A NEW TERRITORY 253 



he descended the Pelly and Yukon rivers all 

 the way to Behring Sea. Warburton Pike 

 started in on his long journey from Lac La 

 Hache — "the lake of the axe." This lake is 

 about a hundred and twenty miles from Ash- 

 croft on the C. P. R. R. He was alone and 

 his pack contained fifty pounds of flour, a slab 

 of bacon, some matches, candles, salt, cart- 

 ridges, clothes, shoes, etc., and this with his 

 axe and rifle enabled him to spend a whole 

 year in making this remarkable trip of over 

 two thousand miles. 



The year i897-'98 saw a wonderful hegira 

 of excited men and some women all rushing 

 pell-mell to the Klondike gold fields. Of the 

 thousands upon thousands of people who made 

 the trip or attempted to make it, thousands 

 died. A host of men undertook to reach the 

 fabled country by way of the Mackenzie River 

 Valley. We quote now from Prof. Joseph 

 Keele: 



"Of the latter, was a party starting from 

 Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River in the 

 month of November, 1897. Hauling their 

 outfits on sleds under the guidance of one In- 

 dian, they followed an Indian trail to the 

 Gravel River and went up the Twitya River 

 to the divide. They then followed one of the 



