the river's bank, and the
other was to keep abreast of him on the
higher level perhaps a quarter of a mile away.
There were many fir trees standing by them-
selves whose lower branches were dead, and
these when touched with a match would burn
and quickly snap almost like fire crackers.
The flames would then rapidly shoot to the
tops of the trees, making a brilliant fire ac-
companied by a dense smoke. There was no
danger of a forest fire, as the trees that were
fired were always old trees and for the most
part dead at the bottom, and they nearly al-
ways stood alone. The crackling of the
lower branches could be heard from afar,
and the scent of the burning wood would soon
be caught by the sensitive nostrils of any
moose that might be in the vicinity. Each
man was to watch out so that the tree that was
fired should be on a line as nearly as possible
with his companion's tree. Thus they slowly
worked their way towards our rendezvous.
We soon could see from afar the pillars of
smoke ascending to the sky, but it was some
time before we saw the fire.

A PECULIAR STALK 117

We had been assigned a suitable position
about three-eighths of a mile away, and all
was silent for a time until the sound of three
shots rang out to our left. After that the
Chief and I heard nothing more, neither did
we see game of any kind. The horsemen
having now appeared, that settled the drive
for the day. The Chief said that the wind
had turned just enough to drive the moose
across the river, rather than straight down to
us. But my companion, who had fired the
shots, had brought down a fair-sized moose
which had come within easy riiie shot of
him.

The next day we crossed the river and in
the same manner "drove" the other side. But
once again the wind changed and nothing was
accomplished.

We now moved camp to a basin or depres-
sion on that side of the river, at the back of
a series of high and steep pinnacles to the east.
The tents having been pitched, supper eaten,
and a good fire made, around which we were
standing, as it was quite cold, some one said:
"Look at the wolverine." Casting our eyes
up to the top of the nearest pinnacle we saw
a moving object which turned out to be a
grizzly. He had seen us and the camp fire,

ii8 THE UPPER YUKON

and perhaps had scented the smoke, for he
was off with a rush.

Thus we had another lesson demonstrating
the rapidity with which a grizzly bear can
get out of sight.

There were four high pinnacles in front of
us; the largest and steepest was directly above
our camp ; the other three were to the left.
Between the largest butte and the next was a
pass in the center. Here was a small lake,
around whose shores were many tracks that
showed the presence of moose. I took a
moose-horn, and at about nine o'clock at night
I sat down near the little lake and made three
calls some fifteen minutes apart. I heard a
distinct answer to the first call, showing that
at least one bull moose was in that vicinity.

The following morning we climbed the tall
butte and saw from its peak a bull and three
cows in the bottom land below. The wind,
however, was against us. The forenoon was
spent in exploring a wide plateau; in the aft-
ernoon, after eating lunch, we returned and
sat on the peak of the butte, and before night
arrived we saw, in all, eight cows, one spike
horn, three "outside" bulls, and one remark-
ably fine herd bull, with antlers having a
spread of at least seventy inches. This bull

A PECULIAR STALK 119

had a jet black coat, white legs, and not a very
large body; we made him out to be a com-
paratively young moose. He was intensely
jealous of the other three bulls and when any
one of them came too near a member of his
harem, he would be up and after him like a
streak, and this energetic exercise kept him
on the jump most of the time.

It will be borne in mind that we were at
a great height above the animals, and could
see their doings just as if it was a drama that
was being performed at our very feet.

The herd fed in the open for a couple of
hours, and then "Brigham Young," the herd
bull, evidently signaled the members to move.
Without exhibiting any alarm or undue speed,
they stopped feeding, went up into the for-
est, and passed out of sight.

The following morning we again climbed
the tall butte. We examined the forest be-
low with our glasses, but for a couple of hours
we failed to locate the herd. Then the ani-
mals were discovered feeding, a mile or so to
our left, which necessitated a journey down
from the peak of the high butte and a climb
of the next one to the left. By the time the
second one was surmounted, the quarry had
moved yet farther away. Down we went

I20 THE UPPER YUKON

again, and climbing the third butte we spent
the balance of that day in watching the ca-
prices of this most interesting family.

As I think over this long vigil, which lasted
in all nearly three days, I wonder if any other
group of men ever had such an opportunity
as fell to our lot. What could be more in-
structive or more interesting to a student of
nature than to be able to watch such a group
of animals from an elevation high enough to
be out of range of the scent, and yet near
enough to enable us to see and interpret every
action? ''Brigham" seemed to lavish most of
his attention upon an old reddish-colored cow,
and whenever she was in sight we generally
could locate him, for she was ever near him.

This day, again, the wind was blowing di-
rectly from us to them, so that we could not
in any way stalk them and get a safe shot.
The peculiar action upon the part of any one
of the cows when one of the three smaller
bulls approached her, in the apparent en-
deavor to ingratiate himself into her good
opinion, was interesting. She would at once
run to ''Brigham" and possibly tell him
that the saucy young bull was annoying
her, perhaps insulting her. If "Brigham"
was lying down, he would bounce up and

A PECULIAR STALK 121

chase the intruder away with a vengeance,
sometimes getting close enough to the youth
to give him a swipe with his antlers. This
procedure was followed from time to time
nearly all afternoon.

The day had worn on until the sun had set;
the twilight was approaching, when we heard
the gruff voice of a big bull coming through
the pass behind us, between the third buttc
(the one we w^ere on) and the fourth, which
was to our left. We soon saw him, and
named him ''Sir Ivanhoe," from his brave
and fearless demeanor.

"Sir Ivanhoe" would frequently stop and
paw the earth, throwing the dust and dirt over
his head. Then in a strong but guttural voice
he would issue his challenge to fight any
bull moose in that whole vicinity — "bar
none."

We now saw that the three young bulls
were listening to the newcomer's challenge,
and as "Sir Ivanhoe" came nearer, they ad-
vanced cautiously from their different posi-
tions to see what manner of antagonist was
approaching them. A small lake or pond
intervened between the rivals. "Sir Ivanhoe"
was rapidly nearing it; yet he would stop
every few minutes to throw out his defiant

122 THE UPPER YUKON

challenge. When he at last spied the three
rivals, they had closely bunched together,
without any one of the three having heart
enough to come out alone. It was like
Goliath challenging David, that he, the
youngster, would take the gauge of battle
upon himself. "Sir Ivanhoe" crossed around
the far end of the little lake and slowly neared
the three would-be fighters. When his size
and fierce looks had been fully recognized by
the three, they severally turned tail and, no
doubt believing that "he who fights and runs
away will live to fight another day," they were
soon lost in the depths of the forest.

All this time "Brigham" was lying on his
left side with his head up, eagerly scanning
the newcomer. Presently we saw two cows,
one of them being the old red cow, run up to
"Brigham," evidently in some way telling the
chief that he must up and protect them from
this rude invader. "Brigham" apparently al-
ready had made up his mind that it was now
absolutely necessary to fight, if he was to main-
tain his position as chief of the harem. Now
or never was the time to humble this proud
usurper by a battle to the finish. He raised
himself slowly, and, with his great antlers
reaching to their highest level, he majestic-

A PECULIAR STALK 123

ally took a few steps towards ''Sir Ivanhoe,"
who now had stopped his boasting.

Near the margin of the little lake was a
slight elevation of the soil, perhaps a foot and
a half in height. Upon this "Brigham" took
his stand and calmly looked his opponent
over. He made no "talk" whatever, but just
stood and looked with all the majesty of his
kingly presence. On his side "Sir Ivanhoe"
appeared to wonder at the size and weight
of his opponent's great antlers as he stood be-
fore him, and then, believing that "discretion
was the better part of valor," he followed the
example of the three young bulls who had fled
before him. Quickly turning around, he
lost not a minute in taking himself out of
sight and of hearing.

Thus closed the drama of the Moose fam-
ily on the second day of our observations, and
for that season at least the question as to which
bull should be master of the herd was settled.

The morning of the third day found us once
more on the peak of the third pinnacle, and
once more we failed to locate the moose for a
couple of hours. Then we spied them feed-
ing near the base of the fourth butte. This
we climbed, arriving at the top between nine

124 '^HE UPPER YUKON

and ten o'clock, with the wind still in the
wrong quarter. We watched the animals
with the same eager attention as on the pre-
ceding two days. The same routine was fol-
lowed by the herd of moose as before, the old
red cow still being the center of attraction to
"Brigham."

There being no water handy on our high
elevation, and not wanting to make a fire, we
ate a cold lunch consisting of a cold mutton
chop each, dry bread, and a handful of rai-
sins. When we had finished we were over-
joyed to find that the wind had suddenly
changed, and it was now blowing almost
with the strength of a gale right in our
faces.

In the meantime the band of moose had
disappeared into the depths of the high for-
est, in front of us, and as everything was now
favorable for a successful stalk, we went
down the face of that butte on a run.

At the bottom we skirted a small lake, and
soon struck the trail of the herd. This we
found to be quite fresh, and to lead directly
up the forest on a rather steep slant. This
necessitated a cautious ascent, and we there-
fore made our advance on our hands and
knees, carefully watching out for small fallen

A PECULIAR STALK 125

branches of trees so as not to snap them and
thus make a noise.

For the first and only time on the whole
trip, we were badly pestered with swarms of
annoying and aggravating sand flies. These
pestiferous insects got into our eyes, ears, and
nose, and the farther we went into the deep
woods, the worse the nuisance became. A
half-hour's crawling on hands and knees
brought us within sight of some of the cows.
Now we crawled on our stomachs. I held
out my rifle before me as we moved, and
warily watched for "Brigham." Knowing
that we now must be very close to him, every
move was well considered before making it.
By this time I was nearly choking for wa-
ter, as the dried raisins eaten at lunch seemed
to clog my throat as if I had swallowed muci-
lage. Fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes went
by, and yet we had seen nothing of the king.
Then the old red cow walked out into a small
valley that was covered with rich grass. It
was tall and swayed in the breeze. We
felt sure now that we must be quite close to
his majesty. At last the Chief spied him to
my left, and whispered that he was not more
than forty yards away. "Shoot, and shoot
quick!" he said. At this very particular and

126 THE UPPER YUKON

important point, I was practically stran-
gling, as one of the little sand flies had gotten
down my throat and I was nearly paralyzed in
an endeavor to keep from coughing. With
my left hand pressed tightly against my mouth,
and with my face closely hugging the ground,
I had to cough, no less than three times (and
it couldn't have been helped if all the moose
in the country had been before me). And
what think you happened?

His majesty heard the coughing and, with
lightning-like speed, he gave the signal to his
herd to run more quickly than I can write it,
and not only he but every member of the herd
was out of sight in a minute.

The Chief said some strong words in a very
strong voice, and when I at last found my
speech I said: ''Chief, I don't swear myself,
but I'll give you leave to swear as much, and
as hard as you can, until you are once more
at ease."

We picked up the trail of "Brigham" and
found by his tracks and those of the others,
that all of the herd had run away as fast
as they could go; so it was useless to follow
them. It was a discouraging ending to our
three days' stalk. As night was upon us, we
wended our way back to camp. Neither of

A PECULIAR STALK 127

us had anything to say, but both did a pile of
thinking. Surely under the circumstances
"silence was golden." Yet "it's the unex-
pected that always happens."

CHAPTER VIII

A CHANGE OF BASE

"To-morrow let my sun his beams display
Or in clouds hide them. I have lived to-day."

ACCORDING to our program it was
now time to commence a gradual jour-
ney to the outer world. The camp was
broken up, and our pack horses were loaded
with horns, antlers and dunnage. We
crossed over a divide and struck an extended
water shed with a large stream swiftly flowing
through a wide valley. Deep caribou trails
were seen in different directions; in one place
they were nearly two feet in depth. Gophers
were plentiful and so were the ptarmi-
gan.

On this march I saw the only Wilson
snipe that we sighted during the whole trip.
We were now in close touch with another
hunting party consisting of Mr. R. B. Slaugh-
ter— a famous hunter from Chicago — and
Stephen B. Elkins, Jr., of West Virginia.
The latter had experienced much trouble with

A CHANGE OF BASE 129

his cartridges. He was using an 8 Mil.
Mannlicher rifle — the same kind of weapon
that we were using. He had purchased
American cartridges, and about every other
one for some reason failed to explode. The
Chief made a call at their camp and, finding
out that Mr. Elkins was in need of cartridges,
we were pleased to be able to supply his wants
with some that had been made in Vienna,
Austria.

It's a nasty thing to travel thousands of
miles in search of big game and then to find
the ammunition defective and unreliable, and
more particularly where bears are to be
hunted.

That evening we were in bed early, so as
to have a good start in the morning. Our
route for the new day was to cross another
divide which required a long and torturous
journey before we got to the summit. Once
there, we lunched on its crest and from our
high elevation took in the wonders of the
glorious scenery. To the right of our line of
travel, a goodly sized stream forced its way
through a canyon with high, snow-covered
m,ountains on each side. The course of the
stream being at right angles to us and its path
straight away without any turning as far as

I30 THE UPPER YUKON

we could see, the sight was a most beautiful
one and long to be remembered for its gran-
deur.

Over the summit of a certain mountain to
the left a snow storm was tearing along at
high speed. On the opposite side of the can-
yon the sun was brightly shining and a rain-
bow could be seen in the distance. Where
we lunched the sky was clear and everything
was pleasant. Such are the vagaries of this
marvelous land.

We were told that but fifteen miles away
was the Alaskan boundary and some tall peaks
which were pointed out a little to the left of
the streaml were in Alaska. The air was
clear, with a gentle breeze blowing in our
faces as we commenced the descent. On the
left side of us was a long and savage range of
mountains covered with huge broken black
rocks, the slopes carved into canyons and
precipices. I did not dream when I first saw
it on that day, that I would have to climb it
two days afterwards, as it seemed almost Im-
passable. Here were spiral peaks with
patches of snow, and as the sun shone on the
massive accretion of scattered rocks and tall
pinnacles, the variegated colors caused by the
bright light falling upon such a conglomera-

A CHANGE OF BASE 131

tion of broken granite and limestone made the
vision a glorious one.

When we had descended a couple of miles,
the route led close to a tall pinnacle to the
right, and back of it was an extensive inclined
plane of perhaps two and a half miles in ex-
tent, and a mile or more in breadth, leading
up to another watershed. This inclined plane
was well covered with white moss, the nour-
ishing food that the caribou are so fond of, it
being their principal food.

The end of this day's journey brought us
down to a basin-like bottom where our tent
was pitched, and the horses let loose to feed
on the deep grass which was here everywhere
to be found. Whichever way we looked from
this camp it seemed that we were faced by a
divide, north, south, east and west.

The first evening we spent here was one
long to be remembered. Luminous banks of
crimson clouds hung over the mountains,
while dark and weird shadows were to be
found in all of the depressions of the moun-
tain sides, and the wonder of it all was the
constantly changing light.

Here the ptarmigan was found in enormous
numbers, and their hoarse cackle made a great
volume of sound that could be heard from

132 THE UPPER YUKON

every direction, both when in flight and when
feeding. Their coat of feathers had turned
nearly white, so as to be ready for the com-
ing winter.

The following morning we were off in
search of bear trails. We saw many sheep,
but did not molest them. Still no signs of
Bruin. That night we went to bed early and
the next morning the Chief said we would
climb the great mountain that we had passed
two days previously. He averred that go-
phers would be there in abundance and at the
crest bear ought to be found in the early
morning digging them out. From our camp
the distance was four miles. Nothing worthy
of mention happened until we had climbed
half-way up the big mountain and it was
necessary to tether the horse and Billie, as they
could not get any farther on account of the
broken rocks. At this spot, on turning
around to scan the horizon we noticed seven
caribou cows coming down from the peak of
the great inclined plane which has already
been described. With the glasses we failed
to see any bulls in the herd.

When the apex of the rocky mountain was
explored we were much disappointed in our
expectations, for neither gophers nor bears

A CHANGE OF BASE 133

were visible. All of the first named animals
had gone into winter quarters, and not a sin-
gle one was seen. Neither were any bears or
even their tracks to be found. We then must
needs retrace our steps. On the return we
looked with wondering eyes on the herd of
caribou which now had increased from seven
cows to thirty-two head in all. There were
twenty-seven cows, three "outside" bulls, one
spike-horn, and the herd bull, which was quite
a distance behind the bunch. They were all
leisurely feeding on the inclined plane, and
scattered about in every direction. At first
the herd bull at the distance he was away did
not look to be a very attractive specimen; but
as we watched his descent from behind the
shelter of the horses and as he came nearer and
nearer, we discovered him. to be possessed of
a grand spread of antlers.

We had come out after grizzly bears, but as
we had found none we could hardly be ex-
pected to allow this fine bull to go unchal-
lenged. It was there and then we decided to
stalk him, but how? That was the question.

From their actions it seemed as if the herd
would cross through the canyon, come up
our side, and over that divide. A good-sized
butte was near us and behind this we led the

134 THE UPPER YUKON

horses. Then we climbed the butte, and lay
down to watch the doings of the herd.

Our first sight of the seven cows was at
8.26 A. M. It was 9.23 when we climbed the
butte. Soon something happened. The bull
must have given a signal to the herd to turn
and feed back again up the incline, as one by
one they commenced to go that way, while he
kept on towards the bottom. Charley and
Billie were unpicketed and we moved off to
the right, then descended as fast as our ani-
mals could walk. We arrived at the bottom
without having been discovered by the herd.
Our animals were fastened in a secluded
place. The Chief and I followed down along
the bottom until we came to a tall pinnacle
about nine hundred feet high, rising straight
up from the canyon. This we climbed, and
creeping on all fours came to the edge of the
butte. The herd was well scattered and we
found the old monarch lying down at full
length directly beneath us. He looked the
picture of a physically broken animal. My
rifle had a strong recoil and I feared to try
a shot at him from the peak, as I felt sure
I would overshoot him, but the Chief insisted
that by holding firm and shooting behind his
body I would get him. I tried a shot, but as

A CHANGE OF BASE 135

expected it was a miss. Then such a scur-
rying to and fro, principally on the part of
the cows, one cannot imagine, and the remark-
able thing about it was that in some way the
cows almost instantly surrounded the bull.
No matter which direction he took, he al-
ways had a zealous body-guard from among
his twenty-seven wives.

It may easily be surmised that their line
of flight would be to the top of the inclined
plane, and so it was, but they never seemed
to think of going in a straight line; they
surged from one side of the plane to the
other.

In the interim I was doing some wild
shooting. As the convoy of females always
hung around the flanks of ''the master," and
in front and back of him as well, in order not
to hit any of the cows, I was taking the finest
sort of fine shots. I consequently made many
misses. To tell the absolute truth, and that's
what I always aim to do, I fired no less than
fifteen cartridges, and the only harm done
was to knock a small point off one of the big
bull's antlers. Now my last cartridge was
fired. It was necessary to go back to where
Billie was tied, and get a fresh supply of am-
munition. It was now noon. The caribou

136 THE UPPER YUKON

were all up on the top of the plane, and we
expected them to pass over and disappear
down the other side. The Chief said we had
better let the quarry alone for a while, build
a fire, and get our lunch; then if the situation
warranted we could follow them over the
ridge.

We ate a hearty meal, and I lay down on
one of Billie's blankets with the saddle for a
pillow — which was my invariable custom
every day — and slept just a few minutes. It
seemed to me that in this strange climate I
could sleep sound at any time of the day and
in any position, even on the back of Billie.

Again we climbed the butte — of course
keeping out of sight — and when the top was
attained the herd seemed to be just about to
drop down over the other side. Back we
went to our mounts, and getting into the sad-
dle we followed in the wake of the herd.
The ground was soft, treacherous, and
boggy, with an occasional piece of muskeag
to look out for, so we made slow time, — yet,
as things turned out, fast enough. We could
not see the game from below, as we could from
the butte, yet we went up very circumspectly
for fear one or more of the herd might be lying
down behind a small grassy elevation some-

A CHANGE OF BASE 137

where, and if they saw us the bunch would
soon be away. At last from Billie's back I
could make out the monarch's antlers, but I
thought he was standing up, while in reality
he was lying down. We jumped out of the
saddles, tethered the animals, and commenced
crawling on hands and knees towards the
herd. As we got closer we found that the
whole herd was feeding in an oblong depres-
sion made by some former little lake, now
dried up. The next thing of interest was "the
king." He was really lying down on a small
embankment, while at each side of him were
two cows, two facing up the inclined plane
and the other two facing down. Both pairs
seemed to be acting in the capacity of sen-
tinels or body guards for "his highness."
Working our way nearer, we approached a
fringe of small willow bushes and behind
these we were hidden. I was to the left, and
in trying to see over this line of brush I raised
my head a few inches too high. One of the
sentinels on the left saw me. Just how she
imparted her discovery to the others I can-
not tell, nor even imagine. Suffice it to say
that within the space of half a minute she
had by some occult power conveyed the
startling information to every other animal

138 THE UPPER YUKON

of the herd that the enemy was upon them.
*'Run! Run! Run for your lives!" was the
hurried admonition.

The old bull was on his feet in an instant,
and at once he made a dash for the front, with
one cow running on each side, close enough
to be grazing his flanks, while another cow
was close behind him. This made a very poor
chance for an effective shot. The rear cow,
however, seemed unable to keep up the pace,
and dropped behind a little. This gave me
a chance for a shot, and taking a good aim I
fired.

''You've missed him again, and you'll never
have another chance at him," said the Chief.
"But look, he's staggering, the cows are
running to and fro; something is about
to happen. There, there, he's down at
last!"

It seemed almost impossible that he was
surely down, as he had been living a sort of
charmed life in dodging bullets up to the pre-
vious moment. There was no mistake, how-
ever, and as we walked up to the fallen mon-
arch we found him already dead. When we
had taken off his scalp it was found that he
could hardly have lived many days, as his
neck and shoulders were black and blue from

A CHANGE OF BASE 139

the hammering the other bulls had given him,
which they would deal out to him when he
had tried one of his characteristic rushes at
them because of getting too near some of his
wives. On the right shoulder a small stream
of puss was running down, showing that his
injuries had been inflicted several days pre-
viously. There was not a particle of fat or
suet on the back of his shoulders and he was
as lean as the proverbial crow.

When the head and antlers had been se-
curely strapped on Charley and some of the
other portions on Billie, we looked around to
see where the balance of the herd had gone.
Not over four hundred yards away were the
three bulls, and two of the three were already
fighting to see which would be the new king,
while the third presumably would wait to try
it out with the victor.

But what of the twenty-seven wives of the
''master of the harem"? They were in plain
sight, calmly feeding as if nothing whatever
had happened. There was not the slightest
sign of nervousness or worry or fright. The
old cry, "The King is dead; long live the
King!" is true of animal life as well as of hu-
man life. The wives, that but an hour be-
fore had been so watchful in their care over

I40 THE UPPER YUKON

the king as to act as a body-guard for him,
seemingly had now already forgotten him, and
as soon as the mastery was decided among the
other three bulls, they would cheerfully ac-
knowledge the winner as their lord and
master.

Verily, verily, nature is seen to be more
and more wonderful the longer we live, and
as we learn to understand her mysterious pro-
visions for the guidance of animal life, and
for the reproduction of the species.

This was all in all a most exciting day,
from the first sight of the herd at 8.23 A. M.
until we stooped over the fallen king at 4.28
P. M. With the exception of the time taken
for lunch, it was an almost continuous period
of keen excitement mixed with many disap-
pointments. No doubt in the years to come,
of all the soul-stirring and almost heart-break-
ing stalks that I have been in, this one of the
great inclined plane will linger the longest in
memory. I can recall it all — the sight of the
herd feeding as it stretched out over the slope,
the frequent battles between the youngsters and
the old bull, the apparent afifection of his
wives, then the swift bullet going true to its
aim, the short run, the final drop, and the
stalk was finished.

CHAPTER rX

AN INTERESTING TRAIL

"I ne'er was a coward, nor slave will I kneel
While my guns carry shot, or my belt bears a steel,"

WITH the desire to secure a bear, a
journey was undertaken that for nov-
elty and continued interest during its whole
length warrants more than a passing comment.
The route taken carried us upward by a
gradual incline until we saw ahead of us a
long undulating mountain, stretching a mile
or so in length, with a sharp razor-like peak
on top. The sides of this mountain were ex-
ceedingly steep, and seemed to be nothing but
an aggregation of small stones of varying
sizes and shapes, most of them having sharp
points. If a man were to slip over the peak,
the stones would then start on a downward
movement, carrying their human passenger
with a constantly accelerating swiftness so
that by the time the base was reached, there
would be little if any life left in the unfor-
tunate victim.

