Jason hits a bottleneck just three miles out of Skagway at the river crossing; all stampeders must transfer supplies from wagons to horses. Jason is empathetic toward the horses; many are sick and weak after their steamer journey and are subjected to mistreatment from inexperienced handlers. Jason offers his horse-wrangling services to two city men, Robinson and Bailey. They pay Jason his requested $10 a day and provide his meals.

In the following days, progress on the trail, clogged with stampeders, animals, and outfits, comes to repeated standstills. Worse for Jason is seeing countless dead horses along the path and the way men abuse their animals when they cannot contain their frustration and impatience. So many horses lie dead in the adjacent ravine that the pass gains the name Dead Horse Trail. In despair, many people retreat to Skagway. When Bailey and Robinson realize that they covered only 14 miles in six days, they too give up and go home. With $60 in hand, Jason tries to go around those with outfits, but immediately a man threatens to shoot him for cutting the line.

Jason learns from a returning packer that his brothers arrived in Lake Bennett four days before.