296 THE UPPER YUKON 



the hard climb up to, and through, the pass 

 began. 



Our heroine, the widow, soon saw where 

 she could win out. She sent for her boys, for 

 the five horses, and for a strong, serviceable 

 four-horse wagon and harness. Her plan was 

 a simple one. She would haul supplies at the 

 rate of two and a half cents per pound, to the 

 foot of the mountain eighteen miles away, 

 where the climb over the pass had to start. 

 She had been promised all the freight that she 

 could haul. In due course of time the boys, 

 the wagon, and the five horses arrived. It 

 did not take her long to get loaded up with all 

 that the wagon could hold, and at 4.30 A. M. 

 the next morning she mounted the driver's seat 

 herself, cracked the whip, and off she drove 

 amid the cheers of the populace and of the 

 would-be miners. This program she con- 

 tinued day after day as long as the hegira 

 lasted. In order to make time and save her 

 horses, she was compelled to be up at 3.30 

 every morning to see that the horses were 

 well fed and curried. Her boys helped her 

 eagerly; but she was the driver, she was the 

 contractor, she was the wage-winner for the 

 family. As long as there were supplies to 

 haul, she never failed to take up her load, rain 



