tm IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4^ 1.0 I.I ■^ 1^ ai22 S? U& 12.0 111 Wlau lll£ 10=1 <8 6" i. »;• Ftotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SC0 (716)872-4503 4b- CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical iVIicroreproductions / Institut cenatiian da microraproductions historiquas j«ft?HK.',^-^-jtSJt?( '1^. / Tachnical and Bibliographic Notas/Notat tachniquaa at bibliographiquaa Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy avallabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibiiographlcally uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may aignificantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. D Colourad covara/ Couvartura da coulaur Covars damaged/ Couvartura andommag6a Covars rastorad and/or lamlnatad/ Couvartura raataurte at/ou palllcuMa Cover title misaing/ La litre de couverture manque Coloured mapa/ Cartes gAographiquaa en couleur Coloured inic (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured platea and/or illustrations/ Planchaa at/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other matarial/ ReliA avac d'autres documanta D along Interior margin/ La re liure serrAe peut cauaar de I'ombre ou de la diatortlon le long de la marge IntArleure 4 Blank ieavea added during reatoration may appear within thu text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouttea lore d'une restauration apparaiaaent dana le texte, mala, lorsque cela 6talt possible, ces pages n'ont pas AtA filmAes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplAmentairea: L'Institut a microfilm^ la meiilaur exempiiiire qu'il lui a AtA possible de se procurer. Les details de r.et cxemplaire qui sont paut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibllographiqua, qui peuvent modifier una image rerroduite, ou qui peuvent oxiger une modification dans la mAthoda normale de filmage sont indiqute ci-dessous. □ Coloured pageo/ Pagea de couleur Pagea damaged/ Pages endommagAea ir^ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Ja!^ Pagea reataurtea at/ou paliiculAca I I Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dAcoiorAea, tachatAea ou piquAes Pages detached/ Pagea dAtachAes Showthrough/ Tranaparence Quality of prir QualltA inigala de I'impreaaion Includea supplementary materii Comprend du materiel supplAmentaira I I Pages detached/ [Tpi Showthrough/ I I Quality of print varlea/ I I Includea supplementary material/ Only edition available/ Seule Mition diaponibie Pageo wholly or partially obacured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refllmed to ensure the best possible image/ Lea pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un fauillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont M filmAea A nouveau de fapon A obtenir la moilleure image poasible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document eat filmA au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X J X 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X MnMMH"iM>iM*!ii» .timmmmmmmmmmmmm iar Th« copy fllmad h«r« has b*«n raproducad thanks to tha ganaroslty of: Library of Congrass Photoduplication Sarvica Tha imagas appaaring hara ara tha bast quality possibia considarfng tha condition and iagibility of tha original copy and in Itaaping with tha filming contract apaclfications. Original copiaa In printad papar covars ara fitmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impras- sion. or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or illuatratad impras- sion, and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illuatratad imprassion. L'axamplaira fiimA fut raprodult grAca A la gAnArosit* da: Library of Congrass Photoduplication Sarvica Las imagas suivantas ont At* raproduitas avac la plus grand soin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattati da l'axamplaira filmA, at an conformity avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Las axemplairas origlnaux dont la couvartura an papiar ast ImprimAa sont filmAs an commandant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraasion ou d'illustration, soit par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Tous iaa autras axamplairas origlnaux sont filmte an commandant oar la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraasion ou d'illustration at an tarminant par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Tha last racordad frama on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol ^^- (moaning "CON- TINUED "), or tha symbol V (moaning "END "), whichavar appllat. Un das symbolas suivants apparaftra sur la darnlAra imaga da chaqua microficha, salon la cas: la symbols -^ signifia "A SUIVRE ", la symbols ▼ signifia "FIN". Maps, plataa, charts, ate. may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba antiraly includad in ona axposura ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand cornar, laft to right and top to bottom, as many framaa as raquirad. Tha following diagrams iilustrata tha mathod: Las cartas, planchaa, tablaaux, ate, pauvant Atra filmAs A das taux da rAduction diffArants. Lorsqua la documant ast trop grand pour Atra raprodult an un saul clichA, il ast filmA A partir cfa i'angia supAriaur gaucha, da gaucha A droita, at da haut an bas, an pranant la nombra d'imagas nAcassaira. Las diagrammas suivants lllustrant la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 -»»" I«»l l 1i 1 < < ■ *-! o < Our Western Empire ; OR TIIR NEW WEST BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI: THK LATEST AND MOST tOMPREHINSIVK WORK ON TIIK slatts nnlf fitrritorics ^• '>'. Preface. N the summer of 1879 the publishers of this work entered into negotiations with the writer for the preparation of a work on the West; it was to be an octavo vohime of about five hundred pages; and, having had considerable experience in geographical historical works, the writer felt confident of its completion in thj early spring of 1880. But as he proceeded with his work, both he and his publishers felt that their original plan was too circumscribed for the subject before them. The country to be described was vast, beyond our ordinary conceptions of vastness; much of it had never been adequately de- scribed, and the descriptions hitherto published were as far behind the existing facts as a ten-year-old almanac. The tide of immigration had doubled and quadrupled since 1876, and what was a howling wilderness, with only a half dozen straggling settlements, five years before, had already attained the popu- lation and organization of a State. The railways, which during the six years of financial depression, had added very little to their mileage in the new States and Territories, were now stretching their iron fingers across the continent,, pioneers instead of followers of settlement and civilization. The loaded trainu groaned beneath the weight of the superabundant crops ; over all the hillsides the cattle .oamed, fat, sleek and contented, in unnumbered thousands ; all the plains were spangled with millions of white-fleeced sheep. Along both slopes of the Rocky Mountains, from Texas to British America, in the summits and passes of the Sierra Madre, the Sierta Nevada and the Cascades, as well as in the smaller outlying ranges between, and even on the hills of the lower Coast Range, gold and silver, quicksilver and platinum, copper, lead and zinc, coal, salt and sulphur, were yielding up their treasures; and every day was adding largely to the amount. The population, which was pouring into this vast empire, was composed of almost every people under the sun ; and while the leaven of sturdy law-abiding citizens from the Atlantic States was large, it re- mained to be seen whether the amalgamation would result in an intelligent and patriotic citizenship; whether education, moral principle, and higher aims than mere money-getting, would gain the ascendency. (3) A -v«,^4-S^*A%ltSSwi55-ii.^-s«J.'^'a . 4 PREFACE, Then the year 1880 proved, from almost its beginning, to he an excejilional year, cs|)ei:ially in its relations to the West. Our decennial ccnkii was to be taken, and it would be possible by the close of the year, but not earlier, to ascertain whether the boosted increase of these We^orn States and Territories was justified by the cold aid Oirdul etuuidrati'ilis qf the census supervisors. Sin hundred thousand emigrants reached our shores during the year, and more than twice that number of our own citizens migrated to the West. The railway kings were cnliiting their tyndicates aud making their combinations, wliich have resulted in a twelvcmontit in arrangements fur the sixiedy completion of four new trunk routes to tlie Pacific on our own tcnitory, and of the Canadian Paciflc on our northern border. Eleven States and Territories, heretofore either in part or wholly inacccasible by rail, ore now, or will be in a few months, provided with railroad transit across their entire breadth or length ; and the year on which we have entered is only carrying out right royally the plans and pto/ecto of its imperial pfedeceaaor. It was evident to both publishers and author that our plans required extension and enlargement, and so we went firom ordinary octavo to royal octavo ; from 500 to 700, to 1000, aixl finally to over 1300 pages. Resolved to represent what had never previously been even attempted, and what for lack of material could not have been attempted with success-Hhe present condition of each of the States and Territories «lbich go to make, up "Our Western Em- pire" — no pains nor expense has been spared to gain from every source every fact which could illustrate their topography, geology and mineralogy, climate, soil, productionSi mineral wealth, pastoral facilities, population, accumulated wealth, education and religion, with notices of the Indian tribes found in their borders. For these purposes, every book and pamphlet, ofilcial and other, every report, railroad publication, mining record, every newspaper and every telegraphic report affecting any of these States or Territories, has been carefully scanned to the number of ntore than three thousand, and t correspondence opened and maintained with many hundreds of officiBls and others. '<' The result is before the public. It hat been a labor of love, notwithstanding the toil it has required. That it is absolutely free from eaor is impossible ; but the great care which has been taken to secure accuracy leads to the hope that there are no errors of great tnagnitiide. At all eveints, it could not have been completed with as great a nteasure of perfection as it now poaaecaes, a day earlier than the present. •tf.i'rt)<-!i.'fTir. -'(if "i-tifiariw '1'%-it. '"I ■' i'')''''i-'i' No man was ever blessed with more kbdly and thoughtful friends than the writer. Every request for information has bem most f romptly and heartily \ cxcqitional II wu» tu be 3t earlier, to il 'IVrritorica I HUptTvisors. »r, and more The railway tions, which impletion of he Canadian , heretofore t>e in a few 1 or length ; royally the :d fxtennion ctavo; from to represent of material ion of each lestem Em- ource every fy, climate, ccumulated nd in their and other, . and every n carefully spondence hstanding isible; but hope that have been lay earlier than the heartily 4 rUF.FACR, } met by those to whom it was addressed ; and in many caics voluntary contribu- tions of great labor and value have l)een added. Two most valued and helpful correspondents have died while the work wan in progress: his Kxcellenry, 'Vil- liam A. Howard, (lovernor of Dakota, and Hon. Alfred (Jray, Scrrctary of the Kansas St.ite 'ioard of Agriculture. Of the living, the warm and hearty thanks of the writer are due to his Kxcellency, Gen. John (,'. Fremont, (lOvernor of Arizona, for valuable information relative to that Territory; to Hon. W. H. H. Headle, of Yankton, Dakota, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Da- kota, for much information and valuable memoranda in regard to liouthcastcrn Dakota and the Black Hills; to J. B. Power, Esq , of St. Paul, Minnesota, for a valuable essay, and many imporMnt documents in regard to Montana and Dakota; to H. H. Young, Es(i., Secretary of Minnesota Board of Emigration, for documents, etc., relative to Minnesota; to Hon. Andrew McKinley, of St. Louis, President of Missouri State Board of Immigration, for letters and valu- able documents; to his Excellency, Albinus Nance, Governor of Nebraska, for many documents; to his Excellency, J. P. St. John, Governor of Kansas, and J. K. Hudson, Esq., Mr. Gray's successor xs Secretary of the Board of Agricul- ture of that State, for documents; to Robert E. Strahorn, Esq., of Omaha, for valuable documents and descriptions; to A. L. Webber, Esq., of Hot Springs, and to United States Senator A. H. Garland, for aid in regard to Arkansas ; to A. L. Stokes, Esq., of Chicago, for valuable documents in regard to Oregon; to Edward J. Brockett, of Orange, N. J., for many valuable historical and de- scriptive works; to Charles C. Savage, Esq., of Brooklyn, for valuable docu- ments and information concerning Colorado; to Gen. N. A. Miles, U. S. A., for oflicial reports of the exploration of the Yellowstone region ; and especially to Rev. Wayland Hoyt, D. D., of Brooklyn, for his invaluable aid in regard to Montana and the Yellowstone Park. There may be others whose aid ought to be acknowledged, but whose names are not no'v recalled. If so, they will please accept the grateful thanks of one whose memory of names is less tena- cious than of loving deeds. In the hope that this book may contribute to the honor and glory of our be- loved country, both at home and abroad, the writer subscribes himself the public's most humble servant. Ln P. B. Brooklyn, February, 1881. -! '•'.'• ii:^^^^''^^'^^^^'^^^^^'^'*^''' ''^■*^'*' '■' ''•■■■'"•'■•''' }^' ■ ■W'-MSpm.i,,,- ,, -_ „ , ^y^^ljiitit^S>f10ltftlt Contents. PKirACR I TaHLK OP CoNTRNTt 7 PART I.— OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. CHAFrFR I. What it CoMPmtiiKwns— The Wmt nrvoNO T»r. Mimimippi— Its A«ia and V.t' TENT — COMPAHMON WITH OTHItR KmI'IRKII— Cl.lMATR — MdUNTArNH— NaTIIEAL Phenomena— St> ARI/oNA — Nort (ONI'tRNINil TIIVM — ArRICANH ANn ('»M>RRtl rrRtilNH IIRNRRAII.V--(.'HINRaR AND jArANMt — IIUrANO- Ammu'^m— KuRorMN* or nirr>RRNT Nationalitirr— Hrituh, I'ritirm Ammi- TAN. r.KRMAN, SCANDIJI^Vi^ f*P*^U, ll'MJAH, ^IrMtKM, »(('.— AMRRICANI RORN IN THR SrATRM r< ■ ■. j. ■•,■ , M CHAPTKR Vir. CMAHArTTiintir* Attn PrnriiARiTiM or riii' roi'in.ATioM— Ifi'MrtRoiw hnnm ortHB Ki.KNiiiNii i>r DirrriirNr NAtroN* - I'Mr Nrw r>iAi.ri'T— Spri-imkn* <>*'* i'>>(AsMik.RAi'ii>M iMiu^Nti, N|A»9(RfiA>(D Hariti nr KANrii i)WNiR» AND ft ANriiMrN— 0)1 oNrrit or inrrrRrisT WATtoNAiitiM and KRi.KiioNi— Mr.NN(iNiTi'!t~SrtiN:>ii'ni— M< RMoN»— ('athoi.ic- Rmkiratkin— Amk>- MATIilNit OK <'APITAtl»R FaRMINO PUR- I09BI— UTHRK MuPUUr hRTTLRMKNT „ Jt CHAKl KK Vlir. VARimr OF SOIIJI AND RllRPArr— Al KAtlNR I.A'^DI— TlfR I.J.ANO EsTArADO — Mk- gUITE I.ANIW — TlIK I't.AINH— TPK DaD I.AND^i— KIVRR Ho I TOM I.ANIW— SoiU — TiiR Mulatto iioiu— Tiir CiuxoLATk )[)Q1i.»— Urooraphv and (jkocinurv— (fKOI.Of;Y— C'l|ARArTFRI»TI''S OK TlIK Uund Kvprywiikhk-Nkkpi— Rarer Mktaiji — Sai.t in Urine Sprinim. I.akm, Salt Mar»iiE!i. and KN— )UNTtV— Vicinity Cbntial IN /.NY — Lkad, SaI T IM PHAl.Ttm Kl AND OCIIRU 81 Coast — KMEs or CoLp iif tIA— Thv AiN Cm- TO 65"— OMPARI- JFDRNIA, B— Gutr to 38 t, 33 TO Lands ;ation-- or Dir> rMiNT WiNM— TiiR Winim r«iNi fM* Nii«rH->^>i'i.r WiNtM— Tmr l|i»r Winim rRiiM Mkxhu — IHMitiiiiiiiv or tmrir MiiuiArioN a* tiu CotwrRV hxomu Sirrt.Ru, ^ CHAPTER X. Th« VAtiof« PRcwr««B< or Mi.-lli;MrilAKV MAKM A KtMKKB — l'. 11 KSAUINU't KxrkBiMBMT— John Iiuiwiu.l'« 1)im.-ovmv— Imtuiib ExiurBMBNt— Tub Tam*- Thb KiHKiiB - rim Diit u AND tiu "Tom"— Tub Suiicb-IIvhraiii.ic Minimi>i,N» wiikbb it IIA( }MI,*.H fBAiTIIKIk— Loi>B nB IjirWii MlNINU^ I'BVB I'ltAUNK VklN»— TMB "CovNrBv" Hock— Chimnrv«, Cm n^, or ItoNAN/Ait-t'cx kkp — i'».M>:Nr Dr- ro«iT»— CoNTAi f U>iiBa— What i» mbant »v a t'oNTArT I,i>iiK-<.'ARMnNArBi or SlIVfR A1 Rh II A% SDLPMI'RKT* — (iiil.lt KiMniNKO WITH Slil.l-lll'RRTN— MlNIWt ANII KHiairiMO Frocrhrr — HiNNiN-i A MiiAr-r— •Kdnnincj an AiHT^-CumNn A WiNiB— MToriNn— DBrrii or Mimbb— ('bbai Mbat i»r Dmhi* Mikbk- Tiik Watbb VBBV Hot, 154* F. OB MoRR— t:o«T or ri'MriNo wt AND VrNriiAriNi, Minr»— Tub KriMti'TioN or I'VRiToim and otmkr Orks— (tout with Oxidk <>r Iron-* Cort or Kki>ii(tn>n or Br>— MouRo or RRMiiinrioN— Tub rbht Mininc Kkuiuns— Piai bb Minimi i tub kbit IxK-ATiiiN«— DirruuiTirjt or I'i.ai kr Minino— Dirricui.TiKH ok l.«iii|r, or Vbin MlNINi^^TlIB HBST MlNBB BOUOII? tr BV CAriTALIsTS — TlIK IIK>r I.IH.ATIONR fOB ExrBBTt 101 CHAPTER XI. Othbb Mbtalb and Mini > "- PBowic-n — (jvicK ilveb— In ExiiiTBMrK a.: Cinna- bar— Coi'pbb — I'OUNII IN VABIOCS KoBMD, ah MaI.AI IIITB, HRO, llLUB, VBi.i.nw, ano ViTRr.ouB Cabbona''x« an» OxniBH, (JocrRB Clanck, IVritrb, Nativr, rr-'., OCt'URS IN NKABLV ALL THB STATM AND TKRRIIORIM— I-BAP AND /.INt— liOTH Occur bitmrb as (iai.bna (Kulphdrkt), Carhonatr or Oxinx, in Mmr or tkr STATRR ano TRBBITORIBS— IBON— EVBBVWHBBB and in all F0R.MS IN rilK (iBKAT- «it AHi;Ni)AN«r— Can Surri.v the World with Ibon am> ST«r.i.— I'i AriNifM~ FouND Purr and in Comhin .ion with (ioi.n, Ibidium ano Iridonmin in Cali- roBNiA, Orb(U>n, Colobaiio, anl Abizona — Tin — OocvRi ai Camitknitb or Oxidb—Nickbl— Found in IronObbs — Iridium and Osmium— Trllubium—Rabb Mrtals Found in Combination with (Iold, and thb ij^tteb aijio with (Joi'Pxb — Antimony— Absbnic—Manoanf-sb — The thrrk Found in Variuds I'okm.h in COMHINATION WITH SILVER, CorPBR, LrAD, ZiNC, AND IRON— Sui.PHUR— KnI'ND NA- TIVE AND IM Various Combinations with M(ht or the Metals— Extknmvk Beds IN Califobnia, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Nfav Mexico, Yrllowstonk. Park, etc. — Borax— In California and Nevada — Soda— In California, Nkvada, and Utah— Salt — Coal — Four Distinct Coal Fields: Eastf.rn, Uitiminoi's; Sec- ond, LioniteCbbtaceous; Third, LigniteTertiarv, hut chanckd iiv Vouanic Action to Anthbacitk; Fourth, Bituminous, and Farthkr Nor ih, An riiR.\ciTi — True Anthracite Coal also in Arizona— Asphaltum and Pkikolh m im California, Nevada, Wvomino, Colorado, and Montana— Mica — Alum- Kaolin— Wood and Charcoal aa Fuel— Mineral Springs lit i:{|.Jl.-J3Si' '.Vtifci.i* ■ . ■•-|- --t.lv 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. AoniCULTURB— ARABLK LANDS EAST OF THRROCKY MOUNTAINS— MINNESOTA F^r.MIWO Lands ank I'roducts — Dakota Territory Farming Lands — Montana Farms — Iowa Farms— Missouri Farming Lands — Neiiraska Farming Lands — Kansas Varmino— Arkansas Farms— The Indian Territory as a Farming Region— Texas Farming, ( jrain, Cotton, etc.— Revikw of Farming Lands East ok Rocky Mountains— Much Poor and Indi/ferent Farming — Revolution in Farming PRODUCKD IIV ACRICULTURAL MACHINERY— RoOT CROPS— COTfON — SUGAR — FRUIT Culture — Thxtile Fibres and Tobacco— The Rocky Mountain Region — Won- « DERFUL KkSULTS OF IRRIGATION — UeYOND THE RoCKIES— FROM THE SlERRA NE- VADA TO THE Coast Range — Califori|m — Viniculture in California— The Products of Oregon and Washington.TT iji CHAPTER XIII. Timber and Lumber — Rkcklku Waste or the Forest Growths- Only eight States AND Territories have Sufficient Forests for their own Supply, and some to Spare — Tree- Planting — The Forest Growths in Different Sections— Cal- ifornia FoKF-STS — What Tref^ \re Planted- Cotton- Wood— Osage OranCe — Catalpa — Maple, etc. — The Eucalyptus Globulus Should be Planted- Why? — Horticulture and Fruit-Culture- Floriculture — Wild Flowers — Market-Gardening M7 .' H CHAPTER XIV. New Directions in which Agricultural Industry may be Developed, and in which it is already Developing— Millet and other Forage Crops — Silk- Culture — Rearing the Silk-worm — Stifling the Cocoons — Reeling — The Filature — .Sciiapp* or Spun-Silk— Cocoons do not bear Transportation well — Advantages ok Silk-Culture in the West — The SiLKVi>.t.E Experiment — Prices or Raw Silk and of Silkwokm £ggs — Probability of a Large Demand FOR Raw Silk — Textile Fibres- Flax and Hfmp — Paper Stock : Esparto Grass, Tule, Marsh-Mallow, etc. — Ramie, Jute, Tamiico — ^Thk Nettle — Dye Stuffs— Cochineal— Oil-Producing Plants— The Olive— Cotton-Seed Oil— Hemp-seed and Linseed Oil — Oil of Sunflower Seeds and other Seeds— Se- samum Indicum — Tar Weed (Madia Sativa) — Pea-nut, Ground-nut or Goober ^-Castor Bk-an (Ricinus Communis and Sanguinarius) — Tea and Cofkee Culti- vation—Fruit AND Nut-bearing Treks and Shrubs— The Olive— Oranges AND Lemons— Pomegranate— Fig— Banana, Plantain, Pineapple, Guava and OTHER Tropical Fruits — Papaw — Nut-bearing Trees and Shrubs — Introduc- tion ok Foreign Nuts — English Walnut — Itauan Chestnut — Almond — Other Fruit-bearing Shrubs — Japanese Persimmon, Carob, Jujube, Mezquiti, etc—Trees and Shrubs containing Tannin— The Sumacs — The Wattles — The SpiRiBAS or Hardhacks 153 CHAPTER XV. Stock-raising— Cattle-hkrdino, and the rearing or Horses and Mules — Ths Grazing Lands— The Stock-growing Region, par exeeUeHee-rVfiirTsx. Care or Stock — NiniBER or Cattle in the West in 1879— The Herdsmen or Cow-boys — Stock-raising PRoriTABLs ir well managed— Stock-raising in Texas — Cu- ♦ <♦. «.!!. *«*»j^iaaTBfeed Oil- seeds — Se- 9R Goober fee Culti- Orangrs UAVA AND Introdoc- \lmond — Mezquite, Vattles — 15a MAT1C Advantages — Pasturing on the Great Ranges, or on one's own Land- Expense or rearing Cattle in Texas— The two eIxtrembs in Stock-raiiino in Texas— ExAMPLiCs — Beuinnin(> on a Small Scale — Growth op a Texas Stock- ranchk — Stock-raising in Kansas and Colorado — Joint-Stock Management or A Ranche— The Colorado Cattle Company's Estate of Hkrmosillo^— Another Colorado Company— Statistics — The Estimate ck Mr. A. A. Hayes, Jr.— The Difference of Profit bltween " Store " Cattle and " Fat " Cattle — Mr. Barclay's Account— The English View ok the Matter — Stock-raising IN THE Northern and Northwestern States and Territories — Shelter and Food for Stock— Future Advantages for Shipping Choice Stock from these States and Territories to Europe — Dairy- Farming — Stock-raising and Dairy-Farming in California — Horse-Farming and Rearing Mules — Camels t CHAPTER XVI. 16S rLES— Th« Cake op Cow-boys XAS— Cu- Shkrp-Farming and Wool-Growing — Number of Sheep and Annual Increase of LAM.IS IN each State or Territory — The Great Wool States— Improving the Breed — Merinos — Cotswolds — Southdowns — Leicesters— Tastes Dif- fer — Perils of the Flocks from Cold, Starvation, and Thirst — Winter Shelter and Winter Food Necessary in Kansas and farther North — Dis- eases of Sheep— -The Scab— The Tick— Grub in the Head— The Pale Disease — Paper Skin — The Foot-rot — The Plack-leg — Pleuro- Pneumonia, etc.— The Sheep that Browse and the Sheep that Crop their Food — Shruds and Plants Poisonous to Sheep— Sheep-Farming— The Shepherds— The Sheep- Farmer IN Colorado— The Purchase of the Sheep-Farm— Buying the Sheep — The Account— Beginning on a small Scale: the Man with only f 1,000 — Not Advisable TO Marry, or bring a Family to a Sheep- Farm when starting ■with a very Small Capital— Crossing the Breed with the Big-Horn— The Angora and other Goats— The Rocky Mountain Goat i 180 ' CHAPTER XVII. Employments in Cities, Towns and Villages- "A Man's cot to have Sand "—No P».ACE for Men easily Discouraged— Energetic and Industrious Men can do WELL— Horticulture, Floriculture, Arboriculture — How to Succeed in THESE Pursuits— Mercantile Business— The Road to Success for the Trades- KAN— Banking — The Professions, Clergymen, Lawyers, Physicians, En- gineers, Artists, Musicians, and Teachers of Music, Vocal and Instrumental —The Love of Music Illustrated— TrtB Leadville Miner and his Piano- Teachers and Educators — Provisions for Education in the States and Terri- tories — Artisans of all Trades— Machinists, -Operatives, and EMPLovfis in Manufacturing Establishments— Employments connected with Mining, Re- DUCIN3, Smelting and Refining Metals— Farming, Herding, and other Em- PLov&s— Day-Laborers— How to Spell " Lynx "-Facilities for Manufactur- ing—Water-Power, Steam-Power— Woollen Manufacture— Cotton Manu- factures AND Cotton Seed— Other Textiles— Iron and Iron Wares— Machinery— Manufactures of Wood, etc 191 CHAPTER XVIII. The Future, the Glorious Future or this Grand Empire ov the West— Tii« Cavsu which have led to its Growth— Bishop Berkeley's Prediction— Thi r.'gls^^M^i^^^iS^^^l'^'*'^^^^^^^^'^- ■^ifi!' -^'---^-^ *?■%*• -^:i^-'^-:>:iJ&<':^ ^:^^fi£sftt >'.5i, •■■! W&i;.i . *>- i II coNrBNrs. . f f t > "HMPiRie" iiR SAMT— Thb Ckrm oftk,; Grkat Republic— What the Empirk (i, AMD WHAT IT IS TO ■« — IT8 GROWTH ANIl FUTVRE CAPACITY— THE FOTURE Ctl- MATIt— TllK KUTIRB SOII. ASP PRODUCTIVENKaS — INE'.UENCR OF RAILROADS IN DE- VELOPING THIS Kkoion — The Gold and Sii.vkr Mink as aiding in the Devkl- oPMKirr of thp. Country — The Future of the Mines of the Precious Mf.taij — Ti« Wkstkrn Ru)pb or the Rocky MoirNTAiNs full of ({old and Silver— Rbwlts OF I ncreaskd Production OF Gold and 8ilver— Effect of Increased P«ouucTioN OF other Metai-s — No Metal but Tin to be Imported— Mineral Barths and Elimbnts to bb Developei>— Coal — Petroleum— Metallic and MmHiAL Products or the Far West in i88a — Thf. Production of a. d. 1900 •—VegRTABLF. I'RODUCTS — WHEAT — TWO THOUSAND MILLIONS OV BUSHELS IN 1900— Indian Corn — Corn Crop of i879--Influknces affecting the Futurk of THIS CroP'-Sukuuum— Sorghum Sugar-^Its Future Production and GoNStiMP- TION — Oats— Barley— Rye — Buckwheat — Egyptian Rice Corn — Rice, Not*— Summing up of Cereal Pkoducti — Root Crops — Potatoes — Sweet Potatoes — Other Root Crops— Difficulty of Determining theiii Amoun r— Orchajio Products- Textiles— Cotton~Thk Future Demand for Cotton — Woolt- WPOL Clip in a. d. I9Culturb, Present AND Prospective— Live-Stock in 1880 and 1900— Forest Protjucts— Various Ways in which Wood is used and destroyed — Probable Value uf Forsst fRODUcrs in 1900 — Manufactures— Future of Manufactures — Commerce- Internal ANp Interstate Commerce— Its indescribable F Examine vor Himsblf— Age beyond which CMkrkAnoN is tTNDsSriiABLE —Or E& Classes who ouoht not to coUe— Invalids— Lazy "PEofLK— Fickle CONTENTS. : Empirr is, DTURE CU- )ADS IN Df.- rilE DlVEL- S MICTAI.S — D Silver — Increased —Mineral rALLic and f A. D. 1900 Bushels in futurk ok > GoMSWai'- ice, No/e — Potatoes — -Orcma«o — Wool— ON OF Raw ToiACCO — -Summary 'acific and B, Present 1— Various of forbst 1MMERC&— -^General oif War- Colored LGE Influx MMIGRANTS IF ITS CiTI- IS' 20« '— Pl^lRA- IMERS ARE NO iNTEt- X MlSREP- rOMI'ANIES, 3RANT WAS ) Comfort lND before •S AND EM- MMIGRANT DE^riiABLE s— Fickle PIOPLS— THOIk WHO HAVE NO MONEV— AMOUNT OF CAPITAL NECF.SSARY— Tutf VARIES WITH THE OCCUPATION — WhAT ARE NecHSBARY EXPRNBKS—A LTRRNATIW FOR Men who have only £100 or lk':^, and a Family — iiiNui.K Men can an ALONU, TIIUUUH NOT WITHOUT HARDSHIPS AND I'RIVATIONB — VVllV SOME EmICRANTS ARE Ul&>AriSFIEO-^<*OUR WESTERN EMVIRK " PKIilFEHREU TO OTHER COUNTRIES BY THE Emigrant-^ Why ? , 337 CHAPTER II.' The Routes by which " Our Western Empire " is Keached-~What the Immiorant SHOULD 00 ON REACHING CASTLE UARUBN — THE JoURNEV AT BBST A WeARISOMK one — The Northeastern Region — Chicago the Point of Departure for this Region— Cautions and Advice to the Immigrant when Travbllinc— The Cen- tral Region — St. Louis, Omaha, St. Joseph, Atchison, or preferably Kansas City the Points of Departure for this Region, and for most of the South> rrn, Southwestern and Pacific Regions also — The Southern and Southwest- ern States and Territories also reached by Steamers on the Mississipii and the Gulf, and these and thk Pacific States by Ocean Steamers from New York — The Southern Region — The Southwestern — The Pacific States and TxRRiTORiEs— Time occupibd by the Emigrant Trains and the Steamexs— TABLE of DESTINil[TI'>N8, ROUTES, POINTS OF DEPAHTURK AND FARES IN THE AUTUMN OF 1879 248 CHAPTER III. The Selection of a Farm — How to obtain Land — Various Ways in which an Im- migrant with Capital may obtain a Farm very Reasonably — Advice to the iMMlGkANT WHO HAS BUT LIITLE CAPITAL — In WHAT STATES AND TERRITORIES, OR PARTS OF States, are there Arable Government Lands ? — How to obtain Gov- ernment Lands — Prices .of Arable or Farming Lands — Purchase at Auction or Privatb Entry— Purchases and Locations with Bounty or Military Lani>- Warrants— Locations with Agricultural College Scrip— Pre-emption— Th» Homestead Sales- Laws extending the Homestead Privilb<3B— Provisions for the Benefit op Soldiers and Sailors of the lath War, their Widows and Minor Orphan Children — Homestead LandS' Exempt from Liability for Debts Previously Contracted— Fees for Homeoteao Entries— Land-Warrants— The Timber-Culture Act— Terms and Mode of Purohaob/ of Timber and Stone Lands— Tub Desert Land Act-»Purchases under it— Grazing Lands.' how Secured. , ». ,. ^ . , . . 4 , 254 „r/!i« Miratiuu..LAi«De— The Unitld States Law» AAd' lUniyiATioNS op tMt LaMD OvnCI IN RBGAU] TO THEM— EXTENT OF ClWLlMk^Rn(lllT8'OF CLAIMANT»— Veins— 'How CoNTKOLLBD^TUNNELiKG—REQUiRKMRNTs^r Location and Labob — HOTV TO SECUXS A Pa/TENT for them— •PROVtSlONg tO% PL4CBR>GlAIMS— LlkilTA- YiONS AND Lis)i»— Placer and Lode Cuiims JoiNTbV-^FKn to Surveyors — Proot OF Claims— Veins Crossing— Sites pom Mills— Drainmoe, Easemenis, ETC. — Vested Watkr-^rhuit>^Homesti>ads — AoRicuLTUttAL Lands— General Psevisioif— Coal LA«tBS-^WHa oan Ckam- RB6isn>ERiNe Ciaiiis— CoNFLicrtwi Claus-^Thb ao3 ct i874 1879— Rvt.cs at trs U. S. Land Omu — £fVBCT or TUB Adl OF J87J — EjiTENT Of SURFAOB GlfMnto— ^StTRVAeK RfOHT*^ ;^ The Miner's Laws or RuL£ST-.-lNTEftp.RETATioN of the SvAmvaa by TBB:Liui»i: Office — General Instructions from Surveyor-General- Placer Claims— ^m ^*^«S>*4Fi^ 14 CONTENTS, I Mill Sitbs— DKrirrY-SuRVKVoii's Fus— Proofs or Citizenship or Mining ClaiU' ANTS— State, Tbrxitorial and Local Kulks or Laws — Nevada Statutes — Vir- ginia District, Nevada— Reese River District, Nevada— Statutes or Oregon ^^uartz Statute or Idaho — Statute or Arizona— Mining Laws or Colorado — SUFl-LKMENTARV ACT TO THESE LAWS PASSED IN I874— THE COLORADO ACf Or 1877— Mining Laws or New Mexico 370 CHAPTER V. Other Lands in some or the States more Desirable roR Emigrants than Govekn- ment Lands— State and Territorial Lands — Agricultural College, Uni- versity, and School Lands— The Quantity, Prices, and Terms or Purchase — Other State Lands — Lands Granted to Benevolent Institutions— Desert and Swamp Lands— Lands held Under Mkxican Titles in Caiifornia, New Mexico, and Arizona — Some Danger of Conflict op Titles in the!>i>~The Texas Land System — Three Modes of Securing Homes in Texas under its Land Laws, viz.: By SETTLEk^^NT under the Homestead Donation Law; By Locating a Certificate; or hy Purchase from the State or Common School, University or Asylum Lands— No United States Government Lands in Texas —Railroad Lands— Extent op these in thk different States and Terri- tories — Range of Prices — Methods of Selling for Cash — On Short Credit — On Long Credit — The Discounts for Cash Payments — Examples — Range of Prices — The Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Western Pacific, and Southern Pacific Lands— Their Rules for Selling- Their Terms higher and more Vigorously Enforced — Buying an Interest in a Mine — This does not Neces- sarily include Ownership of the Land over it— Buying Partially improved Farms— They Should not be Bought at too High a Prick 345 CHAPTER VI. Farming Life— Management of a Farm at the West— The Best Farming Regions- What Crops are Best— The Immigrant Farmer should decide what Crops he wishes to Cultivate, beforehand— If Small Grains and Root Crops, he should UKIDE BETWEEN SPRING WhEAT AND WINTER WHEAT— SPRINO WhEAT BBST IN THE Northern Tier or States and Territories— Why ?— Winter Wheat in THE Middle Tier — Other Crops — Indian Corn— Sorghum — Oats— Root Crops — ^The Region or Moorratb or Small Rainfall— Necessity or Irrigation on These— Its Advantages- Crops Certain— Requires more Capital but Gives better Results — Hints to Immigrant Farmers— Deep Plowing Needed— Ro- tation op Crops— Some Manuring an Advantage— Agricultural Machinery— The Gang- Plow — Seed-Drill— Horse- Hoe — Cultivator— Reaper and Binder, or Harvester, Mower, Horse-rake, etc., etc.— Should keep what Stock he CAN. Feed- Sowing Grain in Drills, instead of Broadcast— Too much Seed Sown and not enough Care op its Quauty— Hallett's Pedigree Wheat — The Immigrant in the South or Southwest— The Best Crops eor him— Cot- ton ir he chooses, but Vegetables, Small Fruits, Sweet Potatoes, and gener- ally Market-Garden Produce, more Profitable on / ccount op its Earlinbss — Often Two Crops can be raised in a Season— Some or the Cereals and In- dian Corn do well in Northern Texas and Arkansas— Need of Fertilizers HERB— Their Accessibility- Semi-Tropical Fruits most Profitable in Aki- ZONA, Southern New Mexico, and Southern Caufornia — How Farming can be MADK MOST FROFITABLB 363 '-^^vnm^t^^Ktmalt^^iiMSumti 370 345 CONTENTS. If CHAPTER VII. Wkstern Fakmino CoNTiNUMi— What Capital is Necessary roK a Comportable UKniNNiNn ON A New Farm at the Wk-st— What the Railway Men say |i,ooo WILL Du— This Sum hardly Sukkiciknt undkr IIumkstkau or Timber-Culture Acts, without Great Trivations— Kikteen II unured Dollars Better— A , I.ARr'.p.R Amount Needed in some States or Tpjiritorip-s than in others — Less Money Needed in Arkansas or Texas than EiJiEwiuRE, but the Land Less Productive — The Disasters and Drawbacks to which the Western Farmer IS Liable bepore he is pairly Established- "Drouuht— Grasshoppers or Bee- tles, Gophers— Cattle Diseases— Swine Plague— Cyclones— Prairie Fires or Floods — The Remedy or Preventive to be pound in varied Locations — Varied Crops, or the Addition ok Stock-raising to his other Farming— Buying a Par- - TiALLY Improved Farm — What is Bought— The Price varying in dipkerknt Locations— Advice to those who are unable at first to Buy and Stock a Farm— Incidents of Farm- Like — Renting Land unadvisable — Great Farms objectionable— Why ? — The Homestead and other Exemptions in the dip- PKRENT States 379 CHAPTER VIII. The Immigrant as a Cattlf-breeder and Stock-raiser — Methods of Stock-breed* INO in different States and Territories — The Texas Cattle-Ranchk— The Large Rancme and the Small one — (15,000 to (25,000 for the Former, and 14,500 to 15,000 FOR the Latter — The Ranche in Colorado— Only Large Ranches Profitable as a Rulb— How a Man with a Small Capital may eventually have a CattleRanche of hisOwn— The Herder's Lipk a lonely one and not without its Perils— Wyoming, Montana, California — •* The Bulls of the Blessed Trinity " — Dangers from Grizzly Bears, Panthers, Jaguars — Dangers of the Great and continued Snow Storms — Necessity of A Shelter and Fodder for the Cattle in Winter— Joint-Stock Cattle- Ranches in Montana— Cattle easily Fatted there— In California the Stock choice and in Demand, both for Breeding and Dairy-farming — Cat* tle-breedino in New Mexico, Utah, Arizona — In Washington, Oregon, Ne- vada, and Idaho— Minnesota, Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Ar- kansas AS Cattle-breeding States — Lands best Adapted to this Pursuit — Different Methods Advisable in Different Sections— The Cow-boys or Her- ders : THEIR Care of their Herds — Their isolated, half-savage Life— Round- ing up — Branding — Selecting the Steers and Heifers for Market— The Cap- ital Necessary for Success — Combining Dairying with Cattle-breeding, less Capital required— Good Management Necessary — Becoming Manager of a Joint- Stock Cattlr-Farm in Montana or Dakota— A Fortune acquired in a Few Years by a Shrewd and Skilful Man— How a Poor Man can acquire a Cattle-Ranche in time — Statistics of the Cost or A Moderately Largs Ranche 390 363 CHAPTER IX. Shbbp-parmino and Wool-growing — The Best Regions and the Best Bebeds — Thb Most Dikbct Routes thither — The Methods of Sheep-farming in our West- ern Empire — ^The Texas Sheep-farms — Large Flocks Preferred — Small Ones less Profitable— The Experience of Texan Sheep-farmers — Col. James' Statement- The Kansas Poucy that of Small Shkep-/arms with other Farm- #■ i'&iS'-'S'*'^^*^®^**^*"*'*****^^ *.<■-! ••■••Uv.':*'... Ill \ .1:1 J !• COKTRNTS, INO TAnKlEO ON WITH IT TlSTIlfONV of MiOllllS. McInTOSH, Ulll., lltVAN, llOt- trttf.r.Orinnki.i., MATimutANnWADswoRiH— Tint YdDNoCoLOKAiMjSiiKKi'- Far- MiR^-CArtTAr. RKfjtiiRKti IN oirrERKNT Skctiuni— TtIB SlICriUKUS — Antauon- WMOKTMR flK1tl>r.RX AND .SlIKriir.RDS— IMPRUVINU TIIK DRKKDii— WlN i KRINii THK SHKRI'— WaTKR in AHUNDANCE a NKCE-SSITV— DKSTHUCriUN or TIIIC IlRRUl KRUM Tmhist— Sn(>win(} Umorr— Fatal Ekfects ok a Severe Northkr^The Siiep- MtRt)'!i \,\f% MORE Isolated and with less Excitement than that ok the Hrrdkr or CoW'Boy— Its Risks and Danokrs— New Mexico the vest Keuion FOR LAROR SiIRCP "ARMS, AND KANSAS AND Nk.UKASKA KOR SMALL ONEii — IIoW TU Buy and 5iTocK \ SHKeP-AANchE— Tlifc Amount ok Capital Necewarv->Thk Co«T and the PRoriTS— Mr. Gray on the dikkerent Hreeds or Sheep— Ciiar« ACTEK op THE VARIETIES HG:iT POPULAR IN THE WksT — DISEASES Or SHEEP— Mt. F. 1). CuRTis's Essay — Parasites — LivERROT—l'ALE Disease— HvDATiDti — Worms in the Head— Scab— Sheep-ticks—Footrot — Constipation— Colio — DlAHKIKKA AND SCOURS — INFLAMMATION OK THE LUNOS — SnUKKLES ANDSNORINO —Poisons— Abortion — Blacklro — Paper-Skin — Lunu-Worm — Stricana — Smrbp healthier in the North than in the South — The Enemies or ths Shwip— Mow A Poor Man can become a Sheep-master 40a CM AFrtEk X. Other Farm Animals— Breeding Swine— Swine Husbandry lkss Popular in thb Great Wf.st than East ok the Mississippi— The States and Territories Mon- largely engaged in it — Southern Swink generally ok Poorhr Breeds than those in the MORE NoRTHFJIN STATES— THE BEST BREEDS — BERKSHIRE, PoLAND- China, and Chester-Whiie — Modes of Management— The Margin of PRorrr IN the IUsini-:ss — Diseases to which Swine are Liablk — The HonCiioLKRA— Swine Plague or Hoc Fever- Great Destruction or Swine l^usf.d iiv thiA Disease— The Researches of Drs. Detmeks, Law, Voyles, and Salmon into the Causf.s, Character, Symptoms, and Fatal Results ok this Disease, and THE Possibility of its Prevention or Curb — Swine-farminu in Kansas and IbwA — Reports op Messrs. Couurn, LiNscorr Brotmbrs, Phindle, Johnson, Sutton, and Keagy on Methods and Success in Swinb-parming— Breeding or HoRsts, Asses, and Mules for the Market — This Pursuit very I'KOKn ablb ^The Mustang, the Broncho and the Burro — Dogs — The Shepiicku D(x>— Dog's for Hunting— The Greyhound; Different VARUTiEa — Pointers, Set- ters, Bull- Dogs, Coach-Dogs, Terriers — Mongrel Hunting Doos — Indian Cur- Dogs— Crosses between Dogs and Wolves— Worthless Doca very De- structive OF Sheep— The Raising op Poultry— Different Bbbkd6 — The Cross op the common Barn-yard Fowl with the Brahma, Houdan, Hameueo, Black- Spanish OR Plymouth Rock the best— Bantams good Layeks— Mr. A. P. Ford's Directions and Statistics— -Other Fowls— Enemies of Fowl»->-Chickin-Chol- BRA — ^Thb Croup. ..,...,... .v«..^i....^i;.i 440 CHAPTER XI. Special Crops— Rick Corn— Pearl Millet — OTitiftTttlLLETs — Alfalfa — Hungarian Grass— Svviiivr Potatoes— Pea-Nut or Ground Nut — ThK SodAI: QuBsTloN ONCE morf.— Is not Corn worth more than Twenty CtNTs a BMtate fb MArti ufacture into Sugar?— The Cultivation of Textiles— FIa^, lAxaOr, RAilife, }UTE, Tampico, Tule, Nettle, Esparto Grass^ the Br-vkb or S^XMp CAnb— Some of the Cacti— Cultivation of OiL-PieoDuciNa PiANt»'>4'M t*Ei((-Ktrt oil' '' t -^UMH».»,l«i»»,i4i,,^»aj,„3aiji, CONTENTS. »7 IBVAN, Hot- SiikkcFar- — Antauun- 4'tKKINU THK iUKUli FROM -The SiiKP- IIAT ur THE HUT Kkuion lu— How TO ssarv->Thk iKKP— Char- SiiEKr— Ml. IIYUATIDH — ION— Colics ANUbNORlNU Stricana — MIU ur THK 40a ULAR IN THK ITORIES MOOT HREEDS THAN IRK, l'OI.AND- IN or FRorrr l-ClKILKRA— • USr.l) IIY Tllli At-MON INTO JlSKASt:, AND Kansas and .E, JoilNSOK, Brkkdinc or I'KOKITAULR lERU Doo— NTERS, Set- om — Indian » VERY Dk> -The Crom VKO, Black- A. P. FORD'f ickrn-Chol- 440 -Hungarian It QUBSTtoM f, RAMiK, pCAnk— NtrtoH GRoimi I- Nut— Castor Dran, Olive, Flax, Rape, Hemp and CotTon Seed, Tar Weed, Sjsame, rEPi-ERMiNT, Spearmint, Deroamot— CuLnvATioN oi Nirr- nr.ARINri AND FRUlT-HKARINd TkKE!I AND SlIHUIIS— KNtil.lHH WaI.NIIT, ULACK Walnut, IIickorv Nut, Common CiiEitTNUT, Italian Ciiehtnut, Ai.mdno, Kil- BERT, I'KCAN, IIaZKL'NuT, I'AWI'AW, I'F.HSIMMON, JaPANE.se I'KK.SIMMON, i'llMKCRAN- ATR, Mandrake, Apricot, Mkdi.ak.Uranok, L^vion, Siiadikkk, ktc— Ordinary Fruits, Applp.s, Tearh, Quinces, rp^AciiES, Tlums, Ciikkrikn, I'runes, etc.— Smai.i Khuith, ClRAPiu, /ante Currants, Currants, (Jooskiierrik-s, Straw- BERRIKS, KaSPOERHIES, DLACKBERRIKS, DeWUERRIPJI, PARTRIIXiEDERRIPJi, WlloRTLE- ■ERRiKH— Market Garden Veoetahles— Employment por I'ropemional Men, Artisans, Tradesmen, Florists, MaeketUardeners, I'actory Operativu, BTC— Importance or Sustaining Schools and Ciiurchs* 47S PART III.—THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERRITORIES DESCRIBED. CHAPTER I. ARIZOJfA. Its Location— Extent— Addition to its Area uy the Gadsden Treaty— Date or Organization — Only one-twelfth op its Area yet Surveyed — Topooraphy— Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Ca!9ons — Rrmarkadle Character op these CaRons— They Drain the Mesas of their Moisture- The CaRons op the Colorado— Their Descent by Major J. W. Powell and his Companions in 1869 and 1871— The Grand CaRon of the Colorado one op the Wonders or THF World— Tablk-lands—Genicrai, Fremont's thorough Acquaintance with Arizona — His Proposition to Hf-store the Great Inland Sfjiin Southeastern California — A Moister Climate Secured to Arizona by this Mf.asure — Soil, Climate, Temperature and Rainfall— Yuma the Hottest and Driest Placr IN " Our Western Empire" — Wonders and Peculiarities of Arizona— Miner- als and Minks — Zoology — Adventures with Wild Animals— The Bite ok thb Skunk— Rabid Wolves— Productions, Mineral, Animal, Vegetable— Popu- lation—The Indians— Their large Number— Different Races— Some or them Industrious and Honest, others Thievish and Murderous— Nearly Extinct Races— The Extensive Ruins of Ancient Dwellings Inhabited by Races now Nearly or Quite Extinct— The Casa Grande— Other Ruins — The Ancient Province of Tusayan — The Narratives op Colonel Powell and Professor Newberry — SiTUAtioN op the Moquis Villages on Lofty Mesas — Their Dwellings usually Three or Four Stories High, and Terraced in Front— The Rear Walls Blank— The Lower Story a Granary — Windows of Sf.i enite— The Neatness of their Apartments — Their Mode or Life— Ilosi itality — Politeness — Occupations — Economy — Industry — Their Bread hf Different Colors— Virgin Hash— Ceramic Art— Blankets — Other Manufactures of Wool — Taste in Drf.ss — Drf.ssing the Hair — Salutations — Sunrise Worship— Theology — Gymnastic Exercises — Sacri- fices OF Fruits and Seeds Only— Language Peculiar — Probably of Toltec Origin — White Inhabitants — Present Condition, and the Advantages and Facilities it Affords to Settlers— Letters and Communications , frck Major-General J. C. FxtMONT, Governor of Arizona, and Colonel J. W. 2 :^J:^ v^!Sife^^<»«i^«!*i-'^^^ r I', 1 ■ CM 1 I? I' i •» CO/^TEATS. PowKi.i., Unitrd Statm Arntv, Exploru or thi Coi.onAno, trr.— PtoiiABLa FuTimK— lli(H)RAP>ii(-Ai. .Sketch or Major Gknmai. FhImont. tub I'iibumt CovtRNOR or Ariiona 4gf CHAPTER II. ARKAJ^SAS. Its SrrwATioN, Aiea, ExTtirr—ToroflRAPiiv— Mountain*, Rivrrh, Larbh, Vallbv^— Navkiarir Rivrrs anu Railways— Soil— (iimatk—Rainpai.i. — Minrrai.r and Minrral and Hot Sprimim — Analykih or tiir Hot Sprinci— Thr Vii.i.aor or Hot 8prin4^ JewNS- History and Probable Future 551 coArr£Ars. rrc.— TtonAiiLK ; TUB rKBMMT 49> IKK*, VaLLBV*— -MlNRItAIJ AND Thk Vii.i.Aoi or — Vr(;r,TATiON — UNnCiri.TIVATKD MiNrKAi.,Vr.0B- KNOMINATinNS — . Kkysiui, II09. , V. S. Senator, 530 ,rF.RS, HaRBORI, dtiik probablr Silver in very RsENic, Iron in iLPHUR, UvrsuM, llNXRAU or THE ir THE rRECI0U9 Gold or Silver —Red, Adobe, Trees— Tub —Description ETY OF Animal Squirrels and THE Yosemitb ouD Rest — " I Valley— The 'SEES— Natural ,t and Fresh— nr the Stat*— >F Nine Locali- s Account or NG-WACON — Dis- Other V^G|l- DEN Crops and Rops— Alfalfa culture— Silk AND NaVICA- alth Resort — ES AND PRINCl- S5I CHAPTER IV. Situation, Doundarirs, ARRA—ToiixiRAi'iiv— Mountains— Six DiiTiNrr Ranges bc* IIDPS MANY SniRV AND UtlLATKI) Si'MMITS — I'lKrVTWO I'RAKt OVER ij,a00 FKRT, AND SeVKRAL IIL'NDRKII IO,000 KKI-TOH MimK—l'KN ToWMt or MINEIDVKR 10,000 Fkkt aiiove tiik Ska, anu SixrvoNK ovkr 5,000 Fkkt— Mountainh ( N» OF THE AHKANSAM, OK THE < iUN- NUON, OF THK (iKANU AND THK (JMKKN RiVKRS— CLIMATE AND KaINKAI.L— SolL ANU Vegetation— Arablk Lands— Nearly 16,000,000 Acrkj ok tiik.sk— A Part Require Irrigation — Great Fac ii.hikji kur this — Crops as Akkkcikd iiv Irhi- OATioN— Hun. Mr. Barclay's Siatkmknt ahout it— What an Intki.i.kiknt EWiLUH Agriculturist and Memiikr of Parliament thinks of Farminc in Coloraik)— Presknt Forest Arka ok Colorado— (jeoi.