Plymouth High School - Mayflower Yearbook (Plymouth, IN)

Page 21 text:

THE SENIOR ANNUAL and myself dismounted. They unlimbered their guns preparatory to taking a shot when they could get within range. I held John 's horse as well as my own, whale he cautiously crept ahead to 'lllld a convenient place from which to shoot, and Kell stood just in front of me with his gun in readiness and his bridle rein on his arm. John soon rounded a bend in the road and in a 'ew seconds We heard the boom of his gun, but he was unsuccessful. The ducks flew up and came down the stream directly toward us offering a splendid wing shot. Kell could not resist the temptation to fire, although the horses had shown quite a little nervousness at the first shot, so he took two shots bringing down one bird. The ani- mals could not stand for such a bombardment as this, and they im- mediately decided to make a return trip to town. I hung to the two I was holding until they made me step off a hundred yards or more in much less time than ten flat. It occurred to me that per- haps I could manage one with greeater facility, so I discarded John's horse, and after giving all my attention and energy to my own horse I succeeded in stopping him. The two horses which were now loose, were off down the road on a run, but luckily a wood cutter coming up with a wagon headed them off so that they were soon overtaken. After making slight readjustments we were again on our way. Thinking over the escapade since then, I wonder that some of us were not injured, for Lee and his horse were nearly crowded off the road and down a forty foot bank into the creek, and I risked being thrown against a flume-tender's cabin at one side of the road. The Hrst stage of our trip ended when we were about seven miles out from town. Here the road ends and the trail to the sum- mit of the ridge begins, and from this point it was necessary for us to ride in file. I was in the lead, but had no trouble in getting my cayuse to take the trail, for he lowered his head and went at the task with all his might . For a distance of two and a half miles the trail went up on a 20 or 25 per cent grade. On our left the moun- tain rose at a sharp angle, while on the right it dropped steeply for several hundred feet into a thickly wooded canyon. By 9:30 o'clock we reached the summit and a beautiful pano- rama spread before us. The tired beasts came to a stop seeming to feel that they had earned a rest, and we dismounted to enjoy the scene. Directly in front of us the view was unbroken for perhaps twenty miles, and we could plainly see the snow-capped peaks of mountains in the St. Joe country. The valley from which we had ascended lay spread like a map a thousand feet below. We stopped long enough to rest the horses, and again took up the trail which descended into the valley of the North Fork for which we were bound. This trail was nearly as steep as the one on which we came up, and in going down the mountain, it was con- structed as a switch-back, that is, it led to the east for perhaps a mile, and then abruptly changed its direction to the west, and after making these turns four or five times it brought us to the stream. The trail now followed the creek which plunged on its way over rocks and logs, sometimes throwing spray in our faces as we rode near it. For a distance of three miles the grade fell sharply. We then entered a flat which was heavily wooded with immense

Page 20 text:

