CHAPTER XX 



MINING CAMPS AND DYNAMITE 1 



It was the dream of my life to live in the wilds, 

 and even during my greatest activity in business 

 I was looking forward to a time when my taste 

 could be gratified. The opportunity came in the 

 seventies, for while on a fishing trip I found a 

 valley in the Catskills so surrounded by moun- 

 tains and shut in by trees that it promised all 

 the seclusion I could ask. I secured the needed 

 acreage for a song and inviting some friends to 

 join me we set up our lodge in the wilderness. 



From the first I spent all the time I could 

 spare at the cabin and when burdens seemed 

 greater than I could bear and there was no sleep 

 for me in the city I had only to start for the 

 woods and as the nearest station to the cabin was 



1 Some of the experiences found in this chapter have been nar- 

 rated by the author in "Dick Among the Miners" of the Boy Ex- 

 plorers' series. 



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