miles into the great prairies of
Alberta. It is many miles northwest before the Canadian Rockies assume
proportions of superlative scenic grandeur.

THE BELLY RIVER VALLEYS

To realize the growing bigness of the land northward one has only to
cross the wall from Iceberg Lake into the Belly River canyon. "Only,"
indeed! In 1917 it took us forty miles of detour outside the park, even
under the shadow of Chief Mountain, to cross the wall from Iceberg Lake,
the west-side precipice of which is steeper even than the east. The
Belly River drainage-basin is itself bigger, and its mountains bulk in
proportion. Eighteen glaciers contribute to the making of perhaps as
many lakes. The yellow mountains of its northern slopes invade Canada.
The borders of its principal valley are two monster mountains,
Cleveland, the greatest in the park for mass and height and intricate
outline; the other, Merritt, in some respects the most interesting of
Glacier's abundant collection of majestic peaks.

There are three valleys. The North Fork finds its way quickly into
Canada. The Middle Fork rises in a group of glaciers high under the
continental divide and descends four giant steps, a lake upon each step,
to two greater lakes of noble aspect in the valley bottom. The South
Fork emerges from Helen Lake deep in the gulf below the Ahern Glacier
across the Garden Wall from Iceberg Lake. Between the Middle and South
Forks Mount Merritt rises 9,944 feet in altitude, minareted like a
mediaeval fort and hollow as a bowl, its gaping chasm hung with glaciers.

This is the valley of abundance. The waters are large, their trout many
and vigorous; the bottoms are extravagantly rich in grasses and flowers;
the forests are heavy and full-bodied; there is no open place, even
miles beyond its boundaries, which does not offer views of extraordinary
nobility. Every man who enters it becomes enthusiastically prophetic of
its future. After all, the Belly River country is easily visited. A
leisurely horseback journey from McDermott, that is all; three days
among the strange yellow mountains of the over thrust's eastern edge,
including two afternoons among the fighting trout of Kennedy Creek and
Slide Lake, and two nights in camp among the wild bare arroyos of the
Algonkian invasion of the prairie--an interesting prelude to the fulness
of wilderness life to come.

I dwell upon the Belly valleys because their size, magnificence, and
accessibility suggest a future