Should the settler, in either of the above class of cases, die before

establishing his claim within the period limited by law, the title may

be perfected by the executor or administrator, by making the requisite

proof of settlement and cultivation, and paying the Government price;

the entry to be made in the name of "the heirs" of the deceased settler.

When a person has filed his declaratory statements for one tract of

land, it is not lawful for the same individual to file a second

declaratory statement for another tract of land, unless the first filing

was invalid in consequence of the land applied for, not being open to

pre-emption, or by determination of the land against him, in case of

contest, or from any other similar cause which would have prevented him

from consummating a pre-emption under his declaratory statements.

Each qualified pre-empter is permitted to enter one hundred and sixty

acres of either minimum or double minimum lands, subject to pre-emption,

by paying the Government price, $1.25 per acre for the former class of

lands, and $2.50 for the latter class.

Where a person has filed his declaratory statement for land which at the

time was rated at $2.50 per acre, and the price has subsequently been

reduced to $1.25 per acre, before he proves up and makes payment, he

will be allowed to enter the land embraced in his declaratory statement

at the last-named price, viz.: $1.25 per acre.

Final proof and payment can not be made until the party has actually

resided upon the land for a period of at least six months, and made the

necessary cultivation and improvements to show his good faith as an

actual settler. This proof can be made by one witness.

The party who makes the first settlement in person upon a tract of

public land is entitled to the right of pre-emption, provided he

subsequently complies with all the requirements of the law--his right to

the land commences from the date he performed the first work on the

land.

When a person has filed his declaratory statement for a tract of land,

and afterward relinquishes it to the Government, he forfeits his right

to file again for another tract of land.

The assignment of a pre-emption right is null and void. Title to public

land is not perfected until the issuance of the patent from the General

Land Office, and all sales and transfers prior to the date of the

patents are in violation of law.

The Act of March 27, 1854, protects the right of settlers on sections

along the lines of railroads, when settlement was made prior to the

withdrawal of the lands, and in such case allows the lands to be

pre-empted and paid for at $1.25 per acre, by furnishing proof of

inhabitancy and cultivation, as required under the Act of September 4,

1841.

The Homestead Act of May 20, 1862, provides "that any person who is the

head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and

is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his

declaration of intention to become such, as required by the

naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms

against the United States Government, or given aid or comfort to its

enemies, shall be entitled to enter one quarter section or less quantity

of unappropriated public land."

Under this act, one hundred and sixty acres of land subject to

pre-emption at $1.25 per acre, or eighty acres at $2.50 per acre, can be

entered upon application, by making affidavit "that he or she is the

head of a family, or is twenty-one years of age, or shall have performed

service in the army and navy of the United States, and that such

application is made for his or her exclusive use or benefit, and that

said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation,

and not, either directly or indirectly, for the use and benefit of any

other person or persons whomsoever." On filing said affidavit, and

payment of fees and commissions, the entry will be permitted.

Soldiers and sailors who have served ninety days can, however, take one

hundred and sixty acres of the $2.50, or double minimum lands. In all

other respects they are subject to the usual Homestead laws and

regulations.

No certificate will be given, or patent issued, until the expiration of

five years from the date of said entry; and if, at the expiration of

such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making

such entry--or if he be dead, his widow; or in case of her death, his

heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or

devisee, in case of her death--shall prove by two credible witnesses

that he or she has resided upon and cultivated the same for the term of

five years immediately succeeding the date of filing the above

affidavit, and shall make affidavit that no part of said land has been

alienated, and that he has borne true allegiance to the Government of

the United States; then he or she, if at that time a citizen of the

United States, shall be entitled to a patent. In case of the death of

both father and mother, leaving an infant child or children under

twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall inure to the benefit of

said infant or children; and the executor, administrator, or guardian

may, at any time after the death of the surviving parent, and in

accordance with the law of the State in which such children for the time

being have their domicil, sell said land for the benefit of said

infants, but for no other purpose; and the purchaser shall acquire the

absolute title from the Government and be entitled to a patent.

When a homestead settler has failed to commence his residence upon land

so as to enable him to make a continuous residence of five years within

the time (seven years) limited by law, he will be permitted, upon filing

an affidavit showing a sufficient reason for his neglect to date his

residence at the time he commenced such inhabitancy, and will be

required to live upon the land for five years from said date, provided

no adverse claim has attached to said land, and the affidavit of a

settler is supported by the testimony of disinterested witnesses.

In the second section of the act of May 20, 1862, it is stipulated in

regard to settlers, that in the case of the death of both father and

mother, leaving an infant child, or children, under twenty-one years of

age, the right and fee shall inure to the benefit of the infant child or

children; and that the executor, administrator, or guardian, may sell

the land for the benefit of the infant heirs, at any time within two

years after the death of the surviving parent, in accordance with the

law of the State. The Commissioner rules that instead of selling the

land as above provided, their heirs may, if they so select, continue

residence and cultivation on the land for the period required by law,

and at the expiration of the time provided, a patent will be issued in

their names.

In the case of the death of a homestead settler who leaves a widow and

children, should the widow again marry and continue her residence and

cultivation upon the land entered in the name of her first husband for

the period required by law, she will be permitted to make final proof as

the widow of the deceased settler, and the patent will be issued in the

name of "his heirs."

When a widow, or single woman, has made a homestead entry, and

thereafter marries a person who has also made a similar entry on a

tract, it is ruled that the parties may select which tract they will

retain for permanent residence, and will be allowed to enter the

remaining tract under the eighth section of the act of May 20, 1862, on

proof of inhabitance and cultivation up to date of marriage.

In the case of the death of a homestead settler, his heirs will be

allowed to enter the land under the eighth section of the Homestead Act,

by making proof of inhabitancy and cultivation in the same manner as

provided by the second section of the act of March 3, 1853, in regard to

deceased pre-emptors.

When at the date of application the land is $2.50 per acre, and the

settler is limited to an entry of eighty acres, should the price

subsequently be reduced to $1.25 per acre, the settler will not be

allowed to take additional land to make up the deficiency.

The sale of a homestead claim by the settler to another is not

recognized, and vests no titles or equities in the purchaser, and would

be _prima facie_ evidence of abandonment, and sufficient cause for

cancellation of the entry.

The law allows but one homestead privilege. A settler who relinquished

or abandoned his claim can not hereafter make a second entry.

When a party has made a settlement on a surveyed tract of land, and

filed his pre-emption declaration thereof, he may change his filing into

a homestead.

If a homestead settler does not wish to remain five years on his tract,

the law permits him to pay for it with cash or military warrants, upon

making proof of residence and cultivation as required in pre-emption

cases. The proof is made by the affidavit of the party and the testimony

of _two_ credible witnesses.

There is another class of homesteads, designated as "Adjoining Farm

Homesteads." In these cases, the law allows an applicant _owning_ and

_residing_ on an original farm, to enter other land contiguous thereto,

which shall not, with such farm, exceed in the aggregate 160 acres. For

example, a party owning or occupying 80 acres, may enter 80 additional

of $1.25, or 40 acres of $2.50 land. Or, if the applicant owns 40 acres,

he may enter 120 at $1.25, or 60 at $2.50 per acre, if both classes of

land should be found contiguous to his original farm. In entries of

"Adjoining Farms," the settler must describe in his affidavit the tract

he owns and lives upon, as his original farm. Actual residence on the

tract entered as an "adjoining farm" is not required, but _bona fide_

improvement and cultivation of it must be shown for five years.

The right to a tract of land under the Homestead Act, commences from the

date of entry in the Land Office, and not from date of personal

settlement, as in case of the pre-emption.

When a party makes an entry under the Homestead Act, and thereafter,

before the expiration of five years, makes satisfactory proof of

habitancy and cultivation, and pays for the tract under the 8th section

of said act, it is held to be a consummation of his homestead right as

the act allows, and not a pre-emption, and will be no bar to the same

party acquiring a pre-emption right, provided he can legally show his

right in virtue of actual settlement and cultivation on another tract,

at a period subsequent to his proof and payment under the 8th section of

the Homestead Act.

The 2d section of the act of May 20, 1862, declares that after making

proof of settlement, cultivation, etc., "then, if the party is at that

time a citizen of the United States, he shall be entitled to a patent."

This, then, requires that all settlers shall be "citizens of the United

States" at the time of making final proof, and they must file in the

Land Office the proper evidence of that fact before a final certificate

will be issued.

A party who has proved up and paid for a tract of land under the

Pre-emption Act, can subsequently enter another tract of land under the

Homestead Act. Or, a party who has consummated his right to a tract of

land under the Homestead Act will afterward be permitted to pre-empt

another tract.

A settler who desires to "relinquish his homestead must surrender his

duplicate receipt, his relinquishment to the United States" being

endorsed thereon; if he has lost his receipt, that fact must be stated

in his relinquishment, to be signed by the settler, attested by two

witnesses, and acknowledged before the register or receiver, or clerk or

notary public using a seal.

When a homestead entry is contested and application is made for

cancellation, the party so applying must file an affidavit setting forth

the facts on which his allegations are grounded, describing the tract

and giving the name of the settler. A day will then be set for hearing

the evidence, giving all parties due notice of the time and place of

trial. It requires the testimony of two witnesses to establish the

abandonment of a homestead entry.

The notice to a settler that his claim is contested must be served by a

disinterested party, and in all cases when practicable, personal service

must be made upon the settler.

Another entry of the land will not be made in case of relinquishment or

contest, until the cancellation is ordered by the Commissioner of the

General Land Office.

When a party has made a mistake in the description of the land he

desires to enter as a homestead, and desires to amend his application,

he will be permitted to do so upon furnishing the testimony of two

witnesses to the facts, and proving that he has made no improvements on

the land described in his application, but has made valuable

improvements on the land he first intended and now applies to enter.

It is important to settlers to bear in mind that it requires two

witnesses to make final proof under the Homestead Act, who can testify

that the settler has resided upon and cultivated the tract for five

years from the date of his entry.

Patents are not issued for lands until from one to two years after date

of location in the District Office. No patent will be delivered until

the surrender of the duplicate receipt, unless such receipt should be

lost, in which case an affidavit of the fact must be filed in the

Register's Office, showing how said loss occurred, also that said

certificate has never been assigned, and that the holder is the _bona

fide_ owner of the land, and entitled to said patent.

