Chapter 10

Day 24 - Monday, May 24, 1847

Nothing was said about what happened last night when we got up this morning. I built a fire and the girls fixed breakfast. We had all of us ended up sleeping on top of mine and Sam's sleeping bags. I was in the middle and it sure felt nice to wake up between two naked girls.

We got an early start, and it was only shortly after we had stopped for lunch, when we crossed a road. "This is probably the road between Newry and North Newry," I said. "If we turn south, we'll probably be in Newry shortly. I don't know what the town is like during this time period, but we can always hope they have a tavern or an inn."

Sam smiled and said, "That stew we had the other day was certainly good. Let's hope they have one."

We turned south on the road and sure enough, it wasn't an hour before we found the town of Newry. I didn't ask anyone, but I was sure there were less than a thousand people in the town. They did have a nice general store, so we picked up some more provisions and a few things I thought we'd need for prospecting.

The storekeeper was a garrulous man and kept up a steady stream of conversation as we looked over his wares. He said he had been living in Newry all of his life and that his parents had been some of the first people to settle there.

"What do people around here do to make a living?" I asked.

"For the most part, we're farmers, young man. Most people do a little hunting and some trap during the winter. Like most people, we do what it takes to survive."

"I imagine the winters around here are pretty rough," I said.

"Yep, sometimes the snow gets so deep a man can't walk through it. Times like that, we just hole up. Trappers use snow shoes to get around, but most of us just stay indoors."

"Have you seen any other strangers go through here in the last month or so?" I asked.

"No. Can't say I have."

"We're supposed to meet my brother at Plumbago Mountain. We must be ahead of him. He said Plumbago Mountain was close to here."

"Yep. It's just to the east. Not more than five or ten miles."

"How would we get there from here?"

"Well, like I said, it's to the east. You come to Puzzle Mountain first. Just go around it on the south side and you'll run right in to Plumbago. Ain't much out that way though. Country's too rough for farming."

"Once we meet him, we'll be moving on east. We just came from Newport, Vermont. My brother has been in New York. We're supposed to meet up with our other brother in Bangor."

"Ah, I was wondering what you'd be doing around Plumbago. As far as I know, there hasn't been anyone out that way in years. I used to go out that way when I was a boy. Haven't been that way in thirty years though."

"Is there a tavern or an inn in town?" I asked. "We haven't had a good meal in a week."

The storekeeper laughed as he added up our purchases. "Yep, just down at the end of the block. Mrs. Jenkins does make a fine stew. I go there once in a while myself, since my wife died."

We paid the man and thanked him for the information. Once we were outside, Sam said, "Meeting your brother, huh. Why did you tell him that?"

"I don't want anyone knowing where we're going or why," I said. "I figured if he thought we were just meeting someone and going on, he'd be less curious."

Mrs. Jenkins did indeed make a fine stew. She said it was beef and mutton. She apologized for not having fresh baked bread, but she had biscuits that would melt in your mouth. We ate until we were stuffed, then she brought us bowls of blackberry cobbler and a pitcher of cream to pour over it.

"Mrs. Jenkins," I said when she came over and asked us if we wanted more, "It's a good thing we're just passing through. If I ate here every day, I'd weigh five hundred pounds by the end of summer."

The lady laughed and patted Sam on the shoulder. "This one could stand to gain a few pounds," she said.

"Why do women always think they have to be skinny?" I asked her. "My wife is a good example. She's always worried she's getting too fat."

Mrs. Jenkins patted Sam again and said, "Honey, men like a skinny woman to look at, but when they're married to a woman, they like comfortable cushions."

I was afraid Sam was going to react, but she just smiled. We paid for our dinner then headed out. We managed to get a couple of miles to the east before we set up camp.

When we went into the tent later, I saw that the girls had opened all three sleeping bags. They had put two of them down for us to lay on and had the third to use as a cover. I think I could get used to sleeping between two naked girls, so I didn't argue about it.

Day 25 - Tuesday, May 25, 1847

We got a little bit of a late start this morning, mainly because we cuddled a lot before got out of our sleeping bags. As we were eating breakfast, I said, "We'll be at Plumbago in an hour or so. When we get there, the first thing we're going to do is set up a semi-permanent camp."

"Let's look around and find a good spot for the camp then," Sam said.

"That's what I was thinking. We'll need a spot where there's good graze for the mule and where we have access to water. We'll also want a place that is at least partially sheltered from storms."

"Do you have any idea where anyone found gold in the area?" Cassie asked.

"Not really. There was some gold taken out of here, but I doubt it was ever enough to make anyone rich. We're not trying to get rich though. All we need is enough to give us a stake."

"Do you know what this Tourmaline looks like?" Sam asked.