142 THE UPPER YUKON

The route taken by the Chief led up to the
crest of this peculiar mountain. Each man
led his mount. The ascent was gradual
until the top was in sight, and then frequent
saddles or hogbacks were met with. The
ridge of this novel roadway was so sharp that
it was absolutely necessary to straddle it, and
always to keep one foot on each side of it.

As we went ahead and led the horses, Billie
jogged quite placidly behind me, occasionally
reaching down with his long neck to pick
a blade or two of grass on one side or the
other of the sharp ridge. It was but poor
picking, and he evidently became dissatisfied,
not only with the want of grass, but with his
master's speed.

The writer has somewhat of a reputation as
a fast walker and as a man who had led many
''Hikes," but walking on level ground is
one thing, and on a knife-like mountain ridge
with an abyss on each side, is another. Now
without any preliminary warning, Billie
rudely and swiftly butted me in the rear with
his head, and with such force that I nearly
fell to my knees. My position was such that
it made it difficult to turn around and scold
him, without losing balance, and therefore
falling or sliding over one side or the other.

AN INTERESTING TRAIL 143

The danger was too great for me to experi-
ment. The proper and only thing to do was to
walk faster, and this I did.

Nothing happened until a steep decline
confronted us, and I hesitated for a second or
two before taking the first step. A sharp
bump from Billie partly lifted me, partly
shoved me, down this sharp descent, so that
with one arm on each side of the sharp peak
I slid about fifteen feet until another rise of
the edge gave me a chance to get on my feet
again. This novel trail led to a mountain
covered with a few inches of snow, and where
we first struck it, was a level plot of ground.
Here we saw the mute and indubitable evi-
dence of a tragedy that had been enacted on
this plot not more than an hour before. The
snow was beaten down, in a rude circle, by
the claws of a large bird and the feet of
some animal. Fresh blood was plentifully
sprinkled on the snow, and some of the wing
feathers of a large bird were scattered about.
The feathers of a ptarmigan were also in evi-
dence here and there.

Looking over to the left side of the moun-
tain, the trail of a fox was found leading up-
hill to the scene of the conflict. The marks
of the feet of the fox could be easily recog-

144 THE UPPER YUKON

nized in the snow. He had a large, bushy tail
which, trailing on the snow, left its imprint
as he had cautiously and silently crawled up
the mountain side.

The solution of the problem thus presented
was easily made. The big bird was a hawk
— probably a goshawk, who had swooped
down on the unsuspecting ptarmigan, and,
striking his cruel talons into the toothsome
bird, had sailed up to the mountain top, the
prisoner in the meantime making a hard
struggle to escape.

Mr. Reynard, the fox, had heard the cry
of the captured bird, looked up, had seen its
struggles as the hawk flew away with it, and
at once made for the top. His tracks showed
that until he neared the summit he had gone
up with good-sized jumps. Before the sum-
mit was reached he had crawled a portion of
the way; then, getting close behind the hawk,
he had made his usual spring, — catching the
big bird by the wing. The hawk probably
dropped his prey, and, tearing himself from
the fox's mouth by leaving his wing feathers
behind him, he had sailed away, leaving Rey-
nard in full possession and with freedom to
finish the ptarmigan.

At first we thought the fox had devoured

AN INTERESTING TRAIL 145

the bird of prey as well as the grouse, but we
found no breast feathers of the hawk, while
the snow was well covered Avith those of his
victim. Thus the snow enabled us to see in
retrospect the whole tragedy as if we had
been eye witnesses of it.

Says John Burroughs: "A man has a
sharper eye than a dog or a fox, or than any
of the wild creatures, but not so sharp an ear
or a nose; the trained observer like most
sharp-eyed persons sees plenty of interesting
things as he goes about his work."

It has always been my habit — which seems
to be an instinct largely developed in me — to
use my eyes, cars, and sometimes nose, when,
in pursuit of game, no matter where I may be
hunting or what the character of the game
may be.

In the wilderness of Maine in the year '94,
I was early one morning following the fresh
trail of a large bull caribou. The trail ran
through a dense piece of spruce forest with a
few pin-oaks scattered through. The ground
was heavily carpeted with a thick and yield-
ing moss. The path of the animal had been
much traveled by a herd of caribou, and so
there was no trouble whatever in following it.
It was, of course, in the fall of the year; the

146 THE UPPER YUKON

leaves were falling from the pin-oak trees and
where they were to be found the trail would
be littered with sere, sun-browned leaves.
On passing one of these places I noticed that
an oak leaf that lay on top of the pile had a
spot of red on it. Reaching down and pick-
ing it up, I discovered the spot to be a drop
of blood. I examined it carefully. The
blood was from an animal that had been
bleeding but recently, because it had not be-
gun to coagulate. Being right in the center
of the path, it might possibly have come from
a wounded caribou. Of course, this sug-
gested that some one had fired and hit the
bull that I was following.

Carefully laying the leaf down again, and
marking the spot with two sticks, I hastened
forward on the trail. A close examination of
it for a distance of a mile and a half showed
that the caribou was traveling at a regular
and steady pace and no other drops of blood
were on the trail; that he had occasionally
stooped to take up a mouthful of moss, eating
it as he walked; that his footing was firm and
regular so that he could not have been the
animal that had lost that single drop of blood,
else his movements would have shown haste
or perhaps staggering. I then turned and

AN INTERESTING TRAIL 147

went back to the leaf, which now showed
coagulation. Taking the trail backward, no
other drops were discovered, so again to the
leaf I went once more. I looked in all di-
rections, but no blood was to be seen. Then
I looked upwards. Overhead was an oak
tree; a large branch from it spread out over
the trail. Hanging from the middle of that
branch I saw something waving in the gentle
breeze. It seemed to be glued to the side of
the limb, and it was in a perpendicular line
with the bloody leaf below. The solution of
the puzzle came quickly now. The waving
thing was the tail of a red squirrel. Some
carnivorous bird or animal — most likely a
marten, the red squirrel's most deadly enemy
— had caught the saucy little fellow by the
back of the neck, had killed and eaten him,
the blood flowing down the side of the limb.
The tail had been caught in the blood which
acted like mucilage to fix it to the limb, and
one drop of blood only had fallen to the
ground, finding a resting place on the oak leaf.

Now after this digression we must return to
the story of our trail.

The snow-covered mountain was crossed,
and it turned out to be a divide, so down we
went to another watershed. The canyon at

148 THE UPPER YUKON

the bottom was rocky, with a tempestuous
stream racing through it.

On the far side of the canyon the mountain
went up with a precipitous face to an extreme
height. At the very top was a ledge of rock
jutting out some ten feet. On this rock a
young ram stood gazing down upon our
horses. The Chief said we were out of mut-
ton for the table, and he would like to get
that ram. It seemed an impossibility to get
him at such a distance, but he said: "Lend me
your Mannlicher — there's no telling how far
that gun will carry, and I'm going to try to
get him." So he aimed carefully and fired.
The ram did not move, but seemed to be won-
dering whence the sharp, spitting noise came,
as the bullet passed by him. The second shot
had a similar result; the third likewise; and
the fourth and the fifth. On the sixth he
jumped, and ran to the extreme right of the
rock, where he again looked down upon us.
At the seventh he turned with his stern to us.
At the eighth he once more jumped, this
time to the left, yet he was evidently so en-
tranced that he could not take his e3^es from
us or the horses. The ninth seemed to be a
miss, as did the tenth, but at the eleventh
shot he fell over the edge and rolled down

AN INTERESTING TRAIL 149

the perpendicular side to within ten feet of
the bottom. The stream was deep and swift
but not very wide, but the rushing water
washed a large portion of the rock on which
the ram had fallen. Taking a long rope with
him, the Chief mounted Charley, swam him
across the deepest of the water, and, when the
other side was reached, managed to get him on
the rock. Then he gralloched the ram, tied
him to the saddle, got Charley down from the
rock, heading him for the other side and
jumped on the horse behind the sheep.
Charley got across with both the sheep and
the man without trouble.

The strangest part of the shooting was that
when we took the hide ofT the ram it was
found that no less than five bullets had hit
him, but one bullet only had penetrated to a
vital spot.

It is likely that the great distance, together
with shooting in an almost perpendicular di-
rection, deprived the bullets of their carrying
and crushing capacity.

That night, which was a cold one, we slept
out in the open, and over the wood fire, be-
fore sleep overtook us, we had much to talk
about.

The reason the Chief did the shooting was

1^0 THE UPPER YUKON

because we needed meat for the table and the
young ram's horns were but partially grown
and therefore would make but a poor trophy
for the hunter. As the law permits the na-
tives to kill game animals for food it was fit-
ting and proper for the Chief to do the shoot-
ing and not one of "the sports."

CHAPTER X

THE EFFECT OF AGE ON WILD ANIMALS
"Youth must ever be served."

ANIMAL life has some strange phases.
This is seen in studying the habits of the
elk, the moose, the caribou, and the mountain
ram.

Some years ago there was a famous moose
on the headwaters of the Tobique River in
Upper New Brunswick. He was an old
moose that had been frequently shot at, and
therefore he was more than ordinarily sus-
picious and cautious in his travels. On ac-
count of his age his hoofs were long and
ragged, that is broken ofif at the sides, with
portions entirely wanting. As an old man's
finger nails and toe nails will break and
crack and chip off, so will the hoofs of an old
moose. This one was known by the title of
"The Big Moose of the Little Tobique." In
soft spots, in muddy or clayey ground, his
tracks showed up so large that the hunters
could not believe that they belonged to a

152 THE UPPER YUKON

member of the moose family, and much dis-
cussion was caused by them.

When the writer first saw these famous
tracks on one Wednesday evening, he said
they were made by some huge caribou, but
that night he lay out on the edge of a pond
where the Big Moose of Little Tobique was
accustomed to feed, and during that night
and the nights of the Thursday and Friday
following, he had the rare opportunity of
watching him from a distance without being
able to make a safe shot. A shot was finally
made on the following Saturday morning
when the first streak of daylight appeared.

A young bull with two spike horns, mated
with a large cow, was also feeding there each
night, and repeatedly, when the old bull
would wander a bit too close to the cow, the
young fellow would wickedly rush at him
and chase him away. This was done several
times during each night.

The old chap knew and realized the fact
that his day of fighting had gone, and that the
old adage "youth must be served" is true with
a bull moose as well as with a human being.
So he made no attempt at resistance; when
attacked he simply ran away and that was
all.

EFFECT OF AGE ON ANIMALS 153

When we had skinned him that Saturday
morning and taken off his feet, we found that
one measured ii}i inches from toe to heel.
Each of the hoofs of the other three feet was
broken and cracked at the edges, so that they
did not measure as much. The average size
of a bull moose's feet is 6^ inches.

When a bull elk has lived past his prime
some day he will be attacked by a pair of his
sons or grandsons — young chaps — agile and
strong. One youngster will attack him and
fight until he is exhausted, when he will step
to one side and the other will take his place,
while the first one will rest. When the
second one is out of breath the first one again
attacks his sire or grandsire, and so the fight
is continued until the patriarch is finally
killed. During all of this battle, the cows
will feed on placidly without paying the
slightest attention to the tragedy that is being
enacted before their very eyes.

With the mountain rams almost a similar
program is carried out; in reality confirming
Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest.
The old rams are driven away by their sons
or grandsons and compelled to associate with
the young rams from two to three years old.

The horns of the decrepit old fellow may

1^4 THE UPPER YUKON

be quite huge in size, but they are unstable
and will crack or part easily in places; in
other words they are no good, and are unfit
for fighting with or for mounting.

This was the case with the one which I
killed on the first day of the season. The
Chief would not even consent to my taking
the head out as a curiosity, and therefore I
left it. So according to the game laws I had
still two rams to get, and the following day
after the seance with the four caribou bulls
we were off early in search of a big ram.
Nothing was seen but an occasional bunch of
ewes and lambs until ten o'clock had come,
when six rams were discovered feeding on a
divide opposite the one over which we were
traveling. Between us and the rams two
miles and a half had to be covered before we
would be near enough to shoot, and, as the
ground was open and we would be in full
view going down one side to the brook at the
bottom and then climbing to the top of the
far-off mountain, there was nothing to do but
to watch and wait. We tethered our horses
in the canyon on a good piece of grassy
ground and worked our way to— and up — a
tall pinnacle that rose high in front of the
feeding rams, but two miles from the quarry.

EFFECT OF AGE ON ANIMALS 155

There was still considerable snow on the high
places. It was soft snow and we slipped easily
and often. On the extreme top of the butte a
sparcc growth of young willow brush formed
a screen, behind which I lay down in the
snow for a while, until I found an opening
in the rock at the left side where I could sit
as if in an arm chair and watch from my
point of vantage without getting wet with the
melting snow.

It was about eleven o'clock by the time the
Chief and I were comfortably fixed for a long
vigil. The rams fed a while and then came
dov/n from the peak of the mountain and
walked out upon a ledge, whence they could
see what was going on in every direction.
They cleared away the snow with their feet and
th.e whole bunch lay down — four of them to
sleep apparently, while the ram at each end
kept an alert watch. With the noon-time
came the desire for lunch, which we ate with
zest. For a while afterwards I could not help
going to sleep and thus kept company with
the sleeping rams on the opposite side of the
divide. When I awoke the sheep were stand-
ing up, right in the sun, and a more glorious
sight it would be hard to see anywhere, their
graceful heads and horns and their milk-

1^6 THE UPPER YUKON

white bodies showing boldly against the
green.

At 2.30 a flock of young rams appeared on
the top of their peak and commenced to feed
down the mountain. There were with them
two old "banished" rams, who seemed to be
nervously watching the six rams in front of
us. The Chief said that when all of the
youngsters should come in sight of the
"big six," the old fellows would start a
stampede, and the youngsters as well as the
two big ones would run down and across to
our side, and up over our divide. Then the
"big six" would follow them at their leisure.
This was done to the letter. The flock of
youngsters and the two discarded rams num-
bered in all thirty-one. They came down
and crossed the canyon, climbed up our side,
and soon disappeared from view. The "big
six" were now up and in motion. Soon they
commenced to run down as the others had
done. They hesitated, however, in the can-
yon, and we could not see them down there
as we were not close enough to the edge of
the mountain. So for a while we had to
conjecture as to which way they would take
in climbing past us. If they went to the left

EFFECT OF AGE ON ANIMALS 157

of us, we should lose them; if to the right, I
might perhaps get a shot as they passed. But
it was problematic.

There were three rams with good heads
and three with smaller horns. One of the
first three had an exceptionally good head,
and, of course, that was the one I wanted.
Considerable time elapsed before we saw
them again, during which period we had
crossed around the butte to the right, as that
seemed the most likely route for them to take.
On this side the willow brush was thick and
the bushes were high. Before having either
heard or seen any member of the bunch, two
of the smaller ones had climbed up our side
and stood right up in the brush and stared me
in the face only ten feet off. Here they got
my scent and it took but a few seconds for
them to get away. The noise they made
startled three more and they came running
up the right side too, while the sixth and last
one disappeared to the left, and we saw him
no more. As the three were coming straight
toward us, on the jump, I easily picked out
the big one and, withholding my shot until he
got to a level with the pinnacle we were on,
I was fortunate enough to place a bullet

158 THE UPPER YUKON

through his heart. He rolled down and
down until he fell on the rock at the foot of
the canyon.

It was four o'clock and, while the Chief
went down after the ram to dress him, I built
a fire and soon had water boiling for the mate.
When the Chief returned we ate the balance
of our lunch and drank a couple of cups of
mate. Leading the horse and Billie down to
the bottom, the Chief put the ram on Charley's
back and we were off on our long journey to
the camp, arriving at ten o'clock and finding
all the others in bed asleep.

This day of all the days of hunting will be
well remembered as a comfortable one, be-
cause, from the peculiar position we were in,
we watched the rams for six hours in complete
comfort. While the weather was indeed
cold and the wind was somewhat high, we
were well sheltered, and did not feel it.
Above all else w^e had a splendid opportunity
of closely observing these beautiful, rare and
interesting animals for a whole half day, first
feeding, next as they were lying at rest, and
lastly when they were on the run.

CHAPTER XI

STILL ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE

"How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!
Had I a plantation of this isle, my lord,
All things in common nature should produce,
Without sweat or endeavor."

THE morning after the successful all-day
stalk of the big caribou, we packed up
and left early for another section of this wide
country where moose might be found. Our
course followed a rushing creek where a por-
tion of the journey was made on a tableland
comparatively easy to travel.

At first the only vegetation of moment that
was to be seen were patches of Willow brush.
When we had eaten lunch and covered an-
other mile or so, we came to a piece of well-
timbered ground and saw many moose signs,
but none of them at all fresh. The ground
was a succession of fair-sized hills and valleys
where rich grass was growing, with here and
there a small lake. On the hillside leading
to one of these beautiful sheets of water I sat

i6o THE UPPER YUKON

down in a piece of dense underbrush, where
I could look out on the water w^ithout being
seen. There I used the moose horn and
called for an hour. During this time the
peculiar sound of the horn actually seemed to
entrance a cock ptarmigan, which came walk-
ing along from some little distance and strut-
ted around in full sight of me, all the while
giving vent to a guttural clucking sound.
Once he made a complete circle around my
hiding place; when he arrived in front again
he stood still, looking at me, and turning his
head from side to side as if curious to find
out who and what I was.

Receiving no answer to my call from the
animal for which the call was intended, we
reluctantly left this most beautiful location,
and found our way to the place where our
men had in the meantime found a good camp-
ing location and had pitched the tents for the
night.

The following morning we crossed a con-
siderable elevation where there was much
boggy ground and a fair piece of timber land
mainly covered with balsam firs and spruce
trees. Down the far side of this low moun-
tain was a valley containing some little grass.
The bottom land was well covered with vol-

ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE i6i

canic pumice-sand, which shone white in the
sun.

In our journeys to the different hunting
grounds where we spent from one to several
days, we frequently found places where the
pumice-sand showed on the sides of the moun-
tains, high up, where the light soil had given
away from a snow slide or heavy rains and
thus left the pumice-sand exposed. This was
the first spot, however, where we found the
bottom land partly covered with this vol-
canic deposit. On crossing the valley we saw
the mute evidences of a fierce fight that had
taken place between two large bull moose ap-
parently during the preceding night. Each
of the combatants had fought with all his
might. When two human rivals become so
bitter and vindictive as to warrant each one
in saying "Ell fight till from my bones my
flesh be hacked," we can have some idea of
the fury of the ensuing conflict. This was
the sight we saw that morning in the latter
days of September.

The white pumice-sand was splotched with
blood. What little vegetation had been able
to thrive on the thin covering of soil over the
pumice deposits had been trampled to the
ground or torn up by the roots in the fury of

i62 THE UPPER YUKON

the contest. The signs of blood were every-
where to be seen.

Early on this morning, a few minutes be-
fore coming upon this moose battlefield, I
had chided the Chief for wearing a pair of
khaki trousers on a moose hunt, as the swish of
the trousers when they rubbed against each
other could be heard for a good distance
away. He evidently remembered this, for,
getting down on his knees, he rolled his
trousers so high that they were silent as he
walked. We must now be very close to one
of the real giants of the moose family.

The trail of the largest moose led up hill
into the big timber, while that of his rival
led along the bottom land to the left. Natu-
rally we commenced to follow the one that had
gone into the timber. The trail was fresh
and in places bloody. As soon as we entered
the timber we dropped on our hands and
knees and made haste slowly but surely. The
trail showed that our bull was accompanied
by one or more cows, and a small track
showed that a young moose — very likely a
spike horn— also was in the bunch.

We came to two balsam fir trees standing
close together. I was on the left side of the
trees; the Chief on the right. Here we

u

w

H

ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE 163

rested a bit, looked, and listened. The Chief
whispered: ''There goes a cow to the right —
there's another, an old one. She's just got
up. There's still another cow and a spike
horn." None of these had I seen because
they were on the wrong side of my tree. The
Chief motioned for me to rise up on my
knee and to be ready to shoot. I now crept
over to his side and hardly had I arrived be-
fore an immense bull moose rose up and
started for the peak of the mountain. I did
not see his antlers, nor the front part of his
body, but I managed to get a shot into his left
hip which smashed the bone. He seemed to
possess a supernatural power for getting into
shady places and keeping out of sight by
swiftly dodging from tree to tree. The shoot-
ing was generally of the snap-shot variety as
I was not able to see him in full until after I
had heard the crash (jf his fall; then, I
realized what a mammoth he was. The pur-
suit had been longer than we had expected,
as the distance from where the first shot was
fired to the place where he fell was over nine
hundred paces.

When we were near enough to look him
over, we discovered that his rival had driven
the long point of an antler into otir bull's

i64 THE UPPER YUKON

lungs, leaving an opening large enough for
me to put my whole fist into. When the
scalp was removed it revealed a dreadful
looking mass of puss, while the flesh was ham-
mered and bruised beyond belief. The re-
moval of the hide the next day showed a simi-
lar condition of the lower part of the body,
while another swipe of the antlers had pene-
trated the tough hide on his right rump and
ripped it open for a length of thirteen inches.
Unquestionably his rival must have had the
best of the fight and yet he did not know it.
This big bull would have had a sure but per-
haps a lingering death in two or three days,
as the tearing of the hide and the dreadful
opening into the lungs would surely have
finished him. As our bull came off with the
three cows under his charge, he was in truth
the victor, the battle having been made solely
to determine which bull should control these
three complacent cows and compel them to
acknowledge him as their master.

This moose had a spread of antlers of sixty-
one and a half inches, not nearly as wide as
those of the young bull that was saved by a
sandfly, whose spread we estimated as seventy
inches. But there was no comparison when
the size of their bodies was considered. This

ANOTHER CHANGE OF BASE 165

one measured seven feet one and one-half
inches from the bottom of his fore hoofs to the
top of his shoulders. A modest estimate of
his weight as he fell would be fourteen hun-
dred and fifty pounds — so said the guides at
any rate. Of course the cows disappeared
from view, and presumably within a few
hours when their appetites prompted them
they would commence feeding again as if
nothing had happened. The big bull would
be forgotten, while his opponent of the night
before would no doubt claim their allegiance.
It would be interesting to know in w^hat con-
dition the new master of the harem would be
in, as it is hardly to be expected that he man-
aged to get away without a good hammering
from his big rival. Who knows but what he
might be ripped and torn as badly, if not
worse, than our hero was, and if so he was
greatly to be pitied. What a crashing of
horns in the still hours of the night — what
grunting and what a "blowing of bellows"
there must have been while that midnight
duel was being fought to a finish! To have
been only a listener if not a spectator of this
thrilling moose duel would in itself have been
something to remember for years.

CHAPTER XII

"how much will you bet that you'll not
kill a bear to-day? "

"A red-letter day.
One from many singled out.
One of those heavenly days that cannot die."

WE tarried two more days at this moose
resort when my companion succeeded
in killing a bull with a fifty-three inch spread,
and the camp was once more taken down and
a pilgrimage was made to another section
where sheep abounded. We had need of
mutton for the table, so this day the Chief and
I managed to kill three young rams after a
somewhat difficult stalk and we were thus
supplied with enough fresh meat to last us
about a week. It may be remembered that
there were seven of us in all and it took good
sized rations to satisfy our ravenous appetites,
for in this bracing air and with the continu-
ous hard outdoor work which was our daily
portion we needed a liberal food supply.
"Now good digestion wait on appetite, and

"HOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?'^ 167

health on both" is a good invocation, but it
was never needed by any one in our outfit.
We had an undoubtedly good digestion, and,
as for health, it often seemed to me while up
there that I was back again in my boyhood
days living on frugal fare, with plenty of hard
work. In the west where the air is keen,
pure, and bracing, with nothing to worry
about, with an abundance of hope and "great
expectations," I was light-hearted and happy,
and the owner of a digestion that could make
a feast out of a raw turnip freshly plucked
from a farmer's field.

It is an impossibility to make the reader ap-
preciate the beneficent effect of the rare at-
mosphere in this semi-arid territory so near
the edge of the Arctic circle. You may well
expect that it is exhilarating, that you would
want to run, to shout, to whistle, and to play
boyish pranks as of old. When you are
finally settled down for a period of weeks or
months, and all care is off your mind, you feci
like saying: "I cannot speak enough of this
content. It stops me here — it is too much

joy."

The next morning the Chief said to me:
"How much will you bet that you'll not kill a
bear to-day?"

i68 THE UPPER YUKON

"A hundred to one," was the reply.

"Well, I have here two new clean pillow
sacks, and I'm taking them along to hold the
fat from the bear you are to kill this very day."

Of course I laughed at him, and told him
he was but "kidding" me. We had looked
for bear, watched their tracks, and seen
where they had been feeding for many and
many a day, yet but two animals of that spe-
cies had been seen and neither of them gave
me a chance for a shot. Now why so very
confident this morning? The only answer
was the old, old one — "Just you wait and see."

