I am often questioned about my experiences on the frontier, as if the life had been filled with unbearable hardships, to be shunned and forgotten. Gladly would I live it all over again, such is my cast of mind and my hunger for the freedom of the big wide places. I would run the risks and endure all the hardships that were naturally ours just for the contentment and freedom to be found in such an outdoor life. I should be unspeakably happy once more to feast on buffalo meat and other wild game cooked on a camp-fire, sour dough biscuit and black coffee, that latter drank from a quart cup.
But those days are gone and forever, and we must content ourselves with the present and make the best of our opportunities. Coming generation will never know the trials and hardships we endured. We helped build a great empire in the west.
Let it be governed justly and made to serve the needs of humanity.
THE END.
Transcriber's Note:
The Index (Contents) and the List of Illustrations have been moved from the end of the text to beginning of the text.
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.