ARRANGING MATERIAL FOR NEW MUSEUM 273 



in the afternoon, we decided to start for the main camp. I went 

 ahead and, during that one afternoon, I waded through Bragg's 

 Creek thirteen times and it was a raging torrent, but there was 

 no help for it. I reached Jumping Pound Creek, where Mr. 

 Wheeler had his camp, and the next day the floods came down in 

 earnest. Where we were camped, there was a bridge across the creek 

 and Mr. Wheeler asked us to go out and try to save it and we 

 gathered on the bridge and used poles to relieve it of the drift wood. 

 Shortly after, the flood rose so high that the bridge began to be 

 covered and we retired to the bank. In a few moments, after we 

 left, the bridge was carried away and we rejoiced that we were on 

 the right side. In the evening, a farmer of the neighborhood came 

 to see us and brought his little boy along and we went out to 

 look at the flood and a large poplar tree, about four feet in dia- 

 meter, came sailing along and, by some freak of the current, was 

 left lying on the bank, right beside us, and I said to the little boy : 

 "Forty years after this, my lad, you will stand on this bank and 

 you will tell your friends that you were standing here when that 

 tree landed where it is and they will tell you that you are a liar 

 and that it was not at all possible for such a large tree to come 

 down such a small stream." 



After the flood, Mr. Wheeler broke camp to move further 

 south towards High River and he decided that he would go to a 

 certain ranch on the day that we left Jumping Pound Creek 

 and I took my lunch and started on foot, ahead of the party, on 

 an old trail, but, owing to the heavy rain, it was very wet and 

 boggy, but I managed to reach the ranch late in the afternoon and 

 found a notice on the door that the owner had started that morn- 

 ing for Calgary so I was shut out. After resting for some time, 

 I decided that I would return in the hope of finding lodging at a 

 ranch I had seen as I was walking along in the afternoon. The 

 ground was almost covered with water and, as I was walking 

 through the wild meadows, I reached a narrow brook that had a 

 deep water course and, as the grass was covering it, I stepped right 

 into it and, before I knew I was nearly up to my armpits in the 

 water. I scrambled out and immediately took charge of my 

 watch and a few dollars I had in my pocket as they would have 



