Western wilds

Western wilds and the men who redeem them. An authentic narrative, embracing an account of seven years travel and adventure in the far West; wild life in Arizona; perils of the plains; life in the canon and death on the desert ... adventures among the red - Page 335

330 WESTERN WILDS. for Camp Floyd presented extraordinary facilities for the ruin of char-acter, and Willie was at that period which most often decides one's des-tiny for time perhaps for eternity. With the army, or following close after it, came an array of camp- followers outnumbering the soldiers three to one. Government contracts were given out with a lavish hand, and money that was easily got was lavishly spent. Among the superior s, there was high-toned robbery of the Government and the Indians ; among the in-feriors, gambling and quarreling, and every- where rioting and fatal " accidents." The revolver was in fr e q u e n t use ; renegade young Mormons crowd-ed the camp, and the scum of the mountains made it their rendez-vous. For two years o u r hero was swept along by the tide. He was by turns teamster, com-missary clerk, and merchant's clerk; but still preserved enough of nature's nobility to make him, in his quiet moments, loathe the life around him, and long for a purer atmosphere. Gentile merchants had opened stores in the city, and. with a sudden impulse he set out one morning to ride there and seek a position. But the life he had lately led had not been SCENES ON THE COLORADO PLATEAU.