Early the next morning two boys, one about fourteen years old the other a little older, rode down from the ranch.  Some of their horses were pastured across the river and they had come after these.  After a short visit they got into the Edith with Emery and prepared to cross over to the pasture, which was a mile or more downstream.  They were soon out of our sight.  Jimmy and I remained at the camp, taking pictures, packing his belongings, and finding many odd jobs to be done.  In about three hours the boys returned with their horses.  The horses were quite gentle, and they had no difficulty in swimming them across.  A young colt, too feeble to swim, placed its fore feet on its mother’s flanks and was ferried across in that way.  Then they were driven over a narrow trail skirting the cliff, 300 feet above the river.  No one, looking from the river, would have imagined that any trail, over which horses could be driven, existed.

The boys informed us that we were expected at the ranch for dinner, and would listen to no refusal so up we went, although we would have to make a second trip that day.  The view of the ranch was another of those wonderful scenic changes which we were to meet with everywhere in this region.  The flat on which we stood was simply a pocket, shut in by the round-domed mountains, with a pass, or an opening, to the east side.  A small stream ran down a mountain side, spreading over the rocks, and glistening in the sunlight.  This same stream passed the ranch, and ran on down through the narrow canyon up which we had come.  The ranch itself was refreshing.  The buildings were new, some were under construction; but there was considerable ground under cultivation.  Cattle were scattered up the valley, or dotted the rocky slopes below the mountains.  A wild spot this, on the borderland of the three states.  None but people of fortitude, or even of daring, would think of taking up a homestead in this secluded spot.  The same rumours of the escaped prisoners had drifted in here.  It was Mr. Chew who gave us the information we have previously quoted concerning the murdered man.  He had found the body in the boat, in front of the post-office.  He further stated that others in the mountains would not hesitate at anything to drive out those who were trying to improve a homestead as he was doing, and that it was a common event to find the carcasses of his own horses or cattle which had been ruthlessly slaughtered.  This was the reason for putting the horses across the river.  There they were safe, for none could approach them save by going past the ranch, or coming through Lodore Canyon.

Mr. Chew also told us of the Snyders, who had lost their boat in upper Lodore Canyon, and of how he had given them a horse and provisions to aid them in reaching the settlements.  This did not prevent the elder Snyder from coming back to trap the next year, much to Mr. Chew’s disgust.  He thought one experience should be enough for any man.