(kiy, MiNKKAi,osits — The Extraordinary Development of Mining in thr State since 1875 — Mining Districts — Description op each County known to Possess Min- eral Wealth — Its Mines and their Product — Farming — Extent or Arable Lands— Irrigation Largely Practisbo— Its Advantaors— Rapid In- crease or Farming Products— Excellence op Colorado Cereals—Dairy- rARMiNG — Raising Horses and Mules —Wagbs of Farmhands— Immense Yield or lERlGATED CROPS— HiGH FARMING— STOCK-RAISING — IION. MR. BARCLAY'S Description or Stock RAISING in the State — Dairy-earminc^-Cattle should be Fatted in Colorado and Kansas— Mr. Stratten's ExPEkiRNCE— W(X)L- ORowiNo — Sherp-farming Profitaiilr in Colorado— Its RapiO Increase — Growth or the Livestock IntkrI':st in thk State— Railroads— Education — Commerce—Population — Cities, Counties and Towns— Increase siNck 1870 — Counties— Churchbs—The Future of Colorado 633 CHAPTER V. DAKOTA. Boundaries, Area and Topography of Dakota— First Settlements— Organization — Rivers- Lakes — Dakota Divided into Four Sections: Northern, Central, Southkastfen and Black Hills— Characteristics of each — The Badlands — f^qtsiLS there— Governq^ Uqward's Description or these Sections— His tW^s|.fe»*'!te***^'*fcii^^ ■'ftu^T^r^;:iA coi^TKfira. ADDRKM— Hm RKroRT TO TIIR illlCRRTARV i>r TMR InTKR|i)R~T|IR SvRVRVoR 0*NntAi.'» HrroRf NnnniKRN Dakota— Tiir. DrwRirTHtN or it «v Hom. Javikh H. I'tiwrR Tiir Kinir fuNiiprRAHi r An >xii-Ti T<» Crk.TivATR thr Krn HiVKH i.AMit IN Dakota WllKAf Cin.rURK llirHK ANti ITN HUlTRM — '>TIIRR rRiipd-Tiir. T'>WN'« or NcmTiimN Dakota— Tmk < i.imatr akh RAiNrAt i— Th> FAflllTIM roR THR TRANHfORTAtloN Of CroH — RrVimO TMR MiMOI'RI — r'liMii rt CARirroN «okkinS DKhcmnioN in riir Chk aho Trihi>nr~-Thk ('or- RRxi-oNiirNT or THK <"hi('*«io Joornai— (HiirR Tmtimonv— l!iniiop PrcK, MRimH. Krri) anh I'm— Crntrai. Dakota— Thr An-tJUNT or thr Chuaoo AND NoRTHwr-tTr.RN Ramway Cdmmmhion — S4iiprHRA»Tr.RN Dakota — Rrv, Fdwark Ki 1 o'h IrrrrR — Hon, W If II llr.Ain r'n DrscmrrioN— llii Compr- Tr.Nl'V AN A NVITVI.-.H -Prnil lARITin OK TMR Tol«OimAI'MV or SoilTHirAo|.l> MININII THRRR— FollR (lAXlRN or MiNrJt— ('Mr.AI>NRK« or MiNINii ANK Mil I INi! — AlTITin)R« IN THK Hl.Ai K llll.l H — l'oPtH.ATION OT TOWNH — FARMINfi. CHAZINO ANI> MaR KrT tIARIIKNINi! IN TMR Hl.A< K llll.lJ— SoriAi I irr and Moraiji thrrr— Raii roaim in Dakota — Indian Trihrh ano Rrrrrvatioss— ropi'i ATioN or THR Trrritorv and it» Charactrr-— Churchu ANu RRUOioim TtACHiHCJi— Tiir Futurr op Dakota 711 CHAPTER VI. IDAHO TERRITORY. TOFOOR\PIIY— HolNDARirs— I.KMITH AND HRKADTM — AREA— I.ATITirnP. AND T-ONOI- TUDE— DisTRinnTioN OK Area--Araiii.k I.anim— (;ra/.ino Lands— Timhrr Land* — MiNiNc. I.and>i— Dr.<*KRr l.ANDH—TopfxiRAi'iiY— Mountains— Vaii.pys—I.akrr — UivfRH -Almost Wiioii.v Drained iiy Akki vents or the Coidmbia— Climate — Mrtkorokhiv ok Hoist City— f;Eoi.»*iar M -. -»«.»•«»•*?- '^r--^.*' COArMATS. Sutviirot- T «v Hon. R THK R«D Miw'iriti — — Tmb <'»»•• WW. <'llHA'"> .Mil foMFR- |tTII»AHTr.«N III! w— M«. Konm/KJV or — fllKAI-NW* rtll.ATH)W o» MK lllI.IJ— Tkirih and t-^HURCHU 7«« '. AND T/»Hrtl" riMnm Lanihi U.r.Y«— l.AKM ha— Cl.lMAT* HK, PHEClfH'* N RlVrRS— IM MON OR Saw- )T MoirNTAINt vr.R— CoPPF.H Irincm— Natu- Cavk— Soit NO MININO— OKP— GRBAT lY 4.«75 »* hr PiiRiiI.4M.V Of KoR » (ilRMIN AND SiI.I.—CkoI iHiV AND M|NI.RAI. i.».l A I li iN rilRl.iirS — RaILROAIM-TiIK ('m,\RA( r».R o» tllk, rM>Rr» To DRI\k. Mil M IKuM I III* T>.H- RITORY— T'lR ()rri. RRALTY TIILIR ONLY llorR— INDIAN ANNtHTY Kl'NtM Jff CHArTK R VIII. 70 WW. Tut SiTirATioN or Iowa— Mr.ANiN(i or Tin Namk— Migration or tub rAU-iioncuRii TIIITIIKR IN 1^)00— CoNTKMI'ORANroUHl.Y fl.AIMKD MY TIIR KRRNCII ON Anol NT Of KaTIIKR IlKNNKriN'H Disi DVI RY — W \R« OK TIIR I'AIMIOO CIIKRH, OR IdWAS, WITH riiR Siorx — Kkrniii Traiiini! I'l^rs hn riu Rivkr— Sai i or iiik rHuvi\iK or l.oirisum Clays- Soil— Mink.ral I'aint- Spring AND Wkli.watkr— Natural Curiositiks— Climatk, Gknkral Rk.makks I'ro- KKMOR PaRVIN'sTaHLKS— TllR SlONAL SERVICR STATISTICS OK TIIK RlVKR ClIIK.S — Zc)OL(KiY— Soil and Agricultural Productions — Iowa an Aiiricultural Statr —Statistics ok its Crops — Sprinu and Wintk.r Wiikat— Snx k raisinc— Uairy Farmino— Population ok Iowa at Dikkkrknt Pkriods— Railroads and Sfeam- iioat Lines— The State Easy ok Acci.;s»i— Puiilic Lands— Railroad Lands — Statr Lanu«— Partially Improved Farmr- Manukai turkj* — Iowa as a Home FOR Immiorants— Education— riiuRriiM—FuTURB Prospects or the State — 814 THE PRESENT liiE Ultimate loPOORAPHY— ^RIK*— Divis- E— Tracts -Number of ; LRADINO CHAPTER IX. KAJiSAS. Kansas Geooraphically the Crntrai. State— Its Boundarikj— Latitude, Longi- TUDE, Length, Breadth and Area- -its Surface, Declination and Elevation at Various Points— Rivers-IAkes-Hills— No Mountains in the State — Geology and Minerau)(;y— The Geological Formations— The Quaiew iary, Tertiary, Cretaceous and Carhonifkrous and Ix)wer Cariionikerous Systemi Represented — Fossils— Grkjit Variety of these— Economic Geology— Coal— -■--^^r-.:t*mA-awe.?saBri*!iJ5^^^^'4*'i''-' ,1' t tAiT—T.Mn Ann 7iiif--0vmf»i— Wi'iipiNfi SritMf, rrr., rrr— r.Ai oi ntttNiwn WHM-S«»M. ANn VwiBTATIrtW — NAflVIl Tl»M TiltM IhANTrn iiMrir* Tin tiMMtii fill ri'ir A<'tii K\Mir« fiiR- *i\Mf.H\--V\\¥ MrMtlMRNf H"%rtiri> RimK—THK ►•Willi MiMIK AllATM— TMR KrilrNir», lt»|Hl Cl.lMATI AND M» rriiRMl miv — MRtlTDRiil fNlli'At *TATIItlM— RAIHrAI,!.— A«l«ICVI,TWtAt FR<)i»iirr*»Ni)irrini« or l%^^, ll7i, 1H79 Crain*- Sptrut TRort -~0r< MARIM AND VlHRVARIMI — AflAi I'lTtfRr, — I.IVR Mr«x K — I'RH Rl c»r Nbcrmarv Mrrihandiir — HiiARiiiNit— Vaiiiation* or RrAi. anh I'KRtuNAt, E»- TATR— .S< iiooi. HTATurii;*— No MiNr» or Mininu RXtKrr Coai, I.mii and Zinc— MANUrACniRRt— RAII.ROAIW -I.ANIM roR ImMKIRANT* — fort!! ATlOl«--lNI)fANVi> (ktURCRS rRUM Willi H I'oflil.ATIoN M I)KRIVKl>~ OxiNTIK*, C'iri>.» ANt) ToWNt'^ ARRA and I'tll'I'l ArioN or roHNTIH IN l(l7()~Sc lliMil* AND KlHKATION— ClIURCIIKH- ;AN»At A lliHMR ROR IktMldRANPI— liintiRAfMM Al. NotK R or ilON. ALrRRD Gray 154 CHAPTKR X. LOUlSUJfA, IXN/IIIIANA NOT WHOM V WITHIN " OUR WRvrRRN KMriRR" -IT» I/)rATION— 1T« EX" TRNT AND Area— Irn Siir»ai:r and TohMiRAriiv— Kiverk, Lakm and nAvout— Uroi.ikiv and MiNKRAUKiv— Iron, Halt, Sulphur— Otiikr Minrrals— Sou. and VroRTATION — |-'oRRi«T TRRRIt— ZoAliMiV— TlIK JAOI'AR OR AMRRKAN I.KOPARI), oA Tkirr, Ai.i.I(iator» and Crocodilri— Climate— Malarial Fever* in thi Delta— Thb Uplanim IIralthv rut Hot- Metrorolouy ur New Orlkani and Shreveport—Ackkuitcral rRODurrioNx— Cotton, Sugar, Rice and Corn- ThrSoil Fehtilk, hut the Fa^mino Pr Prroinai. R«* All AND Zinc— IN- Indiak*— ANfi Town*— KlUHATKiN-- ITH B or lloK. IS4 ,TI«lN— lT» Ex- AND DAVOU*— lAW— Soil. AND N I.RDrAaii, iiR KVKtt IN Tim y ()HI,KANt AND R AND COKN— rA(-ri)lllN(> AND O— TlIK <:»tAT CoMMKIIC»— roMJUATIOK— INCftEAHKO 'V Educatioh— M7 MRIU, DiMBN* UPU — KlVBM, KiV AND MiN- Minnesota an iuT»— The Bia TA — Fruits — EMI'KRATURE AS F.TEOROLO0Y — JI.ROAD IN Tttt RODITCTR— TH» C'» EFrORTS TO Lands— Live- )t BUTTBA AMD rHB>*R-MANIIPArrii«R»— f.UMIIRt AND I'liM'i.llU l.tADINil AKTICLM— IMMRNII (^l/ANtlMM or Ht.l*' l^rilRR MANUrAi ltiR»* VAt.UAII<>N AND \^»Aiiii I'lin lAiiiiN -.suiutii* or iNi r».a«r in liiiRrv V».ar« Naiium AUiiR«~r>iH Indian 1'iirui.AriuN— i:iMjt.AriuN— hciiooi, KtNi^— I'iiiuc N> iumiu — UmviMiTiR*, Normal M(H>r Mihiouri ror (>ra/in.RHrriR»— CoU.fX\t* AND I'ROEEIIltloNAL SrH(Mll.i«— SPEl'IAL InhTITUTION*- KeLKIMU/iI DK- NOMINATIUNI AND CMURCHEI — lIllTURICAL DATA ^ CHAPTER XIII. MOjrrAJ{A. Situation — lk>UNDARiRfl>>- Extent — MotiNTAiNs- Timrir— Lakes— Rivers— Riol- OOY aND MlNKBAIAHiV— (iOLII IN KXTENSIVK I'l.ArERH AND I.ODEil — SlI.VRR- CoPrER -LEAD — Iron- OrHRR Miner au — Soii.ANDVKiiETATioN — ArahieLands — CJEAZiNu Lanim— Timber Lands — Mininq Landsi— Dkmkrt I.andh— /oOi.rKiv — Climat*. Hlizzards— The "Chino«ik" Wind -METKoRouMiv tir Fort Kkocih — FoBT Hknton— Helena— Virginia City— MiNiNii—KNoRMoDH Yiki.d or the Placers— (Joi.D Ix)Iies— Silver Lours— The Stemfie Distrk t— Last f:iiANCR Gulch, now Helena — I'Hii.LtpsmiRo—WKKKS— Butte— I'r.iDi.iARniEt of tiir Butte Minks — fVrHER Minrs— Trapfer Histrict— Minino thus far almost Ex- clusively in Western Montana— Prohahilities or Mines in Southken and Southeastern Montana— Aoricultural Productions— Testimony or Z. L. WMirB- or Robert E. RtbafiA ■■■**,.. .^ 'ii' 14 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. JfEBRASKA. Ar.iiA AND Extent— Boundaries — Comparativk Arka — Its Riverine Boundaries — Surface of the Country— Sense in which it is a I'rairik,— Its (Iraduau Ele- vation TO the Base of the Rocky Mountains— Thk Nebraska "Bad Lands" — The Kivkks uk Neiiraska — The Missouri and Niobrara — The North and Sou H Plattk and their Affluknts— The Loui- and its Forks — 1 he KEruuu- CAN River— General Direction of these Rivers— Geolouy and Mineralogy — The Lof^s or Drift — Alluvial Deposits — The Great Pre-historic I.akf. — Tertiary Formation — Carboniferous Strata— Thk Coal Measures — Lioniie IN THE Tertiary— Not much Economic Value to the Coals of Nebraska— The Pi-^^vt Beds of the State— Soil and Vegetation — Fertility of the Loess — Tref^ of the State— Zoology— Climate and Meteorology-Table— Agri- cultural Productions — Crops of 1877, 1878 and 1879— Wild and Cultivated Fruits— Mr. E. A. Curley on the Wild Fruits— Grazing— The Livestock op THE State — Manufacturing Industry — Railroads — Population — Rapid Growth of the State— Indians— Financial Condi 1 ion-Education— Lands for Immigrants— Government, School, University and Railroad Lands — Advice to Immigrants — Prices — Counties, Cities and Towns — Religious De- nominations — Historical Data — Nebraska as a Home for Immigrants 1004 ■'■■ I CHAPTER XV. J^EVADA. Its Boundaries, Extent and Area— Its Topograph".' and Surface — Mountains, Lakf.s and Rivers — Its Climate and Meteorology — Geology and Mineralogy — Minerals— Gold and Silver— Other Metals and Minerals — Permanency OF ITS Mines— Their Great Depth— Mining Industry — The Counties Con- TATNING MiNF.S CONSIDERED IN DETAIL — ThE PRODUCT OF THE PRECIOUS MeTALS IN Nevada sin^.. i;ieir First Discovery there— The Sutro Tunnel — Its Pur- pose AND Object — Its First Success lf=s than was expected— Its probable Future Triumph— ZoflLocY-AGRicuLTURAL Productions — Adaptation of con- siderable Sections to Grazing — Extent of Arable, Grazing, Timbered and Mineral Lands— Tables of Agricultural PRorucrs and Li ve-Stock— Manu- facturing Industry— Railroads — Valuation — Population — Indian Reserva- tions-Counties AND Cities — Religious Drnomin.«tions — Historical Data — Conclusion 1033 '.I . . . CHAPTER XVI., i 1 ,; ,, ' " ' J^TEW MEXICO. '■''■'-," " " '• Topography— Boundaries (eni.a"ged by the Gadsden Treaty)— Extent and Area — Mountains — Rivers and Lakes — Cumate — Variety in Temperature — Mr. Z. L. White on the Summer Climate op the Territory— New Mexico as a Hfjilth Resort —Meteorology and Rainfall of various Points in the Ter- ritory — Geouxjy and Mineralogy — Mineral Wealth of the Territory — Gold and Silver — Other Metals and Minerals — Turquoise — Hot Springs — Coal — Bituminous, Lignite and True Anthracite — Coal found in New Mexico of the Best Quality and in Inexhaustible Quantities — Arable Lands — Their Quantity and Quality — Native Agriculture — Grazing Lands — New Mexico best Adaptbd to Sheep-Farming — Number of Sheep — Crops at '•iwjtii^r'v. 4W**iti>(^«t«*iU»?»*.Mawrf j^^Jti'Wffi' evsM-f ^V :-^i,vv\tiiM • ^ei*^Ci}:*i*t^*y:'^ ^atMatfUL '*:' VMKUWU^;' CONTE//TS. »$ NR noirSDARIES — rs (Gradual Ei.e- «A "Had Lands" -The North and ;s — The KKruuLi- AND Mini;ralogy •HISTORIC I.AKB — eASURE'i — LlGNIlE s OF Nkiiraska— ,iTY OF THE Loess y— Taiile — Agri- AND Cultivated HE Livestock of 'ULAtion — Rapid DucATioN— Lands aii.road Lands — s — Religious De- MMIGRANTS IOO4 ACE — Mountains, AND Mineralogy |kLS — Permanency Counties Con- P;-KEcuNSTRUcnoN — Presbnt Constitution — Conclusion 1 1 30 if I ' CHAPTER XIX. VIAE TERRITORY. Utah a Peculiar Territory— Its Location, Boundaries, Area and Extent- Forests and Veoeiation— Altitude or its Mountains and Valleys- ZoflLocv — Gkology—Mineralogy— Topography and Genkral Ebatures- The Great Salt Lake Basin— Cache, San Pete and Sevier Valleys— The Colorado Basin, East of the Wahsatch Mountains— Climate— Meteorolck;y of Salt Lake City and Camp Douglas— Notes on the Temperature, Rainfall, rrc, of other parts of the Territory — Advantages of Utah as a Sani- tary Resort— Diseased for which its Climate is Beneficial— Opinion op Eminent Army Surgeons on the Subject— Soil and Agriculture— Irrigation VKRY CENERALLY REQUIRED — IMMENSE CROPS WHERE IT IS PRACTISED — NON-IRRI- gable Lands sometimes Productive with Deep Plowing — Timber- Yield of Cersal and other Products— Fruit-Culture — Stock-Farming— Sheep-Farm- ing — Evils of Migratory Herds — Gov. Emery's Complaints of California Flocks— Minf^ and Mining Products — Wide Distribution of Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper, Iron, Coal, Sulphur, Soda, Salt and Borax— The Mines op THE Precious Metals in the Salt Lake Basin very Rich and easily ac- cessible—Railroads — Objects of Interest— The "Temple of Music" on thk Colorado— Temples on the Rio Virgen— The American Fork CaRon— It is CALLED THE " VOSEMITE " OF UTAH— THE GrEAT SALT LaKE MINERAL AND HOT Springs — Finances— Population-Table— The Population of Utah peculiar- Its Early Settlement by the Mormons — Motives which led to their MiotA- TION— MORMONISM A RELIGIOUS OLIGARCHY— ItS DESPOTIC RULE— ITS CRIMES — Polygamy its CornerStone— Its Defiance of the Government — Its Propa- oANDisM— Religious DRN6»tiMATiONS — Education— Moral and Social Con- dition—Counties AND Principal Towns— Historical Data 1 154 : 1 ii t; «■ CHAPTER XX. WASEIJfQTOJf TERRITORY. Situation of Washington Territory— Boundaries— Thb Boundary Line at th« Northwest and North— Its Area— Length and Breadth- Comparative Size —Topography and Divisions— Western WASHiwctoN— The Puget Sound Basin — What Puget Sound Includes— The Be»uty, Value and Importance op THIS Great Inland Sea— The Lowlands and the Mountain Slopes of West- ern Washington — Rivers and Harbors of Western Washington— E/sterm Washington— Its Riveej- Its Lakes— The Gheat Plains of the Columbia- River Valleys — Geology — Mineralogy— ZoSlogy— Climate — Meteorology or Western Washington— Governor Ferry's Remarks on the Mildness o^ M«^«^w.^n-nj;rafreiiH^^H^'Wn«i.Yn£ni31fe^«>^WWI3«l^ CO//TENTS. is— Statistic* ION— COUNTIM IS— Education LST IN THEM — Ns FOR Blind NATIONS— Ills- iNUlCreNltENCS XIRKSa— SECKI- .1120 ^ND Extent— LEYS— ZodLOGY i— The Great 'he Colorado jLtK;Y or Salt RE, Rainfall, AH AS A SANI- L— Opinion or IE— Irrigation iEO — Non-irri- BEK- Yield of —Sheep-Farm- OF California Gold, Silver, The Mines op LNU easily AC- VIusic " on the CaRon— It is eral and hot ah PECULIAR — THEIR MiGtA* Its Crimes- it— Its Propa- Social Con- ."54 Link at trs fPARATivB Size PuGET Sound [mportancb of OPES of West- ;T0N—E/ STERN E COLUMraA — Meteorology Mildness 6^ THE CmMATE, ANn THE REASONS FOR IT— THE Cl.IMATE OF RASTERN WASiriNCTON —The Chinook Wind — Soil, Vegetation and AcRirui.TURAL Troductions — The Alluvial Farming Lands— Tadlk Lands— For f.st Growths -Agricultu- ral PRODutTs— Timber and Lumber —Soil and Prodi'ctidns of Eastern WA.iHiNcroN- The Yakima County— Remarkably Fat Cattlf.— From Whence tiif.y comk— The Wonderful Fertility of the Son. — The Mountain Slopes and Moi'NTain Tops as Rich as the Valleys— The Immense Yield of Wheat — Thir tyfive to Fifty Dusiiels to the Ai-re— Exports— Population-Table — Indian Tribfj5 and their Reservations— Partial Civilization of the Indians — TiiKiR Industry— Education— Counties and Principal Towns — Table of Population and Valuation of Countifj}— Chief Towns—Religious Denomina- tions and Public Morau — Historical Data — The American Title to Wash- ington AND Oregon— The Arbitration in regard to the Islands in the Gulf OF Georgia— The Early Sf.tti.krs— Indian War in 1855— Conclusion —Wash- ington Territory Desirable for Immigrants — The Best Routes thither — The Early Complbtion op the Northern Pacific PROBABLf 1 189 CHAPTER XXI. WrOMIJVO TERRITORY. Situation — Boundaries — Length and Breadth — Form — Area— Topography- Mountains— Ele\'ation OF Various Points— Rivers, Lakes, etc. — RemarkablK Character of its Drainage — Its Waters Discharged into the Pacific by th« Columbia River, into the Gulf ok California by the Colorado, into the Salt Lake Basin by the Bear River, into the Upper Missouri by the Madi- son and Gallatin, into the Middle Missouri by the Yellowstone and Bio Cheyenne, into the Lower Missouri by the Niobrara and Platte, and into the cjulf of mexico by all these— geology and mineralogy— coal — petro- LEUM— GOLD AND Silver — Other Metals — Mining of Precious Metals not much Developed— Marble and other Mineral Products— Forests, Soil and Vegetation — ZoflLOfJY — Climate — Meteorology of Cheyenne — Agricultural Productions and Stock Raising — Manufactures and Mining — Mining Pro- ducts — Railways, Existinc; and Projected — Population and its Distribution — Education — Religious Denominations — Counties— Area— Population in 1880, and Valuation in 1877 — Principal Towns — Objects of Interest — Thb Yellowstone National Park made a Separate Chapter — Historical Notes — Early Spanish Occupation of Wyoming — Discovery of Arastras and Span- ish Buildings— Father DE Suet — Captain Bridger — His Occupation runnino BACK to a time "When Laramie Peak hadn't begun to Grow "-Organization of the Territory — Indian Conflicts — The Custer Massacre — Advantages uF Wyoming for certain Classes of Immigrants— Prospects in the Near FirruRX 1213 CHAPTER XXII. THE TELLOWSTOJfE J^ATlOJfAL PARK. Situation — Boundaries and Area — Its Recent Discovery and Exploration— Thii Act of Congress setting it apart as a National Park — ^The Park drained into the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico — Its Volcanic Character — Not o* MUCH Value as am Agricultural Region — Inaccessible except from thb ii^^k0^'i^^^iS:^rl«!^iiilU^i^it^^f-^.'U Ai'f'j^.^.iiiiM-i ^ :i''?*?->^'i4»*&A «*«v.'r .■;6«Siii*r'30-. ■-;;*'i^;'. ■^.•- sS CONTENTS. '. vKKi II i-xctrr in tiik NuRrm.AsT Corner— Tiis AiTRnAdi ro thk I'ARK Al' Tin. Nliklll -Ti:K CaRhn ok TIIK NKI.l.nW.slnM., i'IiinMiI-. IIIK I'ARK — (.'INNAIIAK M'll'NTAIN-" TlIK Dl'.VIl.'s SlIDK "— -IvM It ASCK T<) Till, TaKK -RAriP Revikw r Ukpkr Madison River— The (iK.vskr Hasins ok (Jihhon's Fork- The Wondirs ok Beaver Lake AND THE Oiisidian i i.iiis— Return to Mammoth Hot Si'Rings — Time in which the Trip can he made— The Wonders in Detail— Mammoth Hot Si'Rincs — Mr. Strahorn's Description — The Route to Tower Creek Falls and CaNon — Hon. N, P. Langkoro and I.ii.utenant Doane's EuLotsy OK them — The Ascent to Mount Washdurn — Rkv. Dr. Hovt's I^loquent Pic- ture ok the View from its Summit— The Descent from Mount VVashhurn — The Old AND the New Trail— The CJrand CaSon ok the Yellowstone— Its Bed Inac( essihie at Mosr Points- The Upper and Lower Falls oi- the Yel- LowsroNE— The Laitei- at the Head ok the Grand CaRon— Dr. Hoyt's Eloquent Dkscriptidn ok the F'ali.s and the CaJJon- The Trail ro Yellow- stone Lake— The Lake Itself — Its Shape Compared to the Human Hand — Prqkessor Raymond's Criticism of the Comparison — The Elevation ok the Lake — Prokessor Hayden's Statement only Correct ik applied to Lakiik LAKK.S — Heicht of Colorado Lakes — The Yellowstone River F'lows THROUGH I ME LaKE — ThE LAKE NOT ITS SOURCE — AFKLUENTS OK THE LAKE — Mineral AND Hot Springs on its Banks— Its Waters generally very Pure AND Sweet — The Trout Infested with Worms — Bfjiuty of the Lake— Mar- shall's Df-scription— .Strahorn's Poetical Picture— Prokessor Raymond's Eulogy — Rev. Dr. Hoyt's Pen Pcirtraiture or it — Moving F'orward — Thk Upper and Lower Geyser Basins— Explanations in regard to Geysers— Those ok Iceland the only others of Note in the World— Character of THE Geyser Eruption — Old and Recent Geysers — The Upper Geyser Basin- Rev. Edwin Stanley's " Parade of the Geysers "—The Geysers not all in Action at once— Lieutenant Barlow on the Fan and Well Geysers— The Grotto — Mr. Norton's Dk.scription — Lieutenant Doane on the Grand Geyser— Professor Raymond on the Lower Geyser Basin— The Laugs or Extinct Geysers— Gkyserdom not Paradise.— Dr. Hoyt's Description of the Desolation— The Geysers and Hot Springs ok Gibbon's Fork— Beaver Lake — The Obsidian Cliffs— Mountains of Glass— Review of the whole— Accessi- bility OF the Park— Irs Future Attractions— Its Quiet and Beautiful Valley and Glade»— Distances within the Park 1227 CHAPTER XXIII. ALASKA. Relation of Alaska to Our Western Empire— Another Kamschatk a— Absurdity OF the Stories told of its Present or Prospective Productiveness Its Furs, Fisheries and Timber somewhat Valuable— Peculiar Form of thb Territory— The Bull's Head with two Long Horns— Its Three Divi- ^^tMOTxm^-ntmfXt^^'H^it'AvstSV ^t»'Afti?*i'i>*-6^*«K'«f'' CONTENTS. iNitRAi. Wraith I'Rmaiii ro T»iK Dl. IIIK I'ARK — E I'AKK— kAfin ■CaRon ok Car- ID Kai.us— Thk 'ASll'irUN — 'I'llF. I.AKllS OK THK r WMU II AVOIDS loLl; nK Ul'HKR K WoNDIRS OK Hot Si'Hings — mi.~Mammoth Tower Crkkk OANK's Euloi:y liLOQUENT Pic- T VVasiihurn — LowsTo.NE — Its i.s oi- the Vel- < — Dr. IIoyt's II. ro Yei.i.ow- lUMAN Hand — /ATION OF THB .lED TO LAKliK River Flows F the Lake — i.y very i'ure '. Lake— Mar- ie Raymond's ORWARD — Thb TO Geysers- Character OF EYSER Basin— :s NOT all m jEysers — The I THE Grand 'he Laucs OR iption of the Beaver Lake OLE — ACCESSI- iD Beautiful .1237 k — Absurdity rrvENESs — Its '"orm OF the Three Divi- sions, Sitka, Yi;kon anh the Islands— Area— Popi'i.ation— Topoorapiiv— Mountains— Rivers— The Limits and Area ok ea(Ii Division— OEoi.rKiY— Vol- canoes and Glaciers— Minerai.ouy— Coal— Metals— Minerals— (Joi.d and Silver— Recent Discdverikj!- ZoOlooy- The Divisions in Detail— Tim; Sit- k\n Division— Its Fur Trade, Fisheries and Timiikr -Its Aoricui.ti'ral Pro- ductions conkinkd TO A FEW VeoETAHLKS- 2. TlIK YlKoN DISTRICT OK IirrLB Value, exceit for its Fur Trade, Whale and other Fisherifji on the Coast — 3. The Island District— Some Arahl.: Land on the Larcfr Islands, and A POSSIIIII.ITV OK Fi TL'RK DaIRVI ARMS THERE, THOUC.H AT TOO GREAT CoST KOR AiucH Profit— The Caitiire of the Fur Seal on the Priuvioff Islands the pRiNciFAi, Industry, hioucjh Fisheries may Increase— Detailed Akount of THE Fisheries— The Population, Nationalities and Character— The Natives — KoLosiiiAN TRiiiFJi— Kenaian Trihes— The Aleuts— The Eskimo— Prin- cipal Towns and Villaces— Meteorolo(;y of Fort St. Michael's and Una- LASIIKA— OllJECTS OF INTERtai TO THE TOURIST— HISTORICAL NoTF-S- CaN IT BE Commended to Immigrants ? 1266 PART IV. OUR -THE LANDS OUTSIDE OF " WESTERN EMPIRE." CHAPTER I. THE J^OBTHWESTERJf PROVIJ^CES OF THE DOMimOJT OF CANADA. I. British Coi.uMniA—BouNnARiF.s— Area— Islands— Soil of Islands and Coast- Soil and Surface of the Interior-Mountains— Rivers— Ceolociy and Min- eralocy— Coal— Gold, Silver, itc.—Fisiierif.s—Timher—Fur-Traiie— Popu- lation— Indians— Chief Towns— II. The Northwfjt Territories- Fxtent —Recent Division — Lakes— Rivers — Mountains— Soil— Climate Warmer than Manitoha- Wild Animals and Game Plenty — Rivers and Lakes Stocked with Fish— Population— Indians— Religion— III. Kkkvvatin— The New Territory— Not much known of it— IV. Manitoba- Its Territory too Small — No Good Reason for this— Its Boundaries — Its Rivers — The Province Nearly a Dead Level— Climate— Rainfall— Meteoroi.ocy of Fort Garry— Agriculture— Conflicting Accounts— Report of an " English Farmer "—Reply of " a Canadian "--Climate very Severe in Winter— Mr. Vernon Smith's Description of the Rivers and Lakes and their Future UsEFULNF_ss — Earl Dufferin's Description — Mr. Vernon Smith on the Crops— Later Statistics not Available — Transportation— The Canadian Pacific— Its Present Condition and Prospects— Religion, Education, etc.— Principal Towns— Historical Notes— The Red River Settlement— Pembina — Assiniboia— Riel's Revolution— The Rapid Growth of the Province since IT became a Part of the Dominion 1282 rse;..^i''in4ig*j*ii,-ijiii.;at.;«i7«Cfitjs^^^^^^ CHAPTER II. HOMES FOR IMMIGRAJfTS OJf THE ATLANTIC SLOPE. Why manv Immioiianth t)0 not like to oo to the Wkst-Vip.ws or many ok CUB OWN People ON the Subject-Are there not IIomk., for thme on the Atlantic Slope ?-AnvANTA(5E.s ok the East-Wisconsin and wIiciiioan- Ohio. Indiana and Illinois -Tennessee- Maine. New Hampshire and Vermont— Massachusetts and Connecticut-Northern New York— Ion.i I«land-Advanta«rs ok New System ok Ensilage here and in New Irkskv-. New Jerskv-The Southern Counties-West Viroinia-North Carolina- East Tennessee— Northern Georgia— Florida— Conclusion... . ijoj ! '; I i *'^'r^3m!ssmsii£'S!iaa«m-i-*i3imsssasm'!SfsaieM £.<.:<«i#»>;«a$a&«iwiii,'a.rX'iSR'' / J^TIC SLOPE. IRWS or MANY OK JR TJIF.SK ON TMK *N1) iVIlCIIKiAN — Mampsiiihic and KW York — Lono N Nkw jRRiiKY — ' )iiTH Carolina— * >30J / '':-:i0$-^^^^M-»^^^^'-3i^f^^:%^JiK^.^^ f'r^rtvtiiteu.v&^ii^-^i'^-.jrr- -" ." .-.V^'ii;% ,,i ft/ i [| 1^' ^ III '^ :a Bas-jJX»» »-:-j ti Fi,v a %i!^■i'*^^Wi|w*a«*..#«i.A^J,WAs■V^*si^to-v^4;*v^■■!^^^^ 1 ■■^•i','^-i^' . ;-^' .■a,, . 34 OUlf H'gsrMAjy JtMf/MM. i ■ from Its moiith to the Can.nla line, and the wrnt Hnr of British Anwrica, al)ovc the fifty fourth parallel. It has an an-a of 8,671,884 stjuarr miles, of which 577,390 or alwiit onr-filili, belongs to Alaska. It extends over 42" of latitude, and in itn farthest western boundary, " by Ounalaska't lonely shore/' over 103' of longitude. Leaving Alaska out of the question, as a mere dependency, the remainder of "Our Western Empire" comprises 24° of latitude and 36° of longitude, having a brcailth of nearly 2,000 miles from east to west, and a length from north to south of i,7rx^ miles, with an area of 2,094,494 square miles. The whole ot Europe except Russia, incluilin;^' the great Clerman ICmpire, tin- Austrollungurian Empire, the Republic of I'rance, the United Kin<^dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Kingiloms of Turkey, Ita'/, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and the minor States and principalities, have in all only an area of 1,678,791 square miles, about four-fifths of "Our Western Empire " exclusive of Alaska, or including it, less than three-fifths. Its population is of course much less than that of the larger European States, though somewhat greater than that of the Brazilian Empire, and increasing at a rate never equalled in the world's history. No empire in the world has a greater diversity of climate ; from the more ihan six months* winter of the northern border, and the mountainous regions, on some of which rest eternal snows, to the tropical heats of Arizona and Southern Texas, there is the greatestpossiblediversityof moistureanddrought,of heatand cold, of moderate, equable and health-giving temperature, and of rapid change, and fickle, inconstant skies. Like other large empires, it has great diversities of surface. Three ranges of lofty mountains traverse it from north to south with their numerous oudying spurs, their broad plateaux and table-lands rising to a height of 6,000 to 9,000 feet, their mesas or isolated flat-topped mountain summits, their deep and terrible caRons, and their long valleys, sometimes narrow and precipitous, sometimes broad seas of ver- dure and flowers. These are : the Rocky Mountains, appropri- ately named " the backbone of the Continent," and occupying a THR WBHT nHYOSD TIIK MiSXIS-Vm, )S ; line of Ilritish IS an ari*a ol ilioiit onrfilil). tuile, and in itn :Iy shore," ove r re dependency, s 34° oflatiuidt' riy a.ocx) miUs south of 1,700 Th<" whole of lan I'lmpirc!, th»' nee, the United oms of Turkey, imark, and the )ly an area of "Our Western ;han three-fifths. t of the larger .r*t^.vt.v. I i |5 ovM wesrjtJtAT KMr/jtg. color«'«I hu«s, nfford no hoM for wm!, vine, nhriil) or tree. Tlurc am plains, ptatraiix and M4'S(ts covered with alkaline powiirr, and having as tluir only v«*j;<'tation tin* ^ray, lichrn hiird saj^r hnish; plains on which tlu' j;rntl«r rain and soft falling dt:w Meldon) or n«'vrr descends — yrt thesr monotonous an«l apparently liarrcn plains, under the intUiencr of irrij^^ation, yield most ainmdant crops, and even the d«spiseil sa^c-brush furnishes a ilclicious pasturage for cattle. Therr arr also considrrahh' tracts whrrr, in ff)rm«'r times, the eroding' intluentes of moutuain streams have cut the derp ntrata of day into th«: most fantastic forms — lands so utterly barren, th.-'t no toil couhl extrat t from them the least vestij^e of a cr )p — th(.' " Mad Lands" of the Canadian trappers; and there are also some stretches of voKanic lands, for one of which the foul and mrpliitic vapors, and the earthquake shocks, have prompt<:il the expressive namowcr of natural land, they really nd no rejjion of : and productive ic. The wheat astern Dakota, rowth of Indian isouri, Arkansas orado and New d New Mexico, fields and the and corn fields iparison for ex- ry can compare a thousand hills of cattle on each I Territories of ig, Utah. Norih- ington and Cali- »eef and mutton rasses here are THB a Hit AT AMMHICAN DMSKUT; WMKHK AT ITt jy more nutritiouH ami iattc-niny, and ^'ivc to the HchI) of the cattle a more gamey tlivor than ilu)«ie of any other known loiintry; and even thoM* tandit wiii* h were at firHt rcckonrd am poriionn of the Cirral American I ^rsrrl, tamls ^iven over to alkalin*; thpositH and Ha(;e brush, and on which there was but very little rainfall, now prove admirably adapted to pasturage, ami, cither with or without irrigation, most lioimtcotiH in their pnxhu tiott of grain and root crops. And in this connection we may well raise the question which wc next discuss. CHAITI-.R II. Tmi: ( '.UK AT American Dt^rnT ; WuruK is it? — Tur IIuNnRrrnii MrRiniAir — •• Ei.i I'ruKiNs'n" S«ai»k— Thk Fa(ts in Rr.Ptv — ('olunki. ( llKr:v»:T Hkiu- ADIEN-(iRNr.KAI.) IIa/EN ON THR NoKTMKHN I'A( UK' — CoVKHNoK IIoWAKD'R ANSiWCK, AND OTHRH FaCTH — DaKOI A — WvOMINCJ ANI> IIS AtikU IJLTURK— MoHTANA— U. R. AND Mk. Z. I.. VVihtkon ITS CIkowi — TiiK HMALi. Modicum or Tkuth in these " Dksert " Stories — The repdktm* "Diskki" iir.voNn riir. RcH.Kirs — The Utah anh Nevada DKsmr— 'I^hiimonv or 3urvevors(;enerai.— The Tkxan Desert anu ARiitoNA— The Crcat American Desert a Myth. Thirty or forty years ago all our maps had a wide space, and some of them cwo or three wide spaces, inscribed, "Great Amer- ican Desert." Nearly the whole of the present States of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, and Western Minnesota ; the Territories of Wyoming, Dakota, Montana, and Idaho, Western Texas, and after wc had conquered " a piece " from Mexico, Arizona, most of New Mexico, Utah and Nevada, were included in this comprehensive designation. By and by silver, and some gold, were found in Nevada, and in the neighborhood of Pike's Peak, in what is now Colorado ; but though the existence of the pre- cious metals there could not be denied, yet the terrors of the desert to be passed through (terrors of whose reality the wagon- trail marked at almost every step by skeletons of catdc, and too often, alas I by the bones of emigrants, gave most ghastly proof) were such that only the most stout-hearted could brave them. After some years the tide of emigration, which at first had 'r^^a«.4.«']k.^>tJ»IHi»AlllJ>^ -.V«<.f .1^ l\' 'i jg Ol/X WESTERN EMPIRE. been confined to the eastern counties of Kansas and Nebraska, and had not reached the western counties of Iowa, and still less those of Minnesota, began to rise and overflow the adjacent counties and districts. The Union Pacific, the Northern Pacific, the Kansas Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa F6 Railways had plunged into this desert, and being all land grant roads, had made the discovery that these lands were not really a desert, but were capable of yielding excellent crops, and of fur- nishing superior pasturage to cattle and sheep. The line of settlement has advanced with each year till now it has reached the loist meridian west from Greenwich, in Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota, and overleaping all barriers has extended to the foothills and peaks of the Rocky Mounta'ns in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, and with moderate irrigation has pro- duced from these supposed desert-lands the most astonishing crops, and has furnished, as we have already said, pasturage so rich and abundant, to hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep, that their flesh is more highly prized than any other in the market. "Vet there have not been wanting those who from one motive or another, have sought to depreciate these lands, and have declared, in the face of the .liOst conclusive evidence, that the whole region west of the looth meridian was a barren desert, incapable of producing crops or furnishing pasturage sufficient for the subsistence of men or animals, and that it would remain so until God changed the physical laws which govern the distri- bution of clouds, and rain, levelled the mountains, and made the climate like that of the East. It is very easy to theorize on these matters, and to demonstrate that because, according to certain premises, a certain result should follow, therefore it will inevitably follow ; but he is not a wise man who neglects to test the truth of his theories by facts. The two regions, which, within the past decade, have been per- sistently denour ^ed by these pseudo-scientific theorists as portions of the Great American Desert, rainless, treeless, barren and incapable of ever being inhabited, are the regions lying near the lOOth meridian west from Greenwich and westward indefinitely, I rt ■•■^vis«SSVr!('^f!SSS!e'3^-)3SS!i^mmS''T^Si'- ^w:i^isem»&mminmM.- ■S'Ti THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT: WHERE IS ITt and Nebraska, a, and still less w the adjacent orthern Pacific, and Santa F6 all land grant ere not really a jps, and of fur- The line of it has reached nsas, Nebraska xtended to the 3 in Colorado, gallon has pro- ost astonishing id, pasturage so attle and sheep, y other in the om one motive inds, and have idence, that the barren desert, urage sufficient it would remain ►vern the distri- and made the leorize on these ding to certain it will inevitably o test the truth have been per- rists as portions ss, barren and lying near the ard indefinitely, 39 though some of these pessimists admitted that there might be some fertile valleys among the Rocky Mountains ; and second, the region from about the 107th meridian westward to the 114th. The first tract includes Western Texas, at least two-thirds of the Indian Territory, the western tliird of Kansas, almost half of Nebraska, Eastern New Mexico, more than half of Colorado, n ;arly all of Wyoming, more than half of Dakota, and the whole of Montana. In regard to Kansas, Nebraska, and Colo- rado, as late as the winter or early spring of 1879, Mr. Landon, a popular lecturer, better known to the public under his itom de plume of Eli Perkins, published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, and soon after in the New York Sun^ the following article : LET EMIGRANTS WESTWARD LOOK OUT! An awful trap is being set for credulous emigrants. Thousands of these emigrants are settling west of the rain belt, and they don't know it. They are going out too far on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa F£, the Kansas Pacific, the Union Pacific, and the Northern Pacific Railroads. '* Where is the drought line? " asks the reader. " Draw a line from Austin, Texas, to Bismarck, Minnesota, on the Northern Pacific, an J all west of that line is the drought country. Five years out of eight, crops will entirely fai! west of this line. Last year was an exception to the rule, and this is why so many emigrants are venturing too far West this year. The land-sharks are deceiving them, and are pushing a vast army of emigrants into a famine region." " What makes this region west of the looth parallel a desert region? " " Because it rains just as much water as there is water evaiKirated each year. If it rained more water than is evaporated, it would run down into the ocean, and the land would soon be covered with water. Rains run to the ocean in rivers, and the air evaporates the water of the ocean and carries it inland. Clouds form rainfalls, and back goes the water on to the earth, then into the ocean again. Now, before the air from the Gulf or ocean rearhes Bismarck, or the middle of Nebraska or Kansas, this wet air which started from the ocean becomes dry. There is no water in it ; the water has all fallen out of it in rain, and it has run back to the sea." " But why is San Antonio subject to drought when it is so close to the Gulf? " <' Because the air of San Antonio, on the Staked Plains in Texas, and in Arizona, comes up through Mexico. It is dry before it starts. It does not come from the Gulf. Mexico is hot. A perpetual current of hot, dry air blows over Mexico and fans Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado with atmos- phere as dry as wind from the Desert of Sahara. This dry-air current, blowing ~i^^&'-'^**®**"^'**'*'*~'*^ .*£&*. 'Zvij^t^**-.- . -^''-^^'^,)>rS;i^Li:>^)^:i^^,--ir:<- 40 OVK WESTERN EMPIRE. 1 ' up from Mexico amd AHeona, strikes the high mountains in Colorado. Here, in the centre of the continent, within seventy-five miles of Pike's Peak, is the source of the Red, Colorado, Rio Grande, Arkansas and Missouri rivers. This is the backbone of North America. The high, cold peaks condense any mois- ture that there may be in the air coming up from the south, and make it into snow. Then this cold, dry air passes on up the centre of the continent, making a perpetual desert. It prevents any damp air from coming east of the looth parallel. When we reach the Northern Pacific and Manitoba another current of wind, a damp current, blows from the Pacific Ocean. There is no desert there, where the Pacific wind heads off the wind from Mexico. Now, I say, thousands of innocent emigrants have taken up farms during the last year west of the rain parallel. Of coarse they will be ruined, and you will see them cx>ming back broken-hearted and discouraged." , ^^ " Will it always be a desert west of the looth parallel ? " " Yes, until the Almighty changes the course of the winds, takes down the mountain-peaks, and stops the clouds from raining all their water out in the East before they get to the desert." Eti Perkins, We will not stop here to notice the deplorable ignorance manifest in almost every line of this article of EH Perkins, ignorance which would cause any intelligent school-boy of twelve years old to blush with shame, such as persistently speaking of meridians of longitude as parallels; locating Bismarck in Minnesota, mistaking the longitude of the places of which he speaks, and contradicting himself by saying in one sentence that the air which reaches Bismarck is dry, and there is no rain in it, and in the next that " when we reach the Northern Pacific and Manitoba, another current of wind, a damp current, blows from the Pacific Ocean. There is no desert there, where the Pacific wind heads off the wind from Mexico.'* Yet Bismarck is u :.hat Northern Pacific Railroad, and just south of Manitoba. I ^^ c ivll be as well for " Eli Perkins" to go to school for a few months bci jr he attempts to write for the papers. Now please note the follow- ing facts. In Kansas, the rainfall at Fort Wallace, ninety miles west of the looth meridian, averaged yearly in 1871, 1872, 1873, and 1874, 13.47 inches; '" "875, 1876, 1877, and 1878, 15.05 inches; an average gain of 1.58 inches yearly. In 1879, it was 15.30 inches in the first three-quarters of the year, and would undoubtedly reach 1 8 inches or more in the full year. This THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT: WHERE IS ITT 41 [Colorado. Here, ike's Peak, is the ouri rivers. Tliis >ndense any mois- and make it into :ontinent, making east of the looth a another current 'here is no desert ;ico. Now, I say, the last year west you will see them s, takes down the r water out in the Eli PerkiNS. able ignorance of Eli Perkins, 3l-boy of twelve tly speaking of ; Bismarck in es of which he le sentence that is no rain in it, lern Pacific and rnt, blows from lere the Pacific narckis .. thit toba. I '■ I'M months boi jr note the folio w- ce, ninety miles in 1871, 1872, 877, and 1878, arly. In 1879, the year, and full year. This can hardly be called a rainless region. As to the crops in Kansas, this region west of the looth meridian has only been settled from three to eight years, and in that time there has been but one failure of the crops, and that not from drought, but from grasshoppers. The average yield of wheat in these counties was from nineteen to twenty-four bushels to the acre, and of corn forty bushels to the acre. The dairy products were much beyond the consumption. Colorado is between the io2d and the 109th meridians, and so, according to Mr. Landon, entirely in the desert ; yet its rainfall for 1876, 1877 ^^^ 1878, average 15.78 inches, and was much more than that in 1879, and in the lower and more arable lands ranged from nineteen to twenty-one inches. Owing to its vast mining wealth, but a very small portion of its surface has yet been cultivated; but in 1878, 66,691 acres yielded 1,310,000 bushels of excellent wheat, an average of 19.6 bushels to the acre, while the southern counties, which are the driest, yielded 22.6 bushels to the acre. In the same year, there were raised 75o,ocx> bushels of other cereals, 450,000 bushels of potatoes and 50,000 tons of hay. The agricultural products of the State were valued at $3,5 1 5,000, aside from its live-stock, which was nearly five times as much. So far from being " ruined and coming back broken-hearted and discouraged," the agrkulturists of Kansas and Colorado, west of the lOOth meridian, in 1879 broke up twice as much ground as the previous year and planted it in full faith of more abundant crops than the previous year, and were not disappointed. ,0 ; » . . " Eli Perkins " seems to be a little in doubt whether the Great American Desert reaches as far north as the Northern Pacific Rail- road. He thinks there may be some Pacific moisture there, though how it manages to come over the Rocky Mountains, with- it having all its moisture squeezed or frozen out of it, he does not explain. But another of these scientific theorists entertains no doubts that the whole course of the Northern Pacific Railroad, from Minnesota westward through Dakota and Montana, and probably Idaho, and for fifty miles each side of that railway, is a perfectly barren desert and must ever remain so. He denounces f.^^4^S^»*»*^ ,»rtMb«rt^«♦*Wl^A'i*#■|^rtiH*/fc■J»^'^^'-'^'i^^ >«*■.=..-■-•■ ,;t4tV.v*,.