410 DISCOVERIES OF ARMY OFFICER 



head waters of the Keechatno when, on the 19th, the monotony was reHeved 

 by the discovery of the pass over the divide. 



"The formation, locahty and game trails of antiquity all indicated that 

 I had found the pass I sought. I asked my Indians for their opinion, but I 

 received a reply of 'No savey.' I camped in the last clump of trees, our 

 elevation now being at the timber line, and prepared to reconnoiter the pass. 



"Stepan shot, about a mile from this camp, a huge bull moose. The animal 

 was not far from twenty hands high and very fat, the antlers in velvet state. 

 The fresh meat was welcome after a diet of bacon. The Indians consider the 

 soft outer edge of the horns a great delicacy, likewise the nose, the sole of 

 the hoof, the intestines and the marrow of the bones. 



"Leaving three men and the horses at camp, I took the Indians and 

 Dillinger and explored the pass for nearly ten miles, found it wide through- 

 out, of slight grade, safe from snowslides, free from glaciers, the elevation on 

 the crest taken with barometer and psychrometer 3,600 feet above sea level, 

 and practicable for trails, roads or railroads. There was no need for the 

 pick or shovels. 



ATTACK ON TWO GRIZZLY BEARS. 



"While in this pass I came upon two enormous brown bears, asleep 

 (sometimes called the glacier bear, or the grizzly). Led by the Indian Slinkta, 

 I crawled around to the leeward and then approached them, too near, I 

 thought to myself, as I had a poor gun, only a few cartridges, and the nearest 

 tree was five miles away. Slinkta whistled and awoke the bears, while I 

 fired and shot the larger one in the head, but only staggered him. He arose 

 and passed a swinging right bander at the other bear, but missed him. They 

 got away. 



• "The same day Jones and Webster were chased by a brown bear, near the 

 glacier at the head of the Keechatno. Four or five shots in the bear turned 

 him, but did not kill him. He took to the brush. 



"The 22d of July I crossed the crest of the divide and started down the 

 other side of the watershed. East of the divide the drainage is into the 

 Pacific Ocean; west of it into the Bering Sea. Bering Sea is closed by ice in 

 winter, while the Pacific Ocean is open. Hence routes into the interior must 

 connect with the latter. 



"In the vicinity of camp, July 23, on the Tateno. were hundreds of moun- 

 tain sheep, high up near the summits. Jones, Carter and Slinkta climbed the 



