mind but will
defy you. many a dog-teamseer has accidently fallen down near his team
while breaking trail and been eaten up. if you fall down they will jump
on you like a lion. It is spectacular to see us feed them we remove the
muzzle and harness take our gun in one hand unlock the fish box and call
the dogs by name one by one at the same time throwing a fish at the one
we mention, they will catch their fish like old Cy Young would a league
ball even if it goes much higher than you intended they will climb the
sky for fish. The Work dog is a great asset to the travelers in that
region. a good team will travel over a broken trail seventy five miles a
day. it is a very pretty sight to see a well trained team travel. These
dogs can pull a load weighing from one hundred to two hundred pounds
according to the road and hills. Examine our big team two of which we
had with us on this famous journey. Each day brought its new dangers and
difficulties, each night had its terrors the inevitable howl of the
wolves, the sneaking glacier bears, the extreme cold, the brilliant glow
of the Aurora Borealis Which hissed high over our heads and shot like
lightling in varigated rays, in sound resembling a turkey gobbler
unfolding his wings. I cannot go into all the details of this trip into
the unknown it was up and down glaciers, following often in the path
where just recently a great snowslide traveled, carrying hundreds of
tons of snow and ice and breaking and crashing like a ruined world. The
snow slide is the greatest of all dangers in this region, I have seen as
many as five all at one time, some are known as annuals or old
faithfulls, others are known as untimely, and treacherous. many an
Alaskan lies burried in valleys hundreds of feet below the surface in
mountains of snow. I have always escaped the snow slide, I always test
the snow as I go. If I get on a slope where Snowslides are frequent I
prod deep into the snow to ascertain its actual depth, where the snow is
thick it is most apt to slide. The cry is keep close to the rocks and
you are safe. After many days of severe suffering and fighting cold we
came to a perpendicular ridge of ice which we discovered was a long
ridge, there seemed to be no way around so we prepared to let over each
other. It was about one hundred feet down to the ice. I was the first to
test the ropes, then one by one the dogs, sleighs, guns and all was over
except the last man. we had provided for him, th