



Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
produced from scanned images of public domain material
from the Google Print project.)









 THE
 YOUNG ALASKANS
 IN THE ROCKIES

 BY
 EMERSON HOUGH

 ILLUSTRATED

 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
 NEW YORK AND LONDON
 MCMXIII




 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY HARPER & BROTHERS

 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
 PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER, 1913




[Illustration: A TRAPPER'S SHACK, STANDING AT THE EDGE OF THE
BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN LAKE WHICH LAY GREEN AND MIRROR-LIKE, SURROUNDED ON
ALL SIDES BY GREAT MOUNTAIN WALLS]




CONTENTS


 CHAP.                                                      PAGE

 I.      ROB, JOHN, AND JESSE IN CAMP                         9
 II.     AT THE FIRESIDE                                     18
 III.    HITTING THE TRAIL                                   28
 IV.     WESTWARD HO                                         48
 V.      HIGHER THAN THE ROCKIES                             54
 VI.     THE ATHABASCA AT LAST                               63
 VII.    CROSSING THE ATHABASCA                              68
 VII.    IN HIGH ALTITUDES                                   78
 IX.     THE HEART OF THE MOUNTAINS                          85
 X.      RAINBOW LAKE                                        91
 XI.     THE PASS                                           102
 XII.    THE WILDERNESS                                     116
 XIII.   AFTER THE WHITE GOATS                              126
 XIV.    DOWN THE FRASER                                    144
 XV.     THE GREAT MOUNTAIN                                 156
 XVI.    AT THE TETE JAUNE CACHE                            162
 XVII.   LEO THE GRIZZLY-HUNTER                             172
 XVIII.  SOUTHWARD BOUND                                    180
 XIX.    ON THE CANOE RIVER                                 186
 XX.     CARIBOU IN CAMP                                    192
 XXI.    THE FIRST BEAR CAMP                                198
 XXII.   THE YOUNG GRIZZLY-HUNTERS                          215
 XXIII.  ONWARD BOUND                                       241
 XXIV.   THE BOAT ENCAMPMENT                                247
 XXV.    HISTORY ON THE GROUND                              263
 XXVI.   DOWN THE COLUMBIA                                  276
 XXVII.  ON THE RAPIDS                                      283
 XXVIII. IN SIGHT OF SAFETY                                 295
 XXIX.   STORIES OF THE COLUMBIA                            303
 XXX.    THE END OF THE TRAIL                               315




ILLUSTRATIONS


 A TRAPPER'S SHACK, STANDING AT THE EDGE OF THE
 BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN LAKE WHICH LAY GREEN
 AND MIRROR-LIKE, SURROUNDED ON ALL SIDES
 BY GREAT MOUNTAIN WALLS                         _Frontispiece_

 ROB'S GOAT                                     _Facing p._ 138

 APPROACHING THE GRAND CANYON ON THE FRASER
 RIVER                                              "       146

 TOWERING ABOVE ALL AND DWARFING ALL RIVALRY
 THERE STOOD BEFORE THEM ONE GREAT, NOBLE
 WHITE-TOPPED PEAK--MT. ROBSON                      "       158

 THE BIG BEND OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER                 "       248

 THE COLUMBIA RIVER, ABOVE THE BOAT ENCAMPMENT      "       252

 ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER                              "       300

 REVELSTOKE CANYON                                  "       320




YOUNG ALASKANS IN THE ROCKIES




I

ROB, JOHN, AND JESSE IN CAMP


"Well, here we are, fellows," said Jesse Wilcox, as he threw down an
armful of wood at the side of the camp-fire. "For my part, I believe
this is going to be about the best trip we ever had."

"That's what I was telling Rob to-day," said John Hardy, setting down
a pail of water near by. "But I hope I won't have to carry water up a
bank a hundred feet high every night."

"We are not as far north this time as we were last summer," said
Jesse, "but the country looks something the same."

"Yes," replied John, "but last year we were going east and farther
away from home every day. Now we're going west to the Rockies and
across them, getting closer to home all the time."

Rob McIntyre, the oldest of our friends who had made so many trips
together in the wilderness, sat silent, as was often his custom,
smiling out of his frank blue eyes at his companions.

"What do you think about it, Rob?" asked Jesse.

"I agree with you, Jess," replied Rob. "I've always wanted to get into
this part of the Rocky Mountains. The Yellowhead Pass, over yonder, is
the place I've always wanted to see. It's an old pass across the
Rockies, but no one seems to know much about it."

"Besides," went on Jesse, "we ought to get plenty of game and good
fishing."

"Surely we will, for this is a country that no one visits, although we
are now on the trail of the old fur-traders who came here often enough
more than a hundred years ago. On the high ridges in here you can see
the old trail cut down a foot deep. And it was made in part by the
feet of men, more than a hundred years ago."

"Besides," added John, "we can see where the engineers have gone ahead
of us."

"Yes," said Rob, "they've pretty much followed the trail of the old
fur-traders."

"Didn't they come by water a good way up here?" asked John.

Rob answered by pulling out of his pocket a long piece of heavy paper,
a map which