ain work.

For trail equipment we had one eight-by-ten "silk" tent, used for two
previous winters; three small circular tents of the same material, made
in Fairbanks, for the high work; a Yukon stove and the usual complement
of pots and pans and dishes, including two admirable large aluminum pots
for melting snow, used a number of years with great satisfaction. A
"primus" stove, borrowed from the _Pelican's_ galley, was taken along
for the high work. The bedding was mainly of down quilts, which are
superseding fur robes and blankets for winter use because of their
lightness and warmth and the small compass into which they may be
compressed. Two pairs of camel's-hair blankets and one sleeping-bag
lined with down and camel's-hair cloth were taken, and Karstens brought
a great wolf-robe, weighing twenty-five pounds, of which we were glad
enough later on.

[Illustration: Striking across from the Tanana to the Kantishna.]

[Sidenote: Start]

Another team was obtained at the mission, and Mr. R. G. Tatum and the
two boys, Johnny and Esaias, joined the company, which, thus increased
to six persons, two sleds, and fourteen dogs, set out from Nenana across
country to the Kantishna on St. Patrick's day.

Travelling was over the beaten trail to the Kantishna gold camp, one of
the smallest of Alaskan camps, supporting about thirty men. In 1906
there was a wild stampede to this region, and two or three thousand
people went in, chiefly from the Fairbanks district. Town after town was
built--Diamond City, Glacier City, Bearpaw City, Roosevelt, McKinley
City--all with elaborate saloons and gambling-places, one, at least,
equipped with electric lights. But next summer the boom burst and all
the thousands streamed out. Gold there was and is yet, but in small
quantities only. The "cities" are mere collections of tumble-down huts
amongst which the moose roam at will. Interior Alaska has many such
abandoned "cities." The few men now in the district have placer claims
that yield a "grub-stake" as a sure thing every summer, and spend their
winters chiefly in prospecting for quartz. At Diamond City, on the
Bearpaw, lay our cache of grub, and that place, some ninety miles from
Nenana and fifty miles from the base of Denali, was our present
objective point. It was bright, clear weather and the trail was good.
For thirty miles our way lay across the wide flats of the Tanana Valley,
and this stage brought us to the banks of the Nenana River. A