154 Professor J. Norman Collie [May 9, 



In 1897, and during other journeys that I have made to this 

 mountain land in 1898 and 1900, I have always been north of the 

 railway line ; the furthest north was in 1898, when I reached the 

 head waters of the Athabasca and discovered the Columbia ice-fields, 

 which in extent surimss any others at present known in the Canadian 

 Rocky Mountains. 



In 1897, in company with Professor H. B. Dixon, Mr. G. P.Baker 

 and some American friends belonging to the Appelachian Club of 

 Boston, I explored the Wapta ice-field that lies fifteen miles north of the 

 railway at Field and a peak (Mount Gordon), situated in its very centre, 

 was ascended from whose summit higher mountains to the north-west 

 were seen. Later in the same year Mr. Baker and I made an attempt 

 to reach these unknown mountains ; men and horses were hired at 

 Banfif and provisions were taken to last for a month. That this 

 mountain land was almost unknown is easy to explain, for the country 

 is far from any human habitation, and often so difficult to get at, that 

 it takes weeks of hard work battling with the rivers and woods before 

 even the valleys are reached, which lie at the foot of these ranges of 

 snow and ice-covered mountains. At first, one is quite unaccustomed 

 to the leisurely method of progression of a "pack team" amidst 

 heavy timber, swamps and thick underbrush ; at first, one is alarmed 

 to see the sturdy small Indian ponies, with perhaps one's most 

 treasured belongings on their backs, being swept down stream or 

 hopelessly floundering in a morass, but later all these things are 

 taken as a matter of course. These accidents, and the delays 

 consequent on the cutting away fallen timber, rescuing the ponies 

 from the rivers, and finding the easiest way through the dense woods, 

 all after a time become part of the day's work and travelling in these 

 mountain solitudes is neither irksome nor unpleasant. 



During the latter part of August and the beginning of September, 

 Baker and I explored that part of the Rocky Mountain system lying 

 about 60 miles north of where the Canadian Pacific Railway crosses 

 the continental watershed at the Kicking Horse Pass. 



Starting from Laggan, we went north up to the head of the Bow 

 Valley, thence after crossing the Bow Pass, Bear Creek was descended 

 to the Saskatchewan River. From this point Mount Sarbach w\as 

 climbed in order that a survey of the new country we were in might 

 be obtained. To the west were visible the high peaks we were in 

 search of, together with vast expanses of snow-fields and glaciers that 

 constituted the eastern slopes of the main chain of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Amongst these we spent nearly a fortnight, surveying, 

 photographing and exploring. But bad weather and lack of time 

 forced us to return to civilisation before we could ascend Mount 

 Forbes, the highest mountain in the district. However, althougli 

 unable to get to the summit of Forbes, a magnificent view of the 

 main chain had been obtained from high up on the ridge of Mount 

 Freshfield, and far away further north higher mountains still were 

 visible. We returned to civilisation by another route, first by going 