Our route for the day led up through a
well-timbered section. On the very top of
the highest point we passed an Indian grave
that had been made years and years ago.
Some trinkets were still adhering to the little
cabin which covered the dead man's remains :
a tin cup now rusted with age, an arrow with
a copper point, an iron knife and some other
little luxuries to help the dead brave on his
journey to the land of "The Great Spirit."

From this modest burial ground our trail
led down, and ever down, until we came to
the bottom — a soft and boggy bottom, with
tall willow bushes to bother us as we forced
our way through. Then a mile and a half

"HOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?'' 169

more, and we came in sight of a wide river
bed, with a stream on our side carrying a rag-
ing flood of water caused by a recent warm
spell. There was a strong wind to help the
current on, while on the far side of the river's
bed, more than two miles across, still another
stream equally large and equally swift
forced its way down, the two streams finally
enter the Yukon River and in that great riv-
er's embrace they at last emerge into Behring
Sea.

When we came to the edge of the first chan-
nel, it behooved us to be wary in finding a
fitting place to cross, as frequently in these
swift-rushing streams quicksands abound.
Having picked out a place that seemed all
right, we slowly entered the water. With
Charley leading, and Billie and I following,
we got safely across, but the water having
surged up around our legs we were just a bit
wet.

Where we landed on the opposite shore was
a little depression with some grass on the bot-
tom. Here we dismounted, and the Chief,
using Charley's back as a rest for the glasses,
commenced to explore the river bed to see if
any game was in sight. Presently he passed
the glasses to me and pointed in the direction

170 THE UPPER YUKON

of the farther side of the river to a moving
animal that he took to be a wolverine, but
that I thought w^as a bear. It proved that
I was right, for it really was a silver-tipped
grizzly. He was feeding on bear-root or
wild parsnips. He would stop and dig
for two or three minutes at a time, pulling
up the roots with his claws, and then he
would pass on to another bunch. He was
perhaps two miles away in a direct line
and a mile further down stream than we
were. The wind was blowing crossways. If
the bear followed his present line of travel, he
would naturally keep on until he struck the
river on our side, and swimming across he
would head for the timber that we had just
left. This was the Chief's judgment, and he
was right. If the wind, which was blowing
very strong, maintained its present course and
the bear his line of travel, he would strike our
scent about a hundred yards before he reached
the river. Our only chance of a successful
stalk was to work over at right angles to his
course. So tethering our mounts, we kept a
sharp watch on the bear's movements. We
ran when he was digging, and then dropped
down on all fours while he was walking.
For three-quarters of an hour we made good

"HOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?" 171

progress, then as he came nearer it was neces-
sary to keep on our knees while he was dig-
ging, and flat on the ground during his walk-
ing periods.

In this way we came to a small stream run-
ning into the main channel, which was on our
left. This brook we waded, with the water
above our knees, and when across it we took
to crawling on our hands and knees, behind
the shelter of the slight embankment of the
river, which consisted of nothing but loose
stones and gravel. As may be imagined, the
frail bank frequently broke down with our
w^eight, not only making some noise but often
rolling us into the shallow water at the edge
of the river. This program was continued
with as much celerity as we could acquire
under the peculiar circumstances, the bear in
the meantime keeping up not only his dig-
ging, but the straight line of travel on which
he had started. A slight shift in the wind
occurred that was bad for us.

*'Now look out," the Chief whispered,
"he'll get our scent in a few minutes, and at
once he will rush for the river; we must then
jump up and run as fast as we can, while he is
swimming across."

At this time we were about five hundred

172 THE UPPER YUKON

yards away. Not two minutes after the
Chief's remark we saw that the bear had got-
ten our scent. Without looking to the right
or to the left he bolted for the river, and how
he did get over the ground! Now v/e ran as
fast as we could, and the bear swam, as fast as
he could. He was not very long in crossing.
A few seconds before he got to the bank I
stopped and raised the three-hundred-yard
sight of the Mannlicher and when he emerged
from the water I took careful aim at his left
hip. The bullet struck fair, crushing the hip-
bone.

The river bank at this point was four feet
high, but with the left leg dragging he was
soon on top of the bank. The next shot also
hit him, and he at once rose on his hind feet,
fell over on his back, and rolled again down
the bank. He turned over, and with his fore
feet dragged himself up the bank a second
time, the third shot missing him as he now dis-
appeared from view. Of course we felt sure
that he was down for good, but it was necessary
to travel back to where Billie and Charley
were tethered (a distance of a mile), mount
them, swim and ford the river, and then follow
down, above the bank among the timber, on
the other side. This took considerable time.

o

"HOW MUCH WILL YOU BET?" 173

We carefully made our way down stream on
the other side and soon came to the bear. He
was prone on the ground, but was still alive,
and another shot was necessary to finish him.

The wind had now increased to a gale.
We took the skin off and found that the
second bullet had struck him under the spine,
passing along for nine inches, and then coming
out through the spine again, so that the spinal
cord was cut in two places, thus paralyzing
the hind legs.

The Chief produced his two clean, white
bags, and the rich fat on the back and intes-
tines of the bear filled them as full as they
would hold. We found that the stomach was
crammed full of the bear-root, a good bit of it
being well digested; all in all he was in prime
condition.

I was now reminded of my bet of one hun-
dred to one against my getting a bear, and the
Chief took much pleasure in "rubbing it in."

It need not be said that I was much pleased
with the successful stalk made under such
peculiar and trying conditions. Fortunately
I had on the saddle a pair of dry shoes and
socks, and, the wet ones having been ex-
changed for these, we made a fire, cooked our
mate, and ate our lunch with rare appe-

174 THE UPPER YUKON

tites. Strapping the two sacks of bear fat
and the hide and head on Charley, we left the
scene of action at about three o'clock, having
been under continuous excitement for four
hours, from the time the bear was first seen un-
til the final shot was delivered. In the past
we have read much of the ferocity of the
grizzly bear and how he will attack a human
being on sight. This might have been so in
the time of the old muzzle-loading rifle, with
black powder and a copper cap to explode the
powder with; but now the Ursus Horribilis is
a wise and cautious fellow. Instinct tells him
to beware of the repeating rifle and its savage
and destructive bullet. So at the scent or the
sight of man he sprints for the tall timber and
is soon out of sight.

CHAPTER XIII

"it never rains but it pours"

"For raging winds blow up incessant showers, and
when the rage allays, the rain begins."

AGAINST the wind, now blowing a gale
directly in our faces, we led the horse
and Billie. We were passing through the
piece of timber described in the chapter re-
lating of the killing of the bear. We had
gone perhaps a half mile when, coming to an
open place, we had an unobstructed view of
the river bed for a long distance. Some large
animal of a reddish brown color, which we
took for a cow, was seen ofif in the distance.
It was walking in our direction and with the
wind. It stopped and turned broadside to us
and then turned completely around. We now
made it out to be a very large female grizzly
bear, and she was soon joined by two silver
tip yearling cubs.

Having within the hour finished skinning
one bear, and now seeing three in a bunch, we
could not help feeling jubilant. We also felt

176 THE UPPER YUKON

confident of success in getting tlie whole three,
as the wind could not be better. They were,
like the first bear, feeding on bear-roots. A
small cove was found near by where we
tethered our horses so that they would not give
us any trouble.

We now got in among small willow brush,
and away from the river bed. Keeping
down on our knees we made fair progress
towards the bears. The yearlings being black
and the mother a reddish brown, it was the
easiest thing to keep them well in view, by
rising occasionally behind a tall willow
bush.

When first seen they were fully three miles
from us, and traveling at about the same speed
towards us as the first one did which I killed.

The wind now became erratic, the sky
grew dark, and it looked as if we were to be af-
flicted with a crashing thunderstorm. How-
ever, as quickly as this aerial storm had come,
did it subside, and we had only a strong wind
blowing straight down stream. The cubs
were inclined to be independent in their feed-
ing, as they fed far afield from each other.
This propensity of her offspring to "go it on
their own hook" bothered the old lady bear
considerably. From what we could see of her

"IT NEVER RAINS" 177

actions, she apparently would scold them, and
then coax them to come nearer to her. On
the whole, they took their time in search for
that dainty dish — the bear-root — quite calmly,
and seemed not to anticipate any danger what-
ever.

So we slowly traveled up stream by way of
the timber land, and they down stream by way
of the river bottom. We consequently were
getting nearer and nearer to each other every
minute.

But what is that? Something has hap-
pened. The mother bear has signaled the
youngsters to come to her. They obey her
orders, and join her. She leads them to the
river bank, and there the three stand looking
across the river, and not down it. Have they
gotten a whiff of our scent?

"No," says the Chief; "the wind is all to the
good. Maybe there's another bear coming up
behind them."

We were now not over four hundred yards
away. As I very much feared a sudden
change in the wind, which might carry our
scent to them, my judgment was to try to kill
or wound one of the yearlings. If that was
done it would hold the mother and the other
cub.

178 THE UPPER YUKON

The Chief seemed to feel sure that all was
well, and was confident that I would get the
whole bunch. Therefore, we kept on crawl-
ing on all fours. Without any foreknowledge
we came to a piece of ground where a fire had
swept it clear both of willow brush and of
grass. This compelled us to lie down fiat and
pull ourselves along as best we could. This
bare place was soon crossed and we re-entered
the willow brush. On looking up now, we
were astonished to find that the mother bear
had led the cubs into the edge of the timber,
where she was standing and looking down our
way. Here I first became sensible of the fact
that the wind had changed some, and once
more my judgment said "shoot at one of the
cubs." However, the Chief was still optimis-
tic and satisfied that all was going well. An-
other fire-cleansed piece of ground confronted
us, and another bit of crawling had to be
undertaken. This having been crossed, we
raised ourselves behind a couple of spruce
trees and then spied out the land ahead of us.

Now what do you think we saw?

Nothing.

The bears were gone and gone forever.

Why had they gone?

Wait. The Chief is climbing a tree and

"IT NEVER RAINS"

179

he'll soon locate them. Step by step from one
branch to another he climbed to the very top
of a good-sized tree, but no bears were to be
seen. When he came down he was angry, non-
plussed and mystified. We hurried along un-
til we came to their tracks, and one glance at
those told the whole story, for by the tracks we
saw where they had started for the tall tim-
ber with a rush. The wind had undoubtedly
turned just enough for the keen-scented mother
bear to detect danger to herself and her of]f-
spring, and she had not stood on "the order
of her going."

What a sudden transition it was from the
calm confidence that possessed us of bagging
the three to the despair of finding them gone!
Oh, for a bear dog just now to follow their
trail, and bring them to a halt! He would be
worth his weight in gold. Such a dog we had,
but she was in no condition to hunt and there-
fore had been left to travel with the pack out-
fit, which was miles away from us at this
critical time when so much needed.

There was no need in moralizing; it would
do no good.

We went back after Charley and Billie, and
wended our way to the next camping place,
which we did not reach until late in the night.

i8o THE UPPER YUKON

The Chief was taciturn and reticent all the
long way to camp.

"A penny for your thoughts," said I.

"I have none whatever," he replied.

I tried to comfort him, but "from thai
spring where comfort seemed to come, discom-
fort swells," and he "would none of it." At
such a time it is best to be left alone. So we
silently went to supper and as silently crawled
into our sleeping bags, and slept. On the
morrow speech came back to him, and he can-
didly blamed himself for all of our bad for-
tune. But the incident was now ended, and
I told him "the less said, the easier mended."

It's an old adage to "never count your
chickens until they are hatched." For over
an hour we had been supremely confident that
we would return to camp with four bears in
place of one, and I had imagined how proud I
would be to lay down on the parlor floor at
home four bear skins nicely tanned and lined
and all secured within one afternoon.

CHAPTER XIV

NAZARHAT GLACIER

"On a mountain top where biting cold would never let
grass grow."

INDESCRIBABLE with pen and ink or
with camera are the great glaciers of the
North Land. When we first crossed the
divide which parted the watershed on which
we had been hunting for many days from the
glacier-fed stream across the range, we stood
looking away off at Nazarhat — Nazarhat the
glacier, Nazarhat the mysterious, Nazarhat
the creator of strange superstitions and strange
terrors among the Indians of the Ashiack
tribe.

Our first sight of this notable glacier gave
us the impression of an enormous deep bowl
made of solid ice and running water. The
moraine that was tributary to it was said to be
seven miles long and from two to three miles
broad. The dust of ages had settled upon
this moraine, and vegetation was flourishing
upon the scanty soil, covering the stately

i82 THE UPPER YUKON

masses of shifting ice. Grass was growing
on many portions of the moraine, a few stunted
trees on others, and some bunches of willow
brush waved in the wind on top of the earthy
covering of the ice field.

It is a wonderful thought and worth pon-
dering over to know that a swiftly-running
river has its birthplace in the secret recesses of
this mysterious glacier. A lonely sight it is,
no matter from what angle you view it.
Nazarhat is like the other glaciers in this
country. It is dying, not slowly like the ma-
jority of glaciers in Switzerland, but with a
seemingly constantly accelerating melting of
the ice and with the breaking off of large
sheets of the frozen liquid. I gazed upon this
natural wonder until the Chief became rest-
less; he wanted to get to work; he never had
much time for sight-seeing. I may as well say
right here, as in some other portion of my
narrative, that in all of my experience with
guides and other husky, virile men who have
been with me who were not guides, his equal
for strength, quickness of decision, and an al-
most raving desire for hard work, I have never
seen. He was indeed a born leader. His
eight years' experience as a member of the
famous Northwest Mounted Police had

NAZARHAT GLACIER 183

given him self-reliance, and the ability to do
big things with comparative ease that other
men would falter at. No need was there ever
to spur him on to work. I pity the man who
might hire his services and then prove to be
lazy and indifferent as to whether he hunted
or not, and who would decline to go anywhere
that would mean hard climbing or other
rugged work. The Chief might give him a
lecture that he would never forget.

It is a comfort to hunt with a man who not
only knows the ground but is familiar with
every card and trick that can be played in
hunting the different species of big game that
make this country a unique hunting ground.

Still speaking of glaciers, we must not for-
get mentioning the Scolli Glacier which takes
several days to cross with a pack outfit.
Steps must be cut in the ice to enable the
pack horses and men to reach the top. It is
six miles wide. Crevasses are to be found
almost everywhere on its surface, and there-
fore extreme caution is necessary in crossing
it. Season before last three men were pass-
ing over it, when one of them slipped and fell
a considerable distance into a crevasse. His
companions managed to get a rope with a
noose on one end down to him, and he sue-

i84 THE UPPER YUKON

ceeded in getting the noose around his body.
The men above pulled and hauled, but the
man was so securely lodged in among the ice
sheets, that he would have been pulled in two
if they had continued their exertions. They
lowered food to him, and talked with him, as
he could easily hear them. From below he
told the men above to write down his last will
and testament, and thus he advised them what
to do for his wife and children and how cer-
tain matters had to be adjusted. On the sec-
ond day of his imprisonment his voice gradu-
ally became weaker and the last thing he said
was that he was "about done for," as he knew
that he was practically frozen through. He
is undoubtedly still lying in his lonely ice
grave, and his body may never be seen again,
as the Scolli Glacier is so far away from civi-
lization that but comparatively few people
cross it in a year's time.

The Slims Glacier, in whose icy depths the
Slims River and the O'Connor River both
have their source, is also charged with being
the cause of a human tragedy.

Two years ago a young man on hunting
bent visited this weird region. He was in pur-
suit of wild goats and had climbed to the roof
of the glacier, and from there still higher to

NAZARHAT GLACIER 185

a high mountain on the left. He was rather
careless of where he walked. A dense fog
"as black as Acheron" enveloped the moun-
tain of ice, and the man paid no heed to the
warnings given him by his guide to stay in
one place while the fog lasted. He strolled
on leisurely, and, all unconscious of impend-
ing danger, and without any knowledge of
where he was going, he stepped over the brink
of the mountain top and at once disappeared
in the gloom of the fog. This was in the be-
ginning of October, and his body was not dis-
covered until the ensuing July. Upon his per-
son was found a paid-up insurance policy for
$20,000 in favor of his sister. By this means
his identity was established. The natives, in
talking about this catastrophe afterwards, de-
plored the fact that his rifle when found "was
all broke to pieces." There was but little sor-
row for the man, but much for the broken
rifle.

I have already said the Chief was impa-
tient to go on, so he led the way down to the
bottom where we saw many caribou trails and
in the distance several caribou, mostly cows or
spike horns.

We also came to a small moose lake where
two moose cows and a calf were quietly feed-

i86 THE UPPER YUKON

ing on lily pads in the water. Then we spied
a good-sized bull caribou lying down in some
long grass. We rode fast and very near to
him. "Ain't you going to shoot?" asked the
Chief.

"No, he's not big enough," I said, and rode
on past him. He then arose from his grassy
bed and bounded away out of danger.

Crossing the river bed and the main stream
on the far side, we went close to the Nazarhat
moraine, climbing up from the bottom to an
elevation where we might search the whole
landscape with the glasses.

Nothing was seen until late in the afternoon,
when as we were turning around the base of
a pinnacle, we suddenly saw a very fine bull
accompanied by only one cow. He looked
around and saw us, but before he could make
a bolt out of range of the rifle, I had him
sighted and quickly fired the bullet. It struck
him behind the shoulder and down he went.
This one was a fine specimen and very fat,
as the mating season had then not yet com-
menced. It would be hard to find a fatter
animal of any species than he was. When he
was skinned ready for the pack horse and some
of the fat was stowed away in the saddle bag,
we commenced our return journey. The way

NAZARHAT GLACIER 187

was long, and before we had climbed to the
top of the divide, darkness set in. Giving up
the guidance of the party to Billie, he led us
down in safety past the soft places, where mus-
keag ground had to be looked out for, and
avoided, then through a large stretch of tim-
ber to the river bank. This bank was high
and precipitous, but Billie led the way to a
trail down which we went to the bottom. The
river was high and swift, yet without the
slightest hesitation Billie w^aded into the
stream, and, exercising his usual caution and
good judgment, he worked his way across to
the other side and brought us finally to the
camp at half-past eleven at night. Of course
all were asleep, but there was a wood fire burn-
ing and it needed but a few minutes to boil the
water to make the mate and get a quick sup-
per; then off to bed.

CHAPTER XV

HOMEWARD BOUND
"My affairs do even drag me homeward."

SEPTEMBER was nearly gone. We had
been successful in bagging game of dif-
ferent kinds : — moose, white sheep, Osborni
caribou, grizzl}^ bears, Arctic hares, various
species of wild ducks, grouse, pintailed prairie
chickens, and a few fat gophers by way of a
change.

The time had arrived for a shift to the
country where the mountain goat was said to
abound. The pack horses were loaded to
their limit with horns, antlers, scalps and
hides, together with our personal outfits. The
pack train was set in motion and we were now
homeward bound.

On the return trip, for a portion of the way
a dififerent route was taken than that we came
in by. Following a creek containing many
large boulders, which in several places di-
verted its course, we found on its rocky banks
an unusual amount of volcanic ash deposit.

HOMEWARD BOUND 189

According to Dr. George M. Dawson, the
geologist: "This ash deposit appears to be
entirely due to a single period of eruption.
It is homogeneous in character wherever seen,
forming a single layer not divided by interca-
lations of other material, and has been spread
everywhere in the entire area characterized by
it. It is much more recent in date than the
white silt deposits which are the last of those
properly referable to the glacial series, having
been deposited after the river valleys were ex-
cavated in the glacial materials, and at a time
when the rivers had cut down nearly quite to
their present levels — a fact rendered evident
by the circumstance that it overlies the depos-
its of river and valley — gravels and sands in
all cases, except in those low river flats where
these deposits sometimes cover it a depth of
several feet. In most places it is overlain
merely by the surface soil with a depth of six
inches to two feet, and in a few instances it
was noted as constituting the actual surface
of terrace of moderate height, the present for-
est being rooted in it. The ash appears to
have fallen tranquilly, much in the manner of
snow deposited from a calm atmosphere. The
examination of scraped banks along the two
rivers (the Pelly and the Yukon) showed it

I90 THE UPPER YUKON

to occur near the surface of terraces about 200
feet in height, as well as on lower terraces and
river flats down to within about ten feet of the
actual river level in August and September.
It was also detected in some places on the slop-
ing fronts of terraces.

''The thickness of the layer was no doubt
originally pretty uniform, and it still retains
this uniformity where it rests upon wide flat
terraces. Its average normal thickness for
the Pelly, as a whole, was estimated at about
five inches, but this is somewhat exceeded
along the part of the river immediately above
the MacMillan River. On the Lewis (the
Yukon) below Rink Rapid its normal thick-
ness is about a foot, but above this point it be-
comes much less, and where last seen, at Cari-
bou Crossing, is not over a half-inch thick and
only to be recognized when carefully looked
for."

Dr. Dawson Is of the opinion that this vol-
canic eruption probably came from ''Mount
Wrangell, as it is the nearest known volcano,"
and that the extent of the eruption covered a
radius of possibly 25,000 miles. As to its
probable date, he says: "The rivers have not
certainly cut their beds perceptibly deeper
since the deposit occurred on their flood flats,

HOMEWARD BOUND 191

so that the period to which it belongs cannot
be an exceedingly remote one."

I have quoted thus literally from Dr. Daw-
son's reports because I am of the opinion that
it is perhaps because of this eruption of vol-
canic ash, with its wide-spread deposits, that
vegetation is so sparse and irregular through-
out the territory. There is comparatively lit-
tle timber, and none of the forests seen by us
showed any extreme age. The willow brush
and alders are plentiful in many districts, and
Jack pines in others, with moderate growths
of spruce and balsam firs in a few locations.

When the creek above described had been
left behind, a day's journey took us to the base
of a mountain where we rested for the night.
The next morning the Chief went ahead of the
outfit to cut out dead-falls on the trail to the
crest of the mountain. There were many of
these and at best the trail was awkward and
hard, the horses frequently loosening or turn-
ing their packs as they forced their way
through between the trees.

By noon we had gotten to the top and
shortly afterwards the trail led down to a
canyon. After crossing the stream, an imme-
diate sharp ascent was before us, which took
some time and care to surmount. The lunch

192 THE UPPER YUKON

was eaten, and our journey over a plateau that
was everywhere soft and spongy was renewed.
Nothing of note happened until Billie got into
a nasty piece of muskeag ground. He be-
haved very well this time, making but three
spasmodic jumps to extricate himself, which
he succeeded in doing, and I also did well in
not getting thrown.

That night we pitched tent In a slight snow-
storm. There was some little wood around,
which enabled us to build a fire and obtain a
hot supper. Close to us was a small tent left
standing, and under its canvas we counted
nine sheep — rams — which a native had killed
for his winter's food. Under the game laws
of Yukon Territory the natives are allowed to
kill what meat they need for food.

The distance covered on this day's march
was but eleven miles at the most; some of
the men said it was but nine and a half
miles.

On the morning of the next day the pack
train was again started early. More soft,
spongy ground was encountered and for the
forenoon's work less than six miles were
made. At lunch time a dry piece of ground
with some good grass for the horses was lo-
cated. The saddles and blankets were re-

HOMEWARD BOUND 193

moved, and the horses and Billie were
tethered. As was my custom when lunch was
over, I rolled up in one of Billie's blankets
with the saddle for a pillow, and was soon
sound asleep. Awaking at the sound of a
peculiarly strange and rasping voice, I saw a
smallish man whom I had met and talked with
on our way into the hunting country. He was
a miner with a seventh interest in a gold mine
near by. He was accompanied by three big
husky dogs who walked around looking for
a few stray morsels of food left over from
our lunch. He was about finishing a yarn
that he was telling to the listening men when
he suddenly stopped in the middle of his
story.

"Say, Tom," he said to the Chief, "isn't that
Billie the Wild?"

"Yes, it is; do you know him?"

"Do I know him? You bet I do. How
much will you sell him for?"

"I'll sell him for three hundred dollars."

"Well, Tom, if I had the money I would
certainly buy him."

"Why? You don't want a mule — what
could you do with him?"

"I'd do nothing iviih him, but I would do
a great many things to him. I would keep

194 THE UPPER YUKON

him just long enough to invent the most cruel
way of killing him, and then make way with
him. Do you know what he did to me?"

''No."

