GEOGRAPHY OF THE PRAIRIES
Extent of Prairies -- Mountains -- _Mesas_ or Table-lands -- _El_
_Llano Estacado_ -- _Cañones_ -- Their Annoyance to the early
Caravans -- Immense Gullies -- Coal Mines and other geological
Products -- Gypsum -- Metallic Minerals -- Salines -- Capt. Boone's
Exploration -- 'Salt Plain' and 'Salt Rock' -- Mr. Sibley's Visit --
Saline Exudations -- Unhabitableness of the high Prairies --
Excellent Pasturage -- Rich border Country sufficient for two States
-- Northern Texas -- Rivers of the Prairies -- Their Unfitness for
Navigation -- Timber -- Cross Timbers -- Encroachments of the Timber
upon the Prairies -- Fruits and Flowers -- Salubrity of Climate.
While I have endeavored in the preceding pages to give the reader some
general idea of life upon the Prairies, I feel that I have wholly
failed thus far to convey any adequate notions of their natural
history. I propose in the following pages to repair this deficiency as
far as I am able, and to present a rapid sketch of the vastness of
those mighty territories; of their physical geography; and of the
life, as well vegetable as animal, which they sustain. It is to be
regretted that this ample field for observation should have received
so little of the consideration of scientific men; for there {179} is
scarcely a province in the whole wide range of Nature's unexplored
domains, which is so worthy of study, and yet has been so little
studied by the natural philosopher.
If we look at the Great Western Prairies, independently of the
political powers to which portions of them respectively belong, we
shall find them occupying the whole of that [Pg238] extensive
territory lying between the spurs of the Rocky Mountains on the north,
and the rivers of Texas on the south--a distance of some seven or
eight hundred miles in one direction; and from the frontiers of
Missouri and Arkansas on the east to the eastern branches of the
southern Rocky Mountains on the west--about six hundred miles in the
transverse direction: the whole comprising an area of about 400,000
square miles, some 30,000 of which are within the original limits of
Texas, and 70,000 in those of New Mexico (if we extend them east to
the United States boundary), leaving about 300,000 in the territory of
the United States.
This vast territory is not interrupted by any important mountainous
elevations, except along the borders of the great western sierras, and
by some low, craggy ridges about the Arkansas frontier--skirts of the
Ozark mountains. There is, it is true, high on the dividing ridge
between Red River and the False Washita, a range of hills, the
southwestern portion of which extends about to the 100th degree of
longitude west from Greenwich; that is, to the United States {180}
boundary line. These are generally called the Witchita mountains, but
sometimes _Towyash_ by hunters, perhaps from _tóyavist_, the Comanche
word for mountain. I inquired once of a Comanche Indian how his nation
designated this range of mountains, which was then in sight of us. He
answered, "_Tóyavist_." "But this simply means a mountain," I replied.
"How do you distinguish this from any other mountain?" "There are no
other mountains in the Comanche territory," he rejoined--"none till we
go east to your country, or south to Texas, or west to the land of the
Mexican."
With these exceptions, there are scarcely any elevations throughout
these immense plains which should be dignified by the title of
mountains. Those seen by the Texan Santa [Pg239] Fé Expedition about
the sources of Red River, were without doubt the _cejas_ or brows of
the elevated table plains with which the Prairies abound, and which,
when viewed from the plain below, often assume the appearance of
formidable mountains; but once upon their summit, the spectator sees
another vast plain before him.
These _table lands_, or _mesas_, as the Mexicans term them, of which
there are many thousands of square miles lying between the frontier of
the United States and the Rocky Mountains, are level plains, elevated
a considerable distance above the surrounding country, and may be
likened to the famous steppes of Asia. They are cut up with numerous
{181} streams, the largest of which are generally bordered for several
miles back by hilly uplands, which are for the most part sandy, dry
and barren.
The most notable of the great _plateaux_ of the Prairies is that known
to Mexicans as _El Llano Estacado_, which is bounded on the north by
the Canadian river--extends east about to the United States boundary,
including the heads of the False Washita and other branches of Red
River--and spreads southward to the sources of Trinity, Brazos and
Colorado rivers, and westward to Rio Pecos. It is quite an elevated
and generally a level plain, without important hills or ridges, unless
we distinguish as such the craggy breaks of the streams which border
and pierce it. It embraces an area of about 30,000 square miles, most
of which is without water during three-fourths of the year; while a
large proportion of its few perennial streams are too brackish to
drink of.
