FAR AND NEAR 



rosy finch. The vegetation was mostly moss and 

 hc'licns and low stunted spruce, the latter so tlat- 

 tened by the snow that one could walk over them- 



In keeping with the snow and desolation and 

 general dissolution was the group of hasty, ragged 

 canvas buildings and tents at the railroad ter- 

 minus, the larger ones belonging to the company, 

 the others for the accommodation of traveling gold- 

 seekers. In one of the larger tents a really good 

 dinner was served our party, through the courtesy 

 of the railroad officials. We saw on the trail a few 

 gold-seekers with their heavy packs: they paused 

 and looked up wistfully at our train. 



In ascending the Pass v/e met a small party of 

 naturalists from the U. S. Biological Survey on their 

 way to the Yukon, the entire length of which they 

 intended traversing in a small boat. We stopped 

 long enough to visit their tent and take a hasty look 

 at the interesting collection of birds and mammals 

 they had already secured here. They have since 

 returned and published a report on the results of 

 their labors. 



At the time of our visit the railroad terminus was 

 at the summit of the pass, from which point pas- 

 sengers bound for the Klondike were transported to 

 Lake Bennett by sleighs. The deep snow w^as 

 melling so rapidly and slumping so badly that the 

 sled-loads of people and grain we saw depart for the 

 Upper Yukon were, we were told, the last to go 



38 



