10 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a snow traverse, but an easy one; at this time, however, it began to 

 snow heavily, and the immediate prospect was anything but cheerful. 

 A low fog hung over the waters, but not so low or so dense as to 

 prevent us from occasionally catching glimpses of the rocks which 

 projected with disagreeable frequency from an assumed bottomless 

 pit or " crater." The ascent from Crater Lake to the summit, some- 

 what less than three hundred and fifty feet, was made in about half 

 an hour, and then began the steep and sudden plunge which marks the 

 southern declivity of this famous mountain pass. Some little caution 

 was here required to keep a foothold, and a too sudden break might 

 have led to an exhilarating, even if not anxiously sought after, glis- 

 sade; but in truth, to any one only moderately practiced in moun- 

 taineering, even this steep face, which descends for a thousand feet or 

 more from a summit elevation of thirty-four hundred feet, presents 

 little difficulty and hardly more danger. What there is of a trail 

 zigzags in wild and rapid courses over an almost illimitable mass of 

 rock debris, at times within sheltered or confined hollows, but more 

 generally on the open face of the declivity. This it is more particu- 

 larly that carries to many a certain amount of fear in the making of 

 the passage, but, with proper caution and the right kind of boots, noth- 

 ing of danger need be apprehended. 



Unfortunately for the enjoyment of the scenery of the pass, I 

 could see but a modest part of it. Although snow was no longer fall- 

 ing, and the atmosphere had settled down to a condition of almost 

 passive inactivity much to the surprise, if not disappointment, of 

 a few who had prophesied a stiff and biting wind the moment we 

 passed the divide heavy cloud banks hovered about the summits, and 

 only at intervals did they afford glimpses of the majestic mountain 

 peaks by which we were surrounded. Enough, however, could be seen 

 to justify for the pass the claims of most imposing scenery, and its 

 superiority in this respect over the White Pass. The temperature 

 at the time of 'our crossing was a few degrees below freezing, perhaps 

 25 or 27 F., but our rapid walk brought on profuse perspiration, 

 and it would have been a pleasure, if a sense of proper caution had 

 permitted, to divest ourselves of mackinaws and travel in summer 

 fashion. We made Sheep Camp, with its surroundings of beautiful 

 woodland, shortly after noon, and Canon City, which, as the ter- 

 minus of a good coach road to Dyea, virtually marks the end or be- 

 ginning of the Chilkoot trail, at two o'clock. 



To a mountaineer or traveler of ordinary resource neither the 

 White Pass nor the Chilkoot Pass will appear other than it actually is 

 i. e., a mountain pass, sufficiently rough and precipitous in places, 

 and presenting no serious obstacle to the passage of man, woman, or 

 child. True, I did not see them at their worst, but they were both 



