IN THE GOAT AND GLACIER FIELDS 



Most of them become so hardened to the weather 

 and privations that they can endure almost un- 

 believable trials on the trail. We were told of 

 one man and his dog team who, a few years ago, 

 subsisted for ten days on rabbits alone, while 

 camped in a tent on Nizina Glacier. Freighters, 

 prospectors and others frequently get caught on 

 the glaciers in mid-winter in a blizzard and are 

 compelled to camp until it is over, as in that in- 

 tense winter climate, with a twenty-five or 

 thirty mile wind blowing, there is no human that 

 could withstand the cold, piercing wind while 

 traveling. 



Dozens of graves in sequestered spots dot the 

 banks of these streams, mute testimony to the 

 severity of the Alaska winters. Seldom more 

 than a very few people know where these men 

 are buried, as, when found, whether dead or 

 dying, there is usually but few in the discovering 

 party (more often but one) and very likely it is 

 necessary to make haste with the obsequies in 

 order to save their own lives; so the body is laid 

 to rest usually in a fern-clad or pine-decorated 

 spot, with a blaze on a near-by tree on which 

 pencil or pen marks (soon, of course, obliterated) 

 are placed, telling the man's name, if known, and 

 the date of the burial. As most of these graves 

 are off the trail (which changes almost yearly in 

 most cases) it may easily be understood how few 

 of them are known to the average passer-by. 

 We passed one such grave, that of Captain Tay- 



49 