"Well, I'll tell you. — It was in the winter
time, five years ago, with some two foot of
snow on the ground, and I was walking into
White Horse when I met a doctor coming to-
wards me who had hired a sleigh with Billie
to pull it, and as he was near his destination
he asked me if I would drive the mule back
to the livery stable in White Horse. Of
course I would, for that was sure a cinch,
wasn't it? Here was a free ride of fifteen
miles, from where I was to the stable. The
doctor got out, and I got in. Billie turned
the cutter around himself when I told him
to, and off we went. Say, Tom, but he's a
good goer! He just made the snow fly in
clouds as we sped along. We had gone over
seven miles when all at once a buck Indian
poked his head out through some willow
brush. Billie not only scented him but saw
him. Now all that I know after that can be
told in a minute. Billie gave a spring, and
broke one of the traces; he kicked up his heels
and smashed the front of the cutter, and the
next I knew I was sailing through the air;

HOMEWARD BOUND 195

then all was dark. When I came to, my head
was cut and bleeding — just sec the mark on
it now — and Billie and the rig was gone. I
had been thrown head first against a tree.
The Indian had disappeared too. I bathed
my head with snow and stopped the bleeding,
then I trudged along to White Horse. On
the road I found pieces of the cutter and of
the harness, and when I got to the stable Bil-
lie was there eating as calmly as if nothing
had happened, and all he had brought back
with him was his collar. Do you wonder
now why I would kill him?"

We resumed our journey some little time
afterwards and I overtook the irate miner
with his husky dogs. He was carrying a
small pack, and, as he had come a consider-
able distance when I caught up with him, I
asked if he was tired. He acknowledged that
he was.

I then invited him to mount Billie, saying
I would walk. The man was impressed by
my kindly offer, but he said that it was so
long since he had been on horseback that it
would make him sore to ride. He was told
that Billie was a very easy-going mule, so
much so that his gait would remind him of
a rocking chair.

196 THE UPPER YUKON

"No," said he, "he rocked me once and he'll
never get a chance to rock me again."

He eased himself by using some strong
"sulphurous" words about the mule, and then
quietly dropped behind in the procession.

That evening we reached the foot of the
lake over which we had such a dangerous pas-
sage when we were coming in. The wind the
next morning was blowing a gale down the
lake. There was no boat to meet us, as we
had expected. Much time was lost in start-
ing a man on horseback, to go to the other
end of the lake to bring the boat down with
him, and still more time in starting a second
man off with a bunch of pack horses also to
go around the lake so as to be waiting for us
when we finally arrived at the head.

In the meantime a rusty old shot-gun and
some cartridges were found in the cabin, and
I spent several days in bringing down a wel-
come supply of wild ducks, grouse, and
prairie chickens. The wild geese had now
commenced to fly southward, and many large
flocks passed over us during our enforced
stay. The pintailed ducks and butterballs
were also headed in the same direction.

At the end of a three days' wait the man
who had gone to the head of the lake for the

u

HOMEWARD BOUND 197

power boat returned with a small sail boat.
Some one had tampered with the machinery
of the power boat and it would not go; so he
had to hire a man who had a sail boat and
bring him along. The wind was still high,
and we could not risk the small boat with such
a big load as we had, therefore another day
was lost. The following day the wind had
calmed down enough to permit us to "line"
the boat down along the shore. In other
words, one man stayed in the boat to steer
her, while three men with a long rope on their
backs walked along the edge of the lake and
thus towed her. This method was continued
all the afternoon and a portion of the next
day. The wind having now gone down, we
were able to row the boat the balance of the
distance. We landed about dark on the bank
of a glacial river, whose great volume of ice-
cold water emptying directly into the lake is
solely responsible for that important body of
water.

It is best to reserve the description of this
glacial river for another chapter, as it fully
deserves a big chapter all to itself.

CHAPTER XVI

THE SLIMS GLACIER
"That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow."

OUR tents were pitched near the shore of
the glacial river. The ground here-
abouts is soft and mushy. At the bottom of
this river, as I have previously mentioned,
quicksand is frequently found, and much care
is needed in wading horses into or across it.

A miner, who has a large and most com-
fortable cabin, lives here. He invited my
companion and me to sleep in his cabin. As
we were now so used to tent life we would
have perhaps preferred the tent to the cabin,
but his invitation was so earnest and kindly
that we accepted it. This man was a giant
in size and in strength. His cabin was clean
and very orderly. The sides of the cabin
were graced with twelve large pen* and ink
pictures showing Gibson's best work. He
had a roomy stove set close to the floor to heat
the cabin, a cook stove at one end, a couple
of beds set end to end, some dishes, books, a

THE SLIMS GLACIER 199

victrola, and a nice rug to cover the center of
the floor.

One of our "wranglers" had to get up very
early in the morning to hunt up some stray
horses. Although there were seven of us, not
one had a watch that was in condition to give
■us the time of day; so our host volunteered to
wake him at two o'clock. The registering
thermometer showed that it was 21 degrees
above zero that night, and promptly to the
minute the man got out of bed and coolly
walked out in his bare feet and bare legs, and
without a night shirt on, to the tent of the
wrangler and wakened him. The distance he
had to walk was equal to a city square. Al-
though there was some little snow on the
ground, he came back without saying a
word and got into bed as if he had done noth-
ing but what was a nightly occurrence with
him, and he soon fell asleep and all was well.

This man had four heavy, husky dogs, and
these he fed with white fish which he caught
with a net in the lake near by. When the
weather became cold enough to freeze the lake
over, he would catch a couple of tons or more
of these splendid fish and they would make
food for man and beast during the winter.
The huskies were used in carrying him on his

200 THE UPPER YUKON

sled to his mining camp and back. When he
wanted to visit White Horse, if the snow was
good, they would average six miles an hour
and thus get him there in a couple of days,
making the round journey in from four to five
days.

The morning after our arrival we were still
minus three horses, and some time was lost
in finding the bunch they were in, for there
were many horses there feeding on the grass
which was abundant and rich. It also took
considerable time to ''cut out" the three from
the bunch. Having secured the stray horses,
we followed the course of the glacial river un-
til we came to the deserted mining village
spoken of in a previous chapter. Here were
plenty of well-built and roomy cabins, a road
house, a large livery stable, a store house, and
a bake house. The doors to the buildings
were all open. Any one might take posses-
sion of one or all of them as he pleased, but,
alas! there was nothing to warrant any one
in occupying them.

The going was nasty, and the horses had to
pick their way carefully to keep clear of mus-
keag ground. At noon we stopped for lunch
on a piece of ground that was fairly firm. A
fire made with willow brush soon boiled wa-

THE SLIMS GLACIER 201

ter enough to make our mate. While eating
our repast, the Chief saw right back of us on
a very steep and high mountain a large moun-
tain goat. He and the writer lost no time in
undertaking the stalk to get within range of
the goat. The route led for a distance through
a piece of timber land, which was well choked
up with a bountiful mass of dust to a depth
of a foot. This had been blown through the
immense gap formed by the dying glacier,
whose melting ice is the fountain head of the
river we were following. A quarter of a
mile of this sort of going brought us out of
the timber and to the base of the mountain.
Here the goat could not be seen for obstruc-
tions in the way. The Chief said that he
would be watching the horses, and his attention
would be centered on them, so we need not
worry about him. We commenced the climb,
and, when in sight of the prey a fire was built
to focus his attention upon the smoke and lire
until I got near enough to shoot.

The climb then continued. It was with-
out doubt the hardest piece of climbing of the
whole trip. A most remarkable thing about
it was that the goat was directly under the sun
and without the glasses we could not make
him out. The route we took was the only one

202 THE UPPER YUKON

by which an ascent could be made, but
we went as far as it was possible for human
beings to go. Before us was a yawning chasm
and back of that a sheer wall, and on the peak
of that was his eminence, the goat. A pecu-
liar sharp ridge ran across the edge of the
chasm, and on this we stopped until we could
breathe freely. The ridge was made up of
small stones and loose soil. It would not bear
our weight without straddling it, and as the
goat was directly above me, and still in the
sun, I could not see him at all without the
glasses. Lying partly on my left side with
one leg hanging over the ridge, I located him
as well as I could with the glasses and pre-
pared to shoot. It was guess work at the best,
and when the shot was fired the bullet went
at least a foot to the right of him, and in a
second, as it seemed to us, he disappeared over
the crest.

Nothing was to be done now but to get
down to the bottom again, which we did with
all the celerity at our command. While we
had been up the mountain, our pack train had
passed by the place where Charley and Billie
were tethered, and as the ground was so very
treacherous the Chief was anxious to catch up
to them. We mounted, and away we went on

THE SLIMS GLACIER 203

a gallop wherever the ground was hard
enough to permit us to travel so fast. In an
hour we came up with the pack. The men
had not been able to find a path by which
the horses could safely travel with their loads.
The Chief took command, and walking his
horse along the very edge of the river's bank
he was enabled to clear the very soft places.
The other horses seeing Charley leading, fol-
lowed in his tracks, and all went well until
a place was reached where it was impossible
to go any farther. Then we were led up into
the mountain, through the bed of a small
creek well filled with immense boulders. The
horses were taken carefully up this creek.
At the top of it, we turned to the left, and
followed a trail that ran through a thick
grove of willow brush.

It was now dark, and we had our hands
full in keeping the willows from swiping us
off our horses. In time the trail led down the
mountain again, and we came to a good camp-
ing place. The packs were removed from the
animals, they were hobbled and let loose, and
then it was discovered that one of the horses
with a pack on his back was missing.

Two men went up the mountain with a lan-
tern, and later came back saying the horse

204 THE UPPER YUKON

could not be found. Then the Chief and an-
other man went up. At about eleven o'clock
that night they found the horse on the trail,
with his pack caught between two trees so that
he could go neither forward nor backward.
Some projecting limbs had to be cut ofif before
he could be released. He was soon led down
to the tent, freed of his burden, and sent out
to feed.

The following morning, being now in the
so-called goat country, we were eager for the
expected excitement of seeing and stalking
them. A long and careful search at a high
elevation failed to reveal a single goat, and
that day was therefore a blank.

We were now completely out of meat and it
was necessary for us to procure meat of some
kind. A little before noon the Chief discov-
ered five young sheep (rams) feeding low
down on the side of a mountain. The wind
was not very good, but by following up the
near side of a deep canyon, it might be pos-
sible to get within range of them. This can-
yon was well filled with large granite boul-
ders, backed up by sharp-edged stones.
Many stones were even then sliding down the
mountain sides, so whatever noise we made in
climbing over the boulders was more than ofJ-

K

THE SLIMS GLACIER 205

set by the noise of the occasional dropping
stones. We had over a mile and a half to
work our way up the canyon before getting
within range, and for most of the time the
sheep by reason of their location were invisi-
ble to us. When at last we neared them we
came to a place where a long and deep land-
slide had plunged down into the canyon.
This we crawled over and climbed around,
and at its far end we were near enough to
shoot. As it was meat we wanted, and that
badly, the Chief used his 30-40 Winchester
rifle, and the two of us started shooting. With
the first two bullets two of the rams fell, the
others running up the side of the mountain
as fast as if they were traveling on level
ground. They dodged backwards and for-
wards, now behind a rock and again above it,
until another one fell. The ram that was run-
ning the fastest seemed to bear a charmed life
for a while, but a bullet from my Mannlichcr
dropped him, and he rolled over, and down
the side of the mountain. We had gotten
four out of the five, and we were well satis-
fied, as we now had enough meat to last us
until we arrived at White Horse. We
dressed the sheep, had our lunch, and went
back for the horses. Strapping the sheep on

2o6 THE UPPER YUKON

their backs, we returned to camp, which we
reached at dark.

It is now in order to say something about
the glacier that we were so close to, and in
which two rivers had their source, the waters
of one reaching the ocean via the Yukon River
and Behring Sea, and the other by way of the
interior waterway in the Pacific Ocean.

This glacier is really an extension of Mount
St. Elias, although that famous mountain is
eighty miles away. Formerly the glacier was
higher than the mountains surrounding it.
Now it has shrunken so much by the melting
of the ice that it makes a deep and broad gap,
through which the warm south winds rush
with immense force, carrying clouds of dust,
which finally settles in the water of the river
and sinks to the bottom, forming quicksands
or bars. Some of it is carried by the wind up
the mountain sides among the timber, and
along the banks of the stream. The pressure
of the glacial water is so great that it is forced
up from the bottom of the glacier like a sy-
phon. The current of water divides in two,
and as before stated two rivers are thus
created.

Dr. Dawson states that the ice flow, during
the period of the great Cordillevan Glacier

THE SLIMS GLACIER 207

or confluent glacier mass of the west coast, was
included between the fifty-fifth and the fifty-
ninth parallels of latitude, and that its well-
defined movement was from the south to the
north. Therefore at one time all of this wide
stretch of country was covered with a moving
mass of ice, crushing and breaking down
everything within its path. "While the
greater part of the area traversed is more or
less completely mantled with glacial deposits,
it will be observed that true boulder-clay was
found in certain parts only of the southern
and more mountainous portion of the region,
while it spreads over almost the entire length
of the upper Pelly and Lewis (Yukon) val-
leys, though not found exposed quite to their
confluence."

Dr. Dawson attributes the presence of both
the fine and the coarse gold which is found in
the Yukon basin entirely to the grinding ef-
fects of this wide-spread glacial action.

CHAPTER XVII

THE WONDERS OF A NEW LAND

I HAVE been quoting freely from Dr.
George M. Dawson, one of the greatest of
Canadian scientists. He has carefully studied
the rocks, mountains, glaciers, plateaus, vol-
canic deposits, fossils, and old lava — flows that
occur in this comparatively new land passing
under the name of the Yukon Territory.

Let me now quote from Rex Beach, the
novelist, who has spent eleven years in this
section of the country and has had a wide
experience there.

"In one way the southern coast of Alaska
may be said to be perhaps a million of years
younger than any other land on this conti-
nent, for it is still in the glacial period. The
vast alluvial plains and valleys of the inte-
rior are rimmed in to the southward, and shut
off from the Pacific, by a well-nigh impassa-
ble mountain barrier, the top of which is
capped with perpetual snow. Its gorges for
the most part run rivers of ice instead of wa-

WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 209

ter. Europe has nothing like these glaciers,
which overflow the Alaskian valleys, and sub-
merge the hills, for many of them contain
more ice than the whole of Switzerland.

*'This range is the Andes of the North, and
it curves westward in a magnificent sweep,
hugging the shore for a thousand leagues.
Against It the sea beats stormily; its frozen
crest is played upon by constant rains and fogs
and blizzards. But beyond lies a land of sun-
shine, of long, dry, golden summer days."

Here we have a description that to my mind
cannot be excelled.

On the Coast Range we have rain and rain
for weeks, with snow, ice, and a host of other
discomforts. And then sixty to eighty miles
back of the great Coast Range we find just
what this noted writer has characterized this
inland country to be — "a land of sunshine, of
long, dry, golden summer days."

It is in reality a semi-arid country. The
atmosphere is so dry that you may cache meat
out in the open in the early fall, and it will
be good to eat all through the winter; but
of course it will at that time be frozen.

Hang your wet clothes outside at night.
In the morning they are dry. Dust, heaps of
it, we found along the beds of certain rivers,

2IO THE UPPER YUKON

where it had been blown by furious winds,
sweeping over the glacier. More than eighty
miles away from this glacier the whirling,
moving, flying masses of dust darkened the
sun and made travel tedious and irksome, be-
sides filling our nostrils, our hair, our clothes,
and even our foot-gear with it.

This condition prevails only when the wind
is due south. In the future, when this par-
ticular glacier has become entirely extinct,
the conditions will be very much worse, as
the gap will be just so much wider and deeper,
thus allowing so much more air to pass^
through the gigantic funnel.

What a stunning change has come over this
region "since the glacial-ice buried the entire
great valley which separates Vancouver
Island from the mainland, and discharged
seaward round both ends of the island."

Our route was now to follow the river that
by devious ways works its course to the Pacific
through the Coast Range of mountains in
Alaska.

The scenery along this glacial river was
such as to be really indescribable. The cliffs
towering above the river, or above some
rounded lake through which the stream runs,
were wonderful in their irregularity. One

WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 211

of these small lakes was weirdly beautiful. A
large mass of clear and transparent ice had
fallen into it from the glacier. It was
grounded on the bottom below, with its top
twenty or more feet above the surface. For
several miles the bank of the river opposite
us made a sheer descent — from the ice caps
above direct to the water. But no one can
imagine the varied forms, colors, and shades
that succeeded one another along this change-
able wall of granite, sandstone, and shale,
with here and there beds of lignite.

In one place what appeared to be basaltic
columns, looking like the front of a cathedral
tower, astonished us. This was immediately
followed by a reproduction upon a large scale
of a mystic House of Parliament. Then
Turkish Mosques, Kiosks and Minarets came
into view. Look where we would, the chang-
ing sunlight upon the mass of variegated rocks
kept transforming the scene into a kaleido-
scopic view, brilliant in color and of marvel-
ous beauty of form. I cannot find words to
describe the feeling of awe and wonder that
followed each new scene of splendor. It is
indeed a fairyland upon a gigantic scale,
known unfortunately to but a handful of peo-
ple— maybe less than a hundred. As far as

212 THE UPPER YUKON

we know, no artist has seen or sketched it; no
photographer with proper equipment has ever
snapped it. Its glories must lie hidden and
unknown until some wandering Oliver Gold-
smith or some future Sir Joshua Reynolds
shall find this treasure trove, and describe it
in book form or picture it on canvas.

Finally the river broadened out to a mile
in width, and the trail led to the other side.
Willow brush became plentiful. Some dis-
tance farther on the trail led through a small
forest of Jack pines. Here were seen many
bear trails, fresh diggings, and evidences that
one or more grizzlies had been there that very
forenoon. The wind being with us would ac-
count for their disappearance.

Our two guides had been for many days
discussing the good points of their horses,
Charley and Mac. The discussions were
principally about their speed. Incidentally
I learned that on this route was a place where
the river bed for four miles was level enough
to serve as a place for racing horses, that the
bottom was fairly clear of gopher holes
(which are an ever-present danger in any
horse racing in this section of country), and
that this would be the place to settle all dis-
putes about the speed of the two animals.

WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 213

We were now jogging along at an easy gait,
when both guides put the spurs to their horses,
and not even saying, "Good-bye, we'll see you
later," away they went.

Billie threw back his ears, and without any
waiting or hesitation he started after them.
Very quickly he settled down to a steady but
swift gait. He did not seem to exert himself,
nor did he become excited. Gradually he
increased his speed, until I stood up in the
stirrups and held him with a strong grip with
my left hand. With the right hand I occa-
sionally gave him a crack with a piece of wil-
low brush used in place of a whip. We had
thus gone perhaps a half mile, when Billie
came up with the runners. Both horses were
showing nervousness and both were sweating.
The appearance of the mule alongside spurred
them to greater exertions than ever, and a new
spurt was indulged in with Mac in the lead,
Charley next, and Billie sailing along in the
rear. It struck me there and then that Bil-
lie was simply playing with them, — that he
knew he could outrun them whenever he
wanted to; but that if he beat them too easily,
the race w^ould be over and all of the enjoy-
ment with it. Indeed, he seemed to enjoy it
better than either of the two men, who were

214 THE UPPER YUKON

now plying their willow whips and shouting
to their horses with all their might.

Once more the mule, now still cool and col-
lected, drew up along side of Charley, who
was in a lather of sweat, and panting very
hard. He, being nearer to me, was the only
one I could take note of, although no doubt
Mac was in equally as bad a condition. For
a second time the two horses spurted, and once
more we went to the rear, Billie cantering eas-
ily along with his glossy skin free from any
sign of perspiration. The race having now
covered over two miles, the horses were show-
ing distress. Watching them carefully with
those searching eyes of his, Billie evidently
made up his mind that the time was ripe to
show them how quickly he could put them
"out of the running." I had no need to en-
courage or shout at him ; he let himself out —
it was just that and nothing more. With a
stately and dignified pace he drew up to them,
and easily passing them he sped on ahead, as
if to show them what a simple thing it was for
him to run them to a standstill. I was guid-
ing and holding him with my left hand only,
and we were at any rate ten yards ahead of the
horses when Billie stumbled. His left front
foot had gone down into a gopher hole. For-

WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 215

tunately for him and for me too, I had a firm
hold of the bridle and I thus kept him from
going down on all fours and myself from go-
ing over his head.

This accident put a finish to the race. Bil-
lie showed no bad effects from it, but for my-
self I found something was wrong with my
left side, which gave me considerable pain,
and it kept getting more painful with each
recurring day. It was finally discovered that
the large muscle controlling the three lower
ribs on my left side had been badly wrenched,
and I was advised to let it alone, and time
would bring about relief. This I did, but
two months elapsed before the pain and sore-
ness finally disappeared.

I did not, and do not now, begrudge hav-
ing had this accident, although it might have
been very much worse. This, however, I
may say: I wouldn't have missed this long and
unique race of a "wild" mule against two good
horses, even had I known beforehand that the
accident would happen.

A good camping place with lots of grass for
the horses and plenty of wood for the fire was
found early in the afternoon. The Chief now
led the way across the river bottom to a moun-
tain on the right-hand side, back of which

2i6 THE UPPER YUKON

a roaring body of water was forcing its way
through a canyon to the river itself. We had
to pass through a wide clump of willow brush.
With our eyes fastened on the mountains
ahead of us, it was little wonder that, when a
magnificent black fox jumped up and loped
away in front of us into another bunch of wil-
lows, the Chief saw him not at all. While I
did see him, and that very plainly, I was not
quick enough with the rifle to get a shot, al-
though I had already set the trigger and had
put the rifle to shoulder before he disappeared.

The Chief asked what I had aimed at, and
when told of the fox, he seemed to give it little
credence. But suddenly the fox appeared
again. For a second he was once more in
sight, and both rifles were brought to shoul-
der. Yet again he was too quick for us, al-
though we had a splendid view of him. His
skin was jet black, and as glossy as satin. The
Chief was much disturbed because the fox had
gotten away, as he said his pelt would easily
bring sixteen hundred dollars.

Previous to this I had personally seen three
silver foxes, two young fellows and one full
grown, which the Chief said if trapped in the
late fall would average eight hundred dollars
apiece. That black fox will have many traps

WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 217

set for him in the coming winter that he will
need to keep a wary eye upon. In order to be
out of their dangerous clutches he will have
to use his wonderful scent as well as his keen
eyesight. The Chief noted his route of travel,
and he will surely have a line of traps strung
along his pathway. To catch such a fine spec-
imen of the Yukon black fox is like finding a
gold mine, with all the rich gold in sight.

What an influence the vagaries of fashion
have upon the animal world! One year mink
is in demand and the prices soar, and the mink
is then searched for and trapped all through
British Columbia and the Yukon, Siberia and
Alaska. The next year marten comes into
vogue with a similar result. Then the lynx,
the seal, the ermine, the wolverine, the beaver,
the homely skunk, and even the muskrat each
in his turn is in demand. Now it is the black
fox, the silver fox, the blue fox, the red fox,
and the grey fox. Anything as long as it is
a fox, is wanted.

A few years back muskrats were worth only
from fifteen to twenty cents a skin. They then
came into fashion, and the price went up. In
the city of London, Ontario, I heard of a man
who had bought five thousand of these rather
common little hides and had paid $1.05 a skin

2i8 THE UPPER YUKON

for them. Alas for the purchaser; the fash-
ions changed, the prices dropped, and good-
ness knows what he had to sell them for. Per-
haps the price was once more but fifteen cents
each.

The fur trade is always subject to violent
fluctuations in price, governed by the sales
from continent to continent. As fashion al-
ways fixes upon one fur to the exclusion of
others, upon that caprice alone does the life
or death of millions of fur-bearing animals
depend.

CHAPTER XVIII

AN INDIAN VILLAGE

WE followed the glacial river bed for
thirty-three miles and then overtook a
four-horse wagon of ours which had gone on
ahead of us. It was loaded with our spare
dunnage and the horns, antlers, scalps, and
hides that we had secured. As I had elected
to walk most of the distance to White Elorse,
Billie was hitched to the wagon, with Beck,
the lady mule, as companion, and two of our
saddle horses as leaders.

It rained the night that we came up with
our outfit, and that was only the second rain
of the whole trip. Two snow storms and two
gentle rains during the entire sixty-nine days
in the hunting field — no one could ask for bet-
ter weather.

Our next day's trek brought us to an Indian
village, where most of the inhabitants were
away on a hunting trip. One old squaw with
tousled hair and grimy face showing the rav-
ages of disease — a veritable old hag — ac-

220 THE UPPER YUKON

costed us as we proceeded to unhitch the
horses. She had with her a fierce Indian dog,
and the wolf-dog that had followed us all of
the trip and this Indian dog could not agree.
She was asked in the Indian tongue by one
of our men to go into her cabin and take her
dog with her. This stirred up her anger, and
she gave us such an outburst of talk as none
of us had ever before heard. We had the car-
cases of three young rams on the wagon and
the following morning the largest of the three
was found on the ground with nearly half of
it eaten. It was at first thought that the In-
dian dog had climbed upon the wagon and
pulled the carcase off, but I imagine the old
hag had done the climbing and the dragging,
and after helping herself first, had then left
the dog to get his share.

