On the prairies of the east the eye ranges over a wide expanse of waving
grass, everywhere like the sea. As, crossing the plains, we proceed
west towards the vast range of the Rocky Mountains, the country gives
evidence of the violent and irregular disturbances to which it has been
subjected. Wild rocky ridges crop out from the sterile plains of sand;
and for hundreds of miles around the country is desert, dry, and barren.
Even the vegetation, such as it is, is of the same unattractive
character. The ground here and there is covered with patches of the
grey gramma grass, growing in little cork-screw curls; and there is a
small furzy plant, the under sides of the leaves of which are covered
with a white down, while occasionally small orange-coloured flowers are
seen struggling into existence.
There are insects, however. Ants swarm in all directions, building
cones a foot in height. Grasshoppers in myriads, with red wings and
legs, fly through the air--the only bright objects in the landscape.
Sometimes the reddish-brown cricket is seen. Even the Platte River,
which flows through this region, partakes of its nature. It seems to
consist of a saturated solution of sand: when a handful is taken up, a
grey mud of silex remains in the palm. Dry as this gramma grass
appears, it possesses nutritive qualities, as the animals which feed on
it abundantly prove.
Storms break over these plains with tremendous fury: the thunder roars,
the lightning which flashes from the clouds illumines earth and sky with
a brightness surpassing the cloudless noon. Then again utter darkness
covers the earth, when suddenly a column of light appears, like the
trunk of some tall pine, as the electric fluid passes from the upper to
the lower regions of the world. The next instant its blazing summit
breaks into splinters on every side. Occasionally fearful hail-storms
sweep over the plains; and at other times the air from the south comes
heated, as from a furnace, drying up all moisture from the skin, and
parching the traveller's tongue with thirst.
Here and there are scattered pools of water containing large quantities
of salts, soda, and potash, from drinking which numbers of cattle
perish. The track of emigrants is strewn for many miles with bleaching
heads, whole skeletons, and putrefying carcasses;--the result of the
malady thus produced, in addition to heat and overdriving. Even the
traveller suffers greatly, feeling as if he had swallowed a quantity of
raw soda.
Yet often in this generally desert region, where the rivers wind their
way through the plain, or wide pools of pure water mirror the blue sky,
scenes of great beauty are presented. Nothing can surpass the rosy hues
which tinge the heavens at sunrise. Here game of all sorts is found.
The lakes swarm with mallards, ducks, and a variety of teal. Herds of
antelopes cross the plain in all directions, and vast herds of buffalo
darken the horizon as they sweep by in their migrations.