AN EXPLORATION TO MOUNT McKINLEY. 425 



We finally left the lowland and entered an upland region, where we 

 kept for the most part above timber. The poor horses, even under 

 the lightened loads, iDegan to fail. Overtaking the pack train one day, 

 1 found Prindle and George laboring with Rabbit, who refused to take 

 another step. Both were very fond of the little mare — always a pet 

 with the party^ — and wanted to save her life. We Avorked with her a 

 while, but it was no use — her heart was broken; and drawing nu' 

 revolver, 1 sent a })ullet through the brain of the poor beast who had 

 served us so well. After this a horse was shot nearly every day. 



Leaving the party one morning, I took a long side trip, expecting 

 to pick up their trail and follow it into ctimp that night, but they had 

 misunderstood my directions, and at midnight 1 again sought shelter 

 from the rain under a large spruce. I roasted a ptarmigan which 1 

 had shot, and this, together with a few hard-tack, constituted my sup- 

 per and breakfast. The next day 1 was forced to go back to the old 

 camp to pick up the trail. A dead horse marked the spot, and a 

 search through his pack revealing a bag of rice, I cooked a meal of 

 this with the aid of an abandoned butter can and started on the trail. 

 On the mountain side lay another dead horse with some bacon left in 

 his pack, which I took for an emergenc3^ Nightfall found me not yet 

 in camp, and this time I dined and breakfasted on bacon and another 

 ptarmigan which had fallen to my revolver. Late in the afternoon I 

 reached camp, after an absence of two nights and nearly three days, 

 to find Reaburn very anxious and scouts out in various directions. 

 This camp was on a trail which led from the then newly discovered 

 gold diggings known as Glenn Creek to Rampart, on the Yukon. 



The next morning we packed for the last time, abandoning most of 

 the outfit and feeding the last of our flour to the horses to strengthen 

 them for the final march. I took a route across the hills and at night- 

 fall joined the party camped in the town of Rampart. Many were the 

 questions asked us, but few of the questioners, I think, really believed 

 that we had made the journey from Cook Lilet. 



Thus ended the longest cross-countr}^ exploration ever attempted 

 in Alaska. Our plans had been carried out from start to finish; we 

 had traversed 800 miles of the roughest part of Alaska in one hundred 

 and five da\'S. While cooking our breakfast next morning, a river 

 steamer whistled, the last to make the journey down the Yukon before 

 it was locked in the winter ice. Leaving our breakfast cooking on 

 the fire, we hastily gathered up our more precious belongings, chiefly 

 notes and specimens, and scrambled on board. The boat swung out in 

 midstream, and with a farewell salute to the crowd of Indians and 

 prospectors on the bank we rapidly steamed away, once more headed 

 for civilization and home. 



