148 Reminiscences of 



to the valley below; and we amused ourselves when 

 making the ascent by prying over rocks, which dis- 

 lodged others, and at times made avalanches of large 

 proportions, and when we reached the sharp, ridgy 

 extending top it became a question which side we 

 would create an avalanche upon from the tottering 

 rocks thus easily dislodged — if we would give them 

 to the Atlantic or Pacific side. 



This mountain, so precipitous and having no tim- 

 ber, being at its base above the altitude where it would 

 grow, had a good many small areas grassed over, and 

 all these spaces indicated the visitations of bighorn 

 mountain goats, which were plentiful compared with 

 other localities we had visited. Inhabiting this 

 mountain through the summer they would descend 

 habitually to the small fertile valleys below for grazing, 

 but at the least alarm would break for the heights, and 

 could be watched going along the most precipitous 

 passages with a celerity that was astonishing. We 

 killed eight during our stay, and found them fairly good 

 eating, excepting one or two old stagers which were 

 rather strong for our taste. 



We got nearly all of the bighorns on the mountain- 

 side, by spotting and cautiously approaching the small 

 grassy areas when the wind was blowing strong from 

 the opposite direction of approach, and frequently the 

 odor arising from their resting-place would be the first 

 intimation we would have of their near vicinity. One 

 of the gulch miners at McNulty, some miles below us, 

 had a tame one, captured when a kid, which was al- 

 lowed to run about without its attempting to go away, 

 and was rather offensively tame in its close hanging on. 



