BIOLOGICAL, RECONNOISSANCE AT FLATHEAD LAKE. 163 



The Swan Range of the Kootenai Mountains. 



Several excursions have been made into the Swan range in different 

 years. In 1901, Dr. MacDougal, Mr. Harris, Mr. Ricker, Mr. Silloway and 

 the writer shouldered packs and started over the trail to Haystack. We 

 passed along the south face of this about third way up, and northeast to 

 Silloway mountain. The second day Mr. Ricker and Mr. Silloway return- 

 ed to camp. The remaining three passed entirely around the head of 

 Wolf creek, ascended Craig mountain, followed its long ridge to the north- 

 ern end, and descended through the woods to camp the third day without 

 mishap. 



The trail thinned out and disappeared early in the day. The slope 

 was steep. The blazing July sun on the south side of the mountain was 

 blistering hot. The way was almost barred by dense growth of rock 

 maple, alder, mountain ash. New Jersey tea and Menziesii scrub. This 

 growth was bent downward by many heavy and sliding snows. In its 

 effort to straighten the shrubby vegetation had become a tangled mass, 

 exceedingly difficult to penetrate. 



From nine in the morning, when this scrub growth was first en- 

 countered, until six in the evening we worried through this dense and 

 tangled shrubbery. Excessive thirst drove us to a descent to the creek 

 at this time, as our canteens were long since empty. After a cool and 

 refreshing draught the brush was again entered. It was worse than ever. 

 It was im/possible to see more than a few feet ahead, and it was often 

 necessary to crawl on hands and knees to get through. Most of the 

 timie the head man was poking his gun between bent bushes with one hand 

 and with the other trying to force the stems apart so as to slip through. 

 Of course the others followed. The lead man was soon tired out with 

 the threshing round he received and was relieved by another, and so on. 

 It was the most trying, soul stirring, temper distracting and abominable 

 place the writer has ever had the bad fortune to be in. Guns, packs, 

 and other paraphernalia made progress so slow as to be very dishearten- 

 ing. Some of the boys wanted to stop and sleep on the brush. But 

 we pushed on. About nine in the evening we stopped on a large flat 

 rock, fifty feet above the stream, and 1,600 feet below the ridge we 

 hoped to reach by night. So tired were we that we threw ourselves 

 down to rest without removing the packs. After a meal remembered 

 not by the abundance or variety of food, but by the fact that it was very 

 good, we crawled into our sleeping bags around the campfire for a 

 night's rest. 



The next morning we were off before half past six. The slope was 

 steep, and smoothed annually by spring avalanches. We reached the 

 ridge summit at 9, prospected the three ridges to the mountain, as also 

 the lake. As stated, two of the party returned from here to camp. The 

 other three followed the ridge southward, skirted Actomys on the west, 

 passed over some rocky cliffs into the pass of faulted rock between Arc- 

 torays and Craig, spending the night between huge snowbanks. Our 



