ALASKA CAMPFIRE
|i REFLECTIONS
♦ BY ADDISON M. POWELL “
I In Outdoor Life "
i..
We had been traveling all day
above timber in Alaska, over rolling
bunch-grass-covered hills, and now
wc were in a high grass through
which once ran a river about half
a mile wide. The old banks were
standing and the gravel and cobble
stones indicated great age. Some of
these were of the hardest kind orig
inally—green stone diorite and gran
ite. They were worn smooth but the
rusty red streaks indicated iron scams
and now lines of clevage, as many of
these stones could be crushed by
hand. Centuries had come and gone
—hundreds of them—since this great
river had coursed from the Rocky
mountains across the Yukon, Tan
ana and sources of the now Copper
and Shusitna rivers to the sea by way
of Cook’s Inlet. We were beginning
to descend and could see the tops of
the spruce trees down to the east
ward. This was a pleasant greeting,
as the sky was approaching a dark
and sullen mood, and occassionally a
raindrop would viciously strike our
faces.
We had been first to take horses
fTom the Copper river basin to that
of the Shusitna, and now, in 1901,
were returning. “We” means three—
Jim McCarthy, Colonel Launtz and
myself. It was Jim McCarthy for
whom the town of McCarthy was
afterwards named, because he once
camped there. He was not tall, but
weighed 220 pounds, with no fat, and
his flesh was iron.
The colonel was tall and lank, long
and slender, but contrary to the def
inition of Shakespeare he did not
think so deeply as to cause him to be
a disagreeable companion. While he
was truthful regarding facts, he could
draw on an immense store of imagina
tion with which to embellish compari
sons, and this greatly amused Mac,
who declared the title of colonel had
been justifiedly won on a battlefield
of prevarication.
They led the way towards the pros
pective camp, each riding his saddle
horse and pack train following, while
1 acted as rear guard. Our meat diet
bad been of ptarmigan and trout for a
week, and I was eagerly watching for
a change. Mac and the colonel were
arguing so loudly over one of the col
onel’s statements that I feared they
would disturb all game within miles.
Looking back and up to the left, I
saw a fine bull caribou and a 2-year
old heifer that were intently watch
ing my animated but disapearing
companions. I quickly tied my horse
to a willow to continue to attract
their attention, while I, on my hands
and knees, attempted to ‘“Indian” up
nearer to them. I finally arrived at
a large tussock of grass where I '
could advance no further unobserved. '
I estimated the distance to the budd
to be about 200 yards. I was then
using H. V. ammunition in a nickel 1
steel barrel and cylinder, and was <
probably the only man using that 1
kind of a revolver. I knew it would r
be effective work at that distance if 1
I could properly place a shot. s
! iVlTlP" f 1111 IpTHrfh Qtlrl mofinn* + h n f
barrel on the bunch, I drew just above a
the shoulder tips of the bull and fired. a
He walked a few. steps, Iowe'red his a
head and, turning around a few times, a
laid down. I feared that I had paunch
ed him. Within a minute he arose r
and turned broadside for another shot ^
that was placed as near to the first 11
as I could possibly aim, and again he
laid down. I soon decided, by the
swaying of his horns that we would il
have caribou meat for supper. u
Not being positive, I flagged the a
heifer with a red handkerchief, and C
she circled three times, each time ap- f
proac hing nearer, and stopped just
156 steps from me. A shot caused I
her to run about forty yards and to c
turn heels up. Talk about accidental f
■“pop” shots! The twc shots at the r
bull were about three inches apart, '
low down behind the fore leg and one t
had passed through the tip of the £
heart. £
My companions, hearing the shoot- 1
ing, returned and soon had two pack t
horses loaded with as good meat as t
man ever tasted.
Again we advanced, and when 1
down near the bottom of the old river t
channel and near timber, I paused 3
and tried to contemplate the story <
that time and nature was revealing 1
to my eyes— of a once tropical clime,
then gradually changed to a Polar ’
region—a glacial period—and now re- 1
turning to an inhabitable condition.
Mac called back, “Oh, come on;
there is nothing here to look at!” and
the colonel added that when the meat
was cooled sufficiently that supper
would be served in the Alaska dining
—.I
room at twilight. It was only 3 p. m.
then, and that meant supper would be
served at 8.
