The Days of a Man 1903 



to make the wearing portage of several miles down to 

 Labarge. 



Soapy For the first year of its existence the town of Skag- 



andthe wa y was a Wl ^ bedlam dominated by " Soapy Smith/' 

 avenger confidence man, bully, and bandit, until sleek prac- 

 tices proved his own undoing. On May i, 1898, Frank 

 H. Reid, a civil engineer said to have had "the heart 

 of a viking and the simple faith of a child/' resolved 

 to avenge his fellows. In the encounter each shot the 

 other, after which the era of law and order set in; and 

 a monument to Reid was erected at the beginning of 

 the White Pass Trail. 



This route, as seen by us from the train, follows 

 along the boisterous Skagway River through fir 

 woods past debouching glaciers, then climbs in long 

 zigzags and windings by the side of reckless waterfalls 

 and unbridged chasms to the open, moss-covered 

 pass. In the gusty saddle lies the first of an un- 

 counted series of lakes at the head of the Yukon. 

 These are each very narrow, very deep, and sunk in a 

 cleft with high rock walls, so hidden and so intri- 

 cate in distribution, moreover, as to make it a serious 

 problem to get around them. 



A sheltered depression on the summit should be 

 historic, for there every band of Klondike pilgrims 

 camped for the night. There also they cast away their 

 luggage? traded off their horses, abandoned their 

 Tragic dogs; trodden into the mud of this springy, heath- 

 grown basin may be found harness, sleds, bottles, 

 dishes, all sorts of wearing apparel, scattered bones of 

 dogs and horses, ravens shot while on scavenger duty, 

 newspapers, playing-cards, cigarettes all giving 

 mute evidence of tragic collapse. Near by is a unique 

 hut built by some humorist out of empty beer bottles 



C 142 ] 



