1st 5th wheel

padredw wrote:
..........
A couple of years ago, I lost my trailer brakes in Gunnison, CO just as I left the campground on the way to Colorado Springs (via Canyon City and CO 115). Anyway, I blew out all the fuses I had and on a Saturday morning could not find any help, so I decided to take it easy and go on with no trailer brakes. We had NO problems over Monarch Pass and on to Canyon City. In that town, a young woman in a small car pulled out in front of me just as we were approaching a traffic signal. She decided to stop quickly. I must admit, that was a close call but it was truly a "panic stop." ..........

Reality of your situation is that you were very lucky during that close call.
The laws of physics alone would dictate the following.......
If your unbraked trailer is only the same weight as your truck, then your panic stopping distance is doubled. If the trailer weighs double that of the truck, then your stopping distance is tripled. It's all a ratio between the total rig weight vs the braked weight.
For normal driving/slowing/stopping you CAN survive with just the truck brakes, but for an emergency stop or long steep descent it is not going to cut it.
Had you been in an accident with inoperative brakes you could well have landed in a heap of trouble, both from a legal and liability perspective!