Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-04-04
THE ENGINEERS STORY OF A
COOKING EXPERIMENT.

pericnCcs repeated with bOaSttul lnllec-
ton the question put to him. "A man
who has rouglTed 1t as long as ] have,
he continued. would he pretty well ac-
quainted with the pangs of hunger If he
didn't know something about cooking.
Yes. / can cook. have had to resort
to numberless expedients, but the strong
est test of my ingenuity occurred the first
year after l went West
shortly after graduating from the CO.
lumbia School of Mines | secured po-
siticn as engineer with the Big Five Min
ing company at Camp Frances in the old
historic Ward district, about Is miles
from the foot of Longs peak. Like
everybody else out there | had my own
particular hole in the ground, and spent
all my spare time doing the necessary
chaffeo work. | had not been there long
before il was decided to install new
electric drill plant IN the tunnel, and for
some time / WAS obliged to go on with
each of the three shifts to see that every
thing was started right. Consequently
my own prospect was neglected.
zone Sunday afternoon ! went up just
to look II over and see If could find any
colors on my tiny dump. Instead found
that a deer had fallen into the hole and
died. From the decomposed condition Of
the body It had evidently been there sew
era weeks. After the second shirt on
the following day 1 loaded up as much
lime as / could carry and started to climb
the mountain toward my claim. intending
to use the lime as a deodorizer against
the time ] should be able to resume work
Within a few rods of the tunnel mouth
turbulent mountain stream dashes over
the rocks making as much noise as an
ordinary railway train had crossed
the bridge over the stream and climbed
to the top of a steep cliff on the opposite
bank. when J slipped and fell, and the
weight of the bag Of lime dragged me
over the edge OF a steep bank. | dimly
remember clutching at a clump of grease
wood bushes as fell. and knew nothing
more until 1t began to grow dark.
when f.regained consciousness / found
myself very weak from loss of blood.
had cut a deep cash in my leg by striking
on a sharp-edged rock in falling and had
sprained both my ankles but no bones
were broken. Instinctively l looked for
the crossword bushes that had broken
my fall but to my dismay I found they
had been torn out by the roots. on three
sides of me rose sheer. straight walls Of
rock to a height of probably 10 feet while
on the fourth roared the mountain
stream. The camp was but a few rods
distant but the deafcning noise made by
the stream precluded all possibility of my
shouts being heard.
Il don't care to harrow up young feel
ings by describing the night | put
through but I believed that daylight
would solve the difficulty. for. surely, |
thought | would be able to signal the
miners as they passed on the opposite
bank on their way to the tunnel. I'm
q CINE my CONSERVATION on rousing my
self at the first peep of dawn to find the
tunnel machine house presenting its broad,
windowless back on the shore opposite.
was hidden from tho camp as effectually
as nugget In an undiscovered pocket
just of the vein"
whats all that got to do with cook
ing?' cut in an impatient, listener NOV
ing up.
TN coming to that" was the reply.
Rather a slim outlook. though with
nothing to cook and nothing to cook with.
My whole stock in trade was a bag of
lime and an empty dinner pail. That To-
foot wall was as formidable in my weak
ened condition as old Longs peak itself
when in climbing fettle / gathered my
wits together in a grand final effort.
With the least bit OF leverage the amount
of mental energy eNerted would have
swept mountains of difficulties from the
human pathway. but | was literally up
against II. l leaned back against the
rocky wall and waited, allowing my hope
less gaze to travel over the mountain
robed in their rich cloak of pines. ! had
swept the range 10 the snowy, majestic
crown of the peak and back again to the
narrow confines of my prison house when
tiously slipping along the top of the bank
above me. 1t was ordinary barnyard
hen. ! forgot 10 say there was one lone
cabin on that side of the stream, belong
ing TO the Widow Deveny, the camp
washer woman. and this was probably
one of the widows chattels.
Down fluttered the hen to little pro-
jecting rock and disappeared beneath a
ledge not three feet above me. ! dragged
myself to the spot and found feather
lined nest containing Il eggs. But my
find did not appear to alleviate my con-
dtion. for | would as soon have thought
Of eating the hen herself raw as the raw
eggs. II was like a thirsty Kentucky
colonel finding a bubbling spring.
Il had another spell of hard thinking
My eye fell on the bag of lime and a
happy idea came to me. l poured some
of the lime into a cup-shaped hole in the
rock and. crawling down to the edge of
the stream. filled the pail with water and
dropped some of the eggs into IL.
buried the pail in the lime. after closing
1t carefully. and made another painful
trip to the stream this time filling my hat
with water to pour over the lime. A
fiat rock served as cover to my rude
kettle l sat back and awaited results.
Soon the lime. in the process of Stacking
began to boil up and over the sides of the
rocks. The boiling lasted five of six
minutes | took out the pail and found
the eggs cooked exactly to suit me-
II stayed there three days, and every
morning the hen laid an egg and cook
ed II as I had the others In the morn
ing of the fourth day tousled red head
thrust itself over the top of the bank
and a shrill Shoe! rose above the noise
of the cataract. The hen left her nest
with startled flutter and the highpitch-
ed voice continued: so that's where
we've hiding yer nest you disreputable
birrud.
at was the Widow Deveny, who had
followed the hen to her stolen nest
When her eyes fell upon me she raised
her rough red arms aloft 'Howly
Mither" she cried. Here We are right
in the midst iv us, with the whole camp
ascourin' the mountains fur yez tootin'
their horns like mad
''rhe widow disappeared and present
~ five shrill blasts of the big mine en-
CINE whistle spelled the joyful word
found and in very short time
l reposed on the Widows best bed,
while the whole camp revolved about