Camp Fires In The Yukon

Text extracted from opening pages of book: CAMP FIRES IN THE YUKON HARRY A. AUER AUTHOR OF THE NORTH COUNTRY CINCINNATI STEWART & KIDD COMPANY 1916 COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY STEWART & KIDD COMPANY All Rights Reserved COPYRIGHT IN ENGLAND VA1L-BALLOU COMPANY In grateful remembrance of the beloved comrade of many trails, MY FATHER, who in my early youth took me by the hand and led me along the untrodden ways of the wilderness, this volume is dedicated, FOREWORD The intendment of this volume is not to present a work on wilderness travel nor is it offered as a treatise on woodcraft, though it necessarily contains somewhat of both. Its sole purpose is to accur rately record the writer's experiences and observa tions as a hunter of big game in The Yukon just as they happened day by day and set down in my diary at the time the events narrated transpired. When the writer has assumed to go beyond the range of his own experiences and relate those of his hunting companions, the diary records those experi ences just as related to him by his companions about the camp fire at the end of the day's chase. For the benefit of those who may desire to follow the writer's trail ir\ to this remarkable hunting field, it seemed wise to incorporate an account of the route taken by this expedition together with a brief de scription of points of interest along the way. The modes of travel with their difficulties, the items of equipment, expeditionary and personal, the charac ter of the commissary, and the methods of hunting are set forth as indispensable to a true account of the summer's work and a possible help to any who may travel the same trail. vi FOREWORD The objects of the expedition were twofold: to observe andstudy the habits of the various game on their native ranges, and to obtain specimens of the game for the collections of the individual mem bers of my party. Of no less importance than obtaining specimens was the study of the habits of the Ovis dalli, being the pure white mountain sheep, and the less ob served and more rare animals, the woodland cari bou, rangifer osborni, found in large numbers in the undisturbed mountain ranges, which we visited. The sheep mentioned in this diary are all the Ovis dalli, as we observed not a single specimen of Fan nin's sheep, nor of Stone's sheep. The caribou mentioned are all the rangifer osborni, as we ob served no other specimens of the caribou family. For the sake of clarity and in order to enable the reader to follow the movements of the expedition into the interior, and more particularly as it has been the writer's effort and purpose to record only facts as they transpired without straying into the fields of fiction, the writer has deemed the purpose to be best served by a strict adherence to the facts and observations set down at the time of their oc currence in his diary. These are the things I have seen, And these are the thoughts I feel, As I lie in the warmth of the firelight's gleam, Till sleep steals away my will. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE YUKON EXPEDITION AND ITS EQUIPMENT i II THE ROUTE WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE GOLDEN PAST AND THE PRESENT . . 10 III THE WESTWARD TREK BY WAGON TRAIL PROM WHITEHORSE TO LAKE KLUANE . . 22 IV THE TREK BY PACK TRAIN FROM LAKE KLUANE TO THE ST. ELIAS RANGE ... 41 V SHEEP AND CARIBOU HUNTING IN THE ST. ELLAS RANGE 55 VI HUNTING ALONG THE MOUNTAINS OF COUNT CREEK AND KLUTLAN GLACIER, 77 VII DEEPINTO THE ST. ELIAS RANGE. SHEEP AND CARIBOU 101 VIII DEEP INTO THE ST. ELIAS RANGE ( CON TINUED). A PARADISE OF RAMS . . . 120 IX THE MOOSE RANGES 142 X THE RETREAT ACROSS THE RANGE . . . .160 XI THE GOAT RANGES OF THE SLIMS MOUN TAINS * * 73 APPENDIX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Along Lake Kluane Approaching Slims Mountains Frontispiece PAGE Fisher the Cook, and Albert, Indian Guide ... 25 Taking Horses Across Slims River 25 Muck-a-Mucfc at Deserted Cabin 28 Home Camp on St. Clair River 28 Outriders of St. Elias Range 34 Across Bear Creek Summit 34 Valley of the Donje