The Mountaineer 1] 
Selkirks; and finally, heavy rains laying the smoke, we 
started with a pack outfit up the stream. <A day on the trail 
brought us to the Paradise mine, well up in the hills, 8000 
to 8500 feet above sea level. We were here at about the timber 
line, with nothing but Lyell’s larches and white bark pines. 
From the mine we planned a reconnaissance of Mount Ham- 
mond, a hitherto unclimbed peak, which has been attempted 
by Professor Parker and others. From a ridge above the mine 
we obtained one of the finest distant mountain panoramas | 
have ever seen. The view of the distant Rockies through the 
clear atmosphere, the combination of the snow, ice and delicate 
blues of the peaks——-old Assiniboine rearing its bulk in the mid- 
dle distance—was indescribably grand. 
Our party consisted of Mr. C. D. Ellis, a young local 
rancher, Mr. H. W. Gleason and myself. 
The morning of September 2 promising well, Ellis and I 
started, Gleason staying behind to do certain panoramic work 
for which the day was favorable. Our starting elevation was 
8000 feet and our route lay due west for some distance to the 
head of Paradise Basin. The divide at the head of the Basin 
forms a barrier between Spring and Clearwater Creeks. The 
elevation of this divide was 9,605 feet, and from here we slowly 
traversed the precipitous sides of a high ridge which we had 
been told would bring us well up on Hammond. 
It soon became clear that we had been badly advised. The 
ridge, instead of connecting with Hammond, was separated 
from it by an enormous, deep-cut gulf, and it was evident that 
we were really on the wrong side of the mountain. To get to 
the other side we must vary our course to slightly south of 
west and drop from the ridge upon which we had already 
risen, nearly 700 feet, to a small lake at the head of Clear. 
water Basin. From that point we must attack an almost 
vertical rotten-rock wall which we afterwards found rose sheer 
1,225 feet above the little lake, before we could even determine 
whether Hammond was feasible from the farther side. In 
surmounting a small ridge near the lake we met face to face, 
within fifteen feet, two of the finest mountain goats I have 
seen. Before I could unlimber my camera they were climb- 
ing the mountain wall in front of us, now and then stopping 
to kick rocks down in our direction. 
The actual hard climbing began at the lake. The wall rose 
