Sept. 17, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
449 
to pull away at the hips. The skis must then be 
unstrapped and removed and the snow scraped 
from the bottoms with a knife, this operation 
being repeated every few rods. 
NEEDS ON A SKI TRIP. 
The question of clothing is an important one 
when starting on a snowshoe trip. Furs are too 
heavy and do not absorb the moisture that is 
constantly pouring from the body. No more 
clothing is to be carried than is absolutely neces¬ 
sary, as a heavy pack cannot be carried on skis, 
owing to the nicety of balance that is required to 
keep rightside up. Certain indispensible articles 
must be carried, and an inventory of my own 
pack will give an idea of what I consider neces¬ 
sary to be carried by all snowshoe parties to as¬ 
sure safety and comfort : 
Two cans of emergency rations, a jar of beef 
tea, knife, fork, spoons, cup, plate, aluminum fry¬ 
ing-pan with detachable handle, emergency 
bandages, wind matches, a few nails and screws, 
screw-driver, strings of whang leather, to repair 
broken skis and straps; soap, towel, comb and 
tooth brush, a drinking cup made of an empty 
condensed cream or milk can, to which is at¬ 
tached a long string, this being an important 
part of the equipment as our only means of ob¬ 
taining drinking water. Fortunately most of the 
streams in the park have some swift places which 
do not freeze over, but the distance from the top 
of the snow to the water is several feet, and our 
only way of getting to it was by tying the string 
of our emergency cup to a pole, throwing the 
cup in and fishing it out full of water. On top 
of the pack in its scabbard was the axe, tied so 
it would not injure the traveler should he fall. 
I also carried a camera. 
Although not heavy compared with those that 
are carried on foot, this load on a man doing the 
severest physical work and a constant balanc¬ 
ing act becomes extremely wearing and galling 
after being carried from eight to fourteen hours. 
The great speed attained by skis going down a 
steep hill is well known. Flere also the pack 
gets in its work, overbalancing a man at the 
critical moment, when he goes head first into the 
snow as if shot from a catapult. Up flies the 
pack, bangs him in the back of the head and 
sends his face and head still deeper into the 
snow. 
I have found Mackinaw clothing to be best 
suited for snowshoeing because it is warmest for 
its weight. During the hours of traveling the 
coat is usually carried on the pack. It is a cruel 
irony that this coat, which felt so heavy during 
the hours of toil, becomes so pitiably light when 
for any reason the camp is made in the snow. 
To avoid the danger and suffering of camping 
without shelter, small cabins have been built, 
mostly off the road and near the border line of 
the park. The aim has been to make them not 
more than twenty miles apart. 
4 he building of these cabins was one of the 
longest steps ever taken for the protection of 
the park game. This was done by Major James 
B. Erwin in the fall of 1898. Before their con¬ 
struction scouting parties could not penetrate in¬ 
to the fastness of the mountains for more than 
two or three days, and these were days 'of great 
suffering. Before dark a place must be selected 
for camp where there was standing dead timber. 
A fire was made on top of the snow, which 
gradually settled, forming a bowl-shaped hole, 
and in this the party huddled and shivered until 
the day was far enough advanced again to begin 
the struggle. Sleep was out of the question, and 
no great distance could be made without sleep. 
Parties would not venture further than within 
safe returning distance from a place of shelter. 
OUR JOURNEY. 
We reached one of these cabins near Crystal 
Spring, a distance of eleven miles from Mam¬ 
moth Hot Springs, and remained there until the 
following morning at 4 o’clock, when we started 
for Norris, arriving there before the sun had be¬ 
come warm enough to weaken the crust. 
The next day we started for the Grand Canon 
of the Yellowstone, eleven miles distant, the first 
THE DOGS CROSSING PELLICAN CREEK. 
five and a half miles a constant climb, reaching 
an altitude of more than 8,200 feet, which made 
this an exhausting trip. The snow stuck to the 
skis in an exasperating way, compelling us to 
walk down the long hill to the canon station. 
