196 J. E. Turner — The Alaskan Boundary Survey. 



tering snow filled the air and beat upon us with all the fury of 

 a hail-storra. It was only by the most strenuous exertions that 

 we were enabled to reach the sleds, which had taken shelter 

 under the lee of a small hill. In that brief time the end of my 

 nose, one temple and the tip of the right ear were frozen solid, 

 and a broad white streak fully an inch wide, extending from eye 

 to chin, bore evidence qf the rapidity with which a man may 

 freeze if the conditions be favorable. All expedition possible 

 was necessary to gain the shelter of the friendly trees. For the 

 remainder of that day, that night, and until noon of the fol- 

 lowing day the shrieking north wind swept over the trackless 

 wastes in all the fury of a Dakota blizzard. Traveling was quite 

 out of the question ; men and dogs huddled together in a pro- 

 miscuous heap, striving to secure protection from the biting 

 blast. 



The next morning everything had changed ; the sun shone out 

 bright again, and the wind had died away. During the fore- 

 noon we climbed continually up the further side of the valley, 

 and about 12 o'clock reached the summit of a pass at an alti- 

 tude of 2,500 feet. Spread out before us and extending eastward 

 to the furthest horizon, appeared a plain covered with a dense 

 growth of spruce, birch and cottonwood — a veritable oasis in the 

 midst of utter desolation. Its western limit was a plateau, 

 doubtless the northern continuation of the eastern front of the 

 Porcupine ramparts. Fifty miles away to the northward a range 

 of low mountains was discerned, trending to the eastward, and 

 forming the northern boundary of the plain. As I afterward 

 discovered, they form the true water-shed of northeastern Alaska 

 and the country beyond to Mackenzie river. 



It took three days to cross this plain. On the first day a 

 tribe of Nigalek Eskimos were encountered. They were fine- 

 looking savages and seemed much surprised to meet white men 

 so far away from the trading posts. They broke camp on the 

 following day and started nortliAvard for the summer hunt on 

 the Arctic. 



We crossed innumerable lakes during the next few days, and 

 on the fifth day crossed the mountains at an altitude of 3,00C 

 feet. The descent on the northern slope was abrupt^ IVIy burly 

 foreman covered the distance rapidly by sliding down head 

 foremost, necessitating various repairs to certain portions of his 

 trousers. We found the temperature much lower on the north- 



