Today Aki and I check out improvements on the Treadwell Ditch Trail, which follows the wood lined ditch that once carried water ten miles from Fish Creek to the mill works at the Treadwell mine site. Chinese immigrants dug the ditch over 100 years ago, cutting down huge, old growth spruce trees and busting a path through their roots. We don’t hear grunts or Chinese curses today, just the crunch of my boots on gravel and, when Aki spots another dog on the trail, her excited barks.