Page 47 - Ninety Miles From Nowhere

When there is a dense growth of trees, they grow very tall and slender and straight, so the boys had excellent building material from which to choose.
As in all forested areas, the southern exposures of the hills were blanketed with scrub growth such as juniper, cedar, pinon, and live oak, while the northern slopes were covered with tall pines. This was supposed to be because the snow stayed longer on the northern slopes and the water soaked in instead of running off.
My section, which was much higher in altitude then (sic) my Dad’s place, was crossed by the Continental Divide and was adjacent to the Pelona Mountain. This mountain had a triangulation station on it, and a bench mark showing 9204 ft. elevation. It was high enough to have blue spruce, hemlock, Douglas fir, and white pine, in addition to the more common Ponderosa pine and juniper.
There was no road up to my claim, so we simply made one - not as difficult as it sounds. It did not require the use of any heavy equipment. We merely left the Beaverhead road at the Garcia Ranch, drove northwest to the Reed homestead, then on to the northwest to my place. Making the road consisted mainly of removing a few rocks and driving through the eighteen-inch grama grass until we left tracks.
While Rose was with us, Van and Archie Davis started to build my cabin and Rose and I went up to see how they were progressing. We took along a bed roll so we could spend the night and come back the next day.
This was in November and so cold Rose wanted to go to bed with let laced boots and her hat on.
During the night a little field mouse got in bed between us, and you never saw such scurrying - both from the frightened little mouse, and from Rose who acted as if a mountain lion had attacked her.
The following day was bitterly cold and I insisted that we get out of there in a hurry - while we could. Before we got everything loaded, it began to snow, and it snowed on us all the way home. Before we were halfway there, we had a flat and since it was too cold to stop to repair it, I drove the last ten miles on a flat tire. Car heaters were unheard of then and we were nearly freezing inside the car.
I drove up almost to the cabin and left the car there - and there it sat for over a year.
The time was drawing near for Rose to be going back home. How badly I wanted to keep her there! She had come to stay a week with me, and wasn’t sure she’d like it. She stayed three weeks and hated to leave.
Since my car was still out of commission, Rose and I caught a ride with Lon Grogan again in his truck. When Lon stopped down on the road in the morning, Van, Jack, Rose, Lady (our dog) and I went running down. We had Rose’s bags and some blankets to keep our feet and knees warm in the truck. We expected to be back with Lon’s supplies before sundown.
Rose and I got out at the Aragon Hotel where she’d spend the night, then did a