FORDING ^ stream in the 



STREAMS wilderness may 

 be either a blessing or a death- 

 trap. When the hunter or prospector is traveling 

 by canoe, every stream is a benefit, and the rushing 

 waters carve for him a broad highway through 

 mountains and lowlands. In many places, however, 

 the streams are not navigable and the reason that 

 makes them difficult to canoe — their swiftness — 

 makes them a source of danger to the hunter and 

 prospector. 



These men, in their wanderings, must continually 

 ford them; and in this work they are often threat- 

 ened with starvation, through the loss of their provi- 

 sions, or with death, by the fury of the waters. 



Ordinarily, there are only two ways of crossing 

 a stream ; wading and swimming. Swimming, of 

 course, in a rocky, glacial stream, is not fun : so we 

 come down to wading ; and there are two kinds. 



PACK FORDING ^""^"^ f ' '^'^^ '" f'^^ ^^'^' 

 wide, and you find a place where 



it is swift, but not over waist deep ; here your grub 



will help ; for an eighty-pound pack will hold you 



to the bottom, when without it you would be swept 



away. This fact is well known, and rocks or gravel 



from the bank will help, if your pack is too light 



to keep you down. 



In this fording your pack must be well up on 



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