I have been assured by Mexican hunters and Indians, that, from Santa
Fé southeastward, there is but one route upon which this plain can be
safely traversed during the dry season; and even some of the
watering-places on this are at intervals of fifty to eighty miles, and
hard to find. [Pg240] Hence the Mexican traders and hunters, that
they might not lose their way and perish from thirst, once staked out
this route across the plain, it is said; whence it has received the
name of _El Llano Estacado_, or the Staked Plain.
{182} In some places the brows of these _mesas_ approach the very
borders of the streams. When this occurs on both sides, it leaves deep
chasms or ravines between, called by the Mexicans _cañones_, and which
abound in the vicinity of the mountains. The Canadian river flows
through one of the most remarkable of these cañones for a distance of
more than fifty miles--extending from the road of the Missouri
caravans downward--throughout the whole extent of which the gorge is
utterly impassable for wagons, and almost so for animals.
Intersecting the direct route from Missouri, this cañon was a source
of great annoyance to some of the pioneers in the Santa Fé trade. In
1825, a caravan with a number of wagons reached it about five miles
below the present ford. The party was carelessly moving along, without
suspecting even a ravine at hand, as the bordering plains were
exceedingly level, and the opposite margins of equal height, when
suddenly they found themselves upon the very brink of an immense
precipice, several hundred yards deep, and almost perpendicular on
both sides of the river. At the bottom of those cliffs, there was, as
is usually the case, a very narrow but fertile valley, through which
the river wound its way, sometimes touching the one bluff and
sometimes the other.
Ignorant of a ford so near above, the caravan turned down towards the
crossing of the former traders. "We travelled fifty miles," {183} says
Mr. Stanley, who was of the caravan, "the whole of which distance the
river is bound in by cliffs several hundred feet high, in many places
nearly perpendicular. We at length came to the termination of the
table land; but what scene presented itself! [Pg241] The valley below
could only be reached by descending a frightful cliff of from 1200 to
1500 feet, and more or less precipitous. After a search of several
hours, a practicable way was found; and, with the greatest fatigue and
exertion, by locking wheels, holding on with ropes, and literally
lifting the wagons down in places, we finally succeeded in reaching
the bottom.... How did the Canadian and other streams in New Mexico
sink themselves to such immense depths in the solid rock? It seems
impossible that the water should have worn away the rock while as hard
as in its present state. What a field of speculation for the
geologist, in the propositions--Were the chasms made for the streams,
or did the streams make the chasms? Are they not of volcanic origin?"
Nor are the flat prairies always free from this kind of annoyance to
travellers. They are not unfrequently intersected by diminutive chasms
or water-cuts, which, though sometimes hardly a rod in width, are
often from fifty to a hundred feet deep. These little cañones are
washed out by the rains, in their descent to the bordering streams,
which is soon effected after an opening is once made through the
surface; for though the clayey {184} foundation is exceedingly firm
and hard while dry, it seems the most soluble of earths, and melts
almost as rapidly as snow under the action of water. The tenacious
turf of the 'buffalo grass,' however, retains the marginal surface, so
that the sides are usually perpendicular--indeed, often shelving
inward at the base, and therefore utterly impassable. I have come
unsuspectingly upon the verge of such a chasm; and though, to a
stranger, the appearance would indicate the very head of the ravine, I
would sometimes be compelled to follow its meandering course for miles
without being able to double its 'breaks.' These I have more
especially observed high on the borders of the Canadian. [Pg242]
The geological constitution of the Prairies is exceedingly
diversified. Along the eastern border, especially towards the north,
there is an abundance of limestone, interspersed with sandstone,
slate, and many extensive beds of bituminous coal. The coal is
particularly abundant in some of the regions bordering the Neosho
river; where there are also said to be a few singular bituminous or
'tar springs,' as they are sometimes called by the hunters. There are
also many other mineral, and particularly sulphur springs, to be met
with.
Further westward, the sandstone prevails; but some of the table plains
are based upon strata of a sort of friable calcareous rock, which has
been denominated 'rotten limestone:' yet along the borders of the
mountains the base of the plains seems generally {185} to be of trap
and greenstone. From the waters of Red River to the southwest corner
of Missouri, throughout the range of the Ozark mountains, granite,
limestone, flint and sandstone prevail. But much of the middle portion
of the Prairies is without any apparent rocky foundation--we sometimes
travel for days in succession without seeing even as much as a pebble.
On passing towards Santa Fé in 1839, and returning in 1840, I observed
an immense range of plaster of Paris, both north and south of the
Canadian river, and between thirty and fifty miles east of the United
States western boundary. The whole country seemed based upon this
fossil, and cliffs and huge masses of it were seen in every direction.
