158 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



Gray and extending more than twenty miles to Lake 

 Bennett. To the west were various mountains and short 

 ranges, separated by draws and wider valleys, not trend- 

 ing in any particular direction. 



Newell and Johnson left the trail to make a circuit 

 on a mountain side, and Schnabel and I continued to his 

 cabin. Immediately after arriving, we went some dis- 

 tance below and, climbing some low hills, scanned the 

 mountain-slopes for sheep, but did not see any. The 

 others were there when we returned, but nobody had seen 

 any game. The cabin was situated at timber-line, at the 

 head of a rolling, rocky pasture on the west side of the 

 valley. In front, about a mile below, was a lake three 

 miles long and half a mile wide, from the east shore of 

 which the slopes of Mount Gray inclined upward, well 

 pastured with grass, though steep, rocky, and furrowed 

 with gorges, canons, and ravines. The crest, flanked al- 

 most continually with cliffs and high precipices, is ser- 

 ried with peaks and pinnacles, irregular and confused, 

 presenting a long sawtooth sky-line. East of the cabin 

 was a V-shaped draw, separating two high, irregular 

 mountain ranges which lacked trend or continuity in any 

 direction. Some of the mountains are rough and vary 

 in height from five to seven thousand feet, others are 

 dome-shaped and appear like huge, rolling plateaus. To 

 the south, the mountains continue to Lake Bennett; in 

 all directions they are massive and high, but present an 

 appearance of confused groups, rather than well-defined 

 ranges, like the Rockies east of the Yukon River. The 

 inspiring grandeur of majestic mountain landscape is 



