The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Mountain Boyhood, by Joe Mills

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Title: A Mountain Boyhood

Author: Joe Mills

Illustrator: Enos B. Comstock

Release Date: August 12, 2009 [EBook #29681]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MOUNTAIN BOYHOOD ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Transcriber's note: Extensive research found no evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.]

[Frontispiece: AT THAT INSTANT THE BEAR CAME TO LIFE.]

A
MOUNTAIN
BOYHOOD

_by_ JOE MILLS

Author of "The Comeback"

Illustrated by

ENOS B. COMSTOCK

J. H. SEARS & COMPANY, Inc.

PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY

J. H. SEARS & CO., INCORPORATED

COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY

THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA (INC.)

MANUFACTURED COMPLETE BY THE
KINGSPORT PRESS
KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE

_United States of America_

TO
THE ONE WHO MADE THIS
BOYHOOD POSSIBLE
MY WIFE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. GOING WEST
II. GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH WILD COUNTRY AND ANIMALS
III. FIRST CAMP ALONE--EXPLORING
IV. DANCING ACROSS THE DIVIDE
V. TRAPPING--MOUNTAIN-TOP DWELLERS
VI. A LOG CABIN IN THE WILDS--PRIMITIVE LIVING
VII. GLACIERS AND FOREST FIRES
VIII. THE PROVERBIAL BUSY BEAVER
IX. MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
X. MODERN PATHFINDERS
XI. OFF THE TRAIL
XII. DREAMERS OF GOLDEN DREAMS
XIII. THE CITY OF SILENCE
XIV. BEARS AND BUGBEARS
XV. ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

At that instant the bear came to life . . . . _Frontispiece_

I plunged downward, struggling frantically

I sat down by the fiddler and dozed

I glimpsed his flaming eyes and wide-open, fang-filled mouth

Sheep and rock dropped straight toward me

Never before had the ring of an ax echoed in Silent Valley

"See all fools ain't dead yit," he observed

The memory of that race for life is still vividly terrifying

Every fall I watched Mr. and Mrs. Peg at their repairs

They turned tail and came racing back, straight toward me

Out of the dust of years, we dug the history of a bur