lowers, many of which I had never seen before, grow
out of the tundra. I have gathered as many as ten different species
within a quarter of a mile of our camp. In places blue-berries grew
thick, and salmon-berries were numerous.

Once in a while a letter of comparatively ancient date, passed on from
Nome to some traveler, would reach us--a great treat indeed. Toward the
end of August we learned the result of the Yale-Harvard race, which had
been rowed the end of June. Miners would come around and ask for the
loan of a paper or novel--any old thing would do.

Soon after we had become settled at Council, with intermittent fair
weather, it rained almost daily, the rain coming up and clearing off
suddenly; and one soon grew accustomed to the peculiarities of the
climate. It was a great relief to have the nights begin to darken. After
the middle of August they became quite dark, and, at the same time, we
not infrequently found in the morning a layer of thin ice in the buckets
of water.

On August 25 T---- left us, having received bad news from home; and
September 1, to the regret of all, the military departed, as the arrival
of the commissioner for the Council City district was daily expected,
and presumably there would be no further need of the soldiers. A
petition, addressed to the general commanding, seeking the retention of
the military throughout the winter, was gotten up and freely signed, but
fear of the friction which, under such circumstances, is likely to exist
between the civil and military authorities, rendered it of no avail.
About September 1, a heavy storm with a driving rain set in, which
continued with no moderation until the 8th of the month. Dams were
washed away, and mining operations ceased. It seemed at times impossible
that the tents could stand up against the wind, or that the canvas could
longer keep out the heavy rain. The "boulevards" of Council were in a
very sorry condition. It was very dismal comfort those days. The Neukluk
had become a young Mississippi, and the bar of the stream was now
entirely covered. The wind blew furiously up the stream; and it was
almost an unbelievable sight to behold one day a freighter sailing
slowly and surely, impelled alone by the favoring wind, _up_ the stream
and over that riffle which hitherto had been the heartbreaker.

In view of this storm and the early approaching winter, the mining
season seemed to have ended, and we decided to quit for Nome and home on