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The National Geographic Magazine 



made across to the Tanana and then 

 down the Tanana for some 500 miles 

 by boat, it being impossible to go 

 directby through the country in ques- 

 tion during the summer, as supplies 

 sufficient for man and beast could not 

 be carried. From these expeditions it 

 was found that a northern tributary of 

 the Tanana, known as the Goodpasture 

 River, ran in the desired direction, as 

 the divides or watersheds were observed 

 to take a certain course. The source 

 of this same river had been previously 

 located, and by having been to both its 

 head and mouth its general direction 

 was fairly well established. When I 

 returned to Fort Egbert in September 

 of 1902, this was the sum of the infor- 

 mation gained as to the course of the 

 line. 



As the winter was near at hand, when 

 our utmost efforts would be necessary 

 to make the proposed line a reality, no 

 time was to be lost, since the line must 

 be completed by June 30, 1903. Ac- 

 cordingly the transportation was organ- 

 ized into different trains, the dogs were 

 picked out and matched into teams, and 

 work was begun on the trail which the 

 transport animals were to follow as soon 

 as the country should freeze. The dis- 

 tance of the freighting line to the point 

 where the work was to begin on the 

 telegraph line was estimated, and a sys- 

 tem for building stables for the horses 

 and caches every fifteen miles was in- 

 augurated. The men set to work on 

 the trail during the last of September. 

 Portions of the trail running through 

 deep canyons were blasted out with dy- 

 namite ; in other places bridges were 

 built over warm-water springs in the 

 creek beds, and at the requisite dis- 

 tances stables and caches were con- 

 structed of logs. These caches were 

 connected with each other by wire laid 

 on the ground and worked over by the 

 Signal Corps buzzer instruments. In 

 places where the ground was frozen to 

 a great depth, making it of great elec- 



tric resistance, it was necessary to build 

 fires on the ground to thaw it, to make 

 it possible to get a ground connection 

 to use the buzzers. 



During the first part of November I 

 started out with Scout De Hous and 

 our two dog teams to find out if the 

 streams were fit for travel. We pro- 

 ceeded for about one hundred miles, 

 breaking our trail with snowshoes over 

 ice so thin that we broke through it 

 frequently into water so deep that we 

 were immersed to our shoulder^, and 

 the dogs were forced to swim. As the 

 temperature was about 20 below zero 

 at that time, great care had to be taken 

 that we did not freeze, and as soon as 

 we felt the cold working into us a 

 fire was built and our clothing dried. 

 Upon our return it was decided that 

 the creeks were in an unfit condition 

 for travel, and that we must accord- 

 ingly wait for colder weather in spite 

 of the delay thus caused. On Novem- 

 ber 25 the temperature dropped to 55 

 below zero, freezing the country tight, 

 and through the gloom of the Arctic 

 winter day the heavily laden sleds, the 

 horses covered with rising steam, and 

 the men muffled in their parkas and 

 furs, started on their mission The 

 trail was broken with snowshoes ahead 

 of them, staked with brush, propped 

 with logs, and made fit for the sleds 

 to travel over. At first oats, hay, and 

 rations were relayed out, and then 

 the wire and line materials. When it 

 was seen that the transportation was 

 going forward satisfactorily — for this is 

 always the greatest problem in any new 

 country, and especially in an Arctic 

 region — we set to work to exactly es- 

 tablish the course of the new line. As 

 no white man nor Indian could be found 

 who knew the course of the Goodpasture 

 River, I obtained the services of an In- 

 dian, Chief Joseph of the Middle Fork 

 tribe, who knew the best way of reach- 

 ing its source. 



On December 2 Scout De Hous and 



