THE CARIBOU 
the Tanana River. On the east side of the Rockies these caribou range 
well down to Mackenzie, it is supposed as far as the head of the Pelly 
River. 
Speaking of the autumnal movements of T. r. arcticus, probably mixed 
with T. r. ogilvyensis and T. r. osborni , Mr Jack Lee, a professional 
caribou hunter says (“ Outdoor Life,” Nov., 1909, pp. 475-7): 
“The caribou of this northland are most nomadic in their habits. 
A herd is seldom found in any one scope of country two seasons in 
succession. A herd as understood here comprises all the animals 
(caribou) ranging on any one of the great mountain ranges that 
separate great watersheds. Each fall the thousands of bands, com- 
prising the herd, will bunch into a great mass and move, maybe 
several hundred miles, to another part of their particular range, and 
when extended will thickly occupy a scope of country twenty thousand 
square miles in area. (I can send the names of scores of men, in here, 
that will verify all I say.) Extracts from two accounts (published in the 
‘Dawson News ’ last fall, 1908) by eye witnesses, of a herd crossing a 
valley, I think, are worth repeating here. Extract 1 : ‘ Coming down 
the White River in a canoe, we ran for more than forty miles through 
the herd as it was crossing that stream; the valley and high, bare 
mountains on each side as far as we could see, all the way, being 
actually swarming with caribou.’ 
“Extract 2 (by a different party): ‘Approximately every hundred 
yards, for the ten miles we went up, there was a trail a foot deep cut 
freshly into the soil and between those trails it was, without exagger- 
ation, impossible to put down my hat and not cover several hoof-prints 
in the inch or so of snow that then covered the ground. How far this 
condition extended up the valley I do not know. Unfortunately, with 
the exception of straggling bands, the herd had passed and I missed 
the sight of my life.’ 
“ There are two colossal herds of caribou ranging, respectively, to 
the east and west of Dawson, which periodically swing their outskirts 
within the watersheds of rivers flowing into the Yukon adjacent to 
Dawson; and at such times only will caribou, to any extent, be found 
in the market. The eastern (called the Peel River) herd is the most 
familiar and accessible to Dawson hunters, as the Klondike River, 
flowing through Dawson heads in this herd’s particular range. The 
western or White River herd is less accessible, owing to rivers that 
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