It ranges from the coarsest compact sulphate of lime or ordinary
plaster, to the most transparent gypsum or selenite, of which last
there is a great abundance. By authentic accounts from other
travellers, this range of gypsum extends, in a direction nearly north,
almost to the Arkansas river. [Pg243]
Of metallic minerals, iron, lead, and perhaps copper, are found on the
borders of the Prairies; and it is asserted that several specimens of
silver ores have been met with on our frontier, as well as about the
Witchita and the Rocky Mountains. Gold has also been found, no doubt,
in different places; yet it is questionable whether it has anywhere
been discovered in sufficient abundance to render it worth the
seeking. Some trappers have reported {186} an extensive gold region
about the sources of the Platte river; yet, although recent search has
been made, it has not been discovered.[150]
The most valuable perhaps, and the most abundant mineral production of
the Prairies is _Salt_. In the Choctaw country, on the waters of Red
River, there are two salt-works in operation; and in the Cherokee
nation salt springs are numerous, three or four of which are now
worked on a small scale; yet a sufficient quantity of salt might
easily be produced to supply even the adjoining States. The _Grand
Saline_, about forty miles above Fort Gibson, near the Neosho river,
was considered a curiosity of its kind, before its natural beauties
were effaced by 'improvements.'[151] In the border of a little valley,
a number of small salt springs break out, around the orifice of each
of which was formed, in the shape of a pot, a kind of calcareous
saline concretion. None of the springs are very bold, but the water is
strong, and sufficiently abundant for extensive works.
There have been several _Salines_, or mines (if we may so term them)
of pure salt, discovered in different parts of the Prairies. The most
northern I have heard of, is [Pg244] fifty or sixty miles west of the
Missouri river, and thirty or forty south of the Platte, near a
tributary called the Saline; where the Otoes and other Indians procure
salt. It is described as resembling the _salinas_ of New Mexico, and
the quantity of salt as inexhaustible. South of the Arkansas river and
a degree or two further {187} westward, there are several of these
salines, which are perhaps still more extensive.
I have been favored with some extracts from the journal of Capt.
Nathan Boone[152] of the United States' Dragoons, who made an
exploring tour through those desolate regions during the summer of
1843. In his journey, between the Canadian and Upper Arkansas, he
found efflorescent salt in many places, as well as a superabundance of
strongly impregnated salt-water; but, besides these, he visited two
considerable salines.
Of the first, which he calls the 'Salt Plain,' he remarks, that "the
approach was very gratifying, and from the appearance one might expect
to find salt in a solid mass, for the whole extent of the plain, of
several feet in thickness." This is situated in the forks of the Salt
Fork of the Arkansas. The plain is described as being level as a
floor, and evidently sometimes overflowed by the streams which border
it. Yet the extent of salt, it would seem, did not realize Capt.
Boone's anticipations, as he remarks that it was covered "with the
slightest possible film of crystallized salt on the surface, enough to
make it white." But he explored only a small portion of the plain,
which was very extensive. [Pg245]
However, the most wonderful saline is the great _Salt Rock_,
which he found further to the {188} southwestward, on the main Red
Fork. "The whole cove on the right of the two forks of the river,"
says Capt. Boone, "appears to be one immense salt spring of water so
much concentrated, that, as soon as it reaches the point of breaking
forth, it begins depositing its salt. In this way a large crust, or
rock is formed all over the bottom for perhaps 160 acres. Digging
through the sand for a few inches anywhere in this space, we could
find the solid salt, so hard that there was no means in our power of
getting up a block of it. We broke our mattock in the attempt. In many
places, through this rock-salt crust the water boiled up as clear as
crystal ... but so salt that our hands, after being immersed in it and
suffered to dry, became as white as snow. Thrusting the arm down into
these holes, they appeared to be walled with salt as far down as one
could reach. The cliffs which overhang this place are composed of red
clay and gypsum, and capped with a stratum of the latter.... We found
this salt a little bitter from the impurities it contained, probably
Epsom salts principally." As it is overhung with sulphate of lime, and
perhaps also based upon the same, might not this 'salt-rock' be
heavily impregnated with this mineral, occasioning its excessive
hardness? Capt. Boone also speaks of gypsum in various other places,
both north and south of this, during his travel.
Mr. Sibley (then of Fort Osage), who was quite familiar with the
western prairies, visited {189} a saline, over thirty years ago, which
would seem to be the 'Salt Plain' first mentioned by Capt. Boone. The
former, it is true, found the salt much more abundant than as
described by the latter; but this may be owing to Capt. Boone's not
having [Pg246] penetrated as far as the point alluded to by Mr.
