216 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



even some snow from last year in small banks in the lee 

 of steep cliffs. The Indians said, however, that this 

 snow would all be gone in two or three weeks and that 

 there would be a month or so between its disappearance 

 and the coming of the next winter. I judge that a moun- 

 tain in this vicinity would have to be six or seven thou- 

 sand feet high to be cold enough for any snow to remain 

 permanently. 



The evening after crossing the divide we had a de- 

 lightful camp site in a grove of tall spruces by a small 

 river that flowed west towards the Bell. We were high 

 enough up so that it was cold towards morning and when 

 we awoke there was hoar frost on the grass. Before 

 leaving our camp we had a discussion as to where we 

 should strike for the Bell. The Indians said the nearest 

 way would be to go directly towards the site of La 

 Pierre's House but that the trees in that locality would 

 be too small for building the raft on which I wanted to 

 travel down the river. I should have liked to see the 

 ruins of this mountain outpost of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company, but the main consideration was to try to reach 

 a telegraph station ahead of Harrison's bad news and I 

 could not afford time for sightseeing. I told the Indians, 

 therefore, to head as nearly as they could for the nearest 

 point on the Bell where there were trees large enough 

 for a raft. I think that had we gone to La Pierre's House 

 we might have followed the little branch river at which 

 we had been camped, but now we had to climb out of its 

 valley and march all day at an angle to the streams, so 

 that we had to cross several small rivers and climb a 

 good many hills. We did not quite make the Bell that 

 day, but the Indians said it was not far. 



The next morning we got to the Bell after a march of 