By a careful examination of the foregoing requirements, settlers will

be enabled to learn without a visit to the Land Office the manner in

which they can secure and perfect title to public lands under the

Pre-emption Act of September 5, 1841, and Homestead Act of May 20, 1862.

THE STATE OF KANSAS.

Our sojourn on the plains impressed our party with a strong belief that

Kansas, at no distant day, will be one of the richest garden spots on

the continent. I have more particularly described the central portion of

the State, but both Northern and Southern Kansas are equally as fertile

and desirable.

The United States Land Offices in Kansas are located at the following

places: Topeka, Humboldt, Augusta, Salina, and Concordia. The rapidity

with which Kansas is being settled may readily be inferred from the fact

that 2,000,000 acres of its land were sold during one year, 1870.

In our note-book, I find the outline of a speech delivered by the

Professor in Topeka, and I quote a single paragraph as fitly expressing

the common sentiment of our entire number:

"Gentlemen, great as your State now is in extent of territory and

natural resources, she will soon have a corresponding greatness in the

means of development, and in a self-supporting population. 1870 holds in

her lap and fondles the infant; 1880 will shake hands with the giant.

The whole surface of your land, gentlemen, is one wild sea of beauty,

ready to toss into the lap of every venturer upon it, a farm. The genius

which rewards honest industry stands on the threshold of your State,

with countless herds and golden sheaves, smiling ready welcome to all

new-comers, of whatever creed or clime."

WHAT A FARM WILL COST.

The emigrant has already been told what it will cost him to obtain

government land. If this adjoins railroad tracts, he can secure what is

desired of the latter at from two to ten dollars per acre.

The expense of fencing material might be fairly estimated at from twenty

to thirty dollars per thousand feet for boards, and ten to fifteen

dollars per hundred for posts. This is supposing that all the material

is purchased. If fortunate enough to have timber on his claim, the

emigrant, of course, can inclose the farm at the cost of his own labor.

I have seen many new-comers protect their fields by simply digging

around them a narrow, deep trench, and throwing the earth on the inside

line so as to raise an embankment along that side two feet in height.

One single wire stretched along this, and secured at proper intervals by

small stakes, appears to answer quite well as a cattle guard.

Osage orange grows rapidly, and is cheap, and a permanent fence can be

made with it, at small expense, in the course of three or four years.

The usual cost of breaking prairie is from two to four dollars per acre.

With a yoke or two of good oxen, however, this item can also be saved.

The second year the farmer can set out with safety his trees and vines,

and the third or fourth year he may be considered fairly on the road to

prosperity.

Laborers' wages are from twenty to thirty dollars per month and board.

I estimate that a fair statement of the prices for stock would be about

as follows: Work oxen, seventy-five to one hundred dollars per yoke;

cows, twenty to fifty dollars each; horses, seventy-five to one hundred

and fifty dollars.

A FEW MORE PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.

I would say to the emigrant, Do not be influenced to select any one

particular State or locality until you have more authority for the step

than a single publication. Examine carefully, make up your mind

deliberately, and then move with determination. It will require no very

great exertion to secure a half dozen glowing advertisements from as

many new Western States and Territories. It will need but little more

effort to obtain from five to fifty "rosy" circulars from as many

different districts in each of the separate "garden spots." After

examining these until ready to sing,--

"How happy could I be with either

Were t' other dear charmer away,"

take down your map, and let the railroads and streams assist your

choice. You have then secured yourself against one danger of the

journey--that of having these same circulars flung into your lap _en

route_, and being diverted by them into dubious ways and needless

expenditures. But be careful, reader, that you select not as accurate

beyond the possibility of a mistake the maps accompanying the circulars;

otherwise, you may find yourself unable to choose between several

thousand railroad centers from which broad gauges radiate like the

spokes in a wheel, and your ignorance of modern geography may be brought

painfully home by discovering navigable rivers where you had supposed

only creeks existed. In these matters, as in every thing else connected

with your "new departure," consult _all_ the various sources of

information within your reach.

APPENDIX.

CHAPTER SECOND.

FURTHER INFORMATION FOR THE SPORTSMAN.

APPENDIX.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTER SECOND.

PAGE

HUNTING THE BUFFALO, 453

ANTELOPE HUNTING, 458

ELK HUNTING, 459

TURKEY HUNTING, 459

GENERAL REMARKS, 460

WHAT TO DO IF LOST ON THE PLAINS, 461

THE NEW FIELD FOR SPORTSMEN, 462

CHAPTER SECOND.

_FURTHER INFORMATION FOR THE SPORTSMAN._

HUNTING THE BUFFALO.

The first matter to be determined, in planning any sporting trip, is the

best point at which to seek for game. If the object of pursuit be

buffalo, I should say, Deposit yourself as soon as possible on the

plains of Western Kansas.[5] Take the Kansas Pacific Railway at the

State line, and you can readily find out from the conductors at what

point the buffalo chance then to be most numerous. There are a dozen

stations after passing Ellsworth equally good. One month, the bison may

be numerous along the eastern portion of the plains; a month later, the

herds will be found perhaps sixty or eighty miles further west. As one

has at least a day's ride, after entering Kansas, before penetrating

into the solitude of Buffalo Land, there is ample time to decide upon a

stopping place. Russell as an eastern, and Buffalo Station as a western

point, will be found good basis for operations. In the former, some

hotel accommodations exist; in the latter, there are several dug-outs,

and hunters who can be obtained for guides.

[5] During the present year, the A. T. & Santa Fe R. R. will probably be

finished to the big bend of the Arkansas, which will place the sportsman

in one of the finest game regions of the continent.

Those who can spend a week or more on the grounds, and wish to enjoy the

sport in its only legitimate way, namely, horseback hunting, should

stop at the point where they may best procure mounts, even if it

necessitate a journey in the saddle of twenty miles. Ellsworth, Russell,

and Hays City are the places where such outfits may generally be

obtained.

For shooting bison, the hunter should come prepared with some other

weapon than a squirrel rifle or double barreled shot gun. I have known

several instances in which persons appeared on the ground armed with

ancient smooth-bores or fowling-pieces; and in one of these cases the

object of attack, after receiving a bombardment of several minutes'

duration, tossed the squirrel hunter and injured him severely. A

breech-loading rifle, with a magazine holding several cartridges, is by

far the best weapon. In my own experience I became very fond of a

carbine combining the Henry and King patents. It weighed but seven and

one-half pounds, and could be fired rapidly twelve times without

replenishing the magazine. Hung by a strap to the shoulder, this weapon

can be dropped across the saddle in front, and held there very firmly by

a slight pressure of the body. The rider may then draw his holster

revolvers in succession, and after using them, have left a carbine

reserve for any emergency. Twenty-four shots can thus be exhausted

before reloading, and, with a little practice, the magazine of the gun

may be refilled without checking the horse. So light is this Henry and

King weapon that I have often held it out with one hand like a pistol,

and fired.

When a herd of buffalo is discovered, the direction of the wind should

be carefully ascertained. The taint of the hunter is detected at a long

distance, and the bison accepts the evidence of his nose more readily

than even that of his eyes. This delicacy of smell, however, is becoming

either more blunted or less heeded than formerly, owing probably to the

passage over the plains of the crowded passenger cars, which keep the

air constantly impregnated for long distances.

Having satisfied himself in regard to the wind, the sportsman should

take advantage of the ravines and slight depressions, which every-where

abound on the plains, and approach as near the herd as possible. If

mounted, let him gain every obtainable inch before making the charge. It

is an egregious blunder to go dashing over the prairie for half a mile

or so, in full view of the game, and thus give it the advantage of a

long start. When this is done, unless your animal is a superior one, he

will be winded and left behind.

In most cases, careful planning will place one within a couple of

hundred yards of the bison. Be sure that every weapon is ready for the

hand, and then charge. Put your horse to full speed as soon as

practicable. Place him beside the buffalo, and he can easily keep there;

whereas, if you nurse his pace at the first, and make it a stern chase,

both your animal and yourself, should you have the rare luck of catching

up at all, will be jaded completely before doing so. In shooting from

the saddle, be very careful between shots, and keep the muzzle of the

weapon in some other direction than your horse or your feet. A sudden

jolt, or a nervous finger, often causes a premature discharge. In taking

aim, draw your bead well forward on the buffalo--if possible, a little

behind the fore-shoulder. The vital organs being situated there, a

ranging shot will hit some of them, on one side or the other. Back of

the ribs, the buffalo will receive a dozen balls without being checked.

A discharge of bullets into the hind-quarters, is worse than useless.

While trying in the most enjoyable and practical manner to kill the

game, it is very necessary to escape, if possible, any injury to

yourself or horse. The Frenchman's remark on tiger hunting is very

apropos. "Ven ze Frenchman hunt ze tiger, it fine sport; but ven ze

tiger hunt ze Frenchman, it is not so." Care should be taken to have the

horse perfectly under control, when the bison stands at bay. Unless

experienced in bull fighting, he does not appreciate the danger, and a

sudden charge has often resulted in disembowelment.

Never dismount to approach the buffalo, unless certain that he is

crippled so as to prevent rising. One that is apparently wounded unto

death will often get upon his feet nimbly, and prove an ugly customer. I

knew a soldier killed at Hays City in this manner--thrown several feet

into the air, and fearfully torn. Recently near Cayote Station, on the

Kansas Pacific Railway, a buffalo was shot from the train, and the cars

were stopped to secure the meat, and gratify the passengers. One of the

latter, a stout Englishman, ran ahead of his fellows, and shook his fist

in the face of the prostrate bison. The American bull did not brook such

an insult from the English one, and Johnny received a terrible blow

while attempting to escape. He was badly injured, and, when I saw him

some time afterward, could only move on crutches.

Should the hunter on foot ever have to stand a charge, let him fire at

what is visible of the back, above the lowered head, or, should he be

able to catch a glimpse of the fore-shoulder, let him direct his bullet

there. The bone seems to be broken readily by a ball. Against the

frontal bone of the bison's skull, the lead falls harmless. To test this

fully, with California Bill as a companion, I once approached a buffalo

which stood wounded in a ravine. We took position upon the hill-side,

knowing that he could not readily charge up it, at a distance of only

fifteen yards. I fired three shots from the Henry weapon full against

the forehead, causing no other result than some angry head-shaking. I

then took Bill's Spencer carbine, and fired twice with it. At each shot

the bull sank partly to his knees, but immediately recovered again. I

afterward examined the skull, and could detect no fracture.

