the black-headed jay (Cyanocitta stelleri annectens) and the Whiskey Jack (Perisoreus canadensis capitalis).
The hanging valley of the Cougar has still another magnet. From its upper end, a mere scramble will bring the student to the ice of these small glaciers where he may study at ease their structure and action, looking into miniature crevasses and learning how moraines of rock-detritus are made by the downward flow of the ice.
At the site of the Caves, Cougar Valley turns from a northeasterly direction and falls sharply 2,000 feet from Lookout Point to the railway tank at its mouth, a distance of about two miles. This Lower Valley which is V-shaped has been carved out by water erosion. Except its lower part adjacent to the railway, its sides are timbered in patches only, a rank growth of alders, bracken and coarse grass replacing the ancient forest swept away by avalanches. Where the railway joins the Illecillewaet, the typical Selkirk forest grows—Douglas fir. hemlock, cedar, and white pine. Through the lower half of the Lower Valley, the stream flows in a narrow canyon.
The Approach to the Caves. (Going from Glacier House via the Illecillewaet-Cougar Trail.)—About 1⅓ miles from the mouth of Cougar Valley there is a place in the main stream where water is welling up from the ground greatly increasing its volume. This is supposed to be the exit of the underground flow from the Caves. A third of a mile further on, there issues from two lateral cracks in the rock across the brook from the trail, a chill sharp current of air. The place is named the Wind Crack. It is the first intimation on the trail, of the Caves.
As we continue upward, the picturesque Goat Falls break over a cliff and disappear in the ground 60 feet below. (On the map it is marked Entrance No. 4. ) Here the trail swings to the left and climbs some 200 feet up a narrow gully where the hillsides come close together. It is the junction of the Lower and Upper Valleys. Directly above on the right is Point Lookout commanding a view of the whole Lower Valley, of the Illecillewaet Glacier, and the peaks and névés to the south. Immediately beyond Point Lookout is "Entrance No. 3," the first opening reached by trail from Glacier House and leading in pitch darkness with a sheer drop of 120 feet to the "Pit." The little draw which the trail follows is now cut off by the "Gorge," a deep open gash in the valley through which Cougar Brook flows. Therefore the trail turns to the left and soon readies the visitors' camp ground where are the cabins. Across a small ravine is the cabin occupied by Deutschman, caretaker and guide.
Formation and structure: Subterranean waterways other than medicinal mineral springs are rarely found either in the Rockies or Selkirks. During fifteen years of topographical surveying in both Ranges, Mr. Wheeler met but three: the stream forming the source of the Amiskwi Falls near the head of Araiskwi Valley west of Emerald Lake, Crows Nest River near the summit of Crows Nest Pass, and the underground river of these Caves of Cheops.
The occurrence of limestone is rare in the Selkirks which consist almost entirely of archaean rock concerning whose origin there is considerable difference of opinion. The phenomenon of these caverns is due to a deposit of crystalline limestone. Specimens of the stone
