THE WILDERNESS
“
It’s cold up here, just the same,” said Jesse, when he rolled out of his blanket early on the following morning, “and the woods and mountains make it dark, too, on ahead there. Somehow the trees don’t look just the same to me, Uncle Dick.”
“They’re not the same,” said Uncle Dick, “and I am glad you are so observing. From here on the trees’ll get bigger and bigger. They always are, on the Pacific side of the Rocky Mountains. The east side is far more dry and barren. When you get down into the Columbia valley or the Fraser country you’ll see Douglas firs bigger than you ever thought a tree could grow.”
“Yes, and devil’s-club, too,” said Rob. “I stepped on one just a little while ago, and it flew up and hit me on the knee.”
Uncle Dick laughed. “You’ll see devil’s-club aplenty before you get done with this trip,” said he. “In fact, I will say for all this upper country, it doesn’t seem to have been laid out for comfort in traveling. The lower Rockies, in our country, say in Wyoming and Colorado, are the best outdoor countries in the world. It’s a little wet and soft up here sometimes, although, fortunately, we’ve had rather good weather.
“From now on,” he continued, “you’ll see a change in the vegetation. You can still see the fireweed—it seems a universal plant all the way from the Saskatchewan to the Peace River and west even to this prairie here. That and the Indian paint—that red flower which you all remember—is common over all the north country. Then there is a sort of black birch which grows far up to the north, and we have had our friends the willows and the poplars quite a while. Now we’ll go downhill into the land of big trees and devil’s-club.”
“So that’s the last of the Yellowhead Pass for this trip,” said Rob, turning back, as within the hour after they had arisen they were in saddle once more for the west-bound trail.
“Yes,” said Uncle Dick, “one of the most mysterious of all the passes. I often wonder myself just what time it was that old Jasper Hawse first came through here.”
“Was it really named after him, and who was he?” inquired John.