264 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



and four thousand feet high, quickly falling away both 

 north and south of the lakes. That range is isolated and 

 on the east slopes to a rolling wilderness below. West of 

 Lewis and Field Lakes, irregular ridges rise continuously 

 for three miles back to Mount Riddell, a series of dome- 

 shaped crests, sixty-eight hundred feet in altitude. A 

 low depression separates this mountain from Mount 

 Sheldon,* which is seventy-two hundred and fifty feet 

 high, and rises almost from the shores of Sheldon 

 Lake. 



Mount Sheldon, a massive granite mountain com- 

 pletely isolated in that section of the country, towers up 

 like a majestic sentinel guarding the lakes below. Owing 

 to its isolation it has a stern, impressive grandeur more 

 imposing than any mountain I have seen east of the 

 Yukon River. 



To the south I could see the whole course of the Ross 

 as far as the Pelly River, and dimly discern the summits 

 of the Pelly Mountains beyond. The country between 

 the Ross and the Pelly, and that to the south-east is 

 low and rolling a vast timber-clad area. Three or four 

 fairly large lakes glistened in the forests. 



Far to the east are the ranges across the Mackenzie 

 divide ranks of snow-white peaks. 



Mount Sheldon, Mount Riddell, and the single range 

 east of the lakes compose an isolated group, separated 

 from other mountains by many miles of low timbered 

 country. Sheldon Lake is at the end of canoe navigation, 



*The mountains and lakes were so named by Joseph Keele, the Canadian 

 geologist. 