We had taken with us from the post three fox¬ 
hounds from a pack purchased in Texas and used 
BUFFALO JONES CARRYING A CALF. 
for hunting mountain lions. They were to be 
used on this trip on any fresh lion tracks we 
might run across and were destined to be of 
the greatest service to us in our present under¬ 
taking. At the canon station we found a tobog¬ 
gan, and this gave Jones an inspiration. He decided 
to use the foxhounds to haul the toboggan and our 
packs. A harness was made and fitted to the dogs 
and everything was in readiness for the next morn¬ 
ing. We breakfasted by candle light, lashed our 
packs to the toboggan, hitched up our dog team 
and started. As Jones fed and took care of the 
dogs they would follow him, so he took thu lead. 
It was quite cold and the crust was good. At 
first the dogs did not like the touch of the collar 
against their shoulders, and at the first pressure 
would drop back. The pull would then come on 
the next one and he would stop, and then the 
third. By that time the first, anxious to follow 
Jones, would start again, and so we went along 
by jerks. In a remarkably short time, however, 
they became accustomed to the whole thing and 
went along a good clip. 
In Hayden Valley, where the country is roll¬ 
ing, we had considerable trouble going down hill, 
for the toboggan would slide on to the dogs. 
After being run over once, the rear dog dis¬ 
covered the danger behind him, so when we 
struck a down grade he would run for dear life, 
looking back over his shoulder. The two dogs 
ahead, not understanding the cause of this great 
hurry, would not take up the run. The rear dog, 
stretching out for all he was worth, pursued by 
the awful toboggan, would pass them, jerk them 
off their feet and drag them along. Jones, who 
had had a great deal of experience on web shoes, 
was making his first trip on skis, and as this re¬ 
quires much practice he found it very difficult 
to remain upright when the skis began to slide 
rapidly down hill. To have the runaway tobog¬ 
gan and flying dogs dash into him would be more 
than his equilibrium could stand, and with wav¬ 
ing arms and bulging eyes he would go down 
with a sickening thump into the struggling mass 
of dogs and toboggan. The dogs would give 
vent to their feelings with yells and lamentations 
that could be heard a mile. Altogether it was a 
sight to convulse a spectator with laughter. Ex¬ 
perience is a good teacher, however, and the 
dogs very soon found a way of avoiding the 
trouble by taking up the run whenever the in¬ 
cline was great enough to cause the toboggan to 
slide. 
To be relieved of our packs was a great bless¬ 
ing. Difficult hills could now be faced with con¬ 
fidence, owing to greater freedom of action and 
consequently better balance. 
Eskimo dogs would solve the problem of win¬ 
ter travel in the park. After the latter part of 
February when the snow begins to settle and 
forms firmer footing for the dogs, long distances 
could be traveled by dog teams and' toboggans. 
Under present conditions if a man meets with 
an accident now or becomes dangerously sick he 
is in a serious predicament. 
In the spring of 1904 a private soldier at Snake 
River station became so sick that it was neces¬ 
sary to take him to the hospital, a distance of 
eighty-six miles. A chair or seat was fastened 
to a pair of skis and in this the patient was fast¬ 
ened. With herculean labor the other men suc¬ 
ceeded in pulling him to a cabin at the Thumb, 
a distance of twenty-three miles. The next morn¬ 
ing a start was made for the lake station, cross¬ 
ing on the ice of Yellowstone Lake, fifteen miles 
away. They had gone almost half way when the 
suffering of the sick man became unbearable, and 
he piteously begged them to return with him to 
the Thumb cabin. This they did, and in this 
cabin, partly buried under the snow, the only 
light b^ing admitted through an aperture less 
than a foot square, with water dripping down on 
him from the melting snow on the dirt roof, 
lying on a bunk made of rails, he died. A dog 
team could have taken a doctor to him, or 
brought him to the post long before his sickness 
became fatal. 
Arriving at Mud Geyser we struck bare ground 
for a considerable distance. The warm ground 
in the vicinity of this great geyser melts thq. 
