TRAVEL IN THE NORTHWEST 



now half a mile distant. Later in the afternoon another black 

 wolf was seen in the distance. Howe tried to stalk it, and 

 succeeded in getting some long-distance running shots. 



About five o'clock, during the beginning of a snow-storm,, 

 we descended to timber-line and pitched camp, awakening 

 next morning to discover that the mountains were covered 

 with five inches of freshly fallen snow. All that day we trav- 

 elled down a narrow, precipitous canon, leading the horses 

 over innumerable frozen slides, and crossing and recrossing a 

 glacial stream whose waters eventually flowed into the south 

 branch of the Stikine. We camped in burnt timber when 

 overtaken by darkness, and the next day resumed our journey 

 through a stretch of country devoid of timber, but composed 

 of partly disintegrated lava, aptly called "rotten rock" by the 

 Indians. This lasted all morning, and made travelling very 

 tedious, as well as playing havoc with the legs of the horses. 

 All afternoon the pack-train floundered through bogs and 

 swamps, with the Indians and Hungerford ahead clearing a 

 trail through the brush with axes. Darkness found us in a 

 dense alder swamp, where we made a hasty and uncomfortable 

 camp on a small knoll of comparatively solid ground. 



So dense was the brush and so swampy the ground that it 

 took us three hours to get the pack-train a quarter of a mile 

 to the abandoned Ashcroft trail. This was one of the best- 

 known routes to the Klondyke, although seldom trodden now. 

 It still remains a narrow track through the forest, marked by 

 abandoned camp-sites at every available spot, and strewn the 

 whole way with horse skeletons, pack-saddles, rotting dunnage, 

 and all kinds of relics of the rush. We followed this trail until 

 dark through a burnt country, and camped beside a small 

 spring, resuming our journey at daybreak. All that day we 

 travelled through a beautiful and park-like but swampy country, 

 the scenery occasionally hidden by blinding snow-squalls. At 

 dusk we reached the telegraph line about ten miles from Tele- 



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