The Cordova daily times., 1920-05-07
ALASKA CAMPFIRE
 REFLECTIONS
BY ADDISON M. POWELL
 In Outdoor Life

s-s-~~s-s-~-s-s-~-s-s-e-e-s- room at twilight. It was only p. m.
 then, and that meant supper would be
 served at 8.
 The colonel was one of the best
 camp cooks I ever met. He insisted
 on doing the cooking, which was
 agreeable to both Mac and myself
 The colonel had cooked in camp, on cookstoves, small ranges, large ranges
 and cattle ranges.
 I refined up my horse and bade him to follow while 1 prospected this old
 river gravel. It was decomposing on the surface, but below it proved to be cemented conglomerate; and, although found placer gold, it could not be worked profitably. The evening was nearing the long twilight of the north, and looking at my watch, I found that I had spent hours at prospecting and my thoughtful contemplation of the great transformation that had reQuir- ed unknown centuries in the making
 At the east, down below where l stood, ran river that had it's source in glacier that now hung in a canon of the Alaska Range, about fifteen miles to the north; and just south of this pass and about 1,500 feet lower it emptied into Gulkana Lake, which was about a mile wide and twelve miles long.
 Possibly the North Pole was at one time south of Alaska, and then it was when the northern states were cover ed with glaciers. Gradually-so grad ually that we have no epoch from which to figure-it swung by this region and to the north, leaving gla- ciers to cut, grind and change the contours, and thus a basin was scooped out for lake, and the canon in front of me was ground out 1,500 feet deep, and finally a small piece of the glacier was left to tell the tale-left away up wonder on the mountainside.
 How long. o, how long, was this 8 warm climate before the glaciers came? How long, o Time, did the gla- ciers cover the land? How long did it require to cut out this deep canon from plateau that once was compar- atively level, and the valley to a great river? And how long did it require for the timber to grow and cover up the side of new mountain? Gen. turies are but seconds of time when compared with that required for this wonderful transformation. Of course we worship the great outdoors-we of the wild places-because of the stories they tell had become so interested that awakened as from a dream to realize that night was approaching and the rain was beating upon me.
 1 descended to camp, where it was warm and dry beneath a large over hanging spruce. The colonel was try ing to wager that Mac would eat half of the small caribou before morning, and Mac was refusing to accept the wager.
 After hearty supper I crawled in to my sleeping bag and the colonel ;raWled into his mosquito-proof tent. l
 shall not describe it, as Chauncey Thomas did that in the January num- )er of Outdoor Life. The entrace was with an elastic c string, he colonel called it--and it surely was to see the colonel, when bout half through the hole, on hands md knees, and trying to get inside md pull the hole in after him.
 When was near asleep, heard the, attIe of frying pan and, raising, saw fac near the fire. I asked him what e was going to do and he answered, Cook myself another supper"
 Within week after killing the car oou in the pass, we had "pot-IatcIred" nost of the meat to needy prospectors nd were camped on the bank of the Copper river, with only enough of it or night and morning.
 After supper dishes were put away,
 lit my pipe and, on the high bank f the stream, I sat down on 6 large lat rock to enjoy the murmur of the iver calling to the sea, and also to watch the rays of the setting sun as hey kissed the tips of Mt. Sanford goodnight They finger there, as Mt. Sanford stands 16,600 feet above sea ] evel. I announced that I would use he hour of balmy twilight in medita- i've thought.
 Thought be hanged!" exclaimed | Mccarthy. 'I never allow my thoughts