The Raymer enterprise., 1915-06-17

horse first over sOcailed wagon road where
the six-horse wagons were frequently begged or
upset, and then after even that senblance OF a
road had disappeared the 50 horses constituting
our pack train were loaded with the camp outfit
and supplies. Rivers and lakes were crossed
al great risk on the rotten ice Seventeen days
out from Whitehorse the party crossed the last
remaining ice bridge on the White river. and this
was hardly accomplished the gorge broke
through with report like that Of hundred can
non and went swrling away in the swollen wa
tiers of that stream"
In running survey lines in that faraway re-
gon, Mr.. Riggs says; Rivers filled with danger
ous quicksands have TO be crossed mountains
scaled at the risk OF life and limb. and then
comes drudgery of crossing the bottomless
swamps of the low lying lands. Horses mire
down one after another and lie there with their
heavy packs mutely gazing at the wornout
packer. who after exhausting every known means
TO get the poor beast to its feet gives vent to his
narrowed feelings in ornate basphemy"
The question Of provisions is vital one. be.
cause they go astray at times or cache may be
riled by Indians or wild animals The civil en-
gneers and their parties are seldom able to live
upon the land They have to depend upon their
regular supplies. and more than once a surveyor
has been reduced to starvation rations and forced
to make hurried trip back TO the nearest base
Indeed. an instance OF this sort occurred dur
ing the boundary survey, and two men We're dis
patched back in canoe by way OF an unex
plored river They went off with little bread
and a small allowance of bacon-hardly enough
to last for two days. On they went, hoping to
pick up the trail of following relief party that
had somehow been delayed Fortunately this
effected just before the canoe turned an
abrupt bend in the river Around that bend the
stream dipped into a pocket which probably
would have meant certain death
True in the lowands of Alaska the summer is
hot and the days long. but up in the mountains
the arctic chill is felt. and the surveyors have
to go provided with garments to meet these ex
tremes, and above all must they have the sturd
est OF boots in which to battle over that rug
ged country. The surveyor must check his lines
by suitable triangulations. and to do this 1t will
be necessary for him frequently to stand or
climb where peril surrounds him well nigh on
every side Indeed he will have to hold on by
his eyelids or be something akin to a human
fly. and besides getting himself there he must
drag along his instruments.
But the sun is not overkindly In Alaska, and
. there are heavy and well nigh continual rains
especially along the coast. The surveyor seizes
upon every clear moment to take panoramic pic
lures from definite points. and from these, later
in the shelter of his camp or the warmth OF his
winter Office back In civilization he works out
the topography Of his line and plans the way for
the engineers In lieu OF this. he must toll along
as best he can under the climatic handcaps, and
by means OF the flashing heliograph he sends his
signals afar into the haze and talks with his dis.
tant fellows
There is besides the menace Of disease This
was nstanced in the case of the boundary survey