- . ;? j^2 C>d/i? WESTERN EMPIRE. (or did in 1874) the projectors and managers of the Northern Pacific Railway, as a company of swindlers, who were under- taking to palm off these wortlilcss lands on unsuspecting emigrants. A thousand acres of these lands would not, he thinks, yield a support for a single family. This voluble denouncer of a great public enterprise was Colonel W. B. Hazen, U.S.A., Brevet Brigadier-Generil, stationed for three years at Fort Buford, in Northwestern Dakota, and his only knowledge of the lands of this region, which he proclaimed to be a portion of the Great American Desert, was derived from three or four journeys up and down the Missouri river, in a steamboat. Colonel Hazen has undoubtedly hoard of the " Bad Lands of Dakota," and might possibly have seen a portion of them, as they are near the Missouri, at one part of its course, but he was not warranted in concluding that the whole of these great territories was of the same description. " The Bad Lands," lands where the mountain streams have eaten tlieir way through beds of clay and have cut them into most fantastic forms, are undoubtedly barren, and will probably produce nothing except minerals and fossils ; but they are of very moderate extent. Colonel Wm. H. H. Beadle, Superintendent of Public Instruction in Dakota, and late Private Secretary to Governor Howard, a man who has explored very thoroughly all parts of Dakota, says that " the Bad Lands " in Dakota do not exceed 75,000 acres of barren land (only aoout three townships), the rest being either arable or good grazing lands. Governor Howard, of Dakota, has well said in his report to the Secretary of the Interior, in September, 1879: It is but a short time since vast herds of buffalo roamed undisturbed over these prairies ; now forms stocked with cattle and sheep everywhere abound. It is not long since we were taught in our Eastern homes and in our schools, and learned from our geographies the story of the Bad Lands, the "Great American Desert," and were left to believe that Dakota for barrenness was only tequalled by the Desert of Sahara, and that its chilling blasts were equal to the cold of Greenland ; but i>ince it has been demonstrated that Dakota has a soil exceedingly rich, has more arable and less waste land in proportion to its size than any State or Territory in the whole Union, and since millions of bushels of g/ain are already waiting transportation to the markets of the world, capital, proverbially timid, is stretching out its arms, and, with hooks of steel, is drawing to itself the carrying trade of an empire. THE GREAT AMEKICAf/ DESERT: WHERE IS ITt 43 :he Northern were under- unsuspecting ould not, he rhis voluble ^. B. Hazen, years at Fort /ledge of the ortion of the four journeys olonel Hazen Dakota," and r are near the warranted in es was of the the mountain ay and have y barren, and i fossils; but |I. H. Beadle, d late Private :xplored very id Lands " in d (only about good grazing in his report led undisturbed ^ywhete abound, in our schools, ids, the "Great |renness was only rere equal to the )akota has a soil irtion to its size kce millions of . pts of the world, hooks of steel, In Northeastern Dakota alone in 1879 there were 375,972 acres of land under cultivation, of which 266,618 acres were devoted to wheat, and yielded 5,332,360 bushels of the best grade of wheat, an average of 22 bushels to the acre, though 40 bushels were often produced. Corn yielded 75 bushels and upwards to the acre, and oats from 60 to 75 bushels, while from 3CX) to 600 bushels of potatoes, and corresponding amounts of other root crops rewarded the farmer's toil. Southeastern Dakota is equally prolific in its crops ; and even in the Black Hills, which were supposed to possess no agricultural value, and were only prized for their mineral wealth, the husbandman's toil is rewarded by the most abundant returns. Wyoming, though largely a grazing Territory, has yet much arable land, and though this bugbear of a Great American Desert has in the past greatly hindered the settlement of this large and valuable Territory, which is destined to be in the not distant future one of the richest of all the Western States and Territories, settlers are beginning to discover that some of the best lands on the continent are to be found in its valleys and along its mountain slopes. The crops, on these apparently barren lands, when fertilized by one or two irrigations annually, or even without them, by deep plow- ing, are almost incredible. Even the most unpromising of these lands are found by the stock-raisers to furnish the most nutri- tious pasturage. " The raising of cattle on an extensive scale is becoming important and profitable in Wyoming," says the Land Office Report for 1878. In regard to Montana we shall have more to say when we come to speak of its productions and climate as a separate Territory. The following item, however, is conclusive of the fact that it is not a desert agriculturally. The Land Office estimates the arable lands of the Territory at about 6,500,000 acres, and the grazing lands at nearly three times that amount. The crop correspondent of the New York Bulletin sends the following from Chicago, Nov. 27th: "The United States consul at Winnepeg has lately published a letter in the St. Paul Pioneer Press with reference to the wheat-producing belt of the ' Far West.' The article is full of interesting facts. He says : ' The . %Sf;^- ->- .J-<^^ill(nMlUl»MsaluuiJVu(ulbI',*«v;:;««. ,. .-^ «4>^>l'•ieA)««■'V< r \ •j. '4, sr 44 fJf/iC WESTEK.V F.MPIRR. most favored of all ihc territorial organizations is Montana.* I have to-day received the following ' crop note ' from my corre- spondent there, which I send you intact : "'BozEMAN, Gallatin county, Montana, Nov. 6, 1879. " 'Grain in this county nearly all threshed. A largar acreage of wheat and oats than ever before ; yield rather more than average. One field of spring wheat averaged fifty-three bushels per acre; thirty acres in Jefferson valley averaged fifty-nine bushels. Fifty-five acres winter wheat averaged fifty-six bushels; six and a quarter acres of the same averaged sixty-nine bushels. The wheat crop of the county — winter and spring — will average at least thirty-eight bushels per acre. Many croi>s are nearly or quite as good as those mentioned. Many crops of oats turned out sixty to one hundred bushels per acre. In one field 1,030 bushels were threshed from nine acres. The oat crop of the county will average fully fifty bushels per acre. A very small area was sown in barley last spring ; will average about forty-five bushels. Quality of all kinds of grain good. B. R.'" Mr. Zimri L. White, the accomplished, careful and conscien- tious correspondent of the New York Tribune, whom no one will accuse of the least tendency to overstatement, says of Mon- tana farming, after spending nearly two months there in the summer and autumn of 1879: " The average yield of wheat in Montana is at least twenty- five bushels to an acre. Other writers have placed It at from thirty to forty bushels, and fifty bushels is by no means an un- common crop ; but taking the whole country together, I doubt if the farmer can depend upon much more than twenty-five. This is ten bushels, or 66 per cent, more, than what is considered a good crop in the great grain States of the Mississippi valley. The wheat of Montana is also of a very excellent quality. An analysis of samples of Montana wheat, made at the Agricultural Department in Washington, shows 18 per cent, more nitrogeneous or flesh-producing matter than Minnesota wheat, and that bulk for bulk it weighed about 6 per cent. more. I have before me a sample of spring wheat of the crop of 1878, raised by Mr. Reeves in the Prickly Pear valley, that averages to weigh sixty-four pounds to a measured bushel. Some of the crops of wheat that have been raised in Montana have been almost fabulous. Forty, fifty, and even sixty bushels to an acre are not uncommon crops. Montana.* I om my corre- Nov. 6, 1879. ,ge of wheal and : field of spring Jefferson valley iveraged fifty-six ne bushels. The least thirty-eight those mentioned. >er acre. In one rop of the county as sown in barley all kinds of grain B. R."' and conscien- whom no one , says of Mon- s there in the t least twenty- ced it at from means an un- rether, I doubt in twenty-five. is considered sissippi valley. quality. An \e Agricultural e nitrogeneous and that bulk ve before me a by Mr. Reeves ty-four pounds leat that have 5. Forty, fifty, :ommpn crops. r//£ GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. WHERE /S ITf 45 Several years ago the State I'air Association offered a premium for the best acre of wheat raised that season, and the award was made to Mr. Raymond, of the Prickly Pear valley, who had 102 measured busliels on a single acre. The committee who mailc the award were prominent citizens of Montana, and one iOf them has told me that tiie same year a farmer in the Gallatin vallt-y raised an equally large average crop on a forty-acre lot, but as he could not show that he had more than 102 bushels on any single acre, the coiuinittee decided that he was not entitled to the premium. " I have seen in August this year many field" of wheat, both standing and in the shock, in the country around Helena, and I have not seen one that appeared to have less than thirty bushels to an acre. In many fields the shocks of grain stood almost as thick as the sheaves in the fields of the Mississippi valley. " Oats and barley grow as well as wheat. The average yield of oats to the acre is considerably greater than that of wheat, and the weight per bushel is much above the standard. Mr. Reeves gave me a sample of oats from his farm which he said would average to weigh forty-six pounds to a bushel. General Brisbin says that Mr. Burton raised a field of oats which aver- aged 1 01 bushels to an acre, and a field of barley on which there were 1 1 3 bushels to an acre. "The soil of Montana seems to be especially fitted for the pro- duction of large crops of garden vegetables. The best market garden I ever saw, if abundant yield is a criterion, is that of Mr. Dorrington in the Prickly Pear valley. He sold $2,oto»At»iiW»'*Ji»>*«WU>«!Hlil^«i;wi.« OUR H'hSlhh'^ E.UrJXE. ■ . 1 1 n^ Company nnd RegiDicni. F, 3(1 Cavalry.... G, •• *' .... H, •• •• .... L, •• " .... G, 7th Infantry.. TotaU IS 5 6 5 J_ l,IOO 550 1,300 700 3.865 90 60 •30 50 6 i 60 60 35 «5o 40 785" 60 35 40 as 13 173 50 •5 40 105 «i 10 30 »s ■ •• ••# 30 75 I 3 3 ,J,000 3,500' 3.3001 2,.}00 «00 13,500 "The value of the several articles if bought at the fort vvoiiKl have been: Potatoes, $3,865; onions, $2,352; turnips, $85; carrots, $206.40; beets, $315; parsnips, $225; salsify, $9.40; cabbage, $125. Total, $7,182.80. The garden crops at I'ort Ellis in other years have been fully one-third greater for thi; same amount of ground. "As a rule the farms of Montana have to be irrigaied, and in most of the valleys there is an abundance of water for this pur- pose. The cost of constructing good canals for the irrigation of 1 60 acres of land is of course considerable, but when once com- pleted the expense of keeping them in order is very small, while the ability of the farmer to regulate absolutely the amount of moisture which his crop shall have more than compensates for all the extra labor and expense which irrigation makes neces- sary." -.,::,;."";,.•. ,'■,'' ' .. . .'■'■■■ The facts in regard to this region between the looth and 107th meridians seem to be (not reckoning too closely the exact line of either meridian) that there are some tracts, of very moderate extent in them, which are neither arable nor grazing lands — sucli as the " bad lands " of Dakota, and a small district of Nebraska and Wyoming, and portions of the Yellowstone Park and its vicinity ; such, too, as :>ome of the mountain regions in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, where there are frightful perpendicular precipices, from 1,000 to 5,000 feet in depth, the results of up- heaval, volcanic action or erosion, but these constitute only com- paratively small and isolated tracts of a belt, 350 to 400 miles in width, and 1,700 miles in Icn^ah. For the rest, at least one-fifth i^ww i, «£ 10 30 >S • • • «f • ao 75 •••••• #•• •«• 3 13,500 t the fort woiilil ; turnips, 5^85 ; salsify, $94^ ; 1 crops at I'ort greater for the irrigaied, and in Iter for this pur- the irrigation of when once coni- ery small, whih; the amount of ompensates for n makes ncccs- jicxDthand lojih the exact line of very moderate ling lands — sucli lict of Nebraska le Park and its ms in Colorado, il perpendicular results of up- |titute only corn- to 400 miles in It least one-fifth 7/// (;A'/:.17 AMKfilCAX 0/iSAA7: »»7/AA'A /S IT t ^7 is arable, either with or without irrigation, and yields mormouH crops; three-fifths are tlu; best grazing lands to be lounil any- where, and one-fifth is good and serviceable tiinb 1. < It \ i •y% i'V^ |0 OVM tygXIKKX KMriMK. further from thr truth than thcnc notions. Whilr it in true that thi« vatit territory which we are dcscribinfr in mainly a graxin^' country, it it alio true that it atmuniln in fertile valleys, and rich locationn of larj^e extent, which arc av well watcreil and fctrtile an any in the nation. ItR rivcrn are without exception formed from •prinj^n ; they are at clear at any cryttal, and furnish water power that it almott limidett." Arizona alone remaint of the pottible dctertt of thit wentrrn region ; yet the Surveyor-General of thit Territory tellt ui thiit tlie valleyt of itt rivcrH aiul ttrenms arc irrigable, and that wh) it irrigated they yiekl immense crops ; while the hills and plains furnish abundant and nutritiout pasturage, and stock-raising is a profitable pursuit ; that tlu: Territory furnishes more grain, tlour, bacon, lard, butter, cattle, mulct and horses than are needed for hotnc consumption, and that considerable quantities of all arc ex- ported. I'ruitt are; comparatively plenty and cheap. Still more conclusive on thit point is the testimony of Major- General J. C. I'r^mont, th< ; present Governor of Arizona. From actual investigation and a comparison of its present condition Vfitli what it was when he visited it thirty irs ago, he dedans that most of Arizona is arable, that i 'nfall ranges from fifteen inchcA to twenty-four inches (this lOo was written when the rainfall Itad b«cn much less than usual for five years ; in a letter to the writer about Christmas, 1879, he stated that they were then in tho midst of an unprecedented rain storm which had lasted for nearly two weeks, had raised the rivers to a great height and had flooded much of the country), that the crops of wheat «jveh when raised by the Indians were very heavy, the Maricopas sending.at one time in August, 1879, 200 tons of wheat of the best quality to San Francisco, where it brought $2.22 the hundred pounds, and that most of the Indian tribes were •ubsisting by agriculture. This surely cannot be a wholly desert land. . a i'aciitm jtuuiv^i -uu w ^uii^fcDq,: io}jt;,'7*j>/ii ,1,^, But while it is almost mathematically proved that the " Great American Desert " is a myth, receding from us as we try to approach it, it is not to jbe denied that here, as in other empires, ^there are some desert lands, treeless, though not quite rainless; •i**^pf»«(Pi MtSKHAL 4XD VSGRTABt.S PKOnUCTS, ft IVIiilp it ifi true tliat H mainly a grazing' ile valltryi, and rich ttcrcd and frrtiln as eption formed from and furninh wati r Brta of this western rritory IcIIh us iliat able, and that wh( n le hilU and plains »d stock -raisinf; is a s more grain, notir, han arc needed lor ntities of all arc ex- cheap. cstimony of Major- of Arizona. From » present condition irs ago, he declan s nfali ranges from > was written whin for five years ; in a le stated that they d rain storm which le rivers to a great y), that the crops ere very heavy, the >, 200 tons of wheal brought $2.22 the ndian tribes were be a wholly desert ed that the " Great n us as we try to s in other empires, not quite rainless; often incapable of cultivation, though tliry may Ix: rich in fotsils or in the precious metals ; and that in these drnrrts may be founil itumu of the mo«t wonderful phenomena on the globe. » . CHAITHR III. Tiir. uHoi.g Riir.irtK ABouMniNo IN MiNMAi, Wf At.Tii — PtonwTtoN OP nof.n Avi» Siivr.K, onim MstALH, etc.— foRMm— Gkamm— Roor Choi-*— F«UIT»— VlHICULTUfct. Most of these States and Territories abound in mln'.'ral wealth. All the Tcrrilorieii and all the States except Minnesota. Nebraska and Kansaji have either gold or silver mines or both, and it is by no means certain that even these will prove to be exceptions, though it is to be hoped they may; for agricultural products furnish a surer and better avenue to the prosperity of the entire population, than the richest mines of the precious metals. The golden grain I these States is a better possession than the gold mines of California or Colorado, or the silver of Nevada or Montana. Yet we would not underrate the vast mineral wealth of this Western Empire. It is possible, though not at all certain, that some of the Peruvian mines or those of Mexico may have more extensive deposits of gold or silver than are already opened, or are yet to be discovered in the Great West; but the production of none of them has been as great, in so short a period, as that of our mines, and we have just arrived at a stage of progress, when our production may be almost indefinitely increased. During the first ten years after the discovery of gold and silver in California, and the West, it is difficult to estimate with accuracy the production of the precious metals there; but Professor Rossiter W. Raymond, who has devoted much time and study to the problem, names, as the result of his inquiries, a sum total of gold and silver which, by adding the production of 1878 and 1879, gives an aggregate for the Great West for tlie thirty years ending .■ivabi»*^twi«-.*.'ii»iJi.i«^ua»,- i*r».*»fci«j.« il ii . . 1 i: - ■ H 1 t::ir:; I 1 . •'i ■■;■ ' r ' ri bt 5 1'' ^ i: It ■ ■ ■/ ^-|. ll ! ,1 Jri -' i ^ iii J2 06^^ tyt.STF.RX EAfPI/lE. June 30,1879, of 1(51,947,055,834, almost two billions of the precious metals. By a singular coincidence these are very nearly the amount of the product of the ten principal items of our agriculture for the year 1879. That product was j^ 1,904,480,659. The completion of the Sutro tunnel in Nevada, which will make deep mining practicable, in those hitherto productive lodes, and the discoveries of carbonate ores of silver and chlorides or horn silver in Utah, in the San Juan and Gunnison districts and else- where, on the western slopesof the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the new and extensive deposits of both gold and silver in the Black Hills, in Utah and in Montana, and the increasing annual production of bullion, warrant the belief that we are just enter- ing upon a new era in the production of the precious metals, which will far exceed that of the combined production of the Pacific States and Australia, twenty-five years ago. But our mineral productions in our Western Empire are by no means confined to gold and silver. Quicksilver^ which is an absolute necessity for gold mining the world over, is more abundant in California, Nevada and Arizona than anywhere else in the world, and though, in the past, tedious litigation has pre- vented the mines from yielding their full product, yet not only has the large demand for our own mines been supplied, but we have exported millions of flasks to other countries. Nickel, platinum, nnd in vast quantities, copper, lead, iron and zinc, are among the products of this young empire ; and coal of all quali- ties is scattered in localities where it is most needed. ■<■'''' Portions of this Western Empire are lacking in forest growths. The vast prairips and plains east of the Rocky Mountains had been so often burned over by the Indians, either carelessly or to promote the growth of the grasses, on which the buffalo, their principal game, fed, that though in times long ago they were covered with heavy forests, they seemed to have lost their ability to sustain any large amount of timber. Only near the banks of streams was there any considerable growth of trees, and these, '[ in some sections, only the comparatir ely worthless cbttonwood. But this deficiency will soon pass aWay. Encouragfcd by tihe ■■'Timber culture act of Congress, and by the desirte to prodoce 3ns of the precious 5 very nearly the of our agriculture >4,48o,659. The :h will make deep /e lodes, and the chlorides or horn districts and else- itains in Colorado, and silver in the increasing annual ve are just enter- precious metals, production of the jgo. rn Empire are by \silver, which is an id over, is more lan anywhere else litigation has pre- duct, yet not only J supplied, but we Duntries. Nickel, iron and zinc, are i coal of all quali- eded. in forest growths. y Mountains had ther carelessly or the buffalo, their y ago they were B lost their ability lear the banks of trees, and these, less cdttonwood. cou raged by the esifte td produce MINERAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. j|^ trees instead of sending great distances for lumber, millions of trees have been planted, largely of the rapidly growing kinds, as the ailantus, 'ocust, Osage orange, etc.; and even on the alkaline plains they are g'-ovving and thriving, and have already increased to a sensible extent the amount of the scanty rainfall. But only a portion of the region lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains can be called treeless. In Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, Missouri, Arkansas, parts of Texas and the Indian Territory, there are vast tracts of heavy timber, and the lumber exported from .some of these States forms a verj' ronsideraUe portion of their productive wealth. West of the Rocky Moun- tains there is generally no lack of forests, especially on the mountain slopes .; Utah, New Mexico and Arizona are, however, but sparingly supplied with timber, and much of the land suffers from drought except where irrigation is possible. On the Pacific slope, portions of California and Nevada, all of Western Oregon and Washington ? i e remarkable for the gigantic height and bulk of their forest trees. The Redwoods and Sequoias, whicl. range from 300 tjo 475 feet in height, are not the only giants of these forests ; several species of pine and fir and some of the cedars tower from 250 to 350 feet in height on the lower hills of the Coast range, in California, Oregon and Washington. In Eastern Washifvgton and Oregon there are extensive, elevated plains, without much timber, which are very cold in winter and intensely hot in summer. In Wyoming and Colorado the mountains are generj^Uy clothed with forests, up to a point somewhat below the STiOW line; but the plains, plateaux and foothills are very often devoid of trees, except along the water-courses, or where th^y have been planted by man. Over much qf this vast territory, nearly all of it beyond the Roqky Mountains, and the alkaline plains east of that range, there i? little or nothing which can be called sod; the long,! dry swrnmesTs would destroy it if it existed. But the buffalo an4 gramma grasses, more nutritious than our cultivated grasses, arq adapted to the summer drought, and furnish all the year round a most delicious pasturage for cattle. The bunch grass, (^a4 tb,^ white sage-brush (after frost)» are eagerly croppeq. ■ 's^lSSSSSiSS^iiSI S il Us i isX'^ t U ixiiiiffr'lSi'Si.'Ai,!^ ;-5«ST;",fa a^^ww .^v"sii)!i.t»j.ii».^.il-.ips a year, and small expense sheep. There ve to the coast, cing grasses in ite rains, these lowers of every perfumes. :markable alike I, and their ex- :netrated soil of em to run riot, :he sweet potato the acre, and can be raised. :., yield fabulous lly recognizable. :in, squash, and lelon, cantelope, and most abun- looking of these rn part of New dapted to these en of the worlcl, fruits and their imperatures, and •tropical regions, md, the produc- )e found in any lern portion, the 11 fruits of Min- n, Oregon and Northern California are unsurpassed either in size or flavor by those of any other part of the world. It has boen asserted that the larger fruits of California, as well as its vegetables, though of great size, lack the succiilcncy and fine flavor of those raised in the Eastern States, but there is no reason to believe that this is true. Fruits carried to great distances from their native soil, and kept for months or years, do lose something of their flavor, as is well known ; but eaten where they are grown, they are unsurpassed in excellence. The belt below this, consisting of the States of Iowa, Missouri, Southern Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Central California, adds to this list the peach, the apricot, and, above all, the grape. Already California is more largely en- gaged in the culture of the vine than any other country in the world. Every known species and variety which possesses merit is grown there, and though her great vineyards are so young, she is only second to France in the amount of her wine produc- tion. Nowhere can finer " raisins of the sun " be produced than there. Her peaches are excellent, but not so much attention has been given to their culture, as in other regions. The whole belt of States and Territories we have named are capable of a like development in viniculture with California. Their grapes may have a slightly different flavor, and the wineS produced from them may be as distinguishable, by the cultivated taste of the connoisseur, as those of Tokay aind Xeres dr Rheims ; but they will be in as great demand as the wines of the Californian vintage. Farther south, in Arkansas, the Indian Tei-ritory, Texas, Arizona, Southern New Mexico, Southern Utah and Nevada, and Southern California, sub-tropical fruits abound — the orange, lemon, lime, fig, olive, pomegranate, banana, guava, Madeira nut, pecan, and the finest and most luscious varieties of the peach, are rome of the treasures which Dame Nature lays up for her children in the sunny South. There are also many native fruits and nuts, less widely known, but not less delicious or grateful to the taste, than those we have named, to be found in the forests of the Great West ^ . , ^.,-;j,if^4"ilBi»»frSai«»eMaUSiJWA«*s*ws4^^^ .. If' 1 ir'lr I 5» OUK WESTERN' EMPIRE. \ ) ,/ '» 1" ,; , ■ 1 . CHAPTER IV. WrtD Animals awo Gamb— Bkasts or Prev — Grizzly and other Bears — Mr. MuRfHv's Grizzly Bear Story— The Cougar, Puma, or Panther— Th« Jaguar and other FELiD>t;— Lynxes- The Marten and Weasel Tribe — The Gray Wolf— The Coyote- Amphibia— The Whale Tribe— Birds OF Prey— Perchers and Song Birds — Pigeons and Grouse — Waders aWD Swimmers — Reptiles— Fishes — Mollusks and Crustaceans— Domestic AlflMALSi' i i J^... . Many of the wild animals of our Western Empire are peculiar to that region. The Bison or American buffalo, whose range extended originally from the Rocky Mountains to the Appala- chians, has for these many years past been only found west of the Mississippi, and as settlement and civilization advanced west- ward he has been driven back to the plains and foothills of the Rocky Mountains, a tract of not more than three hundred miles in width, and perhaps twelve hundred in length from north to south, and even this was encroached upon every year by the new towns springing up all along the line. Since the advent of n ilroads, crossing these plains, the number of bison has rapidly diminished. Many thousands were shot from the cars for fun, and left to die oa the plains ; hunters destroyed tens of thousands for mere sport. More than as many more were slaughtered for the hams and tongues, and the Indians killed from one to two millions annually for the flesh, and the robes or skins. It is es- timated that within the past ten years, not less than twenty mil- lions of these noble animals have been slain, and that hardly more than 300,000 remain. The bison is not found west of the liocky Mountains."* The moose, though plentiful in British ■ ' ■ ' ' I '■ * Colonel ftichard J. Dodge, United States Army, a famous hunter, speaks of another species, 9r«t hast a mll^imtrked variety of tK» buffalo, known to htintcrs as the ipountain or wo6d biUfolo,,or "ibe bison." It has shorter but stouter legs than the common buffalo, is very shy, and by no means plentiful even in its chosen haunts, and inhabits only the deepest, darkest dtiilM and caftbnk, or the craggy and almost prccipitons tides of mountains, from which it will Mt depart, wliUe4ik «0Agcn«r prefer* the ptaina. Except in one instance, no sportsman has bagged more than one, but its existence is well vouched for, though, so far as we are aware, it has never been described by any other writer. WD OTHER DkARS — rMA, OR Pahther— I AND Weasel Tribe HALE Tribe — Birds 3USE — Waders aWD rACEANS — Domestic 1. ■>i(\-^. !>i pire are peculiar ,lo, whose range i to the Appala- ly found west of I advanced west- 1 foothills of the :e hundred miles h from north to ■ year by the new : the advent of lison has rapidly Jie cars for fun, ens of thousands slaughtered for rom one to two skins. It is es- tl)an twenty mil- and that hardly )und west of the itiful in British peaks of another tpcciet, thB niounUin or wo6d mon buffalo, is very shy, only the deepest, darkest itains, from which it will tance, no sportsman h«s o far OS we are aware, it / ( *, * ^'; ■''"W^W! %H:' ■«,, '■:.,^- "••liWw^- ' ^ ^%r 1 . 'If \' ROCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT, ELK, RED DEER, BLACK BEAR, FOX, MOOSE, WOLF, PANTHER, C.RIZZLY BEAR, COYOTE, PRAIRIE DOG, WILD CAT, BUFFALO, WILD HORSE. y: , ii»>,^^^i4^V(i^pM((t*o;*ri!IU^ *»*-*' - O! ,VA^:.:- A. >.*:^V vi'-.. -;:■;.■■- \,j'. .v>^. 1i ' n; frill m^^^mmmm^ .W' ,: .ft ZOOLOGY OF ou/i tr/csrxxjv emi'ike. $r Columbia and Alaska, is only found in tlic region in the northern part of Washington Territory, in Northern Idaho, and Montana. The Elk, the next largest of the game animals east of the Rocky Mountains, has nearly the same range as the Buflalo» though it usually seeks the vicinity of the river valleys. It is less abundant than the bison, but has only partially escaped the indis* criminate slaughter to which those unfortunate animals have been| subjected. They are often found in large numbers (three or four thousand it is said) in the great parks of Colorado, and in Mon- tana. Mm There are three species of deer, the black-tailed, white-tailed, and mule deer; and at least one species of antelope, a graceful, beautiful creature. West of the Rocky Mountains, there is a representative of the Ibex family in the Bighorn or mountain sheep, and one of the goat family — the wild Rocky Mountain goat, whichi may, perhaps, be allied to the goat antelopes of the Himalaya Mountains. Of smaller four-footed game and rodents, there ai'e six or eight species of hare and rabbits, one bearing the name of the Jackass rabbit, from the enormous length of its ears; the beaver, musk rat and mammoth mole; squirrels of ten species, five of gophers or prairie dogs, the yellow-haired porcupine, four species of kangaroo mice, the usual variety of moles, rats, mice and dormice. Of beasts of prey there are a considerable number, and some of them formidable in size and strength. There are probably two species, and possibly three, of bears east of the Rocky Mountains : the black, the cinnamon, and a smaller brown one, known as the Mexican bear.* The bear is omnivorous In his diet; ants, grubs, mice, moles, squirrels, rabbits, eggs, berries, grapes and fruit, all seem alike to him, but if he has a special vanity, it is for honey. He does not attack man unless in ex- treme hunger, or in protecting the cubs ; but if attacked makes a very stubborn fight, especially at close quarters. His claws are very sharp and strong. Beyond the Rocky Mountains the formidable and somewhat ferocious grizzly bear, the largest American plantigrade, except possibly the Arctic or white bear, * Some practical zodlogists contend that these are not different species but simply varieties. I *si -^■mss^ pc,8'.y=,rpr«»r^7n^iygro«^iy "^ " ;3 :sri '^:S^^Sif Pr'i -^.1 y; ■; ; ' 58 Ol/Jt IVKSTE/tJV KM P IRK. is added to the number. The black, brown, and cinnamon bears usually avoid a conflict with man unless attacked, when they fight fiercely. It is said that among the miners of Western Colorado, a class of men not 1? eking in courage or pluck, when some new-comer, ambitious to show his prowess, proposes to go out and hunt the bears, which are very numerous there, the shrewd old miner, who is well versed in bear nature, will reply: " Guess not ; I haven't lost any bear." The grizzly bear, espe- cially if hungry, is not wont to wait for a provocation to a fight, and he possesses so thick a hide and so much vitality, that it is very difficult to disable or kill him by even two or three well- aimed shots. When wounded his rage is fearful, and his long and strong claws enable him to .nake very short work of an antagonist who comes within reach of them.* The cougar, puma or panther, sometimes called the American lion. Is another very formidable animal ; somewhat smaller than the African lion or the Bengal tiger, it Sas as much ferocity and almost as much strength as either. It is, however, cowardly like * Mr. J. M. Murphy, in his " Sporting Adventures in the Far Weal," devotes on* chapter to the grizzly ticar, and relates some very humorous stories of experiences in hunting it. Formid- able and ferocious at it is, the gristly it terrified by the human voice, when loud yelli and criet are uttered, and will run away at once. Mr. Murphy says that a certain judge of San Francisco, who, while a good hunter and a capital humorist, was of somewhat intemperate habits, had en- gaged with a few friepdt to go out for » week's shooting among the grouse and quail, and was asked to be ready to join the party at a very early hour in the morning, to that a camping place could be reached in the afternoon. The night before starting he attended a ball and became to much intoxicated that on his way home he fell down several time* in the mire, much to the detriment of his evening dreu and opera hat. Just after reaching home the carriage came to take bim to the rendezvous, and he insisted on going in the plight he was in. After tome re monstrance he wat taken at he wa«, and the party travelled to the mount>ini about forty miles distant, pitched camp and, building a fire, prepared for supper. A Spaniard approached them and taid that there was a grizzly a few rods ofT in the bushes. The judge, who was dozing near the fire, roused up at once and said that he would go and bring it into the cabp. His com- panions laughed at him and chaffed him, but his temper waa roused, and seizing an empty shot- gun, he said he would prove his atiertion, and strode off into the shrubbery. In about twenty minute* there wat a great commotion in the bushes, and all the party seized their guns and pre- pared for some unknown danger. In another minute the buthet parted and out came the judge without a hat, and running with tuch tpeed at to caute hi* hair and coat-tailt to ttand out at right anglei to hit body. A* he approached, he ahouted at the top of hit voice : " Gear the track ; here we come, ikt bear and mt, confound our toult." They did clear the track, and the judge rushed through the fire and did not stop till he had run a good half mile to the rear. Hit companion* stopped the bear and cased it to retreat by a few yell* and thot*, but the fool- hardy judge was the butt of many a Joke on his race with the bear. % "OTEJjr^ '«■«-. ._. ri:yr Klrychniiic. Then; art! a da^H of men in the WcMt known a» "Wulfcnt" \\hu nuke a ft()C(.i.tl huHincH» of kiUinjf wuIvch, uiiJ hcUing their ixUh, ^hith aru valnuhh*. Tiun in a profttablt; buHincMs, but tht)kc viho engage in it unJc-r^o j^rrat privations and lianUhipii, antl ihcy vttry often spend their hard woti ^,\'n\^ in niihcrablc ihbauLhir). The coyote or larking wolf in an intermediate link between the {;ray wotf and the fox, and tuaintainsi al)out the same poiii- tion in thiii country which the hyenas do in the Mant. lie is a thief, and a mean, cowardly, vile-iinielling tltief, but he subHervvs one UHeful purpose — he is an indefatigable scavenger, though a very dirty and cruel one. 1 In will dig up the lK>dies of the dead and feast upon them, and every animal that is wounded or sick falls a prey to him. If nothing better can bo found he will prey upon chickens, rati, mice, moles, or any odier of the small rodents. A pack of coyotes have bten known to attack a wounded buck and sirii) every bone clean in ten minutes. They are often covered with sores from feasting on dead bodies. Colonel Do i vt The birds of this /ast territory number more than 500 fipeciet already described, *;;d many more discovered but not yet fully described. There are twenty-five species of climbers, nearly two-thirds of them wood-peckers ; more than forty species of birds of prey, including six of the eagle family, twenty hawks, buzzard hawks and falcons ; twelve or thirteen species of owls ; the king of the vultures, as large as the condor and the lammergeier ; and the turkey-vulture or turkey-buzzard, so common in die South. Of the perchers, fly-catchers, and grain-pluckers, most of them song birds, there are nearly 200 species ; in the first group are included crows, ravens, magpies, jays, jackdaws and king-fishers ; riicnr aru A ho iiuUc a |>(.ltH, ^^IulI) ihuhu VI ho p», ikiul ihcy dcbauclu ry. ink bclwccn : sanu? |io»t- ihl. lit: isi a he aubHcrvcii {cr, thuuj,;!) a % of tlu' deuJ iruIcU or sick 1 he will \)rt:y uf the binall lo attack a iiutcs. They dead bodies. : the genuine mly in Texas. and Califor- laked whales, of porpoise. lea lions, two \ 500 Hpeciet not yet fully ^bcrs, nearly ty species of vcnty Iiawks, cies of owls ; lor and the ■bu22ard, wo nost of them t group are king-fishers ; EAOI.IC, VULTVRB, HAWK, PHEASANT, PFARMIOAN, CAI.IKllRNIA l>AKrKllH;K. FLAMINUO, CRANK, IHIS, ItWAN, UUUtiK, DUCKS. I'RAIRIK HKN, TUKKKV, i '3 ! > 4 (I I ( ' I 'I''' ' :^i;i* 7 ' ZOOLOGY OF OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. (Ji in tlie second and third groups, fly-catchers, several spf'ci( s of humming-birds, swallows, wax-wings, shrikes, tanagor-, r liins and thrushes, wrens, chickadees, grosbeaks, finches, limiL'ts, orioles, larlcs and sparrows. The pigeon family have five or six representatives, including the California and the band-tailed pigeon, the ring, the turtle and the ground doves. There are probably two species of phoas.int. The grouse family are numerous, and include blue grouso, ruffi'cl grouse, the sage hen, which feeds upon the sage-brush of the alkaline lands and whose flesh though tender is very bitter; the prairie hen, at least five species of quail, two of partridges, and three or four species of ptarmigan. There are more than sixty species of waders, including cranes, herons, bitterns, ibises, flam- ingoes, plover, kill-deer, avocets, English snipe, jack-snipe, sand- pipers, curlews, rails, rice-birds, etc., etc. The swimmers are still more numerous, over one hundred species having been described, including many species of geese, which frequent the lakes and broader streams, brants, teal of at least a dozen species, as many of ducks, the canvas-back being found in great numbers in his best estate, scooters, coots, sheldrakes, mergansers, pelicans, cor' motants, alb&trosses, fulmars, petrels, gulls, terns, loons, dippers, auks, sed-pigeons, and murres. • ' • The reptiles of the Pacific coast, and its rivers and lakes, differ from those of the States and Territories whose waters drain into the Gulf of Mexico. In the former there are no true sauriads (alligators or crocodiles), except in the Colorado and its affluents ; In the latter the alligator and probably the crocodile arc found in great numbers below the thirty-fifth parallel. The Pacific States and Territories have five species of rattlesnake, and no other venomous snake unless possibly a viper ; while the latter have as many species of th* ratdesnake, and at least three other venomous snakes, and pv jsibly more. There are about tllirty (species of harmless snakes, five of tortoises, seven or «ght land turtles, termpins, etc. ; about forty species of lizards, and nearly fifty irogs, toads, horned toads, salamanders, pro- teuses, etc., etc. ■ J.^rfnr J. '.'in.!:;.! J-jy J wfl ,(*;'-. I .T'.).:; rjV-[ There are more than five hundred species offish, most of them f^JJif ,>*»li^'-^-"""' ->■-'■--'■■■»«'• Hi 6a OUX WESTERN EMPIRE. ' I Pl' Ml ''V. '•• : X edible in the waters of the Pacific and the Gulf, and in the thou- sands of fresh and salt lakes, and the numerous rivers of this vast region. Among these are ten species of the SalmonidcC, native to the Pacific coast, besides several others now naturalized ; the taking, packing and canning of the salmon forms one of the largest and most rapidly increasing industries of Oregon and Washington Territory ; the rivers and lakes swarm with trout. Seven or eight species of the cod family, about twenty species of eels, ten of mackerel, and two of the bonita or Spanish mackerel, numerous species of the perch family and its congeners, the blue-fish, eight or nine species of bass, the lake white-fish (intro- duced) ; three species of tautog; one, the red-fish, a most delicious table fish ; about twenty species of flat-fish and flounders ; twelve species of shad, herring, anchovies, etc. ; nearly thirty of the carp tribe, weak-fish, balloon-fish ; and over forty of the cartilaginous fishes, sharks, rays, sun-fish, sturgeons, etc., etc. There are seventy-five species of mollusks, including a great variety of clams, quahaugs, oysters, mussels, scollops, and fresh-water unionidae, whelks, limpets, sea-snails, cuttle-fish, polypi, octopi, squids, nautili, etc. Of crustaceans, there are about twenty species, including lob- sters, crabs, hard and soft shell, king crabs, star-fish, fresh-water lobsters, shrimps, prawns, crawfish, etc. 1 ■• !- m •^■■Ahcwr • «, r No country in the world has a larger proportion of excellent pasturage land. While much of this is as yet unoccupied by herdsmen, the amount of live-stock is increasing at an exceed- ingly rapid rate. The estimates of the Agricultural Department at Washington, which, on live-stock, especially in the West, are generally considerably below the truth, gave, in December, 1878, 3,807,500 horses, more than one-third of all in the United States; 630,300 mules, about the same proportion of the whole ; 3,650,- 000 milch cows, about one-third of the whole number in the Union; 11,588,000 other cattle, or more than one-half of the whole ; 1 9,000,000 sheep, or one-half of the whole ; ind 1 2,000,- 000 swine, or alniost twO-fifths of the whole. The number in December, 1879, not yet reported, must be at least twenty, per cent, in advance of these figures. nun '^•^r •rr*- fi ! >, 'i ; < •mi: INCREASE OF POPULATION. 63 nd in the thou- i rivers of this he Salmonidae, ow naturalized ; >rms one of the of Oregon and arm with trout, renty species of tanish mackerel, congeners, the vhite-fish (intro- a most dehcious ounders ; twelve hirty of the carp the cartilaginous etc. There are Treat variety of and fresh-water 1, polypi, octopi, !s, including lob- -fish, fresh-water tion of excellent unoccupied by g at an exceed- ural Department in the West, are December, 1878, le United States; le whole; 3,650,- number in the on6-half of the ale; ind 12,000,- The number in least twenty per ■-.ft '<'*>' ':''!';i> I CHAPTER V. Population — The Increase mnce 1870 — Table Showing the Estimated Increase in each State and Territory — Notes in regard to each State and Territory. This whole region is new to settlement, except the States of Missouri and Arkansas; the former was admitted into the Union in March, 1821, and the latter June 15th, 1836. Nine of the other States or Territories have been organized with their present boundaries over thirty-five years, and several of the States and all the Territories are less than thirty years old. According to the census of 1870, there were in the whole region west of the Mississippi 6,877,069 inhabitants, besides nearly 300,000 tribal or wild Indians. The growth of population since that time h:-3 been almost incredibly rapid. In order to show how rapid has been the growth of this region we present here- with the results of the census taken in June, 1880— the official figures where it was possible to obtain them, and the approxi- mations in round numbers, where it was not. We have added to these the number of Indians on reservations, in every State or Territory where there were large reservations, taking our figures from the latest report of the Indian Office in 1879. It will be se^i that the present population aggregates 11,421,274, an in- crease of 4,5. ^.,205, or about 67.5 per cent., within the last ten years. The great States regard an increase of ten or eleven per cf nt. in the population in ten years as a remarkably rapid growth, an ' only one or two of them attain that; but here has been an inci ase of more than six times their best growth in the same time ; while fully three-fourths of this advance has been achieved during the last four or five years. ...r ■:'• '. . ■ -■:■ The following table shows the extraordinary growth of some of these States and Territories; and we ex;plain below the causes which have induced this exceptional growth. '■l<:;z^J^^'^ OVK WESTERN EMPISR. State State «r Piipulftlion Population or Population Population Territory, Arkansa» . 