Sibley,--whose description is in the following language:[153]
"The Grand Saline is situated about 280 miles southwest of Fort Osage,
between two forks of a small branch of the Arkansas, one of which
washes its southern extremity, and the other, the principal one, runs
nearly parallel, within a mile of its opposite side. It is a hard
level plain of reddish colored sand, and of an irregular or mixed
figure. Its greatest length is from northwest to southeast, and its
circumference about thirty miles. From the appearance of the driftwood
that is scattered over, it would seem the whole plain is at times
inundated by the overflowing of the streams that pass near it. This
plain is entirely covered in dry hot weather, from two to six inches
deep, with a crust of beautiful clean white salt, of a quality rather
superior to the imported blown salt. It bears a striking resemblance
to a field of brilliant snow after a rain, with a light crust on its
top."
This is, in extent and appearance, nearly as described by several
hunters and Indian traders with whom I have conversed. Col. Logan, a
worthy former agent of the Creek Indians,[154] {190} visited no doubt
the same, not far from the same period; and he describes it in a
similar manner--only representing the depth of the salt as greater.
Everywhere that he dug through the stratum of earth about the margin,
at the depth of a few inches he came to a _rock of solid salt_, which
induced him to believe that the whole country thereabouts was based
upon a stratum of 'rock salt.' [Pg247] This was of a reddish cast,
partaking of the color of the surface of the surrounding country. Mr.
Sibley remarks that "the distance to a navigable branch of Arkansas is
about eighty miles"--referring perhaps to the Red Fork; though the
saline is no doubt at a still less distance from the main stream.
With such inexhaustible mines of salt within two or three days'
journey of the Arkansas river, and again within the same distance of
the Missouri, which would cost no further labor than the digging it up
and the transporting of it to boats for freighting it down those
streams, it seems strange that they should lie idle, while we are
receiving much of our supplies of this indispensable commodity from
abroad.
Besides the _salines_ already mentioned, there is one high on the
Canadian river, some two hundred miles east of Santa Fé. Also, it is
said, there are some to be found on the waters of Red River; and
numerous others are no doubt scattered throughout the same regions,
which have never been discovered.
Many of the low valleys of all the western {191} streams (Red River as
well as Arkansas and its branches), are impregnated with salinous
qualities, and, during wet weather, ooze saltish exudations, which
effloresce in a thin scum. This is sometimes pure salt, but more
frequently compounded of different salts--not only of the muriate, but
of the sulphate of soda, and perhaps magnesia; often strongly
tinctured with nitre. Some of the waters of these sections
(particularly when stagnant) are so saturated with this compound
during dry weather, that they are insupportable even for brutes--much
to the consternation of a forlorn traveller. In these saline flats
nothing grows but hard wiry grass, which a famished beast will
scarcely eat. [Pg248]
It is from these exudations, as well as from the salines or salt
plains before mentioned, that our western waters, especially from
Arkansas to Red River, acquire their brackishness during the low
seasons; and not from the mountains, as some have presumed. Such as
issue from thence are there as pure, fresh and crystalline as snow-fed
rills and icy fountains can make them.
It will now readily be inferred that the Great Prairies from Red River
to the western sources of the Missouri, are, as has before been
intimated, chiefly uninhabitable--not so much for want of wood (though
the plains are altogether naked), as of soil and of water; for though
some of the plains appear of sufficiently fertile soil, they are
mostly of a sterile character, and all too dry to be cultivated. {192}
These great steppes seem only fitted for the haunts of the mustang,
the buffalo, the antelope, and their migratory lord, the prairie
Indian. Unless with the progressive influence of time, some favorable
mutation should be wrought in nature's operations, to revive the
plains and upland prairies, the occasional fertile valleys are too
isolated and remote to become the abodes of civilized man.
Like the table plains of Northern Mexico, these high prairies could at
present only be made available for grazing purposes, and that in the
vicinity of the water-courses. The grass with which they are mostly
clothed, is of a superior quality. The celebrated 'buffalo grass' is
of two kinds, both of which are species of the _grama_ of New Mexico,
and equally nutritious at all seasons. It is the same, I believe, that
is called 'mezquite grass' in Texas, from the mezquite tree which
grows there in the same dry regions with it. Of this unequalled
pasturage the great western prairies afford a sufficiency to graze
cattle for the supply of all the United States. It is particularly
adapted to [Pg249] sheep-raising, as is shown by example of the same
species in New Mexico.
But from the general sterility and unhabitableness of the Prairies is
excepted, as will be understood, that portion, already alluded to,
which borders our western frontier. The uplands from the Arkansas
boundary to the Cross Timbers, are everywhere beautifully interspersed
with isolated prairies and glades, many of which are fertile, though
some are {193} too flat, and consequently inclined to be marshy. The
valleys of the streams are principally of a rich loam, rather subject
to inundations, but mostly tillable. The timbered uplands are mostly
of fair quality, except on the broken ridges and mountainous sections
before referred to. Some of the uplands, however, known usually as
'post-oak flats,' like the marshy prairies, seem to be based upon
quick-sand. The soil is of a dead unproductive character, and covered
with small lumps or mounds of various sizes, and of irregular shapes.
