The Portland daily press., 1894-12-29

withsno fur or leather whatever. We wore
a double suit CT woven wear ana heaVy
shirt for the upper part OF the oody. cover
ing this with canvas waistceat. ana not
wearing anycoat at all, that garment being
replaced by short canvas jumper connned
tightly at the waist by broad leather belt.
Any one who has had much cold weather
experience knows that belt IS warmer
than an overcoat. We wore canvas overalls
over ordinary woolen trousers and WOODEN
underwear. The feet were covered with
light wooden socks, easy fitting. light leath-
er shoes, and heavy arctic overshoes, which
came up high on the ankles. Over the
over shoes we wore canvas leggins, which
confined the overalls close at the ankles.
In this way all snow was excluded from the
shoes, and tn. feet were kept perfectly
dry and warm, matter of the most vital
Importance, for the ski runner is concerned
first and all the time about his feet, which
are ground together all day long in per-
petual bath of snow. The ski sinks with
the food into the snow to depth from one
or two to eight or ten inches, according to
the density of the snow, and there is almost
no possibility of keeping the snow from
getting thu ough the foot covering, no mat
loI VI NHdb Idt6rldl ~ AhnJ W HAoNcs -H4N
best arctic overshoes will Only stand tbs
work of about week. We reinforced our
overshoes with double heavy canvas across
the front. where the wearing of the SKI
strap was hardest. In our packs we took
extra overshoes, discarding our first pairs
when we were well up into the park. On
our hands we wore light buckskin gloves.
and over these heavy deece-lined mittens
in case of extreme cold. For head cover
ing wore the broad-brimned Western
hat, excellent for keeping snow from falling
down the neck, and when our ears got cold
we tied them up in large silk handkerchiefs'
passing the folds about the back of the
head, which we found some times got very
cold when the Thermometer went far below
zero.
Our clothing was hardly heavier than
that which duck shooter would wear for
a winter day in the sink box, and 1t seems
ridiculously light for the region in which
we were going; yet Billy's wisdom in insist
ing upon it in every detail was plainly evil
dent before the first twenty four hours were
passed We found that man would be bur-
dening himself use1essiy by carrying more
clothing than We wore, and even that
amount was more than we needed or could
use part of the time. even in weather that
went 10 or 10 degrees below Zero.
The work of skirunning in the mountains
brings into play every muscle in the body
at the highest pitch of energy. and while
actually on rhe trail the ski runners whole
system is in a perfect glow of warmth.
With the thermometer at zero we found our
selves perspiring very freely, and when
travelling we would frequently throw open
portion of our clothing In order to allow
the air to cool lis down little. OF course
had we been travelling by vehicle of any
de cription we should have needed the best
of fur garments to retain the animal
warmth of the body and to keep us from
free zing, but had we attempted to wear
such garments on the ski trail we should
have made failure OF the trip just as
Schwatka did.
Being so lightly dressed and being SO
thoroughly warmed up by the exertion of
travelling, we chilled out very quickly when
W. stopped go ng and sat down even for
few moments. Against this exigency we
carried along each heavy WOODEN sweater
and n extra heavy WOODEN shirt. such as
thar worn by tiremen. Bundlng up Ii
these and girding the whole tightly with
the much comforting bell, We could take a
pretty cold wind with impunity. even after
coming red hot from the middle of the
march. We carried absolutely no weapons
with US, except straight-bladed butcher
knife each, swung at the belt, and this we
found most useful in cleaning off the snow
from the skis OF in cutting pine boughs for
a bed. We had with us an escort of two
United States private soldiers. both fine
ski runners, kindly given us through the
courtesy of Capt. George S. Anderson, the
military superintendent of thepark, to
whom also we had to go for permission to
make the trip, the supertendent having
absolute discreet on in such matters. The
two privates carried each revolver, more
against tho emergency of meeting some
poaching malefactor in the park than that
of running up against any dangerous wild
animal. Any mountain man knows that
the actual danger from the latter source is
very slight indeed at any season of the
year. 1t may cause disrespect discre-
dence for our story when it is added that
We took along for bedding at night only one
blanket and one light sleeping bag for the
four of US. The sleeping bag was made of
wildcat skins. and accommodated only one
person. 1t weighed only about six pounds.
Everything was reduced to the lowest pos
sible minimum of weight. We carried no
tents or covering whatever. except strip
of cheese cloth about fifteen feet long and
six feet wide which had been used for the
inner lining of lodge, made after the fash
ion of an Indian tepee. This we intended
to use merely as wind-break in we
had to camp out away from better shelter.
The soldier boys insisted that they would
rather sit up by the fire at night and keep
warm the best they could than to pack
blankets on their backs all day. They had
done enough snow-shoeing to know that
every onnce ecomes a pound at the end of
a long day.
Such are some of the necessaries of the
winter voyage through the Rockies. If one
would set out for himself. even such camp
equipage and provisions as his ordinary
outing experiences would suggest. as the
minimum necessary for bare comfort or ex-
istence on such trip, he would probably
find that he had laid out for party of four
men pack of forty or fifty pounds each.
This is more than man can carry on ski
march, if he keeps it up from day to day.
We studied to save every possible ounce of
weight, and still found that our packs aver