In the year 1892 I was with a trans-conti-
nental hunting party. We had a car built on
the lines of a Pullman sleeper, in which we
ate and slept. We stopped at different places
where the hunting was good, and our car
would be switched on to a siding. We spent
a week in a reservation of the Cree tribe of
Indians away out in the flat prairies of Al-
berta Territory. We had been successful
with our hunt. We had a large number of

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 221

wild ducks, mostly mallards, hung along one
side of the roof of the car. The other side
was hung with prairie chickens, while from
the rear end of the car were suspended thir-
teen antelopes.

The white tepees of the tribe dotted the
prairies for a radius of several miles, and my
son and I spent considerable time in wander-
ing among these aborigines. We treated
them courteously and did not attempt at all
to pry into their domestic affairs, but walked
along as if we were on business bent. We had
learned from the man who was the station
master, operator, ticket agent, and jack-of-all-
trades for the railroad company, that some
persons who had intruded into some of the
tepees had been rudely handled. The Indi-
an's tent is his castle, just as the white man's
house is his. Occasionally a buck would stop
and speak a few words with us and then go
his way.

We had a baggage car with us and in it
we carried several hunting dogs. Two of
these were left outside at night to give warn-
ing if any one should come near either of the
cars to steal the game. As the Indians seemed
to pay no attention whatever to our stores of
venison and wild birds, our vigilance was re-

222 THE UPPER YUKON

laxed for one night. The following morning
we discovered that the Indians had stolen
seven antelopes out of the thirteen, and all of
the wild ducks were taken, while the prairie
chickens had not been touched. The reason
for the chickens being unmolested was that
the braves could easily secure these for them-
selves as they rode over the prairies, while no
wild ducks were to be found nearer than
twenty miles away. After this wholesale
theft the dogs were kept on the watch every
night.

It will be remembered that in a former
chapter describing our "going in," I said we
passed through an Indian village where all
of the tribe but the old chief and his wife had
left for a moose hunt. After breakfast the
morning that we discovered the loss of the
ram, my companion and I walked on ahead of
the wagon in order to stop at that same vil-
lage to see what the Indians might have for
sale in the way of furs.

The members of the tribe were all there,
getting ready for the opening of the trapping
season. The village was bustling with activ-
ity, as much as Indians can bustle. I went
into a trading store, and met a white man
from New York state who had settled there.

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 223

He had married a handsome young squaw.
Her three children — two boys and a girl —
were healthy looking and apparently very
happy. The morning was quite cold, the
glass registering about twenty-two degrees,
yet the youngsters had no hats on, and their
clothing was very light. Their cheeks were
rosy, their hair was nicely combed, and their
faces were clean. I asked their father — the
trader — if he had any ''whistler" skins (skins
of the whistling marmot). "No," he replied,
"but I'll send my boy over to an Indian who
has eighteen good ones that he'll sell." He
spoke to the boy and off the lad went on the
run. He came back with one skin, the price
being a dollar. As this was twice w^hat I w^as
told they were worth, I took but the one to
bring home as a sample, and then bought some
articles of Indian manufacture as curios.

While paying for these purchases a loud
shouting was heard, and on looking out I saw
our wagon team of two mules and two horses
dashing away in spite of the driver's efforts
to hold them. The team was going up hill
and the stiff ascent soon calmed them down.
Running up to the w-agon we found that a
young Indian had come alongside of Billie
to speak to the driver, and at once the noble

224 THE UPPER YUKON

mule had become panic-stricken, and had
tried to jump over Beck's back, causing all
the horses to become frightened. This was
the only incident in the whole of our home
journey where Billie lost his equilibrium.

The village we had stopped at is quite a fur
emporium, the surrounding territory being
considered an excellent trapping district. As
far as we could learn, the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany had never reached out into this far-
western portion of the Upper Yukon, although
they did have a fort on the head waters of
the Yukon River itself.

An eloquent writer, Agnes Dean Cameron,
has graphically pictured the usual starting
scenes of the trappers for their winter's work:

"All through the Canadian north the Yukon
rush of ten years ago has left an aftermath of
derelicts, human boulder-drifts from the
world's four corners, who, failing to find a
fortune in gold, now tread the silent places
seeking a bare living from the trade in
peltries. The Indian hunters belong to many
tribes, Crees, Chipewyans, Dog-Ribs, Yellow-
Knives, Slavis, Beavers, and Loucheux. They
all trap and trade.

"In the ranks of the trappers one comes
across strange workers. On the shores of the

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 225

Lesser Slave you stumble upon a London
University graduate, who finds the search for
fur more fascinating than integral calculus
or conic sections.

''It is becoming usual among hunters and
trappers to specialize, as doctors do, and so
one hunter, bearwise, bends all his energies
towards bearskins ; another studies foxes to
their downfall; a third hunts moose alone,
that big-nosed Hebrew of the woods. Here
as elsewhere the man who mixes brain with
his bait, and makes a scientific art of a rude
craft is the man who succeeds. His trapping
is the highest product of nemoral science and
not the cometary career of luck of the rule-
of-thumb trapper. It is a contest of wits
worthy the cleverest. The furbearers, as the
years pass, become more, rather than less
wary, and the days of the magenta string tying
a chunk of fat to a nice new shiny trap are
long past. The man who used to 'make
fur' in that way is, like Fenimore Cooper's
Indian, the extinct product of a past race that
never existed.

"The Canadian trapper eats or dries every
ounce of flesh he traps, from the scant flesh-
covering of the skull to the feet and the en-
trails. As soon as the skins of bear and mus-

226 THE UPPER YUKON

quash are removed, the bodies — so many
skinned cats — are impaled on a stick of Jack
pine and set sizzling before the fire.

*'In the fur-land when the leaves fall, the
beaver, giving over his daub-work and wattles,
sets the family to work storing up the winter
groceries. There is the challenge of frost in
the air and the southward flight of birds.
Some old primal instinct stirs the blood of the
trapper; he hears the north a-callin', it is time
to go. The factor of the Hudson's Bay fort
gaily farewells him, glad to have him go; the
priest, the old men of the lodges and the blind
'old wives,' little kiddies and lean, snapping
dogs come out to bid him God-speed. Leaves
will be budding on the birches when he re-
turns. The curtain of silence cuts him off
from the fellowship of the fort for many
moons, once he lifts the curtain of that ghostly
woodland. It is paddle and portage for days
and weary weeks, inland and ever inland;
then the frost crisps into silence, the running
water and the lake lip. The grind of form-
ing ice warns our trapper it is time to change
birchbark for moccasin and snowshoe. The
canoe is cached and the trail strikes into the
banksian pine and birch woods.

''The door of the forest is lonely and eerie.

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 227

It no longer seems incongruous that, although
Pierre wears a scapular on his burnt-umber
breast and carries with him on his journey the
blessing of the good Father, he also murmurs
the hunting incantation of the Chipewyans
and hangs the finest furs of his traps flapping
in the tops of the pines — a superstitious sop to
the Cerberus of the woodland Wentigo.

"If the trapper is married — and most of
them are much-married — his spouse and
dusky brood accompany him into the woods
and frozen winter sees nomad families, each
little group a vignette in the heart of the wider
panorama, flitting over lake surfaces to their
individual fur-preserves. In the woods, in
tepee, tent, or rough shack the family fires
are lighted, and from this center the trap-
per radiates. The hunter traps for miles and
days alone, and an accident in the woods
means a death as lonely and agonizing, as that
of the animal he snares. Sometimes he goes
insane and then the Royal Northwest
Mounted Policeman, another sentinel of si-
lence, handcuffs him, saves him from himself,
and takes him 'outside.'

"Possibly the trapper places 150 snares,
and his line of traps may extend for 30 or 40
miles. Ere first snow flies he has all his traps

228 THE UPPER YUKON

ready waiting for the tell-tale tracks in the
snow, which shall point out to him each coign
of vantage for the placing of a cunning lure.

"With blanket, bait and bacon on a hand-
sled, silently he trudges forward. The north-
ern lights come down o' nights and it is cold,
but cold makes finer fur. Down far trails in
gloomy forests, across the breast of silenced
streams, he trudges from trap to trap. If he
finds $50 worth of fur along the whole line of
traps he is content. It is not this lonely man
who gets the high price, madame, for your
opera cloak of ermine.

"When Pierre is not 'making fur' or making
love, he is eating. On the trail he may go
hungry for two days with no word of com-
plaint, just a tightening of the lips and of
L'Assumption belt, and a firm set to the jaw
but while the moose lasts, life is one long
supper.

"Meat (pronounced throughout the north
'mit') is the great staple in the land of fur.
On the trail one finds one's self assimilating
helpings of 'deer mit,' and greedily gulping
chunks of fat; the rations of the trapper would
be the despair of Dickens' Miss Todgers, who
could never bring the supply of gravy up to
the demand. In the old days the H. B. Com-

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 229

pany allowed its men en-voyage five pounds
of meat a day, while the kiddies were entitled
to three pounds each from the community
larder. In British Columbia and the Yukon
the allowance was one salmon; on the Atha-
basca one wild goose or three whitefish; and
up on the Arctic foreshore, two fish and three
pounds of reindeer meat. This was the sched-
uled fare, but the grimness of the joke ap-
pears in the fact that the man had to run his
breakfast to earth before he had it.

"During the last five years, furs the world
over have been increasingly fashionable, with
a corresponding advance in prices. To this
end no one cause has contributed so strongly
as the automobile. The quick, exhilarating
motion makes necessary warm clothing of
compact texture. This is a self-evident truth.

"Should the most valuable fox that runs be
called a black fox of a silver fox? What is
the highest price ever paid for a single fox
skin? Don't try to get to the bottom of these
innocent looking demands. That way mad-
ness lies. How old is Ann? pales before this.

^'Canadian foxes present themselves patri-
otically in red, white and blue; there are also
black foxes and silver ones. The white and
blue phases of the Arctic fox (eanis lagapus)

230 THE UPPER YUKON

are the winter dress of different animals not
winter and summer coats of the same animal.
In 1 89 1 nine thousand white foxskins were
sent to London by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany. The white fox is found as far north as
any animal life."

This tribe of Indians whose village we
passed through twice, bear a striking likeness
to the Japanese, so much so that it is some-
times difBcult to differentiate between a Japa-
nese immigrant and a native of this tribe.
Learned ethnologists believe that in the re-
mote past at least some of the Indian tribes
of the Yukon came from Japan by way of Si-
beria, crossing Behring Sea on the ice and set-
tling there to hunt and fish.

They have traditions that seem analogous
to those that pertain to the Jewish race. They
have one well-defined tradition of the flood
which is well worth deep and earnest consid-
eration. This is the story as given by an In-
dian woman, the wife of our Chief, who
claims that it has come down from generation
to generation among her own people.

''In the Yukon there were twelve large
mountains that carried their peaks up to the
very sky; one of them is even now called Jubi-
lee Mountain. It is located near the center

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 231

of the space in which the other eleven are
located. This towers above all the rest so
that from its crest nearly all the wilderness
world can be seen. Many ages ago a medi-
cine man warned the people of our tribe that
big rains would come and fill all the valleys.
These big waters from the sky were to get
deeper every day because the rain would not
stop coming down, until forty days and nights
had passed away. The medicine man said
every brave, every squaw, and every boy and
girl should climb to the top of the great moun-
tain and take plenty blankets and meat along,
and after the ground had been watered forty
days the water would commence to go to its
own home — the place of the big waters.

"This word was passed to all our people,
and most of them obeyed the medicine man's
commands. Soon were seen families of In-
dians coming from all over the country. They
were told to bring their blankets which were
to keep them warm and shed the rain from
them during the forty days' downpour.

"They were warned not to kill any game
animals but to help to drive as many as they
could to the summit of Jubilee Mountain, so
that when the rush of waters was over there
would be enough animals left to take the

232 THE UPPER YUKON

places of those that would be drowned. Then
they were commanded to build a great raft
and as the waters arose and drowned the ani-
mals who could not reach the mountain in time
to escape, they should drag the animals on to
the raft and use them for food. Under pain
of death no Indian was to kill any animal
whatsoever, but they should use every means
to save them.

"A large number of the natives obeyed the
medicine man's instructions, and succeeded in
reaching the summit of the mountain, but very
many laughed at our people whom they called
silly old women to believe in such a tale.

"But the rain came, even before the great
raft was finished, and it took many days be-
fore it was all put together so that it would
float. Then all kinds of birds and animals,
the caribou, the moose, the mountain sheep,
the goat, the fox, wolf, wolverine, bear, skunk,
lynx, coyote, squirrel, gopher, whistling mar-
mot, besides crawling insects of every kind, as
well as those that could fly, commenced to run
before the big waters. They were driven and
helped up the sides of the mountain by our
people, but those that were too far away to be
saved were drowned. Their bodies were
caught as they floated around, and put on the

AN INDIAN VILLAGE 233

raft and were used as food for all the people,
and also for those animals, birds, and insects
that had obeyed the medicine man's command.

"When the forty days had expired the rain
stopped, the waters gradually ran away, and
the animals which had lived in harmony with
each other on the great mountain came down
and departed to their various homes and feed-
ing grounds."

The woman who gave us this version of a
widely disseminated tradition of her race, also
stated that when she was eight years old, her
father made a pilgrimage to Jubilee Moun-
tain, taking her with him. The great raft was
then resting upon the crest, but covered over
with thick ice, and very deep snow. It is said
that traditions of the flood are to be found in
the annals of many of the ancient Eastern
countries, but this is the first that I have ever
heard of an Indian tradition of the flood and
it is just possible therefore that this one is of
Japanese origin.

CHAPTER XIX

THE RETURN TO WHITE HORSE

"Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home. Is
this a holiday?"

THE return journey had been an enjoy-
able one as the weather was cool and
pleasant; and being hardened by our ex-
posure to the elements we did not mind the
few cold nights or the occasional high winds.
For my part, while I rejoiced to be within
telegraphic reach of home once more, yet I
felt reluctant at leaving a region that above
all other countries that I have ever been in
seemed most like a fairy land. Whether it
was the exhilarating influence of the pure air,
the glorious scenery, the continual daily
changes of hunting grounds with the attend-
ant excitements of the hunt, or the exuberant
health which I had enjoyed, T know not; but
I really felt deep regret when we finally
pulled into White H^orse at about four o'clock
in the afternoon of the fourteenth of Octo-
ber.

RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 235

I could not think of parting with Billie
without emotion. The next morning after
our arrival at White Horse I went to the sta-
ble where he was quietly eating his breakfast,
and called to him. As soon as I entered he
at once turned his head and I patted him on
his forehead and put my arm around his neck
while he rubbed his nose against my hand. I
really cannot explain how the thought origi-
nated, but I felt he realized that we were to
part forever.

Amid the rush and bustle of the following
morning when we were trying to get things
in shape to leave, I again opened the stable
door and greeted him with a "Hello, Billie."
How his glorious eyes did shine as he gave
me a morning welcome 1 I spent with him all.
the precious minutes that could be spared, and
walked away from him backwards so that he
could see me and I him until a corner had to
be turned and he was out of sight.

He had carried me on his back at least a
thousand miles. He had jumped across
chasms that most horses would not dream of
taking. He had forded many streams with
me on his back, had several times slid down
steep declines with all his feet bunched to-
gether, and had safely carried me up moun-

236 THE UPPER YUKON

tain sides that seemed impossible of ascent.

Once we were working down the side of a
rocky mountain in order to cross to another
one equally rough, when we came to a deep
chasm with a little stream of water running
through it away down below. To me it
looked an easy jump for Billie. He, however,
looked at the other side, and evidently made
up his mind that the landing was bad. He
turned abruptly around, and felt his way still
further down that side. Then he stopped,
looked at the far side, and perhaps noted a
flat place where he could land in safety, for
without any ado he gathered himself together
and made the jump as easily as a bob-cat or a
lynx could have done. Then without urg-
ing he commenced to climb the other moun-
tain as if he knew just what was wanted of
him.

On another occasion we suddenly came to a
small brook running through a deep ravine
with a heavy growth of willow brush on each
side. He pushed through the willows and
when he jumped he threw his head as far back
as possible so that the willows would not strike
his eyes.

To me he was always gentle and always
ready for his work. One day while stalking

■• • \

RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 237

a mountain ram, I had to leave him, so I
pulled the bridle over his head and left him
standing loose. We were gone over three
hours before we came back, and on our re-
turn he was standing where I had left him —
he had not moved a step.

Every morning when the horses would be
brought to the camp from their feeding
ground during the night, I would give him
some pancakes that I had saved or a couple
of mutton chops, which he always ate with
relish, crunching the bones and swallowing
them as well as the meat. Sometimes I would
give him the half of a ptarmigan and to him
that was a delightful morsel. When the fif-
teen head of horses would be seen coming, I
would call out, "Billie; here Billie," and he
would lose no time in running ahead for his
pancakes.

I do not expect ever to meet with his equal
again. In time I will no doubt gradually for-
get the many exciting stalks, the interest of
the hunt itself, and the bringing to camp of
the game, but never as long as life shall last
will I forget Billie.

It will be remembered that we arrived at
White Horse going ^'in" on the evening of
the fourteenth of August. When we came

238 THE UPPER YUKON

"out" we arrived back on the evening of the
fourteenth of October. We had time to
change our clothes and get a good wash before
supper w^as announced at the hotel. We had
been accompanied back by our Chief, the sec-
ond guide, the cook, and his brother the wran-
gler. The Chief and Guide Number Two
took their meals at our caravansary, and we
had an opportunity to note w^hat appetites
these frontiersmen can cultivate when they
reach civilization. It may seem an incredible
story that I have to tell, but it is true. When
our Chief sat down to his first meal, which
was supper, he ordered two dozen raw eggs,
and after he had stowed these away in the ca-
pacious folds of his stomach he ordered his
regular supper. The next morning his first
order was three dozen of fried eggs, fried six
at a time, and then came his regular break-
fast. We were told that eggs were worth one
dollar and fifty cents per dozen and it is to
be presumed that the balance of the food or-
dered would be equally high, so it can be easily
seen that the high cost of living had no terrors
for the Chief.

The next day was devoted to getting things
shaped up so as to leave the following morn-
ing on the train for Skagway. Our licenses

RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 239

had to be inspected and endorsed. Crates had
to be made in which to ship the horns, antlers,
scalps, and hides. This took a carpenter all
of the afternoon and night, and he was still
working when the sun arose on the morning
of the sixteenth. We settled our bill with the
men and with the outfitters who had attended
to our supplies. It is but right to say that
everything the merchants furnished was of ex-
cellent quality and the prices were very rea-
sonable considering the high rate of freight
which obtains for all classes of merchandise
carried over the White Horse Pass Railroad.

When you know that the lowest rate for
such things as potatoes, flour, salt, pork, sugar,
etc., is 4I/2 cents per pound for the haul of
one hundred and ten miles, you do not wonder
at paying five dollars a bushel for potatoes
and two dollars a gallon for gasoline a hun-
dred and fifty miles in the interior.

A few prices which we paid for supplies
may prove interesting:

450 lbs. Flour $20.25

250 lbs. Sugar 25.00

200 lbs. Salt 12.00

50 lbs. Beans 6.00

58 lbs. Canned Butter 31 -90

3 cans Dehydrated Potatoes 13.50

240 THE UPPER YUKON

20 lbs. Lard $ 4.60

48 lbs. Bacon 1345

2 gals. Syrup 3.00

2 Cases Cream 14.00

1 Case Milk 8.25

3 lbs. Pepper 1.95

20 lbs. Coffee 9.50

5 lbs. Cocoa . . . ., 5.00

6 doz. Baker's Eggs 7.80

2 Cans Deh3'drated Raspberries 13.00

I Case Canned Tomatoes 6.50

10 lbs. Evap. Apricots 2.50

40 lbs. Onions 4.00

100 lbs. Potatoes 7.00

40 lbs. Sugar 4.00

I Case Eggs 14.00

The bill for all the supplies amounted to
$378.65. In addition to this, one thousand
nine hundred and seventy-three pounds of sup-
plies had been sent in ahead of us in July. The
hauling of this lot by wagon and pack-horses
at 10 cents per pound amounted to $197.30,
making the item of food supplied $575.95,
which is a modest amount considering the
high railroad rates and the fact that the qual-
ity of every single item was really first-class.
The packing was so deftly and firmly done
that there was practically no breakage.

I know not whether every one is treated as
well as we were in White Horse. The chief

RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 241

of the Customs Department, the hotel people,
the cashier of the Bank of Commerce — who
cashed our checks for several thousand dol-
lars— and the lady in the post-office all treated
us most courteously and kindly.

The morning that we left we went to the
post-office to see if there was any mail. There
was not. We had received a large bundle of
letters and papers when we arrived in White
Horse two days before, so were not much dis-
appointed.

The crates were not finished until nearly
nine o'clock, and the train was to start at 9.30.
There was much hurrying to and fro. A con-
sul had to be seen, many papers had to be
signed, and during all this bustle I noticed the
young postmistress in the station standing pa-
tiently, apparently waiting a chance to speak
to me. So when I had an opportunity I went
over to her. Two letters had turned up since
I had been in the post-office, and she had put
herself to the trouble of bringing them to me.
As each missive was from a member of my
family at home, you can imagine how much I
appreciated her kindness.

Our precious crates had been loaded upon
a car, but the train started without the car.
There was another hunting party to come

242 THE UPPER YUKON

down the following day, and we were told
that their outfit and ours would both be placed
in the same car. This would save the rail-
road company the expense of sending two cars
where one would do as well.

The mountain scenery going down to Skag-
way was equally as grand as it had been on
the trip up, but we had seen so many moun-
tains and canyons in the meantime that were
higher and grander in every way that the im-
pression left on the mind was not so vivid as
on the first trip.

Skagway seemed to be completely filled
with people waiting for the Vancouver
steamer, which was to leave that evening.
Most of them were miners, business men or
visitors from Dawson getting "out" before the
Yukon River should freeze over. We were
therefore unable to obtain accommodations on
that boat, as every berth was taken.

A Seattle steamer was expected to arrive
the next day, so a stateroom was secured on
her and we waited patiently for her arrival.
At noon her sonorous whistle announced her
arrival. Her freight for Skagway took but
little time to lift out of her hold, and the down
cargo was as quickly stowed in the vacant
space; so the vessel was soon ready to com-

Mrs. Dickson and Family

RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 243

mence her return trip. Then it was an-
nounced that the train having the second hunt-
ing party aboard, and our crates as well, was
reported four and a half hours late. In place
of arriving at 4.30 P. M. she would not arrive
until nearly nine o'clock. It was said that the
captain of the steamer had orders not to wait,
and there was much 'phoning and many trips
down to the steamer, which lay a mile and a
half away. The captain waited, however.

It would need the signature of the Ameri-
can inspector to pass our crates of horns, etc.,
and as his office closed at 4.30 P. M., I found
out his home address. At about six o'clock I
went to his house and hold him of our anxiety
to get oflf on the steamer that night, and that
our stuff could not go without his signature
to the necessary papers. I found him to be a
courteous and kindly young man.

He promptly and cheerfully agreed to be
at the station to sign the papers, no matter
what time the train arrived, and I hurried
back to the station. On nearing it a great
crowd of people was surging around it, and
every one seemed to be wild with excitement.
I was told that an exployee of the express com-
pany had been blackjacked into insensibility
but a few minutes before, and seven hundred

244 THE UPPER YUKON

dollars had been taken from him. He had
been carried to the hospital in an insensible
condition.

There was some eager hunting for the one
magistrate of the town, and for the one po-
liceman. What made the outrage look so
peculiar was the fact that the year before a
similar robbery had been committed at about
the same time.

Reports coming from the hospital before we
left stated that the man had been restored to
consciousness and that he was resting quietly.
When the train finally did arrive we found
that the car containing the crates for both
hunting parties had been left at the summit,
many miles from Skagway. Why this was
done none could tell, as it was all down hill
from the divide to Skagway. The inspector
promised to attend to our freight when it did
arrive, and as we could do nothing else we
made our way to the steamer.

We were under many obligations to Mrs.
Harriet Pullen, the proprietress of the Pullen
House, who did everything she could to bring
order out of chaos, even to going down to the
vessel and inviting the captain and the chief
engineer to take dinner with her, thus giving
us an opportunity to be introduced to them

RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 245

and to see that the boat did not get away with-
out us.