The country lying west of Missouri, which includes the sources of the
Neosho, the Verdigris, the Marais-des-Cygnes and other branches of the
Osage, and the lower sections of the Kansas river, vies with any
portion of the Far West in the amenity of its upland prairies--in the
richness of its alluvial bottoms--in the beauty and freshness of its
purling rills and rivulets--and in the salubrity of its atmosphere.
We have here then, along the whole border, a strip of country,
averaging at least two hundred miles wide by five hundred long--and
even more if we extend it up the Missouri river--affording territory
for two States, respectable in size, and though more scant in timber,
yet more fertile, in general, than the two conterminous States of
Missouri and Arkansas. But most of this delightful region has been
ceded to the different tribes of the Frontier Indians. [Pg250]
{194} Concerning that portion of the Prairies which lies south of Red
River, in Northern Texas, I learn from some interesting memoranda,
politely furnished me by Dr. Henry Connelly, one of the principals of
the pioneer expedition from Chihuahua to Arkansas, of which I have
already spoken, that, besides some beautiful lands among the Cross
Timbers, there is a great deal of delightful country still further
west, of a part of which that gentleman holds the following
language:--"Between the Brazos and Red River, there is surely the most
beautiful and picturesque region I have ever beheld. I saw some of the
finest timber, generally oak--not that scrubby oak which characterizes
so much of the Texan territory--but large black and bur-oak; such as
would answer all the purposes for which the largest timber is useful.
Between those two rivers, no doubt there is destined to be one of the
most dense and prosperous settlements. The fertility of the soil is
not exceeded by any I have seen; and, from the high and undulating
character of the country, there can be no doubt of its being very
healthy."
To the westward of Rio Brazos, and south of some sandy and saline
regions which border the upper portions of this stream, the same
enterprising traveller represents many of the valleys as rich and
beautiful, and the uplands as being in many places sparsely timbered
with mezquite trees. This is particularly the case on the sources of
the Colorado, where the country is delightfully watered. But
immediately {195} north of this sets in that immense desert region of
the Llano Estacado.
The chief natural disadvantage to which the Great Western Prairies are
exposed, consists in the absence of navigable streams. Throughout the
whole vast territory which I have been attempting to describe, there
is not a single river, except the Missouri, which is navigable during
[Pg251] the whole season. The remaining streams, in their course
through the plains, are and must continue to be, for all purposes of
commerce, comparatively useless.
The chief of these rivers are the Missouri, the Arkansas, and Red
River, with their numerous tributaries. The principal western branches
of the Missouri are the Yellow Stone, the Platte and the Kansas. Small
'flats' and 'buffalo boats' have passed down the two former for a
considerable distance, during high water; but they are never navigable
to any extent by steamboats.
The _Arkansas_ river penetrates far into the Rocky Mountains, its
ramifications, interlocking with some of the waters of the Missouri,
Columbia, San Buenaventura, Colorado of the West, and Rio del
Norte.[155] The channel of this stream, in its course through the
Prairies, is very wide and shallow, with banks in many places hardly
five feet above low water. It will probably measure nearly 2000 miles
in length, from its source to the frontier of Arkansas. It is called
_Rio Napeste_ by the Mexicans; but among the early French voyagers it
acquired the name of _Arkansas_, or rather {196} _Akansa_,[156] from a
tribe of the Dahcotah or Osage stock, who lived near its mouth. This
river has numerous tributaries, some of which are of great length, yet
there is not one that is at all navigable, except the [Pg252] Neosho
from the north, which has been descended by small boats for at least a
hundred miles.
_Red River_ is much shorter and narrower from the frontier westward
than the Arkansas, bearing but little over half the volume of water.
Even in its serpentine course it can hardly exceed 1200 miles from the
Arkansas boundary to its source. This river rises in the table plains
of the Llano Estacado, and has not, as I have been assured by traders
and hunters, any mountainous elevations about its source of any
consequence;[157] although we are continually hearing the inhabitants
of its lower borders speak of the "_June freshets_ produced by the
melting of the snow in the mountains."
