PLAYING GIPSY IN COLORADO 



BY HALE COOK 



URING the summer 

 months Colorado is alive 

 £s£ with tourists , hundreds 

 of them having their 

 teams, outing wagons, 

 tents and all of the 

 usual trappings for 

 camping out. In this 

 way they can go where they please, stay 

 as long as they like without being be- 



conspicuous place, "Free Camp House," 

 where if one has to stop over night, or a few 

 days to rest the horses, they can go in and 

 take possession without putting up their 

 tents — but, of course, they are expected to 

 buy their feed, milk, butter and eggs at the 

 ranch house. 



We were out one summer in the south- 

 western part of Colorado, and were having 

 "the time of our life" in real earnest, had 



THE RANCHERS WERE CUTTING AND STACKING THEIR ALFALFA 



holden to any one excepting the moun- 

 taineer who has his sign up, "No Tres- 

 passing on These Premises," or "No 

 Shooting Allowed." As a rule, however, 

 these signs mean very little if you want 

 to buy your provisions of the owner. This 

 mode of travel is so common that at many 

 of the isolated ranches they have a building 

 (usually built of logs) with a sign on it in a 



gone over the great Uncompahgre plateau 

 down into the valley of the same name, on 

 our way to Grand Junction, and found that 

 our horses were needing a rest, so when we 

 came to one of these "free camp houses" 

 we drove in the enclosure, after finding what 

 the accommodations were, and pitched our 

 tents. 



We were not quite prepared to go into a 



