312 THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE BY LAND. 



for tliirty-eiglit miles, or witliin tliirteen miles of 

 Yale, wliere it crosses the river bj a beautiful sus- 

 pension bridge. Tlie road from Cook's Ferry to 

 Yale, especially the part below Lytton, is probably 

 the most wonderful in the world. Cut out of the 

 mountain-side of the gorge, it follows the hills as 

 they recede in " gulches," or advance in bold, upright 

 ])luffs, in constant windings, like an eternal letter S. 

 The curves of ascent and descent are as sinuous as 

 the lateral ; the road at one time running down, by a 

 series of rapid turns, to the very bottom of the 

 valley, and then rising as quickly to pass the face 

 of some protruding bluff, apparently a complete 

 barrier to all advance, but past which it creeps, 

 looking from below like a mere line scratched on 

 the round front, 500 or 600 feet above the river. 

 At these points the road is partly blasted out of 

 the solid granite rock, and the width increased by 

 beams of rough pine, which project over the pre- 

 cipice ; but it is yet too narrow for vehicles to pass 

 each other, except at certain points. There is, of 

 course, no protecting wall ; the road overhangs the 

 precipice, and nothing is to be seen supporting 

 the platform on which you stand — a terrible place 

 to drive along, as we afterwards found. The road 

 has been made, in this skilful and laborious manner, 

 from where it first strikes the Thompson to Yale, 

 a distance of nearly 100 miles. 



The trail formerly ran up many hundred feet 

 higher, the barrier bluffs being passed by platforms 

 slung by the Indians from the top of the cliff by 



