became hardened. Denver
at that time was a hotbed of gambling, with murder and lynch law a
secondary pastime. Not being deterred by our experience, we continued
our sightseeing, ending up at the only theatre in the city, afterwards
called the "Old Languish."

JOINING THE CATTLE TRAIN AGAIN

The following afternoon our train reached town and we joined it during
the evening to be ready for an early start for Golden City, the
entrance to the mountains leading to Black Hawk and Central City where
our freight was consigned. The most hazardous part of our trip was
before us, one that to this day makes me shiver when I think of it.
The first team entered the canyon at 11 A. M. in a blinding snowstorm.
The road for nearly the entire distance was hewn from solid rock out
of the side of steep mountains, gradually ascending to a great height,
then descending to what seemed a bottomless canyon. We finally arrived
at Guy Hill, the most dangerous part of the route. It took us one
entire day to reach its pinnacle, where we camped for the night. The
road at the top was cut through solid rock at a height of twenty feet,
seven feet in width and led to a steep precipice. It then made a sharp
turn to the right and, in a serpent shape drive, continued to the
canyon below. At this point it was said to be fifteen hundred feet
straight down, and a number of outfits had previously gone over its
rocky edge and been hurled to destruction by a slight error of
judgment on the part of the driver.

The cold and snow, together with summer clothing, made our suffering
indescribable. The following morning I started in the lead of the
train with a nine thousand pound boiler, with the rear wheels securely
locked, and twenty yoke of oxen to haul it to the edge of the
precipice. Then discarding all but the wheelers and leaders, we began
the descent. There was not room enough on either side for the driver
to walk. He generally rode the off ox, but I took my position on the
rear of the wagon tongue and found it decidedly the safest place in
case of an accident. By night all wagons were safely in the canyon
below. The road for nearly the entire distance presented the same
dangers, taking ten days to reach our destination from Denver, the
entire trip occupying eighty days.

A THRILLING COACH RIDE

On receiving our pay, which was our promised salary less twenty
dollars for the Hostetter's Bitters, my chum and myself decided to go
direct to Denver, our