was blowing and snowing up there. We paid off the Indians, and got some
sleighs and sleighed the stuff down the hill. This hill goes down pretty
swift, and then drops at an angle of fifty-five degrees for about forty
feet, and we had to rough-lock our sleighs and let them go. There was an
awful fog, and we could not see where we were going. Some fellows helped
us down with the first load, or there would have been nothing left of
us. When we let a sleigh go from the top it jumps about fifty feet
clear, and comes down in pieces. We loaded up the sleighs with some of
our stuff, about two hundred and twenty-five pounds each, and started
across the lakes. The trail was awful, and we waded through water and
slush two and three feet deep. We got to the mouth of the canyon at
about eight o'clock at night, done out. We left there that night, and
pushed on again until morning. We got to the bottom of an awful hill,
and packed all our stuff from there to the hill above the lake. We had
about two and a half miles over hills, in snow and slush. I carried
about five hundred pounds over that part of the trail. We had to get
dogs to bring the stuff down from the summit to the head of the canyon.

"We worked two days bringing the stuff over from the canyon to the hill
above the lake. Saturday we worked all day packing down the hill to the
lake, and came here on a scow. We were out yesterday morning cutting
down trees to build a boat. The timber is small, and I don't think we
can get more than four-inch stuff. It rained all afternoon, and we
couldn't do anything. There are about fifty boats of all sorts on Lake
Bennet, which is about half a mile from here. I have long rubber boots
up to the hips, and I did not have them on coming from the summit down,
but I have worn them ever since.

"We met Barwell and Lewis, of Ottawa, to-day. They were out looking for
knees for their boats. They left Ottawa six weeks ago, and have not got