If it is not two tedious for you to read I would like to give you an idea of it all at once and get rid of it. I will continue for awhile and you can read as far as it is interesting. You may say, "You know the circumstances and the local conditions and I have to trust to your judgment". That is all right but you may want to know the conditions too.

The stock conditions here are terrible -- the worst I have ever seen. Usually large herds of stock are driven into the valley to be fed in the winter. Last fall, on acct of the dry season -- which extended all over the northwest except in some favored spots -- nearly all salable stock was shipped to market at a sacrifice. But there is not eough feed for the stock which remains. The only hope was that there would be a mild open winter, but real winter began over a month earlier than usual. Since Thanksgiving we have had the worst weather I ever saw here at this time of the year. Cattle are already starving and freezing and I would not be surprised if half of the stock in the county would be dead before spring.

Before Thanksgiving the weather was beautiful. I wanted to take advantage of it and hired a little extra help. At the wages I have to pay I could employ only three men on full time, and then there is plaster, powder, lumber, feed etc to buy. I overran a little but paid the small extra am't myself and took receipt at end of month, but I want to secure feed while I can for the mules and I have to buy some now for my stock. The boys need the money at once.

I have two men who are good workers, are careful, and understand the work, as they have had a good deal of experience at the quarry, one of them for several years. The other regular employee is a man who has worked in mines all his life and is a good man at rough rock work.