Letter from Abbott Fay
Code of the West – April 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ed and Martha:
There was a sort of Code of the West.
1) Leave cabins unlocked and stocked with food. Recipient is bound to clean up and eventually re-stock.
2) Never take a pair of skis or snowshoes left at a trailhead in case someone needs to reach campers or workers. It’s like stealing a horse.
3) Thou shalt not speak optimistically regarding meat or produce market futures or even the weather prospects.
4) Don’t continue working in a mine after two “close calls.”
5) Don’t say someone died — he has “gone West” or “over the Divide” (was the name of my own book). Miners had “gone up the flume.”
6) Never wear a necktie in a mine.
7) Never ignore a hunch.
8) Never harm a mouse or a rat or a spider in the bathtub.
9) Never criticize the cook’s meals!
Abbott Fay
Grand Junction
