TOURING IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. 



STANLEY WASHBURN. 



Illustrated with Photos by the Author. 



Twenty years ago the vast region North 

 of Montana and Washington was known 

 only to hardy trappers and a few venture- 

 some spirits who were enterprising enough 

 to push into the wilderness in search of 

 game or for the pure love of the un- 

 known. In the early 8o's the Canadian 

 Pacific Railroad put down the last rail 

 that connected the Atlantic and the Paci- 

 fic oceans. Since that day the wonderful 

 scenery of Alberta and British Columbia 

 has been gazed on by tens of thousands of 

 tourists and travelers. This is better than 



stroying hand of civilized man began to 

 hew down the splendid forests ; before the 

 roaring torrents were marred by unsightly 

 steel bridges and the mountains by still 

 more unsightly snowsheds. This is the 

 world as God made it. To see this world 

 one must abandon the luxury of the palace 

 sleeping car and content himself with the 

 rougher life of the forest and the crude 

 but healthy regime of the camp and the 

 pack train. Short distances from the rail- 

 road may be made on foot, but to get into 

 the true wilderness one must take pack 



A TYPICAL PEAK IN THE ROCKIES. 



nothing, but to the lover of nature in her 

 untrammeled state it can not have the fas- 

 cination of the region where the mountains 

 raise their snow-capped peaks far from 

 civilization. The passes and glaciers of 

 the railroad are magnificent, but there are 

 not the inspiration and consciousness of 

 grandeur that one feels hundreds of miles 

 North, where no shrill whistle or heavy 

 rumble of freight trains startles the eagle 

 from its nest among the crags ; where one 

 sees the snow and rock? and trees as they 

 were a thousand years ago, before the de- 



horses. When we leave the railroad we 

 leave the base of all supplies and for the 

 next few months must content ourselves 

 with the food we bring with us and with 

 what falls to our rifle or comes to our rod. 

 For extended trips North, Laggan is a 

 good point to leave the railroad. Situated 

 as it is between the first foothills and the 

 main range of the rockies it gives the cer- 

 tainty of fine scenery and a good chance of 

 game. The first necessity is a head man 

 who shall be guide and general supervisor 

 of the mere mechanism of the expedition. 



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