MY “PARDNER” AND I (Gray Rocks) A Story Of The Middle-West Illustrated By Willis George Emerson Chicago: Laird & Lee, Publishers 1894 “Beneath yon rocky peak that hides In fleecy clouds its snow-flecked crest; Beneath those crimson crags abides The fairest queen of all the West.” 0009 0010 0011 CONTENTS PREFACE. PARTIAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. CHAPTER I.—VANCE GILDER. CHAPTER II.—THE OLD MINER. CHAPTER III.—THE BANNER FORCE. CHAPTER IV—A SUPPER PARTY. CHAPTER V.—AN ODD CHARACTER. CHAPTER VI—THE TOWN BOOMER. CHAPTER VII.—A VISIT TO WATERVILLE CHAPTER VIII.—AT THE MINE CHAPTER IX.—THE STAGE DRIVER. CHAPTER X.—PROPERTY HAS GONE UP. CHAPTER XI.—OWNER OF THE PEACOCK MINE. CHAPTER XII—TROUT FISHING. CHAPTER XIII.—THE STAGE RIDE. CHAPTER XIV.—THE TOWN COMPANY’. MEETING. CHAPTER XV.—MISS VIRGINIA BONIFIELD. CHAPTER XVI.—THE OLD COLONEL’. DISAPPOINTMENT. CHAPTER XVII.—An AWAKENING. CHAPTER XVIII.—VANCE RETURNS TO WATERVILLE. CHAPTER XIX.—THE INDIGNATION MEETING CHAPTER XX.—THE STAGE IS ROBBED. CHAPTER XXI.—REACHING THE 400 FOOT LEVEL. CHAPTER XXII.—STARTING THE BOOM. CHAPTER XXIII.—RUFUS GRIM S AMBITION. CHAPTER XXIV.—THE GOLDEN MAUSOLEUM. CHAPTER XXV.—CROSS-CUTTING IN THE MINE. CHAPTER XXVI.—A STARTLING EDITORIAL. CHAPTER XXVII.—AT LAST! PREFACE. The breaking of a twig in some vast forest, or the dull echo of a miner’s pick in a rugged mountain canyon, alike suggest the solitude of Nature. The unwritten history of mining prospectors who search for yellow gold, or the advance guards of our civilization in the rich valleys of the West, are replete-with interest and dramatic incident. The “boom” town builder also plays a most conspicuous part in this unwritten drama. There are no frayed-out remnants of a former greatness to be found on the frontier. A man sells for his intrinsic worth—no more, no less. Conditions that made men great in former generations are here active. and develop manhood in its highest form. There is hardly a cross-road hamlet without its hotel, and usually a “Dick Ballard” presides. “Brainy men.” such as composed the Waterville Town Company, may be found wherever a new town is building, while a “Rufus Grim” is usually the autocrat of the mining camp. The old “Colonel” represents a class of sturdy miners whose untiring labor occasionally gives to the world the golden keys of some fabulously rich discovery; while the greater number dedicate their lives to a fruitless search for hidden treasures, and finally die of disappointment and a broken heart. “Louise,” in her unswerving devotion to her father, is a specimen of superior womanhood whose duplicate may be found in many a ranchman’s home throughout the nestling valleys of our y re at West.