200 THE UPPER YUKON 



sled to his mining camp and back. When he 

 wanted to visit White Horse, if the snow was 

 good, they would average six miles an hour 

 and thus get him there in a couple of days, 

 making the round journey in from four to five 

 days. 



The morning after our arrival we were still 

 minus three horses, and some time was lost 

 in finding the bunch they were in, for there 

 were many horses there feeding on the grass 

 which was abundant and rich. It also took 

 considerable time to ^cut out" the three from 

 the bunch. Having secured the stray horses, 

 we followed the course of the glacial river un- 

 til we came to the deserted mining village 

 spoken of in a previous chapter. Here were 

 plenty of well-built and roomy cabins, a road 

 house, a large livery stable, a store house, and 

 a bake house. The doors to the buildings 

 were all open. Any one might take posses- 

 sion of one or all of them as he pleased, but, 

 alas! there was nothing to warrant any one 

 in occupying them. 



The going was nasty, and the horses had to 

 pick their way carefully to keep clear of mus- 

 keag ground. At noon we stopped for lunch 

 on a piece of ground that was fairly firm. A 

 fire made with willow brush soon boiled wa- 



