132 SOURCES OF THE SASKATCHEWAN 



fall and in desperation we camped in the depths of a heavy forest 

 on the mountain side. The snow was very deep and the tem- 

 perature low, so that it was all the harder for our horses, which 

 had to be turned loose in the timber with no chance to feed. 

 The heavily laden spruce trees sent down avalanches of snow 

 at every stroke of the ax, so it was very difficult to keep our 

 camp-fire going, which was the more important as we had no 

 water except by melting snow. 



On Sunday, October 23, the weather was still cold and threaten- 

 ing. It was very hard work packing up, as all the ropes, canvas 

 covers, tents, and blankets were frozen stiff and covered with 

 granular ice. Our horses looked very thin after their recent hard 

 marches and little or no feed. They were hungr}' enough to bite 

 off twigs and woody branches from the bushes which had a few 

 buds on them. We did not get off till nearly noon, and then 

 continued a traverse of the forested mountain side with a con- 

 stant gradual descent in the hope of reaching a valley bottom 

 that leads to the pass. We had no sooner started than a heavy 

 snowstorm set in, shutting out everything from view. There 

 was no trail, as the pass had never been used before this summer. 

 In about two hours we reached a valley bottom that we supposed 

 to be the right one, though Peyto, who had taken the onl}^ other 

 party through that ever crossed this pass, did not recognize -it for 

 some time. The deep snow and the constant ascent were very 

 trying to our famished horses. One or two of us went ahead all 

 the time and hroke trail for them, but in spite of this some of 

 our pack-animals lay down in the snow exhausted and groaned 

 pitifully. We at length reached the summit and camped half a 

 mile beyond. The snow was 24 inches deep on the level, and in 

 depressions of the ground it was between three and four feet. 

 Here our horses got a little grass by pawing away the snow, a 

 trick that they learn during the hard winters on the plains. 



We were now at the head of the North branch of the Kicking 

 Horse river, and it was practically a constant descent to Field, 

 where we arrived in three days, after having been out seventeen 

 days. On this excursion every camp but the first was made on 

 snow-covered ground, and there were only three days on which 

 some snow did not fall. No small measure of our success was 

 due to the splendid outfit of horses supplied by Mr T. E. Wil- 

 son, of Banff, who gave me the pick of his pack-animals. Ver}^ 

 much depends on the training and strength of the horses in a 

 rough country, where countless obstacles have to be overcome. 