THE SENIOR ANNUAL 0ver mountain trails in Ibt Zour D'HIenes Travellers and sight-seers, in touring the United States invar- iably visit the Falls of Niagarag they sail upon the silvery Hudson or tramp through the Green mountainsg they see the Natural Bridge and the Mammoth Cave, or gaze in awe from the summit of l ike,s Peak, they are astonished at the immensity of the Grand Canyon, and with their eyes they seek the top of the Royal Gorge from its rugged depths, they wonder why they have stayed away so long from the Yellowstone or the Yosemite Parks, but when tired with all the rush and hurry of seeing sights, they make a pil- grimage to the Coeur d'Alene to find the clean out-of-door life in the mountains. It is then they cannot conceive why such a beau- tiful locality is not better known Prom the French, Coeur d'Alene is translated Heart of the Mountains, and, lying as it does in that part of the Inland Empire called The Switzerland of America, it is truly named. The Coeur d'Alene District derives its name from a range of mountains in northern Idaho ,varying in height from 3000 to 7000 feet, and covering the larger part of Shoshone county. Nowhere will one find a more delightful summer climate with the bluest skies imaginable, bright sunny days, and cool nights. Here one will en- joy to the utmost the exhilarating influence of the pure, invigorat- ing niountain air with the smell of the pines and hemlocks on every breeze, and in no locality can be found so many sparkling moun- tain streams Where trout are as plentiful. XVallaco is the commercial center of the district, and from this point, the start over the mountain trail of our story was made. One beautiful morning in early August we climbed astride our cayuses bound for the north fork of the Shadowy St. Jo River about twenty miles distant. There were four in our party, Lee VV. Park- er, a ,most enthusiastic disciple of Isaac Vtialtou, Fred Kelly Jr., com- monly known as Kell, a healthy out-door lad, John Berg of Ger- iu ,ny, a thorough woodsman who had consented to be our guide. and myself, a neophyte, uninitiated to the ways of the wily trout. Uur saddles were securely packed with blankets, provisions, rods and guns, and as we left the city in the early morning, we present- ed the appearance of a pack train bound for unexplored wilds. The sun was just peeping over the tops of the mountains as We rode up the Placer Creek road, and the cool air made every fibre in our heal- thy bodies tingle with the joy of living. About two miles out of town the road passes the dam where the water supply for the city of Vv'allace is impounded, and as I was riding in the lead, I first discovered four ducks in the stream above the dam. John and Kell saw them almost as quickly, for the ducks fiew up the creek a short distance and again settled to the surface of the water. XVe stopped just at the dam and John, Kell

Page 22 text:

THE SENIOR ANNUAL cedars, many of them being more than six feet in diameter and two hundred feet in height. Our dogs found this flat an ideal place in which to nose around through the brush, and it was not long be- fore Grill, Kell's dog, set up a bark which told us he had discovered a pheasant and had treed it. John soon overtook the dogs and re- turned with two pheasants, and the smile on his German face plainly indicated the joy he felt in having bagged his game. The trail wound among these mighty cedars for about four miles, then over a slight rise, below which stood the cabin on a bluff overlooking the stream, Where we made our camp. It being high noon, we hurriedly unsaddled, fed and watered the horses and ate some sandwiches which John had thoughtfully provided in order to save the time of building a tire and preparing a lunch. With- in an hour Lee and myself were knee-deep in the stream after the trout, and Kell and John had started out with their guns and the dogs. We fished down stream for perhaps a mile and succeeded in landing enough of the speckled beauties for our supper. We reach- ed camp before the other fellows arrived, and set to work cutting fresh hemlock boughs for the bunks, and wood for the fire. The cabin, being well supplied with cooking utensils, we had supper well under way when the boys returned with two more birds. I do not remember having relished any meal as I did that supper in the woods. The trout, having that delicious flavor found only in gamey cold water fish, were attacked with zest by all of us, and the duck which had been secured early in the morning, was fried to a turn by John. We agreed that he should have been a Frenchman in order that we could call him Chef. Supper being over, and our pipes lighted, we sat in front, of the cabin while John furnished a ver-y pleasing entertainment in trying to teach his dog to fetch. It was quite amusing to hear him give the sterotyped commands in his rich German brogue while the poor pup fairly quivered with fright, seeming to think more about the punishment he would receive for not obeying, than he did of the command. However, John persevered and judging from the interest he showed in his work, I felt sure the dog would be able to read and write within a few months. We had anticipated seeing a few bears on our trip, and our conversation drifted to this subject be- fore we turned in for the night. Our cabin was visited by wood rats, as is the case with nearly all cabins in the mountains which are used but at part of the year, and during the night they created some little disturbance by climb- ing over the tinware, doing stunts on our table and occasionally running over the bunk where we were trying to sleep. The first night in the woods is indeed a novel experience. Every sound seems to break the silence like a shot and one is easily awakened by these small noises even though he is exhausted from the day's work. Lee was not feeling very well after having spent the after- noon in the ice cold stream, and had a slight fever when he turned in which made him unusually restless, every sound seeming to awak- en him. I had been asleep for perhaps two hours when I heard Lee shout, Who's there? Is that you John? I immediately found myself sitting up in the bunk and looking toward the open door for