1H70. 484,471 1880. 802,564 Territory. 1870. 1880. ».597.509 Texas (^) 818,579 California . 560,247 864,686 Arizona (//) 9.658 40,441 Colorado (a) 39.864 194,649 Dakota (1) 14,181 135. '80 Iowa (^) . i,i94,oao 1,624,463 Idaho . . 14,999 32,611 KanRas {c) 3641 S99 995.966 MonUna(y ) ao,59S 39.157 Min'sota (.»95 3,168,804 NewMex.(* 91,874 Nebraska {e) 122,293 4Sa.43a Utah (/) 86,786 M3.907 Nevada . . 42,491 62,265 Washington '3.955 75.' 20 Oregon (/) 90.9»3 J 74. 767 Wyortiing 9,118 20,788 Louisiana 7«M«5 940,863 Totals . 6,877.069 11,339.809 'lliii tjtf) Colorado ow« its rapid growth in the Iwt decade to its superb climate, to its gr«at advantages as a herding region, and above all to the extraordinary discoveries of rich eras of silver fcnd gold on both the eastern and western slopes of the Rocky Muuntainst in the San Juan disrtrict, in Leadville and vicinity, at SilVerton, Ouray, Gunnison, and many other points of Western Colorado. (3) Iowa is essentially a prairie State, with a rich and fertile soil, and being gridironed by railroads, most of them having land-grants, and its advantages ditigetttly made known, it has made large additions to its population. (r) Kansas owes its almost mitaculous growth to its favorable location, to its excellent farming lands, and especially to the great enterprise and energy, with which the Atchison, Topeka and Santa F£ Railroad hxs opened to settlement and to markets, the whole upper Arkansas valley, one of the finest farming and graring regions on the contineht. 'i^* .r^dnujf; CiUKii u id) MinneMta owes muth of its growth to its fine climate, its rich whebt lands, especially those" of (he valley of the 'Rsd river of the North, and to the great enterprise of both her fanners and manufacturers, by which her wheat and flour have become known all over the world, as the finest produced anywhere. {e) Nebraska has made a great sulvance within ten yiars, almost quadrupling her population, mainly through her exceHent situation!, her fine, arable lands, amd the great eflbrts made by the Union Pacific and other land endowed roads, • to make her advantages Imow^. .^j'^ ,gt^j «f.-apii-;iin.;w.j j^iii fu .40s»i». (/) Oregon has been largely built up byennigration callecl thither by her extensive salmon fisheries, her immense lumber business, the great fertility and productiveness of her soil, and her rich and Valuable mines, tier facilities for water communication haviebeen of great adviltitage in bringing her products to market ; but as yet railways have not aided largely in developing her territory. (j[) Texto has received laicge additions! to its population from several cttises : its fine cotton and sugar lands have attracted vefy ' many settlers from tl^e Atlantic and Gulf States Of the South, as well as from the Mississippi valley, who hoped to better their cohdition by the change ; her vast ranges for cattle, and ¥M wen EASE OF POI'UI. AVION. 65 on 579 658 181 999 595 000 874 786 955 ,118 ,069 Population 1 1880. 1.597.509 40,44> 13s. '80 32,611 39.«57 75,000 118,430 1431907 75. "o 20,788 , 11,339.809 ts superb climate, the extraordinary ind western slopes le and vicinity, at rn Colorado, le soil, and being nd its advantages mlation. ble location, to its ; and energy, with :ned to settlement finest farming and rte, its rich whebt [orth, and to the lich her wheat and duced anywhere. Imost quadrupling me, arable lands, endowed roads, |ed thither by her [great fertility and Her facilities for >g her products to ing her territory. >m several c^tises : settlers from tbe [issippi valley, who jes for cattle, and the double demand for cattle for tlie ranges of the New Northwest, and for beef for the English and French markets, have drawn great numbers of ranch- men, licrdmcn, cattle-buyers, etc., to the State. There has been also a large immigration of English farmers and laborers, and of the best class of Germans to the State ; and the extension of several of the railroad lines has induced a considerable influx of people from Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. (//) Arizona has not grown so rapidly as some of the other Territories, for, until re ently, she hxs had difficulties with the Indian tribes, and her arid soil, most of which can only be cultivated successfully by irrigation, was still arid for w^t of the means to build irrigating canals, or bore artesian wells ; her mines, which were and are exceedingly rich, were almost inaccessible for want of railroad and wagon road facilities. These difficulties are now in course of removal, the Southern Pacific having reached Tucson, the former capital, and the Territory is respontling most heartily to the new impulse it has received within the past two years. The Indians, under the efficient management of Governor Fremont, are friendly and peaceful, and heavy and continued rains have changed the face of nature. Its mines are richer, and its lands more fertile than they have been thought to be. (/■) Dakota has made the most extraordinary growth of any State or Territory in the entire West, and this has been due to several causes, operating in different sections, at neirly the same time. Southeastern Dakota has been the portion of the Territory best known, and its fertile lands have attracted emigrants from Europe, as well as from the Eastern States. The Mennonites established a large colony here, and the Catholics are now purchasing lands for the same purpose. This section lying north and east of the Missouri river, apd in the lower valley of the Dakota or James ri ver, is very accessible, both by the Missouri and Dakota rivers, and by three railroad lines which penetrate this rpgion. Northeastern Dakota owes its rapid growth almost entirely to two railways, and the enter- prise with which they have advertised their lands ; the No^hern Pacific, which in the face of the greatest difficulties has opened a line nearly across the Terri- tory, above the 46th parallel, and has brought into market some of the finest and most productive lands in the Northwest; and the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba road, and its branches, which have opened to settlement the whole valley of the Red river of the North, which sent to market in 1878, 5,600,000 bushels of the finest spring wheat. The Black Hills Region, in Southwestern Dakota, was first brought into notice by the discovery there of im- mense deposits of gold and silver. Much of the region around is barren, but the mines are exceedingly rich, and the populatioi) is rapidly increasing. (_/■) Montana has as yet no railroads, except the extension of the Utah Northern, but soon will have ; the Northern Pacific crossing the Territory about midway, and the Utah and Northern penetrating it from the south, even- tually to meet the Northern Pacific. The latter road has recently reached Helena, the capital. The Missouri river is navigable for most of its course in the Territory^ as is the Yellowstone, though partially obstructed by rapids. 5 iSi-jfei*"' 1 :' 0^ OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. But Montana has many fertile and very rich valleys, excellent pasture lan(lrobably not less ^est. anguages, habits laratively small [which preceded The Pueblos of ibers in Arizona, iwns or villages, village. They lough «n secret |sts, and devout :d race, evidently merican Indians lages in Arizona, THE RACES AND NATIONS OF THE GREAT WEST. 67 New Mexico and Colorado, of the cliff-dwellers, or Moqiiis, a still earlier race, of which they seem to be the only survivors. Their dwellings are hewn in the perpendicular roi ks of some misa or butte, or crown its height, and are only accessible by ladders or rude rock stairways. Their cattle and sheep occupy usually only the top of the mesa, and here were constructed also large reservoirs for water, which they use for themselves and their cattle. They are engaged in manufactures as well as in agriculture, and their blankets, their cordage, their bread manu- factured in thin sheets from the blue corn which they cultivate, their ornaments, etc., are very curious. They are as much advanced in civilization as the Peruvians of South America, and possibly belong to the same race.* • In the Indian Territory, the tribes removed thither from Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, in i S32 and 1 833, the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws and Seminoles, have farms and good dwellings, and show no disposition to lead a nomadic life. Of the other fifteen or sixteen tribes or fractions of tribes, now occupying portions of the Territory, some are becoming ac- customed to the herdsman's life and seem contented ; others do * Very few of our explorers or tourists have visited these singulnr and inlerestirif; people in their rocky fastnesses. Among the few are Prof. J. S. Newl)erry, now of the Columbia College School of Mines, and an eminent scientist. Colonel J. W. Powell, the pioneer explorer of the Rio Colorado, and Ueneral J. C. Frimont. They are certainly a much more intelligent and highly civilized people than any of the Indian tribes now existing on this continent, and in all probability are the remnants of a race which preceded the Aztecs, the inhabitants of Mexico when that country was first discovered. Their cliff dwellings exhibit remarkable architectural skill, and their religious ceremonies, of which Colonel Powell has given a most interesting account in Scribner's Monthly , while very singular, indicate their origin from one of the primitive races of Northwestern Asia. They are generally regarded as Are-worshippers, but like the Parsees, their worship seems to have been symbolical, and to have regarded fire and the sun, the great source of fire, as only the symbols of the creating and vivifying power which pervades all nature. Their manufactures were rude, but the products were of great excellence. We have ourselves seen a blanket, which Prof. Newberry obtained from them, woven from the wool or curly hair of their sheep or goats, and into which when suspended by its four corners, three pailsful of water were emptied, and after nearly a half-hour the under surface was nut moist In the slightest degree. Their ornaments of gold, silver and copper displayed a high degree of artistic skill. Their bread, made from the maize of different colors, red, blue, yellow, white, ctr., which they cultivate, pounded into roeal in a mortar and made into a thin paste, when linked was no thicker than writing paper, each sheet being about fourteen by eighteen inches, and folded sn that the pile of edible sheets resembled a ream of blue or colored paper. In these villages four or fi\ e languages are spoken, none of them bearing any known relation totbo.te of the otiier Indians. .■,^S"^-' 'kU9^^^- •*i !i tt OUR H'/iSriCftX l-.MriKK. \\A f 'li not take kintlly to even p.irtial civilization, and arc restless and uneasy. This is particularly true of th<; Comanrhes, the few Apaches who arc in the Territory, and some of the later comers, as the Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Poncas. The nomadic Indians, though of many tribes and languages, yet belong for the most part to four or five groui)s. The largest, most numerous, and most warlike of these are the Dakotas or Sioux, and the Shoshones, Snake Indians or Utes. In the former group are mcluded not only the Unkapapas, Tetons, Crows, etc., but the Winnebagoes, Assiniboins, Omahas, Poncas, loways, Otoes, Mandans and Minitaris. Their hunting grounds extended from the Canadian line through Western Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, Western Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, and part of Wyoming, into Northern Colorado. Some tribes of this group have been almost constandy hostile to the whites, and have more than once perpetrated terrible massacres. The horrible scenes in Minne- sota in 1862-3 were the work of the Crows, one of the tribes of this group. The butchery of Custer's gallant force was also perpetrated by bands of this group. Sitting Bull is the chief of one of the Sioux tribes. They have been very often at war with the Utes. The Shoshones, or Snake Indians, very possibly outnumb'^r the Sioux. They include not only the Shoshones proper, in Oregon and Washington Territories, but the Bannacks, Wihinasht, Comanches, Kizht and Netela, the Modocs, and the various tribes of Utes, the Pah Utes, Pi-ut(!s, White River Utes, Uintahs, Uncompahgre Utes, etc. Ouray is a chief of the Uncompahgre Utes, and Douglas of the White River Utes. These tribes are found in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Western Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and some of them in Northern Texas. Among the smaller groups are the Sahaptin or Nez Perces, under which name are included also the Walla Wallas, Yakimas, Pelouse and Klikitats of Washington and Oregon ; the Selish or Flat-heads, under which name are included the Pend d'Oreilles, the Coeur d'Alenes, Spokanes, Piskous, Nesk'wally, Chehallish, Cowlitz and Killa- mooks or Tillamooks of Idaho, Oregon and Washington ; the "I^im^^^IiiT. W ire restless and inche!S, the f<:w jc: later comers, omadic Indians, jr for the most numerous, and sioux, and the •nu;r group are IS, etc., but the loways, Otoes, i extended from akota, Montana, rt of Wyoming, rroup have bt^en more than once cencs in Minne- nc of the tribes u force was also iull is the chief pry often at war sibly outnumber ones proper, in acks, Wihinasht, nd the various ite River Utes, chief of the lite River Utes. Idaho, Western Colorado, and e smaller groups ime are included nd Klikitats of ads, under which Coeur d'Alenes, )wlitz and Killa- ATashlngton ; the yy/A A/«tas and nations vt tiia oatAr »«'/.•/: ^ Yumas include the Cuco-Maricupus, Cuchans, Muhaves, iiiialapais and Yava|>ais, and the Diegueiius uf /\ri/ona; the I'linas include the i'unu Apaches, ihe Loyute Apaches, and ulher Apache tribes, us well as tlic I'inias proper uf i\rtzuna and New Mexico. The number of" colored persons of African descent " is not far from 70u,ooo, there having been a considerable exodus of negroes from Mississippi, Tennessee and other Southern States east of the Mississippi into Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, and Nebraska since tl.'j census of 1870, and especially in 1878, 1879 and 1880. The number of Chinese and Japanese now in all these States and Terriiories does not exceed 100,000 and perhaps not 75,000. It is more difficult to determine the number of persons of Ilispano-American parentage, whether of the whole or half- blood, since, in Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and perhaps also in Colorado, a considerable number were of such parentage, yet born in those States and Territories, before they came into possession of the United States. As nearly as we can estimate, these I lispano-Americans, whether born in our new States and Territories or in Mexico, must number somewhat more than 100,000. Of about equal number are the emigrants born in British America, who are mostly Canadian French, and in the Northwest, a considerable percentage of the trappers and hunters often of mixed blood, from the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies. The immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, who num- bered, in 1870, in this region 346,364, must now exceed a mil- lion, for Utah has received thence large numbers of Mormon converts; while Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa have had large accessions of British farmers, artisans and laborers, and Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California, Mon- tana, Oregon, Wyoming, and the Black Hills region, have been fargely aided in the development of their great mining interests, not merely by British capital, but by British labor. In the last decade, also, the German popu'lation of this region his increased from 310,645 in 1870 to nearly or quite a million ' '+ I": \ I t u in 1880, for in f;irm work, in mcthanital anil in miniiijj purnuits, the German han nrver failed to ktc'i) pace with llur toilers of other racch. Cicrman capital, too, has been libci.tlly invcsteU in the iMHt mines. In 1S70, the Scandinavians in this region numljered iat,578: but they were only the vanj^iiard of a fjiore abundant immigration, which has made tlic Norse tongue familiar as l'!nj;lisii, tlirou^ii out Mmnesota, inuch of Iowa, l)ak(>i.i, Nebraska, Kansa!«, and portions of Wyoming; and Montana. Tlu re arc certainly 4oo,ndinavian parents in the Northwest. For the rest, there are 35,cxx> or more Mcnnonites ami other Russian Protestants from Rusuia, 10,000 or I 2,ooc) Italians, half that number of Hungarians, over 20,000 Bohemians (C/ochs), nearly as many Austnans (Ger- mans), 35,000 or 40,(X)0 French, 25,000 Swiss, lo.ixooi 12,000 Hollanders, 5,000 Bt'lj^ians, about the same number of Portu- ijuese, 1,000 Spaniards, about ihc same number of West Indians, and nearly as many from the islands of the Pacific, and from Western South .\m ca. Asia and Africa and Australia contribute their several quotas, small ones, it is true, to make up the mixed multitud \ from ail lands, who have floclscd hiihrr within ilie past thirty years. Probably somewhat more than one-half of tiie whole number were born in the United States, and of white American parent- age. Except in the older States of this Western Empire, Mis- souri, Arkansas, Texas, Iowa, and California, and in a smaller degree, Minnesota, Kansas, and Oregon ; very few of these citi- zens who have attained adult ■a<^c, are native to this region, and * to the manor born." Every State of the Union has contributed its quota, the majority in the Northern and Central States and Territories having come from New England and the Northern States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohiok Michigan, Indiana, ininois and Wisconsin ; while the emignnts to Texas, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, Arizona, New Mexfco, Southern Colorado, and Utah, and Southern California, are very largely from the Southern and Southwestern States, though SoutJiern Illinois has contributed a considerable share of the recent emi- grants to Texas. SOCIAL CtiAMACrgXiSIK'S Of TMM /'fiO/'/.A. ;• liny; pursuits, lu; toilers of y itwcst»!il in rill la'.syS: I immigration. ;lisi., lliroujjii , KannaH, ami ;ainly 400,0011, StiUilinavian »rc 25.000 or from RiisBia. ntjarians, over ustnans (G<*r- ,(xx) 01 12,000 iU«r of Portu- West Indians, cific, and from veral quotas, (1 ■, from uil [ty years, whole number erii:xn parent- Empire, Mis- \ in a smaller ^v of these citi- lis region, and as contributed ral States and the Northern ihiok Michigan, nts to Texas, ixiico. Southern ▼ery largely lugh Soutliern e recent emi- CHAPTKR VII. ('MARA(.TRm«Tia» AND PK* IJUARITIM or IHR FWt' '.riON* -ffUMOROUt A»rKCT^ ()»■ THK Ui.KNniNi; or DirrKKKNT Nationh -'riiF, Nbw Diai.bct — SutiMr.NH or IT— Tfir PRoptN^iTY iSICb— OtiUH Muols qp Skitlkmknt. No such experiment In the blinding of the diffcn^nt races of men into one homogeneous nation, has ever b»'f*n attempted, on a St alt? so grand and extensive, as tliat lutvv in progress in our Western lOmpire. Will it- prove a success? Here we Hnd the New linglander, intelligent and often scholarly, but almo»*l always shrewd, sharp, and enterprising, cheek by jowl with the lall, lank, bilious-looking Southern, less enterprising, perhaps, yet eipially sharp in his way, with a dogged energy, and often .m irritable temper. The quick, nervous, impulsive, but capable New Yorker has for a partner a dreamy and apparently stolid German, who is, nevertheless, fully awake to business matters. The quiet but acquisitive Pennsylvani, n is linked with a wild, blundering, impulsive, and jovial Irishman. Sprigs of British aristocracy and British snobs are found in all callings, from the highest to the lowest, and the mercurial Frenchman, the proud and haughty Spaniard, the dark-browed Italian, and the versa- tile Russian, are all found occupying, in apparent harmony, the same sod-house or dug-out. The Israelite is everywher'\ and at all times ready to turn an honest penny, lar from dealing always in old clothes " shust as goot as new," he is a banker, a mine owner, s capitalist, or a landed proprietor. In the mining regions, especially, this commingling of different nation- aHties lias led almost to a new nationality, certainly to a new dia- lect, at first almost unintelligible to the new-comer, but very speedily acquired by a few weeks' residence. Every man has his title, generally aprUed with eonskler^ble shrewdness and appropri- I '1^ I i u h t- ILt ;• OUM H'Msr/' Jty Kwr/MH. atcnrsH, but, except in rarr instAncrn, retained a» lony an he rc« main* in the re^'ion. Very few rank an Uiw ah "Caplain" or " Major," ihou^'h lh«' latter han Home currency ; but "Colonel" or "C()ininonniry. You »ee llirtn Hfnall >oulfd cusHen lakis too muth iirij^ation to brinj^ 'etn out. TWcy've just got to git up and git." The won! " irrigate," \vhi( h iM \.)\\% cxprcsnion has manifest reference to the re^ultH of irrigaiiion in producing iinnn-ns*' crops ort the ariti laiuls, has also another hi^nifuaiion in th«; \V«'st. " Strang«'r," said a rough Inokiiig miner to a clerical looking gentleman, in otw of tin; Con (ord coaches, "do you irrigate?" producing at the; sarin? time a hotilc. " If you mean to ask wlutlxr I drink, sir, I do not," was the dignified reply. " Stranger, have you any objection to our irrigating ? " was the next (juestion. " No, sir," was the; reply. .\fter the irrigation had been complctcil, the miner, who after- ward turned out to Ix' a large mine-owner, propoundeil a second (|uestion. "Stranger, do you fumigate?" "If you nu-an to ask do I smoke, sir, I do not." " Well, stranger, tlo you object to our fumigating?" "No, sir; certainly not," was the prompt reply. It shoidd be add ' ^- .. ;i| | |. i.lii ,-l4t^ i |. l l . i|i lJ, l|P| . i , the entire control of a State or Territory by one sect or denom ination alone, inasmuch as perfect freedom of conscience, excep'i where it violates the rights of others, is the cardinal principle of our national Constitution. Where one sect is largely dominant in a State or Territory, the rights of the minority are almost invariably invaded. In Utah this predominance involves also the practice of polygamy, which is an added violation of our national laws ; and in New Mexico the school moneys derived from the sale of school lands have been misdirected by the Jesuits and other religious orders, who have the entire control of educa- tion there, not only to the payment of teachers of theology in Roman Catholic seminaries, hwx. to the payment of the board of students of theology. So far as colonies of Roman Catholics are concerned, they are perfectly right and proper, and very considerable settlements have been organized under the auspices of bishops and arch- bishops, in Dakota, Nebraska, Texas and Oregon, and perhaps in some other States and Territories. No objection is made to the organization of Mormon colonies, provided they obey the laws ; and, as a matter of fact, the Mormons have planted large colonies in Idaho, and smaller ones in Colorado and Arizona } ,i 1 ' ::i I ■:' .ifl ^ OVJt WF.STKf^N EMJVJtS. In a few instances colonies-of American Protestant denomination»j have settled in a single township, and have done well. 1 here are Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist and possibly Baptist colonies of this sort. Generniiy, however, our American colonists prefer a diversity of religious beliefs in their seulements. Recendy, two methods of setdement and improvement of lands have been adopted. They are both of doubtful expediency, so far as the future of the States and Territories is concerned, though of great present profit and success in the development of new regions. The first method has been largely practised in California, and is coming into vogue in the newer States and Territories. A capitalist, usually, though not always, a practical farmer, stock-raiser or mining operator, or sometimes an association of capitalists, acting by their superintendent or general manager, purchases a large tract of land, often many thousands of acres, adapted to his purpose, whether of raising grain, wine-making, stock or wool-growing, or mining, erects the necessary buildings, and procures the best and latest machinery for his purpose, and hires his laborers, who may be the poorer classes of foreigners, Mexicans, Indians, or Chinese, and works his estate exclusively, or almost exclusively, with such labor, his machinery or steam- driven agricultural implements supplying the place of very large numbers of laborers. If he is a farmer, and in the smooth prairie lands, he breaks up the soil with his gangs of steam- plows, or an army of plowing machines each drawn by four horses or mules ; sows his wheat or other grains with steam or four-horse drills ; irrigates his lands, if irrigation is necessary, by water raised from an artesian well, by steam or wind-power; reaps, gathers and binds or more expeditiously still, clips off the heads of the grain and deposits them in an accompanying wagon by bushels, whence they an: transferrer by a chute to the threshing- machine, which threshes, winnows, separatestand sacks the grain with litde human intervendon. When the market is at its highest point, he sends to it his hundred thousand or two hundred thousand bushels of wheat, his oats, barley, and corn in nearly equal amounts, and employing che£ip labor, his net profits nn a single year's crops may be reckoned by the hundred ,:|; :]} -i^-= THE EVIL OF LARGE LANDED ESTATES. 79 denominationw I well. Ihure jssibly Baptist ericfan colonists etnenfs. iprovement of iful expediency, :s is concerned, le development ely practised in wer States and rays, a practical :s an association :neral manager, isands of acres, 1, wine-making, ssary buildings, lis purpose, and s of foreigners, ate exclusively, nery or steam- ;e of very large in the smooth ;angs of steam- drawn by four with steam or s necessary, by d-power; reaps, •s off the heads lying wagon by the threshing- sacks the grain jrket is al its )usand or two ey, and corn in his net profits the hundred thousand dollars, though his cultivation may be less thorough, and the yield per acre smaller, than on smaller and more carefully tilled farms. All this is very well for the capitalist, and equally well for the exporter of grain ; but it is not so well for the State or Territory, nor for its permanent and successful development. These large estates prevent the formation of villages and towns, and the establishment ofprimary and grammar schools; encourage absenteeism, and tend to the establishment of a privileged and oligarchical class; and in the not distant future, when the public lands and the railroad lands are all sold, will bring about a con- dition of things such as now exists in Great Britain, and sooner than there, because the cultivation is more superficial and the land, skinned for present crops, will soon lose its fertility. It is a significant fact in this connection, that on the great "Dalrymple farm*" in Northern Dakota, with its more than 30,000 acres in grain, the yield per acre is much less than that of adjacent small farms, and that the yield per acre diminishes with each successive crop, though the land is the best in the Red River valley. The great cattle and sheep ranches are in some respects still more objectionable, inasmuch as the herdsman's life has a strong tendency towards a condition of semi-civilization. The owner of these immense flocks and herds may be, indeed, like the Oriental patriarchs, a man of culture and refinement, a poet or historian, a king among men, and may surround his children with all the luxuries of civilization ; but his herdsmen or shep- herds, without opportunities of education, and far from civilizing influences, will, in the course of time, become mere boors and hinds. In the wasteful methods of stock-raising in these regions, it is estimated that it requires fifty acres of the mountain pasturage to feed a single steer, and where the herd amounts, as it not unfrequently does, to 4,000 or 5,000 head, it may require a whole county to furnish them with sufficient pasture. This isolated life inevitably leads to results, directly opposed to the whole genius of our institutions. . In the sale of the public lands, the policy of the government has been, to have the holdings small, and the setders within such neighborhood to each other, that schools, churches, and villages, could be maintained; this *. .JSWtr-W^ 8o OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, '"i ^rM ' m has been, to some extent, also tin poliry of the land-grant rail- roads, though those holding large gi..,irs have too often departed from it; but the pressure to sell large quantities of grazinj^ lands, and in some instances farming lands also, has been so great, that the government officers and the railroad officials have too often yielded to it. In Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and California, the old Spanish and Mexican land-laws have prevailed, under which a square league of land was about the small'*st parcel put upon the market, and from six to thirty leagues not an uncommon purchase. California is already suffering from these immense estates. Anotlier plan now prevailing to some extent, especially among the English middle classes, people of fixed incomes which terminate with their lives, is perhaps less objectionable though tending in the same direction. These people, younger sons of the nobility or gentry, retired army or navy officers, dertjymeii or their families, civil servants, etc., come to the western countr;,' and purclij".e one or two quarter sections or more, have them broken up, and perhaps a log-house or sod-house built, and let them, the first year foi half the crop, and in the years that follow for $1.2$ to $1.50 per acre. If their means are sufficient, they repeat this process, every year, till they have 2,500 or 3,000 acres leased in this way, and this gives them a comfortable annual income. This is less objectionable than the purchase of large tracts, because these quarter sections need not be con- tiguous, and there will thus be an opportunity for sufficiently close setdement to permit the establishment r»f good schools and villages ; and these land-holders may ell their improved farms, at prices which will permit them to make still larger investments ; but there is a strong tendency, in the process, toward the for- mation of a landed aristocracy. SOILS, GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY, 8i land-grant rail- often departed ies of jjra^in^ ), has been so id officials have lexico, Nevada, land-laws have was about the o thirty lca}i;ues / suffering from specially among incomes which tionable though ounger so'ns of cers, cleri>ymcn ^vestern countr;,' lore, have theni se built, and let ears that follow : sufficient, they 2,500 or 3,000 a comfortable he purchase of d not be con- for sufficiently od schools and mproved farms, r investments ; ;oward the for- i..,!,i CHAPTER VIII. Varikty ok Soils and Surface — Geocraphy and Geocnosy — Soils — Geology — Characteristics ok the Rocky Mountains — Volcanic Remains ok the Yellowstone Country — The Geysers — The Vicinity ok Salt Lake — Pkokessor Geikie's Summary of the Gkolooy of the Central Region — Mineralogy. The variety of soils in this vast region is almost infinite, and in this chapter we can only glance at the principal causes which lead to such diversity. There are nearly 2,000 miles of coast, washed by the ocean and gulf on the Pacific and in Texas, upon all of which has been cast by the waves, sand and alluvium to a greater or less breadth, for thousands of years. The very heavy rains on the west coast and the western slope of the Coast range, aided during the glacial epoch by the movements of the huge glaciers, the largest by far which ever existed on our earth, disintegrated the rocks, and washed down upon the foot-hills their constituents, varying according to the nature of the rocks, and varying also in the fineness of their comminution, in propor- tion as they were for a longer or shorter time ground by the slow but irresistible modon of the glaciers. The same causes pro- duced similar effects, in the early periods, on both the eastern and western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. The great but now elevated valley between those two mountain chain , as well as the greater part of the plains east of the /Jocky Mountains, were for ages the bed of immense lakes or inland seas, while the southern portion of California and Nevada connecting with the Pacific, through the Tejon pass, which was then another strait of Gibraltar, formed an American Mediterra- nean, where there is now only a desert. The upheaval of the bottoms of all these salt or fresh lakes, led to their drainage, by the Colorado and its affluents, the Rio Grande, the Arkansas, the Yellowstone, the Missouri and the Snake rivers. Most of these rivers, and pre-eminently the Colorado and its tributaries, cut their way through the soft and disintegrating rocks which formed 6 r l « H |»»« j i ju ii .,-i < p lijiltik. llH OUn WKSJKKN EMPIRE. their bctls, to such a depth as to make their channels tleep caflons, somctinv.'s from 3,000 to 6,000 feet below the surface cf the plateau, through which they had their course. The i)la- teaux were thus robbed of all their rainfall, and in the course of time, became dry and largely uninhabitable, and what was ona; a populous region, with its large and strong cities, was changed into an arid and desert land. In some portions of these elevated plains thus drained of thenr moisture, the surface of tlie earth is covered, especially during a long, dry season, with alkaline salts, sulphate of soda and potassa, sulphate of magnesia, common salt, and occasionally biborate of soda, the borax of commerce. On these lands, in their natural condition, there grows only the despised sage-brush. In the rare instances where springs are found, the water is apt to be brackish. Yet these alkaline lands, when broken up by deep plowing and well irrigated, yield most astonishing crops, and continue to do so year after year, while, by cultivation, the rainfall is in- creased, and the barren land becomes as the garden of Eden. Where irrigation is impossible, and the amount of alkali is ex- cessive, these lands are yet of some value for grazing, and the white sage-brush, once regarded as the most worthless of all shrubs, is found fo yield a nutritious pasturage forcatde, after the frost has touched it. Farther south, on what is known as the Llano Estacado or " staked plain " of Northwestern Texas and New Mexico, that re- markable product of a dry country, the mezquite tree, is found in abundance, and its large and long roots (nine-tenths of its woody fibre being Ijelow the surface), its trunk, its leaves, its bark, and its gum are all valuable. Where these lands are broken up and plowed deeply, the roots of the mezquite aid \n bringing up the moisture from below, and the rainfall increases from year to year. Eventually all these alkaline lands, or nearly all, will be brought under cultivation, and will prove, either with or without inlc/ation, some of the most productive and valuable lands of the West. The soil of "the plains," under which general term is included the territory lying west of the Mississippi, and especially west ^^^isi»^~- channels dcrp V the surfaci; cf rse. The pla- in the course of what was ona* es, was changtnl drained of th(;ir )erially diirinj^ a xla and potassa, lally biborate of in their natural -brush. In the ter is apt to be y deep plowing js, and continue the rainfall is in- den of Eden. »t of alkali is ex- grazing, and the worthless of all catde, after the ano Estacado or Mexico, that re- tree, is found in ths of its woody es, its bark, and broken up and bringing up the orii year to year, will be brought thout irrigation, of the West, term is included especially west SOILS, GEOLOGY ASD MINERALOGY. gj of the Missouri river, and extending to the Rocky Mountains, is, wid» some exceptions, very rich and permanently productive. 'I'he region lying lx!tween the Mississippi and Missouri rivers is not properly a plain or plateau, for there are considerable ranges of mountains though of no great elevation. In some parts of it, as in Minnesota, Iowa, and lustern Dakota, the prairies or gradually rising plateaux predominate. Hut the " plains " proper include Southern Dakota, below the Black I nils, Nebraska, Kansas, Eastern Colorado, Wyoming Territory, and most of Texas. There are some " IJad Lands," though only a few small tracts in diis region ; but the greater part of it is an alluvium of extraordinary depth, ranging from five to one hundred and fifty, and in some cases two hundred feet. I'or ages this region was the bed of vast fresh water lakes, and re- ceived from the streams rushing down from the Rocky Mountains, vast quantities of loess, the debris of the decomposed rocks. Gradually it was upheaved, and the bed of the lakes became marshes, their waters being drained off through the Missouri and its affluents, the Platte, the Arkansas and Red rivers, and the Rio Grande. The process of slow upheaval still continuing, these marshes, which had been continually enriched by the silt from the overflow of the rivers, and by the decay of vegetation for thousands of years, became dry land, and land of unexam- pled fertility. The fires kindled in their grass and forests by roaming Indian tribes, prevented the growth of forest trees, over large tracts of this region, and so diminished the rainfall ; while the countless herds of buffalo 'n their headlong tramps southward, beat the soil down into a rolid and impenetrable crust, which permitted the rainfall to run off without soaking the earth. Without breaking up this solid crust, successful cultiva- tion was impossible. With it, the crops were so bountiful as to astonish the most sanguine. Texas, having a more varied surface, has also a greater variety of soils than any other of the States or Territories, with the pos- sible exception of California. The coast soil is a sandy, grayish loam, well adapted to cotton and rice, and, where darker and richer, the best sugar land in the United States. The river V ' ■ Or/r Wli.STEfH^ FMr/KS. bottom lands are hUick, rich and stiiky at times, and f >rm the best cotton land in the Stntv. Somf times small tra ts lack eith«T th« phospiatcs, or sulphates, or loth; and crops will not j; row on them. These are known as "poison soils." A dark, ^ray soil, in the timbrr lands, is foimd excellent for all kinds of »ruitH this is sometimes calh'd thr mulatto soil. The deep red soils, containing some oxides of iron, are also well adapted to fruit, and to (jrains generally. The chocolate soils of Western Texas are, perhaps, the fm<'st in the State, prodiicinj^ cotton, corn and semi- tropical fruits. The sanily and dryer soils of the north, even on thf; lands adjacent to the Staked Plains, yield, with deep plowinjj, very larjje crops of wheal. Wheat is also a good crop on the red soil. There are, of course, barren soils in these States and Terri- tories, though many of those which are so regarded need only irrigation and deep plowing to make them abundantly productive. The derails of the geological structure of this vast region, if th.ey were attainable, would fill many volumes, for we have every form of cosmic and jjeologic action represented here which has taken place in any part of our globe — among which we may name the tertiary and alluvial and diluvial deposits which have been made on its 2,000 miles and more of coast line during their alter- nate elevations and depressions; the upheaval of the lofty moun- tain rid ;es from the broad and level plains; the effects of former extensive volcanic action, and its remaining, though compara- tively enfeebled, activity at various [Njints. Then, too, there are the great phenomena of glacial action, on a scale much vaster than that of any existing glaciers ; the huge horse-shoe-shaped moraines, in some cases filling up valleys, in others producing large lakes ; the erosions f)roduced from the ice streams of these glaciers, and from the mountain floods, and the broken barriers of some great lakes ; the depressions produced by earthquake convulsions, and the exposure of horizontal strata of great thick- ness of the Cretaceous and Carboniferous formations, where the sharp plough of the glacier had cut its way, or the force of the mountain torrents, of great volume, had worn tlaeir deep caHons through them. , . ; CECLCCY AND MlNRRALCoY. 