ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE. 9 



wise caution detained us here for the night, and the incoming of a 

 solitary traveler warned us that a blizzard had struck the summit of the 

 pass, and buried it beneath a heavy mantle of snow. Had we been a 

 day earlier we might have crossed dry shod, a very exceptional condi- 



CUTTIM; GRADE FOR THE PACIFIC ANI> ARCTIC EAILWAY TUNNEL MOUNTAIN, WHITE PASS 



ROUTE. 



tion at this time of the year, but now the possibilities of a struggle 

 gravely presented themselves. A light frost of the night had fairly 

 congealed the soil, but the lake did not carry enough surface ice to in- 

 terfere with the progress of a scow, and we reached the farther end 

 without difficulty. The two-mile portage to Crater Lake was largely 



