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CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



upon the hard trail. When we had passed Toscanna we came 

 upon a congregation of sledges parties carrying wares to 

 Fairbanks and the telegraph stations inland. They had 

 camped, and their large tents stood on either side of the trail, 

 lit up with lamps. From a distance we could hear the people 

 talking, and here and there also the sound of an accordion. In 



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STAGE ARRIVING AT VALDEZ. 



another tent some one was singing, but as we sped by the 

 singing stopped, people came out to look at us, cracked their 

 whips at our horses, and all the while on and on we went 

 through that veritable street of tents. Outside each tent one 

 or more horses were standing, shivering in the cold, with a 

 blanket thrown over them, and munching their food. We 

 reached Teikill road-house and found it full, but we were 

 accommodated somehow and slept beautifully until 2 A.M., 

 when we were called to continue our journey. 



The trail was very bad, practically nothing but " chuck- 

 holes," holes five to six feet deep and about ten feet long, which 

 had been dug out in the trail by the heavily loaded double- 

 enders. Down and up again we went, jolting unmercifully, at 

 times almost shaken out of our sledge. We drove through 

 a narrow canon with high, steep mountains on either side, 



