Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-02-06
4 HARD WINTER.

6ermon AZ ~ y. IN, sunday SCHOOL AZ i p, N
A HARD WINTER.
Months Reneath the Avalanche In.
the Gunnis0n Country-A Good
story Well Told.
A party OF miner who are spending
the winter at Denver were in the Arcade
last night, says the Denver News OF q
recent date, discussing the general topics
Of the. day, the weather forming tbs
principal theme. Lige Hopper, u 59er,
remembered nm incident in his career as
stage driver, trapper aud prospector that
he wanted to relate. Lign's imagination
is assstrong as his muscle, and he lhaA
more than his average share OF the latter.
After he and his companions had inn
kibed at his expense, and he had taken o
chewof tobac,os he commenced:
twelve years this coming July Jim
Greene, ST Jordan, Bill Brothers, Chris
Gritzmacher and myself concluded to GO
down in the Gunnison country on . PROS
pecting tour. We had rounded up in
Pueblo. Some Of EN- had been to Mex.
leo and ali OF US had been somewhere.
None 81. us was broke, and we found by
Eoin' in cahoots we could git quite q
respectable outfit, and we QUILTED.
cit was long lords the latter end of
July, il / don't disramember, that we
struck the forks ofaHlate river and Pow
erty gulch, where Crested Butte o ia,
and pitched our camp. We p~rospeeted
Them two gnlches all summer, and dug
many Is hole in the ground without
striking anything we thought was worth
while goin' crazy over, before snow be-
gun to fly. Along in October
We had q teech OF a blizzard,
which drove US into winter
quarters. We didn't want to take the
back trail, for We was satisfied thar was
plenty Of ora in that country if we
could only strike il. me-
Eve calculated o. IN early spring, and
as We had plenty Of grub we concluded
to- stick the winter out. We went down
Poverty gnlch about six miles and
found 8 place where by driving d shaft
aboutgforty feet in q Roundabout way
we could come out right in the center
Of four big pillars OF rock that formed q
native chimbly.
ut wasn't very hard work to drift in.
You see We didn't have to go through
any rock. Mater had build the house
for ua. Two big pieces of fat rock had
tallenlfrom the top OF tho mou atain and
had struck edgeways about twenty feet
apart, making q natural hallway: then
two other big pieces OF rock had fallen
hatwise on the other two pieces making
y natural root. In the course of time
dirt had washed down and drifted in,
filling upsthe room, and all we had 10 dc
Wac to. shovel out the dirt. which we did
10 a few days. We then got our things
together, and5moyed EN- to our new
quarters.
The next month was spent by some of
us in getting in frewood ana by the
others in hunting. We got in q terrible
lot Of wood, and the boys killed any
mount OF bear, mountain sheep, elk and
deer. The % was pretty deep before
we got everything hxed, but we all had
Hnowsaskoss,sand travelled asegna 4tha
country for q month longer, picking np
stray game occasionally, and amusing
ourselves as best va could.
"On the fret OF January thar come np
. dreadful snow etGrm that lasted for
Gree days. Our .Gugout was on the side
Of the gufch, about hfty feet from the
bottom, and when 1t atopped showing
the floor of orr dugont vas lust on .
level With the snow clear across the
gulch. Well, WI dida't venture out on
gu snow shoes for several days, waitin'
for the snow to kinder settle, but in q
few days We was going up and down the
gulcL AS II we was on solid ground.
"Ihe nightof January 10th, while we
Was playin' freeze ont, along about mid.
n ght We heard the infernalist rumblln'
D tRlins: Won ever heard TT iarfod fov