A person dismounted by accident or imprudence, and charged upon, can

avoid the blow by waiting until the horns are within a few feet of him,

and then jumping quickly on one side. After the buffalo has passed, let

the brief period of time before he has checked his rush, be employed in

traversing as much prairie, on the back track, as possible, and the

chances are that no pursuit will be made. Should a foot trip, or a fall

from the horse give no time for such tactics, then let the hunter hug

Mother Earth as tight as may be. The probabilities are that the bull can

not pick the body up with his horns. I have known a hunter to escape by

throwing himself in the slight hollow of a trail, and thus baffling all

attempts to hook him.

Accidents are rare in bison hunting, however, and the reader should not

be deterred from noble sport by the mere possibility of mishaps. I have

given the above advice, feeling that I shall be well repaid if it saves

the life or limbs of one man out of the thousands who may be exposed. A

glimpse of surgeon's instruments should not make the soldier a coward.

Comparatively few people are killed by electricity, and yet

lightning-rods are very popular.

The hunter who has no love for the saddle, and prefers stalking, should

provide himself with some breech-loading rifle or carbine, carrying a

heavy ball--the heavier the better. The most effective weapon is the

needle-gun used in the army, having a bore the size of the old

Springfield musket, and a ball to correspond. A bullet from this weapon

usually proves fatal. But there is little genuine sport in such

practice. Stalking holds the same relation to horseback hunting that

"hand line" fishing does to that with the rod and reel, the fly and the

spoon, or that killing birds on the ground does to wing-shooting.

In selecting from the herd a single individual for attack, the hunter

should do so with some reference to the intended use of the game. For

furnishing trophies of the chase, such as horns and robe, the bull will

do well; but if the meat is for use, it will be advisable to sacrifice

some sport, and obtain a cow or calf. I have known many an ancient

bison, with scarcely enough meat on his bones to hold the bullets,

killed by amateurs, and the leather-like quarters shipped to eastern

friends as rare delicacies!

ANTELOPE HUNTING.

Antelope hunting is a sport requiring more strategy and caution than the

one we have described. The creature is timid and swift, and inclined to

feed on ridges or level lands, where stalking is difficult. Its eyes and

ears are wonderfully quick in detecting danger, and the animal at once

seeks points which command the surroundings. If unable to keep in view

the object of alarm, immediate flight results.

The modes of hunting this game are two. If no possibility of stalking

exists, a red flag may be attached to a small stick, and planted in

front of the ravine or other place of concealment. The antelope at once

becomes curious, and begins circling toward it, each moment approaching

a little nearer, until finally within shooting distance. The other

method is by careful stalking. If the animal is on a high ridge, the

sides of which round upward a little, the hunter may crawl on his hands

and knees until he sees, just visible above the grass, the tips of the

horns or ears. Then let him rise on one knee, with gun to shoulder, and

take quick aim well forward, as the body comes into view. The approach

can not be too cautious, as the antelope stops feeding every minute or

so, to lift its head high, and gaze around. Thus the incautious hunter

may be brought, on the instant, into full relief, and the quick bound

which follows discovery, rob him of the fruit of long crawling.

Rare enjoyment might be obtained by any one who would take with him, to

the plains, a good greyhound. Mounted on a reliable horse, the sportsman

could follow the dog in its pursuit of antelope, and be in at the death.

ELK HUNTING.

Elk must be hunted by stalking, as he speedily distances any horse. The

animal is found in abundance along the upper waters of the Republican,

Solomon, and Saline. I prefer its meat to that of either the buffalo or

antelope. The horns of a fine male form a pleasing trophy to look at,

when the hunter's joints have been stiffened by rheumatism or age.

TURKEY HUNTING.

Wild turkeys exist in great numbers along the creeks, over the whole

western half of Kansas, and, where they have never been hunted, are so

tame as to afford but little sport. Cunning is their natural instinct,

however, and at once comes to the rescue, when needed. After a few have

been shot, the remainder will leave the narrow skirt of creek timber

instantly, and escape among the ravines by fast running, defying any

pursuit except in the saddle. Even then if they can get out of sight for

a moment, they will often escape. While the rider is pressing forward in

the direction a tired turkey was last seen, the bird will hide and let

him pass; or, turning the instant it is hidden by the brow of the

ravine, it will take a backward course, passing, if necessary, close to

the horse. As another illustration of the wily habits of the turkey, let

the hunter select a creek along which there has been no previous

shooting done, and kill turkeys at early morning on roosts, and the next

night the gangs will remain out among the "breaks."

For this shooting, a shot-gun is, of course, the best, although I have

had fine sport among the birds with the rifle. When using shot at one on

the wing, the hunter must not conclude his aim was bad, if no immediate

effect is observed. The flying turkey will not shrink, as the

prairie-chicken does, when receiving and carrying off lead. I have

frequently heard shot rattle upon a gobbler's stout feathers without any

apparent effect, and found him afterward, fluttering helpless, a mile

away.

GENERAL REMARKS.

The western field open to sportsmen is a grand one. Kansas, Colorado,

Nebraska, Dakota, and Wyoming, are all overflowing with game. The

climate of each is very healthy, and especially favorable for those

affected with pulmonary complaints. A year or two passed in their pure

air, with the excitement of exploration or adventure superadded, would

put more fresh blood into feeble bodies than all the watering-places in

existence. Let the dyspeptic seek his hunting camp at evening, and, my

word for it, he will find the sweet savor of his boyhood's appetite

resting over all the dishes. After the meal, with his feet to the fire,

he can have diversion in the way of either comedy or tragedy, or both,

by listening to frontier tales. When bed-time comes, he will barely have

time to roll under the blankets, before sweet sleep closes his eyes, and

the twinkling stars look down upon a being over whom the angel of health

is again hovering.

No extensive preparation for a western sporting trip is needed, as an

outfit can be obtained at any of the larger towns, in either Kansas,

Nebraska, or Colorado.

Of the three districts just named, I decidedly prefer the former for the

pursuit of such game as I have endeavored to describe in Buffalo Land.

The eastern half of Kansas furnishes chicken and quail shooting. The

birds have increased rapidly during late years, and at any point fifty

miles west of the eastern line, the sportsman will find plenty of work

for a dog and gun. The ground lies well for good shooting, being a

gently rolling prairie, with plenty of watering-places. The cover is

excellent, and with a good dog there is little trouble, between August

and November, in flushing the chickens singly, and getting an excellent

record out of any covey.

Wild fowl shooting is poor, there being no lakes or feeding-grounds. The

best sport of that kind I ever had was in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

WHAT TO DO, IF LOST ON THE PLAINS.

There have been several instances in which gentlemen, led away from

their party in the excitement of the chase, when wishing to return,

suddenly found themselves lost. Judge Corwin, of Urbana, Ohio,

separated in this manner from his party, wandered for two days on the

plains south of Hays City, subsisting on a little corn which had been

dropped by some passing wagon. He was found, utterly exhausted, by

California Bill, just as a severe snow-storm had set in. Persons thus

lost should remember that buffalo trails run north and south, and the

Pacific Railroads east and west. It will be easy to call to mind on

which side it was that the party left the road in starting out, and it

then becomes a simple matter to regain the rails, and follow them to the

first station.

THE NEW FIELD FOR SPORTSMEN.

South of Kansas is the Indian Territory, which probably has within it a

larger amount of game than any spot of similar size on our continent. It

fairly swarms with wild beasts and birds. At sunset one may see hundreds

of turkeys gathering to their roosts. Buffalo, elk, antelope, and deer

of several varieties, may be found and hunted to the heart's content.

Within the next two years this territory will be the paradise of all

sportsmen. It can now be reached by wagoning fifty miles or so beyond

the terminus of the A. T. & Santa Fe Railroad. But the savage, hostile

and treacherous, stands at the entrance of this fair land and forbids

further advance. While there is good hunting, there is also a

disagreeable probability of being hunted. Many of the tribes which

formerly roamed all over the plains are now gathered in the Indian

Territory. Jealous of their rights, they are apt to repay intrusion upon

them with death.

The white kills for sport alone the game which is the entire support of

the savage. I have often stood among the rotting carcasses of hundreds

of buffaloes, and seen the beautiful skins decaying, and tons of richest

meat feeding flies and maggots; and, standing there, I have felt but

little surprise that the savage should consider such wanton destruction

worthy of death. In the States, game is protected at least during the

breeding season; but no period of the year is sacred from the spirit of

slaughter which holds high revel in Buffalo Land.

It is manifest, however, that over the Indian Territory history will

soon repeat itself. Railroads are pushing steadily forward; 1872 is

already seeing the beginning of the end. The savage must flee still

further westward, and the valleys and prairies which he is now jealously

protecting will be invaded first by the sportsman, and then by the

farmer. Perhaps, before that time, Congress may have taken the matter in

hand, and passed laws which will have saved the noblest of our game from

at least immediate extinction.

APPENDIX.

CHAPTER THIRD.

ADDITIONAL FACTS CONCERNING THE NATURAL FEATURES, RESOURCES, ETC., OF

THE GREAT PLAINS AND CONTIGUOUS TERRITORY.

APPENDIX.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTER THIRD.

PAGE

"BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES," 467

THE GREAT WEST, 469

FALL OF THE RIVERS, 470

THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND VALLEYS OF BUFFALO LAND, 470

THE VALLEY OF THE PLATTE, 470

THE SOLOMON AND SMOKY HILL RIVERS, 471

THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, 472

STOCK RAISING IN THE GREAT WEST, 474

THE CATTLE HIVE OF NORTH AMERICA, 477

THE CLIMATE OF THE PLAINS, 479

CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE PLAINS, 482

THE TREES AND FUTURE FORESTS OF THE PLAINS, 484

THE SUPPLY OF FUEL, 486

DISTRICTS CONTIGUOUS TO THE PLAINS, 487

THE VALLEYS OF THE WHITE EARTH AND NIOBRARA, 492

NEW MEXICO--ITS SOIL, CLIMATE, RESOURCES, ETC., 494

THE DISAPPEARING BISON, 500

THE FISH WITH LEGS, 501

THE MOUNTAIN SUPPLY OF LUMBER FOR THE PLAINS, 502

CHAPTER III.

