l as in life. These trappers are
accustomed to exaggerate. I remember hearing a very serious account from
one of them of a vast mountain of quartz so transparent that he could
see mules feeding on the other side. There is also a story of a trapper
who was lost in the fastnesses of the mountains years ago, and wandered
for many days among streams whose bottoms were pebbled with gold. It is
the miner's romance to repeat these fables of the Wind River Mountains,
and to look forward to the day when the Indians shall be forced to yield
them to his enterprise.

We arrived at Virginia at the end of October, and the commencement of
the long mountain winter. The snows were soon blown in deep drifts over
the hills, and the roads became almost impassable. A few hardy
prospecters braved them in the search for quartz lodes, but many
perished, and others were brought back to the city with frozen limbs.
The mines lay idle, and the business of the city, dependent upon them
for support, was completely stagnant. It was humanity living a squirrel
life among its little garners of roots and nuts. But as usual, the
reason of humanity fell far behind the instinct of the squirrel. Before
spring came, the supply of flour at Virginia failed, and the most
hideous of all calamities was threatened,--a famine. The range on the
Salt Lake road lay utterly impassable under more than fifteen feet of
snow. No mails had arrived for three months. The fear of famine soon
became a panic, and flour speedily rose from twenty dollars per sack of
one hundred pounds to one hundred and ten dollars in gold. A mob was
organized by the drones, who would rather steal than work; and the
miners were wrought upon by statements that a few speculators held an
abundance of flour, and were extorting money from the necessities of the
people. The Robespierres of the new reform drew the miners into passing
a resolution to place all the flour in Virginia in the hands of a
committee, with authority to distribute it among the most needy, at a
fair and reasonable compensation, payable to the owner. A riot followed,
and the flour-merchants quietly awaited the mob behind barricades of
their own flour. The County Sheriff stood at the front of these with
cocked revolver, and threatened to kill the first who advanced. The
thieves knew that he did not threaten idly, and, though a hundred were
ready to follow, not one was bold enough to lead. The riot failed for
want of a courageous leade