Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

190 HISTORY OF THE BANKbranch at the outset showed timidity, or lacked vision andcourage, it might have been a failure or at best a draw.From outside testimony it is evident that the pioneers onthe bank's staff fitted easily into the community and that eachman played a part in contributing to the welfare of the branch.At first the officers of the bank dressed as did the majority ofthe citizens of Dawson. Under the early conditions this roughgarb was as suited to the office as elsewhere, and not untilmuch later days did normal customs prevail in this respect.The management and the other senior officers were accustomedto visit the miners and the various creeks, and on their returnwould make notes regarding the claims they had seen, especiallythose in the success of which the bank had some direct interest.The enlargement of the bank's clientele was not neglectedduring these expeditions, and they were generally found enjoyable,although during the first year a man had to bephysically "fit" to travel with dogs. In summer-time asaddle horse was more pleasant and expeditious. Later on,good trails were built, and stages ran all season. Sometimesthe traveller was caught by bad weather on the trail andexperienced considerable discomfort before he could reachshelter. If his dog team met another on the narrow trail andthe two teams fought until they got off the trail into the deepsnow, the driver had often to hammer the fight out of themwith whip or club and then probably to take off his mittensto disentangle the harness. This would result when thethermometer was very low in making his hands so numbthat he could hardly get his mittens on again, and in chillinghim to the point where the only thing to do was to run untilhe got warm again, or reached a cabin or road-house. Theair was crisp, dry and invigorating, and the average winterweather was delightfully bracing. A temperature of twentyto thirty degrees below zero was comfortable for travellingwith dogs,1but sometimes it would drop to sixty below andon rare occasions even lower.lSee plate S3, facing page 150.