The incident of the robbery gave the cap-
tain considerable trouble. Many of the pas-
sengers had their baggage searched before we
left, and a sharp eye was kept upon all of the
steerage or second-class passengers to see if the
supposed robber was aboard.

The story was wired ahead of us to Seattle.
When we reached there at five A.M., we were
delayed nearly an hour before we were per-
mitted to go ashore, because of the necessity
of making another thorough examination.

No suspect was found and there was a good
reason why. It developed some time later
that the man who claimed to have been
knocked down, robbed, and nearly killed, had
inflicted the wounds upon himself. He had
stolen seven hundred dollars from the express
company and had hit upon this plan to get
himself out of trouble. He made a complete
confession and so ended the story of "the at-
tempted murder."

The trip down to Seattle was interesting
and very enjoyable, although we arrived three
days late. This was caused by having to stop
frequently to take on large shipments of
canned salmon, as the canneries had ceased

246 THE UPPER YUKON

operations and were closing up. We also
brought the cannery employees along, most of
them being Chinese or "Chinks," as they are
called by the natives.

We made long stops at Juneau, the capital
of Alaska, and at Katchikan, Glacier Bay, and
other salmon fishing ports. Katchikan is a
town built on stilts where a very large cannery
is in operation. Here we took on a thousand
or more cases of canned salmon and eighty-
three cases of fresh halibut, each case weigh-
ing eight hundred pounds. This was billed
through to China. Just imagine three hun-
dred and thirty-two tons of fresh halibut being
shipped all the way to the land of Confucius.

At Wrangle we stopped for a while, took
on some cargo, and thoroughly investigated
this quaint old town. Two days before our
arrival at Seattle we awoke in the morning to
find a steamer following behind us closely, and
we saw that she was trying to pass us. It was
the Steamer Admiral Sansom bound from
Seward to Seattle. It was believed that she
would have some hunters aboard of her from
the Kenai Peninsula. A wireless message
from our boat was sent to her asking if Mr.
Wilson Potter was on board. A reply came
back almost instantly:

RETURN TO WHITE HORSE 247

"Yes, and several other hunting parties are
aboard with him."

It reminded me of Puck's boast, "I'll put a
girdle round about the earth in forty minutes."
It seemed strange to know that the man who
had helped me to make all the arrangements
for my successful trip in the Yukon was right
here within talking distance of us, and in a
few hours would meet me in Seattle.

Mr. Potter and his party, together with the
other hunters sailing on the Admiral Sansom,
had been in the Kenai Peninsula and had been
taken on the steamer at Seward, Alaska. As
the steamer makes only one trip a month to
Seward, it behooved all of the hunters to be
"out" in time to meet her. Each hunter had
been successful in killing several bull moose
and bears, besides a number of white sheep.

At noon of the day of our arrival we all met
at a dinner in a large hotel as the guests of Mr.
Potter, and a few of the experiences of each
party were rehearsed.

CHAPTER XX

THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW TERRITORY

"Thus far into the bowels of the land,
Have we marched on without impediment."

THROUGH the courtesy of the Hon. H.
H. Stevens, M. P. for the District of
Vancouver, I have been fortunate enough to
obtain copies of all the so-called old, and
many of the new, surveys of the Pelly- Yukon
River district.

It will surprise most people to know that
the first prospector to cross from the coast to
the headwaters of the Yukon River was one
George Holt — according to the report of
George M. Dawson, C. M. G., L. L. L.,
F. R. S., by all odds the most famous sur-
veyor, geologist, and naturalist among Cana-
dian scientists.

Holt's journey was made in 1878, so that at
the present time the short space of thirty-five
years only divides this now well-known ter-
ritory from the oblivion in which it was in-
volved prior to that year.

A NEW TERRITORY 249

The intrepid George Holt was afterwards
murdered by Indians at Cook's Inlet, Alaska,
in 1885, seven years after his successful jour-
ney from ocean to river.

To quote from Dawson: "In 1880 a pros-
pecting party of nineteen men under one Ed-
win Bean was organized in Sitka. Amicable
relations were established with the Chilkat
and the Chilcoot Indians who controlled the
Chilkoot Pass. This pass was crossed and
then they packed their stufif to Lake Linde-
man — the fountain head of the Yukon. On
July 4th the party, now increased to twenty-
five men and having built boats, started down
the then mysterious stream, the Yukon. They
went as far as Teslin Lake and then they
turned back after having found but a little
gold on the river bars, equal to a yield of $2.50
per day.

"Dr. Arthur Krause, a German scientist
from Berlin, made an exploration of the Chil-
kat and Chilkoot passes in 1881, reaching
Lake Lindeman and the sources of the To-
hi-ni River respectively.

"In 1883 Lieut. Schatka of the U. S.
Surveying Corps crossed the Chilkoot Pass,
and descended the Lewis-Yukon River to the
sea, a distance of about two thousand miles.

250 THE UPPER YUKON

''In 1886 coarse gold was found on Forty
Mile Creek — a good distance below the now
modern city of Dawson. This caused a gold
rush, and a miner named Williams in bring-
ing out the news was frozen to death on the
Chilkoot Pass in January of 1887. At this
time the miners were not content with less
than a return in gold of the value of $14.00 a
day. The estimated number of all the miners
in the Upper Yukon Country in 1887 was not
over two hundred and fifty."

In i887-'88 William Ogilvie, D. L. S., an-
other famous Canadian explorer, crossed the
Chilkoot Pass with a heavy outfit, among
which were two Peterboro canoes, each one
strong enough to hold two men and 1400
pounds of freight. These boats made 1700
landings and did about 2500 miles of work
on Lewis River, Porcupine River, Bell's
River, Poplar River, Pells River and thence
up the great Mackenzie River — a distance of
1400 miles. After all of this, they were left
at Fort Chipewyan in a fairly good condi-
tion, "and," says Ogilvie, "with a little paint-
ing they would go through the same ordeal
again."

This intrepid explorer built another boat, a
large one, and with the three boats he started

A NEW TERRITORY 251

down the Yukon to go as far as the interna-
tional boundary line — about 700 miles. He
found the much-dreaded White Horse Pass
unsafe to run with the big boats. He sent two
men through the canyon in one of the canoes
to await the arrival of one boat and to be
ready to pick up the men in case of an acci-
dent. Every man in the party was supplied
with a life preserver, so that if a casualty had
occurred they all would have floated. Those
in the canoe got through, but would not try it
again. The passage through the canyon was
made in three minutes, or at the rate of twelve
and one-half miles an hour.

There's a rock in the middle of the channel
near the upper end of the carry, the one that
makes the passage so difficult. In low water
this rock barely shows itself above the sur-
face. The distance from the head to the foot
of the canyon is five-eighths of a mile, with a
basin about midway in it of 150 yards in di-
ameter. It is circular in form, with steep
sides about 100 feet high. The lower part of
the canyon is much rougher to run through
than the upper.

"The White Horse Rapids proper are only
about three-eighths of a mile long, and are
the most dangerous rapids of the whole river.

252 THE UPPER YUKON

At the foot of the channel it is only thirty
yards wide, and here there is a sudden drop
and the water rushes through at a tremendous
rate, leaping and seathing like a cataract.
The miners have constructed a portage road
on the west side and put down roUways in
some places on which to shove their boats over,
and they have also made some windlasses to
haul their boats up hill, at the foot of the
canyon.

''The next great obstruction in the river is
the Five Finger Rapids. These are made by
several islands standing in the channel and
backing up the water so as to raise it about a
foot, causing a swell below. For two miles
the rapids are very swift, but nowadays steam-
ers 'buck' these rapids and with the help of a
cable they do fairly well."

All of the above is quoted from Prof.
Ogilvie's Report of his Surveys in i887-'88.
In the same year Dr. G. M. Dawson made
a journey from the Stikine River, in British
Columbia, to the Yukon, following the Liard,
Frances, and Finlayson rivers.

In the early winter of 1893, Warburton
Pike crossed from the Liard River to the
Pelly Lakes by way of Frances Lake and
Ptarmigan Creek. When the spring opened

A NEW TERRITORY 253

he descended the Pelly and Yukon rivers all
the way to Behring Sea. Warburton Pike
started in on his long journey from Lac La
Hache — "the lake of the axe." This lake is
about a hundred and twenty miles from Ash-
croft on the C. P. R. R. He was alone and
his pack contained fifty pounds of flour, a slab
of bacon, some matches, candles, salt, cart-
ridges, clothes, shoes, etc., and this with his
axe and rifle enabled him to spend a whole
year in making this remarkable trip of over
two thousand miles.

The year i897-'98 saw a wonderful hegira
of excited men and some women all rushing
pell-mell to the Klondike gold fields. Of the
thousands upon thousands of people who made
the trip or attempted to make it, thousands
died. A host of men undertook to reach the
fabled country by way of the Mackenzie River
Valley. We quote now from Prof. Joseph
Keele:

"Of the latter, was a party starting from
Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River in the
month of November, 1897. Hauling their
outfits on sleds under the guidance of one In-
dian, they followed an Indian trail to the
Gravel River and went up the Twitya River
to the divide. They then followed one of the

254 THE UPPER YUKON

branches of the Hess River, reaching boating
water on this stream in April, 1898, and de-
scended the Hess and Stewart rivers to the
Yukon, thus taking six months in all on the
trip."

The dreadful hardships of such a journey
can be imagined by any one who will think
for a few minutes of the extremities they must
have been put to in getting enough food to
satisfy their wants on a trip lasting half a year
and most of it in the winter months, when the
thermometer frequently goes to 60 degrees
below zero.

Then think of the swarms of men that per-
ished from overwork and exposure in climb-
ing the Chilkoot and Chilkat passes. Men
who perhaps had never done any real hard
work in their lives were suddenly called upon
to bear the burden of a pack weighing from
sixty to eighty pounds or more, a distance of
eighteen miles from Skagway (the coast) to
Chilkoot Summit, and then twenty-two miles
to Lake Lindeman. This they had to do be-
fore they could float their supplies and them-
selves, by boat or canoe, down the stream, and
through the dreaded White Horse Rapids.
When once in the broad Yukon it was easy
going to the Klondike. Is it not a won-

A NEW TERRITORY 255

der that any of these men ever pulled through?

Think of the fatal snow-slide on Chilkoot
Mountain when the men who were crowding
up to the top — in spite of the warnings given
them that the snow was not safe — were in the
twinkling of an eye carried down by an ava-
lanche, and sixty-nine men speedily found
a grave amid the sliding, rushing, deadly
snow.

Think also of the men who lost all, who
pawned their spare clothes to buy food, who
searched for gold and found it not, who
couldn't get work because they had no trade
and were physically unfit for the hard work
of digging gold in the mines.

Many blew out their brains, more died of
starvation, others went insane. For every
eighteen men who succeeded, eighty-two other
men either fell by the wayside, or returned
home in a crippled condition, financially as
well as physically.

It is true that since then an enormous out-
put of gold has been yearly shipped away — as
much as $25,000,000 in one year, but this huge
sum has been made mostly by wealthy com-
panies operating the mines under skillful man-
agement and with up-to-date machinery. The
Rothschilds and the Guggenheims, and others

2^6 THE UPPER YUKON

of their class, have been the men to gather in
the rich deposits of gold. The poor man only
occasionally made a hit. The rich companies
took few risks; they knew what they were
about; they had the money, the machinery and
the men to get the most of the mineral wealth
out with the least possible cost.

In a little less than two years the city of
Dawson became one of the most talked-of cit-
ies of the world. In this young city there
were "revels by day and revels by night."
There was gambling that in its fury of excite-
ment eclipsed Monte Carlo itself. The dance
halls were dens of vice that in point of ex-
travagance, brutality, and indecency, the
Bowery in New York in the palmiest days
could never equal. The city was overrun by
the painted women who usually follow the vi-
cissitudes of gold-mining rushes.

Thus it was that Dawson became famous.
Thus it was that the people of the outside
world came to know that there is a wonderful
Yukon River two thousand miles long that
flows north, then northwest, and finally south,
and empties into Behring Sea. They learned
that it drains a great country rich in minerals
of nearly every kind — a territory studded with
high snow-capped mountains and icy glaciers,

A NEW TERRITORY 257

with wide rivers whose beds are paved with
stones of volcanic origin; that the volcanic
pumice-sands stretch in certain districts for
hundreds of miles. They learned that it is
a country abounding in big game; that the
streams are alive with fish (particularly the
grayling) ; that there are birds of many kinds,
some of them excellent game birds; that the
soil is rich, and consequently there is a rich
vegetation in several districts. They learned
that this country is called "The Yukon Terri-
tory," and that it is not in Alaska, but belongs
to Canada and not to the United States. It
may be truly said that, as far as the outside
world knows, this territory was only discov-
ered in 1898 — or fifteen years ago.

On the steamer from Vancouver to Skag-
way, in the long interior waterway of one
thousand miles, were many passengers who
had recently arrived from Europe. Two of
them were men famous in the development of
the Yukon Territory. Their stories of the
''early days" as narrated by them from day to
day were full of unique experiences, and we
sat night after night spell-bound listening to
them.

No one can keep from admiring the pluck,
persistence, and heroism of the "iVrgonauts

258 THE UPPER YUKON

of the Upper Yukon." Those whom Fortune
— the fickle goddess — smiled upon, were well
remembered by these men, while those whom
she frowned upon were soon forgotten.

The world always loves and extols a win-
ner, but has no time for a loser. Excuses do
not help — it matters not how good they are.
The world is rushing on, and cannot stop to
listen to apologizers.

Since the experiences of 1849 in California,
nothing has approached the almost fabled his-
tory of the Yukon, and the more it is consid-
ered, the more wonderful it becomes. In the
years to come the legends of the sufferings and
privations of the first comers, their successes
and failures, will be featured in poetry, in
fiction, and in history, and the time is even now
ripe for such a literary awakening.

CHAPTER XXI

THREE NOTABLE MEN

"He was famous, Sir, in his profession, and it was his
great right to be so."

IN 1887, ten years before the beginning of
the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon, the
Canadian Government appointed Dr. George
M. Dawson as head of an exploiting and sur-
veying expedition called the Yukon Expedi-
tion.

Dr. Dawson was assisted by R. G. McCon-
nell and J. McEvoy, of the Geological Sur-
vey, while W. Ogilvie "was entrusted with the
conduct of instrumental measurement and the
astronomical work in connection with the
determination of the position of the 141st
meridian."

This expedition was undertaken for the pur-
pose of gaining information of the vast and
hitherto almost unknown tract of country
which forms the extreme northwesterly por-
tion of the Northwest Territory. This tract
is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean,

26o THE UPPER YUKON

on the south by British Columbia, on the west
by the eastern line of Alaska, and on the east
by the Rocky Mountains and the 136th
meridian. It has a total area of 192,000
square miles, of which 150,768 square miles
are included in the watershed of the Yukon
River, a distance nearly equal to the whole
of France or three times that of the New Eng-
land states.

It will be realized by all that for such a
stupendous task the men selected must have
had great physical strength, endurance, pluck,
perseverance, good judgment, and the best sci-
entific knowledge.

As I have already made mention of Dr.
Dawson, I now want to write a few lines about
Mr. Ogilvie and his work.

William Ogilvie

In an article in the Canadian Courier,
Henry J. Woodside fittingly calls William
Ogilvie "the Great Pathfinder." He says:

"This great man was first discovered by Sir
John A. Macdonald, the Premier of Canada
for many years, who sent him on various im-
portant missions affecting Provincial and Do-
minion boundary lines, and this in time led up

THREE NOTABLE MEN 261

to the Yukon Expedition named above. It
was he who completed the determination of
the 141st meridian which established the boun-
dary between Alaska and Canada and which
was accepted by the United States for twenty
years.

"By reason of the extensive territory he had
to cover, and the total lack of transportation
facilities, he was compelled to abandon most
of the proper but weighty instruments for as-
tronomical observation, but his tactful adapta-
tion of local aids was so well utilized that two
clever astronomers, F. A. McDiamid and W.
C. Jaques, who made observations in 1907,
twenty years afterwards, showed that this line
was only a few hundred feet out. Ogilvie was
compelled to do some of his fine work with his
small instrument clamped on a tree stump,
clinging to a slope, which persisted in
shifting slightly with varying temperatures.
Many of the observations were taken at night
in a temperature of 20 to 55 degrees below
zero, when after hours of tense and motionless
work, alternately watching stars chase each
other across the hair wires of his telescope,
and the flying second hands of his chronome-
ter, his own hands were usually paralyzed with
cold. He had only one chronometer and

262 THE UPPER YUKON

there were five ticks to each second, and each
tick meant a difference of about a thousand
feet. With his crude appliances and the re-
moteness from telegraphic connection twenty-
five years ago, we cannot but wonder at the
accuracy of his observations and deductions.

"After completing his work on the 17th of
March, 1888, he left by snowshoe, and later
by canoe, on a great trip of over 2,500 miles
down the Yukon, across the divide to the
Mackenzie River basin, up the Mackenzie to
Edmonton, Saskatchewan, and later to Win-
nipeg and Ottawa. The most of this journey
in the great primeval land was through a sec-
tion unexplored and uninhabited.

"Once more he was sent to the Yukon in
1895 to prolong his international line. He
remained there until 1897. Then the gold
on Bonanza Creek was discovered, and thou-
sands— some say forty thousand — poured into
this section as rapidly as the natural difficul-
ties of the trip would permit.

"The Northwest Mounted Police at that
time were seventy miles away and few in num-
ber. Ogilvie had gone up to the Dawson
townsite (now the capital of the territory) to
lay it out. Numerous quarrels over claims
broke out among the miners, bloodshed was in

KiBBEE b i.NUlA.N HuMKESb IN Hek i^Abl.N

THREE NOTABLE MEN 263

sight, chaos reigned, and claim-jumping was
much in fashion. A petition signed by one
hundred and thirty men was sent to Ogilvie
asking him to survey the Bonanza Creek.
This he did in mid-winter when the ther-
mometer was practically useless, the tempera-
ture being so low.

*'For this valuable and risky work he made
no charge either directly or indirectly. He
was warned that he might be shot if he inter-
fered with the claim jumpers, but he was a
fearless man and went on with his work as
if it was an every-day pastime.

"The quarreling men became convinced of
his honesty and efficiency and his decisions
were accepted without demur. There were
no homicides, although in one case he sur-
veyed a temporary host off his jumped claim.

"He could have made a fortune if he had so
desired, as he had a host of chances to get the
very cream of the golden field, but he would
neither profit himself by the expert knowl-
edge that he obtained through his work, nor
give his friends a single tip which might have
made them rich.

"What wonder when a Governor — or chief-
commissioner, as the executive was titled —
was needed in the turbulent times of 1898, that

264 THE UPPER YUKON

this brave and honest man was selected to fill
this high position?

"Please imagine, if you can, what a bub-
bling, boiling cauldron of chaotic conditions
would and did face him when he took posses-
sion of the governor's seat. He held the ex-
alted position for three years and never did a
Canadian administration have a more perplex-
ing, strenuous, and trying position than fell to
the lot of William Ogilvie. It goes without
saying that under his sway chaos gave way to
order, fear to a sense of security, law and order
were enforced, and honesty of administration
in all the departments of the government was
insisted upon. During his time of office Daw-
son, the village, grew to be a famous city.
The chaff was separated from the wheat; the
evil ones, both male and female, who always
follow in the train of a gold-mining rush, were
either kept under close surveillance or driven
out of the territory altogether.

"All of this work needed and demanded the
powerful help of the famous Northwest
Mounted Police, numbering at that time in
the Yukon one hundred men.

"It must be remembered that in the wake of
the 25,000 or more gold hunters in and around
Dawson — men who came from all over the

THREE NOTABLE MEN 265

world — there was a small army of gamblers,
dancers, prostitutes, blacklegs, and crooks of
all types and kinds, chafing at the enac-
tions made necessary to guarantee law and
order.

"Yet under Ogilvie's administration a man's
life was as safe and a woman's person was as
secure day or night as in any city of the
continent.

"Ogilvie resigned in 1901. About a year
ago, while at La Pass near the mouth of the
Saskatchewan, he suffered from what he be-
lieved to be ptomaine poisoning. He re-
turned to Ottawa and there submitted to an
operation. He resumed his work, but in the
Winnipeg River district he was again taken
ill and was removed to Winnipeg. It was too
late^ however. He died on the 12th of No-
vember, 191 2."

A grand range of mountains in the Yukon
is named after him, and many trails also,
which will keep his name and memory fresh
for ages to come.

This distinguished man left no estate of
moment. His faithful wife is still living. I
feel sure that the Canadian Government, when
this condition is explained, will see that a
modest pension is bestowed upon Mrs. Ogilvie,

266 THE UPPER YUKON

and that a suitable monument is erected in
Ottawa to perpetuate his memory.

Frank Kibbee

In my hunting excursion to northern British
Columbia in 1909, our head guide was a man
named Frank Kibbee. He was born in Mon-
tana forty-seven years ago. He early took to
trapping — his father was a trapper before him
— and he soon learned to shoot well and to
ride a horse fearlessly.

Leaving his home he drifted to Bear Lake,
upper British Columbia, where he started
trapping. As Bear Lake is but twenty-two
miles across the mountains from Barkerville
— the largest gold-mining field in the Prov-
ince— his yearly catch of fur always brought
him good prices. Besides this he usually has
one or more hunting parties each season to
look after, so that he is prospering fairly well.

Since I last saw him he had made up his
mind that he must get a wife and, as women
are very scarce in that section, it was hard to
find one. Hearing that advertising when
"properly" handled always brings results, he
thought he would try it. Kibbee is a man with
a good bit of humor, and he has an odd way
of saying things. He drafted his ^'ad" in his

THREE NOTABLE MEN 267

own style and sent it out to the nearest local
paper in Ashcroft — a town on the C. P. R. R.
— over three hundred miles from Bear Lake.
The "ad" was so earnestly and oddly written
that it attracted the attention of some of the
big magazines, who voluntarily published it
for the sake of its humor. In response to the
"ad" he is said to have received in all sixty-
five answers, out of which he picked two that
he "was willin' to pay the freight on," to use
his own words, and in the course of time one
of these two was finally accepted. She is an
English woman, and came a distance of sev-
eral thousand miles to meet him.

According to the testimony of all those in
Barkerville who have seen her, she is a com-
plete success as a wife, and she is very much
in love with her husband, as he is with
her.

Kibbee, to my mind, and from my personal
knowledge of him, is a wonder of strength, en-
durance, agility, and nerve, as most of the men
who "make good" in these far northern sec-
tions are.

The following letter written to me by Mr.
F. J. Tregillus, an English mining engineer,
under date of December 26, 191 2, will give
a better illustration of what privations and

268 THE UPPER YUKON

hardships the men of the northwest can en-
dure than anything I can write :

"There is a wagon road now to within seven
miles of Bear Lake which will be completed
to that point next season. I took my wife and
youngsters there last September and spent
three very pleasant days with Mr. and Mrs.
Kibbee. She is a countrywoman of yours
(and mine) and although she was scarcely ever
outside of a city, she is very much at home at
Bear Lake and makes an admirable wife.
Another tribute to 'the power of the Press.'

"Kibbee was very anxious for us to stay
a few days longer, as he had a bear trap set
about a quarter of a mile from the house, down
by the river, and he wanted the women and
'kids' to see a grizzly tied up alive. I was
to photograph all hands — and the bear —
whilst Kibbee covered the 'works' with his
rifle.

"About a week after we left the trap turned
up missing. Kibbee did not discover this for
three days, but as soon as he found it out, he
started on the trail. The bear had been hung
up several times by the log or 'toggle' attached
to the trap, but had chewed himself loose each
time, so when Kibbee came up with him he

THREE NOTABLE MEN 269

was a mad bear all through, and had only a
short piece of 'toggle' left.

" 'Twas on a steep side-hill about a mile
back of his house, — the bear above and close
to the trapper. Kibbee opened fire and mor-
tally wounded him, but didn't stop him.
They had an awful fight, bare hands against
claws and teeth; finally the bear walked away
and died, but not before Kibbee had taken an-
other shot (an aimless one) at him.

"Considering the mauling he'd had, that
last shot was a rare exhibition of grit. Dur-
ing the scuffle, Kibbee's efiforts were mainly
directed toward keeping the bear (who had
him down in the first round) from chewing
his throat, so his hands were covered with
tooth marks that entirely went through in a
number of places; both his arms, especially
the left, were badly mutilated, but his head
got the worst punishment. The right half of
his face, including the teeth, was torn away
and the scalp was fearfully lacerated.

