The Dawson Leuco 



lodged in its throat. It was easy to pass behind the uppermost of these 

 obstructions, but the other forced us outside. There was nothing here 

 but two blank walls. Bob felt confident, but I was dubious. Finally, 

 I let him down with a rope to the first convenient landing, and saw 

 him climb up again, to prove that it could be done. Still a little timorous, 

 I had him let me down, by way of playing safe, till I got the feel of the 

 thing (we had but one rope and had to take that down with us). The 

 very walls here were treacherous, for their stability had never been tested 

 save by the soft-falling snow. Block after block I flung down as we 

 descended, so as to forestall the danger of attack from behind. 



The upper reaches of the second well were occupied by a snowbank 

 and a slithering mass of treacherous accumulation, gravel and wash, all 

 too steep for occupation, but guarded on the outside by a ledge which we 

 had difficulty in descending. When the ledge rose again to the propor- 

 tions of a guardian wall, we were compelled to consider the well proper, a 

 black hole at least a hundred feet deep with about a five to one grade, — 

 that is, the bottom, about one hundred feet farther down, was about twenty 

 feet farther west. I first dropped a big boulder down, both because it was 

 threatening to go itself and to test the depth. Out from under the 



Taken in Fresno County 



Photo by the Author 



LEUCO CLIFFS— THE GRAND CIRQUE— THE GRAND MORAINE IN FOREGROUND 



iyo 



