THE STEF AN S80N- ANDERSON EXPEDITION 239 



country the sixty cases of specimens brought out of the Arctic by the 

 expedition and will himself reach New York it is hoped before the end of 

 November. The following are a few excerps from his letters of the past 

 four years : 



HUNTING MOUNTAIN SHEEP AND CARIBOU IN THE ENDICOTT MOUNTAINS 



.... I shall go up into the mountains nea.r here with one of our natives, either up the 

 Hula-hula or Kugruak, and try to gc^t some mountain slieej) before the .snow is too deep [Au- 

 tumn, 1908). This part of the Endicott range is said to be the best mountain sheep country 

 left in Alaska, and the natives kill a good many at all seasons of the year. The caribou are 

 killed in considerable numbers all along this coast and are said to be working westward in 

 greater numbers every year to the Colville River region and up toward Point Barrow. 



Auktalik told me that his brother Umigluk with two companions had several years before 

 crossed the divide from the head of the Hula-hula River and himted on a river flowing south 

 (I believe the middle or east branch of the Chandler), a northern tributary of the Yukon, and 

 had found plenty tuktu (caribou). 



There is an immense territory south of the Endicott Mountains and north of the Yukon 

 which the white prospectors have not yet reached except in a few places. The Rampart 

 House and Fort Yukon Indians do not range so far north except in summer, and the Eskimo 

 seldom cross the mountains. To the knowledge of the natives, no white man had ever crossed 

 the mountains in this region. 



We decided that it would take too long to return to Fla.xman Island for flour, etc. before 

 crossing the mountains and having as much frozen mutton as we could carry on our sleds, 

 after leaving a few carcasses cached to fall back upon near the head of the Hula-hula, we 

 crossed the divide on December 4 [1908]. The week before we had hauled a load of meat 

 within a quarter of a mile of the summit and camped one night (December 3) above the 

 willow line. We now took the sleds over singly by putting ten dogs in harness, with six men 

 boosting and pulling. Descending a rocky creek gorge, we reached large willows before night. 

 The second day devoted to hunting brought in one sheep out of a flock of eleven seen. The 

 third day's travel brought us to green spruce trees. Ptarmigan were scarce and hard to find 

 as the river valley was wild. We were on pretty short rations before we struck the caribou 

 herds in the high foothills on December 18. The snow was very deep and soft on the south 

 side of the divide, our sleds were soon stalled and we were delayed three days cutting trees, 

 hewing out boards and making toboggans. A trail had to be snow-shoed ahead and travel 

 was slow, all hands "slugging" in harness with the dogs. Two porcui)ines and a great gray 

 owl proved welcome additions to oiu- larder. Canada jays were observed a few miles north 

 of the limit of spruce trees and ravens were often in siglit. During the latter part of 

 December we saw many caribou, at one time over a thousand within rifle range — a mag- 

 nificent spectacle. We lived in tents until December 27, when we built a hut of poles 

 covered with blocks of moss, living in it until late in January [1909], occasionally seeing 

 caribou which were always moving eastward. 



EASTWARD ALONG THE ARCTIC COAST 



I Started west from Flaxman Island [April, 1909], after finishing the preparation of 

 my specimens, and sledded as far west as Smith Bay. Here I found a note from Mr. Steffins- 

 son who had preceded me, stating that advices were received at Point Barrow to the effect 

 that no whalers were coming into the Arctic Ocean this summer, and that thus we were left 

 to oiu" own resources to get our belongings east. ^ ' 



We at once started hauling goods and supplies east from our cache at Smith Bay and by 

 strenuous effort with two sleds succeeded in getting five sled-loads of gear and a 33J-foot skin 

 umiak within a few miles of the Colville delta before water overflowing the sea ice put an end 

 to sled travel on June 1-1 [1909]. We launched our boat on June 23 and have spent the time 

 since then moving eastward, paddling, sailing or tracking. I have spent all available time 

 in collecting and have taken a fair scries of eggs and nests, including whistling swan, black 

 brant, Hutchins's goose, black-bellied and American golden plovers, tiu-nstone, red- 

 backed, pectoral and semipalmated sandpipers, northern and red phalarope, snowflake, 

 Lapland longspur, parasitic jaeger, red-tlu-oated loon, willow ptarmigan, etc., all from the 

 vicinity of Colville delta. 



