The Stroller's weekly and Douglas Island news., 1921-11-05
sTEEsE TELLS OF
 VAST INTERIOR
,coutinucd from page D

 
 countcrcd ice lsptombcr 2lau which causcd one oi our Indians to muttor to himself
 "Noar Ono hcal ol Mud Crook wo como to Che dr.t por,aso. about two hundred feet long mp an incline over a risc of only ton or nlloen feet to a small akc. Crossing th.a nho which was only about a quarter Of a mile wide we camo to @ second portage of about half a milo w.th a total rIso Of not over five foot Par. ! Of Che way across th.s portage we uockod Che boat along on a muddy |rut which. at a higher ataeo in One |iato. would contain uuIo.ont water ! to float tbo boat Crossing aoo- ond Iako about a quarter of mile wide we chen proceeded Into Iohn- son Creek and followed it for sixteen miles The channel was quite mar TOW and dcep and thUo were over a hundred uehoe bends iu Che sIN- teen miles Rcaohus One mouth of Crooked Crccb a tributary of Johu- son Crook. we followed it upstream for twenty miles, around probably D
 thousand horseshoe bonds We campcl Ono 0ut night about on hour after starting mp Crooked Creok
 Dragged Boat
 "At Che head or Crooked Greek we found a series ol aouehs and lakes extending over a distance ot about five miles We hurried our boat along sometimes wrh bc ErnrUlc and sometimes by polling and some times by getting out and manning tho neck ropes or hia five mile section it was necessary to drag tho boat am arercratc ol abou. mIio
 "Wc hon como Co Lato Kuik abou. three miles wide and quite shallow A wind had sprung w which made Che labc quite rough. but we managed Co got across with about am inch or less Of uooboard at umcs We thon found moro grassy akcs and followed thom for about two miles to second larger hkc Most of this two miles was ace compIHbcd with Che Ey.uudc. up- nlcmcuteI by occasional polling and many stops to clear tle propcIor A strong wind had again developed aud after getting two or lhroo hm- drod feet from shore and having akon u lof oI water and nearly getting svamncd. we had to turn back and barely eot landed about haIf milo down tho beach on tho bare. wet tundra before heavy storm broke. mne Che air w.th sleot and snow We made camp as best we could and everyone scattered to search for uoI
 "At Che Gr.t latc our older Indian abandoned ms and took hH kayak witch him. He vas afraid to 20 far- hcr for fear Of getting frozen m and not being able to get back ,o his home wiling. on Che luahokvIm Just after crossing th.a 0r. lake WIG met four Indians. oa,h had h.a own kayak. coming from thc Yukon We tried to hire ono ol .hom Co eo along to hclp on Che neck ropoa but they wore afraid to risk .c
 Most Difficult Portage
 "Wc spent thcmeaton Che tundra on Che shore of Che second bIr lake, Lakc KuNm. About Ono middle of Che next morning tho wind died down somewhat and we started across Tho distance was abou. five miles and by aNrune along Che shore we made It without getting too wct We hon came to Che mos. dil- frmt portage of a.L about ha'l a mile of dry slough which .a nay.s- able at higher stage ot Che lakes. Here it was necessary to dus our boat through Che mud and era
 whore Che footing was very bad The whoIo country was aVumpy bu. uo, sufficient to float One holt The difference in elevation did not soom . to be over two lcor Then two mie. ! of lakes and sIoushs brought ua Co . bo main portage on Che Yukon side. This 0ual portage is abou. half a mile long over Q blu. abouJ forty feet bIeb This landed ms on thc TmakwIbsab r.yer We followed down tb.s stream for HIy miles into a slough which we thon followed up . six miles to Russian Mission. where we arrived about midnight
 "Tho total distance. as WIG travelled .t from Kalchagamut to Russian
 Mission. is about one hundred and torturous and could hardly bo follow twenty miles, The route iH very ed without a guide It can bc im- proved somewhat by stalking hut even his win bc diu'euit especially along ] Che courses of Johnson Crock and ! Crooked Creek and through Che rr,rey fatos he.ru.n at high water the whole country Is Hooded and ono
 s continually going mp blind a.ioN