uresque, mountain-guarded valley,
later known as Estes Park. From the foothills, he had followed up one
of the streams, seeking new fur-fields, until, after crossing the last
barrier range, he looked down upon a broad, river spangled park set
like a gem in the midst of the encircling peaks of the Divide, with
that sheer, pyramidal face of Long's Peak dominating all. We like to
think that these early adventurers appreciated the beauty of the
primitive lands they explored, but whether or not Carson thrilled at
that exquisite alpine panorama, he noted keenly the profusion of tracks
criss-crossing its green and white expanse, promising an abundance of
game, for he moved down into the region and at the foot of Long's Peak
built himself a rude log cabin. There he spent the winter trapping
beaver, and the following spring bargained with the Indians to help
pack out his catch. The walls, the hearth, and part of the stone
chimney still mark the site of that first cabin.

I selected the top of a high cliff overlooking these storied ruins for
the location of a cabin which I planned to build as soon as I could
manage it. I, too, would be a trapper, and though the beaver and other
fur-bearing animals were not nearly so numerous as they had been that
day, sixty years gone, when Carson first beheld their mountain
fastness, there still remained enough to make trapping interesting and
profitable. Game tracks still abounded, and notwithstanding that I was
a mere boy, inexperienced in woodcraft, I could distinguish that they
differed, even though I could classify only a few of them; coyote
tracks, I found, were very like a dog's; sheep, elk and deer tracks
were similar, yet easily distinguished from one another; bear left a
print like that of a baby's chubby foot. Yes, there was still a chance
for me!

As soon as I returned from the dance at Jim Oss's, I set about carrying
out my plans. I mushed over deep snow back into Wild Basin, to recover
the six traps I had abandoned there on that memorable first camp alone,
and found my tent crushed under six feet of drifted snow and the region
still deserted by game. I set the traps out in the vicinity of the
home ranch. Every few days I inspected them, only to find them empty.
Indeed, over a period of long weeks I caught but one mink, two weasels
and three coyotes. The Parson kindly said the country was trapped out;
still, I suspected my lack of skill was responsible for my scanty catc