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THE BEAR 
391 
he received high wages (120 dollars monthly, in 
addition to his food, and a horse to ride), he con¬ 
sidered that he was quite the equal of his employer. 
Although my other men received only half these 
wages, they were more useful, and after this 
dismissal we were far more comfortable. 
It was a strange study of the Far West in these 
outlandish and utterly uninhabited districts. When 
looking down from the summit of the mountains, 
facing north, we were positively certain that for 
more than 100 miles in a direct line there was not 
a human habitation, and the nearest point of 
embryo civilisation was the Government Park on 
the Yellowstone river, at least 150 miles distant. 
In our rear we were 80 miles from the abandoned 
station of Powder River, with only two ranches 
in the interval. It may be readily imagined that 
the laws of civilised communities were difficult to 
administer in such a wilderness. 
The nearest railway station was “ Rock Creek,” 
about 240 miles, upon the Union Pacific, from 
whence we had originally started; that point is 
about 7000 feet above the sea-level. A curious 
contrivance, slung upon leather straps instead of 
springs, represents a coach, which, drawn by four 
horses, plies to Fort Fetterman, 90 miles distant. 
During this prairie journey the horses are only 
changed twice. 
There are no dwellings to be seen throughout 
the undulating mass of wild grass ; this possesses 
extraordinary properties for fattening cattle, and 
