The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1879-08-13
HUNTING A PASS POR THE y. p.
II. u. TRACK.


The ascent Of Skagit river. until We
20. 10 Bakers river. thA. flows in from
the north. was simply day upon day Of
was,e,i time padding slowly up stream,
stopping a. every Indian camp TO talk
stopping at every sand bank to cook,
stopping At auy time AMI anywhere 70
humor our lazy red psddlers. And the
scenery Va. simply vast. gloomy for
est on both sides Of the river; the en-
ormous trees shooting up for two hun
dred and ffty feet, their branches in.
t.rlocked; the surface Of the ground
hidden with . dense growth Of vine,
and net,les, and great thickets Of elk
thorns and underbrush. The PROSTATE
trunks of huge undecsyed cedar and fir
trees, moss-grown and slippery. crossed
each other 10 Gil directions. Walking
on the ground WAS not possible. You
had 10 Chamber on to tree. walk along
il, get on another tree aud walk along
that. damp aud sponey. No sunbeam
ever penetrated there. Gre-t, loath-
some snails. three or four inches long.
cr.wled slowly on everything. Not .
sipn OF feathered or animal life was
visible IN this forest OF the lower Skagit.
II was simply and wholly lonesome.
damp. dark. slimy. forbidding. One
evening after We had camped | noticed
that tho underbrush about was not
very thick; so pressed through it up
the bank 20 the first bottom Of the val.
lev. and there saw the stump OF cedar
ten feet in diameter, about twenty feet
high with jagged top. +" my sur.
prise saw the trunk OF fir tree. full
four feet 10 di.meter. standing with its
butt encased in the cedar stump. Walk
ing 70 it and around it. ! saw that the
cedar had been burnt out by . great
Gre that swept through the forest an
age ago. The stump WAS only . hollow
shell. eight or ten inches in diame'er.
with large opening Oh one side. A
great pile Of ashes must have resulted
from the burning of this tree. Many
years must have passed before they
were absorbed iuto the soil. and fertiii-
ty was restored to the ash heap. Then
the seed of the fir had TO fall in. or bs
carried in by either bird or qrsi'upei.
and the tree growing there c"uli not
be I,ss than one huudred years old
iudy,d that at lcas, two hundrrd years
hal passed since ihs fire. and l had
curiosity enough TO return To my canoe
Tor AL axe 10 test the soundness OF the
cedar stump A blow OF the axe show
ed that for the depth OF half AN inch
the cedar WAS dozed, had lost ITS more.
was pank. Then the yellow iudestruct-
able wood was as high colored and firm
~ ever. To stand ont during the steady
rains Of two hundred Washington Ter
ritory winters. and still be sound. Is
remarkable durability. The Puget
Sound cedar is ali that is claimed Tor
it,
From our camp at the mouth of Ba-
kcr river we had full view OF Mount
Baker, twelve or fifteen miles away.
clio under the British boundary;
grand snow clad peak. with glaciers
ribbing it.
To the mouth Of the Sauk At last, but
on the wrong side of the river. In
crossing. rs we approached the chan'
mel Of tho stream, | saw for miles up
the okasit, n great river flowing through
o vast trough of snow. The mountains
rise from the river bank; then snow
and ice for thousands Of feet up their
steep aides.
We camped that night on the Sauk
aud made Q station. l had charge OF
the station for few days. the residue
of party having pushed on to the point
where the Sweattle river joins the Sauk.
There they made a station. l saw many
red deer. standing in the willows or
driuking ont Of the river; but the!
were out of condition and were not
shot. Opposite the camp WAS high
treeless cliff. chopped into great steps
by some freak Of nature, and on thes.
steps saw many bears digging in the
ground for roots. My work at this
station having ended. started up the
stream for the mouth Of the Sweattls
river. The paddles were soon laid aside
a. the current was too strong for their
use, and for mile after mile We were
poled up the river.
As expert ss the Plains Indians are
on horseback. far more expert is the
mountain Indian iu canoe. The sim
pie padding Of canoe amounts to
nothing. Any one can paddle; but
when ascending or descending . rapid
whore the water is white. then skill IS
required. l have been poled up nplds
that to my inexperienced eyes were i'm
passsble. saw many feats OF csuoe-
ing that are worthy OF record. But
above them a.l stands forth rs a monu-
ment in my memory On instance Of
skill and nerve on the Sweattle. We
had sscended this river - far as posi-.
ble 10 q canoe; then leaving 1T on the
bank. We had pushed Oh into the Che
Ian Pass Of the Cascade range. Gu our
return We sgain took the canoe and
started down stream for the SAuk The
snow Was melting rapidly under hot
July sun. and the river was rising fast.
Every now and then . gigantic tree.
undermined by the swift current. .eil
into the river with u crash; trses so
long that il they had fallen straight
across they would have bridged the
stream. But falling obl,quely they
were wrenched cut. and then they float
ed down the stream to join the many
thousands like them in the Skssit
Jam" Ny Indians. III their lazy hsb-
its, refused to paddle down stream.
The stream would carry them TO the
desired poin, without any exertios on
their part; 80. why work. Tune was
cheap; they had plenty of 1t; 50 they