20 THE O. & O. SEMI-ANNUAL. 
I said, ‘we will never reach that nest.” But some one had once 
achieved the feat by securing the eggs from the nest. We must 
go on by all means, clambering over rocks, up and down. We 
seated ourselves to rest. In the meantime the eagle had flown 
from the nest and was circling far up in the blue sky. Having 
reached the narrow shelf or ledge on which the nest was located, 
my companion left me to finish the task, if it should ever be fin- 
ished. I crept on all fours along that ledge, 300 feet from the 
bottom, till I came to a place too narrow for me. The nest was 
directly above. The sticks which had dropped from age and de- 
cay lay scattered before me, yet I could go no further and gave it 
up as Jost. This eyrie was beyond the reach of shot from either 
above or below, the top being so sharp and cragged that no man 
could stand there to lower a rope. 
It has often been said that whenever obtainable or in fact in any 
mountainous country that the Golden Eagle always selects for a 
nesting site some shelving rock on the face of a high rock or cliff. 
True; but this rule must not stand as one to be relied upon. All 
of the eagle nests which I have seen were built in just such out- 
of-way places, out of the reach of man, on cliffs of rock, with the 
exception of one. This one particular nest is built in the forks 
of an aspen tree, ina gulch down the side of Independence Mt., 
North Park. I happened there on the 2d day of December, 1888. 
An elevation of nearly 10,000 feet at that time of the year made 
everything have the appearance of winter. A storm had just 
been prevailing, the ground was covered with snow, and the huge 
nest, 40 feet up in the forks of the aspen tree was quite a conspic- 
uous object, so much so, that when I made inquiries at the ranch 
below, into the history of the nest, I was told that a pair of Black 
(Golden) Eagles had brought forth their young in that nest, un- 
molested, for many years past. 
This mountain carries quite a record. Many years before 
stock raising and cattle kings commanded the mountain and sur- 
rounding country, a party of miners, seeking for wealth from the 
bosom of the earth, found the mountain rich in gold, and some 
excellent placer diggings might be founded. With hope and skill 
a few log cabins were put together and sluices made, preparatory 
to treating the ground that bore such rich indications. They had 
scarcely commenced their work when they weie swept down 
