88 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



steaming against the dancing current. The slack of the 

 rope was not even taken up, its own weight adding 

 enough pull to make up for the slight lack of power in the 

 paddle-wheel, which did not have quite enough to propel 

 the boat against the rapids. After two hundred feet 

 the doubtful part was passed, the rope loosened, and we 

 went through the rest of the canon without difficulty. 



Soon we saw in the distance the MacMillan range 

 of mountains the first imposing mountains seen since 

 we had entered the Pelly and at about five o'clock we 

 steamed into the MacMillan River. The landscape 

 changed and we realized with satisfaction that more than 

 half of our journey had been completed. 



The MacMillan River was discovered in 1843 by 

 Robert Campbell a resolute pioneer of the Hudson 

 Bay Company, to whom we owe the first exploration 

 of that section of the northern wilderness. He named it 

 in honor of Chief Factor MacMillan of the Hudson Bay 

 Company. When Dr. George M. Dawson made his 

 famous trip down the Pelly, in 1887, little was known 

 about the river, only a few prospectors having ascended 

 it for a short distance, without finding good prospects. 

 The Klondike rush of 1897 and 1898 sent a large overflow 

 of prospectors up the Pelly and MacMillan, and soon 

 trappers established their trapping lines over the entire 

 country of both rivers almost to their sources. 



But it was not until the summer of 1902 that it was 

 explored and mapped, fortunately by those able and 

 energetic men of the Canadian Geological Survey R. G. 

 McConnell and Joseph Keele. Its total length is about 



