Concluding that his friend Thompson must be buried in the snow and debris with which he had been swept down the mountain, possibly too deep to be saved by any human means, even if help were at hand, he found time to think of himself. The coat he had worn when he set out for the trip over the mountain had been entirely stripped from his body, and his shirt and trousers were much torn, evidently from catching in the brush in his terrific descent of more than a mile down the mountain, but the garments worn next to his body were not even marred. The feeling of gratitude towards the Almighty that welled up within him for his preservation exceeded anything he had ever experienced. He could not doubt that the Lord had spared his life for some special reason, and felt that whatever purpose the Lord had for prolonging his life, it was his duty if possible to find out what that purpose was, and conform thereto. He made his way by a wide detour up the mountain to the mine, arriving there about five o'clock in the evening, after a tiresome walk of something like eight and a half hours. He was greeted with surprise by the mine boss, who grabbed him in his arms and fairly hugged him for joy, and his seven or eight companions who were scarcely less delighted at finding he had survived his terrible flight, and seemed none the worse for it. They inquired eagerly for Thompson, his companion, but he could only say that the poor fellow was evidently buried in the slide, and possibly beyond human help, as he had searched for him in vain. He then learned that the men at the mine, warned of the slide by the noise it created almost at the start, had witnessed with horror its frightful descent, and made their way up the mountain as soon as possible to ascertain whether the two men had been carried down by it. Finding the bank of snow where the slide started showed a sheer break, with no footprint on top of it, they were forced to the conclusion that the men had gone down with the slide and were probably lost. The mine boss had offered his companions ten dollars each if they or any of them would descend the mountain and search for their unfortunate fellows, but none of them dared to undertake to do so. Brother Parkin resumed work, but a few days later, after being given a check in payment of his services up to that time, was dispatched to Salt Lake with ore samples, to have them assayed.