Now the Four-way Lodge is opened; now the Hunting Winds are looseNow the smokes of spring go up to clear the brain

Now the young men's hearts are troubled for the whisper of the Trues, Now the Red Gods make their medicine again.

-KIPLING.

THE INDIAN IN HIS SOLITUDE-THE MAGIC POOL.

Painting by N. C. Wyeth.

HERE is a mountain in the northeast end of the Alaskan Range that over one hundred years ago was discovered and named "Bolshaia" by the Russians, that the natives of Cook's Inlet call "Traleika" (both names signifying a mountain of great size), and that since 1895, when W. A. Dickey, a prospector, rafted the Sushitna River and saw it towering above its fellows, has been known as "McKinley." Mt. McKinley lies about two hundred miles from Cook's Inlet, on the edge of America's greatest wilderness. The plateau on which it stands feeds four of Alaska's largest rivers; the Sushitna, the Kuskoquim, the Copper and the Yukon, via the Tanana and Kautishna Rivers. The nearest mountains to the Alaskan Range are the Chugach. Between the two ranges is a great valley one hundred and fifty miles broad, and this wilderness is drained by the Sushitna River and its tributaries.

There are only three practicable ways of reaching the mountain. The easiest route is to follow up the Sushitna River to the Chulitna River in a launch, and up the Chulitna River to the foothills of Mt. McKinley. Several large glaciers flow from McKinley toward the Chulitna River and all of them offer possible roadways to the summit. The second route is a long overland trip from Tyoonok to the Kuskoquim side and thence in a northerly direction along the high benches of the range to Mt. McKinley. The third route is up the Yukon River to the Tanana River, and thence up the Kautishna River with a pack train to the big mountain. All three routes offer many difficulties, and to the mountaineer the problem of reaching the mountain appears to be as great as that of the actual climb.

In mountain climbing the world over the climber usually arrives fresh and unfatigued at the base of the peak he wishes to storm, and as a rule begins his ascent at a high altitude. On Mt. McKinley it is the Copyrighted, 1907, by the OUTING Publishing Company. All rights reserved.