THE NORTHWEST
There where the livid tundras keep their tryst with the tranquil snows;
There where the silences are spawned, and the light of hell-fire flows
Into the bowl of the midnight sky, violet, amber, and rose.
There where the rapids churn and roar, and the ice-floes bellowing run;
Where the tortured, twisted rivers of blood rush to the setting sun.
—Robert W. Service.
CHAPTER ONE
ALASKA AND CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK