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Show 202 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. months. Those that went out hunting invariably got lost and starved to death. "When the winter broke up everybody that could get away, went. " I returned to California Gulch, suffering greatly on the way from hunger and cold, for moccasins and a blanket were about all the clothing I had. " Arriving in .sight of the cabin of my old partner, I called to him to bring me a hat and a pair of boots, I had a blanket, and I wanted to make a respectable re-entrance into the camp. " Refreshed by my adventure I resumed mining in the old place, with renewed vigor and determination. " I can tell a story that will overtop that," said the Hon. Charlie Hall, " one in which the harassing predicament of starvation in the fastnesses of the mountains is calculated to pull the quills of the ' fretful porcupine' clear out by the roots. " In the winter of '61 I was attacked with the San Juan fever, and three of us strapped our provisions and blankets on our backs and started out to capture bushels of hidden gold. Our objective point was the present site of Ouray, and the distance being comparatively short on an air line, we laid in a small supply of rations, which were exhausted after a few days out, and our luxuries during the remainder of the time consisted of a buffalo robe, boots, leather pants and ants. We first ate the buffalo robe, singing the hair to a powder, which we ate, but when we came to masticate the skin, we found it as tough as a door mat. That lasted a day or so, and we then commenced on our boots. We went for the stew made of them with appetites that knew no limits. My leather |
