FROM CANDLE TO FORT GIBBON 



405 



It would all have been very perfect had we been able to stop 

 and lie down to look at it, but Birches, our goal, was far away, 

 and we had to reach it. At 4 P.M. we drove up before the 

 telegraph station, Mr. Adams almost dead with fatigue. We 

 heard of a road-house about nine miles further on, and as I 

 wanted to pass the night there, Mr. Adams hired one of the 



NATIVE CAMP ON THE YUKON. 



soldiers to drive him. We arrived at our destination tired and 

 sore in every limb, but we had made more than thirty-five miles 

 and were close to Fort Gibbon. The road-house was run by a 

 couple of miners who had a " sure thing " hidden somewhere 

 in the forest, in which they expected some day to find the golden 

 dreams of every miner. They wanted, in consideration of a 

 suitable payment, to let us into this " dead sure thing," but, to 

 their disgust, we were not very enthusiastic about their project 

 and refused. They were nice fellows and cooked a splendid 

 dinner for us; they also cooked our dog-feed and made out a 

 fine bill $19.0 for one night. 



On February 12 we had hoped to reach Fort Gibbon, but it was 

 too far, the trail was hard, and furthermore we lost it for almost 

 two hours and had to wander about till we found it again. At 



