Ihoway] argonauts OF 1862 49 



train would frequently be mired at once. These swamps were separ- 

 ated by patches of higher ground, indescribably rough and rugged 

 and rocky. In the end he abandons the attempt in disgust, saying 

 on August 8th: "Language is absolutely inadequate to describe it." 

 The next day in the midst of a dense forest of spruce and poplar 

 they came suddenly upon a reminder of our mortality: "A solitary 

 grave sheltered by birch bark, with the inscription on a large tamarac 

 tree facing it, of a wearied traveller, James Mockerty, who died on a 

 voyage to British Columbia in October, 1860." 



Soon afterwards they came upon the McLeod River, also a tribu- 

 tary of the Athabaska. This stream they forded with the packs 

 upon the animals. It was not so deep as the Pembina, but the current 

 ran so swift that two of the party were swept off their feet into deep 

 water and were only rescued with great difficulty. For two days they 

 followed the McLeod River, when, emerging from a thick spruce 

 swamp, they obtained their first distinct view of the Rocky Mountains 

 one hundred miles away. "Their dark outline was plainly visible 

 above the level of the horizon, and their lofty snow-clad peaks, stand- 

 ing out in bold relief against the blue sky beyond and glistening in 

 the sunlight, gave them the appearance of fleecy clouds floating in 

 the distance." The company were enraptured with the scene which 

 gave promise of an end of the succession of hills and streams and 

 swamps, and swamps and streams and hills, that had been their, 

 portion for so many days. Milton and Cheadle bear eloquent testi- 

 mony on this subject. They say: "A day's journey on the road to 

 Jasper House generally consists of floundering through logs, varied 

 by jumps and plunges over the timber which lies strewn, piled, and 

 interlaced across the path and on every side. The horses stick fast 

 in the mire, tumble crashing amongst the logs, or driven to desperation, 

 plunge amongst the thickly growing trees at the side, where they are 

 generally quickly brought up by the wedging of their packs in some 

 narrow passage between contiguous trunks." 



On August 15th they reached the banks of the Athabaska. There 

 they met a number of half-breed hunters on their way from Jasper 

 House to Edmonton. Having recently killed some mountain sheep 

 they were able to supply the emigrants with fresh mutton, a most 

 unexpected treat. Five days' travel along the south bank of the 

 Athabaska brought them to a narrow gateway at the foot of the 

 Rockies, a scene magnificent and awe-inspiring. Overlooking their 

 camp rose the Roche a Miette perpendicularly for a thousand feet; 

 across the Athabaska rose, still higher, the symmetrical cone of Mount 



