Page:The frozen North; an account of Arctic exploration for use in schools (IA frozennorthaccou00hort).pdf/113

 and provisions were placed upon it. Then began the longest raft journey ever made for purposes of exploration.

Lieutenant Schwatka and his companions propelled the raft, by means of rowing and sculling, through Lake Lindeman into another lake called Bennett lake. On the mountains around Bennett lake were beautiful blue glaciers, and among them shone peaks and ridges of a reddish color. Schwatka concluded that the red color was due to the presence of iron in the soil, and he accordingly named the range the Iron-capped mountains.

The explorers now traveled through a chain of lakes connected by streams of water. The last lake led them into the Yukon river, which flowed rapidly, so that for a while the raft made good time. On July 1, the party came in sight of the upper end of the Grand Cañon of the