AN^ EXPLORATION TO MOUNT McKINLEY. 423 



the position of the Tanana. Meanwhile the pack train had continued 

 down the valle}^ below me into a rock-walled canyon, through which 

 the stream tumbled over huge bowlders. From my point of vantage 

 1 could see through the glasses the horses climbing up the valley slopes 

 one by one, like flies crawling up a wall. It seemed impossible that 

 the}" could extricate themselves, but twenty years of mountaineering 

 in Montana had taught Fred to take horses where no other man could. 

 That night we camped on the Tanana side of the range and our moun- 

 tain climbing was over. 



Two daj's later the signals made to bring me to camp did not have 

 that result, for 1 was miles away seeking shelter from the driving rain 

 under a spruce tree. The rifle shots did, however, attract a l)and of 

 Indians and a white prospector. The former were out on a hunting- 

 trip from their village on the Tanana. The white man, traveling- 

 alone, except for tw^o large dogs which he had burdened with packs, 

 was on one of those wild-goose chases after gold which are so common 

 in Alaska. We hailed these visitors with J03", for since leaving tide- 

 water three months before we had seen no human beings, and only 

 once had we indication of their existence, by a smoke sighted miles 

 away across the flats of the upper Kuskokwim. 



The Indians were hungry, as is usually the case with Alaska natives, 

 and had to be regaled. They rewarded our hospitality by information 

 of a trail across the swampy lowland to their village on the Tanana. 

 This was of material assistance to us, for l)y its aid we were enabled 

 to cover the ground rapidly, and three da3's later emerged from the 

 spruce-clothed flats on the banks of the Tanana at the native settle- 

 ment called Tortella. (See plate ix.) 



I reached the village some distance ahead of the party. Great was 

 the astonishment of the natives at my sudden appearance from the 

 forest. White men had visited them before, but always b}- water, in 

 large parties and with abundant supplies. Who was the lone stranger 

 whose baggage consisted solely of his revolver, field glasses, and ham- 

 mer, and where did he come from ? One boy knew some English, and, 

 drawing a map in the sand by way of illustration, I explained my route, 

 greath" to their bewilderment. One old man had made the trip to 

 Cook Inlet years ago, but he had gone by the direct route from the 

 head of the Cant well, and they knew nothing of the roundabout route 

 we had followed. 



The village consisted of a score of low structures built of spruce logs, 

 each containing two or more families. The fire was built in the center 

 and a hole in the roof served in lieu of a chimne3\ At nigiit the occu- 

 pants lay on either side of the fire with their feet toward it, warmh^ 

 covered with caribou skins. Their clothing consisted chieflv of articles 

 procured from the trading post on the Yukon 100 miles away, impart- 

 ing an aspect that was ludicrous rather than picturesque. The old 

 SM 1903 28 