9, and f )i'm the ra' is lack either ;)8 will not ^jrow ' A dark, griiy I kinds of iruits deep red soils, pled to fruit, ami stern Texas aro, I, corn and sttni- c north, even on th deep plowing, ood crop on the tates and Terri- iirded need only antly productive. is vast rcy;ion, if )r wo have every here which has ch we may name vhich have been uring their alter- f the lofty moun- effects of former lough compara- n, too, there are ale much vaster )rse-shoe-shaped thers producing streams of these broken barriers 1 by earthquake a of great thick- Ltions, ^here the the force of the cir deep cailons The granuld h«kvc received their fuial solution. Considerable portions of this vast region have never been explored geologically, exct'iJt by a cry superficial reconnoissance ;it distant points; among these are Texas uud most of California, W.t -iiington Territory an ^^^ li^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 i^l^ ^ l.i IB 140 1^ III U. IJA 6" Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716)872-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIKJVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductlons / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques l»»4(lwwiBWFr'M»ft!WIU*ll!llIitf|li«('|li|ili if- GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. %j horseslioe-shaped moraines, where now everything was parched aiul barren. Having crossed the watershed of the Rocky Mountains, he struck westward into the Uintah, one of the few ranges in that region that had an east and west direction. The centra! portion of this range consisted, not of crystaUine rocks wedged through the older rocks, but of carboniferous rocks that had been upraised as a great flat dome, and had been above water for a very long time. This carboniferous centre was par- ticularly interesting from the fact of its presenting the strata perfectly horizontal. They could be seen, terrace alter terrace, for miles, and it could be noted whether or not they had been cut through, by faults, to what extent they had been twisted, and to what extent eroded by atmospheric influences. Getting on tho tops of these great mountains, he could see that the strata were almost entirely horizontal for miles, and that the valleys had been trenched out of them, not by means of faults at all, but actually by erosion of the surface. He found also that the numerous lakes were true remains of erosion, that they had not been formed by any subterranean movements, but actually gouged out by the ice that once covered those mountains. Striking into one of the valleys, he found beautiful horseshoe moraines. These had gone across the valley and formed a suc- cession of lakes ; while the beavers had made a great many more lakes in places not reached by the moraines. In most of those valleys there were hundreds of acres of bog-land, entirely due to the damming of the waters by the beavers. The plains in the neighborhood of the Uintah Mountains, were called " Bad Lands," because they were crumbling down under the action of the weathar, and nothing would ^row upon them. A skeleton found in a hill of that district was brought to Professor Marsh, and turned out to be the bones of an extinct and undescribed reptile. From the Uintah Mountains Professor Geikie found his way north into the YeUowstone country, and examined the fading traces of volcanic action. The volcanoes seemed in that region to have confined themselves very niuch to the vajleys. The heights on either hand consisted of crystalline rocks ; the bottom of the valley had been literally deluged with sheets of lava. . '-iitt«M^&^^SiM£eriod ; it siip- )ut from those n thickness of evidently went illey, he found ropped by the : limit ; he got verlooking the he valley ; the thick. It thus ss glaciers, but e the name of n. As to the ;nce of a long by prolonged utting out the eroded by the 2 saw the most be seen in the lulphur yellow, narvelloMs that southwestward of geysers had I than those of sh in, but could getting a bath ad time to cool le ground was GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. , Jq honeycombed with holes, every one of which was filled with rurgling, boiling water. Some went off with wonderful regu- larity, others were more capricious ; and the chief geyser, which threw up an enormous body of water and steam, was very un- certain in its movements. In one part of the district he came upon a marvellous mud spring, the centre of it boiling like a great porridge-pot full of white and very pasty porridge. Steam rose through this, and, after forming great bubbles, burst, the mud thrown out forming a sort of rim round the crater. After describing a me'eting with Indians on their way to a great coun- cil, the Professor said his road after that lay across what he supposed was one of the most wondf*rful lava fields in the world — ^liundreds and thousands of square miles of country — a sort of rough plain — having been absolutely deluged with lava. How this lava was poured out he at present could hardly tell ; it seemed to have risen through long fissures, and spread out so as to fill a vast area. Mere and there along the margin of it were distinct volcanic mounds, apparendy formed during later stages of its volcanic history. Coming at length tc the Salt Lake territory, one of the first geological features that struck him was the evidence 6f the former vast expansion of the Salt Lake. He found traces of a terrace well marked along the sides of the mountains, about i,ooo feet above the present level, and so succeeded in discover- ing what was the relation between the extended lake, which must have been a great many times larger than the present one, and 1,000 feet deeper, and the glaciers which at one time covered the Wahsatch and the Yellowstone Mountains. Striking into some of the caiicns descending from the Wahsatch into the Salt Lake basin, he found evidence of wonderful glaciation. The rocks were smoothed and polished and striated by the glaciers that had come down from the heights, and these glaciers had carried with them great quantities of molraine matter. Huge mounds of rubbish blocked up the valleys here and there, and these mounds came down to the level of the highest terrace. That was to say, that, when the Salt Lake extended far beyond its present area, and was over 1,000 feet deeper than now, the glaciers from the I; r i J i i t i "^^m^^i^mse^Mi^'^^^^^sMii^mM^&mSmmij: 90 OUfi WESriiRN EMPIRR. Wahsatch Mountains came down to its cilgc and shed their bergs over its waters. On his return journey the Professor re- sumed the examination of the prairies. Coming out of the Colorado Mountains, he noted, in connection with the gravel formerly observed, great quantities of a peculiar gray clay. This clay was inter-stratified with the gravel, and here and there contained a small lacustrine, or terrestrial shell. It was, there- fore, a fresh-water deposit, a deposit swept by the waters coming down from the mountains over the prairie ; and marked an inter- val in the period during which the gravel and Sand were being thrown down. He traced the gravel mounds over an extensive tract, and he found the gravel had been deposited irregularly, just as would have been the case from the action of water escaping from the melting ends of the ice. A great current would traverse the plain in one direction ; then the ice mass would send water in another, so that the whole prairie must have been flooded with water derived from the melting ends of the vast sheets of ice. It was those excessive floods that brought down the gravel and sand ; and during that time there were intervals when nothing but the finest mud was coming down, just as was seen in the valleys of the Rhine and Danube. It seems to be demonstrated by the discoveries of the past few years that no equal portion of the earth's surface contains so large an amount of available mineral wealth as this Western Empire. In only three of the twenty States and Territories which are comprised within it, viz., Louisiana, Kansas, and Nebraska, has there been wanting gold or silver ores, and it is as yet uncertain whether two of these may not yield silver in paying quantities. All the others contain both metals, usually in large quantities, and some of them have, in addition, large mines of quicksilver, and smaller but profitable on€s of platinum. The so-called baser but really more useful metals, copper, zinc, lead, and iron, are found in every known form and in the great- est profusion. Lead V^ t^e most usual basis or mAtruc of tlie silver mines, either in the form of gabna, or of carl^nate, and sometimes of carburet etc. ; but copper and zme j^re not un^ frequently found in combination with both gold and silven "iA3ASg-fiiB»^.'^-iwi>'. ntl shed their Professor rc- ig out of the ith the gravel iar gray clay, here and there It was, there- waters coming arked an inter- ind were being ^r an extensive ed irregularly, ction of water L great current 1 the ice mass I prairie must lelting ends of ve floods that :hat time there d was coming ; and Danube, es of the past jrface contains s this Western ind Territories I, Kansas, and ' ores, and it is yield silver in metals, usually addition, large i€s of platinum. Is, copper, zinc, »d in the great- matrU of die carbionate, and nc ^re not \m- Id and silver. MlNl.RALOGY. m Both copper and zinc arc also found, uncombincd with either gold or silver, and of such purity as to bo profitably mined in many localities. Iron ores arc found abundantly in every State and Territory, and every known ore is found in some districts, and frequendy several different ores, as the magnetic, the haematite, or the specular ores, in close proximity to each o.her, and all in the immediate vicinity of coal beds. The railroad iron and steel of the future will be made from native ores in close neighborhood to the tracks where it is needed. But it is not alone for railroad iron or steel rails, that these vast iron deposits can be utilized. The iron of Utah, of California, of Montana, of Colorado, Texas, Missouri and Arizona is not surpassed by any in the world ; and when the time shall come, if it ever does, when the long conflict between heavy guns and armored ships shall be decided, our furnaces in this Western Empire will furnish the iron and our foundries the iron and steel plates or the guns which are to shatter them, of a quality which has never been equalled. For all building purposes, and for suspension bridges, for hardware, cudery, tubing, gas, water, and sewer pipes ; for stoves, ranges, furnaces, and heaters, and every other use, to which the best qualities of iron and steel are capable of being applied, the iron ores of the Great West will be, found sufficient to supply the needs of a world. Nickel, now coming so rapidly into use for so many purposes, is an incidental product of many of the iron mines, and can be largely produced. As yet we are impordng all or nearly all the tin we use, but the tin deposits in California, and in several of the other States and Territories, when once developed by capi- tal and skill, may prove as profitable a& those of Cornwall or the Straits of Banca. Of the rarer metals, which possess but a limited economical value, most are found as abundandy in the Great West as any- where. Osmium and iridium, two of the hardest of known metals, used in the gold-pen manufacture, as well as in other cases where hard and infusiWe points are required, are found only on the Pacific coast; many of the exceedingly rare metals : \x ' tt#i'ssft*/Rs*te,ss^te;«S»t,:J3aav?iiS^fc*y^ pa OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, known only to cncmists, are obtained from earths or mineral waters found hen.', wliil(! arsc'iic, antimony, bismuth, < ' iuin, etc., etc., arc found in connection with the ores of other n^euis. The elementary bases of the mineral earths and salts are more easily separated here than elsewhere ; and the mineral springs and volcanic geysers and fountains of the Yellowstone, of many places in California and Nevada, of Colorado, Arizona and Texas, yield not only all the salts of soda, potassa and lime, but their elementary bases also. Borax (biborate of soda) is found as a crust over shallow lakes in California and Nevada ; car- bonate of soda, very pure in the so-called alkaline lands; nitrates of soda and potassa, in commercial quantities, at various points; sulphate of lime (the commercial plaster of Paris) comes to light not only in its ordinary condition of gypsum, of great value as a fertilizer, but in its rarer and more beautiful forms of sclc- nite, alabaster, etc. Salt is found in every shape, from tiie rock- salt, hewn out in great cubical blocks, to the brine springs of varying density, and the salt basins around the Great Salt Lake and along the shores and bays of the Pacific. The manufacture of salt on a large scale is one of the most profitable enterprises which could be undertaken. The market is unlimited, and the prices would be remunerative. Most of the mineral salts and acids might be manufactured also on the large scale at many points. Asphaltum and petroleum are found in large quantities in California, Utah, Wyoming and in the volcanic region around the headv/aters of the Yellowstone ; and both are likely to be exten- sively utilized in the near future. Coal occurs abundantly and of all qualities at numerous points in this region. Lignite (the coal formation of the tertiary) is mined in Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and perhaps farther west. It is of very good quality, and is used on the railroad locomotives, in manufactories and dwellings to some extent. There is also a bituminous coal of very good quality, but not a coking coal, in Kansas, Wyoming (where the coal-beds are very extensive), in Colorado, and in Utah and New Mexico. The coal-beds in Utah, New Mexico and Arizona are extensive, and of extraordina-y thickness. The i^'^^-MK^ttfiUttASMUVaQ^ ■* 13 or mineral muth, ( ' iuin, other incials. salts arc more lineral springs tone, of many Arizona and L and lim(?, but soda) is found Nevada ; car- lands; nitrates various points; ris) comes to of great value forms of selc- from the rock- ne springs of reat Salt Lake le manufacture ble enterprises mited, and the neral salts and scale at many 2 quantities in ion around the ly to be exten- ibundantly and . Lignite (the isas, Colorado, y good quality, lufactories and minous coal of nsas, Wyoming do, and in Utah w Mexico and lickness. The MINERALOGY. », coal is of excellent quality, and some of it anthracite and semi- anthracite. There are extensive coal-beds also on th»: Tacific coast, and those of Washington Territory, and the islands off the coast, are anthracite of the very best (juality. Coal is also found, and of good quality, in Texas and Arkansas, but the reliance for fuel there is yet mostly on wood. Marls and peats are foimil in many of the States and Territories, and, like the gypsum, may yet come into demand for replacing some of the el- inents of vegetation, wliich have been drawn from the rich soil by the too frequent sowing of the same crop. At present, however, the soil seems absolutely inexhaustible, and with a proper rotation of crops and constant deep ploughing it probably is so. There are found in the Rocky Mountains, the Sierrzi Nevada, the Cascade Mountains, the Coast Range, and the numerous cross ranges and lateral spurs — such as the Uintah, the Wah- satch, the Bitter Root, Wind river. Sweet Water or Laramie ranges, and at the entrance or exit of the cailons of the Col- orado, building-stones of the greatest variety, granite, sienite, marbles of all hues and qualities, limestones, slates and sand- stones of every shade. Many of the marbles are very beautiful and exquisitely veined; others of the purest and most brilliant white, suitable for statuary and ornamental purposes. In the Yellowstone Lake region, in the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake, and in the sides of the cailons of the Yellowstone, Snake, Columbia, Colorado, and other large rivers, the stratified clays exhibit such an infinity of shades of tb-: most brilliant colors as to baffle the skill of the most accomplished arti ;t, and throw him into the depths of despair at his inability to reproduce them. What are known as the " Bad Lands '* in Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana abound in fossils, and recent explora- tions show that there are deposited here in the successive strata, eroded by wat.ir and ice, the material from which can be traced the history of families of animals in their various stages of ad' vance or degradation, to a greater extent than in any other explored region of the earth's surface. Vastly greater discov- eries undoubtedly remain to be made, and it is perhaps safe to I J ii! •-^hMK^-iUihiiii0tse»^ieij%!» '■'- Ji5i,!aaAa*J!4Sfe*^A'^4yi«*:ii(i^^ .s&:i!¥ftj*i**K*?ii <. 94 OUK H'^.SJ'fCAty RUriRE. predict, that these wiKl atul utterly dcsol.itc lands will yrt yirld, to the scientific explon^r, a complete history of the mammals aiui reptiles which lived on the earth in the carboniferous and cre- taceous periods. i In that class of minerals known as precious stones there is hardly anythinjj lackin<^ except the diamond, and it is certainly within the Iwunds of possibility that even that may yet l)c found. What are known as California diamonds, though possessing many characteristics of the true gem, are probably only very fine specimens of crystals of cjuartz or silica. But the other valuable gems, as emeralds, probably also ruble • and topa/es, precious beryls, chrysolite, amethyst, goUl-stones, tourmaline; , jades, the beautiful copper ore known as malachite, agat(*s and carnelians of great beauty, jet, etc., etc., are sufficiently plentiful, in one part of the coimtry or another. Porcelain clays, ochres, barytes, and other minerals and earths of economic use are found in most of the States and Terri- tories. Mineral springs, and waters of every variety and every degree of temperature, from boiling to freezing, are found everywhere in the mountains, and not a few in the plains. Col- orado, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, California, Arizona, Texaa and Arkansas abound in these healing waters. In Colorado there are hundreds of them already claiming patronage, each with some peculiar merit. In the Yellowstone Park and its vicinity most of the springs are too hot for bathing ; but when partially cooled, possess remarkable hygienic virtues. CHAPTER IX. r I' I Climates — Varii. . y of Climate — Causes — Rainfall — Comparison of differ- ent Sections — Causes of deficient Rainfall — Winds — Character and Effect of pirreRENT Winds — The Hot Winds from Mexico. i: ii;.-: In a region extending 1,700 miles from north to south, and 1,800 from east to west, there would be a considerable range of climatic conditions, even if the whole tract were nearly a dead '««»k««uiwiima«:i»mfi! i i i im^mrmmMiB^^'''' "^■•'"siS>43ateiw»;M*!^iB^^Siria*^vurvv»i."?^~i*"^^^^^ gj OVM WRSTRKN iCitP/ltg. anniul taw^c \% the greatest. The tpirit thermometer often markt — 50** in the: winter, and in the winter of 1879-80 it i» re- ported to have fallen to — 60". As it attains 94** in the Humnur, thisi giv(!s a ran^^c of 154°. The reiiuindc:r of Dakota and Min nesota is not subject to such extreme changes, though the valky of the Red river of the North scenu to be the ]rateway through which the biting coKl from the Arctic regions limls its way Hoitth- ward. 'I'hc interior valleys of California are much hotter in sutn mer than the coast, and the winter temperature is Homewlui lower. Their range is from 76" to Sj". hi portions of New Mexico the climate is more e([uable, the mercury ranly rising in Santa I*V' abov. 90°, thcugh lor one or two days in December it may drop to zero. Hut the hottest portions of this whole region arc un(iuestionably Southern Arizona and Southern Texas. At Yuma, Maricopa Wells, Tucson, I'lurnix.Wickenbergandotlur towns of Southern Arizon.', and a^ Rio Cirandc City, I-arcdo, Corsicana and other towns of Southern Texas ((lalveston <.x- ccptcd, in consecpjcnce of its i) land dim tc), the summer heat during June, July, August imd Sej)tember reaches 1 17", and oc- casionally even more, and rises above 100° usually for three- fourths of the days of those months. Some years ago a company of soldiers were stationed at a fort in one of the interior valleys of California. The weather was fearfully hot, the mercury at over 110° in the shade, and the men were grumbling as only soldiers can grumble at the heat. After a time one old soldier, bronzed by the tropical heats, said : " Boys, stop grumbling ; this weather is not to be compared with what we had at Fort Yuma." " Were you ever at Fort Yuma ? " asked the soldiers. " Yes, I was there three years," said the veteran. " Well, how hot was it there ? How high did the thermometer get ? " "I don't know anything about your thermometers," answered the soldier; " but I can tell you this: when I had been there about tv/o years, two of our fellows died, and they were pretty hard fellows, too. Well, the second night after they died they came back after tli(;ir blankets, and they hadn't wanted them once in all the while they had been in Yuma." .' ' In the region known as the plains, which embraces the greater '■■'«> a «^M*iw«!iiii»f ^as;"' rso^' - yAnuriom vr a. i math. 97 jmclcr often rg-So it i» re- I iho Hummrr, utii and Min- j^'li il»»! valley cway throin;h iu way Hoiiih- holUtr in Hum- iit Hointtwiut lions of Ni:w arely risinj; in [» December it s whole region itlu:rn Texas, bcry and other City, Laredo, Galveston ex- sum me r heat I 117°, and De- al ly for threc- mo a company interior valleys \c mercury at )bling as only 3ne old soldier, jrumbling ; this It Fort Yuma." diers. " Yes, I I, how hot was " I don't know soldier; "bull tv/o years, two d fellows, too. back after llu;ir I the while they ices the greater p«rt of Minnesota, Iowa, VVcRlcrn Miuouri, Nebravkn, Knnuui. SoiiiiirastrrtJ Dakota, I .ntfrn Wyoming anw iIoch not cover thr groimd for any long period, and cattle auil sheep rf(|uire little or lut siielltr or winter fee ling. I'rudent hcnlsmon and shec^vmastcrs make provision for fifty or sixty days shelter of their herds or flocks, and for feeding them during that time ; but in at U 1st two seasons out of three, the food and shelter arc not needed, or for a few days only. This does not apply to the two States named above, where the winter generally lasts lor at least four or Jive months. There is, moreover, a very consider- able difference in the climate of these plains, resulting from their incrtasing elevation as we proceed westward. Though they are called plains and prairies, they are really plateaux, rising grad- ually from the Mississippi or Missouri river to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Theirelevation on the eastern border of the plateau is from 600 to 800 feet above the sea. At the western boundary of Kansas and NebrasK" it is over 5,000 feet above the sea, and at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Eastern Colorado between 6,000 and 7,000 feet. Indeed, so gradual is the ascent, and so nearly of the same height with thv. ^^.oscs in the Rocky Mountains (tlvat over which the Union Pacific crosses being only about 8,700 feet above the sea) that passengers on that road often inquire, when they will ocgin to ascend the Rocky Mountains, after they have crossed this pass, or, as the western people say, " the divide." On these more elevated lands the sun may be hot at mid-day in summer, but the nights, and evening, and morning, are always cool and refreshing. The annual range of ihc thermometer is only from fifty-five to s'xty degrees, and catde, and sheep, except, perhaps, once in eight or ten years, can browse throughout the entire winter without shelter. The ab- sence of trees io the western portion of this plateau also modi- fies this climate to some extent, making the summer's heat more 7 'I! '^•' ",v'^'ii^W:it^^WawatW«v.^f*^ 6-^iW=$^ittei ftJiR*i5»afl'V3;?:;HL^"43titf ;■ •*i\.Lu-,:^^ ..v»*i ;u- vft- [■ q8 our western empire. intense, anJ the cold, wintry winds more searching, and far- reaching in their effect. The changes now going on, all alone; this region, as the result of breaking up the hard beaten soil, and planting frees in great numbers, will not be without their effect in modifying the temperature; and by the interposition of masses of timber, breaking the fury of the winds. There can be no doubt that, apart from such diseases as may be induced or aggravated by a rarefied atmosphere, this elevated region is more healthful than any other on our continent. There are enough who die from natural or unnatural causes, but the dry, pure, invigorating atmosphere of the Rocky Mountain pla- teaux is eminently conducive to health, especially to those who are suftering from pulmonary diseases. Still to reap the fuil benefit of this climate, the health-seeker must st?iy there. A return to the East after one, or two, or even four years almost inevitably brings back the disease, " ' causes it to prove fatal. We have elsewhere discussed Uk ainfall of most portions of this vast Western Empire. It is even more varied in quantity, in different districts, than is the climate in temperature. The Northwest coast, in Washington, Oregon, and the extreme north- ern portion of California, have, at some points, a more copious rainfall than any other portion of the United States, tliough nearly approached by some points on the Atlantic coast. In two or three places in the States and Territory named, the annual pre- cipitation ranges from 123 to 135 inches, and once or twice has exceeded even the latter figure : ten or eleven feet of rainfall. At San Diego on the same coast, but nearly i,cxx) miles farther south, the rainfall in 1876-77 was but 3.80 inches; and at Fort Yuma, near the mouth of the Colorado, in 1877-78, but 2.cx) Inches. These are the extremes. On the Gulf coast in Texas, the pre- cipitation is large, ranging from fifty-four to sixty-seven inches. IiT the interior the amount varies with the longitude. From the Mis- sissippi river to about the 97th degree of west longitude it ranges from forty-five inches to twenty-eight inches, diminishing as we proceed westward. From this meridian to about 1 1 7, it ranges from twenty-five inches to twelve inches, or peiijiaps 1 1.5 in some seasons. Farther west it rises to thirty-three inches, and ^.■•Ta-arM*— ^■- - < k^:>i>- AV.-? M ««3Ci> intif Ml ift uatg^lfiktc larching, and far- )ing on, all alone; d beaten soil, and rithout their effect interposition of nds. diseases as may here, this elevated continent. There al causes, but the ;ky Mountain pla- :ially to those who I to reap the full ist stay there. A four years almost it to prove fatal. ' most portions of varied in quantity, temperature. The the extreme north- its, a more copious ;ates, tliough nearly coast. In two or ed, the annual pre- l once or twice has ren feet of rainfall. i,cxx> miles farther ches; and at Fort -78, but 2. oo inches, in Texas, the pre- :ty-seven inches. lii ide. From the Mis- : longitude it ranges , diminishing as we bout 1 1 7, it ranges ei;|iaps 1 1.5 in some -three inches, and LOMI>AN.in\i. l:.\l.\lAl.l.. QQ between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains attains at some points to forty-two inches. Of course there are variations from north to south as well as from east to west ; variations produced also by the presence or absence of extensive forests, by the com- pactr ess of the soil, owing to its having been for hundreds of years trodden under the hoofs of millions of bisons, or its porous- ness from thorough cultivation. The electrical condition of the atmosphere has also much to do with the amount of precipitation. In general it may be said that fully two-thirds of the arable lands of the Great West have a sufficient amount of precipitation to raise any desired crops, with deep plowing, and the other third, while requiring moderate and in some cases very thorough irri- gation to produce tne largest crops, are so situated as to be able at moderate expense to obtain all the water needed for this purpose, and under its influence yield such abundant crops as to pay, in one or at the utmost two years, the cost of the ditches. Indeed the proprietors of the irrigated lands look down with a half-con- temptuous pity upon the poor farmers who are dependent upon the rainfall alone for their crops. " Poor fellows," they say, " when they sow their grain or plant their crops, they can never tell what will befall them : they may have too much rain, and their crops will be drowned out, or rot in the earth, or they may not have enough, and their fields will be bur:ied by the fiery breath of the sun ; they can never tell whether they can raise a crop or not. With us, now, the whole matter can be determined with mathematical exactness. We know just how much water is needed to bring the land to its highest productiveness, and we give it just that much and no more. If we have rains we irrigate less; if the season is dry, we turn on more water, and we have a good crop every year." As the vacillating judge said : " There is a good deal to be said on both sides of this question." We have already alluded to the high winds which prevail over some portions of this vast region ; but the investigations of the Signal Service officers have in a great degree systematized our knowledge on this subject. On the Pacific coast, and as far east- ward as the summit of the Sierra Nevada or Cascade Mountains, and possibly for a part of the distance, where they obtain access ( . ! i \ t . A\ .SiU*-- ■7i^«i&)(«i8^W« ■' ' - • • !'*Si!^adb»iaiaaBy»5ir.SiS(ie«ia^S««^^ m i>: lOO OUR WliHTERN BMP IKE. through transverse valleys to the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, the west winds from the Pacific Ocean, laden with moisture, sweep across the mountains and valleys, depositing much of their water as snow upon the mountains. These are cool but not cold winds. From Hudson's Bay and the ice-clad waters of the north comes down, especially in winter, a cold, piercing wind, through the broad valley of the Red river of the North, producing intense cold and often snows on the plains, and spending much of its fury on the Mississippi valley and States farther east. This is perhaps the source of the Texas Northers, though the severity of the cold has been much diminished before it reaches the Gulf ccast. East winds are not prevalent in any part of this region, and when they do occur have no special character or significance. A south wind from the Gulf of Mexico is much more frequent, and is generally a moist and grateful wind ; sometimes in the summer it may bring with it electrical phenomena, and be the herald of destructive cyclones. The southwest wind which sweeps across Arizona, Western Texas, New Mexico, and Southern Utah, and Nevada, affecting also at times Western Colorado and Wyoming, is from Mexico, and h«et)een heated in its passage across the semi-tropical lands of Mexico and Central America till it blows a hot blast over these lands which intensifies the summer's heat, though it may make the autumn and winter milder. As the country becomes settled and cultivated, this hot wind will lose something of its intensity, and become rather an agreeable adjuvant in mitigating tiie cold of the wintry months. ■ ) • ■ 10. >' -r^ .'i.riB&xn^iaaiiei:. -'<»£«M!Ka9'iti»»»iytMs^iE>«»we!«Kwsat;^^ - MINING PROCESSES FOR GOLD. AND SILVER. lOI of the Rocky :an, laden with eys, depositing ns. These are ,nd the ice-clad winter, a cold, Led river of the i the plains, and lUey and States fexas Northers, minished before »revalent in any tave no special 11 the Gulf of lly a moist and ly bring with it ructive cyclones, -izona. Western levada. affecting is from Mexico, mi-tropical lands , hot blast over :, though it may country becomes something of its aat in mitigating \ : t: ' . _ y. ' ' '■'' ' ' i''i, '^ •-,: . ■("kj. ',. 'fit »> '•■ CHAPTER X. The various Processes of Mining— Placer Mining— Gold Discovirv iw California— The Pan— Thl Rocker— The Uuch anu the "Tom"— The Sluice— Hydraulic Mining— Hvoraui.ic Mining not /esthetic- Lode OR Quartz Mining— True Fissure Veins— The "Country" Rock —Chimneys, Chimes, or Bonanzas— Pockets— Contact Lodes— Gold combined with Sulphurets—Stoping— Depth of Mines— The Reduction OF Ptoitous Ores— Gold with Oxide of Iron— Cost o*- Reduciion of Gold —Discoveries of Silver Ore»— Silver widely diffused— Modes of Reduction— The best Mining Regions- Placer Minincj: the bkst Locations— Difficulties of Placer Mining— Difficulties of I^de or Veis Mining— The best Mines bought up by Capitalists— The best Locations for Experts. We confine our attention for the present to mining for gold and silver, including, however, the ores of lead and copper and perhaps iron, with which they are found combined or com- mingled. Gold mining is of two kinds, and each kind has its several processes. These two kinds are /'/i?^^;' mining, and Lode mining. Silver is always found only in lodes, but these are of various forms or combinations. Placers are deposits of gold nearly in a pure state, which at some time, remote or recent, have been washed out of the veins or lodes into which they were Injected by some convulsion of nature, by the long continued action of running water, and deposited with gravel or clay on the bed rock of the stream which bore them down its current The beds of most of the streams flowing from the mountains, especially if they have cut deep channels in the rocks in any portion of their course, were found to contain these placers, of greater or less value ; but the placers which are found in the beds of aitcient streams, which by upheaval or change of course fcave ceased to flow, and are perhaps now many hundred feet below the surfiace, are usually more productive than those of more recent origin. The placer gold is free gold ; that is, it is uncbmbined with any other mineral, and may exist as a powder, as scales, or as little pellets or nuggets of considerable size. In California, as everywhere else, it was the first gold discovered, and there, by accident t , i; -^■Yi^vr-i^*--- li 1! * i H ■,-aKygai*a!!S*s&^4a»*J4\^»!^ 102 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. The Story of this discovery has been often related ; but the statement made by the late Hon. J. Ross Browne in 1867, when lie was United States Mininj^r Commissioner, is believed to be the only one which gives the facts as they were. Mr. Browne says: "It was on the 19th day of January, 1848, ten days before the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed, and three months before the ratified copies were exchanged, that James W. Marshall, while engaged in digging a race for a saw-mill at Coloma, about thirty-five miles eastward from Sutter's Fort, found some pieces of yellow metal, which he and the half-dozen men working ■with him at the mill supposed to be gold. He felt confident that he had made a discovery of great importance, but he knew nothing of either chemistry or gold mining, so he could not prove the nature of the metal or tell how to obtain it in paying quantities. Every morning he went down to the race to look for the bits of the metal ; but the other men at the mill thought Marshall was very wild in his ideas, and they continued their labors in building the mill, and in sowing wheat, and planting vegetables. The swift current of the mill-race washed away a considerable body of earthy matter, leaving the coarse particles of gold behind, so Marshall's collection of specimens continued to accumulate, and his associates began to think there might be something in his gold mine after all. About the middle of February, a Mr. Bennett, one of the party employed at the mill, went to San Francisco for the purpose of learning whether this metal was precious, and there he was introduced to Isaac Humphrey, who had washed for gold in Georgia. The experienced miner saw at a glance that he had the true stuff before him, and after a few inquiries he was satisfied that the diggings must be rich. He made immediate preparation to go to the mill, and tried to persuade some of his friends to go with him, but they thought it would be only a waste of time and money, so he went with Bennett for his sole companion. " He arrived at Coloma on the 7th of March, and found the work at the mill going on as if no gold existed in the neighbor- hood. The next day he took a pan and spade and washed some of the dirt from the bottom of the mill-race in places where ;fc«a6if^A?i««s^i^4«^V*£MSMii!Sfc«^^ COLD DISCOVERY IN CALIFORNIA, 103 atcd ; but the in 1867, when evcd to be the Browne says: ays before the three months W. Marshall, Coloma, about d some pieces men working confident that but he knew he could not lin it in paying e race to look le mill thought ontinued their ;, and planting vashed away a oarse particles nens continued there might be the middle of yed at the mill, ig whether this uced to Isaac leorgia. The \ the true stuff tisfied that the iparation to go inds to go with :e of time and anion. '/.'•■,; 1, and found the \ the neighbor- d washed some places where Marshall had found his specimens, and in a few hours Humphrey declared that these mines were far richer than any in Georgia. " He now made a rocker, and went to work washing gold industriously, and every day yielded him an ounce or two of metal. The men at the mill made rockers for themselves, and all were soon busy in search of the yellow metal. " Everything else was abandoned ; the rumor of the discovery spread slowly. In the middle of March, Pearson B. Reading, the owner of a large ranch at the head of the Sacramento valley, happened to visit Sutter's Fort, and hearing of the mining at Coloma, he went thither to see it. He said that if similarity of formation could be taken as proof, there must be gold mines near his ranch, so after observing the method of washing, he posted off, and in a few wi ks he was at work on the bars of Clear creek, nearly two hundred miles northwestward from Coloma. A few days after Reading had left, John Bidwell, since representative of the northern district of the State in the lower house of Congress, came to Coloma, and the result of his visit was that in less than a month he had a party of Indians from his ranch washing gold on the bars of Feather river, seventy- five miles northwestward from Coloma. Thus the mines were opened at far distant points." On the 29th of May, 1848, the only paper published in San Francisco said: "The whole country, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the sea-shore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds with the sordid cry of gold! gold! gold! while the field is left half planted, the house half built, and every- thing neglected but the manufacture of picks and shovels, and the means of transportation to the spot where one man obtained $128 worth of the real stuff in one day's washing; and the average for all concerned is jj520 per diem." " The towns and farms were deserted, or left to the care of women and children, while rancheros, wood-choppers, mechanics, vaqueros, and soldiers and sailors, who had deserted or obtained leave of absence, devoted all their energies to washing the auriferous gravel of the Sacramento basin. Never satisfied, however much they might be making, they were continually \ ! '^'SSSyidto2«KktiS(kftSI(3K«j*afe^^ v i i 104 OUR tVESTKR// £A/P/A'A. looking for new placers which might yltiUl them twice or thrice as much as they had made before. Thus the area of their Inbors gradually extended, and at the end of 1848 miners were at work in every large stream on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from the Feather to the Tuolumne river, a distance of 150 miles, and also at Reading's diggings, in the northwestern corner of the Sacramento vallry." For the first two years the miners who made these discoveries depended for their profits mainly on the pan and the rocker. The placer miner's pan was made of sheet-iron or tinned iron, with a flat bottom about a foot in diameter, and sides six inches high, inclining outwards at an angle of forty or fifty degrees. The gold was found, as it usually is, in a tough clay which enveloped gravel and large pebbles as well as sand. This clay must be thoroughly dissolved or reduced to the condition of fluid mud ; and so the miner filled his pan with it, went to the bank of the river or stream, squatted down there, put his pan under water, and shook it horizontally, so as to get the mass thoroughly soiked ; then picked out the larger stones with one hand and mashed up the largest and toughest lumps of clay, and again shook his pan under water, and when all the dirt seemed to be dissolved so that the gold could be carried to the bottom by its weight, he tilted up the pan a litrie to let the thin mud and Kght sand run Out, repeating this process till all was washed out except the metal which remained at the bottom. After a time this process was found too slow, and the rocker took its place. This was constructed somewhat like a child's cradle, but the upper end was considerably higher than the lower, and contained a large riddle or colander of sheet-iron punched with holes on the bottom ; underneath the floor of the rocker was provided with cleats or riffles, extending nearly a«ross, to catch the gold. The miner filled his riddle with pay- dirt and rocked the rocker with one hand while he poured water Bpon the dirt and riddle with the other. The water and the motion dissolved the clay and carried it down to the floor of the rocker, where the cleats caught the gold, while the mud and water ran off. The riddle could be taken off to throw out the larger stones. , wite or thrice jf their labors were at work icrra Nevada, ; of 1 50 miles, :rn corner of sc discoveries d the rocker. r tinned iron, es six inches fifty degrees. h clay which nd. This clay condition of it, went to the c, put his pan get the mass tones with one ps of clay, and 16 dirt seemed to the bottom t thin mud and ^as washed out , .. . ! ,..:/, -a ind the rocker t like a child's jher than the r of sheet-iron le floor of the ending nearly iddle with pay- 5 poured water water and the ihe floor of the the mud and throw out the > ■ i ■ w ',^^■^..~u^%tJ%■ ■--'.':''■ TItR KOCh'RM, TIIR TOA* AND THE SlU/CK. Soon tlio rocker was abandoned l)ccausc it could not work fast enough, and ditches wore dug and flumes constructed to bring the water from a sufficient height to do the wahhing-out of the clny and gravel without so much manual labor atul with more abundant production ; some of these flumes were very large and many miles in extent, and erected at an immense cost. With the ditches came in first the "Tom," which had previously been used in Georgia : a trough twelve feet long, eight inches deep, fifteen inches wide at the head and thirty at tht; foot ; a riddle of sheet-iron, punchecl with holes half an inch in diameter, formtrd the bottom of the "Tom" at tht lower eml, so placed tliat Jill the water and the mud should fall through the holes of the riddle, and none pass over the sides or end. The water fell iuiO a flat box with cleats on the bottom, giving passage at alter' nate ends to the mud and water, while the gold was caught on the cleats or riffles. A stream of water ran constantly through the "Tom," into the head of which the pay-dirt was thrown by several men, while one threw out the stones too large to pass the riddle and threw back to the head the lumps of day which had reached the foot without being dissolved. The "Tom" was succeeded by "the Sluice," a board-trough from a hundred to five thousand feet long, having a descent of one foot \\\ twenty, and with riffles at the lower end to catch the gold. Twenty men or more could throw in the pay-dirt at the upper end, and the water in its long and rapid course would tear the lumps to pieces, and before reaching the end deposit the gold on the riffles, from which it is taken four or five times a day. Where the gold was in fine powder or scales, quicksilver was placed on the riffles to form an instantaneous amalgam, and thus very much of the gold was saved. This sluice was unquestion- ably the most efficient and successful of all the contrivances in aid of placer-mining; but there was now a new difficulty, or a series of them, to be overcome. The placers in the river and creek-beds and near the surface of gravel-beds, were beginning to give out ; in many places, too, these placer-deposits liad been traced up to the lodes or veins in the rocks which had been worn down by the water of the stream, and which had thus fUp' 1' 7'.)i',, ■-:Ji'lh'^#■^I^H'■'1^»•¥^■■|jft»■-■^^ir■^f■'^^^^'''■'-r^'l■'*'^^-'-.^'^^^'^■"-^■''■' j-^-a— «^->.*=t...-.tr-.-?^:j-.-jrr.,.\JK;;g--';:ajaSi: ai'UA/^ -i. -'i'^ .«•. io6 OUK WMSrKltff KMPfKK. nishcd tho place r-deposltii. It was discovcrrtl, also, that thrrc were, in many places, erxtcnsiv«i ilcposits of ^oUl-bcaritij,' ^'r.ivrl, hills of con:.idcrabl«! hrijjht and lfn;;th, which had, unloUl a^cs before, b«!en the beds of rivers, but hatl been upheaved, and were now rich placers, if they could be broken down ami tho pay-dirt run through the sluices. To do this by hand labor was too costly and wearisome. Mw.n now, in the best sluices con- nected with good ditches, the labor of twenty-five or thirty men in a fair placer-deposit, was not sufficient to supply the sluice with pay-dirt, and much of the costly water ran to waste. The remedy for these difficulties was found in "hydraulic min- ing." The sluice was enlarged, and its upper portion expanded so as to take in a width of perhaps a hundred feet of the adjacent hill, which had previously been found to contain gold ; water was supplied to it from a ditch usually with a considerable head, and standing at a convenient distance, say 200 feet or more, from the face of the hill, a strong miner directed upon it a stream of water from a hose-pipe or nozzle having a diameter of three to six inches, and a head of two or three hundred feet. The effect of this continuous stream of water coming with such force must be seen to be appreciated : wherever it struck it tore away earth, gravel and boulders ; if the pipe was directed on a point some distance below the surface of the hill, the crust above it soon fell, and one. two or three hundred cubic yards of earth were washed into the sluice in a single day. Bars were placed across the sluice to arrest and turn off the larger stones and boulders, and four or five men could accomplish more and gain larger returns than four or five hundred by the old processes. This process of washing down the hills has been continued, and is still in progress in many portions of the gold-bearing regions of the Great West. Sometimes the clay which binds together the gold-bearing gravel and sand is too tough and compact to be broken down even by the force of the hydraulic stream ; then the miner tunnels the hill at its base and introduces an immense charge of gunpowder, giant-powder, gun-cotton, dynamite or nitro-glycerine, which, when exploded, breaks up the tough clay and renders the hitherto difficult task of the hydraulic pipe easy *'"*'"' "**»'a'i'.w'»-T«»»^h*'«iA<:Atti*j.cji^<.':^iatfa#j*i»* HYDKAVLf: MIStNO, 107 o, that thrrr :arin^ ^{r.ivcl, , uiUoUl a^«s phravccl, and uwn ami the ind labor wan ; sluiccH Con- or thirty men ply the sluice vastc. lydraiilic min- ion expande.l f the adjacent Id ; water was ble head, and »r more, from it a stream of :r of three to t. The effect :h force must it tore away cd on a point rust above it ards of earth \ were placed er stones and lore and gain )ld processes. ;ontinued, and aring regions inds together d compact to stream ; then s an immense , dynamite or he tough clay lulic pipe easy and swift, fiy this process of hytlraulic mining the gold produc- tion has brrn largely maintained at nrarly its old slantl.ini. ami millions of dollars worth of gold bullion have bem put u|)on the market. The onlinary placer mining is nearly at an end, except .It some of the newer points. It is still conducted, to some ex- tent, in Arizona, New Mexi«.o, in portions of Wyoming, and in the Black Hills; but hydraulic mining is now practised wherever the ancient deposits of gold in gravel can be found, and water with a sufficient head can be obtainetl. Hydraulic, or even sluice mining is not an .xsthetic pursuit; the regions where it is practised may Ik*, b<'for«! the miner's ad- vent, like the garden of the I-ord for beauty; but after his work is comi)leted, they bear no resemblance to anything, except the chaos which greeted the eye of the seer at the dawn of the Mosaic record of the rehabilitation of the earth for the use of man, — "without form and void " — "Tohu c bohu" — "the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness." It is impossible to con- ceive of anything more desolate, more utterly forbidding, than a region which has been subjected to this hydraulic mining treat- ment; boulders of all sizes* are scattered over the surface, and around them coarse gravel, incapable of .sustaining vegetation ; the streams are filled up with a fine clay, and very possibly over- flow their banks, producing dreary marshes, and the whole vista is one of extreme desolation and ruin. We have already spoken of the tracing up of the gold deposits of the placers to the lodes or veins from which they had been washed out ; let us now turn to these veins or lodes, and ascer- tain what were the processes by which the precious metal was extracted from them, or, in other words, how lode, or, as it is often called, quartz mining is conducted. And, first, of the vein or lode. Where this contains gold (and it is of gold mining we arc now speaking), it is almost always a vein of quartz, and usually of the milky opaque kind, scarcely showing any signs of crystallization. It is often found in slate, sometimes in porphyritic rock. The quartz is sometimes very hard, sometimes soft and crumbling ; it may show the gold, if that is in particles of considerable size, but where it Is in fine grains, t : »«««♦»»» ^'»:wi- i;y>A>.