INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR XVII. 



his literary work. A brief outline of the life thus 

 comprehended may fitly be included here. He was 

 born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1849. 

 At an early age he removed, with his parents, to 

 Sheffield, Bureau County, Illinois. When about 

 fifteen years of age, through his acquaintance with a 

 telegraph operator in whose office the bright lad was a 

 welcome visitor, he acquired a knowledge of the art 

 of telegraphing, and soon became an expert and effi- 

 cient operator. Those were the days of < sound ' 

 telegraphy; and Mr. Ensign attained such skill that in 

 a short time he was sent to Davenport, Iowa, where 

 he was the receiver of press reports for the Western 

 Union Telegraph Company. Soon he was transferred 

 to Colorado, and had a varied experience in Denver 

 and other places, where he acquired a considerable 

 knowledge of frontier life, and of the mountains, some 

 of which appears in the present volume. 



Mr. Ensign had been reared under the influence 

 of religion, being a member of the Congregational 

 Church ; and when about twenty years of age he left 

 Denver and entered Phillips Academy in Massachu- 

 setts, intending to study for the ministry. His health 

 or finances failing, he soon left school and went to 

 Chicago, where he accepted a business position with 

 the American Bridge Company. During the great 