The upper portions of this river, and emphatically from the mouth of
the False Washita (or Faux Ouachittâ) upward, present little or no
facilities for navigation; being frequently spread out over sand-bars
to the width of several hundred yards. A very credible Indian trader,
who had been on Red River {197} some two hundred miles above the False
Washita, informed me, that, while in some places he found it not over
fifty yards wide, in others it was at least five hundred. This and
most other prairie streams have commonly very low banks with
remarkably shallow channels, which, during droughts, sometimes go dry
in their transit through the sandy plains.[158] [Pg253]
It would be neither interesting nor profitable to present to
my readers a detailed account of all the tributaries of the three
principal rivers already mentioned. They may be {198} found for the
most part laid down, with their bearings and relative magnitudes, upon
the map which accompanies this work. It is only necessary to say in
addition, that none of them can ever be availed of to any considerable
extent for purposes of navigation.
With regard to the productions of the soil of these regions, the
reader will probably have formed, in the main, a tolerably correct
idea already; nevertheless a few further specifications may not be
altogether unacceptable.
The timber of that portion of the United States territory which is
included between the Arkansas frontier and the Cross Timbers,
throughout the highlands, is mostly oak of various kinds, of which
black-jack and post-oak predominate, as these, and especially the
former, seem only capable of withstanding the conflagrations to which
they are exposed, and therefore abound along the prairie borders. The
black-jack presents a blackened, scrubby appearance, with harsh rugged
branches--partly on account of being so often scorched and crisped by
the prairie fires. About the streams we find an intermixture of elm,
hackberry, [Pg254] peccan (or pecan), ash, walnut, mulberry, cherry,
persimmon, cottonwood, sycamore, birch, etc., with varieties of
hickory, gum, dogwood, and the like. All of the foregoing, except
paccan, gum and dogwood, are also found west of Missouri, where,
although the uplands are almost wholly prairie, the richest growths
predominate in the valleys.
{199} In many of the rich bottoms from the Canadian to Red River, for
a distance of one or two hundred miles west of the frontier, is found
the celebrated _bois-d'arc_ (literally, _bow-wood_), usually corrupted
in pronunciation to _bowdark_. It was so named by the French on
account of its peculiar fitness for _bows_. This tree is sometimes
found with a trunk two or three feet in diameter, but, being much
branched, it is rarely over forty or fifty feet high. The leaves are
large, and it bears a fruit a little resembling the orange in general
appearance, though rougher and larger, being four or five inches in
diameter; but it is not used for food. The wood is of a beautiful
light orange color, and, though coarse, is susceptible of polish. It
is one of the hardest, firmest and most durable of timbers, and is
much used by wagon-makers and millwrights, as well as by the wild
Indians, who make bows of the younger growths.[159]
On the Arkansas and especially its southern tributaries as far west as
the Verdigris, and up those of Red River nearly to the False Washita,
the bottoms are mostly covered with cane. And scattered over all the
south to about the same distance westward, the sassafras abounds,
which grows here in every kind of soil and locality.
The celebrated _Cross Timbers_, of which frequent mention has been
made, extend from the Brazos, or perhaps from the Colorado of Texas,
across the sources of Trinity, traversing [Pg255] Red River above the
False Washita, and thence {200} west of north, to the Red Fork of
Arkansas, if not further. It is a rough hilly range of country, and,
though not mountainous, may perhaps be considered a prolongation of
that chain of low mountains which pass to the northward of Bexar and
Austin city in Texas.[160]
The Cross Timbers vary in width from five to thirty miles, and
entirely cut off the communication betwixt the interior prairies and
those of the great plains. They may be considered as the 'fringe' of
the great prairies, being a continuous brushy strip, composed of
various kinds of undergrowth; such as black-jacks, post-oaks, and in
some places hickory, elm, etc., intermixed with a very diminutive
dwarf oak, called by the hunters 'shin-oak.' Most of the timber
appears to be kept small by the continual inroads of the 'burning
prairies;' for, being killed almost annually, it is constantly
replaced by scions of undergrowth; so that it becomes more and more
dense every reproduction. In some places, however, the oaks are of
considerable size, and able to withstand the conflagrations. The
underwood is so matted in many places with grape-vines, greenbriars,
etc., as to form almost impenetrable 'roughs,' which serve as
hiding-places for wild beasts, as well as wild Indians; and would, in
savage warfare, prove almost as formidable as the hammocks of Florida.
South of the Canadian, a branch of these Cross Timbers projects off
westward, extending across this stream, and up its course for 100
{201} miles or so, from whence, it inclines northwest beyond the North
Fork, and ultimately ceases, no doubt, in the great sandy plains in
that direction. [Pg256]
The region of the Cross Timbers is generally well-watered; and
is interspersed with romantic and fertile tracts. The bottoms of the
tributaries of Red River, even for some distance west of the Cross
Timbers (perhaps almost to the U. S. boundary), are mostly very
fertile, and timbered with narrow stripes of elm, hackberry, walnut,
hickory, mulberry, bur-oak and other rich growths.
