54 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



dred and sixty feet in the next eighty-five miles and is inter- 

 rupted by ten rapids. The valley narrows to a canon, three to 

 five hundred feet in depth, having a series of terraces through- 

 out most of its course. 



Seventeen miles below the Grand Rapids, we came upon a 

 gas well, marked by a line of bubbles that extended halfway 

 across the stream. On the following day we reached the Cas- 

 cade Rapids, where a series of rock ledges creates an overfall 

 in midstream with swift and shallow rapids on either side. 

 Ordinarily a portion of the load is portaged along the left 

 bank, with the flat rock of the river bed for a portage road, but 

 at the time of our arrival, this was covered with broken and 

 overhanging ice, piled to a height of twenty feet. Packing 

 goods across portages is no uncommon experience for the Com- 

 pany's servants in the North, yet our crew flatly refused to 

 "carry" over such a path, as it would be necessary to make 

 for at least a quarter of a mile, along the steep slope of tar 

 sands and mud slides. Thinking better of it next morning, 

 however, they set to work carrying with tomp lines, improvised 

 from canvas folded so that it could be placed next the fore- 

 head and ropes at the ends to attach to the bales. Partly from 

 a desire to be "doing," and partly from a curiosity as to how 

 it felt to "pack," I shouldered a hundred-pound sack of BB 

 shot and started with the others. The load did not seem heavy 

 at first, and save a little unsteadiness in the knees in climbing 

 the steep inclines, I experienced no difficulty. I was regretting 

 that I had not taken two pieces, as do the voyageurs at each 

 trip, when we came to rougher ground and that lead began to 

 increase rapidly in weight. Just as I was about to throw it 

 down, I reached a convenient ledge on which to rest and after 

 a short "spell" finished the portage. My curiosity was satis- 

 fied, but I carried over a second piece, a bale of dry goods, and 

 found it much easier to carry than the springless, dead weight 

 of the shot. With a half load we attempted to run the short 

 rapid. The boat struck on the last ledge and all hands had to 

 tumble out and carry several hundred pounds ashore through 

 the chilling cold water, in which large pieces of drift ice were 

 running. We were under the overhanging wall of shore ice, 

 several tons falling with a crash within two minutes after we 

 got clear of it. We soon encountered other rapids below, in 