_ADDITIONAL FACTS CONCERNING THE NATURAL FEATURES OF THE GREAT

PLAINS; THEIR PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND VALLEYS; THEIR CLIMATE, ETC.,

ETC._

"BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES."

In my endeavors to place Buffalo Land before the public in its true

light, I have felt a desire, as earnest as it is natural, that my

readers should feel that the subject has been justly treated. The

opinions of any one individual are liable to be formed too hastily, and

the country which before one traveler stretches away bright and

beautiful, may appear full of gloomy features to another, who views it

under different circumstances. A late dinner and a sour stomach, before

now, have had more to do with an unfavorable opinion concerning a new

town or country than any actual demerits. No two pairs of spectacles

have precisely the same power, and defects ofttimes exist in the glass,

rather than the vision.

These considerations have been brought to my mind with especial force

when, after giving an account of our own expedition, I have searched

through the records of others. A portion of the descriptions which I

have been able to find are the mature productions of travelers who,

perched upon the top of a stage-coach, or snugly nestled inside, have

undertaken to write a history of the country while rattling through it

at the best rate of speed ever attained by the "Overland Mail." What the

writers of this class lack in proper acquaintance with their subject

they usually make up by an air of profoundness, and positiveness in

expression, and the result has more than once been the foisting upon the

public of a species of exaggeration and absurdity which Baron Munchausen

himself could scarcely excel.

As a rather curious illustration of the numerous absurdities which have

obtained currency concerning the plains, may be mentioned the statement

published more than once during the winter of 1871-2, to the effect that

the snow of that region is different in character from that which falls

elsewhere. In support of this assumption, the fact is adduced that

snow-plows sometimes have but little effect upon it, on account of its

peculiar hardness, being pushed upon it, instead of through it. A little

more careful examination, however, would have discovered that the snow

itself is essentially similar to that which descends elsewhere, but that

the wind which drives it into the "cuts" and ravines also carries with

it a large amount of sand and surface dirt; and this, packing with the

snow, causes the firmness in question.

The valuable surveys being made from time to time under the auspices of

the Government, in charge of persons of experience and sagacity, are

doing much to replace this superficial knowledge with a more correct

comprehension of what the plains really are; and, altogether, we may

well hope that the time is not far distant when this whole wonderful

region will be as well understood as any portion of the national

domain.

As the object of this work is to place before its readers all the

essential information now obtainable concerning the great plains, no

apology will be necessary for adding some of the observations and

opinions of other competent writers upon the same subject. By far the

most valuable source which I have found to draw from in this connection,

is the comprehensive report published by Government, and bearing the

title of "United States Geological Survey of Wyoming and Contiguous

Territory, 1870. Hayden."

THE GREAT WEST.

Prof. Thomas informs us, in his report (embodied in Hayden's survey),

that, lying east of the divide, "the broad belt of country situated

between the 99th and 104th meridians, and reaching from the Big Horn

Mountains on the north to the Llano Estacado on the south, contains one

hundred and fifty thousand square miles. If but one-fifth of it could be

brought under culture and made productive, this alone, when fully

improved, would add $400,000,000 to the aggregate value of the lands of

the nation. And, taking the lowest estimate of the cash value of the

crops of 1869 per acre, it would give an addition of more than

$200,000,000 per annum to the aggregate value of our products.

"One single view from a slightly elevated point often embraces a

territory equal to one of the smaller States, taking in at one sweep

millions of acres. Eastern Colorado and Eastern Wyoming each contains as

much land sufficiently level for cultivation as the entire cultivated

area of Egypt."

FALL OF THE RIVERS.

The fall of the principal rivers traversing the region above named is

about as follows: Arkansas, to the 99th meridian, eleven to fifteen feet

to the mile; the Canadian, the same; the South Platte, from Denver to

North Platte, ten feet to the mile; the North Platte, to Fort Fetterman,

seven feet to the mile. The descent of the country from Denver Junction

to Fort Hays is nine feet to the mile. Thus it will be seen that

abundant fall is obtainable to irrigate all the lands adjacent.

THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND VALLEYS OF BUFFALO LAND.

The Platte (or Nebraska), the Solomon, the Smoky Hill, and the Arkansas,

are the four largest rivers of Buffalo Land proper, and form natural

avenues to the eastward from the mountains which shut it in upon the

west.

THE VALLEY OF THE PLATTE.

Describing this, Hayden says: "West of the mouth of the Elk Horn River,

the valley of the Platte expands widely. The hills on either side are

quite low, rounded, and clothed with a thick carpet of grass. But we

shall look in vain for any large natural groves of forest trees, there

being only a very narrow fringe of willows or cottonwoods along the

little streams. The Elk Horn rises far to the north-west in the prairie

near the Niobrara, and flows for a distance of nearly two hundred miles

through some of the most fertile and beautiful lands in Nebraska. Each

of its more important branches, as Maple, Pebble, and Logan Creeks, has

carved out for itself broad, finely-rounded valleys, so that every acre

may be brought under the highest state of cultivation.

"The great need here will be timber for fuel and other economical

purposes, and also rock material for building. Still the resources of

this region are so vast that the enterprising settler will devise plans

to remedy all these deficiencies. He will plant trees, and thus raise

his own forests and improve his lands in accordance with his wants and

necessities.

"These valleys have always been the favorite places of abode for

numerous tribes of Indians from time immemorial, and the sites of their

old villages are still to be seen in many localities. The buffalo, deer,

elk, antelope, and other kinds of wild game, swarmed here in the

greatest numbers, and, as they recede farther to the westward into the

more arid and barren plains beyond the reach of civilization, the wild

nomadic Indian is obliged to follow. One may travel for days in this

region and not find a stone large enough to toss at a bird, and very

seldom a bush sufficient in size to furnish a cane."

THE SOLOMON AND SMOKY HILL RIVERS.

The Solomon and Smoky Hill Rivers, while possessing some of the general

characteristics of the Platte, have more timber, and the entire

surrounding country is uniformly rolling. The Smoky Hill is a visible

stream only after reaching the vicinity of Pond Creek, near Fort

Wallace. Above that point a desolate bed of sand hides the water flowing

beneath. We have spoken fully of these sections elsewhere.

THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

The Arkansas, passing through the southern portion of the plains, has

wide, rich bottoms, with a more sandy soil than is found on the streams

north. Its small tributaries have considerable timber. All these valleys

are being settled rapidly.

Again consulting Prof. Thomas' report, we find that "the Arkansas River,

rising a little north-west of South Park, runs south-east to Poncho

Pass, where, turning a little more toward the east, it passes through a

canyon for about forty miles, emerging upon the open country at Canyon

City. From this point to the Eastern boundary of the Territory it runs

almost directly east.

"The mountain valley has an elevation of between seven and eight

thousand feet above the sea, while that of the plain country lying east

of the range varies from six thousand near the base of the mountains to

about three thousand five hundred feet at the eastern boundary of the

Territory. From Denver to Fort Hays, a distance of three hundred and

forty-seven miles, the fall is three thousand two hundred and seven

feet, or a little over nine feet to the mile.

"The Arkansas River, from the mouth of the Apishpa to the mouth of the

Pawnee, a distance of two hundred and six miles, has the remarkable fall

of two thousand four hundred and eight feet, or more than eleven feet to

the mile.

"The headwaters of the Arkansas are in an oval park, situated directly

west of the South Park. The altitude of this basin is probably between

eight and nine thousand feet above the level of the sea; the length is

about fifty miles from north to south, and twenty or thirty miles in

width at the middle or widest point. At the lower or southern end an

attempt has been made to cultivate the soil, which bids fair to prove a

success. Around the Twin Lakes, at the extreme point, oats, wheat,

barley, potatoes, and turnips have been raised, yielding very fair

crops. Below this basin the river, for twenty miles, passes through a

narrow canyon, along which, with considerable difficulty, a road has

been made. Emerging from this, it enters the 'Upper Arkansas Valley'

proper, which is a widening of the bottom lands from two to six or eight

miles. This valley is some forty or fifty miles in length, and very

fertile.

"The principal tributaries of the Arkansas that flow in from the south,

east of the mountains, are Hardscrabble and Greenhorn Creeks (the St.

Charles is a branch of the latter), Huerbano River, which has a large

tributary named Cuchara; Apishpa River, Timpas Creek, and Purgatory

River. On the north side, Fountain Gui Bouille River and Squirrel Creek

are the principal streams affording water.

"This entire district affords broad and extensive grazing fields for

cattle and sheep, and quite a number of herders and stock-raisers are

beginning already to spread out their flocks and herds over these broad

areas of rich and nutritious grasses. One of the finest meadows, of

moderate extent, that I saw in the Territory, was on the divide near the

head of Monument Creek, and near by was a large pond of cool, clear

water. The temperature of this section is somewhat similar to that of

Northern Missouri, and all the products grown there can be raised here,

some with a heavier yield and of a finer quality, as wheat, oats, etc.,

while others, as corn, yield less, and are inferior in quality."

As we descend the Arkansas, the valley becomes broader, and it is often

difficult to tell where the bottom ceases and the prairie commences.

This stream attracted such a large portion of the immigration of 1871

that it is already settled upon for some distance above Fort Zarah. The

soil is very rich, the climate pleasant and healthy, and good success

attends both stock and crop-raising.

STOCK-RAISING IN THE GREAT WEST.

Mr. W. N. Byers, who has lived for many years in Colorado, lately

contributed the following valuable article to the _Rocky Mountain News_,

treating more particularly of the western half of the plains:

"After the mining interest, which must always take rank as the first

productive industry in the mountain territories of the West,

stock-raising will doubtless continue next in importance. The

peculiarities of climate and soil adapt the grass-covered country west

of the ninety-eighth degree of longitude especially to the growth and

highest perfection of horses, cattle, and sheep. The earliest civilized

explorers found the plains densely populated with buffalo, elk, deer,

and antelope, their numbers exceeding computation. Great nations of

Indians subsisted almost entirely by the fruits of the chase, but, with

the rude weapons used, were incapable of diminishing their numbers. With

the advent of the white man and the introduction of fire-arms, and to

supply the demands of commerce, these wild cattle have been slaughtered

by the million, until their range, once six hundred miles wide from east

to west, and extending more than two thousand miles north and south,

over which they moved in solid columns, darkening the plains, has been

diminished to an irregular belt, a hundred and fifty miles wide, in

which only scattering herds can be found, and they seldom numbering ten

thousand animals.

