Knowing it was useless for me to again bring up argument as to where he lost his course on top of the range, I did tell him that I thought we were now between seven and eight miles from the top of the range and if we want to get our bearings right again we must locate the waterfall we found this morning.  So we continued on in silence.  I took the lead because I could see Bill was getting worried and also tired and hungry and walking slower every hour.  Being heavier than me, he was a slower walker.  At last I heard a sound like distant thunder miles away.  We came to the foot of the gulch where the waterfalls were located, then we turned our faces east.  We kept on struggling through the snow.

After walking several miles Bill took the lead again.  I noticed that he turned off at a right angle from the course that I thought we should take.  It was still snowing heavily.  I called to him.  He was going off the course we should go.  He said, "No, that he was on the right course for Dunn's Tent."  I told him we were not and that I would not follow him going that way.  Right there and then we separated.  Every once in a while I could hear his voice calling and I would answer back.  We got further apart until we could hear no sound from each other.  It was now near midnight and each one of us for himself.

This year, 1879, May 13^th, brings back memories of hard struggles for mind and body.  Let me describe my feelings on this date.  When I told my partner we were lost his answer was, "Yes."  He said it in such a manner that it left no hope that we could find our way out.  For myself, I was not sure.  We could hear water falling.  My partner was silent and gloomy and it was making its impression on me.  The surroundings we were in added to our feelings and I wondered if this was my end and would I ever see my wife and children again.

Such thoughts would come over me as we walked silently along and listened for the waterfalls.  If the worst came I would keep struggling on as long as my strength held out.  When the location was found a feeling of relief came, although we would have to travel some distance to be safe.  When Bill and myself separated, I kept on a course that only my sense of direction gave me.  A thought came to mind that I might come to a place where trees had been recently cut down.  Snow was still falling, now more slowly.  Suddenly I thought I saw a flash of light ahead of me.  I stood still and waited, thinking I might see it again, but did not.  I kept on my course and saw a light again.  I kept on a direct line to it.  I noticed it was a candle light in a newly built log cabin.  The snow ceased, making it easier for me to find my way.  I approached the cabin, found the door and knocked.  A voice said, "Hello! Who's there?" I answered that I was lost in the snow storm and wanted to know my way to Dunn's Tent.  I did not expect him to open the door and let me in and he did not.  He told me that trees were newly barked 5 feet above around every 60 feet back of the cabin and the distance to Dunn's Tent was three and one-half miles.  For more than twenty hours I had very hard walking without a rest.  I was getting tired, but a few miles more did not discourage me because I now felt safe.  I followed the blazed marks on trees and at last reached Dunn's Tent.

I called them up and told them who I was and that I was hungry and tired.  They let me in and warmed some coffee and biscuits.  I soon felt strong again.  I told them that my partner, Bill JAMES and myself, separated and that we could not agree about the direction we should take.  I told them that the distance from here to where we separated would be, according to my guess, about eight miles.  They said that if he should keep on the same course he was on when he left you, he would most likely hit the new stage road being cut through the snow between Leadville and here.  They thought it best to wait eight or ten hours and should he not turn up by that time we would try and get a party and trace him up.

The following afternoon my partner, JAMES, came struggling into Dunn's Tent, a hungry and tired man.  He was surprised to find me there.  He felt sure that I had taken the wrong direction.  After he had eaten and rested, we went across to another mountain where our shack was.  We argued a great deal as to which one of us made the mistake.  I contended that when we hit the blizzard on top of Elk Mountain that he turned too much to the right.  He would not give in.  The subject got to be very unpleasant and our feelings were being aroused.  I have read that it is easy for men to quarrel over trivial things when alone in the mountains.  There is something in the air or the surroundings that causes bitter disagreement.

Both of us agreed to go to Leadville and find work as we needed some cash.  We got our packs ready and left early the next morning.  As there was a stage road going to Leadville, we followed it.  The snow was beaten down, making walking easier.  On one side of the road, I noticed four newly covered graves with no marking.  Later on we met other prospectors.  We asked them about the new graves.  They told us that some young bucks or Indians had killed them.  They were four white men.  They also said that Sitting Bull had been on the warpath with two hundred Indians and that they thought they were the slayers.  It was very easy for Indians to surprise prospectors in the mountains and slay them.  Many miners had no weapons to defend themselves.  Although the U. S. Government had Indian scouts to watch the Indians, the Ute Tribe of Indians on their reservation were just over the mountain where white men were not supposed to trespass on their land.