TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 23 



Our entire trip was one of hardship, danger and priva- 

 tion. Our bedding became wet and our nights were often 

 spent shivering with the cold. Often our attention was 

 called to the bodies of men killed by Indians. They were 

 those of hunters and trappers who had lost their lives in this 

 huntsman's paradise, and no one took the trouble to bury 

 them. The remnants of burned wagons, pack saddles and 

 camp kettles were to be seen at almost every crossing. 



When we reached Deadwood, we secured shelter at fifty 

 cents each in a small stable. We slept there rather comfort- 

 ably. On the following morning we went to the postoffice 

 and took our positions behind a line of men half-a-mile long, 

 who were waiting for mail, and in our turn at the window 

 we received our first letters from home. After a few days 

 in Deadwood, we went to False Bottom and started mining, 

 after providing a grubstake including sugar at one dollar 

 per pound, evaporated potatoes at one dollar per pound, ba- 

 con at one dollar per pound and flour at fifty dollars per fifty 

 pounds. 



While the boys were getting the camp started, tents 

 erected and the cooking utensils ready, I shouldered my rifle 

 and started for the woods. A fine rain was falling. I went 

 to the southern ridge, started in my hunt down among dead 

 timber, where after about a mile's travel I came to a blacktail 

 sign. While I was carefully scanning every tree and bush I 

 saw a large pair of ears rise from a bed of moss under a 

 large pine tree. I could not see the body to which they be- 

 longed, but I thought that at one dollar per pound they rep- 

 resented sufficient value to bring me one hundred dollars. I 

 aimed at the neck beneath and fired. 



Instantly a beautiful doe started down the ridge at a 

 terriffic speed. I threw in another shell as quickly as possi- 

 ble, and as she bounded away I shot her in the back. She 



