CHAPTER XX 



THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW TERRITORY 



"Thus far into the bowels of the land, 

 Have we marched on without impediment." 



THROUGH the courtesy of the Hon. H. 

 H. Stevens, M. P. for the District of 

 Vancouver, I have been fortunate enough to 

 obtain copies of all the so-called old, and 

 many of the new, surveys of the Pelly- Yukon 

 River district. 



It will surprise most people to know that 

 the first prospector to cross from the coast to 

 the headwaters of the Yukon River was one 

 George Holt — according to the report of 

 George M. Dawson, C. M. G., L. L. L., 

 F. R. S., by all odds the most famous sur- 

 veyor, geologist, and naturalist among Cana- 

 dian scientists. 



Holt's journey was made in 1878, so that at 

 the present time the short space of thirty-five 

 years only divides this now well-known ter- 

 ritory from the oblivion in which it was in- 

 volved prior to that year. 