"Kibbee walked home and at once a man was
sent from a surveying party camped on the
beach for the doctor, twenty-two miles away,
who immediately set out on receipt of the
news. When the doctor arrived — at 4.30
A. M. — Kibbee could not articulate on account

270 THE UPPER YUKON

of his cheek being open. As soon as this was
stitched up, he commenced telling the doctor
how it all happened and described the fight
'by rounds' in such an original manner that he
kept the doctor laughing all the time he was
working on him, and that was the best part
of a day. The doctor had grave doubts as to
his recovery during the first week, as he had a
bad clout in the ribs, probably from the bear
trap, which caused much pain, besides the
passing and bringing up of considerable blood
— also from the fear of blood poisoning.
However, five weeks later he was in here to
get some pieces of bone taken out of his jaw.
He had already been up to Sandy Lake with
a load of grub, etc., but couldn't rest for the
pain in his face. He wasn't fit to travel, but
having made nothing all summer and gone
into debt a bit, he was very keen to make a
big catch of furs.

"On account of his condition he got a part-
ner to trap with him for the winter, and a
woman from here to stay with his wife at Bear
Lake, as he would be most of the time away.

"They got their last load to Sandy Lake on
the seventeenth of November, and started to
work next day. On the twenty-second Kibbee
was returning from a short five-mile trapping

Ui

li,.-idf

THREE NOTABLE MEN 271

line, and was crossing a beaver pond, about
a mile from camp. The pond was frozen,
but the water had receded and Kibbee went
through. His revolver, which was tied to his
belt without a holster, was discharged into his
leg. The string must have got over the trig-
ger— 'tis a self-cocker.

"When his partner got home that night
from a long trapping line to Little Lake, he
found Kibbee in his bunk (he had crawled
home) with a badly swollen and discolored
knee and in great pain. Medical aid being
out of the question, they decided to operate
at once with a jack-knife, Kibbee making the
first part of the incision over the spot where
he thought the bullet lay. Then his partner
dug down, located the lead, loosened it, and
hooked it out with a piece of rusty wire.
'Twas a .38 special Smith & Wesson bullet.
One side of the missile was shorn flat from
having slid along the bone. His partner then
left him for two days, bringing back three
other trappers to move Kibbee to Bear Lake.
It took the four of them five days to make the
trip — partly on a stretcher, partly on a sleigh,
and down Bear Lake by canoe. You can
imagine what Kibbee sutlered, as they had to
camp out three nights, and to make things

272 THE UPPER YUKON

worse they broke through the ice several
times.

"The doctor went out from here as soon as
we heard about it. He thinks Kibbee will get
the use of his leg again, but it may not be for
several months. We intend moving him into
Barkerville in a day or so, as we think his
health and spirits will recover more quickly
with more cheerful surroundings."

Following this letter came one from Mrs.
Kibbee describing in detail her husband's suf-
ferings and his cheerfulness, and another one
still later from a miner stating that the man
who was so nearly torn to pieces was mending
nicely and would soon be at work again. The
nerve, endurance, and patience of such men
as Kibbee make us exclaim, "Heavens, what
a man is there!"

Bishop Bompas

For many years past I had read much about
a famous Episcopal Bishop who ministered
to the people of the Northwest Territory, and
whose domain of influence, exercised over both
white men and red men, extended from the
Arctic Circle to the basin of the great Mac-
kenzie River and of the Yukon as well.

THREE NOTABLE MEN 273

Our Chief was very proud of the fact that
he not only had been well acquainted with
this great man, but on several occasions when
he was on the mounted police force had been
"honored" by the Bishop's enlisting his aid
in rescuing destitute families, in keeping sur-
veillance over unruly districts, and in keeping
"tab" upon certain people whom he was
using his best endeavors to lead to a better
life.

There were many anecdotes about him and
his almost superhuman work, for his flock
was scattered over a country a million square
miles in extent. "He came from England as
a young Cockney curate in 1865, and as the
wild geese wxre flying southward he was pass-
ing to the north to enter upon a work which
was finished only by his death in 1906 — forty
years of earnest, strenuous, efficient, kindly,
and unselfish work."

Perhaps 3^ou yourself may have heard of
him; his name was Bishop Bompas. Let us
listen to Agnes Dean Cameron's tribute to this
grand man.

In her brave journey from the Athabasca
River down to the delta of the Mackenzie
River, she came in frequent touch with a large
portion of the people he ministered to, and

274 THE UPPER YUKON

she was able to gather incidents in his life
work at first hand:

"We are told that Bishop Bompas's father
was Dickens's prototype for Sergeant Buzfuz.
A new vista would open up to the counsel for
Mrs. Burdell could he turn from his chops
and tomato sauce to follow the forty years'
wandering in the wilderness of this splendid
man of God, who succeeded, if ever man suc-
ceeds, in following Paul's advice of keeping
his body under. Bishop Bompas was one of
the greatest linguists the mother country ever
produced. Steeped in Hebrew and the clas-
sics when he entered the northland, he imme-
diately set himself to studying the various na-
tive languages, becoming thoroughly master
of the Slavi, Beaver, Dog-Rib, and Tukudk
dialects.

^When Mrs. Bompas sent him a Syriac tes-
tament and lexicon, he threw himself with
characteristic energy into the study of that
tongue. There is something in the picture of
this devoted man writing Gospels in Slavi,
Primers in Dog-Rib, and a Prayer Book in
Chipewyan, which brings to mind the figure
of Caxton bending his silvered head over the
blocks of the first printing press in the old
almonry so many years before. What were

THREE NOTABLE MEN 275

the 'libraries' in which this Arctic Apostle did
his work? The floor of a scow on the Peace
River; a hole in the snow; a fetid corner of
an Eskimo hut. His bishop's palace when he
was not afloat consisted of a bare room twelve
feet by eight, in which he studied, cooked,
slept, and taught the Indians.

"They tell you stories up here of seeing the
good Bishop come back from a distant journey
to some isolated tribe followed at heel by a
dozen little Indian babies, his disciples for the
days to come.

''There is one tale of this man which only
those can appreciate who travel his trail. An
Indian lad confides to us :

" 'Yes, my name is William Carpenter —
Bishop Bompas gave me my name; he was a
good man. He wouldn't hurt anybody. He
never hit a dog — he wouldn't kill a mosquito;
he had not much hair on his head, and when it
was Meetsu, when the Bishop eat his fish, he
shoo the mosquito away and he say: "Room
for you, my little friend, and room for me, but
this is not your place. Go!"'

"Entering the little church at Fort Simpson,
we see the neat font sent here by Mrs. Bom-
pas, 'In dear memory of Lucy May Owlndia,
baptised in this church January, 1879.' Owin-

276 THE UPPER YUKON

dia was one of the many red waifs that the
good Bishop and Mrs. Bompas took to their
big hearts. Her story is a sad One. Along
the beach at Simpson, Friday, an Indian, in
a burst of ungovernable temper murdered his
wife and fled, leaving their one baby to per-
ish. It was not until the next day that the
little one was found, unconscious and dying.
The Bishop and Mrs. Bompas took the child
into their loving care. To the name Owindia,
which means 'The Weeping One,' was added
the modern Lucy May, and the little girlie
twined herself around the hearts of her pro-
tectors. When the time seemed ripe, Owin-
dia was taken back to England to school, but
the wee, red plant would not flourish in that
soil — she sickened and died. Hence the me-
morial and inscription we read this July day.

"Much history of militant energy — much
of endurance and countless chapters of be-
nevolence did the good Bishop write into the
history before, on the Yukon side in 1906,
God's finger touched him, and he slept."

This good man was doctor and surgeon as
well as bishop. Old David Villeneure, of
Fort Providence, told us of the time that a
fish-stage fell on him, and seriously crushed
his leg:

THREE NOTABLE MEN 277

"I didn't pay no notice to my leg until it
began to go bad, den I take it to de English
Church to Bishop Bompas. He tole me de
leg must come off and ax me to get a letter
from de priest (I'm Cat-o-lic, me) telling it
was all right to cut him. I get de letter and
bring my leg to Bompas. He cut 'im off wid
meat-saw. No, I tak not'in', me. I chew
tobacco and tak' one big drink of Pain-killer.
Yes, it hurt w'en he strike de marrow."

"Heavens, didn't you faint with the awful
pain?"

"What — faint — me? No. I say, get me
my fire bag — I want to have a smoke."

It will be seen by the above narrative that
the Bishop was careful not to antagonize the
missionaries of the Roman Catholic church, as
he always worked in harmony with them as
they did with him.

Around White Horse the store-keepers and
other business men have a fund of stories to
tell about him. When his race was about run
some one in England left him a legacy of
170,000 pounds — nearly a million dollars. I
am told that he expended the most of it in
bettering the condition of the Indians. After
his death, when his will was opened, he had
left instructions that he was to be buried in

278 THE UPPER YUKON

the Indian grave-yard and under no account
should his body be sent to England.

In the forty years of his ministrations this
great man made more trips to and from the
Arctic Circle than any other man that has ever
lived. He had the Indian's instinct for travel
— for finding his own way all alone in safety
to any point or section of country that he
wanted to reach. It goes without saying that
he often suffered from want of provisions and
prolonged hunger, that his resting place at
night was frequently in a snowdrift. It is
said that several times he had to eat the tops
of his leather boots to keep from starving.
Yet there was no complaining; he was cheer-
ful at all times, with a kind word and a happy
smile for the white man, the Indian, or the
Esquimaux.

No wonder then that his name is now held
in high honor and reverence on the watersheds
of the Mackenzie, the Peace, the Pelly, the
Macmillan, the Liard, the Red, the Porcu-
pine, and the Yukon rivers. Had he been of
the Roman Catholic faith it is altogether likely
that in time he would have been canonized and
known as the "Martyr of the Northwest
Territory."

CHAPTER XXII

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN

"This is the law of the Yukon

That only the strong shall thrive,
That surely the weak shall perish
And only the fit survive."

IT was intensely interesting to listen to the
life histories of the men of the Yukon, to
stories of their ups and downs, and of their
fierce struggles to succeed against the unex-
pected obstructions that are so often met with
in this iar-ofl Canadian territory. I empha-
size the "Canadian territory" because the ma-
jority of the people of the United States think
the Yukon Territory is a part of Alaska. It
is in reality a great wilderness in northwest
Canada through which flows the mighty Yu-
kon River. Roughly speaking, the upper half
of the river flows through Yukon and the
lower half Alaska. The boundary line is
quite close to the mouth of the White River,
which flows into the Yukon several hundred
miles below Dawson.

With the coming in of November each year,

28o THE UPPER YUKON

a stranger will find double windows on what
few houses there are in White Horse. Then
the days are short and the nights are long and
the cold may be severe. Before November
there is a genuine hegira of men and women
rushing out to escape being ''frozen in" — and
this is so particularly from Dawson. The
route is by steamer to White Horse, where
they get rail transportation to Skagway, and
from that port the crowd will take the first
steamer either to Vancouver in Canada, or to
Seattle in Washington. When the river is
tightly frozen over, the men who are left in
the interior have practically but two occupa-
tions before them — mining and trapping.
It's "Hobson's choice" with them. Either oc-
cupation means exposure to an extremely low
temperature, with high winds, at times deep
snows, and frozen ground. In either of these
two occupations the severe climate soon weeds
out the feeble ones. The Yukon is no place
for the weakling. The man with timid heart
or flabby muscles had better stay at home. To
survive they must be

"The men with the hearts of vikings, and the simple faith
of a child,
Desperate, strong, and resistless, unthrottled by fear or
defeat."

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 281

So it has come to pass that those men who are
left are either giants in stature and physical
strength, or lightly built men with nerve and
grit, and muscles tough enough to cope with
all sorts of hard work.

While this is true of the men, it is equally
true of the few women that are to be found
in this territory. It is said that of every one
hundred white men in the Yukon but ten are
married, and of that ten but two are married
to white women. The story I am about to
narrate will feature two white women and one
Indian woman, each one in her own sphere
being a heroine of the far northwest. All of
them are so highly spoken of, and thought of,
by the men who are fortunate enough to be
acquainted with them, that they are almost
worshiped. Let any man, white or red, say
ought against any one of the three, and he will
be so roughly handled by his fellows that he'll
never make such a gross blunder again.

The White Housewife

A portion of our long journey covered a
distance of one hundred and fifty miles over
a good trail, which reached from White Horse
to the head of a large lake about forty miles
long. We arrived there late at night at a lit-

282 THE UPPER YUKON

tie hamlet lying close to the sandy margin
of this lake. We were conducted into the
cabin of our head guide, whom we called the
Chief. The floor was covered with bear,
caribou, moose, fox, and wolverine skins, and
on these we laid our sleeping bags and soon
were in the land of Nod.

In the morning the writer was awakened by
the sweet and melodious voice of a woman
who was talking to Gene, our cook. Hastily
dressing, I looked into the kitchen and saw
the "lady fair" just leaving for her own dom-
icile, which was across the trail from ours.
She had brought a basket of fresh vegetables
out of her own garden for our delectation and
nourishment. There were radishes, lettuce,
carrots, turnips, etc. We heartily enjoyed
them. Our cook told us her name, and also
some of her life history.

He said she certainly would not take any
pay for what she had brought us, because that
was only one of the many ways that she had
with which she rejoiced the hearts of all who
met her. However, I called upon her, and
happily having some little household neces-
saries with me which could be spared from
our outfit, I prevailed upon her to take them,
and then she asked me to sit down and tell her

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 283

the news of the outside world. What 1 had
to narrate was made as brief as possible, so
that I might learn from her own lips the story
of her experience in this far-ofif region. She
was the only white woman to be found within
a radius of forty-five miles.

Formerly this settlement had been the scene
of a gold-mine rush, and there are many empty
cabins still standing to attest to that exciting
time. At the present wa-iting there are but
four of the cabins inhabited. This lady is
the mother of two children, a boy of ten and
a girl of six. Her cabin is large and roomy,
and, like the other cabins in this country, con-
tains but one room. It was, however, well
filled with suitable furniture and furnishings.
The big stove was sunken down through the
floor so that the bottom of the stove would
be on a line with the floor, to keep the heat
as close to the ground as possible. An iron
railing around the stove protected the chil-
dren and "grown-ups" from stumbling against
it. In a corner of the cabin was a well-filled
library, and this with two beds set end to end
took up most of one side of the cabin. A
place for cooking, another for a dining-table,
another for cooking utensils, a corner for
washing clothes and dishes, with a reservation

284 THE UPPER YUKON

for the entertainment of visitors, completed
the equipment of the house.

The woman's husband goes by the title of
^'Doctor," although he doesn't hang out a sign,
nor does he pretend to be a practitioner. Yet
he always has a generous stock of medicines
on hand in case of need. He is a game-war-
den and is known also as a prospector. At
any rate, the neighbors say that he is very
often months and months away from home.
In the meantime, the wife looks after the chil-
dren and her household duties, besides acting
as the manager of a road house at which an
occasional traveler may sometimes ask for
food and shelter. She does the cooking, the
washing, and the sweeping up of that estab-
lishment, and with all of this care and work
upon her hands, she is light-hearted and ap-
parently contented. Moreover, if any one
should be taken suddenly sick, she would be
importuned to visit personally one of her own
sex, or to prescribe to the best of her judg-
ment from her husband's medicine case for
one of the opposite sex. Asked when she had
last visited her mother's home in Minnesota,
she replied, "Not for many years, but I am
going home when my husband returns."
Sure enough, when we were on our way "out,"

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 285

we saw the tracks of her husband's horse and
wagon on the trail going back to bring her.
No doubt she is now with her mother in the
lovely city of Minneapolis.

One would think that this earnest woman
would be lonely and that she would bemoan
the fate of being shut up in a region where
she was the only white woman within more
than a day's journey in any one direction.
She seemed to me to be particularly pleased
at being able to do good to others. She had
a kind and courteous word for all — for white
men or red men, for white women or squawks.
She gave advice graciously and helped wher-
ever she could. Travelers, trappers, and
prospectors, one and all, sing her praises. "Is
she not a heavenly saint? No — but she is an
earthly paragon." She is truly one w^ho hath
a "cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a most
noble carriage."

The Indian Woman.

At the foot of this lake — a distance by shore
of forty-three miles, but much less by boat —
lives Thomas A. Dickson, the man w^ho acted
as our head guide. He is a w^hite man and was
born in Ontario, Canada. He has a fair edu-

286 THE UPPER YUKON

cation and was for eight years a member of
the Northwest Mounted Police — that most
famous of all mounted police forces in the
world. It goes without saying that the man
who "makes good" in this crack corps for that
number of years must be rugged and strong
and brainy as well. He is now in his prime,
being forty-six years of age. He married an
Indian woman who is without question the
handsomest woman of her race that I have yet
seen. She is an adept with the rifle, is skilled
in trapping, in tanning hides, and in killing
big game for use on her own table. Her hus-
band is immensely proud of her, as he may
well be. There were few days — if any — that
we hunted together, that he did not speak in
high praise of her many good qualities.
Being invited to take dinner at his cabin, we
accepted with alacrity. Having listened to
so many encomiums of his wife, we naturally
were curious to see her. Their cabin was
built on the same lines as the cabin we have
previously described belonging to the white
lady at the head of the lake. There was this
difference, however. The Indian woman
had no library and no store of medicines.
She is a very robust woman with a fine figure,
is sturdy and strong, and has a most pleasing

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 287

face. Five children call her mother; the eld-
est one, a girl, was then at an Episcopal col-
lege two hundred and thirty miles away from
her home. The other four we found to be
very quiet and respectful in their manners.
She spoke to them in the English tongue in
a low and musical voice, and her orders were
promptly obeyed. The dinner was prepared
by her without any undue hurry or excite-
ment, and the meal set before us was nicely
cooked and deftly served. The dinner being
finished, I talked some with her about her
hunting exploits, and about the dressing and
curing of hides, all of which work falls to her
lot. We were shown some caribou hides that
she had dressed and tanned herself. The
skins were beautifully tanned, but they were
full of round holes, and this made them look
anything but attractive. She explained that
the holes were caused by the caribou fly.
This fly appears about the first of November.
It bites and then burrows into the caribou's
skin around the neck, and down the back.
After biting and cutting a tiny hole, the fly
deposits an egg in it, which in due time
hatches out and the young fly proceeds to feed
upon its most unfortunate foster mother — the
poor caribou — until it is a full fledged fly,

288 THE UPPER YUKON

when it takes its departure for parts unknown.

We were informed that caribou which were
killed before the month of November would
be free from fly bites, and therefore the tanned
hides would be more attractive.

I was the recipient at the hands of this fair
woman of a beautiful pair of caribou-hide
mittens, resplendent with beads and highly
colored embroidery; also of a large bow with
several arrows, the points of the arrows being
made of pure native copper.

The husband having stepped out of the
cabin for a few minutes I took the opportunity
to compliment her upon her cooking; also
upon the respectful and courteous behaviour
of her children, and their very healthy and
robust appearance. As in case of illness the
nearest doctor would be nearly two hundred
miles away, and to send out a messenger and
bring the doctor back with him would take
about eighteen days if the going was good, I
asked the woman what she did when the chil-
dren got sick.

''They never get sick," she answered.

'What, were they never sick?"

"No, they have never been sick."

"What about you yourself?"

"I have never been sick in my life."

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 289

"But what do you do when the babies
come?"

"I bring them myself."

''Had you no woman to come in and help
you?"

"No, I bring them myself, — all alone."

The husband corroborated this statement,
and he also said that he w^as away trapping
when the last two children had been born,
some three weeks having expired before he
arrived home to welcome the last baby. At
that time the cold was intense, the thermometer
registering nearly sixty degrees below zero
when the child came into the world, so that
his wife was compelled to keep the fire going
in the stove so that the other children as well
as the new-born one and herself w^ould be
saved from freezing.

The calm confidence that this woman pos-
sessed as to the future health of herself and
her children was surely inspiring.

Most of the men in this territory give un-
stinted praise to the Indian women for their
extreme care of and their great affection for
their children. The Chief often entertained
me by accounts of his wife's great love for
their offspring. He would also interest me by
stories of his wife's skill in shooting the moun-

290 THE UPPER YUKON

tain sheep, the caribou, or the moose, and of
her ability to trap fish and to shoot wild geese.
When the snow was deep and he couldn't
cover all of his trapping lines within a reason-
able time, she would take her husky dogs and
the sled, and cover one of his trapping lines
nearest the cabin, say a distance of nine miles
out and nine miles back, thus making eighteen
miles in all. She would then take out of the
traps whatever animals might be caught in
them, re-set and bait the traps, bring the cap-
tured carcases home on the sled, and promptly
skin and cure their hides.

Our other guide, who is a well-read white
man, a native of Montana, also married an In-
dian woman, but we did not see her. On
being asked ivhy he had married a squaw, he
said: "For many reasons the Indian woman is
better than the white woman." Some of the
reasons he gave were quite startling. Now
listen, you marriageable girls, and hear what
this man has to say in favor of the Indian
wife.

"My wife doesn't wear corsets, and there-
fore her body isn't crushed and bent out of its
natural shape. Neither does she wear high-
heeled and small-toed shoes. The coming
and going of fashions do not interest her,

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 291

neither does she run to the stores to see the
latest styles in hats. She is always well, and
so are our children, and thus we have no need
of a doctor. Her three children she brought
into the world by herself. My wife doesn't
want to go out to play five hundred, bridge-
whist, or euchre, neither does she gossip her
time away with other women. She attends to
her housework, and takes great care in the
training of her children. This, together w^ith
the out-of-doors work that she has to do, takes
up all of her time. Last of all, the Indian
woman can be trusted better than the white

woman."

We have already remarked upon the fact
of there being so few married men in this
country. This condition of things is due to
there being so few marriageable young women
in the territory. It takes a long time and a
lot of money to go out to the States or to Brit-
ish Columbia to hunt up a wife, and so the
men doggedly jog on, week after week and
month after month, until the time comes
when they must go out to White Horse to
bring in supplies for the winter. There they
will see more or less of the fair sex, but ac-
cording to what several of the men have told
me, there are but few marriageable young

292 THE UPPER YUKON

women in the town, which at best contains but
about five hundred souls during the summer
months and three hundred in winter. This
marriageless condition of the majority of the
men in the territory is producing the inevit-
able result of driving a number of them into
a morbid condition, which after gradually be-
coming more and more pronounced some-
times ends in insanity. Four men were taken
out to an asylum for the insane from this cause
the very week that we went in.

Now to return to our Indian heroine. She
wore "no beauteous scarfs" or other fashion-
able finery, but she was neatly and plainly
dressed in a becoming black gown. Her feet
were incased in well-fitting leather shoes with
common sense heels. Her hair was nicely
and naturally done up, and it was clear of
*'rats" as far as we could judge. Moreover,
her house was clean and showed the earmarks
of an energetic housewife.

Now, good reader, do you not think I do
right in giving this good woman a strong
mead of praise, even if she is the daughter of
Indian parents? Don't you now realize why
her husband is so proud of her as to have her
in mind every spare minute during his en-
forced absence from her? This red woman,

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 293

like "Laughing Water" in Longfellow's poem
of ''Hiawatha," has to endure

"The long and dreary winter,
The cold and cruel winter;
Ever thicker, thicker, thicker,
Froze the ice on lake and river;
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper,
Fell the snow on all the landscape."

Yet she is ever busy, ever cheerful, with her
hands and mind both at work to help her chil-
dren and her husband. Well may the men
of Kluana Lake sing her praises.

The Business Woman.

Some time in the latter part of the year
1897, a man died in the far West, leaving a
wife and three young sons. After the funeral,
a revelation came to the sorely stricken wife
when she found that no money of any moment
was left her, but that mortgages aggregating
thirteen thousand dollars covered the property
that was now hers by reason of her husband's
death. The interest was due and she had not
enough money to meet it. Besides this, five
horses were left as an additional asset to
augment her troubles, for there was no work
for the horses and they had to be fed.

294 THE UPPER YUKON

The bereft widow was a tall, well-built,
fine-looking woman who was — and is even
now — possessed of a rugged constitution, and
best of all she has a stout heart. For several
weeks after her husband's death she was in a
dazed condition hardly knowing which way
to turn. She might well say:

"My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirred,
And I myself see not the bottom of it."

One day a neighboring woman came to
make a visit of condolence to the widow.
After a mutual interchange of opinions as to
what might be done to bring some revenue
into the family's coffers, the visitor ventured
a suggestion. It was a startling one at first
thought, but the more it was considered the
better it looked. It was nothing more nor less
than this: that the widow, being of an un-
usually strong and robust build, should make
a journey to a far-off place in Alaska called
Skagway — a town over a thousand miles from
where she lived — and there see if money could
not be made by working at something, but
what that "something" might be, time alone
could tell.

