172 
turned, exhausted, having been 
6 days practically without food. Un- 
fortunately they had not found the 
men whom they had gone to relieve. 
They had found the camp at the sal- 
mon hole, near Fish branch, and a note 
left by Moffatt, saying his party had 
been unable to replenish their supply of 
game or fish, and, fearing assistance 
might be delayed in reaching them, 
had decided to attempt the return trip 
to La Pierre house, 200 miles down the 
Porcupine. 
La Pierre house is an abandoned 
trading post, but a few Indians usually 
winter in that vicinity, and from them 
the men might get help. Otherwise, 
they might be able to make the portage 
to Fort McPherson, 80 miles farther, 
where some of the party had a large 
stock of provisions cached. Though 
the note did not so state, it was evident 
that Holmes was able to travel, doubt- 
less with some aid from the dogs. 
“It is to be regretted,” said Mr. 
‘Pate, “that they did not come on our 
way, instead of turning back. Had 
they done so, they would have met us 
half way and both parties would have 
probably been saved considerable hard- 
ship. However, they knew their way 
back over the trail they had come and 
were ignorant of the country this way. 
They had no means of knowing if their 
partners had reached the Yukon.” 
The members of the relief party 
were reluctant to go into details of 
their experiences; they had no desire 
to pose as heroes and made light of 
their hardships, remarking that they 
had discovered the needlessness of car- 
rying provisions on an Alaskan winter 
trip. 
“You don’t feel hungry after the 
second or third day,” said Pate, 
“though you do feel yourself getting 
weaker all the time. A little tea 
and tobacco we had helped out won- 
derfully. The worst feature about 
going without food is that it makes 
you more susceptible to cold. We were 
unable to sleep the last 2 nights; had 
RECREATION. 
to stay up and keep a roaring fire 
going. Yes, of course, we had the 
dogs, and had we not known that we 
should probably hold out, one or 2 of 
the animals might have gone the way 
of all flesh.” 
That the men had gone without food 
almost too long was made plain when 
they attempted to eat. Sternberg faint- 
ed outright and considerable effort was 
required to bring him around. The 
others experienced more or less nau- 
sea, vertigo, etc., but with a little cau- 
tion were soon able to eat heartily, On 
the trip they had had but one chance 
at game. A moose was seen, and 
Sternberg, a man of considerable repu- 
tation as a hunter, attempted to secure 
the animal but failed. Sleds and snow 
shoes were in bad shape. The snow 
shoe lacings and all spare bits of hide, 
even to the dog whip, had been fed to 
the dogs on the return trip. 
Narrating his experience, Ritchie 
said : “We left Edmonton early in Sep- 
tember, 1897, having been induced to 
try that route largely by the advertis- 
ing of Edmonton merchants and by an 
article written by A. A. Hemming, of 
Hamilton, Ont., who had never made 
the trip. Hemming called it the “poor 
man’s route.” We found it anything 
but that. It is not only an intolerably 
roundabout way of getting into the 
country, but is extremely expensive 
and difficult. 
“Our party wintered on the Macken- 
zie below Great Slave lake. We pushed 
on to Peel river in the spring. At 
Granite Rapids a pistol costs $50. At 
Smith’s Rapids it cost $15 to $100 
to have a boat taken through. At 
Fort McPherson, on Peel river, we 
had to take the 80 mile portage to Por- 
cupine waters. There Indians are in- 
dispensable if you wish to get an outfit 
over; the packing charge is $7 a hun- 
dredweight. . 
“It was July before McPhee, Mof- 
fatt and I finally arrived on the Porcu- 
pine, with but a few hundred pounds 
of food. We were joined by Holmes 
