s out.

When the snow is dry, and not deeper than 2-1/2 feet, horses in good
condition, will walk through it without much difficulty, and throw
aside the snow so as to open quite a track. If there are several horses
they should be changed frequently, as the labor upon the leading one is
very severe. When the snow is deeper than 2-1/2 feet, it becomes very
difficult for animals to wade through it, and they soon weary and give
out. The best plan, under such circumstances (and it is the one I
adopted in crossing the Rocky Mountains, where the snow was from two to
five feet upon the ground), is to place all the disposable men in
advance of the animals to break the track, requiring them to alternate
from front to rear at regular intervals of time. In this manner a track
is beaten over which animals pass with comparative ease.

When the snow increases to about four feet, it is impossible for the
leading men to walk erect through it, and two or three of them are
compelled to crawl upon their hands and knees, all being careful to
place their hands and feet in the same holes that have been made by
those in advance. This packs the snow so that it will sustain the
others walking erect, and after 20 or 30 have passed it becomes
sufficiently firm to bear up the animals. This, of course, is an
exceedingly laborious and slow process, but it is the only alternative
when a party finds itself in the midst of very deep snows in a
wilderness. Animals, in walking over such a track as has been
mentioned, will soon acquire the habit of placing their feet in the
holes that have been made by the men; and, indeed, if they lose the
step or miss the holes, they will fall down or sink to their bellies.

Early in the winter, when the snow first falls in the Rocky Mountains,
it is so light and dry that snow-shoes can not be used to advantage. We
tried the experiment when we crossed the mountains in December and
January, but found it impossible to walk upon them.

Should a party, in a country where the snow is deep, have the
misfortune to lose its animals by freezing, the journey can not be
continued for any great length of time without devising some method of
transporting subsistence besides that of carrying it upon the backs of
the men, as they are unable to break a track through deep snow when
loaded down in this way.

The following plan has suggested itself to me as being the most
feasible, and it is the one I resolved to adopt in the event o