"There is no reason why domestic cattle may not take their place. The

climate, soil, and vegetation are as well adapted to the tame as to the

wild. The latter lived and thrived the year round all the way up to

latitude fifty degrees north. Twenty years' experience proves that the

former do equally well upon the same range, and with the same lack of

care. Time, the settlement of the country, the growing wants of

agriculture, the encroachment of tilled fields, will gradually narrow

the range, as did semi-civilization that of the buffalo--first from the

Mississippi Valley westward, where that process is already seen, and

then from the Rocky Mountains toward the east; but as yet the range is

practically unlimited, and for many years to come there will be room to

fatten beeves to feed the world.

"This great pasture land covers Western Texas, Indian Territory, Kansas,

Nebraska, and Dakota, Eastern New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and

Montana, and extends far into British America. The southerly and

south-easterly portions produce the largest growth of grass, but it

lacks the nutritious qualities of that covering the higher and drier

lands farther north and west. Rank-growing and bottom-land grasses

contain mostly water: they remain green until killed by frost, when

their substance flows back to the root, or is destroyed by the action of

the elements. The dwarf grass of the higher plains makes but a small

growth, but makes that very quickly in the early spring, and then, as

the rains diminish and the summer heat increases, it dies and cures into

hay where it stands; the seed even, in which it is very prolific,

remains upon the stalk, and, though very minute, is exceedingly

nutritious.

"In so far as the relative advantages of different portions of this wide

region may be thought by many to preponderate over one another, we do

not appreciate them at all, but would as soon risk a herd in the valley

of the Upper Missouri, the Yellowstone, or the Saskachewan, as along the

Arkansas, the Canadian, or Red River. If any difference, the grass is

better north than south. One year the winter may be more severe in the

extreme north; the next it may be equally so in the south; and the third

it may be most inclement midway between the two extremes; or, what is

more common, the severe storms and heavy snows may follow irregular

streaks across the country at various points. There are local causes and

effects to be considered, such as permanently affect certain localities

favorably or the contrary. For instance, nearer the western border of

the plains there is less high wind, because the lofty mountain ranges

form a shelter or wind breaker. Of local advantages, detached ranges of

mountains, hills, or broken land, timber, brush, and deep ravines or

stream-beds are the most important in furnishing shelter, and, as a

general thing, better and always more varied pasture ground.

"There is never rain upon the middle and northern plains during the

winter months. When snow comes it is always dry, and never freezes to

stock. The reverse is the case in the Northern and Middle States, where

winter storms often begin with rain, which is followed by snow, and

conclude with piercing wind and exceeding cold. Stock men can readily

appreciate the effect of such weather upon stock exposed to its

influence.

"The soil of the plains is very much the same every-where. To a casual

observer it looks sterile and unpromising, but, when turned by the plow

or spade, is found very fertile. Near the mountains it is filled with

coarse rock particles, and under the action of the elements these become

disproportionately prominent on the surface. Receding from the

mountains, it becomes gradually finer, until gravel and bits of broken

stone are no longer seen. Being made up from the wash and wearing away

of the mountains, alkaline earths enter largely into its composition,

supplying inexhaustible quantities of those properties which the eastern

farmer can secure only by the application of plaster, lime, and like

manures. These make the rich, nutritious grasses upon which cattle

thrive so remarkably, and to the constant wonder of new-comers, who can

not reconcile the idea of such comparatively bare and barren-looking

plains with the fat cattle that roam over them.

"Besides the plains, there is a vast extent of pasture-lands in the

mountains. Wherever there is soil enough to support vegetation, grass is

found in abundance, to a line far above the limit of timber growth, and

almost to the crest of the snowy range. These high pastures, however,

are suitable only for summer and autumn range; but in portions of the

great parks and large valleys, most parts of which lie below eight

thousand feet altitude above the sea, cattle, horses, and sheep live and

thrive the year round. The cost of raising a steer to the age of five

years, when he is at a prime age for market, is believed to be about

seven dollars and a half, or one dollar and a half per year. A number of

estimates given us by stock men, running through several years, place

the average at about that figure. That contemplates a herd of four

hundred or more. Smaller lots of cattle will generally cost relatively

more. The items of expense are herding, branding, and salt--nothing for

feed."

THE CATTLE-HIVE OF NORTH AMERICA.

In this connection we may very properly quote from the same writer the

following paragraph in regard to the source from whence all the cattle

are now brought--that great natural breeding ground, the prairie land of

Texas.

"Texas is truly the cattle-hive of North America. While New York, with

her 4,000,000 inhabitants, and her settlements two and a half centuries

old, has 748,000 oxen and stock cattle; while Pennsylvania, with more

than 3,000,000 people, has 721,000 cattle; while Ohio, with 3,000,000

people, has 749,000 cattle; while Illinois, with 2,800,000 people, has

867,000 cattle; and while Iowa, with 1,200,000 people, has 686,000

cattle; Texas, forty years of age, and with her 500,000 people, had

2,000,000 head of oxen and other cattle, exclusive of cows, in 1867, as

shown by the returns of the county assessors.

"In 1870, allowing for the difference between the actual number of

cattle owned and the number returned for taxation, there must be fully

3,000,000 head of beeves and stock cattle. This is exclusive of cows,

which, at the same time, are reported at 600,000 head. In 1870 they must

number 800,000--making a grand total of 3,800,000 head of cattle in

Texas. One-fourth of these are beeves, one-fourth are cows, and the

other two-fourths are yearlings and two-year olds.

"There would, therefore, be 950,000 beeves, 950,000 cows, and 1,900,000

young cattle. There are annually raised and branded 750,000 calves.

These cattle are raised on the great plains of Texas, which contain

152,000,000 acres. In the vast regions watered by the Rio Grande,

Nueces, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Colorado, Leon, Brazos, Trinity, Sabine,

and Red Rivers, these millions of cattle graze upon almost tropical

growths of vegetation. They are owned by the ranchmen, who own from

1,000 to 75,000 head each."

As specimen ranches, may be named the following: Santa Catrutos Ranch

belongs to Richard King. Amount of land, 84,132 acres. The stock

consists of 65,000 cattle, 10,000 horses, 7,000 sheep, 8,000 goats.

Three hundred Mexicans are employed, and 1,000 saddle horses, on the

place. O'Connor's ranch, near Goliad, is an estate possessing about

50,000 cattle. The Robideaux ranch, on the Gulf, belonging to Mr.

Kennedy, contains 142,840 acres of land, and has 30,000 beef cattle in

addition to other stock.

THE CLIMATE OF THE PLAINS.

Mr. R. S. Elliott, who has studied this matter carefully, says: "The

plains have been so often described as a rainless region that great

misconception in regard to the climate has prevailed. The absolute

precipitation is much greater than has been in past years supposed, and

is due to other causes. Meteorologists who have described the rain-fall

of the plains as derived only or principally from the remaining moisture

of winds from the Pacific, after the passage of the Nevada and Rocky

Mountain ranges, have been greatly in error, and the better conclusion

now is, with all authorities who have given any special attention to the

subject, that the moisture which fertilizes the Mississippi Valley,

including the broad, grassy plains, is derived from the Gulf of Mexico.

"At Fort Riley about sixty-nine per cent, of the annual precipitation is

in spring and summer; at Fort Kearney, eighty-one; and at Fort Laramie,

seventy-two per cent. From observations at Forts Harker, Hays, and

Wallace, on the line of this road, the same rule seems to hold good.

Records have not been long enough continued at these three posts to give

a long average, but the mean appears to be between seventeen and

nineteen inches at Hays and Wallace, and possibly rather more at Harker.

The actual average for 1868 and 1869 at Hays is 18.76 inches, and for

the first six months of 1870 the record is 10.68 inches. At Wallace the

record for 1869 was over seventeen inches, and in 1870, up to October 1,

about the same amount had fallen.

"Without records there can be only conjecture; and I can only remark

that there does not seem to be much diminution in the annual rain-fall

until we get as far west as the one hundred and third meridian. Thence

to the base of the mountains (except perhaps in the timbered portions of

the great divide south of the line of this railway) the annual average

may be possibly two or three inches less than in the midst of the

plains--a peculiarity explained, hypothetically, by the fact that the

region 'lies to the westward of the general course of the moisture

currents of air flowing northward from the Gulf of Mexico, and is so

near the mountains as to lose much of the precipitation that localities

in the plains east and north-east are favored with. The mountains seem

to exercise an influence--electrical and magnetical--in attracting

moisture, which is condensed in the cooler regions of their summits,

while the plains at their feet may be parched and heated to excess.'

This explanation may be fanciful, but the fact remains that near the

mountains the rains seem to decrease north of the great divide;

fortunately, however, this occurs in a region where irrigation may be

applied extensively and where there is sufficient moisture to nourish

bountiful crops of grass.

"The vegetation of the plains along wagon tracks and rail road

embankments shows a capability of production scarcely suggested by the

surface where undisturbed: wherever the earth is broken up, the wild

sunflower (_Helianthus_), and others of the taller-growing plants,

though previously unknown in the vicinity, at once spring up.

"I have been on the plains all the time since early in May till this

date (22d of September). There has been much dry weather, but I have not

seen one cloudless day--no day on which the sun would rise clear and

roll along a canopy of brass to the west. There has always been humidity

enough to form clouds at the proper height; and on many days they would

be seen defining, by their flat bottoms, the exact line where

condensation became sufficient to render the vapor visible. I conclude,

from all this, that abundant moisture has floated over the plains to

have given us a great deal more rain than would be desirable if it had

been precipitated.

"Sometimes a storm would be seen to gather near the horizon, and we

could see the rain pending from the clouds like a fringe, hanging

apparently in mid-air, unable to reach the expectant earth. The rain

stage of condensation had been reached above, but the descending shower

was re-vaporized apparently, and thus arrested.

