416 AN EXPLORATION TO MOUNT McKINLEY. 



After a week of this sort of thing we entered the foothills of the 

 range, and the conditions improved. The horses being now thoroughly 

 broken in and, in fact, almost devoid of spirit, three men could easily 

 manage them while the others explored the adjacent hills. Grass 

 was plentiful; and as the mosquitoes became less annoying after the 

 timbered region was left behind, most of the horses began to recover 

 strength. 



The jaded horses now needed a da3^\s rest, and while the}' enjoyed 

 the abundant grass Reaburn and I climbed a neighboring mountain. 

 We found that we were well within a rugged range whose jagged 

 peaks arose on every hand and whose higher valley's were filled with 

 glacial ice. There were still no indications of the pass we sought, so 

 we again took up our march. (See plate v.) 



On July 13 a convenient moose walked into camp, and a shot from 

 Fred's carl)ine gave us a welcome supply of fresh meat. Poor Wild 

 Bill, who had been playing the part of an invalid for several days, 

 found himself under a load of 100 pounds, much to his disgust. 



Fred, Prindle, and 1 now set out to explore the mountains ahead, 

 each taking a different direction. When we met again in camp after 

 a twenty-four hours' absence, it was Fred who reported discovery of 

 the pass so essential to our further progress. 



It was the middle of July when we threaded the narrow gap which 

 led us from waters flowing into the Pacific Ocean to those tributary 

 to Bering Sea. The fair weather we had encountered almost from the 

 beginning now gave place to storms, naturall}^ suggesting the name 

 "Kainy Pass'' for the newh' discovered gap. (See plate vi.) We 

 were now in high spirits, for we all felt that whatever the summer 

 might bring forth, we had at least located a route through this high 

 mountain barrier. 



With this thought to encourage us we hastened to press on. Choos- 

 ing as guide a stream which headed on the north side of the divide, 

 we entered a beautiful mountain vallev, whose steep slopes, clothed in 

 dark green spruce, ended above in abrupt clifi^s. Here Fred's ever- 

 ready carbine brought us our first mountain sheep. Farther on the 

 valley opened up into a broader one across whose level floor a mighty 

 river meandered with great, sweeping bends, and we recognized the 

 Kuskokwim, the second river of Alaska in size, which poured its 

 muddy waters into the Bering Sea a tliousand miles away. Here we 

 came upon the trail of a previous exploring expedition and hailed the 

 half -obliterated ax marks with a sense of companionship, several years 

 old though they were. 



While the pack train cut its wav along the river bank, I climbed a 

 peak which proved to be a part of the valley wall. From this point 

 I could see the broad valley of the Kuskokwim stretching to the north, 

 opening out 30 miles below to a broad lowland whose limits were lost 

 in the distant haze. South of me rose the snowy peaks of the range 



