Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1892-04-02

travelled by the Indians, Us the fur
bearing country it taps IS given up
wholly to the Chilkats, who reach it by
another trail. The weather was yet
heavy and threatening the morning Of
the Cth, rs we got away. The white
men had been obliged to repair the
pole bridge the evening before, the
rains having brought down driftwood
that damaged it. It was a good
morning for du>ky grouse on the
trail and number were secured
with the Winchester shotgun by men,
bers Of the party. The junction OF tie
two trails proved to be on wide
stretch OF In ,ken, angular gravel. The
here led sharply up the mountain slope,
the northern path being much the
palmer of the two; hence our packers
mistake. These numerous gravel
slides We're eXasperating to travel over.
The gravel was of an uniform angular
character as il it had come from q TO tx
breaker and intended for railway
ballasting or the matchmaking OF
road. Here was enough to have
ballasted the whole length of the
Canadian Pacific railway, the longest
road in the world, and plenty to spare
for constructing all the county roads
that could be made in iavapai county,
Arizona, the l-rgest county in the
United States. II Il railroad ever cuts
through this country-which l think
not unlikely for reasons l will give
latcr-it certainly will be we'll supplied
with this ne cssury and usually eXpen-
sive material of construction.
AS VIC rapidly assembled the noun
tain slope b. n wei defined trail
nf.cr the gravel cones were left behind
we had the best view of the country
that tie route had yet presented.
Between the two trails lay a great bald
mountain, with rounded top crowned
with two conspicuous black objects,
looking not unlike two houses, and
these could be seen for miles on either
side. l think they were huge erratic
boulders even at this high altitude. l
named this butte the 1.-THE Trail Split
tor from its position with regard to
the two trails already described. That
night we cnmpcd on the high slope,
l 1850 feet above the river, and where it
was not easy work to find enough fat
space to even make our beds, SO as not
to roll down the hill.
Sure enough Robert" joined us as he
had promised, and which had hardly
expected from the great distance he
had had to travel. At this camp the
Indians found IL small pine squirrel in
the stun,cd spruce, and the way they
turned out en- masse after it would
have led one to believe that they w r.
on the verge of starvation. After
IN exciting chase of ten minutes
or so they secured the two-ounce affair
| and proceeded to cook it. | knew Il
native, ut another time, to shoot one
with a lO-guage Winchester shotgun,
the cartridge used weighing more than
the carcass. There were great many
snowbanks on the trail the next fore
noon Tth) which still led upward until
the aneroids showed 2652 feet above
river level. They were not very bad
in the early forenoon but later, when
it is warmer. they are very exasperating
to ountcr. Despite the melting
snow through which we foun-
derel we found no drinking wat,r
anywhere. the gravel!y and loose
soil absorbing it all as rap ly as it was
formed. AS we descended the slope,
however, the springs reappcared and by
the time the valley was reached it was
quite swampy in many places. Old
moose signs were seen everywhere
but not hair of the animals them