Ahh, man, you write the best articles! Yes, that all takes me back to the days when there were great guides all over the beautiful area that is now a park. What a busy time! Thousands of dollars of goods went out to the camps from the trading post where I worked, but it was all necessities, ammo, bug dope, matches, extra socks, rope, canned goods and dry food. It was a time of Nodwells, Bombadiers and swamp-buggies. And they ALL got stuck one time or another. Horses and feet were the only reliable things. 
On another note, remember the place in the book where Castner's men were all worn out, freezing and starved and thought they were going to be killed by Indians? And they crawled along, without any hope, ready to face death when suddenly an Indian walked up to them! They cowered, ready for the worst!! The Ahtna man took hold of the soldier's shoulder, looked him in the eye and said...
"White man plenty hungry, huh?" Then he took them to the village of Salcha and fed them. Great story!