But further north, and west of the Cross Timbers, even the streams are
nearly naked. The Cimarron river for more than a hundred miles is
absolutely without timber; and the Arkansas, for so large a stream, is
remarkably scant. The southern border, being protected from the
prairie fires by a chain of sand-hills, which extends for two hundred
miles along it, is not so bare as the northern bank; though even here
it is only skirted with occasional sparsely set groves of cottonwood
in the nooks and bends. It is upon the abundance of islands which
intersperse its channel, that the greatest quantity of timber (though
purely cottonwood) is to be found; yet withal, there are stretches of
miles without a tree in view. The banks of the Canadian are equally
naked; and, having fewer islands, the river appears still more barren.
In fact, there is scarce anything else but cottonwood, and that very
sparsely scattered {202} along the streams, throughout most of the
far-western prairies.
It is unquestionably the prairie conflagrations that keep down the
woody growth upon most of the western uplands. The occasional skirts
and fringes which have escaped their rage, have been protected by the
streams they border. Yet may not the time come when these vast plains
will be covered with timber? It would seem that the prairie region,
long after the discovery of America, extended to the very banks of the
Mississippi. Father Marquette, in a voyage down this river, in 1673,
after passing below [Pg257] the mouth of the Ohio, remarks:--"The
banks of the river began to be covered with high trees, which hindered
us from observing the country as we had done all along; but we judged
from the bellowing of the oxen [buffalo] that the meadows are very
near."[161]--Indeed, there are parts of the southwest now thickly set
with trees of good size, that, within the remembrance of the oldest
inhabitants, were as naked as the prairie plains; and the appearance
of the timber in many other sections indicates that it has grown up
within less than a century. In fact, we are now witnessing the
encroachment of the timber upon the prairies, wherever the devastating
conflagrations have ceased their ravages.
The high plains seem too dry and lifeless to produce timber; yet might
not the vicissitudes of nature operate a change likewise upon the
seasons? Why may we not suppose {203} that the genial influences of
civilization--that extensive cultivation of the earth--might
contribute to the multiplication of showers, as it certainly does of
fountains? Or that the shady groves, as they advance upon the
prairies, may have some effect upon the seasons? At least, many old
settlers maintain that the droughts are becoming less oppressive in
the West. The people of New Mexico also assure us that the rains have
much increased of latter years, a phenomenon which the vulgar
superstitiously attribute to the arrival of the Missouri traders. Then
may we not hope that these sterile regions might yet be thus revived
and fertilized, and their surface covered one day by flourishing
settlements to the Rocky Mountains?
With regard to fruits, the Prairies are of course not very plentifully
supplied. West of the border, however, for nearly two hundred miles,
they are covered, in many places, [Pg258] with the wild strawberry;
and the groves lining the streams frequently abound in grapes, plums,
persimmons, mulberries, peccans, hackberries, and other 'sylvan
luxuries.' The high prairies beyond, however, are very bare of fruits.
The prickly pear may be found over most of the dry plains; but this is
neither very palatable nor wholesome, though often eaten by travellers
for want of other fruits. Upon the branches of the Canadian, North
Fork, and Cimarron, there are, in places, considerable quantities of
excellent plums, grapes, choke-cherries, gooseberries, and
currants--of the {204} latter there are three kinds, black, red, and
white. About the ravines and marshy grounds (particularly towards the
east) there are different kinds of small onions, with which the
traveller may season his fresh meats. On the plains, also, I have met
with a species resembling garlic in flavor.
But the flowers are among the most interesting products of the
frontier prairies. These gay meadows wear their most fanciful piebald
robes from the earliest spring till divested of them by the hoary
frosts of autumn. When again winter has fled, but before the grassy
green appears, or other vegetation has ventured to peep above the
earth, they are bespeckled in many places with a species of
_erythronium_, a pretty lilaceous little flower, which springs from
the ground already developed, between a pair of lanceolate leaves, and
is soon after in full bloom.[162] But the floriferous region only
extends about two hundred miles beyond the border: the high plains are
nearly as destitute of flowers as they are of fruits.
The _climate_ of most parts of the Prairies is no doubt healthy in the
extreme; for a purer atmosphere is hardly to be found. But the cold
rains of the 'wet season,' and the colder snows of winter, with the
annoying winds [Pg259] that prevail at nearly all times, often render
it very unpleasant. It can hardly be said, it is true, that the
Prairies have their regular 'dry and rainy seasons;' yet the summers
are often so droughty, that, unless some change should {205} be
effected in nature's functions, cultivators would generally find it
necessary, no doubt, to resort to irrigation. That portion, however,
which is conterminous with our western border, and to the distance of
nearly two hundred miles westward, in every respect resembles the
adjacent States of Missouri and Arkansas in climate. The south is a
little disposed to chills and fevers; but the northern portion is as
healthy as the most salubrious uplands of Missouri.