"These hot winds are not, so far as I have observed, apt to be constant

in one place for any considerable length of time; they strike your face

suddenly, and perhaps in a minute are gone. They seem to run along in

streaks or _ovenfulls_ with the winds of ordinary (but rather high)

temperature. They do not begin, I believe, till in July, as a general

rule, and are over by September 1, or perhaps by August 15. Their origin

I take to be, of course, in heated regions south or southwest of us; but

their peculiar occurrence, so capricious and often so brief, I can not

explain to myself satisfactorily.

"I may remark that this season, since about the 15th of July, in these

distant plains, has given us rain enough to make beautifully verdant the

spots in the prairie burnt off during the 'heated' term in July. From

Kit Carson eastward, the rains have been, I think, exceptionally

abundant. All through the summer we have had _dew_ occasionally, and it

has been remarked that buffalo meat has been more difficult of

preservation than heretofore--facts indicative of humidity in the

atmosphere, even where but little rain-fall was witnessed. Turnips sown

in August would have made a crop in this vicinity--four hundred and

twenty-two miles west of the state line of Missouri,"

CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE PLAINS.

"Facts such as these," continues the same writer, "seem to sustain the

popular persuasion that a _climatic change_ is taking place, promoted by

the spread of settlements westwardly, breaking up portions of the

prairie soil, covering the earth with plants that shade the ground more

than the short grasses; thus checking or modifying the reflection of

heat from the earth's surface, etc. The fact is also noted that even

where the prairie soil is not disturbed, the short buffalo grass

disappears as the 'frontier' extends westward, and its place is taken

by grasses and other herbage of taller growth. That this change of the

clothing of the plains, if sufficiently extensive, might have a

modifying influence on the climate, I do not doubt; but whether the

change has been already spread over a large enough area, and whether our

apparently or really wetter seasons may not be part of a cycle, are

unsettled questions.

"The civil engineers of the railways believe that the rains and humidity

of the plains have increased during the extension of railroads and

telegraphs across them. If this is the case, it may be that the

mysterious electrical influence in which they seem to have faith, but do

not profess to explain, has exercised a beneficial influence. What

effect, if any, the digging and grading, the iron rails, the tension of

steam in locomotives, the friction of metallic surfaces, the poles and

wires, the action of batteries, etc., could possibly or probably have on

the electrical conditions, as connected with the phenomena of

precipitation, I do not, of course, undertake to say. It may be that wet

seasons have merely happened to coincide with railroads and telegraphs.

It is to be observed that the poles of the telegraph are quite

frequently destroyed by lightning; and it is probable that the lightning

thus strikes in many places where before the erection of the telegraph

it was not apt to strike, and perhaps would not reach the earth at all.

"It is certain that rains have increased; this increase has coincided

with the extension of settlements, railroads, and telegraphs. If

influenced by these, the change of climate will go on; if by extra

mundane influences, the change may be permanent, progressive, or

retrograde. I think there are good grounds to believe it will be

progressive. Within the last fifteen years, in Western Missouri and

Iowa, and in Eastern Kansas and Nebraska, a very large aggregate

surface has been broken up, and holds more of the rains than formerly.

During the same period modifying influences have been put in motion in

Montana, Utah, and Colorado. Very small areas of timbered land west of

the Missouri have been cleared--not equal, perhaps, to the area of

forest, orchard, and vineyards planted. Hence it may be said that all

the acts of man in this vast region have tended to produce conditions on

the earth's surface ameliorative of the climate. With extended

settlements on the Arkansas, Canadian, and Red River of the south, as

well as on the Arkansas, on the river system of the Kaw Valley, and on

the Platte, the ameliorating conditions will be extended in like degree;

and it partakes more of sober reason than wild fancy to suppose that a

permanent and beneficial change of climate may be experienced. The

appalling deterioration of large portions of the earth's surface,

through the acts of man in destroying the forests, justifies the trust

that the culture of taller herbage and trees in a region heretofore

covered mainly by short grasses may have a converse effect. Indeed, in

Central Kansas nature seems to almost precede settlements by the taller

grasses and herbage."

THE TREES AND FUTURE FORESTS OF THE PLAINS.

Mr. Elliott continues his article as follows: "The principal native

trees on the plains west of ninety-seventh meridian are: Cottonwood,

walnut, elm, ash, box-elder, hackberry, plum, red cedar. To these may be

added willow and grape-vines, and also the locust and wild cherry

mentioned by Abert as occurring on the Purgatory. The black walnut

extends to the one-hundredth meridian. The elm and ash are of similar,

perhaps greater range. Hackberry has been observed west of one hundred

and first meridian. Cottonwood, elder, red cedar, plum, and willow are

persistent to the base of the mountains. The extensive pine forest on

the 'great divide' south of Denver, although stretching seventy to

eighty miles east from the mountains, is not taken into view as

belonging to the plains proper. Its existence, however, suggests the use

of its seeds in artificial plantations in that region. The fossil wood

imbedded in the cretaceous strata in many parts of the plains is left

out of consideration, as belonging to a previous, though recent,

geological age; but the single specimens of trees found growing at wide

intervals are silent witnesses to the _possibility_ of extended forest

growth.

"Were it possible to break up the surface to a depth of two feet, from

the ninety-seventh meridian to the mountains, and from the thirty-fifth

to the forty-fifth parallel, we should have in a single season a growth

of taller herbage over the entire area, less reflection of the sun's

heat, more humidity in the atmosphere, more constancy in springs, pools,

and streams, more frequent showers, fewer violent storms, and less

caprice and fury in the winds. A single year would witness a changed

vegetation and a new climate. In three years (fires kept out) there

would be young trees in numerous places, and in twenty years there would

be fair young forests. The description of the 'broad, grassy plains,'

given in the foregoing pages, attests their capacity to sustain animal

life. For cattle, sheep, horses, and mules, they are a natural pasture

in summer, with (in many parts) hay cured standing for winter. The famed

Pampas, with their great extremes of wet and drought, can not bear

comparison with our western plains. For grazing purposes, the habitable

character of our vast traditional 'desert' is generally conceded, and

hence it need not be enlarged on here."

THE SUPPLY OF FUEL.

Of the question of fuel for the future dwellers upon the face of Buffalo

Land, Hayden, in his report, speaks as follows:

"The question often arises in the minds of visitors to this region, how

the law of compensation supplies the want of fuel in the absence of

trees for that use. Many persons have taken the position that the

Creator never made such a vast country, with a soil of such wonderful

fertility, and rendered it so suitable for the abode of man, without

storing in the earth beds of carbon for his needs. If this idea could be

shown to be true in any case, we would ask why are the immense beds of

coal stored away in the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia, while at

the same time the surface is covered with dense forests of timber. We

now know that this law does not apply to the natural world; and, if it

did, this western country would be a remarkable exception. The State of

Nebraska seems to be located on the western rim of the great coal basin

of the West, and only thin seams of poor coal will probably ever be

found; but in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, in Wyoming, and

Colorado, coal in immense quantities has been hidden away for ages, and

the Union Pacific Railroad has now brought it near the door of every

man's dwelling.

"These Rocky Mountain coal-beds will one day supply an abundance of fuel

for more than one hundred thousand square miles along the Missouri

River of the most fertile agricultural land in the world."

Of this coal area, Persifor Frazier, Jr., says: "Those beds which occur

on the east flank of the Rocky Mountains have been followed for five

hundred miles and more, north and south; and if it be true that these

are 'fragments of one great basin, interrupted here and there by the

upheaval of mountain chains, or concealed by the deposition of newer

formations,' then their extension east and west, or from the eastern

range of the Rocky Mountains or Black Hills to Weber Canyon, where an

excellent coal is mined, will fall but little short of five hundred

miles. Throughout this extent these beds of coal are found between the

upper cretaceous and lower tertiary (or in the transition beds of

Hayden), wherever these transition beds occur, whether on the extreme

flanks or in the valleys and parks between the numerous mountain ranges.

Assuming that the eroding agencies together have cut off one-half of the

coal from this area, and taking one-half of the remainder as their

average longitudinal extent, we have over fifty thousand square miles of

coal lands, accounting the latitudinal extent as only five hundred

miles; whereas we have no reason to believe that it terminates within

these bounds, but, on the contrary, good reason for supposing that it

extends northward far into Canada, and southward with the Cordilleras.

All this territory has been omitted in the estimate of the extent of our

coal fields."

DISTRICTS CONTIGUOUS TO THE PLAINS.

The reader has now had the salient features of the great plains placed

before him in succession. The more interesting districts immediately

adjoining will well repay the reader for a brief consideration.

THE NORTH PLATTE DISTRICT.

A late writer, who has studied the country of which he speaks very

closely,[6] thus describes the North Platte District:

[6] Dr. H. Latham, under date June 5th, 1870, in the Omaha Daily Herald.

"The distance from the mouth of the North Platte, where it joins the

South Platte on the Union Pacific Railroad, to its sources in the great

Sierra Madre, whose lofty sides form the North Park, in which this

stream takes its rise, is more than eight hundred miles. Its extreme

southern tributaries head in the gorges of the mountains one hundred

miles south of the railroad, and receive their water from the melting

snows of these snow-capped ranges. Its extreme western tributaries rise

in the Wahsatch and Wind River ranges, sharing the honor of conveying

the crystal snow waters from the continental divide with the Columbia

and Colorado of the Pacific. Its northern tributaries start oceanward

from the Big Horn Mountains, three hundred miles north of the

starting-point of its southern sources.

"It drains a country larger than all New England and New York together.

East of the Alleghany Mountains there is no river comparable to this

clear, swift mountain stream in its length or in the extent of country

it drains.

"The main valley of the North Platte, two hundred miles from its mouth

to where it debouches through the Black Hills out on to the great

plains, is an average of ten miles wide. Nearly all this area--two

thousand square miles--is covered with a dense growth of grass,

yielding thousands of tons of hay. The bluffs bordering these intervals

are rounded and grass-grown, gradually smoothing out into great grassy

plains, extending north and south as far as the eye can see.

"Of the country, Alexander Majors says, in a letter to the writer of

this article: 'The favorite wintering ground of my herders for the past

twenty years has been from the Cache a la Poudre on the south to Fort

Fetterman on the north, embracing all the country along the eastern base

of the Black Hills.' It was of this country that Mr. Seth E. Ward spoke,

when he says: 'I am satisfied that no country in the same latitude, or

even far south of it, is comparable to it as a grazing and stock-raising

country. Cattle and stock generally are healthy, and require no feeding

the year round, the rich 'bunch' and 'gramma' grasses of the plains and

mountains keeping them, ordinarily, fat enough for beef during the

entire winter,'

"All this region east of the Black Hills is at an elevation less than

five thousand feet. The climate, as reported from Fort Laramie for a

period of twenty years, is 50 deg. Fahrenheit. The mean temperature for the

spring months is 47 deg., for the summer months 72 deg., for autumn 60 deg., for

winter 31 deg.. The annual rain-fall is about eighteen inches--distributed

as follows: Spring, 8.69 inches; summer, 5.70 inches; autumn, 3.69

inches. The snow fall is eighteen inches.

"There is in the North Platte Basin, east of the Black Hills divide, at

least eight million acres of pasturage, with the finest and most lasting

streams, and good shelter in the bluffs and canyons. As I have said

before, we can only judge of the extent and resources of such a single

region by comparison. Ohio has six million sheep, yielding eighteen

million pounds of wool, bringing herd farmers an aggregate of four and

one-half million dollars. This eight million acres of pasture would at

least feed eight million sheep, yielding twenty-four million pounds of

wool, and, at the same price as Ohio wool, six million dollars. Now,

this money, instead of going to build up ranches, stock-farms,

store-houses, woolen mills, and all the components of a great and

thrifty settlement, is sent by our wool-growers and woollen

manufacturers to Buenos Ayres, to Africa, and Australia, to enrich other

people and other lands, while our wool-growing resources remain

undeveloped.

"As you follow the North Platte up through the Black Hill Canyon, you

come out upon the great Laramie plains, which lie between the Black

Hills on the east and the snowy range on the west. These plains are

ninety miles north and south, and sixty miles east and west. They are

watered by the Big and Little Laramie Rivers, Deer Creek, Rock Creek,

Medicine Bow River, Cooper Creek, and other tributaries of the North

Platte. It is on the extreme northern portion of these plains, in the

valley of Deer Creek, that General Reynolds wintered during the winter

of 1860, and of which he remarks, on pages seventy-four and seventy-five

of his 'Explorations of the Yellowstone," as follows:

"Throughout the whole season's march the subsistence of our animals had

been obtained by grazing after we had reached our camp in the afternoon,

and for an hour or two between the dawn of day and our time of starting.

The consequence was that, when we reached our winter quarters there were

but few animals in the train that were in a condition to have continued

the march without a generous grain diet. Poorer and more broken-down

creatures it would be difficult to find. In the spring they were in as

fine condition for commencing another season's work as could be desired.

A greater change in their appearance could not have been produced even

if they had been grain-fed and stable-housed all winter. Only one was

lost, the furious storm of December coming on before it had gained

sufficient strength to endure it. The fact that seventy exhausted

animals, turned out to winter on the plains the first of November, came

out in the spring in the best condition, and with the loss of but one of

their number, is the most forcible commentary I can make on the quality

of the grass and the character of the winter.'

"These plains have been favorite herding grounds of the buffalo away

back in the pre-historic age of this country. Their bones lie bleaching

in all directions, and their paths, deeply worn, cover the whole plain

like a net-work. Their 'wallows,' where these shaggy lords of animal

creation tore deep pits into the surface of the ground, are still to be

seen. Elk, antelope, and deer still feed here, and the mountain sheep

are found on the mountain sides and in the more secluded valleys of the

Sierra Madre range--all proving conclusively that this has afforded

winter pasturage from time immemorial. Since 1849 many herds of

work-oxen, belonging to emigrants, freighters, and ranchmen, have grazed

here each winter.

"South of the Laramie plains is the North Park, one of three great parks

of the Rocky Mountains, so fully described by Richardson, Bross, and

Bowles. This North Park is formed by the great Snowy Range. It is a

valley from six to eight thousand feet high, ninety miles long, and

forty miles wide, surrounded by snowy mountains from thirteen to fifteen

thousand feet high. These mountain tops and sides are completely covered

with dense growths of forests; the lower hill-sides and this great

valley are covered with grasses. The forests and mountains afford ample

shelter from sweeping winds. Here, as well as on the Laramie plains,

the buffalo grazed in great herds; and here the Ute hunters, from some

hidden canyons, dashed down among them on their trained and fleet

ponies, shooting their arrows with unerring aim on all sides, and having

such glorious sport as kings might court and envy. The Indians are now

gone from this valley, and the buffalo nearly so. On the two million

acres in this valley not twenty head of cattle graze.

"This great park, splendidly watered by the three forks of the Platte,

and by a hundred small streams that drain these lofty mountains of their

snows and rains--rich in all kinds of nutritious grasses, plentifully

supplied with timber; on the tertiary coal fields, with iron, copper,

lead, and gold--has not one real settler. There are a few miners, but

where there should be flocks and herds of sheep and cattle without

number, there is only the wild game--the elk, antelope, and deer."

THE VALLEYS OF THE WHITE EARTH AND NIOBRARA.

These streams are branches of the Missouri--the one mainly in Dakota

Territory, and the other in Nebraska. The following graphic paragraphs

concerning them are from Hayden again:

"I have spent many days exploring this region (the White Earth Valley)

when the thermometer was 112 deg. in the shade, and there was no water

suitable for drinking purposes within fifteen miles. But it is only to

the geologist that this place can have any permanent attraction. He can

wind his way through the wonderful canyons among some of the grandest

ruins in the world. Indeed, it resembles a gigantic city fallen to

decay. Domes, towers, minarets and spires may be seen on every side,

which assume a great variety of shapes when viewed in the distance. Not

unfrequently the rising or the setting sun will light up these grand old

ruins with a wild, strange beauty, reminding one of a city illuminated

in the night, when seen from some high point. The harder layers project

from the sides of the valley or canyon with such regularity that they

appear like seats, one above the other, of some vast amphitheater.

"It is at the foot of these apparent architectural remains that the

curious fossil treasures are found. In the oldest beds we find the teeth

and jaws of a Hyopotamus, a river-horse much like the hippopotamus,

which must have sported in his pride in the marshes that bordered this

lake. So, too, the Titanotherum, a gigantic pachyderm, was associated

with a species of hornless rhinoceros. These huge rhinoceroid animals

appear at first to have monopolized this entire region, and the plastic,

sticky clay of the lowest bed of this basin, in which the remains were

found, seems to have formed a suitable bottom of the lake in which these

thick-skinned monsters could wallow at pleasure."

Of the _fauna_ of the Niobrara and Loup Fork Valleys, he speaks as

follows: "In the later fauna were the remains of a number of species of

extinct camels, one of which was of the size of the Arabian camel, a

second about two-thirds as large. Not less interesting are the remains

of a great variety of forms of the horse family, one of which was about

as large as the ordinary domestic animal, and the smallest not more than

two or two and a half feet in height, with every intermediate grade in

size."

NEW MEXICO--ITS SOIL, CLIMATE, RESOURCES, ETC.

Bordering on what might be called the south-western corner of the

plains, or perhaps more properly forming, over its eastern half, part of

them, lies New Mexico. I find the following valuable description of the

soil, climate, and productions of this section in the report of Prof.

Cyrus Thomas:

"The best estimate I can make of the arable area of the Territory is

about as follows: In the Rio Grande district, one twentieth, or about

two thousand eight hundred square miles; in the strip along the western

border, one-fiftieth, or about six hundred square miles; in the

north-eastern triangle, watered by the Canadian River, one-fifteenth, or

about one thousand four hundred square miles. This calculation excludes

the 'Staked Plains,' and amounts in the aggregate to four thousand eight

hundred square miles, or nearly two million nine hundred thousand acres.

This, I am aware, is larger than any previous estimate that I have seen;

but when the country is penetrated by one or two railroads, and a more

enterprising agricultural population is introduced, the fact will soon

be developed that many portions now considered beyond the reach of

irrigation will be reclaimed. I do not found this estimate wholly upon

the observations made in the small portions I have visited, but, in

addition thereto, I have carefully examined the various reports made

upon special sections, and have obtained all the information I could

from intelligent persons who have resided in the Territory for a number

of years.

"As the Territory includes in its bounds some portions of the Rocky

Mountain range on which snow remains for a great part of the year, and

also a semi-tropical region along its southern boundary, there is, of

necessity, a wide difference in the extremes of temperature. But, with

the exception of the cold seasons of the higher lands at the north, it

is temperate and regular. The summer days in the lower valleys are quite

warm, but, as the dry atmosphere rapidly absorbs the perspiration of the

body, it prevents the debilitating effect experienced where the air is

heavier and more saturated with moisture. The nights are cool and

refreshing. The winters, except in the mountainous portions at the

north, are moderate, but the difference between the northern and

southern sections during this season is greater than during the summer.

The amount of snow that falls is light, and seldom remains on the ground

longer than a few hours. The rains principally fall during the months of

July, August, and September, but the annual amount is small, seldom

exceeding a few inches. When there are heavy snows in the mountains

during the winter, there will be good crops the following summer, the

supply of water being more abundant, and the quantity of sediment

carried down greater, than when the snows are light. Good crops appear

to come in cycles--three or four following in succession; then one or

two inferior ones.

"During the autumn months the wind is disagreeable in some places,

especially near the openings between high ridges, and at the termini of

or passes through mountain ranges. There is, perhaps, no healthier

section of country to be found in the United States than that embraced

in the boundaries of Colorado and New Mexico; in fact, I think I am

justified in saying that this area includes the healthiest portion of

the Union. Perhaps it is not improper for me to say that I have no

personal ends to serve in making this statement, not having one dollar

invested in either of these Territories in any way whatever; I make it

simply because I believe it to be true. Nor would I wish to be

understood as contrasting with other sections of the Rocky Mountain

region, only so far as these Territories have the advantage in

temperature. It is possible Arizona should be included, but, as I have

not visited it, I can not speak of it.

