St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-10-27

apex of Bunker Hill monument would
be but little if any higher than the
pile of rocks upon the summit of Mount
AnterO, on which | sat last Thursday
morning when | wrote those few lines
with pencil to you. You have now
an idea of the log-cabin where | was
to commence the ascent of the noun
tain, and the nearness of the stars to
its summit, and you are anxious to
learn how l transferred myself from
one to the other. About noon on the
18th inst, two donkeys and one horse
and one mule were brought to the
front of the cabin by two of Mr.. SHELLS
up the mountain. The dOnkeys are
"Jack" and "SanchO," the horse
Texas" and the mule was unnamed,
but seemed familiar with the epithet of
"old mule" On one donkey was packed
large box of prOvisiOns-bread, but
ter, cold ham, canned peaches and
cherries, coffee, and potatoes, &c.,
and lot of blankets. On the other
donkey was packed a tent, a lot more
blankets, a frying pan, and a coffee
pot, while behind the saddle of the
pony and the mule were strapped our
overcOats, and on donkeys and pony
and mule were tied little tin drinking
cups.
At one p. IN. the procession COM
menced its march, | ton the pOny)
and Mr.. Smell ton the mule) taking the
lead, the dOnkeys following and
the two men, Coston and Bancroft,
bringing up the rear with their long
staffs, useful for walking or for spank
ing the donkeys. We followed the
creek toward the Arkansas IA mile and
IL half, and then turned sharply to the
right and struck into Baldwin's gulch,
where the climbing commenced. Our
trail was alongside boiling mountain
and now far above it, on path so
narrow and steep that it made ones
hair almost curl to look either up or
down now and then we would be
hedged in between two granite walls,
and again for rods the gulch would
widen out and our trail would be in
grove of immense pines and cotton
wood trees, the latter cOlored with the
frosts, the bright colors of the leaves
contrasting finely with the sOmbre
tints of the pines. Along the line of
our march the trees were blazed, and
so the path through the woods could
he kept. Once we forgot to watch the
landmarks, or tree-marks, and were
lost until Mr.. Smell and his mule had
long search for them. At five p. m,
after four-hours' pull, we were at
the camping ground, where the night
was to be spent. 1t was wild place
and III tell you all about it some time
The tent was first pitched, huge fire
then built, the donkeys and pony and
mule tied for the night, and then we
prepared our supper. We We're hun
and butter were good. After supper
our beds were made-a blanket on the
ground to lie on and several blankets
for a covering. For a pillow | was fa-
vored by having bag of oats to snOoze
on. We had a good rest and at five Il.
IN. we were ready for IL wash in brook
near the tent (there was ice on the
edges of the brOOk), the morning bath
was eXhilarating, and you would have
laughed at the red hands | took back
to the tent. Breakfast was next in or
der, and while drinking our coffee, four
deer came to the edge of Il high bluff
overlooking our camp and after look
ing us over for a few minutes turned
on their heels and gracefully scam
pered away into the forest.
AT seven Il. III. we were ready for our
final pull for the summit of AnterO.
The horses (hOrse and mule) could go
IO letl CilOl buO w NC lllV tt lllI
was brought to our tent-door, Il saddle
buckled to him, and | was soon on his
back. From our tent to the top of the
mountain the climb was an uncompro-
missing one-nO easy places, but up,
up, up. In an hour we were at the
snOw-line - above timberline - with
nothing above us, but snow and granite
peaks under us, over us, around us
The donkey could not safely carry me
farther, for if he lost his foothOld and
fell, we should have rolled a thousand
feet before stopping; and so | tied
Sancho to big granite boulder, with
huge snow drifts on either side of it, and
started ahead. The snow was deep
but hard, and in two hours | stood on
one of the highest peaks of the Rocky
mountains, and, picking up a handful
of snow, proposed to Mr.. Smell the
health of the friends at Underclyffe, al
Madison avenue and friends in gen
eral. We drank the toast in snow
water, and then | wrote postal tC
you, and to DR.. Hills (whO | promised
to remember i'll this way), and then
gave half-hour to sightseeing. Ii
years there might not be finer day t.
stand on the summit of Antero, and
you will be surprised when tell you
that there wasn't wind enough blow.
ing to enable us to determine the di
rectiOn of the wind. The atmOspher,
was clear-a few little clouds only il
sight. and with Mr.. SMELLS nnMerfn