THE BEGINNING OF THE LONG TRAIL
As we left the bank of the Fraser River we put all wheel tracks
behind. The trail turned to the west and began to climb, following an
old swath which had been cut into the black pines by an adventurous
telegraph company in 1865. Immense sums of money were put into this
venture by men who believed the ocean cable could not be laid. The
work was stopped midway by the success of Field's wonderful plan, and
all along the roadway the rusted and twisted wire lay in testimony of
the seriousness of the original design.
The trail was a white man's road. It lacked grace and charm. It cut
uselessly over hills and plunged senselessly into ravines. It was an
irritation to all of us who knew the easy swing, the circumspection,
and the labor-saving devices of an Indian trail. The telegraph line
was laid by compass, not by the stars and the peaks; it evaded
nothing; it saved distance, not labor.
My feeling of respect deepened into awe as we began to climb the
great wooded divide which lies between the Fraser and the Blackwater.
The wild forest settled around us, grim, stern, and forbidding. We
were done with civilization. Everything that was required for a home
in the cold and in the heat was bound upon our five horses. We must
carry bed, board, roof, food, and medical stores, over three hundred
and sixty miles of trail, through all that might intervene of flood
and forest.
This feeling of awe was emphasized by the coming on of the storm in
which we camped that night. We were forced to keep going until late
in order to obtain feed, and to hustle in order to get everything
under cover before the rain began to fall. We were only twelve miles
on our way, but being wet and cold and hungry, we enjoyed the full
sense of being in the wilderness. However, the robins sang from the
damp woods and the loons laughed from hidden lakes.
It rained all night, and in the morning we were forced to get out in
a cold, wet dawn. It was a grim start, dismal and portentous,
bringing the realities of the trail very close to us. While I rustled
the horses out of the wet bush, partner stirred up a capital
breakfast of bacon, evaporated potatoes, crystallized eggs, and
graham bread. He had discovered at last the exact amount of water to
use in cooking these "vegetables," and they were very good. The
potatoes tasted not unlike mashed potatoes, and together with the
eggs made a very savory and wholesome dish. With a cup of strong
coffee and some hot graham gems we got off in very good spirits
indeed.
It continued muddy, wet, and cold. I walked most of the day, leading
my horse, upon whom I had packed a part of the outfit to relieve the
other horses. There was no fun in the day, only worry and trouble. My
feet were wet, my joints stiff, and my brain weary of the monotonous
black, pine forest.
There is a great deal of work on the trail,--cooking, care of the
horses, together with almost ceaseless packing and unpacking, and the
bother of keeping the packhorses out of the mud. We were busy from
five o'clock in the morning until nine at night. There were other
outfits on the trail having a full ton of supplies, and this great
weight had to be handled four times a day. In our case the toil was
much less, but it was only by snatching time from my partner that I
was able to work on my notes and keep my diary. Had the land been
less empty of game and richer in color, I should not have minded the
toil and care taking. As it was, we were all looking forward to the
beautiful lake country which we were told lay just beyond the
Blackwater.
One tremendous fact soon impressed me. There were no returning
footsteps on this trail. All toes pointed in one way, toward the
golden North. No man knew more than his neighbor the character of the
land which lay before us.
The life of each outfit was practically the same. At about 4.30 in
the morning the campers awoke. The click-clack of axes began, and
slender columns of pale blue smoke stole softly into the air. Then
followed the noisy rustling of the horses by those set aside for that
duty. By the time the horses were "cussed into camp," the coffee was
hot, and the bacon and beans ready to be eaten. A race in packing
took place to see who should pull out first. At about seven o'clock
in the morning the outfits began to move. But here there was a
difference of method. Most of them travelled for six or seven hours
without unpacking, whereas our plan was to travel for four hours,
rest from twelve to three, and pack up and travel four hours more.
This difference in method resulted in our passing outfit after outfit
who were unable to make the same distances by their one march.
We went to bed with the robins and found it no hardship to rise with
the sparrows. As Burton got the fire going, I dressed and went out to
see if all the horses were in the bunch, and edged them along toward
the camp. I then packed up the goods, struck the tent and folded it,
and had everything ready to sling on the horses by the time breakfast
was ready.
With my rifle under my knee, my rain coat rolled behind my saddle, my
camera dangling handily, my rope coiled and lashed, I called out,
"Are we all set?"
"Oh, I guess so," Burton invariably replied.
With a last look at the camping ground to see that nothing of value
was left, we called in exactly the same way each time, "Hike, boys,
hike, hike." (Hy-ak: Chinook for "hurry up.") It was a fine thing,
and it never failed to touch me, to see them fall in, one by one. The
"Ewe-neck" just behind Ladrone, after him "Old Bill," and behind him,
groaning and taking on as if in great pain, "Major Grunt," while at
the rear, with sharp outcry, came Burton riding the blue pony, who
was quite content, as we soon learned, to carry a man weighing
seventy pounds more than his pack. He considered himself a saddle
horse, not a pack animal.
It was not an easy thing to keep a pack train like this running. As
the horses became tired of the saddle, two of them were disposed to
run off into the brush in an attempt to scrape their load from their
backs. Others fell to feeding. Sometimes Bill would attempt to pass
the bay in order to walk next Ladrone. Then they would _scrouge_
against each other like a couple of country schoolboys, to see who
should get ahead. It was necessary to watch the packs with worrysome
care to see that nothing came loose, to keep the cinches tight, and
to be sure that none of the horses were being galled by their
burdens.
We travelled for the most part alone and generally in complete
silence, for I was too far in advance to have any conversation with
my partner.
The trail continued wet, muddy, and full of slippery inclines, but we
camped on a beautiful spot on the edge of a marshy lake two or three
miles in length. As we threw up our tent and started our fire, I
heard two cranes bugling magnificently from across the marsh, and
with my field-glass I could see them striding along in the edge of
the water. The sun was getting well toward the west. All around stood
the dark and mysterious forest, out of which strange noises broke.
In answer to the bugling of the cranes, loons were wildly calling, a
flock of geese, hidden somewhere under the level blaze of the
orange-colored light of the setting sun, were holding clamorous
convention. This is one of the compensating moments of the trail. To
come out of a gloomy and forbidding wood into an open and grassy
bank, to see the sun setting across the marsh behind the most
splendid blue mountains, makes up for many weary hours of toil.
As I lay down to sleep I heard a coyote cry, and the loons answered,
and out of the cold, clear night the splendid voices of the cranes
rang triumphantly. The heavens were made as brass by their superb,
defiant notes.
THE WHOOPING CRANE
At sunset from the shadowed sedge
Of lonely lake, among the reeds,
He lifts his brazen-throated call,
And the listening cat with teeth at edge
With famine hears and heeds.
"_Come one, come all, come all, come all!_"
Is the bird's challenge bravely blown
To every beast the woodlands own.
"_My legs are long, my wings are strong,_
_I wait the answer to my threat._"
Echoing, fearless, triumphant, the cry
Disperses through the world, and yet
Only the clamorous, cloudless sky
And the wooded mountains make reply.
THE LOON
At some far time
This water sprite
A brother of the coyote must have been.
For when the sun is set,
Forth from the failing light
His harsh cries fret
The silence of the night,
And the hid wolf answers with a wailing keen.