Photo by George Sliiras, 31 
WINTER SLEDGE DOGS LOITERING EXPECTANTLY AROUND STEWARD'S PANTRY (sEE 
PAGE 430) 
to the end of Turnagain Arm, half way 
to the Matanuska coal fields ; but, lack- 
ing sufficient capital and by reason of 
the withdrawal of the coal lands, is now 
in financial straits. However, it is a most 
convenient highway for hunters and 
miners, and if either of these lack the 
cash to pay the tarifif of 20 cents per 
mile or are of an economical turn of 
mind, the roadbed afifords a fine trail to 
the interior. 
On arriving at the lake it took but a 
few minutes to load our stufi:' on a com- 
fortable launch, and soon we were trav- 
ersing a portion of the longest water- 
course of the peninsula, which from the 
head of Snow River to Cook Inlet is 117 
miles in length. The upper lake is 23 
miles long, has a maximum width of 1.5 
miles, and is 460 feet above sea-level. 
The upper Kenai River is 16 miles long, 
while the lower lake, usually called 
Skilak, has a length of 15 miles, is four 
or five miles wide, and 150 feet above 
the sea, its waters reaching the inlet after 
a tortuous run of 53 miles. 
At the outlet of the lake we trans- 
ferred the outfit to Tom's big flat-bottom 
skifT, and, dropping down the river sev- 
eral miles, went into camp at the mouth 
of Cooper Creek, to await the arrival of 
the canoe and provisions. The maximum 
temperature was 80 degrees at noon, fol- 
lowed by 87 degrees the next day — a 
most unusual record. 
Seeing that the half -embedded boul- 
ders were sweating vigorously along the 
river trail, I predicted a big thunder- 
storm, and was warned that they were 
very rare in this region. But shortly 
after the rain came down in torrents and 
thunder echoed for hours throughout the 
valley; so I gained that distinction which 
comes with a lucky hit. This proved to 
be the only heavy rain of the entire trip, 
and thereafter clear days and a high tem- 
perature pleased and astonished us all. 
STERN EIRST, DOWN THE RAPID KENAI 
RIVER 
As usual on expeditions of this kind 
and where the supplies could be carried 
by water, my outfit was varied and heavy, 
for it is the height of bad management, 
when visiting a remote and unsettled 
country, to economize in money, time, or 
labor at the expense of a proper equip- 
ment or an ample supply of provisions. 
Several hours were spent in loading 
the boat and canoe, with just a sufficient 
separation in kind to leave a complete 
but temporary outfit in case either craft 
was capsized on the run to the lower 
lake. 
431 
