re about us the talk of teamsters and cattle men
went on, concerning regions of which I had never heard. Men spoke of
Hat Creek, the Chilcoten country, Soda Creek, Lake La Hache, and
Lilloat. Chinamen in long boots, much too large for them, came and
went sombrely, buying gold sacks and picks. They were mining quietly
on the upper waters of the Fraser, and were popularly supposed to be
getting rich.

The townspeople were possessed of thrift quite American in quality,
and were making the most of the rush over the trail. "The grass is
improving each day," they said to the goldseekers, who were disposed
to feel that the townsmen were anything but disinterested, especially
the hotel keepers. Among the outfitters of course the chief
beneficiaries were the horse dealers, and every corral swarmed with
mangy little cayuses, thin, hairy, and wild-eyed; while on the
fences, in silent meditation or low-voiced conferences, the intending
purchasers sat in rows like dyspeptic ravens. The wind storm
continued, filling the houses with dust and making life intolerable
in the camps below the town. But the crowds moved to and fro
restlessly on the one wooden sidewalk, outfitting busily. The
costumes were as various as the fancies of the men, but laced boots
and cow-boy hats predominated.

As I talked with some of the more thoughtful and conscientious
citizens, I found them taking a very serious view of our trip into
the interior. "It is a mighty hard and long road," they said, "and a
lot of those fellows who have never tried a trail of this kind will
find it anything but a picnic excursion." They had known a few men
who had been as far as Hazleton, and the tales of rain, flies, and
mosquitoes which these adventurers brought back with them, they
repeated in confidential whispers.

However, I had determined to go, and had prepared myself for every
emergency. I had designed an insect-proof tent, and was provided with
a rubber mattress, a down sleeping-bag, rain-proof clothing, and
stout shoes. I purchased, as did many of the others, two bills of
goods from the Hudson Bay Company, to be delivered at Hazleton on the
Skeena, and at Glenora on the Stikeen. Even with this arrangement it
was necessary to carry every crumb of food, in one case three hundred
and sixty miles, and in the other case four hundred miles. However,
the first two hundred and twenty miles would be in the nature of a
practice march, for the trail ran through a country with