22 
THE BED MOUNTAIN OF ALASKA. 
quartz, fuse them, and bear away such a fortune as you 
could not make in a century of prosperous mill operation 
at Sheldon. Will you come ? Shall we share the Red 
Mountain, old fellow, as we used to share the red apples 
in grandfather's orchard ? 
This is what I 23ropose. You have been in indifferent 
health for a good many months. You need a change ; 
you have a competent superintendent in practical charge 
of the mills ; you always liked hunting and camping-out. 
Take the boys along, and meet me at some point in west 
central Alaska — say old Fort Yukon. I will come from 
the west, you from the east, if you like, striking up through 
Canada and across from the Hudson's Bay post in British 
America. From Fort Yukon we can proceed together to 
the Red Mountain, make a rough survey, lay out our 
claim, and the following spring commence work in 
earnest. In other words, you can start from Sheldon as 
soon as the spring of '69 opens, reach the Alaska boun- 
dary by the first of July, and before the winter shuts 
down we shall have finished all our prospecting, and be 
ready to take out ore in the following May. 
One more point to consider, and then I have done. 
It is, I admit, an important point. How shall we find 
this half-fabulous ^Red Mountain ' after we have effected 
a union of forces at Fort Yukon ? Here we must rely 
entirely on Peeschee. He proposes to start from the 
fort (which is situated on nearly 67° N. lat., 145'' long. 
W.), and strike due south. You will be glad to hear this 
