420 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



out every day, but Mr. Vachan and Mr. Gordon showed me 

 special kindness. I stayed in the house of the former, and 

 everywhere the work we had done met with the warmest 

 appreciation an appreciation which meant a good deal to me, 



WATERING HORSES ON THE TRAIL. 



as coming from men who all knew what life on the trail meant 

 and the difficulties attending it. 



But my conscience was pricking me. Valdez was still far off, 

 and I left on March 4 at 6 P.M. Captain Clifton had telegraphed 

 to me that he was going up to the further end of his district 

 and would join the stage ; so he, Mr. Dreibelbis, and myself 

 went together. 



When I arrived at Fairbanks the weather was nearly 40 C. 

 below freezing point ; when I left it was 3 C. above, and rain and 

 snow were falling rather a strange state of affairs in the .interior 

 of Alaska during the early spring. It was hard work for the 

 horses to pull the stage in such weather, but they were changed 

 every twenty miles, and we made fine progress in spite of the 

 sticky trail. On the morning of March 5 it was still raining, 

 but it cleared up and became colder towards the afternoon, 

 when we had a splendid view of the magnificent Alaskan 

 range. 



Traffic on the trail was lively. About six hundred men were 

 on their way to Fairbanks and the neighbouring camps to take 



