CHAPTER VI 



UP THE NORTH FORK TO THE SELWYN ROCKIES 1904 



THE North Fork of the MacMillan varies in width 

 from seventy-five to two hundred feet. The current races 

 in numerous rapids around sharp curves, from five to 

 eight miles an hour, often along wide bars, and the banks 

 are full of driftwood, piled high in many places, causing 

 great difficulty in taking canoes around it. This Fork 

 resembles a mountain torrent more than the ordinary 

 river of the territory. We were obliged to tow the canoes 

 as far as we went, making use of paddles only for cross- 

 ing, and poles only to go around driftwood. The coun- 

 try on the right between the Forks consists of low, 

 rolling ridges; on the left it rises gradually to the Russell 

 Mountains, which were then white with snow that had 

 fallen the night before. That snow did not melt again 

 before the following spring. 



After going three miles we made camp in the spruce 

 woods, where red squirrels were very abundant, chatter- 

 ing on all sides. Selous took his rifle and wandered for a 

 short distance up the river while I went back in the 

 woods. We returned later, and sat before the fire, re- 

 joicing to be separated from a crowd, so that we could 

 realize a more genuine wilderness charm as we watched 

 the sparks of the fire shooting up through the spruce trees, 



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