Our Northern Rockies 



365 



occupied by Long or Elbow Lake, then 

 through a wide, gently graded valley 

 to Swan Lake, which in turn empties 

 into the Flathead River. This valley 

 is flat and U-shaped, has many ponds 

 and small lakes, and is densely timbered, 

 with many small " parks," grassy and 

 beautiful. Several daj's are consumed 

 in making the descent to, and crossing 

 the Swan Valley, as it is difficult to ac- 

 complish in nn east and west direction. 

 The timber and trails are in many 

 places choked by wind-fallen trees, and 

 our animals are jumping these logs, their 

 legs scraped and bruised ; but they are 

 well fed, as grass of the best quality is 

 found in many open meadows. The 

 river, flowing over gravels and sand, 

 abounds in fish, and we feel that we are 

 in a camper's paradise. 



The range to the east of this valley 

 is the Swan Range. It is the highest 

 and least broken ridge in the region, 

 the higher peaks rising to ten and eleven 

 thousand feet. It extends from the 

 south line of the reserve to a point 

 northeast of Kalispell, where it is cut 

 by the Flathead River in a gorge named 

 " Badrock Canyon," and through which 

 the Great Northern Railway passes. 



kike the Mission Range, the Swan is 

 steeper on the west slope. The rocks 

 dip to the northeast, and are folded and 

 fractured on a large scale, and superb 

 views are constantly coming before us. 

 Our trail up this slope is plain, but 

 steep and hard, and when the pass is 

 reached we are four thousand feet above 

 the valley. Stunted pines and scanty 

 grass surround us here, lakelets dot the 

 bottoms of the narrow gorges, and the 

 mighty peaks rise far above us. To 

 reach these peaks we find that the route 

 to travel is along the ridge. The cliffs 

 are about 1,000 feet high. We remem- 

 ber that while trying to reach the Hol- 

 land Peak in 1900 this ridge was so cov- 

 ered with glare ice as to be impractica- 

 ble : a long detour was necessary and 

 the total climb of about 8,000 feet so 



wearying, that one man collapsed as we 

 returned in the darkness. We could 

 not leave him to sleep with no awaken- 

 ing, in the snow, so rolled him in can- 

 vas, fastened ropes to his feet and shoul- 

 ders, and tobogganned him down 2,000 

 feet to a frozen camp. 



The eastern slope of the Swan Range 

 we find to be in the nature of a bench- 

 land cut deeply bj' gorges and canyons 

 eroded by local glaciers, of which only 

 the remnants remain. 



The Swan Peak is the highest of 

 the range (about 11,000 feet), and the 

 largest ice mass of this range flanks it. 



The Swan Ridge is the western rim 

 of a large basin drained by the South 

 Fork of Flathead River, and the de- 

 scent to the valley is long and rough 

 and the trails much choked by fallen 

 timber. Our route is across the shelf 

 lying between the crest ridge and the 

 final steep slope of the valley proper, 

 which is heavily timbered. There is a 

 trail the whole distance from the head 

 to the mouth of the South Fork, but no 

 novice must attempt to follow it. 



At a point east of the Holland Peak 

 the valley of the South Fork of Flat- 

 head is broad, flat-bottomed, and cov- 

 ered with fine, open timber and with 

 grass, and at this point our trail follows 

 the river bottom or ascends to the 

 slopes of the gravel deposits flanking 

 it. Here we find evidence that the in- 

 domitable prospector in his quest for 

 wealth has anticipated our arrival. His 

 cabin is decaying and his tunnel-mouth 

 caving in, and we find that coal is his 

 ambition, from the nature of the mate- 

 rial on the river bank. 



Many miles below, where the stream 

 crosses several limestone ridges, it runs 

 in a sharp "box" canyon, and the 

 trail, which follows the canyon brink 

 quite closely, is difficult and dangerous ; 

 it is sometimes in the water and at 

 others eight or nine hundred feet above 

 it. It is often a great problem to get 

 animals across the canyons in which the 



