Ill 
vfarch, 1923 
f rejoicing when old Mother Earth 
Rowed her brown face all over the 
iver flats. 
; Some may wonder why we waited so 
Diig before starting out after grub ! In 
nswer I will say that the snow never 
eaves the high divide between the Atlia- 
■asca and Edson before the middle of 
•lay and sometimes even later. 
T was toward the latter part of April 
; that Knowles and Murphy hitched 
ip the two strongest horses Rapelje had 
eft (to a light democrat) and started 
or town. I had been elected to stay 
iehind and look after the two families; 
dr. Rapelje, besides being far from 
oung, was feeling a little under the 
veather and matters by this time were 
jetting real serious. I hunted every 
, lay as long as my strength and courage 
icld up. Partridges were about the only 
;ame one could see and they were very 
carce. In order to take no chances of 
nissing any that I happened across, I 
jenerally carried a shotgun. 
Wild cranberries, of low bush variety, 
jrow abundantly in the Athabasca val- 
ey, and I gathered quantities of them 
ifter the snow had left. They were 
ather “squashy,” due to the effects of 
he frost, and were terribly bitter. We 
liad no sugar to sweeten them, but they 
lelped to fill up, at any rate. Despite 
he fact that we were continually 
lungry, we were all in good health and 
!;-ery cheerful in spirit. 
On the third day after the boys’ de- 
jarture, Murphy came back 
i done; Knowles had gone on 
j nto Edson to try and secure 
lelp. They had progressed 
it a fair rate until they 
•eached the heavy drifts at 
he top of Breakneck Hill, but 
lad to abandon the expedition 
.it that point. We were all 
iretty blue at the Athabasca 
Rat night and it seemed as 
hough we had about reached 
:he end of our rope. From 
,j Murphy’s account I realized 
:hat to wait for that snow to 
nelt on the divide, would spell 
| STARVATION ! It was easy 
■' enough for men to worry 
; through these drifts alone, but 
handicapped by women and 
1 ehildren the same task seemed 
1 impossible. 
Knowing full well that we 
must get through somehow, 
! Murphy and I packed the two 
| horses with all the hay they 
| could carry and once more hit 
the trail. By virtue of the 
trail the boys had broken on 
their first attempt, we made 
good time and reached the top 
of Breakneck Hill by a little 
after dark. We had a little bannock and 
tea between us and were fortunate 
enough to knock down a spruce part¬ 
ridge ! That bird was all we had to eat 
that day, but we were not so worried 
about ourselves as the two horses. The 
faithful animals had been fed on nothing 
' but the wild hay and were in no fit con¬ 
dition for an ordinary task, to say 
nothing of what we intended putting 
them through. 
The next day we made the great dis¬ 
tance of a mile and a half, and two- 
thirds of that was downhill. We camped 
that night at the foot of Beaver Creek 
Hill, and within about six miles of Mile 
35. We figured that once we reached 
Mile 35 our troubles would be practically 
One of the huskies 
over with, as from there to Mile 27 was 
nearly all downhill, and after then the 
snow would be in such negligible quan¬ 
tities as to offer little resistance. 
Luck seemed against us that trip. We 
had barely made camp when it started 
to snow. We were so played out through 
breaking trail ahead of the horses all 
day we went to bed without any supper. 
There was a good roll of bedding in the 
democrat, so we were enabled to get 
a fairly good night’s rest. Well, we 
needed it too, for when we awoke next 
morning there was a whole foot of fresh 
snow on top of the old! It took us an 
hour to make a hundred yards with the 
democrat, after which we gave up. We 
had no hay left and only a pinch of tea. 
If we went on it was a question if we 
would get through, but if we stayed or 
turned back we were all sure to starve. 
We unhitched the poor horses and 
went on. 
Our method of procedure was as 
follows: One of us would go ahead 
with his horse for a distance, thus 
breaking trail for the other animal. 
When one animal was so played out 
that it refused to take another step the 
remaining one was brought forward and 
took his place. Those poor devils 
seemed to understand our predicament 
and seemed to be truly possessed of 
supernatural strength. One of them es¬ 
pecially, a five-year-old that had never 
been harnessed before that spring, would 
stand up on his hind feet and jump on 
the crust of the old snow in order to 
break it. If this crust had been strong 
enough to bear the horses we could 
have made good time, but it wasn’t, and 
whenever the animals would bear their 
weight on it they would go through 
with a jolt that was enough- to kill any 
creature’s spirit! 
Sometimes the crust, under the newly 
fallen snow, was not capable 
of sustaining our own weight 
and we were continually floun¬ 
dering about in an attempt to 
keep our footing. Time and 
again we sank exhausted in 
the snow, and I am sure 
neither of us cursed so bitterly 
before or since! It was 
enough to try the patience of 
an angel, and we were only 
poor, tired, starving trappers. 
According to our memories, 
which were far from infallible, 
we were two days in making 
the distance from Beaver 
Qreek to Mile 35; I couldn’t 
swear to it, for it seemed like 
nearer two weeks. We made 
from Mile 35 to Mile 27 in a 
single day. A trapper by 
name of Kerr was staying at 
the latter mentioned place, 
and we had a good supper 
that night. But there was no 
food for our starving horses, 
so. Kerr took a mattress off his 
bed and emptied the wild hay 
it contained in the manger. 
I have often thought of that 
act of kindness and wondered 
how many men would have 
done the same! Not many, I should 
judge. 
When we reached Edson Knowles had 
another pair of horses, so we packed all 
four of them back to the river without 
any delay. I was never so completely 
worn out in my life as the morning v.e 
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L 
Fur in upper center is that of Indian devil or wolverine 
