A NEW TERRITORY 253 



he descended the Pelly and Yukon rivers all 

 the way to Behring Sea. Warburton Pike 

 started in on his long journey from Lac La 

 Hache "the lake of the axe." This lake is 

 about a hundred and twenty miles from Ash- 

 croft on the C. P. R. R. He was alone and 

 his pack contained fifty pounds of flour, a slab 

 of bacon, some matches, candles, salt, cart- 

 ridges, clothes, shoes, etc., and this with his 

 axe and rifle enabled him to spend a whole 

 year in making this remarkable trip of over 

 two thousand miles. 



The year i897-'98 saw a wonderful hegira 

 of excited men and some women all rushing 

 pell-mell to the Klondike gold fields. Of the 

 thousands upon thousands of people who made 

 the trip or attempted to make it, thousands 

 died. A host of men undertook to reach the 

 fabled country by way of the Mackenzie River 

 Valley. We quote now from Prof. Joseph 

 Keele: 



"Of the latter, was a party starting from 

 Fort Norman on the Mackenzie River in the 

 month of November, 1897. Hauling their 

 outfits on sleds under the guidance of one In- 

 dian, they followed an Indian trail to the 

 Gravel River and went up the Twitya River 

 to the divide. They then followed one of the 