"I've seen the cut gems and they are beautiful. I've also seen pictures of the crystals. They can be anywhere from a few millimeters to a few inches long and can be in almost any color imaginable. From what I read, the black ones aren't worth much. The reds and the greens are the most valuable. There's even one they call a watermelon because it has a green crust and a red interior. There are special names for all of the different colors of crystals, but I don't remember what they are."

When we got to what I believed was Plumbago Mountain, we started working our way around the south side. We had been exploring the base of the mountain for more than an hour when we stumbled on a little box canyon. The sides of the canyon were steep, but the mule could have gotten up them if he wanted. The only thing was, there was a nice meadow that had to be almost ten acres in size. There was a nice stream running through it, that made it a perfect pasture.

We found a place to pitch out tent and while Sam was opening our sleeping bags, Cassie and I gathered stones to make a fire ring. It wasn't noon yet, so we didn't build a fire. We did gather enough dead wood for at least a full day's cooking.

We messed around until it was time for lunch, then Sam fixed a meal for us. As we were eating, I happened to think about how long we had been eating on this deer. If I remembered correctly, I had killed it five days ago.

"Sam, I think I need to go hunting in the morning," I said.

"We have lots of meat left," she said.

"Yeah, but it has been out, without refrigeration for five days. I don't know how long meat will keep, but I imagine we're right at the limit."

"I hadn't even thought of it going bad. At least the weather hasn't been real hot."

"Yeah, I think that's all that saved us," I said. "We need to figure out a way to keep any new meat cool. We don't want to come down with food poisoning."

"How did the pioneers preserve meat?" Cassie asked.

"I think they salted it or smoked it," Sam said.

"I'd say we need to find out how to do that then," Cassie said.

Sam and I agreed.

After lunch I showed Sam and Cassie how to use a gold pan in the stream that ran through our camp. We didn't turn up any colors, but the girls each had a turn at working the pan. I told them that tomorrow afternoon we'd try to find Newry hill, which will be the site of the Dunton Mine.

We spent a nice afternoon together, just becoming familiar with our surroundings. We shared a nice bath in the stream which, as the weather was getting nicer, was getting warmer as well.

Day 26 - Wednesday, May 26, 1847

I made sure I got out of our sleeping bags and out of the tent the first time I awoke this morning. It was still dark outside, but I didn't make a fire as I didn't want to alert any animals that might be in the area. I made my way up to the meadow where we had left the mule grazing and found a place where I could rest against a tree.

My last hunting expedition had turned out well, even though I had only grazed the doe I had shot. I had only been about twenty-five yards from her when I took the shot, so I figured that was why I had hit higher than I had intended. This morning I was thinking that maybe I should take the time to fire some shots at different distances so I could have an idea as to where a bullet I fired would strike.

The mule was no where to be seen, so I figured he'd sheltered himself in the trees surrounding the meadow. I thought I saw him walking back into the open, then I realized the animal coming out to graze was much larger than the mule.

It was a cow moose, the first I'd ever seen in the wild. I thought for a moment about shooting her, then I thought of all of the meat that would go bad if I did. I just sat and watched this magnificent animal for quite some time before my attention was drawn to a herd of deer entering the meadow, not fifty yards from where I was sitting.

There were a dozen or more of them, including four that looked to be less than a year old. I decided that one of the young ones would be a better kill, so I waited until a young doe had wandered away from the group before I took aim and put her down.

This time I shot her in the chest, and there was no doubt in my mind that she was dead before she hit the ground. Of course, the rest of the deer and the moose were gone before I even got to my feet.

I slit her throat so she would bleed out, then I removed her intestines and internal organs. After her body cavity was empty, I could have carried her back to camp, but I ended up dragging her.

Sam and Cassie were both up when I got back to camp. They were both beaming when they saw the deer. "I've had an idea that will help keep the meat from spoiling for a while," Sam said.

"What's that?" I asked as Cassie handed me a cup of coffee.

"We have a couple of dozen large plastic trash bags. Let's debone the meat like we did before, put it in bags, and put the bags in the stream. That'll keep the meat a lot cooler and it'll last a lot longer."

"That's a great idea," I said. "Why don't we cut off a hunk for breakfast, then after we eat, we'll do that."

After breakfast, we started cutting up the meat. Sam said she thought she had read that we should cut all of the fat off of the meat before we stored it as the fat turned rancid before the meat did.

I ended up doing the cutting while Sam and Cassie started storing the meat in trash bags in the creek. They'd put one piece of meat in the bottom of a bag and then carry it to the creek. They found a spot close to the near bank that was only about a foot and a half deep.

One of the girls would stand in the creek, holding the bag open, while the other girl carried the meat and filled the bag. Once there was enough meat in the bag that it was almost up to water level, they took some of the laces we got with the mule and tied the drawstrings of the bag to an overhanging branch.

All of the meat from the young doe fit into three bags. It was interesting watching the girls fill the bags, since they were both nude as they did it. They said it was because they didn't want to get blood on their clothes. I wonder...