We skinned the cats, and Jim afterwards made a cap out of one of them,
and he wore it for several years.

Jonnie West and I were out hunting one day for deer when we discovered
two cougars in the grass, and we could not make out what it meant.
Finally one made a spring, and it seemed to us that he jumped at least
twenty feet, and he landed on a deer, and for a minute or two there was
a tussle. While this was going on Jonnie and I were getting closer to
them, and when they had the deer killed we were within gunshot of them,
and they didn't eat much before we killed them both. We skinned the
deer, and also the cougars, and took them to camp, and when we went to
Bent's Fort the next spring we got twenty dollars apiece for them, for
they were extra large cougars, or mountain lions as they are sometimes
called, and their hides are very valuable.

It seems wonderful to me when I think of the amount of game I saw
through the country at that time, of all descriptions, some of which in
their wild state are now extinct, especially the buffalo and the bison,
and all other game that was so plentiful at that time is very scarce all
over the west. I believe a man could have seen a thousand antelope
any day in the year within five miles of where the city of Denver now
stands.

We had splendid success this winter in trapping beaver. It was late in
the spring when we left our trapping ground. Just before we pulled out
Jim Bridger said, "Boys, I saw a pretty sight this evening out at the
point of rocks," which was about a quarter of a mile from our cabin.
Jonnie West said, "What did you see, Jim?"