FOOTNOTES:
[150] This discovery was verified by the finding of gold near Denver
in 1858. A reader of Gregg's book, in the St. Louis Mercantile
Library, wrote upon the margin in 1858, opposite this paragraph: "The
truth of this report has been verified this year."--Chittenden,
_Fur-Trade_, ii, p. 486.--ED.
[151] For an early description of the Grand Saline, see Bradbury's
_Travels_, in our volume v, pp. 192, 193.--ED.
[152] Capt. Boone is a son of the late Col. Daniel Boone, the
celebrated pioneer of the West. Being of practical habits, and of
extensive experience upon those deserts, much weight is due to his
observations.--GREGG.
[153] Brackenbridge's [Brackenridge's] Voyage up the Missouri River,
p. 205.--GREGG.
_Comment by Ed._ See our volume vi, p. 153, note 54; also our volume
v, pp. 191-194.
[154] James Logan was appointed agent among the Creeks shortly after
their final removal to Indian Territory (about 1838), and was replaced
about 1842.--ED.
[155] Gregg probably takes this information from Pike's journals. In
his edition thereof, Elliott Coues claims (ii, p. 733, note 18) that
San Buenaventura River was a myth of this early period. Pike describes
it as emptying into the Pacific north of California; but upon his map
it runs into a nameless salt lake, and is probably to be identified
with Sevier River.--ED.
[156] A stranger would be led to suppose we were without a system of
orthography, from the fact of our so generally adopting the French
spelling of Indian names, whereby all sight is soon lost of the
original. The French first corrupt them, and we, by adapting our
pronunciation to their orthography, at once transform them into new
names. Thus 'polite usage' has converted into _Arkan´sas_ the plural
of the primitive _Arkansa_ or _Arkonsah_; though an approximate,
_Ar´kansaw_, is still the current 'vulgar' pronunciation. _Osage_ and
a great many others have suffered similar metamorphoses.--GREGG.
[157] For the exploration of the sources of Red River, see our volume
xvi, p. 85, note 52. Gregg would appear to be one of the first
correctly to locate the headwaters of this stream.--ED.
[158] Of all the rivers of this character, the Cimarron, being on the
route from Missouri to Santa Fé, has become the most famous. Its water
disappears in the sand and reappears again, in so many places, that
some travellers have contended that it 'ebbs and flows' periodically.
This is doubtless owing to the fact, that the little current which may
flow above the sand in the night, or in cloudy weather, is kept dried
up, in an unshaded channel, during the hot sunny days. But in some
places the sand is so porous that the water never flows above it,
except during freshets.
I was once greatly surprised upon encountering one of these sandy
sections of the river after a tremendous rain-storm. Our caravan was
encamped at the 'Lower Cimarron Spring:' and, a little after
night-fall, a dismal, murky cloud was seen gathering in the western
horizon, which very soon came lowering upon us, driven by a hurricane,
and bringing with it one of those tremendous bursts of thunder and
lightning, and rain, which render the storms of the Prairies, like
those of the tropics, so terrible. Hail-stones, as large as turkeys'
eggs, and torrents of rain soon drenched the whole country; and so
rapidly were the banks of the river overflowed, that the most active
exertions were requisite to prevent the mules that were 'staked' in
the valley from drowning. Next morning, after crossing the neck of a
bend, we were, at the distance of about three miles, upon the
river-bank again; when, to our astonishment, the wetted sand, and an
occasional pool, fast being absorbed, were the only vestiges of the
recent flood--no water was flowing there!
In these sandy stretches of the Cimarron, and other similar 'dry
streams,' travellers procure water by excavating basins in the
channel, a few feet deep, into which the water is filtrated from the
saturated sand.--GREGG.
[159] This is the shrub now known as Osage orange (_Maclura
aurantiaca_).--ED.
[160] Bexar is the older name for San Antonio, Texas, which was
founded (1718) as a presidio and mission to the memory of San Antonio
de Bejar (Bexar). Austin was laid out (1839) as the capital of the
independent state of Texas. See George P. Garrison, _Texas_ (New York,
1902).--ED.
[161] See Thwaites, _Jesuit Relations_, lix, for Marquette's journal.
This quotation is found on p. 149.--ED.
[162] Commonly known as dog-toothed violet.--ED.