, 1925-02-08
Wood, Water and Grass
Joys and Thrills Of Pack Train Trip Taken by Troop No. 2
of Boy Scouts Described

so in case the Others did get. out,
we would have n saddle horse to
round them up with.
During the night a band Of range
horses came down by the camp and
broke down our corral so that some
OF u horses got out with them but
we found them with out much trou-
BILE the next morning.
August 20. we made n short hike
OF about six miles to Davids mill.
The road led through timber all the
way and the scenery was beautiful.
This. country was swept by r forest
tire a few years ago and while the
vegetation has grown up again there
is still very little game. and there
are few fish in the streams here.
On the way UP we thought we
had a sick horse but found Out after.
wards he was only Directing 10 a
rather tight cinch.
David's mill is a very p%icturesque
place. on Box Elder creek. The
mountains here had escaped the fire
and arc heavily timbered. This tim.
Der was the home of many birds.
which we had not seen before en-.
tering the mountains. Beside the
more common chickodees and juncos
there were fine siskins. nuthatches,
Rocky Mountain creepers and king.
lets.
The mill has been abandoned for
several years but there are several
cabins In fairly good repair. the
| Ia TnA4t NJ fhana ka1 - =
hunks built in 1t. and also contained
a range and table so we used 1t as
u kitchen after cleaning 1t up and
most of the boys slept in II, some
OF them choosing some Of the smaller
cabins. One hardy lad. (Jourgensenl
made a lean to OF edgings and slabs
and spent the night outside.
We made good use of the stove
and had quite a sumptuous dinner OF
beans. ham, ttew. hot biscuit and
dried apples.
1t tasted a great deal better thar
It sounds.
That evening It threatened to rain
so we got everything under cover. It
only s~prinkled a little and was tbs
only rain we had during the entire
trip. We were very glad of this be
cause we had decided tents woulc
be too heavy TO take and so depend
ed on the tarpoulins for shelter lr
case of wet weather.
We spent one day at David's mill
some boys fished. going about 81,
miles TO Little Medicine and came ii
with a nice string OF fish. Severa.
OF the smaller boys found an OLD
lumber truck on Its steel rails and
1t furnished them with a good dea,
OF amusement. Yashio found the
squirrels furnished good hunting.
Tho horses had a good pasture
here and were kept in by a rather
delapidated fence. During the early
part of the night rome Of them got
out and came down near the cabins,
1t was a cold night below freezing
and the horse wranglers did not en-,
JOY leaving their warm beds so they
made short work OF getting the
horses back to their pasture.
The pack rats had evidently mott
fled all their relatives Of our arrival
and they Kept up a lively running
through the cabins all night but did
not carry anything away.
The camp was the scene Of great
activity the next morning as we pre-
pared to break camp. The cooks bak-
ed a lot Of biscuits as they did not
expect to find another oven. and
cooked what game we had so we
could pack it more easily.
Tho horse wranglers brought up
the horses and in a shert time they
were saddled and packed and our
train was under way. The first part
OF this nine mile hike was through
some as beautiful country as l have
ever seen, There were large grassy
parks surrounded by tall evergreens
and in all directions we seemed to be
shut in by rock mountain peaks.
Just before leaving these parks we
stopped at a spring in a park be.
low a deserted cabin for a few min.
utes rest, as not sure how
far II was to next water.
The next few miles brought us out
on the edge Of the Laramie plains.
which seemed 10 US an endless sea OF
sage brush. To the south we could
see the tops OF the Snowy Range
mountains about SIS miles away and
still farther to tho west, Elk Noun
tain stood u clearly against the
horizon.
Near Little Medicine we passed a
sheep herder with n band OF sheep.
lie was the second person outside
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