CHAPTER VI. "On the over-worked soil Of this planet, enjoyment is sharpened by toil; Our map. First climbs.-Packing.-View from arête of Mount Sir Donald. Of the peaks encircling and within sight of Glacier House, some had names. These soon became familiar to us, but of what lay beyond the ridges forming the sky-line, no one could give us the faintest idea. Mr. Hume, the assistant manager of Glacier House, had accompanied some gentlemen during the winter, on a snow-shoe expedition to the head of the Asulkan valley, and obtained a view of the ranges beyond, but his ideas of the topography were not very clear. Few people, accustomed to visit Switzerland, where accurate maps are found ready to hand, by which they can unravel the maze of ranges and valleys seen from a mountain top, can have any con ception of the difficulties of forming a definite picture of a rugged country which has never been mapped out, where one's outlook is closed in by higher mountains, and where but little disconnected bits of valley are visible. The riddle we had undertaken to solve was the structure of that section of country lying immediately to the south of the Canadian Pacific railway track and inclosed by the highest peaks of the Selkirks. During the first couple of weeks' work, nothing seemed to develop clearly. Then the scene began to take shape, and when the time came for us to leave the mountains, we found it hard to recall those first feelings of bewilderment, so familiar had the mountains, glaciers and valleys become. In undertaking any topographical survey, the first thing to decide is,-On what scale shall we make our map? For many reasons we came to the conclusion that four inches to the mile would be sufficiently large on which to put down all the details of importance. The next step is to measure a line which shall form a base for our first triangle. If a base-line of one mile is measured, the picture of that on the map is a line of four inches, and thus the scale of the map is fixed; all other distances being in equal proportion. In great trigonometrical surveys, such as that of Great Britain and Ireland; the measurement of the baseline is of such importance that it is done with microscopic accuracy. In our case such minute accuracy VI.] SURVEYING DIFFICULTIES. 73 would have been impossible, so we were content with a measurement made with our steel wire one-eighth of a mile long. One engineer said to me, "But surely with such a measurement you must allow for the expansion and contraction of the wire with varying temperature." All I can say is that I made no such allowance. The temperature of the day when I measured the wire and of those on which I used it, did not differ much over 10°, certainly not 20°, and if there is no greater inaccuracy in our location of peaks than the error arising from the expansion and contraction of our wire I am satisfied. A much more fruitful source of error arises from the difficulty of always being certain that you are observing the same particular knob, on a mountain summit, when seen from different points of view. This is particularly the case when the peak occupies a plane much above the point of observation. In a mountain survey therefore the points fixed from the highest elevations are the most reliable. When breakfast was disposed of on July 18th, we packed the plane table on our shoulders and set off for the opposite side of the valley; the top of the snow sheds there, being the only level place where it seemed possible to measure a straight line of over a hundred yards in length. There was even here a slight gradient (which was unfortunate), but as no better spot could be found, we measured 660 yards and set up a pole, with flags at either end. The flag at No. 2 station was a piece of newspaper, and as it fluttered from its staff for over a week, some idea may be formed of the great calmness which prevails in these mountain valleys. From points at either end of our base-line we fixed a third station, at the opposite side of the loop made by the railway, and took, on the plane table, bearings of all the peaks in view, made profile sketches and photographed them, assigning them numbers for future identification. To accomplish all this took the greater part of the day, and as the sun was shining with intense heat and mosquitoes were biting like fury, we were not sorry when it was completed. The cascade which forms such a feature in the view from Glacier House is no small source of difficulty to the railway people, as it objects to be controlled in any way. A bridge has been built for it to go under, but with the true spirit of freedom it uses the bridge only occasionally, and just then was with much hilarity dashing right down on the railway and knocking away all foundation from the track. By balancing ourselves carefully on the rails we crossed it without much difficulty; and H. lay down with his chest on the rail to regale himself with a drink. Suddenly, to my horror, a freight train, coming down the gradient, swept round the curve. Men stood on the roof of every car screwing down the brakes. The whistle was evidently blowing, but the cascade drowned VI.] A NARROW ESCAPE. 75 all other sound. I shouted to H. "Here's the train." He took no notice ! There was no time to speak twice; but at the very last instant he perceived the danger and rolled himself aside just as the train roared past. After this we were careful not to lie down with our heads on the main track again. Having completed our preliminary observations, the next object was to reach some of the higher points we had observed, and so extend our survey. The peak separating the great glacier from the Asulkan valley seemed the most central, so next morning, July 19th, we started for our first climb, carrying the plane table and a half plate camera. A short distance from the inn, and just beyond where the forest had been demolished by the great avalanche, we left the path and struck straight up the mountain side through the heavy timber. After the inaction of the voyage, and the long railway journey, we were of course in no kind of training, so the steep ascent had to be taken slowly; and as our shoulders ached under the packs, we were compelled to rest pretty often; in spite of the mosquitoes, who seized on these moments for most furious onslaughts. Fallen timber lay in every stage of decay, covered partially with rhododendron and blueberry bushes. The whole ascent was one continuous scramble, the bushes giving us the means of hauling ourselves |