Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-08-14
COVER HI RANGE"
-. y. Basket aud Family a Mile
and II Half Up in the
Mountains of
Colorado.
10 J. y w,Ht,pr~, = A., Mexico. Mo

!" J. y. "i3''9i>, = a., Mexico, Mo
TOWNSVILLE, Colo, Aug. 10
DEAR VIRGIL: aul away up here
a mile and a half in the a,r-not
exactly luxuriating, but certainly
avoiding the heat and not troubled
with the drouth. 1t has rained
most of the days since we cam.
here-or nights ratller-and the
thermometer has never reached
500, and now, as l write you, the
wind will scarcely let my paper
stay still and the mercury is only
|o0. 1t is a quiet mining nook on
the Colorado Midland R. R., fifty
miles beyond Leadvllle, "Over the
Range A large trout stream
/, e., large stream runs i'll front 80
feet away from our front tent flap,
and the "everlasting hills shut us
in pretty we'll. We cannot see the
snow from where We are, but COW
cred by a comfort, two blankets,
my overcoat and rubber water
proof, | realize about 3 O'Clock
every morning that it is not far
away, perhaps on my tent roof.
My ! but we nearly freeze at night.
Our bed is made of spruce boughs,
and is as hard as mother earth's
bosom Itself. l overheard two
miners in conversation awhile ago.
They were sitting on a log in a
Sunday chat. ''Bill, what are you
going to do tomorrow" Same as
to-day" said No. 2. "Uh, or re-
piled No. l. 81 must have a softer
job than this; l must have a bed
Tomorrow" l thought if you had
my bel you would wish for your
log again. But l dug holes in it to
fit the ranges and foot hills of my
body (when I am in the mountains
| talk mountain) and so l lie bet
ter now.
When l first came here | was
not well at all. Water did not
agree with me; food did not digest;
my heart fluttered like a lovers
and | was generally all gone. But
| have my mountain "Iegs' on me
now, as a sailor might say, and l
have just put on my mountain ap-
petite. 1t is very becoming, l
should say and seems to have come
to stay. Jim Henderson, Howard
and | took a long walk yesterday
away up the creek and came back
across the mountains;shot grouse,
a squirrel, caught two trout, bought
a loaf Of bread and two pounds OF
beef steak, and came home feeling
that the hunt had been a success.
Oh, that appetite Sardlnes and
hot light-bread-a mass l could nc
more digest in Mexico than
could sole leather, and yet l slept
until the sun shone on my tent and
never saw a goblin or my grand
father.
Poor Mrs. Basket; she cooks.
washes dishes and makes up the
beds and says its very cool and
pleasant up here, ETC., ETC., bu'
our appetites are laboriously good
Jim, Cecil and Howard spend most
of the time that they IRE not get
ting wood or eating chip monkey
ing. They have gone wild ovel
chipmunks-drowning out, trap
ping, shooting, every device they
can get up. They have bad lucl
with them. One gnawed out. An
other died of hemorrhage and sew
eral were drowned before getting to
the surface.
Somehow, we have not caugh'
on to the trout fishing yet-or thu
trout have not caught on-or rathe.
-confound it, they have "caugh
on" 1 don't see anything wrong
with our fishing. 1t looks thor
oughly orthodox to me, but neithe
with fly or grass hopper can w
hook them. l did strike one fin
one, but like the little girls, h
"unoit and div" l was once
fine trout catcher, and with a com
panion caught over a thousand il
six weeks. Guess l shall have t
live on my past reputation, but
is hard fare for my present appe
tite. Others catch them, and it /
exasperating to have kind Capt
Noble, on whose land we camp
y come around and tell me that il
front of my tent there lies a tw
) pound trout, "but some of the boy
have scratched him, so he won
RISE" Then the Capt. goes fit
yards above my tent and catche
enough for supper in a few mir
< utes, goes home to his store an
: sells me a ham. If he don't chang
his programme he'll get hurt.
This a wild place up here. Their
y is not a wagon in camp, nor
wagon road in less than six mile
9 of here. Men come to the store
for their supplies, riding compls
t Gently down the railroad track
Little side trails stripe the meur
r tains and shafts and tunnels every
. where pierce the hills. But 500
this will be a village. A hotel