In the Alaskan wilderness . e days afforded me small opportunity andmore particularly because the time for makingsuch observations is the winter season. The time was at hand when we must resumeour journey and the first difficulty that nowpresented itself was how we should transport thecollections we had made which were now toolarge to be packed in the canoe. I have alreadymentioned the two river steamers which were nowbeing laid up for the winter. In the spring theywould be going out to the Yukon. We haddecided to leave the bulk of our collection in safekeeping with the missionaries, who were
In the Alaskan wilderness . e days afforded me small opportunity andmore particularly because the time for makingsuch observations is the winter season. The time was at hand when we must resumeour journey and the first difficulty that nowpresented itself was how we should transport thecollections we had made which were now toolarge to be packed in the canoe. I have alreadymentioned the two river steamers which were nowbeing laid up for the winter. In the spring theywould be going out to the Yukon. We haddecided to leave the bulk of our collection in safekeeping with the missionaries, who were kindenough to promise to send them out by one ofthese steamers in the spring. However, some-thing quite unforeseen happened which led to achange of plan. A boat appeared one day coming up stream,driven by a gasoline engine and having on boardthree men; the owner, his mate and his had come from Nome on a trading venturealong the coast and before returning had decidedto run up to the Bethel Mission. They were140. ready to start on the return trip. Here was anopportunity that changed the outlook and madeit possible to reach Nome and connect there withthe steamer for the outside instead of travelingto St. Michael in the canoe four hundred milesalong a stormy coast as we had planned. Yetit took us some time for making our were most reluctant, for one thing, to giveup the plan already formed, which promised expe-riences of a novel and adventurous nature and ofa kind quite different from those afforded bythat part of our journey which we had completed. Our canoe had served us well on our riverjourney and we believed that it would serve usequally well on the salt water. There werechances, to be sure, which we were quite awareof. We felt that we could for the most partkeep close in shore, but we knew that there wouldbe wide bays and stretches of exposed water tocross and we might get caught in such a positionin a storm. Moreover, the season of high windsand equ
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectalaskadescriptionand
