As far as I can learn, only one white man has ever penetrated to the end of the West Branch, and this was Jean Habel, a German explorer, who visited it in the summer of 1901. He did not then recognize the superb pyramid of faultless outline which stands guard at the extreme southern limit of the valley as Mt. Columbia, and called it "Gamma." He afterwards published a short article in "Appalachia" with a fine reproduction of Mt. Columbia, but before he could do more, or his work be better known, the pen was laid aside forever; and it was with a feeling of sincere sadness that we passed his long-deserted camps, and realized so vividly the feelings which must have thrilled him as he saw the rich scenic treasures the mountains were unfolding for the first time to human eyes.
Next to being asked if we were not "afraid" in that lonely wilderness, the most common question is: "Did you go where no person had ever been before?" An Indian after all is a "person," and to find a spot where an Indian has not been in that great hunting ground, which has doubtless been hunted over from time immemorial by the plains tribes, would seem an absolute impossibility. The caribou, goat and sheep yet wander in these lonely fastnesses, and a few Indians still come to the haunts of their forefathers; but in the further valleys the teepee-poles are fallen and decayed, and thus the story of the passing of the red man is simply and sadly told. So to that question I can only reply: We found one section, and but one, where it seemed as if not even an Indian's foot had trodden. This was on the north shore of the Athabasca River after the four
