(})ioneer0 



tain, I paused on a crag to watch the changing 

 morning light down Wind River Canon. While 

 thus engaged, Flat-top and a party of colonists 

 came along a game trail within a few yards of 

 me, evidently bound for the lake, which was only 

 a short distance away. I silently followed them. 

 This was my introduction to Flat-top. 



On the shore these seven adventurers paused 

 for a moment to behold the scene, or, possibly, to 

 dream of empire ; then they waddled out into the 

 water and made a circuit of the lake. Probably 

 Flat-top had been here before as an explorer. 

 Within two hours after their arrival these colon- 

 ists began building for a permanent settlement. 



It was late to begin winter preparation. The 

 clean, white aspens had shed their golden leaves 

 and stood waiting to welcome the snows. This 

 lateness may account for the makeshift of a hut 

 which the colonists constructed. This was built 

 against the bank with only one edge in the water ; 

 the entrance to it was a twelve-foot tunnel that 

 ended in the lake-bottom where the water was 

 two feet deep. 



The beaver were collecting green aspen and 



183 