«.»<«aftli«i<4A'IMtriblebble!i, or, an E''.a«tern tntn would gay , cobbte-stonrx, of lar^e ttixe, of very h.ird cjiiart/, containing no golil, but briiljiin^j or l>lui;^Mng d»e vein. These are generally Nurrounded by soft, NometiineA crundilin],;, quartz, which usually contains nome ^iM. They arc called by the miners " boul«l«*r veins." Somctimci the course of the vein is blocked by a mass of |)«rphyry or hard nlate, which completely stops the miner's prugrt'ss until it is cut throu^di, and it may extend for several feet or yards. This is called by the miners a "horse." A true fissure vein is one which Is formed by the fillinj^ up of a crack or fissure in the harder rocks (occasioned by earthiiuakc, upheaval, or in some other way) with conglomerate, cpMri/ and other matters, into which vi^ld, either free or in combination with other metals or minerals, has been injected at intervals, in a lluid state. The width of the vein is the widdi of the crack or fissure; its length, the length to which the fissure extends within a mod- erate distance of the surface; its depth may be limited by the depth of the stratum in which it occurs, but more generally ex- tends far lower than any mining excavations can reach. The fissures and the veins arc found at all conceivable angles or dips. Rarely they are found nearly horizontal, but this though at first a seeming advantage, is hardly a real one, inasmuch as from the nearly level character of the land adjacent there will be great difficulty eventually in freeing the lower levels of the mine from the water which accumulates. Often the dip of the fissure and the strata adjacent is at an angle of twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty degrees with the surface; sometimes it Is even perpendicular; and where the angle is considerable and the vein or lode is first discovered on a hillside or near its summit, a tunnel run at a much lower level, so as to strike .he vein, afTords the best means of draining it. -lii.'^j* •• * ! ' •■ » /»!(•/ ;.|,.; ,<: . .f.Ht >f - Not only does the fissure dip at very various angles, but ft may penetrate tlie harder rocks at any angle varying f*'om the '- ■--''^vmwi:nM3r&*i.f%XS)Jllt^^. TKVE PtSSVMM VHISS OH tOPKM, m % very Irrcg- ciiiy; largely ((iinrtz vt;in lins roiiiuird n«*i, of lar^c briil^ing or dcil by soft, I home jjoUi. imctitn«'» the jyry or hard until it in cut rds. This is fillin^j up of y cartluiuakc, e, quart/ and ibination with rals, it) a lUiid ,tk or fissure; kvithin a mod- mited by the generally ex- reach. The ngles or dips, hough al first luch as from will be great ic mine from le fissure and forty, or fifty erpendicular; )r lode is first nel run at a le best means angles, but It ■-ing f-om the perptindiculAf, so that the entire vein may enter the rocks in a slanting dirrction. and the walls of slate or ftorphyry which rn- close thr vein, and arc tailed in minern' parlance "nnuury rock," may slope nt nn angle of forty-five degrees, or Ik* even nrarly horixont.d in position, while th.ey have at tlic hai)\e tinu' tlic downward trend of the rocky stratum to which they belong. The true fissure vein may have, and the best veins oli»n ilo have, chimneys, chutes, bonanzas, or branch fissures, generally connecting with the main vein or lode on itn upper side, at an angle of from thirty to forty-five di'grecs, which »nay be richer in goUl than t\\v. main vein. These ciuites or chiiniuys often extend downward into the true or main vein, and are thon^dit to determine in part its vatiKr. The mining geologists think that they were deposited much as soot is in a chimney, the gold being in a Huid or gaseous condition at the time. Ciold as well as silver is sotnctimcs found In considerable quantities in pockots, or small cavities in the rocks, and those, whi( h are sometimes of modtrrate extent, may yirdd a fortune to one or two men ; but these pockets are seldom connected with a true fissure vein, and when once jxhausted, are not of any value, even as indications of the presence of fissure veins or kxles in the vicinity. It was supposed previous to 1877, that the experience of cen- turies in mining for gold and silver had developed all the modes in which the precious metals or their ores, were deposit<'d in the earth, to be brought out for the use of man. The placer mines, and the vein* or I'^des, the true fissure veins, as they were called, were reckoned the only melhods by which, in the processes of nature, large quantities of these metals or ores were deposited. There might be, indeed, pockets and chimneys of nearly pure metal, which, when the miner stumbled upon them, would add greatly to his profits so long as they lasted ; but these were only incidents or accidents, not to be taken into account in scientific mining. It was reserved for the opening of mines of silver and gold at Leadville, and subsequently at other points in the San Juan and Gunnison districts, and probably also in Utah, to bring to light two discoveries which are of the greatest impoi tance to ,■ jiu!^^4^-,!UJk^k^m^ I "Ut L ■*■»< J ii."ilif.^ J»J- of-^.. o-*'44 «•<* ■ >i*u"^ '-•' i-: 't 1 110 OUR WESTERN EMPIKR. miners and holders of mining property. The first and most obvious one was that siWer, and to some extent also gold, in combination with lead, existed in large quantities and very ricn ores, in other forms than the argentiferous galena or sulphuret, 9na that sulphur was not a necessary accompaniment of silver and gold ores, whether in combination with lead, zinc, copper, or iron. The carbonates of lead, etc., have proved the most produc- tive of combinations. The second discovery was still more important, and is only just beginning to be understood: it is, that the deposits of ore need not be in fissure veins, or lodes, in placers, in pockets, or in chimneys ; but that there is another form, perhaps as productive, and certainly more easily worked —that of " contact lodes" by which are meant deposits of silver ore, spread with a considerable thickness over the surface of a stratum of rock, and following it in all its sinuosities and its dip over a great extent. Unlike the fissure veins, these are not o'!" great depth, though sometimes they occur in two or three layers with the strata of sandstone or limestone between. These con- tact lodes generally occur in cavernous limestone or sandstone. As we have already intimated, geld is found in the lodes, either free — i. e., pure or nearly so, or combined with sulphurets of iron, copper, lead or zinc, in the form of pyrites. Its treat- ment after it comes from the mine differs somewhat in the two cases. The amount of gold in the quartz is often very small — smaller one hundred feet below the surface than near the surface; but, except in the barren portions of the vein, not diminishing or increasing very greatly in the lowest levels which have been reached (and some of these exceed 3,ocx3 feet, or three-fifths of a .mile). Quartz or ore which wiU assay twenty- three or four dol- lars per ton, and which yields after being put through the stamp batteries and the amalgamating process eighteen dollars per ton, is regarded as very good. Not over one-fourth of the gold mines exceed this, and very many fall below it, and are yet worked at a moderate profit. The mining and reducing processes are these : A lode or vein having been traced out which bears evidence of being a true fis- sure vein, and the claim (1,500 feet in length, and 300 in width, MINING AND REDUCING PROCESSES. Ill rst and most r also gold, in and very ricti 1 or sulphuret, iment of silver ;inc, copper, or e most produc- vas still more ierstood: it is, ins, or lodes, in lere is another ; easily worked posits of silver he surface of a iities and its dip hese are not o ^ or three layers en. These con- e or sandstone, ^d in the lodes, with sulphurets rites. Its treat- ■what in the two ten very small- near the surface; 3t diminishing or rhich have been three-fifths of a hree or four dol- rough the stamp . dollars per ton, ►f the gold mines 5 yet worked at : A lode or vein being a true fis- nd 300 in width, being the general extent of a single claim) being duly entered, the mine-owner begins operations by sinking a shaft in the line of the vein to ascertain its quality, and, when the shaft is down fifty or a hundred feet, running an adit or level along the course of the vein to ascertain its quality at that depth ; sometimes a ztn'me is cut, — two adits at different levels cutting across the vein or veins at levels fifty feet apart, and connected with each other at their further extremity by a shaft which does not rise to the sur- face. Sometimes, if the shaft is on the top or side of a hill, a tunnel is run to it from the base of the hill for the purposes of drainage, ventilation and the more easy transportation of the ore. If on the examination of the quartz, or ore taken from the vein at this depth, the promise of success is good, additional capital is enlisted, and the shaft is constructed to a greater depth, levels or adits run at different levels and of considerable length, rails put down on the levels, steam-hoisting machinery set up at the mouth of the shaft, pumping machinery put in to relieve the mine of the accumulation of water (which is often very hot — as high as 154° F. in some of the Nevada mines), and stoping, either overhand or underhand, commenced, especially if the vein or veins dip at an angle of 40"* or 50°. Stoping is the break- ing out with a pickaxe the quartz of the vein, and letting it fall on the level ready to be hoisted by the machinery. If the miner stands at his work and brings down the quartz from the vein at the level of his breast or above, it is called "overhand stoping;" if he picks it from about his feet or below and stoops, sits or crouches at his work, and the masses thus broken out fall to the level below, it is " underhand stoping." This mining, if profitable, may be extended to as great a depth as may be desired, the only checks upon it being, the great ex- pense of the pumping apparatus at considerable depths, and the difficulty of freeing the mine from water ; the more than torrid temperature in the deep mines, and the time and expense of hoisting the ores from such great depths. By a tunnel like the 3utro tunnel, the water can be carried off at moderate expense, the heat greatly miti^jated by free ventilation, and the ores hoisted and brought to the surface at a much lower cost; but such tunnels are exceedingly expensive. i f t li t ■'i^^\.iiii0if^^(Aisimi!Sii»^iei»m^^MiS£%:^l«S:^i^6Siligr^*^ 113 QUR WMSTMK.V EMriRE. The ore broken out and hoisted to the surface is now ready for reduction. If the masses arc of large size they are at first put through the rock-breaker, which reduces them to the size of a goose-egg ; they are next conducted to the stamp-batteries or stamp-mill, where tliey are fed into the stamping-machi.ie, a cylindrical machine, whose walls are of hardened chilled iron, its floor or mortar of the hardest steel, and a solid mass of chilled iron faced with hard steel, of cylindrical form, descends with a twisting motion upon the quartz, grinding and crushing it to powder — the inner surface of the cylinder is coated generally with quicksilver, and the powdered quartz mingled with water in the stamping-machine, flows out upon amalgamated copper plates, which have a sufficient extent to catch the larger part of the gold particles. The stamping-machine is cleaned out at frequent intervals, and the plates have their coating of amalgam removed, the superfluous quicksilver is squeezed out through buckskin, and the remainder expelled by heat, the sublimed quicksilver being recovered for future use. The gold remains a spongy mass, but is melted and cast in the form of an ingot This is the improved process of to-day, the result of twenty- five years of experiment and invention. By this process about seventy-five per cent, of the gold is saved, whereas with the ruder processes of the arastra and the earlier stamp-mills, only from sixteen to forty per cent of the gold was secured ; and the woricing over of the tailings of the arastras and of the long Toms, and early sluices, by Chinese miners, yielded them a very profitable harvest of gold. A new process has recendy been devised, which, bringing galvanic action to bear upon the masses of ore of the size of a goose-egg, reduces them to a stats of dis- integration, rendering the stamp-mills unnecessary and causing the lumps to crumble upon mere pressure, sets the entire gold in the ore free instantly, and thus dispensing with much costly ma- chinery, at the same time greatly increases the gold production. If, as was largely the case in Colorado and to some extent in some of the other States and Territories, the gold was combined ,:vvith the sulphurets, and came from the mine as pyrites, it was, either before or after being put into the rock-breaker, roasted to MINIS'G AND REDUCING PROCESSES. "3 e is now ready hey are at first I to the size of ip-batteries or ing-machi.ie, a chilled iron, its nass of chilled ascends with a crushing it to ated generally i with water in mated copper larger part of leaned out at ig of amalgam d out through the sublimed gold remains a fan ingot >ult of twenty- process about ereas with the amp-mills, only :ured ; and the id of the long :d them a very recently been 3on the masses a state: of dia- ry and causing ! entire gold in luch costly ma- id production, some extent in '. was combined pyrites, it was, tker, roasted to expel the sulphur, which prevented amalgamation. This is now done at some mills in the open air, at others in furnaces. When roasted it is reduced to powder under water in the stamp-mills, amalgamated in the mortars, passed over the amalgamated cop- per plates, and beyond these made to flow over rough, thick, hairy, woollen blankets, which catch a considerable quantity of the gold which is saved by repeated washings ; the stream of water, still thick with the powdered quartz, falls into tanks called huddling tanks, where it settles, and from the lower portion of the huddled tailings, a dollar or two more of gold is extracted. By a process invented by T. A. Edison, the electrician, thes.'^ huddled tailings are made to yield up a large and profitable residue of the gold hitherto wasted. In the Black Hills, Dakota, the gold is largely combined or encrusted with oxide of iron, and requires a somewhat different treatment, to free it from the iron, which prevents the gold from amalgamating, and requires the patient labor of the Chinese to extract that which remains in the tailings. This oxide of iron, in the placer deposits, coats over the gold and gravel and forms a dense and firm cement, sometimes of great extent, which cannot be washed out in the sluice-boxes, but requires to be put through the stamp batteries like the quartz from the lodes. The gold mines of the Black Hills are so situated, far up on the hills, that the ore can be carried directly into the stamp-mills by chutes, and hence, though the gold ores are of low grade, averaging not more than $io or jji2 per ton, the cost of reduction is so small, ranging from $i.8o 10^4.50 per ton, that the profit on these uniform low grade ores is better than is obtained on ores of higher grade, which cost more for reduction. Where the ores contain gold and silver in combination with copper, lead, or zinc, and sulphur, a more active, expensive and protracted treatment is necessary ; but this belongs rather to sil- ver than gold-mining. Where the raw amalgamation and wet crushing process described above is all that is necessary, gold can be reduced from the quartz for from $3 to $5 per ton, and thus, unless the transportation is too expensive, it is possible to reduce low grade ores, those containing from $15 to ;^2o of gold \ '■'%aii ijMt i »i'» - ^Mjt<«!icaw«i5tand tlieir business, two or three mines of moderate si2e can keep it constantly employed. By this pro* cess, while from seventy to seventy-five per cent, of the gold is saved, much, generally all, of the silver is lost, and the whole of tlie copper, lead and zinc. Silver was first discovered, in any considerable quantity, in these States and Territories, in Nevada in 1S57 by the Grosh brothers; but owing to its being largely combined with gold, and the death of the discoverers soon after, the discovery was not prosecuted at first very vigorously. In June, 1S59, the first great discovery of silver was made on apart of what is now known as the Comstock lode, the grounds of the Ophir Mining Company. Peter O'Reilly and Patrick McLaughlin were the discoverers, but as the land was claimed by Kirby and others, they employed Henry Comstock to purchase the land. Comstock negotiated at the same time one or two other claims, and finally purchased the: whole tract, to which he gave his name, but appreciated its value so litde, that ho sold it for a few thousand dollars, and regarded himself as having made an e;:cellent bargain. From that Comstock lode or vein, more than three hundred millions of dollars have been taken since that time — a period of twenty years. ,.■ ,•;, ;•• .;:■;■'^', Ui .1. ( . n'\i A 'jI ■; ,' . ' : ',[ \r s.!. .1 : •„ Silver is found In: all, or nearly all, the different systems of rocks forming the crust of the earth, from Azoic to Tertiary. Like the gold and gold ores, it is found only in veins, though these are apmetimes of "^reat width, the Comstock lode varying from twenty to one Iiundred and fifty feet.* The depth of these veins, like those of the gold, has never been ascertained, but it is known in some cases to exceed 2,650 feet. The ores contain the silver in various conditions and combinations. In Nevada, it is com- * Since the partial fitilure-of these veins, and the discovery of contact lodes at Leadville, the idea is gaining ground that a part of the deposits of the Comstosk, and es^iecially those veins « kundred and fifty feet wide, m^ be contact lodes. . . . ., ,^, • r ' y n w r ^i^Ji ' i"- '' • ■V:i * y ' -.i ' ^"-i ''' -i 'T! SILVER MINING AND JtF.DUCT/ON. "5 The plant or nty sian;[js is k1 mine from who arc not r three mines By this pro* 3f the gold is , the whole of intity, in these •osh brothers ; rold, and tl;e /ery was not S59, the first is now known ing Company, i discoverers, hey employed ck negotiated illy purchased ppreciated its 1 dollars, and n. From that d millions of od of twenty It systems of ertiary. Like ugh these are irarying from >f these veins, ut it is known ain the silver ida, it is com- ics at Leadville, the pecially those veius bincd with a certain proportion of gold, and is found as a sulphurct of silver and icad (argentiferous galena), a sulphuret of silver and copper (copper pyrites), of zirtc, and combined vrkh sulphurcts of iron, antimony, tellurium and other base metals; as native or virgin silver ; as chloride of silver or horn silver; as a richly ai*gcntiferous carbonate of lead, copper, zinc or iron, and in yet other combinations, which can only be reduced by long and tedious labor and at great expense. A large proportion of the silver from the mines on the Com- stock lode can be reduced by the dry stamping and amalgamating process. These are those in which the percentage of lead is small and that of gold large. In these cases the lead is lost, but the reduction costs only froili four to five dollars a ton. Ores containing more lead, or copper, zinc, etc., are variously treatcti by roasting, smelting, treating with copper, iron, or *' lead riches," mixing with salt to change the sulphurets inio chlorides, chlorodlzing, leaching, melting in a reverbatory furnace, etc. The ores of Colorado are partly sulphurets and partly carbonates, and in some of them there is a large amount of native stiver. The Utah ores are very largely chlorides or chlorides and sulphurets, with some "horn" or native silver; some of the California ores of more recent discovery are carbonates. Those of Montana are mosdy sulphurets, but mingled with such a variety of base metals and in such a condition that the reduction is effected with great difficulty. Indeed until the recent establishment of the Alta Montana mill and works at Wickes, most of the ores from the Montana mines have been only con- centrated, and sent out of the Territory for reduction. The Alta milf concentrates, and employs seven or eight different processes of reduction, all of them expensive and requiring cosdy and complicated machinery. Ores are reduced by these processes at a cost of from $15.75 to $50, so that low grade ores do not pay for mining, if they contain much of the base metals. It is not necessary to occupy our pages with minute description of these various processes, or the machinery constructed for them. They can only be worked by experts, and the great competition for btisuiess in thfe numerous rfeduction establish- ments secures the miner against exorbitant prices. I I \ -' ■"^= ^!40W*a*Nfta=ia*««i»«!t«!lrtda«A***j»fcs«^^ *««■*.>*. , »■■ ■A ■■ iM^-:tf.' i^'A^!ga^':^'K.\^\-- i|,. ii6 OUR WESTER tf EMPIRE. It is difficult to say which arc absoUitdy the best mining regions. Tliore are advantages and disadvantages about them all, to the practical miner or the resident mine-owner. In thos^ mines which have been established from fifteen to twenty-five years, like many of those in California and Nevada, the shares are high priced, if the mines continue to be valuable ; the depth of the mines is so great, and the danger of the accumulation of wate-r so constant, that the expenses are enormous, and large as the dividends are, the assessments made on the shares for improve- ments nearly equal, and in some cases exceed all the declared profits. There are, indeed, all the appliances of civili^ation, and the miner or mine-owner is not subjected to the hardships and privations, from which those suffer who attempt to open mines in a new country. Placer mining is best adapted to the young and enterprising miner who has little or no capital. He needs at the outset only his tin or iron pan, his pick and shovel and perhaps a little quicksilver, and his haversack of provisions — yes, besides these he needs sufficient knowledge of mining to know where he will be likely to find a place with a moderately rapid stream of water at hand, and when found, to determine whether it will pay for working, or whether its best pay streaks have already been worked over. Even if his gains are but moderate at first, they will increase under favoring circumstances, till he can substitute the "Tom" for his pan, and the sluice for the "Tom," and employing help can increase his income rapidly. But placer mining is, in its nature, very uncertain. The miner may come upon barren spots where there is no pay-dirt, and his little hoard is fast becoming exhausted ; or, which is worse, he may come to the end of the placer, or, as in the Black Hills, may find it a hard lava-like mass, agglutinated and firmly cemented together by the oxide of iron, which he cannot wash away nor pulverize, and hence, like the tramp, he is obliged to move on. Meantime his life is of the hardest and roughest, his dwelling is either a dug-out in the side of a hill, or a sod-hut, reared and roofed by his own unskilful hands ; his food is hard, coarse, and badly cooked, for lie cooks it himself, as best he can ; he is much of the time in wet clothing, in his work of washing the gold • h,ff »M *i W ' . T' .«''».jf"r ^1g;^^.T THE AfLVEK'S CHANCES OF SUCCESS, \\^ ninmg regions. hem all, to the n thos« mines five years, like larcs are high le depth of the lation of water id large as the ;s for improve- dl the declared civilization, and hardships and to open mines d to the young tal. He needs and shovel and )f provisions — ; of mining to h a moderately J, to determine !st pay streaks gains are but circumstances, \ the sluice for ncome rapidly. n. The miner ly-dirt, and his :h is worse, he ack Hills, may *mly cemented irash away nor to move on. lis dwellinfj is Lit, reared and d, coarse, and n ; he is much ing the gold" without society, without books, \vith*f«v>j*-^.a«A.*tt^^ ^.-ftvjf ,i«,-s ■:■. I • I \ !i Il8 OVR WESTERN KMPIKR. in the mines. In Nevada the bonanza kinpn own all the Iwst mines, and work them toj.jethcr or separately. In Colorado a group of millionnaires, or rather, as "Josh Hillings" would put it. trn-mi!lionnair«'s, have obtained control of all the richest mines around Leadville ; in the Black Hills one gigantic California firm own all the valuable mines on the great Belt near Deadwood. and stand ready to purchase any other promising mine. In Utah and Montana Fastern capitalists control the largest mines. For the skilful mining engineer, or the intelligent practical miner, if he prefers gold mining, the Black Hills. Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona offer the best fields, and perhaps Oregon and Washington Territory furnish some good opportunities for industrious and .skilful men. For silver mining, Colorado, possi- bly Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Montana, New Mexico, and perhaps Idaho. Texas may yet develop some good mines of gold and silver, but there is thus far nothing specially attractive there. California is not opening many new mines, and the old ones have little need of new-comers. To capitalists desirous of investing in mining enterprises, we have no advice to offer. They have generally their own ideas about such investments: if these ideas are correct, they will be successful ; if not, so much the worse for them. CHAPTER XI. Othkr Mktals awd Mineral Products — Quicksilvir— 'Copper — Lead and Zinc— Iron— Platinum— Tin— Nickel— Iridium and Osmium— Tellurium — Antimony — ARSENIC — Manganese — Sulphur — BqRAX— Sppf — §alt— Coal — Wood and Charcoal as Fuel — Mineral Springs. Mbrciprv or quicksilver is found rarely in its native or metallic state, but generally as cinnabar or sulphide of mercury, abundantly at many points in the Coast Haage of it^ Pacific coast, but is only mined and reduced to any consideradBle exjtent in California, where the New Almaden and the New Idria mines will probably exceed the great Spanisih mines from which they t m» OTHRR MKTALS AND MINERALS. 19 wn all the Ixsst In Colorado a b" would put it. ic richest mines ; Californin firm rar DeatlwocKl, sing mine. In t: largest mines. Iligent practical Colorado, New lerhaps Oregon pportunities for [Colorado, possi- co, and perhaps cs of gold and attractive there, d the old ones enterprises, we :heir own ideas ict, they will be OPPER — Lead and iMiuM— Tellurium IX— Soda— Salt— its nature or de of mercury, of t^ Pacific idera!ble extent ew Idria mines rom which they take their names. Several other mines in the vicinity of these are in operation, and wlu-nrvcr there is an incrcastnl dctiiaiid for the metal, will prove prntitahle ; hut now that the long litigation which rlosed the two principal tnincs for a number of years is settletl, their production will greatly increase. The opening of so many new gold mines, and the great extent to which hydrau- lic mining is now carried, in^iures a prompt market at paying prices, for all the quicksilver which these mines can produce, for thus far the rcduciion of gold without (quicksilver has been found impossible. There arc large deposits of cinnabar, apparently inexhaustible, in Washoe and Nye counties, Nevada, in Utah, and alleged discoveries of it liave been made in Oregon and ia Arizona. ' Copper. — The ores of this metal, and the native metal itself, though not in large masses as in the Lake Superior region, are found in nearly every State and Territory of the Great West. It is found in all forms; without admixture with other metals, as malachite, the beautiful green carbonate of copper, two. red, blue, gray, yellow, and vitreous carbonates and oxides, as copper-glance, tctrahedrite, and in every other known form of crystallization ; as copper pyrites in combination with gold, and in various propor- tions, in combination with silver, both in the carbonates and sulphides. There are hundreds of copper mines in California, the metal occurring in some form in nearly every county in the State. Some of these have proved unprofitable, owing to mismanage- ment, distance from market, and difficulty or impossibility of their reduction near home. Recently improved methods of smeUing liave been introduced in California and other States, and it is no longer necessary to ship the ores to Baltimore or to Swansea, Wales, to be reduced. Arizona is very rich in copper ores, and they can be very easily worked. They yield from thirty-six to sixty per cent, or more of pure copper. Some of them are already sending large quantities of block-tcopper to San Francisco. Nevada has an abundance of copper, but it is mostly in comibination with the silver. The copper veins of Northern California extend intp ( ■ I'. '~''S^^S^.i^»iM.4fmi0mkei-ij^:seiiSiitiisw s.-wt,v 'STj/raTJUfc^/i. K » «-»A.'>- ~n.-t* t42ii'"* lao OL'k HMSTt/lN UMi'tHK. t, ' Soulhwrstern Oregon, and arc evrn rlchfrr ihrrc than In Califor- nia, t'oppcr has also bc«:n tliHcovcrcHl in Kaslcrn <^V«i^on. VVashinj;ton Territory has its full share of co|>[)cr, though its mines are as yet undeveloped. IJoth Idaho and Montana arc rich in copper, both In cornhii.a- tion with silver ami alone. Montana parts her co[)[)«'r from the silv<:r in some of her smelting works and ships it to th«; I'last. So far as yet discovered, the copper in Dakota, at the HIack Hills, is mostly conihinod with gold and silver, but deposits of it, not thus alloyed, may yet be discovered. In Minne;soia the great copper field is around the shores of Lake Superior; the copper deposits of the Ontonagon district in Northern Michi- gan, dipping under the lake, and reappearing on the Western shore. Proceeding southward, Iowa has some copper, but not de- veloped. Missouri, large beds of it, formerly workctl exten- sively, but now of such low grade as not to be profitably e.xpioited; Nebraska only a small deposit in the southeast ; while Kansas, which abounds in lead and zinc, has not yet developed any cop- per. Wyoming is abundantly supplied with most of the ores of copper. In Colorado, from 1^90,000 to ;j;i 20,000 value of copper, parted from silver and gold, is sent to market every year. There are also mines of copper alone. But New Mexico, while all her mines of gold, silver and lead are rich, excels all the other States and Territories of the West in the wealth of her copper mines, which are now In a fair way to be developed on a large scale. Arkansas has large deposits of copper ore among her other mineral wealth ; it is found, though not developed, in the Indian Territory, and Texas can furnish a supply, not only for all the copper-heads, but for all the copper-bottoms of the world. Lead is as widely diffused as copper ; perhaps even more ex- tensively. Wherever silver is found, lead is almost Invariably present, either as sulphuret (galena), carbonate, or oxide. And where silver is absent, or present only In Infinitesimal proportions, as In Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri, and In some of the mines of Wyoming, Dakota and Montana, the lead puts In its r gw- ' . nnasa^ wwiww&^Urt:^.*-'^- -'MOi. ..- IKAD, tisc, inos, smtiL lai ti.m in Cilifof. •.tern <^V<';;on. «:r, ihoiij^U ita ih in 0)rn!)ii.a. >|>«T from thr () tln! Mast. . at tlir Illack lit deposits of Vlinn<;sot;i the Suix.-rior; the )rih(;rn Michi- the Western r, hut not dc- vorkcd (xtrn- ably exploited; wliilt* Kansas, oj)fd any cop- of tlie ores of ilue of copper, y year. There ), while all her all the other of her copper ed on a large re among her rclopcd, in the ply, not only ottoms of the ven more ex- ost invariably oxide. And il proportions, n some of the id puts in its npprarancr, a» sufVicipnt of itself, without the more costly metal. The (piantiii(!s of it parted from silver arc enormous, tlu: supply fron» two districts of Nevada alone being nearly suffaicnt for the American market, and that of Colorado nt arly a million of dollars annually. The other great ntining regions adil tj tiiiii vast total, and Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and other Slates ea .t of the Mississippi, aid in rolling up an inmiense aggregate. For- tunately the ilcmand for lead is great and constant, not limited to the arts of war and the slaughter of game, but extending also to many of the arts of peace, being used in rolls, sheetH, and piping and tubing, furnishing the basis uf nearly all of uur paints, and of many of our drugs. /Anc is not cpiite so widely distributed, but is often found in combination with silver and lead. It is also found by itself, or with lead in the form of sulphuret (Blende), silicate (calamine), or carix)nate (Smithsonite). It is mined anil reduced (piite largely in Kansas, and to some extent in Missouri and Cali- fornia. The resources of our Western Kmpirc, for thi; production of Jron and Stcd, have no parallel on the globe. No one of the States and Territories composing if lacks deposits of iron ore, in some of its many and varied forms ; and in many of them it is found of such excellent quality, and in such immediate prox- imity to coal-beds, and the necessary fluxes, that the cost of pro- duction is reduced to the lowest minimum. The great railways which traverse the continent can have their iron and steel rails manufactured within 5C» feet of their tracks, and of such quality as cannot be obtained at any price abroad. The mountains of iron ore yielding from fifty to ninety per cent, of the pure metal, which are found in Missouri, Utah, Oregon, California, Wyoming, Texas and Montana, only needed the present demand for iron and steel to stimulate their developmen ,, and in a short time there will be enough iron and steel, of the best quality, produred in these States and Territories, to supply not only all the iron and steel rails (and it is estimated that nearly 2,000,000 tons of these will be needed the present year), but all the machinery for mining, milling, manufacturing and agricultural purposes, all th< .■~4«MUI>»«, ■mu ■•a«»'-i«»;,-u.Ati.t.*/4V»(j>i,;*..'-.t».»ivi.'.v..ti»i< -^-^t^^n. , laj OUR WHSIKHS MMr*Jm, \' Iron and ntccl for utr.impr* and thipi, whether for commrrc« «f naval purponrn, nil the ittcrj ^mkis. all tlx? hriil^cH, all the ImiIM. ingH, all the haniwarc, car wIicpIh, lutlrry, and all of IkhIi iittuli that it nrc(h;d for any other piirpoHt! under the »un, not only within the limitii of our Wcutcrn I'.inpire, but all the wotM over. Duty or no duty, neither I\n^land nor any other nation of Europe can comjKrte with furna****, wlwrc the ore, rtuxfrs and coal can l>e thrown directly ituo \\\ii furnace throu^'h cluitrs, without iiandlini>;, and the prime cunt of all Uie material and itM conversion into steel, need nut exceed from $iu to if^M per ton, while the product Ih of the very Ix'st ([uality. Hut the first cost of the establishment of these furnaces, and tlio rolling* milU, machine-shops, foundries, etc., etc., is very large, and re* quires, and will re({uire, the investment of many millions of capital, though, once imdcr way, the returns will l)c enormous, and the rapid j^rowth of these establishments will be jjigantic Kuropeati capitalLsts are already transferring their furnaces and workmen to this country in larjje numbers, and they are wise in doing so. Witliin the next five years there will be a demand for the services of every skilled worker in iron and stcd who may land in this country, and at good wages. The consumption of iron and steel, of our own production, and imported from abroad in 1H79, was 4,410,000 tons, of which 510,000 tons were imported; wc arc perfccdy safe in predicting that, in 1889, it will exceed 13,000,000 tons, and all of it will be raised from our own mines, and smelted in our own furnaces. ' Platinum is found pure, and in combination with gold, iridium and iridosmin on the roast of California and Oregon, and in some of the gold min< j of Colorado and Arizona and perhaps else* where. The quar^''.y is not large, indeed it is a rare metal everywhere, u^c k> isian mines, which furnish from 4,300 to 5,000 pounds annually, producing about four-fifths of the whole amount yielded by all countries. The whole quantity produced in the United Staitcs does not probably exceed 450 or 500 pounds. Mr. Edison, the invetrtor, in 1879 desired tx> use pla* inum wires for holding the carbons for his divided electric *t^ y ' ^ 'wi^' * ' M i n ^w IJUM ^T J W riATtstm, Try. mcKKi, tutDWM, Its ' commrrtc of , all tlur IxiiM- )r lK)tl) rnctaU Mtin, not only »c woiM over. Iior nation of 1^, fluxes and rouijh chutes, material and w %\o to %\i lity. Udt the ttd tli« rolling* lar^'Ji and re- y niilliunH of l)c enormous, II be gi(<;antic ihcir furnacca and they »re licrc will be .1 iron and stcd rn production, ,000 tonH, of rfectly safe in tons, and all ed in our own 1 {jl^Id, iridium rcgon, and in perhaps else- a rare metal rom 4,300 to of the whole itity produced 450 or 500 d tx) use pla* vided electric lifjhtn, nrul addressed incpiiries to all partirs connected with |folt|-ininini; operations in re^janl to a postibic or probable lup* ply of the mrtai. Mr found that it wan much more widrly dif- fused than had ^enrrally been sup(K)iw.*d, but that it wan found in such Hinall ([uantitieH that any considrrabic im rcasrd deniand would enhance the price b<;yond the limit whit h he (ould .ittord to pay, and he sub'«tituit!d a leHS expensive material for it. i'la* tinum is now worth from f,'jo to fjt^ ydx pound. Tin is not fouml in la j^'e (|ii.intitieN in any part of the United Statrt, but the {greater part of what ^ pound. Iridium and Osmium, or rather the compound known as Iridm- mtM, which contains both metals, and usually a small percentage of rhodium, and sometimes ruthenium, is found in small hard grains and sometimes in scales, in the placer deposits, and asso- ciates with platinum. The alloy is the hardest of known metallic bodies, and is infusible except under the oxy-hydrogen blov/-pipe. The iridosmln is luicd in its native condition fpr pointing tlie iiibe MM Aii W?* w » I mt, »i»eu»«M»ju-i*wru>in^fc»*g<»v Ar.4*wA. ttJtr-^./.vjj 124 OUK lyj-STEMAT EMPIRE. of gold pens, being as nearly as possible indestructible cither by accidents, or by the chemicals in the ink, and being very hard. Only the rounded particles arc: suitable for this purpose, and these constitute only from one-fifth to one-tenth of the whole. The price a few years since was ;ji250 per ounce. From three to eight ounces are obtained at the Assay offices in the melting of one million of dollars of gold. The iridium, when isolated, fur- nishes the basis of a black used in decorating porcelain, which when baked in, is indestructible. Tellurium is found in combination with both gold and silver as tellurides of those metals. It belongs to the same class of ele- mentary bodies as sulphur, and imitates it in most of its com- pounds. It has little economic value, but is a great source of annoyance in the reduction works, in California, Colorado, and Montana, from the intensely poisonous and fcetid properties of its compounds. It is found sparingly in most of the larger gold deposits. Antimony, Arsenic ^ and Manganese, are found as sulphides, sul- phates, carbonates, oxides, and in rarer forms, in combination with silver, copper, lead, zinc, and iron, sometimes impairing, at others enhancing, the value of the compound. In most cases the antimony and arsenic are expelled in the smelter's furnace. The manganese in its combination with iron is, to a certain extent, beneficial. Sulphur, in the form of sulphides and sulphates, is present in a large proportion of the silver, lead, copper, zinc, and iron ores. But it is also found in a native state in large masses or deposits, in those portions of California which were formerly subject to volcanic eruptions, in Humboldt county, in Nevada, at several points in Utah, especially in Millard county, where the deposit is more than twenty feet thick ; at Brimstone Mountain in the Yel- lowstone Park region, in Dakota, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. Sulphuric and muriatic acid are produced at .some of the smelting works from the sulphurets of iron, copper, and lead; while the sulphates of soda, magnesia and potassa, are obtained in a nearly pure state in the alkaline lakes of California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. The sulphate of lime (gypsum or plaster SULPHUR, BORAX, SODA, SALT. 13) :tible cither by ing very hard, purpose, and of the whole. From three to the melting of n isolated, fur- orcelain, which A and silver as le class of ele- ost of its com- reat t.Ource of Colorado, and I properties of the larger gold \ sulphides, sul- in combination s impairing, at most cases the furnace. The certain extent, >, is present in and iron ores. les or deposits, irly subject to ida, at several ; the deposit is ain in the Yel- , Arizona, and ed at some of )per, and lead; L, are obtained brnia, Nevada, urn or plaster of Paris) is found in extensive deposits nearly or quite pure, in almost every State and Territory of the region, and in California, Colorado, Texas, and perhaps elsewhere, it assumes also its beautiful forms of alabaster and selenitc. The sulphates of zinc. copper, and iron, if they do not exist naturally, are easily formed by the reduction of the sulphurets of those metals. Borax (chemically the biborate of soda) is found at several points in California and Nevada, in the mud and the water of alkaline lakes; and is now produced of great purity, and in such large quantities as to have revolutionized the market, and caused the price of the article at retail to fall from fifty or sixty cents below twenty cents per pound. It is either gathered in crystals, evaporated f.om the water, or procured from the mud, by wash- ing or by lixiviation. The supply seems inexhaustible, though the demand has greatly increased since the market began to be supplied from the Pacific coast. ■ Soda, both as caustic soda, and carbonate of soda or pearlasli, and also as sulphate of soda or Glauber's salts, exists naturally in the Great Salt Lake and its vicinity ; at several places in Cali- fornia and Nevada, and in the alkaline lands. It is also found in the Yellowstone region and in Texas. That found in Utah is so nearly chemically pure as hardly to need refining. Salt. — This invaluable mineral is widely diffused over this vast region. On the shores of the Pacific it is procured by solar evaporation and boiling. All over California there are salt springs, and in many places salt lakes, from which incrustations of nearly pure salt can be gathered. In Nevada it is found in large bodies in the beds of desiccated lakes, in the waters of salt lakes, and in mountain deposits. In Utah, the Great Salt Lake is a saturated solution of common salt, five gallons of it yielding one and three-fourths gallons of crystallized salt. It is now manufactured largely from the waters of the lake, and much is produced by natural solar evaporation. Rock-salt, much of it almost perfectly pure, is mined in Salt Creek Canon and on the Sevier river. The northern part of Utah abounds in salt springs, which pour their waters into the Salt Lake. Wyoming has also its salt deposits, as well as Kansas and Nebraska, many of them 1.1 ■• s, I iJi';miUiUaiiMaMtmvl:»ttiiSiiX^i*ilt>tieii',..».ixli^^ 126 OVR' WRSTERJ* EMPIRE. in the form of brine springs. Arkansas, the Indian Territory. and Texas liave also brine springs, salt lakes, and deposits of salt. Arizona and New Mexico have salt dieposits and salt lakes. The supply in most of the States and Territories now exceeds the demand, but the growing requirements of the smelting and re- duction works for it, m the reduction of pyritous ores, and to some extent" the carbonates also, as well as its use for domestic and packing purposes, insure a future demand which will require the erection of additional salt-works. Coal is found at many points in this vast region, and of many different qualities. There are four distinct coal-fields between the Mississippi river and the Pacific ocean, and they comprise an area of more than 200,000 square miles. The first of these coal- fields extends from Iowa, in which State it covers a large area, through Missouri, Eastern Nebraska and Kansas, Arkansas, the eastern portion of the Indian Territory, and East-rn '^ as. This is called the Missouri coal-field. It is a bituminous coal, from the middle coal measures of the carboniferous system, in many places of excellent quality, and belongs to the class of coking coals, being valuable for heating and smelting purposes. The total area of this coal-field is somewhat more than 47,000 square miles, or a little larger than the State of Pennsylvania. The second of the coal-fields begins in British America, near the Saskatchewan river, and passes southward through Dakota, Eastern Montana, Western Nebraska, and Kansas, and Eastern Wyoming, through Colorado, east of the Rocky Mountains, Northeastern New Mexico, and Central and Western Texas. It is a lignite coal, belonging to the cretaceous period, and in some parts of its course yields a very fair heating coal, furnishirir^ some gas, but not coking. In some of the place's where it is mined, it assumes die characteristics of a cannel coal, though of inferior quality. It covers an area of about 40,000 square miles, but much of it is too deep for successful mining, especially as the quality of the coal is not of the first class. \ ;!?