426 RECREATION. 
We had built our cabin on the snow, and 
when the snow began to melt, the house 
began to drift out of plumb. We therefore 
spent a good portion of a day in taking the 
snow out from under the lower logs, so as 
to let them down to the earth, but found 
there were still 5 feet of snow packed under 
them. In the afternoon I made a short 
hunt, and killed still another bear. On the 
30th the weather was cloudy and threatened 
rain, so we knew the bears would be out. 
We made a long tour of our traps, but found 
only one bear, which York killed. ; 
On the 31st York went out to see if he 
could find the bear he had crippled a few 
days before. Sure enough he found her. He 
had shot her in the leit hind leg. She had 
gone but about 100 yards when she lay dowa 
and bled to death. 
From the 4th to the 31st of May we caught 
39 bears and irom this on we lived on bear, 
goat and birds, our grub being gone. I saw 
one bear but didn’t get him. It was not until 
the 5th of the next month that we added to 
our pile of skins. Then York caught a bear. 
On the 6th and 7thit rained againas i: had on 
the 3d and 4th and it looked as if we should 
be able to cross Muir glacier on the 18th. 
We dragged our canoe about 3 miles over 
the lake to open water, where we could cross. 
On the oth we went over to inspect the 
glacier, and found it all right for the first 
6 miles. There were still about 2 feet of snow 
on it, which made hard traveling, but by ex- 
amining carefully in front of us with a pole, 
we were able to shy around the crevices. 
In 10 hours’ hard traveling we crossed the 
entire stretch of ice, and reached the Glacier 
House at 10 o'clock at night. 
You can readily understand how glad we 
were to get under a roof again, and to eat a 
square meal at a table. We were thorough- 
ly tired and slept till nearly noon the next 
day. When we got up, the steamer “ To- 
peka” was plying up the bay through the 
floating ice. On the morning of the 11th, 
the “Queen” came in. -We bought some 
flour, bacon, coffee, salt and other things we 
needed from the ** Topeka,” enough to last 
us for 10 days. Then we loafed around the 
Glacier House for 2 days, read the news- 
papers, rested and talked with the tourists 
we found there. On the 14th, we started to 
return to our cabin for our skins, traps, etc. 
The traveling had greatly improved, and we 
crossed in 6% hours. The snow had en- 
tirely disappeared, and the vast field of ice 
stretched as far as we could see, in every 
direction. It was a beautiful sight, but was 
tiresome to our eyes, and we could not long 
have looked at it without smoked glasses. 
As we neared our camp, we found a bear in 
one of our traps, which we killed, and took 
the skin with us. During the next few days 
we finished fleshing and drying our skins, 
collected our traps, and on the 16th we 
packed our stuff up the lake to where our 
canoe was. On the 17th we loaded every- 
thing on our sleigh, and again spun out 
across the ice field. This time it took us Io 
hours to cross the glacier to salt water. 
In two days we returned to Juneau by 
steamer. 
Our 4 months’ work, while exceedingly 
laborious, has paid. We have brought in 
about $700 worth of furs, and there are hun- 
dreds of bears, as well as smaller fur bearing 
animals, left in the district where we trapped, 
for those who may wish to go there later. 
We should be glad to give information to 
any sportsmen who may desire to visit that 
or other portions of Alaska, and to go with 
them, and show them where to find the finest 
fishing and hunting that can be found any- 
where in the territory. Mail addressed in 
care of RECREATION will always reach us. 
AdACHIUIGKGE Ne 
STAM. y 
I like to take quiet saunters across lots, 
along musical brooks and mossy old stone 
walls, and read the many items of interest 
that Nature’s pages ever offer to those who 
care for and can enjoy them. This morning 
there was hand or foot writing all along the 
old wall that is the North boundary to my 
2 acre farm. That mischief maker, the red 
squirrel had peeled the outer shuck from a 
butternut and left the nut on the wall, pos- 
sibly to dry in the sun, so he could the safer 
store it for winter use. This was right over 
the front door of Chucklea, Mme. Wood- 
chuck’s summer home. She has evidently 
lived there all the season, as the smooth 
dirt and trampled grass tell us that; but 
we have not seen her since that fateful day 
last spring when we released her from the 
trap, on discovering that she was not Mr. 
Skunk, for whom it was set. 
Many a time have I thought of her, and 
the little midget of a chuck, her baby, 
ween was rolled up in a fuzzy ball beside 
er. 
All summer the great weeds have grown 
taller along the wall, as if to hide the going 
in and out of its tenants, just past the but- 
ternut tree. I see, by fresh dirt thrown 
out, where some member of the scent fam- 
ily lives, probably the scamps I met in my 
chicken yard the other night by lamplight. 
Some saucy crows fly cawing over as I con- 
tinue along, and they doubtless have an eye 
on my young chickens, and scold at my 
presence, the black rascals. 
A small brown bird flits about among the 
dense weeds just over the wall, and a red 
squirrel chatters among the walnut trees 
in the pasture. 
A stout young rabbit went hopping 
across the garden the other evening, evi- 
dently sizing up the growing truck. 


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