MINING CAMPS AND DYNAMITE 397 



our cabin Mt. Eolus lifted its cap of snow 2400 

 feet above our own elevation of 11,500, if my 

 triangulation was correct. Two scientists failed 

 in their attempt to climb it and after they had 

 given it up Tom's comment to me was : 



"Scientific fellers can't climb, it takes a miner 

 boy for that. I'll take you to the top to-morrow 

 if you'll go with me and I'll carry your camera 

 for you, too." 



"But, Tom, to-morrow will be Sunday." 



"Ain't no Sunday above timber line! Will 

 you go?" 



Tom once asked for a vacation of three days 

 and after he had gone I learned why he wanted 

 it. A friend of his was advertised to run a race 

 in Silverton. It was a hundred-yard dash, best 

 two in three, and Tom's friend told him that the 

 other fellow had been paid to throw it. But it 

 was Tom's friend who threw it and lost in two 

 straight heats. Tom walked home, leaving in 

 Silverton not only his own money but that of the 

 whole mining camp. 



Mining, like other forms of gambling, dangles 



