The Holbrook news., 1912-05-03

l VI lu0 ndChOALAO bO SAO IA Yukon which were successful
 ly made at the beginning of the Klondyke rush. Men who started with no knowledge of the methods of northern travel made these journeys in safety, but only from anxiety to reach the goldfelds and taking little interest in the country through which they were travelling. There are men even now who spend their winters in trapping at the heads of the Stewart, the Macmillan and the Ross rivers, close up against the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains; but they have not given us the story of their adventures. Indeed, the main range of the Rocky Mountains, a geograph- ical feature known to every school boy as the backbone of the North American continent, is to this day al most absolutely unknown to the north ward of the Peace River pass. It is rather taken for granted that we know all about this range, that we are fla miliar with its geological formation. it's fauna and flora, whereas we really know nothing except by guesswork and by deductions drawn from condi- tions known to exist in the southern part of the same range. There are likely to be many important discov- cries made by the first party of prop eriy-equipped naturalists which under takes the systematic exploration of the northern rockies. Here lies the last big district in Canada in which the hunter-naturalist has a faint hope of coming across a really new species of Canadian animal of any size. The country is large enough and inacceS- sible enough to have kept such a se- cret till the present day. In any case. there is surely much ofsinterest to be learnt concerning the animals with which we are familiar. as they grad ually approach the northern limit of their existence.
 Typical Animal of the North.
 It is quite likely that the mountain sheep, which has been traced through all its gradations of color from Mex leo to Alaska, and sub-divided accord ing to latitude, may afford one more sub-species before the Rocky Noun tains die away into the Arctic. tundra. Nobody can tell us how far towards the north the moose, the bear and the mountain goat are to be found 1n the main range; and as regards the small animals, the marmots and the various small rodents, there is still much in- formation to be gathered. This is most attractive field for exploration to any sportsman of means and en- l. hrrw1k 1ka~- rrH heads, but a man who can reap more qualification from trophies which sim ply mark incidents during the accom- plishment of useful pioneer work than he can ever derive from the contem- plation of a fine collection of heads gathered in the course of expeditions made purely for the sake of slaughter. But beyond the possible chance of few species, there is nothing to be killed in these northern region that may not be obtained with much less ttme and trouble elsewhere, If the rapid collection of different specimens Is the sportsman's sole aim.
 The typical animal of the north throughout the whole breadth of Can ada is without doubt the caribou, and its economic value to the scattered population can be easily recognized by reading the accounts of the overland Journeys of Sir John Franklin and other early Arctic explorers, or the modern records and letter-books of the Hudson's Bay company's trading posts of the Athabasca and Mackenzie river districts. The passage of the great herds of caribou is still the most important event of the year to the inhabitants of these isolated posts, as 1t represents the abundance or scarcity of provisions in a land too remote to be supplied with the prod ucts of civilization.
 The accompanying photograph was taken in October, on mountain top. rising from the plateau of the Pacific Arctic watershed about the 18th parallel of north latitude at an eleva- ton of some six thousand feet above sea-Ievel. The caribou here shown are of the sub-species Rangifer Os- borni of the American naturalists.
 Not Afraid of Man.
 The herd when first seen was lying down in the snow. No lookout was being kept, and we crawled up within q very short rifie-shot of the animals without being discovered. In fact, it took a good deal of whistling and Rrunting from the Indian who was with me before the caribou would take any interest in us at all, and then only two or three of the cows would get up and stretch themselves