The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-11-23

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est blue Of q clear spring sky; beloIe Us
white waves of mountains in How al
! ter blow. crest following crest We look
ed ~ al nothing IL was across that stu
/ pendous sea We looked unt.4 we met Jht
western sun fun in the face. where his
gold rim bit into The white OF the last
crest in view.
To our nostrns sparl1led the crystal ali
of those pure heights keen as sword
che gulped the air with mouth agape
and watched the mountain surf rolling
away through lids half shut. until il
seemed in very truth that 1t was the man
himself who was mighty among those
mighty bulks. There is the intoxicauon
Of the mountains as there Is OF wine
ones blood swelied fuller in the veins:
one felt strangely immortal. oddly more
than human. The idea of mere man came
10 the mind as something foreign. apart.
Small, crawling men Of pavements and
of prairies-down. miserably feebly down
or the squat fiat earth-What kinship in
deed can you have with us-we who are
OF the air ana sky and the sun?
And q "cinch we found it when we
Greek after the most dangerous Of abrupt
descents. eW made camp amid six-Inch
bunch grass and mountain flowers. The
rext day we found. too. that we were in
a full summer of birds and butterflies,
that grouse and deer We're plentiful. while
two miles away trout fllsd the river
The horses, however. were in sad plight
after their -arsh days and foodless nights.
They were so weak and shaken that it
would have been mere idiocy to attempt
the submits and the snow and the hun
ser stil in front without letting them
Tecuperate That wild fever Of the gold
and the stampede famed in us; we were
rabid TO buffet UPWARDS at any hazard.
bat before the horses condition We were
powerless. The only course possible was
TO go quietly into camp. This We did.
and were forced TO stay there for a
whole week iong
BY the 18th We found the horses to be
themselves again. even the old gray mare
being fat and frislly. On that day we once
more took the trail. We worked UP the
east bank of the Middle Fork a few
miles toward the main trail, over an
we came 10 a torrent. boiling its tribu-
tary waters into the river. frenzied with
vast masses of melted snow during the
last week Camus Creek. in its abnormal
state could not be bridged, nor forded,
nor swum. As for the river, it could be
crossed only by the Loon Creek bridge.
on the main trail for which we were
heading.
We went into camp. threshed out the
position, and decided there was one thing
only to be done. At o'clock the next
morning we began to DO II. on the 18th of
May we arrived back at Forney, back
over the summit Of the Middle Fork. back
over the SUBMITS Of the Yellow Jacket.
back after packing TO no purpose a ton
and a half of stuff and half a ton of man
for eighty miles of mountains.
With the two days rest the horses had
been quite ready for Wooducz Summit
the next day. and climbed that irksome
pass so well that we had gone into camp
that night only a mile or two from Loon
Creek Bridge. Then across our old friend
the Middle Fork. and so on and on. over
Whites Pass. down the dangerous Canon
Creek trail. until at last We made camp
at Marble Greek. up which fifteen miles
lay Thunder Mountain
a change had come over our nightly
camps since leaving Forney this last
time. There were long faces and less
talk. And the reason was sufficient Not
q day passed without meeting anywhere
from six 10 fifteen outfits coming away
from Thunder Mountain as hard as they
could drive. When we had met the first
few we thought they were merely some
weak hearts turning back from harsh
trip But now. ia spite of ourselves. we
were compelled to Wo1Cer whether we
were not meeting the ruins of the Thun-
der Mountain boom.
Men with buros, men with horses, men
wiIn cayuses INDIAN ponies, men with
mules. kept trampling past US day and
night an hungry. disguised. al abusive.
There amt color in the d. country
'E.veryone's leavin' She's no good
You can't ser no claims. the whole
cheese was staked for ten miles last
winter" There amt no business nor
aothiu else She's only hot-air prop
lsition Idaho's d dead one. If they
had got this boom COINS in Colorado
she'd have stuck There amt three
hundred men stayin In the whole coun-
Try ''Nothin dom. It's busted boom.
Turn back" 81 we heard each day.
1--WE q bunch were a lot Of suckers.
M risht said ola Bin On the last night.
but wen see tho thing through any
lcw It's more than some or these here
knockers have done. Tor lots Of them are
'eins turned back without ever goin' in.'
on we spattered. A sign scrawIed I'M
IDLY on a bit or box ard nailed crooked
3 To a tree trunk. presently told Us that
To were q mile from Marble City. Suu
M. through THE drizz,e and The drab
st last we saw ahead Of us The dirty
white Of tents. "H-e-y. blatch Hey
latch, Hiso there, Hike" We drove /
he horses harder
And there before Us was Marble cry,
3efore us was The n Dorado of countless (
.reaus. Before us WIS the Pactoius 10 4
which men and horses had fought ,heir I
ray through the hardship and danger q I
ID these weary trails from cast and .
vest and north and south.
Forty-one poor ter1s were huddled To- +
ether between the lln mass az Thunder (
5ountain TO the west and another sum +
1it TO the east. Tire top of each lost in /
he gray Of the skg the erar ~ the dead 4
orests the eray II the rain. From The +
edraEEled tents came some TWO dozen
gen out listlcssly into the Stop 10 see Us
rrive
ne looked SLOWLY n the men. and al
he tents. and at car soSgy packs. Not
ne OF us spoke while we iismonrted.
~ felt there was nothing much 10 De
aid. Each Of US was coafessine che
nal knowledge that we were surely