The colonel was one of the best
camp cooks I ever met. He insisted
on doing the cooking, which was
agreeable to both Mac and myself.
The colonel had cooked in camp, on
cookstoves, small ranges, large ranges
and cattle ranges.
I reined up my horse and bade him
to follow while I prospected this old
river gravel. It was decomposing on
the surface, but below it proved to be
cemented conglomerate; and, although
I found placer gold, it could not be
m
worked profitably. The evening was -
m
nearing the long twilight of the north,
and, looking at my watch, I found that
I had spent hours at prospecting and
my thoughtful contemplation of the
great transformation that had requir
ed unknown centuries in the making.
At the east, down below where I
stood, ran a river that had its source
in a glacier that now hung in a canon
of the Alaska Range, about fifteen
miles to the north; and just south of
this pass and about 1,500 feet lower
it emptied into Gulkana Lake, which
was about a mile wide and twelve
• •« * i
Illiieo JLUllg.
Possibly the North Pole was at one
time south of Alaska, and then it was
when the northern states wrere cover
ed with glaciers. Gradually—so grad
ually that w^e have no epoch from
wiiich to figure—it swmng by this
region and to the north, leaving gla
ciers to cut, grind and change the
contours, and thus a basin wras
scooped out for a lake, and the canon
in front of me was ground out 1,500
feet deep, and finally a small piece
of the glacier wras left to tell the
tale—left away up yonder on the
mountainside.
How long O, how long, wras this a
w'arm climate before the glaciers
came? How long, O Time, did the gla
ciers cover the land? How long did
it require to cut out this deep canon I
from a plateau that once was compar- P
atively level, and the valley to a great
river? And how long did it require
for the timber to grow and cover up
the side of a new mountain? Cen
turies are but seconds of time when
compared with that required for this
wonderful transformation. Of course
we worship the great outdoors—wTe of
the wild places—because of the stories
they tell. I had become so interested
that I awakened as from a dream to
realize that night was approaching !
md the rain wras beating upon me.
I descended to camp, wrhere it wras j
w arm and dry beneath a large over
hanging spruce. The colonel w^as try- \
ng to wager that Mac would eat half
)f the small caribou before morning,
md Mac was refusing to accept the
tvaeer.
After a hearty supper I crawled in- Ip
o my sleeping bag and the colonel
rawled into his mosquito-proof tent,
shall not describe ft, as Chauncey
^homas did that in the January num
er of Outdoor Life. The entrace was
elf-closing with an elastic G string,
lie colonel called it—and it surely was
musing to see the colonel, when
bout half through the hole, on hands
nd knees, and trying to get inside
nd pull the hole in after him.
When I was near asleep, 1 heard the
attle of a frying pan and, raising, saw
lac near the fire. I asked him what
e was going to do and he answered,
Cook myself another supper.”
Within a week after killing the car
>ou in the pass, we had “pot-latcired”
lost of the meat to needy prospectors
nd were camped on the bank of the _
opper river, with only enough of it ^
ir night and morning.
After supper dishes were put away,
lit my pipe and, on the high bank
f the stream, I sat down on a large
lat rock to enjoy the murmur of the
iver calling to the sea, and also to
/atch the rays of the setting sun as
hey kissed the tips of Mt. Sanford
oodnight. They linger there, as Mt.
lanford stands 16,600 feet above sea
svel. I announced that I would use
he hour of balmy twilight in medita
ive thought.
“Thought be hanged! ” . exclaimed *="
McCarthy. “I never allow my thoughts F5
o get away from my stomach. While
rou are thinking, just remember the
lelicious stew we just had and the
irospect of steak for breakfast!”
The colonel was preparing for his
isual encounter with his mosquito
ent humming:
“Oh, she almost drove me dippy,
When way down in Mississippi,
And I’m going back to see her once
again.”
I never did hear the rest of that
(Continued on P&g® Emm) Lb
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illSllMMiisyMBsiBNiiiMflflliliHt^BiiffliinniniiiiiLTiiiiiioHiiiiirdiJiiJillllilililiiiiiiiyoiiiiiioiMiiGiiiiiniiniiiDinfliiiiiiiiiiiTnininniinMinniTTTiMnTin^ i
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