Show the prospector 1 and his burro by will C higgins this is the beauty time of the year said the prospector to his burro and dame nature is outgoing outdoing out doing herself in painting the mountain sides a vivid hue putting a dab of color here and there until every range and peak is aflame with a commingling com mingling of red brown scarlet yellow and pink that defies the brush of the artist to reproduce correctly while the forests and groves of aspen and cottonwood with the rustle and whispering of their falling leaves gives one that feeling of satisfaction and peace that only comes to those who love to be out in the mountains and canyons at this time of the year this period of perfect days and sleep producing nights you say continued the prospector that you are arc rather partial to autumn weather yourself only that the leaves on the ground cover some of the white sage and bunch grass that you are so fond of but that the harvest of berries you are able to assimilate is some compensation dorthis for this disadvantage only if you could have your choice you would like to lay in a supply of provisions for the winter the same as the squirrels and ground hogs are now doing in which event you would be perfectly satisfied with the weather and look forward to a period of perfect enjoyment enjoy meni wilile while you are hived dived up for several months during the season of storm and snow which all goes to show that you are more provident than many prospectors and miners I 1 know of who take no thought of tomorrow and who generally trust to luck rather than preparedness in order to get through a cold and long winter in good shape and this reminds me of an experience I 1 had out in the shimmer lake range a few years ago at the time I 1 was developing a likely looking prospect in peavine leavine canyon and although it was still early in the fall I 1 had put in plentiful supplies of provisions including several big hanis hams a whole raft of sowbelly sow belly and a liberal quantity of coffee sugar molasses and flour As a matter of fact I 1 was well fixed for a snow blockade and had made a nice pen peri f for or your mother who was the very picture of contentment as I 1 had not failed to include several sacks of barley in my store of supplies and then too she would spend the long evenings in my low dugout and we were good company for I 1 could talk to her of home and of the girl with long hair flowing over her shoulders who was only wal wailing ting until spring until I 1 would return to her with a beard on me as long as those adorning ancient patriarchs and a deerskin pouch loaded to overflowing with gold nuggets and dust for your mother was a gloo goo listener and always seemed when the fair sex was discussed however she would get uneasy when I 1 alluded to the old outlaw out cut law burrow with whom she sometimes associated aasc coated and would get restless and somewhat peevish and so I 1 cut out all reference to him as much as possible and so we got along most amicably until along in february evnen the snowbanks completely covered my little shack arid alid were so deep that I 1 had to tunnel through them to get to the little stable I 1 had built for your mother in the mean tims I 1 had been pushing work in my tunnel and had exposed about two feet of ore that was richer than plum pudding from which I 1 had panned out native gold and small nuggets until I 1 had about twenty pounds of the stuff cached under my cot and had already planned in my mind how I 1 would build a small in the spring after I 1 had made a visit to my petticoat and so grind out a small fortune during the spring and summer months we were not at all lonesome however for your mother after each handout of barley would lose herself in deep mediation evidently thinking of the outlaw jack while I 1 had several magazines with me and several back numbers of the salt lake mining review which I 1 read and reread re read from kiver to kiver and as I 1 went to the straw quite early we were able to pass our time away camf comfortably ort ably one cold and blustery day however I 1 noticed that my burro acted a if she was hearing something her long ears would point out in a horizontal direction like an old gossip trying to overhear what two lovers were saying out on a bench around the corner then she would shake her head stamp her front feet impatiently and then listen again it kind of got on my nerves for I 1 knew I 1 was miles from nowhere and the snow was too deep for a visit from mountain lions or panthers and yet although I 1 tried to overcome the inclination cli nation I 1 found myself listening also once I 1 thought I 1 heard a faint shout but nothing more A little later the wind seemed to bring to me the call of a human being in distress but the direction was uncertain although your mother like a bird dog continued to point to the northwest over towards a small side canyon coming down from a high and precipitous cliff at that I 1 decided worked up last I 1 became so although the snow was to investigate the level so taking nearly three feet dep on oil a shovel and axe with r ne me and loading blankets and some grub on your mother I 1 started out and began breaking my way in the direction of the canyon about a quarter of a mile away distant it was mighty hard and tiresome work but as I 1 progressed the shouting became louder and the direction more easily located after toiling on for more than two hours during the last hour of oc which the calls for help had almost entirely ceased your mother all at once seemed determined to break the path herself and in about yards to the left of me she stopped nearly over the prostrate form of a man who had almost completely succumbed from cold hunger and exertion near him was the lifeless body of his partner already cold and stiff by rubbing and after administering a spoonful of old rye to the man who yet had a little life in him I 1 was able to bring him to a condition of semi consciousness and after great effort was able to load him on your mothers back and pack him back to my shack here I 1 made him as comfortable as I 1 could after which I 1 brought in the dead body of his companion it took several days before the rescued man could give a lucid account of how he came to be out in the mountains in such a plight but lie he was finally able to tell me how with his partner he had been working a prospect about five miles distant on the other side of the saddle in the mountains how they had taken in only a small amount of supplies and provisions and how when the snow blockade came they were unable to get away believing that the storm would be of only short duration how it snowed and snowed until they were completely shut in with only a weeks supply of provender on hand while their burro had become lost strayed or stolen and how at last rather than face starvation in their camp they had started out seeking help and assistance the rest you know and I 1 can see you shudder at the fate that might have come to their burro had they been able to find her at the time when famine stalked before them for you know that burro meat is almost as good as roasted turkey when men are perishing of hunger I 1 kept the rescued man until spring and after I 1 had made my proposed visit to the valley the pleasure and satisfaction or which I 1 must not divulge to provance pro fance ears be they large or small lie he stayed with me until I 1 had built my and made my summer clean up 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector the hills are beautiful to look upon at this time of the year but the crimson in the leaves the golden colors in the brush and the falling foliage mean more to the experienced man than just something pretty and beautiful to look at for this adornment of the mountains wi with th all of t the lie colors of the rainbow is also we a warning that one must prepare for winter tf 1 for storm snow and ice if he would escape 1 the sad experience of the pros prospectors I 1 have told you about and there you are and then some t |