Dog Sledging in the North 



comparatively little snow falls in this region. 

 This seems singular, and I do not know the 

 meteorological explanation of the fact. There 

 is certainly very much less, for instance, 

 than in Minnesota, hundreds of miles to the 

 south. The snow, however, is usually a dry 

 powder all through winter, and very rarely 

 becomes crusted. 



In traveling over broken timbered country 

 with dog-sleds, very much the same routes are 

 followed that one takes with a canoe in sum- 

 mer — that is to say, you avoid the rough 

 country by traveling on the rivers, which are 

 usually covered with thick ice, or over the 

 same portages that are used in summer. It 

 was necessary for either Penrose, Keller or 

 myself to lead the way with our snowshoes, 

 while the others took care of the dog-sleds 

 behind. The dogs followed accurately in the 

 trail beaten out by our snowshoes for them. 



The country on this side of the lake, unlike 

 that of the west, is very rough, rocky and rug- 

 ged, and especially so near the lake shore. It 

 is quite thickly timbered. As one advances 

 into the interior, however, this aspect changes, 

 so that the country near the height of land is 

 more open, and there are long stretches of 



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