"There is no better place of resort for those suffering with pulmonary

complaints than here. It is time for the health-seekers of our country

to learn and appreciate the fact that within our own bounds are to be

found all the elements of health that can possibly be obtained by a tour

to the eastern continent, or any other part of the world; and that, in

addition to the invigorating air, is scenery as wild, grand, and varied

as any found amid the Alpine heights of Switzerland. And here, too, from

Middle Park to Los Vegas, is a succession of mineral and hot springs of

almost every character.

"The productions of New Mexico, as might be inferred from the variety of

its climate, are varied, but the staples will evidently be cattle,

sheep, wool, and wine, for which it seems to be peculiarly adapted. The

table-lands and mountain valleys are covered throughout with the

nutritious gramma and other grasses, which, on account of the dryness of

the soil, cure upon the ground, and afford an inexhaustible supply of

food for flocks and herds both summer and winter. The ease and

comparatively small cost with which they can be kept, the rapidity with

which they increase, and exemption from epidemic diseases, added to the

fact that winter-feeding is not required, must make the raising of stock

and wool-growing a prominent business of the country--the only serious

drawback at present being the fear of the hostile Indian tribes. But, as

these remarks apply equally well to all these districts, I will speak

farther in regard to this matter when I take up the subject of grazing

in this division.

"The cattle and sheep of this Territory are small, because no care seems

to be taken to improve the breed. San Miguel County appears to be the

great pasturing ground for sheep, large numbers being driven here from

other counties to graze. Don Romaldo Baca estimates that between five

hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand are annually pastured

here--about two-thirds of which are driven in from other sections. His

own flocks number between thirty thousand and forty thousand head; those

of his nephew twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand; Mr. Mariano

Trissarry, of Bernalillo County, owns about fifty-five thousand; and Mr.

Gallegos, of Santa Fe, nearly seventy thousand head.

"Don Romaldo Baca stated to me that his flocks yielded him an annual

average of about one and a half pounds of washed wool to the sheep; that

the average price of sheep was not more than two dollars per head; that

the wool paid all expenses, and left the increase, which is from fifty

to seventy-five per cent. per annum, as his profit. From these figures

some estimate may be formed of what improved sheep would yield.

"Wheat and oats grow throughout the Territory, but the former does not

yield as heavily in the southern as in the northern part. If any method

of watering the higher plateau is ever discovered, I think that it will

produce heavier crops of wheat than the Valley of the Rio Grande.

"Corn is raised from the Vermijo, on the east of the mountains, around

to the Culebra, on the inside; in fact, it is the principal crop of San

Miguel County, but the quality and yield is inferior to that which can

be produced in the Rio Grande Valley and along the Rio Bonito. The

southern portion of the Rio Pecos Valley and the Canadian bottoms are

probably the best portions of the Territory for this cereal.

"Apples will grow from the Taos Valley south, but peaches can not be

raised to any advantage north of Bernalillo, in the central section; but

it is likely they would do well along some of the tributaries and main

valley of the Canadian River. They also appear to grow well and produce

fruit without irrigation in the Zuni country; and the valley of the

Mimbres is also adapted to their culture. Apricots and plums grow

wherever apples or peaches can be raised. I neglected to obtain any

information in regard to pears, but, judging from the similarity of soil

and climate here to that of Utah and California, where this fruit grows

to perfection, I suppose that in the central and southern portions it

would do well.

"The grape will probably be the chief, or at least the most profitable,

product of the soil. The soil and climate appear to be peculiarly

adapted for its growth, and the probability is that, as a grape-growing

and wine-producing section, it will be second only to California. From

Col. McClure I learned that the amount of wine made in 1867 was about

forty thousand gallons, and that the crop of 1869 would probably reach

one hundred thousand gallons. I have not been informed since whether his

estimate was verified or not. A good many vineyards were planted in

1869--at least double the number of 1868. Several Americans,

anticipating the building of a railroad through that section, have

engaged in this branch of agriculture. The wine that is made here is

said to be of an excellent quality.

"Beets here, as in Colorado, grow to an enormous size, and it is quite

likely that the sugar beet would not only yield heavy crops, but also

contain a large per cent. of saccharine matter. I am rather inclined to

believe that soil which is impregnated with alkaline matter will favor

the production of the saccharine principle. I base this opinion wholly

on observations made in Utah in regard to its effect on fruit; therefore

experiments may prove that I am wholly mistaken. It is possible the

experiment has been tried; if so, I am not aware of it.

"The Irish potatoes are inferior to those raised further north. Cabbages

grow large and fine. Onions from the Raton Mountains south have the

finest flavor of any I ever tasted, and therefore I am not surprised

that Lieut. Emory found the dishes at Bernalillo 'all dressed with the

everlasting onion.' But, as to the 'Chili,' or pepper, which is so

extensively raised and used in New Mexico, I beg to be excused, unless I

can have my throat lined with something less sensitive than nature's

coating. Sweet potatoes have been successfully tried in the vicinity of

Fort Sumner and along the head-waters of the Rio Bonito. Melons,

pumpkins, frijoles, etc., are raised in profusion in the lower valleys;

and I understand cotton was formerly grown in limited quantities.

"As a general thing, the mountains afford an abundance of pine for the

supply of lumber and fuel to those sufficiently near to them. Some of

the valleys have a limited amount of cottonwood growing along them. In

addition to pine, spruce and cottonwood, the stunted cedar and mesquit,

which is found over a large area, may be used for fuel. The best

timbered portion of the Rio Grande Valley is between Socorro and Dona

Ana. The east side of the Guadalupe range has an abundant supply of pine

of large size. Around the head-waters of the Pecos is some excellent

timber. Walnut and oak are found in a few spots south, but in limited

quantities, and of too small a size to be of much value."

THE DISAPPEARING BISON.

In connection with this general review of Buffalo Land, it is

interesting to note that while civilization, advancing from the east,

pushes our bison west, another tide of human beings, creeping out from

the mountains eastward, presses the buffalo back before it. The brute

multitude is thus between two advancing lines, which will soon crush it.

In confirmation of this, I find the following in Hayden's notes of the

country along the base of the Laramie Mountains:

"These broad, grassy plains are not yet entirely destitute of their

former inhabitants; flocks of antelope still feed on the rich,

nutritious grasses; but the buffalo, which once roamed here by

thousands, have disappeared forever. No trace of them is now left but

the old trails, which pass across the country in every direction, and

the bleached skulls which are scattered here and there over the ground.

These traces are fast passing away. The skulls are decaying rapidly, and

this once peculiar feature of the landscape in the West will be lost.

Two years ago I collected a large quantity of these bleached skulls and

distributed them to several of our museums, in order to insure their

preservation.

"There is also a singular ethnological fact connected with these skulls.

We shall observe that the greater part of them have the forehead broken

in for a space of three or four inches in diameter. Whenever an Indian

kills a buffalo, he fractures the skull with his tomahawk and extracts

the brains, which he devours in a raw state.

"Indians or old trappers traveling through the enemy's country always

fear to build a fire, lest the smoke attract the notice of the foe. The

consequence is that they have contracted the habit of eating certain

parts of an animal in an uncooked condition. I have estimated that six

men may make a full meal from a buffalo without lighting a fire. The

ribs on one side are taken out with a knife, and the concavity serves as

a dish. The brains are taken out of the skull, and the marrow from the

leg-bones, and the two are chopped together in the rib-dish. The liver

and lungs are eaten with a keen relish; also certain portions of the

intestines; and the blood supplies an excellent and nutritious drink.

"Both Indian and buffalo have probably disappeared forever from these

plains. Elk, black-tailed deer, red deer, mountain sheep, wolves, and

the smaller animals, are still quite abundant, especially in the valleys

of the small streams, where they flow down through the mountains. Elk

Mountain and Sheephead Mountain have always been noted localities for

these animals."

THE FISH WITH LEGS.

But while the buffalo has become extinct in that locality, an inhabitant

of the water may be preparing (query: in support of the theory of

development?) to take its place. I quote again from Hayden:

"There are other attractions here, of which the traveler will be

informed long before he reaches the locality. The 'fish with legs' are

the only inhabitants of the lake, and numbers of persons make it a

business to catch and sell them to travelers. During the summer season

they congregate in great numbers in the shallow water among the weeds

and grass near the shore, and can be easily caught; but in cold weather

they retire to the deeper portions of the lake, and are not seen again

until spring. These little animals are possessed of gills, and, were it

not for the legs, would most nearly resemble a miniature cat-fish. But

when warm weather comes, a form closely resembling them, but entirely

destitute of gills, may be seen in the water swimming, or creeping

clumsily about on land. Sometimes they travel long distances, and are

found in towns, near springs or wet places, usually one at a time, while

those with gills are never seen except in the alkaline lakes which are

so common all over the West."

THE MOUNTAIN SUPPLY OF LUMBER FOR THE PLAINS.

In connection with this (the western) border of the plains, it is

interesting to note what the same writer says, of a future supply of

lumber:

"Not only in the more lofty ranges, but also in the lower mountains, are

large forests of pine timber, which will eventually become of great

value to this country. Vast quantities of this pine, in the form of

railroad ties, are floated down the various streams to the Union Pacific

Railroad. One gentleman alone contracted for five hundred and fifty

thousand ties, all of which he floated down the stream from the

mountains along the southern side of the Laramie Plains. The Big and

Little Laramie, Rock Creek, and Medicine Bow River, with their branches,

were here literally filled with ties at one time; and I was informed

that, in the season of high water, they can be taken to the railroad

from the mountains, after being cut and placed in the water, at the rate

of from one to three cents each. These are important facts, inasmuch as

they show the ease with which these vast bodies of timber may be

brought to the plains below and converted into lumber, should future

settlement of the country demand it."

* * * * *

"On the summits of these lofty mountains are some most beautiful, open

spots, without a tree, and covered with grass and flowers. After passing

through dense pine forests for nearly ten miles, we suddenly emerged

into one of these park-like areas. Just in the edge of the forest which

skirted it were banks of snow six feet deep, compact like a glacier, and

within a few feet were multitudes of flowers--and even the common

strawberry seemed to flourish. These mountains are full of little

streams of the purest water, and for six months of the year good

pasturage for stock could be found."

THE END.

Transcriber's note:

Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious

printer errors have been silently corrected.

Page 341: "What is the nature of these creatures thus left stranded..."

The word "is" was supplied by the transcriber.