The suggestion, although laughed at when
first made, took hold of the widow's imagina-

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 295

tion so firmly that she raised the money to pay
for the long journey, and oflf she started full of
hope and yet equally full of uncertainty.

Arriving at Skagway, which is the door-
way to the Upper Yukon, her eyes beheld a
sight that will stay within her recollections as
long as she lives. Here were thousands of
men outfitting at this noted town for a hard
and hazardous trip on foot over the Chilkoot
Pass, and thence to White Horse where they
could take boat or raft down to Dawson,
nearly four hundred miles distant, where the
great gold-mining craze was then in full
swing.

It should be known that Skagway is at the
end of the famous interior waterway which
stretches from Seattle and Vancouver to this
far-famed town. And here came many men.
There were old-time prospectors ; youths look-
ing for excitement, adventure, and experi-
ences; the poor man hoping against hope that
luck might now come to him; the strong man
and the weakling; merchants, and men who
were willing to act as pack-horses for the good
wages that were being paid. All, every one
of them, had to pay tribute in some way to the
town of Skagway.

There was a trail of eighteen miles before

296 THE UPPER YUKON

the hard climb up to, and through, the pass
began.

Our heroine, the widow, soon saw where
she could win out. She sent for her boys, for
the five horses, and for a strong, serviceable
four-horse wagon and harness. Her plan was
a simple one. She would haul supplies at the
rate of two and a half cents per pound, to the
foot of the mountain eighteen miles away,
where the climb over the pass had to start.
She had been promised all the freight that she
could haul. In due course of time the boys,
the wagon, and the five horses arrived. It
did not take her long to get loaded up with all
that the wagon could hold, and at 4.30 A. M.
the next morning she mounted the driver's seat
herself, cracked the whip, and off she drove
amid the cheers of the populace and of the
would-be miners. This program she con-
tinued day after day as long as the hegira
lasted. In order to make time and save her
horses, she was compelled to be up at 3.30
every morning to see that the horses were
well fed and curried. Her boys helped her
eagerly; but she was the driver, she was the
contractor, she was the wage-winner for the
family. As long as there were supplies to
haul, she never failed to take up her load, rain

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 297

or shine, through that dreary and weary haul
of eighteen miles.

She told me with her own lips that she
averaged a clear profit of $25.00 per day while
the excitement continued, and this profit en-
abled her to pay off a large part of the mort-
gage on her home.

When the summer season waned and a
touch of winter came, the rush dwindled
away, and the brave-hearted woman had to
look out for something else to keep the pot
boiling, for both she and her boys had to live.

A restaurant was the next venture, and,
while attending to that, a man who had built
a new and then modern hotel in Skagway
called upon her and asked her to manage it.
She told him that she had no money to risk in
renting a big hotel, neither did she have the
necessary experience to run it. The man in-
sisted that she should go with him and look
it over, and he would take care of getting the
guests to fill it. The building and its appoint-
ments were carefully examined and approved.
It turned out that the owner had already can-
vassed the families who were living in Skag-
way and who were anxious to live in an up-
to-date and modern hotel and had secured
enough tenants to fill the house.

298 THE UPPER YUKON

Mrs, Harriet Pullen — that's the name of
this heroine — at once leased it, and she has
been successful in it ever since. With pride
she showed me through every room in the
hotel, including the kitchen. I hardly need
say that everything was as clean and as bright
as human hands could make it. Nor need I
say that Mrs. Pullen is easily the most famous
personage in this section of Alaska — and this
applies to the men as well as to the women.

In the meantime her sons were growing up.
As they were patterned after their mother as
to physique and courage, they also attracted
much attention, and in time her fame, the
story of her brave work, and of her fine boys
reached the ears of President Theodore
Roosevelt. He, with his usual forcefulness,
lost no time in investigating and confirming
the tales that had reached his ears. Then he
acted without delay. He sent for the eldest
son, and being captivated by the boy's mod-
esty, dignity of manner, and his splendid
physique, arranged for his admittance into
the West Point Academy. The youth, being
a born athlete, soon forged to the front in
athletics. He Vv'as elected a member of the
famous football team and later on became its
captain. He was also captain of the baseball

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 299

team. More than this, he easily became one
of the first scholars in his class, and finally
when he graduated he did so with high
honors. He is now a Lieutenant in the
United States Army. The proud mother
showed me a large album filled with clip-
pings from newspapers throughout the coun-
try commendatory of his work as a student
and as an athlete.

The second son was educated as an engineer
and he has also been successful. He is fa-
mous too, and an other album contains a great
mass of clippings about his masterful work in
college.

When Mrs. Pullen had finished the story of
her two elder sons, she commenced to talk of
her ''baby boy." Then her voice trembled
and the big, strong, noble-hearted woman
broke down completely. By bits I learned
that just one month to the day before my inter-
view with her, which was on the eighteenth of
October, 19 12, this young man, then twenty-
two years of age, had been found dead under
a wharf. A plank had been removed and he
had apparently fallen through. As he was of
exemplary habits, the heart-broken mother
believes that his fall was not accidental, but
that he was sand-bagged and thrown down

300 THE UPPER YUKON

through the opening made by the removal of
the plank, which was purposely not replaced
so as to hide the frightful crime. The mother
wept as she told me that now, as her "baby
boy" was gone, she felt as if there was nothing
more to live for.

She is an accomplished horsewoman and
she pleased me very much by insisting upon
my acceptance of a photograph showing her
mounted upon her famous horse with her
equally famous St. Bernard dog by his side.

If any of my readers should ever journey
through the ever-changing and beautiful scen-
ery of the wonderful interior waterway that
reaches up to and ends at Skagway, ask any
employe on board your steamer, let him be the
captain or the steward, the chief engineer or
one of the firemen, a waiter or a common
sailor, if he knows aught of a Mrs. Harriet
Pullen, and the man whoever he may be will
eagerly tell you of the great things she has
done — of her worth — of her charity — of her
boys. And long before your boat ties up at
the wharf in Skagway Bay, you'll be as anx-
ious as the writer was to see her, and if possi-
ble to have the honor of conversing with her.

But now for many a day to come her brave
heart will be grieving for her lost boy, for his

THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 301

"death lies on her like an untimely frost upon
the sweetest flower of all the field." Yet even
for her "I see some sparks of better hope
which elder years may happily bring forth."
To her I would say:

"There will come a glory in jour eyes,
There will come a place within your heart,
Sitting 'neath the quiet evening skies,
Time will dry the tear and dull the smart.
You will know that you have played your part !
Yours shall be the love that never dies !
You, with Heaven's peace within your heart.

Gentle reader, think of this brave woman
and her trials and her successes, and you may
find in her history something that will by the
force of example help you to be brave, cheer-
ful, energetic, kind, and considerate of others
as she always has been.

CHAPTER XXIII

AN INTERESTING TRIO

"Things done well, and with a care, exempt themselves
from fear."

EACH human life has its own peculiar
history. The great majority of men,
however, pass through their earthly journey
in such an uneventful way that they may be
said, when the end comes, to have drifted
along through the shoals and the rapids of
life unconcerned and unmindful of the fact
that they should have left some tangible record
behind them of some work done in the cause
of helping humanity or of uplifting them-
selves.

We had three men with us who deserve
more than a passing notice. Each of them
was gifted with the ability to do with ease
severe and continuous work. With us they
were ever obliging, cheerful, and uncom-
plaining.

Our head wrangler is a man that in han-
dling his outfit of horses, numbering in all fif-

AN INTERESTING TRIO 303

teen, could one minute swear at them as loudly
as a Mississippi pilot, and the next be as tender
in talking to his charges as a child playing
with her doll. Listen for a few minutes to
the modest history of the struggles and tri-
umphs of this energetic man.

Louie Jaquotte was born in Alsace-Lor-
raine, once a province of France, but now by
the Treaty of Paris held under the rule of the
German Empire. He says that their German
conquerors are bitterly hated by the inhabit-
ants of this fertile and thickly populated prov-
ince. Long before he came of age he was
possessed of a strong desire to leave his native
heath, and so with many others he resolved to
emigrate to the "promised land." He had
heard that a big, silver dollar w^as as easy to
get in America as a Kreutzer is in Alsace.
His father, when appealed to for advice, told
him that he thought he was able to do for
himself. As the family was large, and the in-
come small, it was decided that it w^as best for
him to go. When the time came to start, the
father gave him his blessing, and bid him
God-speed to the land said to be full of gold,
where there w^as plenty of room for the indus-
trious youth to w^ork out his own destiny.

The boy, like thousands of others, started

304 THE UPPER YUKON

alone for the great unknown, equipped with
hope, ambition, youth, health, strength, and a
good appetite — all of these attributes being of
service in helping him on to success. Having
at home learned the trade of pastry cook, he
was not long in getting a position in St. Louis.
From there he went to Chicago, next to Win-
nipeg, working a while in each city. He
earned good wages and saved his money. He
was frugal in his ways, and his wants were few,
so he soon had a tidy balance in bank. He
was offered a fine position on a through din-
ing-car of a train-de-luxe running from Chi-
cago to the Pacific Coast, but he would not
accept it until he could bring out from Ger-
many a younger brother — Eugene by name — ■
to take his previous place. This youth was
also a pastry cook, and ten years younger than
Louie.

Eugene arrived at New York in due time.
Before leaving his home, a friend had begged
of him to look up a relative who had been last
heard of in Philadelphia, and so he went to
the Quaker City in search of a man whom he
had never seen.

It is ever amusing when talking to foreign-
ers in any of the old countries to be asked if
you ever met a nephew, cousin, brother, or

AN INTERESTING TRIO 305

other relative of theirs in America. You ask
what part of America. They say that they're
not sure, but they think he might be in Cali-
fornia, or in New York, or in Philadelphia.
They have no idea whatever of the distances in
this Western Hemisphere of ours.

So Gene started upon his hunt for his
countryman in Philadelphia. We will let
him tell his own story in his own words :

"When I arrived in Philadelphia I went to
the Post Office, but no record could be found
of the man that I was in search of. Then I
looked through a directory of the city, but it
contained no name at all like his. Now how
could a stranger find another stranger and
both in a strange land?

"As the man was a weaver, I hunted up the
district in that great city where the big manu-
factories are located. I then called on fac-
tory after factory, first finding the man who
had the pay-roll under his charge, and then
going over the names of the employes with
him. I asked each one the same old question
— Is my friend working here? — But a long
search failed to find any trace of him. Day
after day went by, but I still kept up the
search from early morning until late at night.

"One morning I overheard a baker in the

3o6 THE UPPER YUKON

street talking to an employe with an accent
exactly like that of our natives in Alsace-
Lorraine. I asked him if he knew my friend
(because the baker was indeed a native of
my country, and so if the man was really
there, he might know him). He said very
quietly, as if my hunt for him amounted to
nothing at all : 'Oh, yes, I know him well ; but
he's working now; I'll show you where he
boards, and you can see him when he gets back
from work.' When night came I easily found
him, and delivered my message. I spent a
couple of days with him in going over the
news of the home country. In all I lost a
full week, but I didn't begrudge the time I
lost or the money spent, because of the joy it
would give to his people in Alsace.

Then I hastened away to Winnipeg in
Manitoba where Louie, my brother, was.
We had a joyful meeting, and then we got to
work. We both worked hard. We received
good wages and saved our money. We were
not too anxious to quit when the clock struck,
as most of the other men were, and we were
always on hand a little before it was our time
to go to work. Both of us have cheerful and
willing dispositions to labor as hard as we
could and we made friends wherever we went.

AN INTERESTING TRIO 307

So time galloped along, and the great Klon-
dike discovery set the northwestern country
wild, and we were sort of swept into the whirl-
wind of a gold-mining excitement. We gave
up our jobs and started for the Eldorado.

*'We 'mushed' it from Skagway to the foot
of the Chilkoot Pass and packed our stuff over
the divide. Then we mushed it over moun-
tains and down canyons until we reached
White Horse, and oh, what a trip it was to be
sure! Then we got a boat to take us down
the Yukon River to the Klondike — the scene
of the great rush. We got employment at
once, and made money right along by doing
anything that we could find to do that would
pay us good wages. We prospered beyond
our expectations. When the excitement be-
gan to subside, we bought up a number of
horses at bargain prices. We took up some
gold mining claims on Canyon Creek near
Kluana Lake. These we work in the spring,
summer, and winter, and hire ourselves out in
the fall to hunting parties — Louie as a wran-
gler or caretaker of horses, and I as a cook;
at the same time we rent our horses out in the
fall to do the pack work. So we are prosper-
ing finely."

So runs the story of the immigrant. Such

3o8 THE UPPER YUKON

tales are always interesting and instructive as
showing how the assimilation of foreign races
is accomplished.

The third member of the trio went by the
name of Pete, although his real name is Ernest
Petrel. When a boy of fourteen he ran away
from his home and birthplace in Racine,
Ohio. After a wandering experience that
lasted a year and a quarter, he returned to his
home. Five years rolled by, and at twenty he
left his home for good, and now at forty he
has passed through much excitemen.t and en-
joys a great store of experience.

His first journey was to the Indian Terri-
tory, where he became a cowboy and a herder
of cattle. He is of such a dark complexion
that his comrades affectionately call him
"Nigger," and he doesn't feel hurt at the name.
He has reached the time of life when he be-
lieves that it is "not good for man to be alone."
He's searching for a mate. By night and by
day he's thinking; first of the white woman
and her city ways, her refinement, and many
clothes, then of the maiden fair of Indian
birth. "She's so good and can cook so well —
so affectionate — so good with the rifle, and the
bow and arrow — so handy in making fires and
in helping with the trapping," he says. He is

AN INTERESTING TRIO 309

indeed beside himself, and if he doesn't make
up his mind soon and take unto himself a
wife, his loneliness may prey upon him so
hard as really to drive him insane.*

"Yet ever in the far forlorn, by trails of lone desire,
Yet ever in the dawn's white leer of hate;
Yet ever by the dripping kill, beside the drowsy fire,

There comes the fierce heart hunger for a mate.
There comes the mad blood clamour for a woman's
clinging hand.
Love — humid eyes — the velvet of a breast;
And so I sought the Bonnet Plumes, and chose from out
the band
The girl I thought the sweetest and the best."

Now these three men, when they finished
their work with us and left us at White Horse,
took to the wilds their food supply and other
necessaries for the winter and settled down to
nine months of hard, slavish work in the gold
mine of which each man owns a third interest.
Here they work in the frozen ground, thaw-
ing it as they dig ever deeper. It's a hard
life and a lonely one, but to be a miner means
a hard life.

* Since writing the above, Pete came to his home in Ohio
to see his parents and to hunt a wife, but the man who had
withstood the low temperature of ihe Yukon, took cold in
Ohio. Pneumonia developed and in a few days he was dead.
Thus passed away one of the most genial and loveable men
that ever came to the Yukon.

CHAPTER XXIV

AN ACCOMPLISHED MOUNTAIN CLIMBER
"Being a woman, I will plaj' my part."

WHEN we reached the foot of the big
lake on our way "in," while waiting
for the arrival of the pack horses, we were
joined by a man named Ed Benson, who had
traveled from the mouth of the White River,
which empties into the Yukon considerably
above Dawson. He is a bright man, a mining
prospector, and a good hunter. He is well
read, and is an interesting companion.

While on the White River he had met Miss
Dora Keen, of Philadelphia, returning from
her famous climb of Mount Blackburn in
Alaska. She was held up for some six weeks
at the mouth of the White River waiting for
a boat to come along to take her and her out-
fit up to Dawson. The boat did not come, but
a man did. This man had a whip-saw, and
knew not only how to use it, but, when the
timber was sawed to the proper thickness,
length, and breadth, he was able to put it to-
gether in the form of a boat.

A MOUNTAIN CLIMBER 311

On this boat, made in this crude way, Miss
Keen and her party were able to make the
slow and at times tedious journey to Dawson
in safety. Since then I have met Miss Keen
on two occasions and have heard her lecture
to a large audience. Her lectures are interest-
ing and instructive, and as she has many very
good lantern slides, the audience can, through
their help, get a vivid understanding of the
plucky work she did when making her two
expeditions up this hitherto unclimbed moun-
tain.

I have been featuring some women of the
Klondike, and think it but right and fitting
to say something about this modest-looking,
brave, energetic woman of Pennsylvania, who
in the years to come will be known as "the con-
queror of Mount Blackburn."

Miss Keen had one great advantage in the
fact that she had a ripe experience to help her,
having scaled some of the noted peaks in
Switzerland. She was, therefore, better fit-
ted for her two ascents of Mount Blackburn
than possibly any one else in the whole of
Alaska.

It is nevertheless remarkable that she, with
her seven men, had the rare courage to start
alone, determined to win the summit of this

312 THE UPPER YUKON

rugged mountain, no matter what hardships
she had to endure, nor what amount of money
she would have to spend in getting her equip-
ment together. Of the seven men who accom-
panied her, five lost their courage and left her.
two men stood by her until she was within 500
feet of the top, then the sixth man slunk away,
leaving only one who was brave enough to go
with her to the finish. This man was G. W.
Handy, a German, living at Cordova, Alaska.

Her first attempt to scale the mountain was
made in the previous year, 191 1. She under-
took this journey in August, but her outfit
being entirely insufficient, she was compelled
to beat a retreat, having reached a height of
8700 feet.

The next year, on April 22, 1912, she left
civilization at Kennecott, Alaska, the end of
the Copper River Railway. This year the
dangers and hardships were worse than they
had been in the previous year, but she had a
better equipment. Above the base of the
mountain all of the outfit had to be carried on
the men's backs. On the fourteenth day out,
three of the men turned back and left her at a
height of 8700 feet, and six days later two
more men, including the leader, left her.

The chief danger after the last desertion

A MOUNTAIN CLIMBER 313

was from sliding avalanches which compelled
the little party to abandon their tents and dig
out caves in the snow on the steep slopes for
safety. A continuous snow storm raged for
thirteen days, which left no means of drying
anything, and compelled them to sleep in their
wet garments. At last the ascent was under-
taken. It took a week, and had to be made
entirely at night because of the soft snow and
the now constant avalanches, three of whrch
all but caught the party. With only two men
left, and with deep, soft snow and no freezing
at night, only food and bedding could be taken,
so they had to leave tents and stores behind.
It was necessary to depend on candles to melt
water for making soups. The temperature
ranged from 40 degrees above to 6 degrees
below zero.

Miss Keen's was the first mountain climb-
ing expedition in this country to use dogs and
snow caves, the first to be led by a woman, and
the first to succeed without Swiss guides.

William Lang, a Canadian, is the man who
turned back when within 500 feet of the peak.
The summit was reached on May nineteenth,
and its height was taken as 16,140 feet.

I verily believe that there is not another
woman in the "wide, wide, world" that could

314 THE UPPER YUKON

be found who would be fitted by reason of her
physical condition, experience, determination,
and courage even to make an attempt to climb
Mount Blackburn, let alone accomplish it,
without the help of some companion in whom
she might put her trust, and whose society and
encouragement would give her additional
mental strength. Miss Dora Keen has done
what very few men could do and what none
have even attempted to do.

CHAPTER XXV

THE MORAL

"O Lord, that lend'st some life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."

THIS is an age when books of fiction are
the popular and current literature of
the day. Their long-drawn-out tales of un-
requited love, and of the final circumvention
of the "hoary-headed villain" are largely fea-
tured among the "six best sellers of the
month." The author believes that the truth-
ful narration of the incidents of a hunting
campaign in a section of the north-land that is
but little known will serve to give the brain a
rest from the reading of novels, and at the
same time prove to be instructive and interest-
ing. He has endeavored to feature life in this
almost fabled section rather than to give his
whole attention to the stalking and killing of
game. The people he met, their aspirations,
habits, and achievements are to him a never-
ending source of interest.

After all, real life is the one great thing that

3i6 THE UPPER YUKON

finally appeals to the heart of every one, and
makes the most lasting impression. In the
language of David Grayson, "Hovi^ little we
know — we who dread life — how much there
is in life." My heart is "replete with thank-
fulness" that I have been permitted to visit
and to hunt in so many sections of this good
old world where comparatively few men have
had the opportunity to go. I am also thank-
ful that so far I have always been permitted
to come back in safety, renewed in health and
strength, and thus better able to cope with the
complex demands of a modern business life.

My writings in the past have always been
addressed to the man or men who can, if they
want, take some time from their work or busi-
ness to spend in the open air, for their own
betterment as well as for those who are de-
pendent upon them. The man who keeps
hirqself in robust, vigorous health benefits not
only himself but his family, and the people
with whom he comes In business contact. A
feeble, sickly man can bring no happiness to
any one, only worry and trouble.

"He sits and mopes in his study chair,
While others toll in the open air.
He quaffs iced drinks through the sultry day,
Electric fans on his person play.

THE MORAL 317

*I feel despondent,' he murmurs low;

'I lack the vim that I used to know ;

My liver's loose, and my kidneys balk.

And my knee joints creak when I try to walk.

I'll call Doc Clinker and have him bring

His Compound Juice of the Flowers of Spring.' "

In recent years the developments in the
study and cure of disease have been wonder-
ful in extent and in practical results. The un-
selfish work of numbers of scientists who have
given their lives to original research is to be
largely credited with these results. But
neither in the past, present, nor future will
these investigators ever find a panacea for the
business or professional man which will en-
able him to have a sound body, a strong heart,
firm nerves, clear, bright eyes, good digestion,
and a kindly disposition, when he works all
day and every day at his office, and perhaps
in addition burns the midnight oil. When
this man does take a vacation of a week or two
he is almost sure to eat heavily, loaf around
a hotel or on board ship, and take no exercise.
His muscles become feeble, his resistance to
disease but slight, his nervous system is apt
to give way, and he becomees irritable and
petulant. He feels himself that he is "not
fit." His family suffers from his condition.

3i8 THE UPPER YUKON

and his business is generally affected by it.
This is not a fanciful picture, but one that is
unfortunately too true, as the vital statistics
year after year inevitably show.

Therefore, my apology for the writing of
this book — if one is needed — is that I hope by
picturing the manifold blessings of an out-
door life, if indulged in even for a brief
period of time, to stir my readers to a realiza-
tion of the truth of the adage:

"Heed now this maxim, lest j'ou go astray,
Put not off till the morrow — work to-day;
And be you well assured in life's great hurry,
That the hunt will cure the ills produced by worry."

The Englishman, F. C. Selous, the most
famous hunter in all the world, has this to
say about hunting: "Ten thousand years of
superficial and unsatisfactory civilization
have not altered the fundamental nature of
man, and the successful hunter of to-day be-
comes for the time being a primeval savage —
remorseless, triumphant, full of a wild ex-
ultant joy, which none but those who have
lived in the wilderness and depended on their
success as hunters for their daily food can
ever know or comprehend."

The Reverend W. S. Rainsford, who is

THE MORAL 319

noted as an African big game hunter, con-
fesses: "I think I can truthfully say I have al-
ways enjoyed hunting apart from mere kill-
ing— the distinction is important. I learned
to enjoy and value it for the knowledge it
gave me of a thousand and one useful things,
and for the opportunities it afforded of study-
ing them. On the great western plains I
spent many months as far back as 1868 when
no white man came, and the whole country
swarmed with game. I have hunted in the
forests of New Brunswick and on the barrens
of Nova Scotia and Quebec, and therefore
have had much experience."

It is worthy of note that the hunters, the
naturalists, the trappers, and the missionaries
are the first men to open up the wildernesses of
the far-off lands where big game abounds.
The hunter inevitably will be in first, followed
by the trapper and then by the naturalist; then
comes the missionary, the priest, and the
bishop. It was the faculty of observation
combined with the hereditary instinct for the
open that gave us John Burroughs, Walt
Whitman, John Muir, and many other natur-
alists, whose writings and experiences are
destined to become classics in literature.

If you would follow the innate instinct

320 THE UPPER YUKON

that has come down to you from the genera-
tions of long ago, and travel over the thou-
sands upon thousands of miles that the writer
has hunted over in great areas of the yet vir-
gin country —

"I think j'ou would hear the Bull Moose call

And the glutted river roar,
And spy the hosts of the Caribou, shadow the shining
plain ;
And feel the pulse of the silence,
And stand elate once more
On the verge of the yawning vestitudes that call to you in
vain."

My story of "Hunting in the Upper
Yukon" is finished. I trust that something
I have written will act as a spur to you, who-
ever you may be, so that you will take to heart
the great lesson to all business men —

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

"What a piece of work is man! how noble
in reason, how infinite in faculty" ; yet what
a fool is he who neglects the great and imperi-
tive necessity for some genuine re-creation at
least once a year.

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