-. ly, « ,: The third coal-field is a very remarkable ohe. Like the second, it commences in British America, passes through West- ern Montana and Idaho, through Western Wyoming and Utah WtWi iii irTO I ^ .. yy r g , -^ i .- r- ' - ' - ;'! COJtt. la; in Territory, deposits of nd salt lakes. r exceeds the king and rc- ores, and to for domestic li will require and of many slds between ' comprise an of these coal- a large area, \rkan?ns, the kst-rn ''' as. iminous coal, us system, in the class of ng purposes. I than 47,000 Pennsylvania, rica, near the lugh Dakota, and Eastern Mountains, rn Texas. It and in some al, furnishiri'f te where it is al, though of square miles, especially as Like the irough West- g and UtaH through Western Colorado and New Mexico, and perhaps Eastern Nevada, through Arizona aiid Northwestern Texas, and into Mexico, Like the second coal-field, it is a lignite, but of the tertiary instead of the cretaceous period, being found at the north only in the miocene, but in Texas, principally, in the eocene rocks. In Western Colorado, in Utah, and in New Mexico, near Santa Fe, volcanic action has changed it into an anthracite coal, that in New Mexico being of a quality nearly equal to that of the Pennsylvania mines. The coal-beds of La Plata county, Colorado, in the vicinity of Animas City, have recently proved to be anthracite, probably tertiary lignites changed by. volcanic action. At other places, as in parts of Utah, it has been hanged into a semi-bituminous coal. Some beds of it coke and give evidence of being good smelting coals. The fourth coal-field is in reality two coal-fields which inter- lock, the one, lignites of the tertiary, which pass through Eastern Washington and Oregon, and in California appear on both sides of the Coast range ; the other, coming from Alaska, and furnish- ing on Vancouver island and in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca some mines of excellent bituminous coal, and passing down the coast of Washington and Oregon, growing constantly poorer and more charged with svilphur, become, in California, interlaced with the deposits of the tertiary lignite. At one or two points, as at Monte Diablo, they yield a fair quality of bituminous coal. The last-named branch of this coal-field is found only in the cretaceous rocks, and as it approaches former or recent centres of volcanic action changes, as on Vancouver island, to a semi-bituminous coal, and in the Queen Charlotte islands, off the coast of British Columbia, to a true anthracite of excellent quality. This double coal-field covers nearly 60,000 square miles, and the preceding one over 50,000. The San Francisco market is supplied with cannel-coal frpm England and Australia; bituminous and semi- bituminous from Chili and Vancover island; anthracite from Pennsylvania and Queen Charlotte islands; Cumberland and other bituminous coals from Pittsburgh, Leavenworth and Wyoming, and Pacific coast lignites from Belllngham Bay, Wash- ington Territory, Coos Bay, Oregon, and Monte Diablo in Cali- i: f i .si«s«';»^e»U>^i«;WI«<>l«syO«L'«S«.iS«mw.i«IK'^^ :^<»:u!Siui^ttlSi»*si)Siji^iJiki,t*;f ' 't \ I t i laS Ol/X WESTSKI^ EMPIRE. fornia. The Colorado and New Mexican coals will also appear in its markets as soon as a more direct railroad communication is established. In many portions of this vast territory, where fuel for smelting purposes is required either for the reduction of the precious metals and lead or copper, or for the production of pig-iron and Bessemer steel, the forests are still ao dense and convenient that wood or charcoal is cheaper than coal. But other sections are obliged to rely upon coal and upon that which can be coked; and in some of the States or Territories, as for example in Ne- vada, these coking conls, or the coke made from them, are brought from long distances, and at a considerable expense. Intimately connected with coal, geologically, are two other min» eral products, Asphaltum and Petroleum. In California there are lakes, or rather marshes, which after the winter rains have a shallow depth of water on their surfaces, which are covered to a considerable depth with asphaltum, in varying degrees oi hardness, some of it being of the consistency of molasses, and entangling the cattle, which are drawn thither by the hope of finding water, and perish in the sticky mass ; nearer the edges it is hardened, and becomes the solid asphalt of commerce. These lakes or marshes are found in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Los Angeles counties. Some petroleum is found with them, but the best petroleum oils of California, and they are of excellent quality, are in Humboldt, Colusa, and Contra Costa counties, and in the vicinity of Monte Diablo ; but all the coast counties have petroleum springs. Petroleum has also been dis- covered in Nevada, though it has not been developed. In Northwestern Colorado, on the White river, in and near the Ute Reservation, there are extensive springs and marshes of petro. leum, asphalt, and mineral tar. There are also petroleum springs on the headwaters of the Arkansas river, near Denver. The petroleum region of Northwestern Colorado extends northward through Western Wyoming, Montana, and possibly Idaho. Re- cently extens've springs and wells of petroleum of excellent quality have been discovered and worked about ninety miles north of Point of Rocks, on the Union Pacific Railway, in Wyom- (jgBBWi W i ir ii iW i i •iT i .T ' i i 'i'K^rJinra'i i f i fc ' it"' • ~^ii'J*?fe>-^-^^^ m : \ 130 OUK WeSTHKN EMrmi:. their healing properties either to their thermal quality (the heat ranging from 95 to 225° F.) or to some not fully understood ilectric influence, which is thought to pervade them; others, whether cold or warm, owe their reputed medicinal virtue to their impregnation with sulphur, iron, lime, potassa, soda, lithia, phos- phorus, or some and perhaps several of the sulphates, carbonates, phosphates, nitrates, lithiatcs, chlorides, bromides, or iodides, or other compounds of metals, alkalies, and alkaline earths, and mineral acids, and generally the more nauseous and diabolic the taste and smell of these villanous compounds from Nature's laboratory, the greater the healing virtues they are believed to contain. But nowhere in the wide world are there spas of such capacity, surrounded by such magnificent scenery, or possessing such natural advantages, to amuse and delight the visitor, and drive away ennui, as are to be found in Texas, Arkansas, and in still greater numbers in Colorado, the Yellowstone region, Utah, Montana, Dakota, Minnesota, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Nature has done its part with a most bountiful hand, and in many of these places man has done his part to make the whole surroundings attractive. Already are the springs of the Yellowstone Park, the most celebrated of those in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arkansas, and Texas, widely known and appreciated in Europe, and every season brings many hundreds Qf. European visitors hither, in search of a new sensation. -.-KfM-ri jffofri •-iris iT!'>r.; ! ,. m.^,; ,^'Ti-V'*y; nvoo X oiM' :■■:-■■ 'c f ,•'?. (1; ,f'.r;ii*h .' 'f; "ii. ''/•,• ;'n !k;*i tvo:,i-(ib J •? ?•' •V.;' ..,■ •.!v'!"»Y t^M '■) y- ■■',:. '.■:: il ^i'? "js-hj i.;-; ,:f!.i::i rifo/-: ''< ;'-• 'ui c; ^ili'Hii'Js f-;('ii(?- •.'tit tif«I ,(irj/'>fi'>I.niv.7 ilytt JiJjii oi hnu^ '.■-St -^j- .-'xlmim tn ^hshji''' •'■(!; i:ovri\7 i:tulhy,l no liJnbi'wHn r-i: biu..t:':ih:ui-if. ,Jtsj:J. ,«f;:-i«,>'t|/<. J .jr*!jE'i'3/C /)l;>*ru4u':> ,?ti;xa^r,'-> i WWWJk i| .>UI i ,4iJiMJiJUJMliliiJ,ja.i4J|UW!tW.>^U«aiW4W^ iiality (the heat Lilly understood them ; others, ,1 virtue to their da, lithia, phos- itcs, carbonates, i, or iodides, or ine earths, and .nd diabolic the from Nature's are believed to re spas of such ^•, or possessing the visitor, and rkansas, and in le region, Utah, a, New Mexico, )art with a most ,n has done his .'. Already are :;brated of those as, and Texas, i every season er, in search of i'M'V .:-;.;/„ iunn!;:/:' ) f(|i ti;-;! i: ji> f;'>!k|ri > (! (UK,i .•>(. [) ■!•! ' •'■ IJTl J*Hlj HI i'OtK ' 1 f^ri! »i!r>fn .•-:": t?V,«i(! .v'OifTiO ' , f J-AHMJXa £.IS7' Of Tiili. KOCh'Y MOUNTAINS. ||| CHAPTER XII. AORIC-ULTIIRF. — ARAntE T.ANIIS EaST OK THE RoCKV MOUNTAINS— MINNESOTA Farminc. Lands ano Products — Dakota Territorv Farmin(; Lands — Montana Farms — Iowa Farms — Missouri Farminc; Lands — Nkiiraska Farmino Lands — Kansas Farminc — Arkansas Farms — The Indian Ter- ritory AS a Farminu Kecwon — Texas Farminc, Grain, Cotton, etc. — Review of Farming I^ands East ok R-icky Mountains — Much Poor and Indifferent Farminc — Revolution in Farminc Produced uy Acricui.- TURAL MaCHINKRV — RoOT CroPS — CoTTON — SUCJAR — FrUIT CULTURE — TEX- TILE FlISRES AND TODACCO — ThR RolKY MOUNTAIN REGION — VVo" DERFUL Results OF Irrigation — Beyond the Rockies — From the Sierra Nevada TO THE Coast Range — California — Viniculture in California — The Pro- ducts of Oregon and Washington. ■ ■' No very close approximation of the amount of arable lands in our Western Empire can b^ made. The reports of the Sur- veyors-General to the Land Office each year develop the fact that, in the newer States and Territories, thousands of acres, pre- viously deemed incapable of cultivation, have been conquered by the enterprising settlers, and must henceforth be recorded as arable lands of extraordinary fertility. We have alluded to this, in our chapter on the Great American Qfisertj but it is a fact vvhid^-v. , will bear repetition and illustration. [ Nearly the whole region lying between the Mississippi river and the Rocky Mountains was regarded fifty years ago as a desert land, incapable of any considerable cultivation, and given over to the buffalo, the pan- ther, and the prairie wolf; yet in no part of the vast domain of the United States, and certainly in no other country under the sun, is there a body of land of equal extent, in which there are so few acres unfit for cultivation, or so many which, with irriga-^ \ tion or without it, will yield such bountiful crops.j The land lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada or Cas- cade Range, has more mountains, and more grazing lands ; some of it, too, is incapable of culture, and is more valuable for the mineral wealth which lies4>eneath the surface, than for any crops which can be raised from it. Some of these lands are volcanic, ) V 1 1 1 ■A ' \ !:h 1 Hi ^asJl^KA^-aisakE*:^^ iktlai^i^^.MiU^-'^ fi; J ta ii 13* Oi/i it:.6//'.AX LX'r.'A'/i. lii n 1 ^ I !,J ami the lava and volcanic scoria: have not yot iK'rn long enough exposed to the iiillucnces of sun, and rain, and ghicial action, to render tliem fertile as they will eventually become. Of a con- siderable portion of this region, also, it may be said, that it has not yet been explored with sufficient thoroughness, to settle the questions whether it is best adapted to cultivation or grazing, or whether it is unfit for cither. Perhaps we cannot now come nearer the truth than to say, that, of the 2,o28,ocxD square miles comprised between the Mississippi and the Pacific, from 750,000 to 800,000 miles may fairly be reckoned arable. Of this one-fourth, and possibly a little more, may require more or less irrigation, for some years to come, to bring out their highest productiveness ; but this is regarded by the farmers themselves as an advantage, rather than a disadvan- tage, since by means of it, they are assured of large and excellent crops every year. None of the States lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi river have much waste or unimprovable land. Missouri, Arkansas, and portions of the Indian Territory, and Northwestern Texas are more mountainous than the others, and have some grazing, and some sterile lands. The Black Hills in Dakota (some portions of which are capable of cultivation, and yield excellent crops), and the Bad Lands in that Territory (which, however, amount to only 75,000 acres or about three townships) and Nebraska, are the only other exceptions to the general rule. Minnesota, Iowa, most of Nebraska, Kansas, the greater part of Eastern Wyoming and Eastern Colorado, Dakota, except as above noted. Eastern Montana, the larger part of Missouri, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas, are not surpassed in the quality or productiveness of their soil, by any portions of equal extent in the known world, Look at these facts, and remember that none of these States or Territories have one-third and most of them not one-tenth of their arable lands under cultivation. Minnesota, one of the newest of these States, has but about one-eleventh of its area — 4,900,00x3 acres out of nearly 54,000,000 — under cultivation; yet it produced in 1879, on 21769.369 acres, 35,000,000 bushels of spring wheat of a quality •n long enough hiclal action, to ic. Of a con- aid, that it has ss, to settle tile I or grazing, or lian to say, that, the Mississippi may fairly be ly a little more, irs to come, to is regarded by an a disadvan- e and excellent Mountains and iprovable land. Territory, and the others, and : Black Hills in cultivation, and that Territory or about three :ceptions to the ka, Kansas, the lorado, Dakota, larger part of Fexas, are not leir soil, by any •k at these facts, erritories have eir arable lands of these States, X) acres out of ced in 1879, on :at of a quality /AK.mxa KAsr cf thr kocky mouma/xs. t|| which has never been surpassed ; a crop of corn of about 19,000,000 bushels on about 475,000 acres; more than ai.ooo,- 000 bushels of oats, on 5io,ocx) acres of land; over 3.000,- 000 bushels of the other cereals, barley, rye and buckwheat, on 110,000 acres; over 4,icx}.cxx> bushel* of potatoen, on less than 40,000 acres of land ; and i ,800,000 tons of hay on less- than 950,000 acres. A large part of these crops were pro- duced on lands broken up for the first time, and much of the cultivation was crude and imperfect, yet the yield per acre averaged larger than that of any other State, though not so largi as it should. Many of these new farms, when properly tilled, yielded over large tracts from thirty-three to forty-five bushels (sixty pounds) of wheat to the acre, and deep plowing and care- ful seeding by drill, would have brought the same results every- where in the wheat lands. Dakota Territory, which in 1870 had less than 1 3,000 white inhabitants and now has over 200,000, though it only began to grow about three years ago, yielded in 1879 from 366,618 acres in its northeastern counties alone, 5.332.360 bushels of spring wheat, and nearly as much more in Southeastern Dakota. The average yield was twenty-two bushels to the acre, and might have been thirty with the same labor. Other crops are equally productive. The land is mostly prairie, and at least three-fifths of this production was from the first crop ev* r harvested. Montana is a still newer region, and has much mountainous country. It is roughly computed to have 1 5,ooo,cxx) acres of arable lands, and 38,000,000 acres of grazing lands ; but its arable lands are the most fertile the sun shines upon. Its 30floo acres in wheat produced an average of twenty-five busheU (weighing sixty-four pounds) to the acre ; its yield of Indian. qorn averages forty bushels; that of oats and bariey fifty bushels ; of potatoes 200 bushels, etc. Iowa, an older, though still a young State, has about one-third of her area under cultivation. Her land is rich and fertile, but wheat in 1878 was a comparative failure there. Indian corn the same year was a very successful crop, 1 75,000.000 bushels being raised on 4,686.000 acres of land — an average of 37.4 bushels to the acre. The crops of oats, barley, potatoes, and hay I 'r^ifeimii^iim^ihmi^ims^timitit^^fjSMss^mS^sr?'^^ 'I ia- il tJ4 ovit wasraits *A/r/Aj(. F1 were uIm) lar^r, and ri^ht itrmi of agricultural crop;* af;;^r«|>atr'(I a value of $65,5S6,c >. MisHOuri, the oUlcst State went of the MiMKisnippi, hnH niKxit one-fourth of her 43,000,000 acre* under cultivativ)n. Her tn)|) of Indian corn in 1878 was 93.062,000 buNhelx — an average yirld of 26.3 bushels to the acre; the wheat crop, 30, 1 96,000— an nverajjcof only eleven huHhels to the acre; oats, 19,584,000^311 average of 30.6 bushels to the acre ; potatoes, 5.415,000 bushels, avera^injj seventy-five bushels to the acre; tobacco, 23,033,001 pounds, averaging; 770 pounds to th< acre; hay, i,630,txx) ions, bvera^^ing 1.63 tons to the acre. Smaller (|uantiticH of rye, buck wheat, and barley were produced, and hemp and Hax were raised to some extent. The State has also extensive vineyards, and large quantities of grapes and wine are sent to market, The aggregate value of her agricultural productions in that ytar was about sixty-five millions of dollars. Nebrar.ka has an area of 48,636,800 acres, of which less than 3,500.000 or about one-fourteenth of the whole are under cultivation. It is one of the newer States, having been admitted into the Union in 1867. Corn and wheat are the principal cereals cultivated, the crop of the former ranging from f<;rty to fifty-four million bushels, an average yield of forty-two bushels to the acre; and of the latter from fourteen to eighteen million bushels, mostly of spring wheat, an average of fifteen bushels to the acre. Rye and oats are also raised in considerable quantities ; rye yielding an average of nearly twenty bushels to the acre, and oats about thirty-four bushels. Potatoes and other root crops do well, potatoes averaging 135 bushels to the acre. Hay yields nearly two tons to the acre. Fruit culture is a very large interest in the State, and its fruits are of the best quality. The entire crops of 1879 exceeded $35,000,000 in value. Kansas, from its central position, its fine climate, its large body rf arable lands, its railroad facilities, and its indomitable enterprise, has come to be regarded as the garden spot of the Great West. Its lands are probably no more fertile than those of some of the other States and Territories, but they have been more extensively advertised, more promptly settled, and are cul- I. ■, < M, > .i.uai. i ike i Mi»i*i i' W i >j*!'j ' itt ' .iM e mH'^- - { •' t.iKMISC A.isr Of INK HOVKY MOL'AmiAS. 135 ropH aggrrj>af»'fl sippl, lian alKxit ;i>)n. Her crop in averaj^t! yield 30,196.000— an 19,584,000— an 115,000 busliels. acco, 23,023.000 i,6ao,(XX) tons, icsof rye, buck and Hax were isive vineyards, icnt to market, ons in that year which less than ole are under r been admitted ; the principal g from forty to rty-two bushels ighteen million fteen bushels to able quantities ; to the acre, and ;her root crops he acre. Hay is a very large : quality. The *^ ittV^^tJ"-! je. Tiate, Its large its indomitable en spot of the tile than those bey have been :d, and are cul- tivated with «n energy and thoroughneM, which cannot fail to produce the highest results. The mining fever has not dis- tracted the attention of her settlers. It is hardly proLible that any con,ooo bushels in 1879. This was almost sixty bushels to the acre. Oats yielded 17,411,473 bushels in 1878, but only 13,400,000 bushels in 1879; rye yielded 2,722,000 bushels in 1878, 21.3 bushels to the acre; barley 1,562,793 bushels in 1878, being 29.7 bushels to the acre ; Irish potatoes, 4.256,336 bushels in 1878, being 83.3 bushels to the acre. In 1879 the yield was smaller. 1,590,000 tons of hay and forage were cut, of an aggregate value of 55,700,000. Large quantities of sorghum and broom corn were also raised, and 2,721,459 gallons of sorghum syrup produced. Flax, hemp, castor beans, sweet potatoes, tobacco, cotton, and a vast amount of fruit, were the other agricultural products of the State in 1878 and 1879. The total value of field and garden products in 1878 was $52,859,857. In 1879, notwithstanding the partial failure of the wheat crop, it was $60,129,781, on account of the increased production of hay, sorghum, broom corn, and potatoes, and the material advance of prices. ' '', ' ' Arkansas has a much more varied surface than Kansas; mduntains, valleys, forests, and mines of silver, lead copper is r«S%«'j^W»1»»««3W^N»wt-i>1<«iii-l«!'ilBS)-r-i«tJS''^^^ ' ■;nH ■■ 11^ , , , or.? nT.srcK.y E.vriitg, , ., , iron ami coal, ami rjuarric* of novaciililc or oll-»tonr, mill ttonci, marble and lithuj^raphic-ntonc. It ha« alRo a more varied climatr, from the tcmi-tropicai temperature of U« bottom landu, to the cool and bracinif air of itti mountain distri< ts. ItH productions arc more varied, cotton lieinj^ itti j^rcal iitaplc, and corn rominjj next in ortler; while the other ccrrals art: only mtMliTaicly cuiti vatcd, and fruits, to which it is well adaptcil, figuring' largely in its agricultural prtxlucts. Of the 33,406.7^0 acres of land in the State, one-half is still a forent, while only about 2,500,000 acres are under cultivation, and perhaps three times that quantity arc good grazing lands. The staple crop in cotton, of which nearly 800,000 bales were produced in 1878 on 1,165.850 acres, an average of about three-fourths of a bale to the acre. The yield of Indian corn the same year was about 23,000,000 bushels on 958,000 acres, twenty-four bushels and a fraction to the acre. Of wheat in 1878 only 1,038,000 bushels were rs.iscd, an average of but six bushels to the acre. Of rye and oats the quantity grown was but small, though of the latter it ws 1,665,420 bushels, a yield of 24.6 bushels to the acre. \\ cs yielded 121 bushels to the aero, but only 8,200 acres were ^ ..cd in this crop. Of the sweet potato and perhaps of the Irish potato also, the agriculturists of Arkansas insist that they can raise two crops a year. May is not a large crop, though the yield is as good as iin must States, being i .80 tons to the acre. Fruits of all kinds ^re abundant and of excellent quality. A considerable quantity of wine is made, both from wild grapes, which are of unusual excellence in the State, and from the Scuppernong, Post Oak, Hcrbemont, Norton's Seedling, and other cultivated grapes, , The Indian Territory, which joins Arkansas on the west, con- tains much valu^le farming-land, and some which is not desira- ^^^,7rhe Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks, as well as somr of the other Indian tribes settled here, have among them many good farmers, who produce large crops from the fertile soil. We cannot obtain statistics of the agricultural pro- ductions of the Territory, and as the United States government b bound by t^e highest obligations of honor and justice to pro- tect these Indians in their right to the soil, and to prevent law- MiMHMHMdAUiyi*!^ OMr, mill Ktnnrt, varicil dimatr, xiilatulii, to tlu: Ics prcKJuctionn ni\ corn coming' iKMJcralcly culii- urin]^' largely in •» of lanil in the 3.5(X),cxx) acres hat (|iiantity are of which nearly 5.850 acres, an crc. Th< yield 000 hushcli on on to the acre. iscd, an average its the quantity WH 1,665,420 *( es yielded e , ..ed in this rish potato also, raise two crops Id is as good as lits of all kinds lerablc quantity are of unusual ong. Post Oak, led grapes,^;,!. J the west, con- :h is not desira- ind Creeks, as re, have among crops from the gricultural pro- ;es government 1 justice to pro- to prevent law- f 1 H. ' '-: ■ % I 11: 1 !>. ' - ■ ' .L ■ ♦i'M • i •. j^iiiJi^ii^x^^'jssssiii'SikMsmjiui^iM'tMa isi ^ FARMING EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. «37 less adventurers from settling there, it is of no particular conse- quence that we should be able to give particulars, which might only serve to stimulate the greed of the lawless. , Texas has a vast territory, i75,6cx),ooo acres, and every variety of soil, surface, climate, and rainfall. While probably 50,000,000 acres of its land& are cultivable, though not more than three-fifths of this amount can be reckoned arable land of the first-class, not mor*; than 6,000,000 ac»-es have yet been culti- vated, and much of this very carelessly and imperfecUy. Eastern Texas is sandy, and not very fertile ; Central Texas has a rich soil, and for a width of 200 miles is the best cotton region in the (.united States, and is capable of producing the cotton supply of the world. Yet, in 1878, only 1,808,386 acres were planted in cotton and yielded 497,310,000 pounds of cotton, an average of 275 pounds to the acre."* The northern part of this central tract is excellent corn land, and from 2,246,000 acres, the greater part of it in tliis region, 58,396,000 bushels of corn were produced in 1878, twenty-six bushels to the acre. For wheat, rye, and oats, only a very small porti6n of the State is well adapted, the wheat beltr being far smaller than that of Kansas. Only 450,000 acres were sown in wheat, 3,000 in rye and 149,500 in oats in 1878, and the yield was 7,200,000 bushels of wheat, sixteen bushels to the acre ; 54,000 bushels of rye, eighteen bushels to the acre, and 5.53ii500 bushels of oats, thirty-seven bushels to the acre. Irish potatoes are not so prolific or so good as the sweet potatoes, and root-crops generally do not yield remarkably well. The pea-nut, ground-nut or goober, is perhaps an , exception, as it is very prolific in the sandy soils. Tobacco, hemp, ramie, and flax are profitable crops, where they are carefully cultivated. Small fruits and market-garden vegetables dp, well, and being marketed 111 i.'iUli .'.t ■ ,\, hose agricul- constitutes a of the Rocky : hardly more ion ; yet if, in leh of wheat, yr be expected )low? '' " in this region icpected to be, ^ means have the first fees, m, or perhaps 1, is very sure I of an ddept own country, e depth of fif- te more than Ferred till too eati or in the ight in winter "while shallow cultivation of of the settler, If of the agri- :es large farm- :e in the last twenty-five or thirty years in farm work, is nowhere so evident as at the West. The plowing on the best farms is done by a gang-plow drawn by four horses, or, in some cases, byasteam-plow, and a steam or two-horse harrow breaks the clods. If the crop is to be wheat, or any of the other cereals, it is not sown broadcast, but drilled in with a two or four-horse seeding machine at such distances as to give the grain as it comes up an opportunity to tiller or spread out. Or, as in some of the States, a centrifugal sower scatters it evenly within a given radius, and thus accom- plishes the same object. In this way only about one-fourth as much seed is required, and a greater crop is raised. In Minnesota eighty pounds of spring wheat is sown to the acre. Some farmers prefer to plant Indian com first on the broken and rotted sod, and follow with wheat or other small grains. The corn is cultivated once or twice with a horse-hoe or cultivator, and the ground is left clean and free for the wheat crop. But the per- fection of the agricultural machinery is seen in gathering the crop. The original reaper has been improved till it would not be recognized in its new form. It is now the harvester, and cuts, gathers, binds, and loads the grain for the threshing machine, which in turn threshes, winnows, cleans, assorts and in some cases sacks the grain. Another improvement cuts and gathers into a close box-wagon all the loads of the grain as they stand, and when the wagon is filled, empties its entire load into the threshing machine. A single farmer in Dakota, the present year, puts 30,000 acres in wheat, and has provided thirty-five threshing machines and 140 harvesters to gather and prepare for market the crop. Wheat, raised in this way, or if on a much smaller scale, on lands properly plowed, sowed, cultivated and harvested, should yield from thirty-three to forty-five bushels per acr6, or double the crop grown by careless and slovenly farming. The crop of Indian corn on these new lands should be from sixty to eighty bushels to the acre, or more, where irrigation is practised ; that of oats from seventy to seventy-five bushels, and of barley forty-five to fifty-five bushels. In Arkansas and Texas, by early planting^ t^vo crops of wheat or even Indian corn can be raised in a year; but very little of the farjning there is of a \\ 1 t >;«<«.v,*i»««-i«il»«I<*s»s»»iaw^»«..-«^^ d^ 140 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. high order, and even on rich lands the yield per acre is shamo- fully small. , , , Root crops, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, beets, carrots, sweet- potatoes, yams, and the like, require deep plowing, and thorougli cultivation in the first stage of growth, but will take care of them- selves afterward. The yield, in light but fertile loam, is enor- mous. In Minnesota. Dakota and Montana, from 300 to 6co bushels of potatoes of the best quality are raised to the acre, and from 800 to 1,000 bushels of turnips and beets. , ,/„ In the cotton region, on the best cotton-lands in the wbrld, where the minimum of production should be two bales of ginned cotton or 960 pounds, too many of the farmers are content with a yield of half or two-fifths of a bale. ' • • p-, This whole region is destined to become famous for its sugar production. Sorghum has been cultivated largely all over these States and Territories, and millions of gallons of sorghum syrup made ; but it is only within the last two years that it has been discovered that the early amber sorghum, a variety which ripens early, and before frost, is the best for the Northern States and Territories, though some of the larger kinds will yield more where the seasons arc longer, it being only necessary that they should not suffer from frost before tl»e seeds are ripe, and that the ripening is necessary to its crystallization into sugar. It has been ascertained by experiment that one ton or more of sqgar can be produced from an acre, and that with ordinary cultivation and care, three-fourths of a ton to the acre is a certain crop. The sugar is pronounced superior to the I^oqisiana or Texas cane sugar. A sugar equally good, but in somewhat less quantity can be made from the stalks of Indian corn, and in both cases die ripe corn and the sorghum seed are saved. The Egyptian rice corn, which is now cultivated extensively in Kansas, and which yields from sixty to sevent>'-five bushels of its rice-like seed to the acre, belongs to the sorghum family, and will doubdess produce large quantities of sugar. As the United States are now paying $100,000,000 annually for the sugar we import, tliis addition to our products will be very welcome. jg The sugar-cane, as ^rown in Louisiana, Texas, and Florida, is --^i-^^4r-"A^^-r^^T¥irfff-^-^^"*?irtfr ' l^VftrTlih^ail4*-rri^r-fifrViT^ /•'KU/T CLJ.TL/ii: f..t:>7 O/- Tllli. ROCKY .WOLAri/.VS. 141 rc is shamo* rrots, swect- ind thorough are of them- )am, is cnor- 300 to 600 the acre, and n the world, les of ginned content with for its sugar i\\ over these rghum syrup t it has been which ripens 1 States and .1 more where they should md that the gar. It has ore of sugar y cultivation certain crop. na or Texas mewhat less corn, and in saved. The tensively in c bushels of family, and s the United le sugar we come. id Florida, is an exotic, and ncvc* comes to maturity in our climate, but is propagated by cuttings. These become exhausted in a few years, and require renewal from tropical countries. They are, moreover, very sensitive to climatic changes, and often fail entirely. The sorghum, on the contrary, is hardy, ripens early, and is almost indifferent to climate, nourishing equally well in Northern Dakota and Texas. There is, throughout most of this region, irre- spective of the grazing lands, a large demand for forage grasses and plants, to supplement the pasturage for horses, mules, asses, milch cows and cattle, kept for farm use, and the small Hocks of sheep and goats which the farmer finds it profitable to keep. The buffalo, gramma and blue joint grasses soon give place, in cultivated lands, to clover, timothy and herd's grass ; but it has been found that corn sown for forage purposes, late in the season, Alfalfa clover, Hungarian grass, Egyptian rice corn, the millets, and especially the pearl millet, lately introduced, and in the north, wild rice, furnish more nutritious and abundant food for domestic animals than any of the ordinary grasses. The pearl millet is said to yield on rich soil three crops in a season, and the enormous quantity of ninety tons of green or ten tons of dry forage to the acre. Other grasses, like the Texas millet, seem well adapted to the use of stock, and are coming into cultivation for this purpose. This whole region is well adapted to fruit culture. The apple of different varieties, and, to a less extent, the pear, flourishes from Minnesota to Arkansas; the peach from Iowa and Mis- souri to the Gulf; quinces from Minnesota to Kansas, and cherries and plums from Northern Dakota to the Gulf. Of smaller fruits, grapes, native and wild, as well as the cultivated varieties, are found everywhere, though the hardy species alone flourish at the North, whether wild or cultivated, while the more robust summer grapes {yi/is asiivalis), native and foreign, take their place in the South. The strawberry flourishes everj'where, but is six weeks earlier in Texas than in Minnesota. The rasp- berry, blackberry, currant, and whordeberry, are better adapted to the Northern and Middle States and Territories than to the South; but tlie papaw and the banana, the pomegranate, fig*, orange. .!«t*«jfe»i*ii«»B«ti*a«iite*i«asiiii(pi«»4i^^ 142 OUR WESIEKN L At PI RE. lemon, and olive, arc found in the South alone. In the way of nuts, the North has the chestnut, hickory-nut, black walnut, butter- nut, hazel-nut, and beech-nut; while the South has the pecan, the chinquepin, the filbert, the hard-shell almond, and can have the English walnut, and pistachio nut, if they will cultivate it. Of textile fibres, hemp grows in all latitudes : flax mostly in the North, cotton, ramie, jute, tampico, agave fibre and cactus fibres in the South, while the dry, wiry grasses of the river bottoms of the Mississippi and its western tributaries, now coming into demand for paper stock, are mainly the product of the northern region. '. ' ; . ' . ■ , . . ,> Tobacco grows in almost all latitudes, but Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas are the only States in which it is largely cultivated. Tlir: Rocky Mountains consist of two, and a part of the distance, three principal ranges, having a general direction of north-north- west to south-southeast, and numerous spurs and out-liers con- necting these ranges and extending from them westward. The eastern slope has no spurs extending eastward unless we except some hills of no great elevation in Wyoming. The Black Hills in Dakota, the Osage and Ozark Mountains in Missouri and Arkansas, belong to a different mountain system. While these mountain ranges have many peaks or summits from 13,000 to 14,000 feet in height, and some even higher, the table-lands from which the summits rise are generally from 5,500 to 8,500 feet in height, and most of the passes by which the ranges are crossed do not exceed that elevation. There are also many valleys and parks between the ranges, which contain fine tracts of arable land; but the greater part of the land included within these ranges is batter adapted for grazing than farming; and con- siderable portions are only valuable for mining and the opera- tions connected with it. The grazing lands of Colorado, Wyo- ming and Montana are mainly, though not entirely, on these mountain plateaux and parks ; but the probabilities are, that there will be enough good farming-lands found in the valleys atid parks, to supply the wants of the large mining, herding and non-producing classes who are even now filling up this mountain region with great rapidity. The wheat and other grains, Indian /■^I^A/ZA'C IN THE A'OCAy MOUNTAINS. \A\ In the way of valnut, butter. the pecan, the can have the ate it. mostly in the cactus fibres L-r bottoms of comin^f into the northern i i , ' ' , . Liri, Arkansas, cultivated, f the distance, f north-north- out-liers con- stward. The .'ss we except 2 Black Hills Missouri and While these om 1 3,000 to )le-lands from 8,500 feet in s are crossed y valleys and cts of arable within these g; and con- d the opera- !orado, Wyo- sly, on these es are, that the valleys herding and liis mountain rains, Indian corn, sorghum sugar, root crops, and vegetables, milk, butter, and cheese, and pork, can be furnished by the farmers, as well as most of the fruits, while the herdsmen can furnish the beef and mutton, and the sportsmen, the game, large and small ; but there will be little farm produce from the mountains to export. Much of what is grown in the mountains will rctpiire irriga- tion, and with it will yield most bountifully. Kvcn the best authenticated statements of the enormous crops produced by irrigation arc received with incredulity. Seventy, eighty, and in some cases even one hundred bushels of wheat, not on one acre alone, but on a tract of thirty or fifty acres; a like amount of barley ; eighty to a hundred and ten bushels of oats ; and from 150 to 200 bushels of Indian corn ; 400, 500, and 600 bushels of potatoes to the .icre; these amounts, incredible as they seem, are materially below what is claimed for these lands, some of which without water would have proved utterly barren and worthless. In Montana these mountain valleys do not lack water, the ruin- fall being there sufficient to produce good crops, and the whole region abounding in streams. Between the western slope of the Rocky Mountain ranges and the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, or, as they are called in Oregon and Washington Territory, the Cascade Mountains, the character of the lands varies as you go southward from British Columbia. In the eastern part of Washington Territory and Oregon, the lands form generally a high, treeless plateau, moderately fertile, but, except in the river bottoms, generally better adapted to grazing than to cultivation. Farther south, within the limits of the Great Basin which includes nearly one-half of Utah and Nevada, the area of cultivable land is comparatively small, though by means of irrigation it is much increased ; con- siderable tracts are unfit even for grazing purposes, but these are generally good mining-lands. East and south of the Gre.- 1 Basin are the sources of the Grand, Green, San Juan and Little Colorado, as well as other smaller tributaries of the Rio Colorado of the West, and that great river itself. These all How through Western Colorado, Southeastern Utah, Western New Mexico and Arizona, in such deep canons that they leave many of the J i»^»»iwtw4l-«**fc<»iaft-i»c*teyii«^t ^.wf¥r. >m iQw^ -^ -1 »;M'Wi.v/t«.,t,4^jrt(sfce]6irjaj#l*lifl.■.^^^v'■.J^v~f.■-.-:>:rxc?/•:t3fc'^^ i 144 PiK U'HSTEK.V EMPItiK. fncsas and tablu-lands of thcne territories to drought and sterility, CVccpt where irrigation is possible, or when, -as in the autumn and winter of 1 879-1 880, extraordinary and protracted rains de- luged the country. Yet this region is well adapted to giazing, and by a scanty irrigation will yield the crops and fruits neces- sary for the sustenance of its inhabitants. In New Mexico and Arizona there are, with irrigation, a larger amount of arable lands than has hitherto been supposed. " ' < » ' - .. Governor Fremont writes that, in the summer of 1879, a little band of Maricopa Indians, near Prcscott, who had taken to farming, sent to San Francisco, over the Southern California road, ten car loads, — 200 tons, of wheat of iheir own raising, which was of such excellent quality that it brought $2.24 the hundred pounds when the usual market price was only $1.10. The land on which such wheat could be grown, in an i^nusually dry sea- son, must be counted arable. West of the Sierra Nevada and Cascades, v,"» find a fine agricultural region. Western Washington, Oregon, and Califor- nia. This is the land of gigantic forest trees, the sequoias, the cedars, firs, and loftiest pines, the tulip tree, liquidambar and other forest trees, which have no rivals in the Northern Hemis- phere. It is also the land of wheat and barley, of Indian corn and oats, of the vine, and its abundant wine product, as well as raisins of the best quality; and in its southern portion, of the orange, lemon and lime, the olive, the fig, the pomegranate, and the Madeira nut or English walnut, and the French and Italian chestnut. The latter is, in Italy, largely cultivated for the food- producing quality of its nuts. ■• The wheat crop of California is larger than that of any other St^te, ranging from 36,000,000 to 50,000,000 bushels annually, and is of the very best quality, bringing, in European markets, higher prices than any other. It never rains in harvest-time in California, and, on the large grain ranches, the giant header clips ofif the heads of the wheat, sweeps them into the huge wagon- box from which they are shot into the threshing-machine, which is geared on to the header, and the reaping and threshing are carried on si'nultaneously; while the grain as it comes from the S'i»ajSiiMsai » wi< a i »M i'"''°'~''' ' t-.lh\W/,\G ON THR PACIFIC SI.OPK. I4S t and sterility, \ the autumn ctcd rains do- :d to giazinjj, fruits necc's- V Mexico and jnt of arable ' 1879, a little had taken to :rn California raising, which , the hundred ;o. The land ually dry sea- i J 1 > 1 ■ I . >*. find a fine , and Califor* sequoias, the lidambar and them Hemis- f Indian corn ict, as well as ortion, of the egranate, and h and Italian for the food- ; of any other lels annually, ean markets, irvest-time in t header clips huge wagon- lachine, which fhreshing are mes from the threshing-machine is sacked automatically, and the sacks arc piled in heaps in the field, remaining uninjured in the pure, dry air, till they arc sent to market or shipped for luirope. A large part of the crop is shipp the wheat crop It of Washington •47 was about half as much, winiply t)ecauHe there were not men t tiough to »^)w a larger crop. All the small grainn, rye, oalH, barley, and buckwheat are successjfully tuUivated there- ; oats yicliling from .seventy to eighty busheh lo the acre. Indian corn is a tolerably sure crop in Oregon, but less so in Wasliini.;ion on arvountof the cool nights. The root crops yield enormously, an 1 there is a ready market for them at gootl prices at home among the lumbermen, fiHhcrincn, and n>anu(aituring population of the towns. Flax, though cultivated m.iiuly for the seed, is of excellent quality, the lint b< iiig loiign (iner and silkier than elsewhere. Of fruits, the apple and pear are imsurpasiiiil, ami most of the small fruits arc successfully culliv ued. Oregon apples, pears, and berries conunand a high price in the San Francisco market. CHAHFR XIII TiMnr.R AND LuMrrn — TREE-Pi.ANTiNa— -TiiK Forkst Gmiwrjis fN DirrrntKT Skctions— Cai.ipornia Forksts— Hok IK ri.TUBK AND FruitCulture — Floriculture — Wild Flowers— Mark kt (Iardenino. As wc have already seen, \ consiilerable (lortion of this Great West is but scantily supplied with forest trees. In 1871, a careful estimate (uit down, in these twenty States and Territo- ries, the woodland, as covering 198,124,802 acres; but in the nine years which have since elapsed, the demand for railroad ties and structures, for bridges, for machinery, partly of wooJ, for mines, for dwellings, and public buildings, and for export, has diminished this area by nearly or quite twenty-five per cent. Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, and Washington, and perhaps Texas, and Arkansas to a moderate extent, are the only States or Territories that export lumber. Montana has good timber- lands, but she is not as yet producing more than lumber enough for the home demand. Iowa, Nebmska, Dakota, Kansas, Wy- oming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, have not Limber and lumber enough fur their own needs, and are I^S OL'ft WK$rMKy KMr/KK. oWI fr«! tn Import n larjjr iih.ire of whnt i« ronniimrd. Th** Inivhich have larjjB land ^rAtxin, have aUo encouraged tree-culture. But thoug;h these eflTortn have led to the plantinnr of some millions of trrrs, many of them die the first or second year, and the whole rttimbrr pl,TUre almost Inexl iistible forests of Alaska, and British Columbia, the Pacific coast will probably draw its supplies of lumber and timber for many years to come. The forests of Kastem and Middle Texas, and Arkansas, are largely composed of hanl woods ; there are eight or ten species of oak, one an evergreen, though not the genuine live-oak ; chinqucpin, hickory, black walnut, cherry and ash ; and in Northern Arkansas the tulip tree or yellow poplar, the sweet, sour, and black gum, cypress and the Osage orange, etc., etc. In Northwestern Texas, there are some forests of pine and fir. The mountains of Ari- zona, Colorado, and New Mexico, are generally covered, nearly to the snow line, with evergreen forests (pitch, yellow, and spruce pine), but the tftfes are not usually of such gigantic size as are fot^ar CMon'TifS >4y • ndjarrnt rail al)l« foiTntn on Th« jjiganlic (1, thnt hHc now In thttiij.ing away) for the most part wholly unlike thoso of the rej;ion east of the Rocky Mountains. Its largenl iree», the »e• ':'.•■/■ --^ ■ y ' i I, ,. ■ /v > 1 M'J'KIKl'i ■ifi***. .--^-. tTiiim »?«■.- •'i-^ 7 ■■CH«Wi\ •-■«>* ,•■♦,■*^C-^ ■<■•«' i IS2 Ol/Jt WEST£XN EMPIRE. CHAPTER XIV. New DiSCCTIONS IN WHICH AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY MAY BE DeYELOPED, AND IN WHICH IT IS ALREADY DEVELOPING — MlLLET AND OTHER FoRAGE CrOPS — SiLK-CULTURE — RkAKINO THE SiLK-WOKM — Sxi FLING THE CoCOONS — REEL- ING — The Filature — ScHAPpfc or Spun-Silk — Cocoons do not bear Transportation well — Advantages of Silk-Culture in the West — The SiLKViLLE Experiment — Prices or Raw Silk and of Silk-worm Eggs— Prouability of a Large Demand for Raw Silk^Tbxtile Fibres — Flax AND Hbmp-^Papea Stock : Esparto Grass, Tule, Marsh-mallow, etc.— Ramie, Jute, Tampico — The Nettle — Dye Stuffs — Cochineal — Oil- Producino Plants — The Olive — Cotton-seed Oil — Hemp-seed and Lin- seed Oil — Oil of Sunflower Seeds and other Seeds — Sesamum Indicum — Tar Weed (Madia Sativa) — Pea-nut, Ground-nut or Goober — Castor Bean (Ricinus Communis and Sanguinabius) — Tea and Coffef Cultiva- tion — Fruit and Nut-hearing Trees and Shrubs — The Olive — Oranges and Lemons — Pomegranate — Fig — Banana, Plantain, Pineapple, Guava and other Tropical Fruits — Papaw — Nut-dearing Trees and Shruds— Introduction of Foreign Nuts — English Walnut — Italian Chestnut- Almond — Other Fruit-bearing Shrubs — Japanese Persimmon, Carob, Jujube, Mezquite, etc. — Trees and Shrubs containing Tannin — The Sumacs — The Wattles — The SpiRiCAS or Hardhacks. We have already spoken of the cultivation of the Minnesota early amber-cane, or sorghum, and of the great impulse which has been given to its culture within two years past by the dis- cover}' that it contains its largest proportion of sugar, and almost its only crystallizable sugar, when it is ripe; and have shown that not only can the seed be saved by waiting till this time, but that the yield of sugar is so large, and is produced by such sim- ple processes, that it is the most profitable crop a farmer can raise, and will materially diminish, if it does not entirely abolish, the necessity of our importing immense quantities of sugar from the West Indies, Demerara, Brazil and the Sandwich Islands. Our importation of sugars now costs us $100,000,000 annually. We may be, within ten years, and possibly within five, exporters in- stead of importers of raw sugars. It has been ascertained that the stalks of our Indian corn yield, when the corn is ripe, about seventy-five per cent, of the quan- S^^^ilkii&iliggs^ss^J ' isagiK : ^ ■ i SILK-CULTURE. >S3 Developed, and Forage Crops- Cocoons — Reel- 1 do not hear THE West — The LK-woRM Eggs— .E Fibres — Flax i-MALLOw, etc. — Cochineal — Oil- JP-SEED AND LlN- iESAMuri Indicum Goober — Castor coffef cultiva- Olive — Oranges Mneapple, Guava !ES and Shrubs— LiAN Chestnut— RSIMMON, CaROB, ^o Tannin— The the Minnesota impulse which ist by the dis- bar, and almost have shown this time, but d by such sim- rmer can raise, ily abolish, the jucfar from the Islands. Our mnually. We :, exporters in- iian corn yield, . of the quan- tity of sugar produced by the amber sorghum ; that the millets, the Egyptian rice corn, and probably broom corn also, which is largely cultivated in some portions of the West, yield quite as much as the Indian corn. Here is a great opportunity fo. a new and lucrative industry, and there is little danger of overdoing it. The cultivation of the millets, and especially of the pearl millet and the Egyptian rice corn, already introduced into Kansas and some of the other States, both as a forage plant and for the production of sugar, and the increase in the crops of Alfalfa, Lucerne, Hungarian grass, and possibly some of the other forage grasses, is well worthy of attention. We shall have more to say on this subject in connection with stock-farming. The yield of forage from some of them is enormous. The rearing of silk-worms is an industry which, if righdy man- aged, might be made very successful. It does not require a very large outlay, but will be best conducted by colonies, some of the members of which have been practically familiar with the business elsewhere. There is necessary, in starting the business, a plantation of mulberry trees, but this need not be large at first, and the tree grows very rapidly. The white mulberry {Mortis alba) is per- liaps the best, though some prefer the black {Morus nigra) or the many-leaved {Moms multicaulis)* Other trees afford food for silk-worms, such as the Osage orange, regarded by many as equal to tlic mulberry, the ailantus, the weeping-willow {Salix Babylonica), the kilmarnock willow, some of the osiers, several species of oak, and the garden lettuce, but the silk is better from the mulberry than from most of the others, and if well managed, no more c pensive. When the mulberry trees are large enough to furnish a q^ood supply of leaves, the silk-worm eggs should be procured, ar, ' the purchaser should avoid any fancy varieties, of which there are many in the market, but should confine himself to those kinds which wiU produce the large, single crop sulphur yellow, lemon yellow, or white cocoons. These in the long run ■ ' I .- . 1 - I I -. — I ■■ : J 1-^ ^ r— * M. Boissiere thinks tlie Lpdji or Japanese mulberry (Morut japonica) better tlian ai^ other, ai fourteen and «. half potind* of its leaves will make one pound of cocoons, while of Um, white mulberry, twenty pounds ane requind, an4 of the monttia new specin fiOccn pounds, and the rote mulberry seventeen pounds. >. /lOMlI^akutCt 154 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, / will pay best. Shelves, or layers of brush, separated by proper supports, should be provided for feeding the worms, and the feeding, if the number is considerable, will keep the children pretty busy night and day for from three to five weeks. When the worms are ready to begin to spin, the brush is better than shelves or frames. When the cocoons are finished a few of the best shaped and largest must be reserved for the production of eggs, and the rest " stifled; " /'. c, the chrysalides killed, either by subjecting them to the fumes of camphor, or some of the other hydro-carbon r, or to steam heat, or baking them. It is not best for the families to reel the cocoons themselves; if there is a colony of silk-growers, some of them will probably be skilful reelers, and one filature or reeling establishment is enough for a hundred silk-growers. Machines recently invented make reeling on a large scale easier than it was, and if the silk-growers bring their cocoons at an average price to the filature, receiving their pay when the silk is reeled and sold, a moderate capital only will be required. Raw silk is not so bulky as to make its transpor- tation vci/ expensive, but if at a distance from market the silk may be doubled, twisted, and thrown, or brought into the condition of tram and organzine, without any great addition to the cost. The pierced cocoons, or those through which the chrysalis has escaped, as well as wild silk-worm cocoons, if there are any, and the floss or outside silk of the reeled cocoons, may also be utilized in such an establishment, being boiled for a long time in soap and water, cut up, carded and spun to form the spun silk, or Schapp^. Eventually it may be desirable to establish a factory for the production of sewing silk, ribbons, handkerchiefs, fringes and trimmings, dress goods, satins, laces, or velvets. The last are not as yet produced in this country. Cocoons are too bulky to bear long transportation, and the only successful silk-culture must either be, that in which one filature with skilled reelers works up the cocoons from a hundred families of silk-growers, or one in which the silk-worm eggs ai'e produced for the market in large quantities. Tliera is an active demand for these at high prices, but even if the business was conducted witli only this ^d in view, the pierced cocoons might be utilized with profit. i_ 1 by proper IS, and the he children :ks. When better than I few of the oduction of ;d, cither by of the other t is not best f there is a y be skilful inough for a lake reeling owers bring ceiving their ital only will its transpor- rket the silk ;he condition to the cost, hrysalis has re are any, may also be long time in le spun silk, ish a factory liefs, fringes The last are too bulky to silk-culture illed feelers >ilk-growers, • the market ;hcse at high itli only this with profit. CAK SILK-CULTURE BE MADE PROFITABLEt IS5 One advantage of the silk-culture is, that it occupies but a few weeks of the year, and most of the work can be performed by children, while other farm or manufacturing work can be prosecuted during the remainder of the year. M. Boissiere has established a cheese factory to employ his operatives the remain- der of the year. Conducted as we have indicated, it can hardly fail to be profitable in connection with the cultivation of other crops. The silk-worm disease which has so largely reduced the silk product of Italy and France, is not likely to be introduced here, but the silk-grower should select localities not subject to frequent and violent storms, or to severe thunder-storms, or rapid and extreme changes of temperature during the time of feeding, as the worm is then very sensitive, and easily killed. M. E. V. Boissiere, the French silk-grower and manufacturer already mentioned, has started silk-growing and silk manufacture with a colony of French silk-growers on a small scale at Silkville, Williamsburg P. O., Franklin county, Kansas, and after a struggle of several years, has succeeded in producing raw silk equal in quality to the best French and Italian, and his worms, though originally from the eggs from the moths of diseased worms, have proved perfectly healthy. A considerable portion of the raw silk produced at Silkville is reeled by hand by the daughters of the silk-growers, who had become experts in reeling in France. The cocoons from French silk-worms are much larger and more easily reeled than those from Chinese or Japanese worms, and M. Crozier, M. Boissiere's manager, says that in 1878 the raw silk produced there brought in the French market 130 francs the kilogram, or about jjio a pound. At this price the raw silk affords a better profit than the production of silk-worm eggs for market, and is safer, as the price of the eggs varies so much, and the demand for them is liable to be below the sup- ply. In 1877, France alone paid 1,691,400 francs =$338,280 to this country for silk-worm eggs ; but a part of these proving worthless, from bad management, there was a decided falling off in the demand in 1878 and 1879. . ;. c : ,,i; .;, But the price of raw silk also fluctuates widely, ranging within the ten years 1868-1878, for the best Italian, from $7.25 to •III _ .Jri' 156 OUR WESTEKN EMI'/HS. 515; for the best J.ipanese (Maibash) from $3.75 to $9.12, and for the Chinese (Tsatlce III.) from $4.25 to j^8 per pound. In 1878 tlie prices were still lower, averaging at tiie close of the year only about $2.50 per pound, for all (pialities, European and Asiatic. It has since advanced materially. To command the highest price, however, the raw silk must be reeled with the greatest care and skill, so as to make a uniform thread, and on this account it can never be done successfully by inexperienced hands, and is best done by machines with skilled reelers. The great increase in the silk manufacture in this country will create a large and steady demand for raw silk, and if it can be produced at paying prices, by the methods we have indicated, or if .lilk-factories can be established in the Western States and Territories, which will combine reeling with the manufacture of silk, this will become a favorite industry among the enterprising farmers of the Gn^at West. Another wide field for enterprise is in the direction of the cultivation of a greater variety of textile fibres. Even flax and hemp, the most common of the textiles after cotton, have not had a fair chance in the West. With the facilities afforded by our unrivalled machinery for the breaking of flax and hemp, and the abundance of pure water for bleaching, Minnesota and Dakota ought to have many millions of acres hi these two crops. :; The great demand for paper stock should cover all the marsh lands of Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas with Esparto grass, tule, marsh-mallow or the cane-brake ; while farther south the palmetto could be produced, on lands now considered worthless, for the same purpose. The vast amount of wheat-straw and wild hay of Minnesota, Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas might be converted into paper and straw-board, to much greater profit than is gained by using both as fiiel for running threshing- machines and factories. Tlie new invention, by which, by chem- ical saturation and powerful compression, straw-board can be made into an artificial wood almost as hard as iron, and fit for all the uses of the best ornamental woods, at hardly more -than a tithe of their cost, ought to be worth millions of dollars to those States, and to California, where the straw is also burned. ^^^'^'^^V^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^a'^^^^^^T^^^C^^^^^^^' T^^^^iSii^:^^^^^^^^!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ KRW TEXTILES. 157 u $9.13, ami })uund. In close of the aropean and }mmand the ed with the cad, and on icxperienccd :lers. this country and if it can ve indicated, \ States and nufacture of enterprising cction of the ven Hax and on, have not ; afforded by \. and hemp, Minnesota in these two dl the marsh Darto grass, ;r south the sd worthless, at-straw and ansas might reater profit threshlng- ch, by chem- oard can be md fit for all more -than a >f dollars to so burned. But the production of textiles is not limited to these fibres. Ramie, one of the most delicate and beautiful of textiles, has been raised successfully in Texas and Arkansas. Jute is even more successfiilly cultivated throughout the entire region below forty-two degrees, and there is a steady and large demand for it. The various fibres known as Tampico, Honduras grass, Panama grass and Agave fibre, can all be raised easily and prof- itably in Texas, Arkansas, Arizona and New Mexico ; while the over-abundant cacti of Texas and Arizona can be utilized for the production of strong and excellent fibres suited both for rop« and bagging purposes and for paper stock. A species of cactus, which grows in immense jungles or "chaparml" in Southern California, has already been utilized for making mattresses, for which its beautiful white and easily-curled elastic fibre, fit it admirably. The Germans have achieved a good degree of success in cul tivating i/ie nettle, both for its textile fibres and as a good and desirable fodder. They cultivate their native plant, the Urtica dioica, but the Dcuhmcria nivea, a Chinese and Indian nettle, from which comes the China ^rass, or Ramie, is said to be better where the climate is not too cold. A Canadian species, Urtica Can- nabina, is also highly commfcnded. The cultivation is very simple ; the nettle will grow on the very poorest land (though, of course, larger and better on that which is richer); its fibres are finer and better than hemp, and fully equal to the best flax, and it will yield from 300 to 500 pounds of white, fine fibre to the acre, while it is more easily hackled than either flax or hemp. It is worth a trial. The fodder can be saved in cutting it for the fibre, and is much relished by cattle. Since the discovery and large production of the aniline colors from coal and gas tar, there has been a decreasing demand for madder, cochineal and other vegetable and animal dyes, but there is yet a considerable call for them, if only for the extrac- tion 6f their ultimate coloring principles. Yet the cultivation of madder is not more difficult than that of most root crops, and where it is grown on a large scale the extraction of its active principle, alizarine, will afford large profit. •mi^'^' ||| OUM WESIKhW A.V/'/A'/-:. The cochineal is composcil of the drictl boilI» s of insects which fet'il upon the cactus, and the most widely diffused species of it. Their entomological name is Coccus cadi, and beside the usefulness of the cactus in furnishing textile fibres, it can be util- ized to any rccpiired extent, in Arizona and Western Texas, in rearing this valuable little insect. Another new direction for farming industry is found in the cultivation of oil-producing plants. The olive will flourish and yield fruit in most of the region south of the 38th parallel. It endures drought well, and will mature its valuable fruit, eve n in Arizona and New Mexico; and both the fruit and oil will com- mand a ready market. It is already cultivated to some extent in California and Texas, and its culture deserves to be greatly increased. The extraction of oil, and the sale of the oil-cake from the cotton-seed, is an industry which is already becoming very exten- sive in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, and is a great boon to the cotton-planter, transforming, as it does, what was formerly a nuisance into a valuable product. But there are othei plants and seeds which furnish equally valuable oils, and which may be cul- tivated with very litde labor. We have already spoken of the culture of flax and hemp under the head of textiles : but the seeds of each are very valuable both in their natural condition, and crushed, or ground, and pressed, yielding the linseed and hemp oils, so valuable in the arts, and the oil-cake, in demand for fattening catde, and increasing the quantity and quality of the milk of milch cows. Other oil-producing plants, which admit of easy cultivation and yield a liberal return, are the Sunjlowo; which yields from 275 to 300 pounds of oil per acre, and an ex- cellent oil-cake, and has a deservedly high reputation for absorb- ing and rendering innocuous, marsh exhalations; the two spe- cies of colewort (the common and curled) which yield from 650 to 875 pounds of oil to the acre, and almost a ton of seed ; the winter and summer rape, which furnishes also good fodder, while the seed is in demand aside from its use in furnishing oil ; the Swedish turnip-seed, and the turnip cabbage-seed, both yielding a good manufacturing oil; the gold-of-pleasure and the white mssr '•^: TtSJTurSs^itrT-v^rTJy^^^ ^{^{W OIL PKOnUCING HANTS. '59 cs of insects fused species cl besiilc the it can be util- crn Texas, in found in the I llourisii and I parallel, it fruit, ev( n in 1 oil will com- lome extent in to be g ready :ake from the ng very exten- great boon to yvas formerly a thei plants and :h may be cul- spoken of the tiles: but the jural condition, le linseed and in demand for quality of the hich admit of ;hc SunJlowet\ Ire, and an ex- Ion for absorb- the two spe- ield from 650 of seed ; the fodder, while jshing oil ; the both yielding ind the white poppy — all of these yield from 550 to 650 pounds of oil to the acre. The Scsamum indicum, which grows well in the region below the parallel of 39", is one of the most valuable of oil pro- ducing plants in the world. It yields about forty per cent, of oil, and is an annual of simple and easy cultivation. The black- seeded variety is the best. It is sown thinly in drills. The oil, for all medicinal and pharmaceutical purposes, is fully ecpial to the best olive-oil, and keeps for many years without becoming rancid. It is preferred in tlu. Last, for table purposes, to the best olive-oil, and from its freedom from smell, is much useil for ex- tracting the perfume of fragrant flowers. The expressed cake is mixed with honey and preserved citron as a conserve, and without admixture, furnishes a food for bees. It is already cul- tivated to some extent in the South. The tar- weed {Madia sativa) is found abundantly on the Pacific Slope, where it is indigenous. Its seeds contain an oil which is used as a salad-oil, and for all purposes to which olive-oil is applicable. It is easily cultivated, and yields from 550 to 650 pounds of oil to the acn;. It is used in Europe largely to mix with olive-oil. But, after all, the most profitable of the oil-producing plants for cultivation, is the groundnut, or pea-nut, usually called goober in the Southwest. It will grow on light or gravelly soil, and with decent cultivation should yield from forty to sixty bushels to the acre, and has been known to yield from i 20 to 125 bushels. The whole plant is valuable. The vine makes excellent forage or fodder, the tubers or nuts are much in demand, when baked or roasted, by children and some adults. The oil expressed from them is of excellent quality, fully equal to olive-oil, and for many purposes superior, as for illuminating and lubricating purposes. It does not readily become rancid, and is very sweet and delicate. The pea-nut is largely imported into France, and the oil expressed there, and sold as the best olive-oil. The oil is also produced largely in the East India Islands, and on the African coast, whence it is exported to be used in the manufacture of the finest soaps. The nuts are also ground up and mixed with cacao, for the manufacture of choco- r«i¥W'"" i6o OUK WRSTEIty £Mr/RK. late, an«l In tlic production of chorobtc for confectionery — ihc cacao is now generally oinittcil. Tak'ng all its uses into account, th«!rc is liardly a more surely piofilabli: crop than peanuts, especially il rnouj^h «nj^ay'! in it to warrant th«: erection of an oil mill. 'Uuj priti- of mils per lni.sl\< I lus varied in the past from sixty cents to $2.2^^ ; but they an not likely to fall hclow $1.35 per bushel hen after The yield of oil is from forty to forty-five per cent, of their weight. The eautiful wood. Its cultivation has been atlempte.l on a small scale wiUi a fair measure of succcs.s, in lexas and Southern California, and perhaps also in New Mexico. It was cultivated, though with no great care and probably not of the best varieties, at the Jesuit Missions, and though these tree • from long neglect have grown wild, they would furnish stocKs for grafting the newer varieties upon. It is probable that the olive might be profitably cultivated in all the region south of the 39th parallel, which is not too elevated. It is worth the trial, for though the numerous substitutes for olive-oil may to some extent reduce its value, yet the olive has too many good qualities ever to become an unprofitable tree. The orange and lemon, whicii have become so popular and profitable in Florida, are already cultivated to some extent in Louisiana, Texas and Southern California, and might be, if they are not, in Southern Arizona. It is probable that some of the varieties from China or Persia, if not the several native varieties, might be cultivated as far north as the 38th parallel, though most of them would be injured by the occasional severe frosts which, at rare intervals, extend almost to the Gulf 11 \62 OUM WMiTMM RMNUB, cottHl of Tcxa*. One ipccicft, the Citrut JiifHtnita, or Kum-<«ibte, or there in Kufficient rain* fall), and nearly ine whole of Catilornia. There are few fruits which yield as ^ood a return from a small expi-ntliturc of lalK)r> 'V\\v banana, ijlani^m, pine: apple, ^uava, and other tropical IruitM, flourish in thi- southern countiuit of Tcxah and Southern Califor* nia, though they an; at rare intervaln, even there, affected by frost. The p.ipaw, our indij;«'noui fruit of th«: banana faniily, is hardier an« ripens regularly in all the region south of the 40th parallel. It is worth cultivating, and might be »o im|>roved as to be a rival of the plantain. The indigenous nut bearing trees and shrubs, the hickory-nut, butternut, black walnut, chestnut, beech* nut, and ha/el-nut, in the North; the piHon or edible nut of one of the species of pine in lh«; region west of th<: Roiky Moun- tains, and the pecan nut, cliincpiepin, and filbert, whi( h, though not indigenous, grows wiM, in the South, art: all capable of rxten- sive propagation, tlu)ugh the chestnut only thrives on sf)ils of a [mrticular cjualily. The pecan is one of the best of our indige- nous nuts, and grows on a shrub or bush of moderate height. The foreign nuts which are already partially introduced, and which are likely to prove profitable in cultivation, are : 1. The I'-ng- lish walnut, sometimes calleil also the Madeira nut, a fme, stately tree, which at twelve years of growth yields a large crop annu- ally of the very fine nuts we know as English walnuts. 2. The Italian chestnut, whose large nuts yield a nutritious (lour, and one which keeps well for two years or more. In Tuscany and Lucca, there arc several millions of these trees, and the flour from the chestnuts furnishes the principal, and sometimes the entire farinaceous food of many thousands of the inhabitants. This, too, is a stately tree, am! [jroves easy of culture here, while it may be readily grafted upon our native chestnut. It is admir- ably adapted to the western slopes of our mountains, and will thrive luxuriously there. 3. The almond, which being a con- gener of the peach, thrives wherever the, peach can be success- fully cultivated. The soft-shell almond is not as hardy as the hardshell, and a sharp frost is fatal to either ; but in Southern ■f 'I 1 54 OU^ WESTER N EMPIRE. California, Arizona, Southern New Mexico, and Texas, both can be, and are successfully cul.ivated. The pistachio nut is also on trial, and will probably prove successful. Of other fruit-bearing shrubs and trees, we may name the Japanese persimmon, lately introduced, and said to be an excellent fruit, much superior to our native species, which however has some good qualities ; the carob, a legume-bearing tree, whose pods and beans are sup- posed to have been the husks fed to the swine, in the parable of the prodigal son ; the jujube, whose pulp forms the material for the jujube paste of commerce, and the mezquite, indigenous in Texas, whose bark and root yield tannin in large quantities, whose pods furnish a nutritious food, and whose gum is almost identical with gum tragacanth. Of trees and shrubs containing large amounts of tannin or tannic acid, besides the mezquite, there are five or six species of the rhus or sumnc ; four at least native, and containing from eight to twenty-five per cent, of tannin, and two foreign, the Venetian and the Sicilian sumac, which contain a little more. These arc both cultivated here.* The watde, an Australian tree of the acacia family, of which there are two species — the golden and the black wattle, Acacia pycnantha and decurrcns — is also z vaUiable tree for the tannin its bark produces. It attains its full growth in ten years, yields from twenty-four to thirty-six per cent, of tannin, and its wood is valuable for fences, for tools, and for fuel, being nearly or quite equal to hickory, ^or the last purpose. It grows in dry soils, and in almost rainless regions, and would be of great value for planting on the plains under the Timber- Culture Act. All the species of Spircca contain a large percentage of tannin. Some of these, as the Spinea tomentosa. or common hardback, and Spircsa alba, or white hardback, are common weeds, and can be easily raised on the poorest lands, yielding three to five tons to the acre. The extract from this would be * We are not aAyare that the bark of the nilantus has ever heen tested for t^innin, but as \\ belongs to the sumac family, it is reasonable to suppose that it may be somewhat rich in fliat principle. If it should piove to bo, its rapid growth would make it nearly as valuable as the wattleii of which mention is made above. . > "ISS''!^^SeSfS!«I^3Ei«iai!53^£J-- w^S;-. . r^S^tel^SSiteS^^E*^'*'**" Texas, both can io nut is also on her fruit-bearing ersimmon, lately luch superior to d qualities; the beans are sup- 1 the parable of the material for e, indigenous in arge quantities, r gum is almost Its of tannin or )r six species of lining from eight jn, the Venetian )re. These arc lian tree of the : golden and the 1 also 3 valuable its full growth six per cent, of ols, and for fuel, ist purpose. It s, and would be er the Timber- percentage of 9sa. or common k, are common t lands, yielding n this would be ed for t(iniiin, but as it e somewhat rich in tliat early as valuable as the TREES AND SJIKUBS CONTAINING TANNIN. 165 superior to the best bark extract. The foreign species are of larger growth and arc much cukivaLcd as ornamental shrubs. It is doubtful whether they contain a larger proportion of tannin than the native species. New forms of industry and profitable labor in connection widi farming, are constantly brought to the attention of the public, some of them valuable, others valueless ; but those which have been detailed in this chapter are sufficiendy numerous to satisfy any ordinary ambition ; they have all been tested, and none of them, like the cultivation of the opium poppy, which has been commended by some writers, are of a character which will in- jure rather than benefit mvr.kind. > . CHAPTER XV. ; Stock-raising — Cattle-herding, and the rearing of Horses and Mules — The Grazing Lands — The Stock-growing Region, par excellence — Win- ter Care of Stock — Numrer of Cattle in the West in 1879 — The Herdsmen or Cow-Boys — Stock-raising profitabt e if well managed — Stock-raising in Texas — Climatic Advantages — Pasturing on the Great Ranges, or on one's own Land — Expense of rearing Cattle in Texas — The two Extremes in Stock-raising in Texas — Examples — Beginning cm a small Scale — Growth of a Texas Stock-Ranche — S7 ock-raising in Kansas and Colorado — Joint Stock Management of a Ranche — The Colorado Cattle Company's Estate op Hermosillo — Another Colorado Company— Statistics — The Estimate of Mr. A. A. Haves, Jr. — The Difference of Profit between "Store" Cattle and "Fat" Cattle — Mr. Barclay's Account — The English View of the Matter — Stock- raising IN THE Northern and Northwestern States and Territories — Shelter and Food for Stock — Future Advantages for Shipping Choice Stock from these States and Territories to Europe — Dairy-Farming — Stock-raisino and Dairv-Farmino in California — ^^Horse-Farming ana Rearing — Mules — Camels., .','-.' We have already spoken of the vast extent of grazing lands found in this great Western Empire. What is the actual area ^ of these lands can only be approximately estimated, since every year large districts, previously supposed to be only available for grazing and almost worthless even for that purpose, are 1 66 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. / found to be susceptible of cultivation, and to yield immense crops when subjected to culture. There are, furthermore, many tracts which have not yet been surveyed and are really unex- plored even by the Indian, or the hunter and trapper; in some, and perhaps many, of these there are beautiful valleys, narrow, yet covered with a rich and succulent herbage, which will fatten and nourish large herds of cattle. As nearly as we can estimate, there must be somewhat more than a million of square miles of these grazing lands ; enough to supply the whole world with beef, mutton, leather, and wool. Most of the States and Territories have considerable tracts of grazing lands, but the stock-growing x^^\ou%, par excellence, ^iXft Dakota, Montana, a part of Idaho, Eastern Washington, and Oregon, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Western Nebraska, Western Kansas, the L.dian Territory, and Western Texas. Texas has at present larger herds of cattle than any other section, and exports live-stock and the carcasses of slaugh- tered beef in refrigerator steamers to Europe in large quantities; but the finest beeves sent to our I astern markets and to Europe are those from Colorado, Western Kansas and Nebraska, Mon- tana, Dakota, and Wyoir.ing. The native grasses of the Rocky Mountain parks and valleys are unrivalled for their nutritive qualities, and cattle fed on them will fatten with but very little grain. When the immigrants began to pour into the Pike's Peak region in great numbers, 'n 1858 and 1859, many of them lost everything except their cattle, and in their despair, finding these unable to draw their loads any further, they unyoked them and turned them out into the parks and grazing lands of that region to shift for themselves, believing that they would not be able to endure the fast app'-oaching winter. The cattle went off, and for several months nothing was seen of them. The settlers at length started out to find their bones, but to their great surprise found them not ot.ly alive, but fat and sleek from the nutritious buffalo and gamma grasses, which, though cured by the sun, re- tained all their sweetness and npurishment. In most of this Rocky Mountain region there is no winter shelter for cattle, and they hardly need any oftener than one ^^»S>S>5SIsS«^S«fcS«^Sj!cASS3^^^SS3S^^ftSSSSs^''®'"^" ielrl immense [^rmore, many t really unex- per; in some, lleys, narrow, ich will fatten can estimate, uare miles of le world with able tracts of excellence, are shington, and ling, Western and Western ttle than any ses of slaugfh- je quantities; nd to Europe braska, Mon- of the Rocky heir nutritive )ut very little i Pike's Peak of them lost finding these ed them and f that region ot be able to vtxw. off, and le settlers at reat surprise he nutritious the sun, re- Is no winter er than one STOCK RAISING AND CATTLF.IfEHD/A'G. i^^ winter in ten. A few of the more prudent stockmen put up rough, cheap sheds, and cut with a mowing-machine a score or two tons of the natural grasses, against a long or cold storm ; but it is so seldom that these precautions are necessary, that tiieir fellow-stockmen laugh at them for their carefulness. Even in Montana and Dakota the pasturage grounds are so seldom visited by severe or desolating storms, that provision for them is the exception and not the rule. In Oregon and Washington somewhat greater attention is paid to the sheltering of the stock, but in California no effort is made in that direction. The aggregate amount of catde in the Great West, at the end of 1878, was estimated by the Agricultural Department as 3,350,400 milch cows, and 12,259,000 oxen and other cattle. The estimate was below the truth, as the local statistics show, and especially in Colorado and the Territories. To this total of 15,609,400 neat cattle were to be added over three million head in the Territories not estimated by the department. The aggre- gate numbers at the close of 1879 were certainly not less than 19,000,000, and this increase was probably in about the same ratio in milch cows and in oxen and other cattle. The net in- crease in the great herds is about forty-five per cent, a year, though occasionally, in a year, of unusually severe weather, it may fall off to thirty-five or thirty-eight per cent. In Texas and in the large herding districts elsewhere, no attempt is made to obtain the milk for use or for the production of butter or cheese, dairy-farming being regarded as an entirely distinct business from stock-raising, and having no connection with it. This dis- tinction is carried so far in Texas, that the largest stock-growers, owning from 10,000 to 50,000 head of cattle, either purchase their milk, butter and cheese, or go without it. ^ The cattle are under the care of herders or " cow-boys," who see that they are driven to the best pasture, and where they can have a good supply of water. These cow-boys lead a lonely and hard life, being in the saddle most of the day, and lodging in smail and comfortless huts at night. Once a year, there is what is called a " round up," when the vast herds of different owners, which have pastured together over the great tracts of as yet 1 68 OUR WEHTERM EMPIRE. / unsurvcyed government lands, arc brought together, and each owner or his herdsmen separate their own herds, and brand the calves which follow their niothcrr,. This is a time of excite- ment, and where the herds are large and wild, of considerable danger, as should one of the herdsmen be unhorsed in front of the rushing herds, he would be trampled to death instantly. The herdsmen are usually very expert in the use of the lariat or lasso, and will bring a refractory cow or bullock to its knees in a moment, with the most unerring precision. The cattle intended for slaughter or shipping are usually caught in this way. A large proportion of the Texas and California herdsmen are Mexicans, but in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, and Wyoming a majority are Americans, English, Irish, and Canadians. The usual wages are from ;jji6 to <^20 per month and food and lodging. Properly managed, the business of raising stock is profitable, hut it requires considerable capital, or if that is wanting, a tliorough knowledge of the business and good executive ability, to achieve any marked success. Time is an important element in the profitable management of this as well as of farming and fruit-culture. The man who begins, even with a very moderate capital, takes good care of his stock, improves the breed carefully, and watches the small leaks, which ruin so many men, will find himself at the end of ten or twelve years, with a herd of catde, which will yield him an ample income each year, i v Of course there are differences in the mode of management 6f herds of catde in the different regions in which this is a prominent industry. In Texas, the stock-raiser has some great advantages, and some disadvantages. One great advantage is the climate, which entirely precludes the n'.cessity of any winter provision for his stock ; they tre better provided on the range, if they can have easy access to water, than they could be if shut up in a corral, or provided with bay, or even green forage. He has the advantage also in regard to his pasturage lands; he need Ttot, unless he chooses, pay out a dollar for all the grazing land he desires to occupy, especially in Northwestern Texas, or if he prefers that his cattle should not become so wildj as they may "r?K?rr!3»«5rrrr S?TS35s3'3555TTSSv!^.^^^^rS3^Sr^(^IJ5SSS'" her, and each s, and brand imc of excite- ' considerable xl in front of ath instantly, f the lariat or its knees in a attic intended this way. A lerdsmen are 1 Wyoming a adians. The md food and c is profitable, is wanting, a :cutive ability, irtant element f farming and ^ery moderate Bs the breed so many men, s, with a herd h year, na management lich this is a as some great t advantage is of any winter on the range, uld be if shut » forage. He ands; he need ; grazing land exas, or if he I, as they may STOCK RMS I f/C m TEXAS. jCkJ become on the great range, and wishes to have them where he can give some attention to them, and prevent them straying away, he can buy one, two, three, or a dozen square leagues of grazing lands, at a mere nominal price of a few cents per acre, and is not required to fence it ; in this case he must employ a herdsman to every i ,500 or 2,000 head of cattle, though he will ssve most of the expense of rounding up, which he would have if the herd were looked after only once a year, when they were to be branded. Of course, the expenses of rearing catde are much less here than farther north; the first cost of cows with calves being only from ^% to $15, and of stock cattle from ;^4 to '^'j ; and Mexican herdsmen and rounders being plenty at from ^12 to ;^i8 per month; but on the other hand, Texas cattle are not as larjre or as fat as those raised farther north, and do not command as high a price. Until 1872 or 1873 there was little effort made to improve the breeds of cattle in that State, but since that time, many Durham, Hereford and Devon bulls have been imported into the State. In Texas, more than in any other State or Territory, are found the two extremes of stock-raising ; the wealthy patriarch with his herds of 40,000, 50,000, 80,000, or even 100,000 cattle, perhaps 15,000 or 20,000 horses, and 20,000 to 50,000 sheep ; and possi- bly in the same county, or as near as circumstances will permit, the small herdsman with his eighty or one hundred cows, two or three bulls, and possibly one or two hundred sheep ; and it is often the case that the man who now counts his cattle by tens or scores of thousands, began, twenty-five or thirty years ago, on a scale no larger than his humble neighbor. Father Nugent, an English Catholic priest, who visited Texas and spent some months there, wrote to the Liverpool Times, August 12th, 1871 : " Here is one of a hundred examples of a poor man becoming rich without a copper. Twenty-five years ago an Irishman en- gaged with a stock-raiser. There was no money to be given, but he was to be boarded and found in everything, and in the pla<:e of wages he was to reeeive one cow and a calf each month. Niow he is wortlh j^i 00,000 in cash, and sends to market each year from fifteen to twenty thousand head of cattle. Here is a 1^0 O^^ iVESlEKA/ RMPinr sailor, formerly a man before the mast, vvh has now six steam, ers on tin; Rio (irancle, 8o,ocx) head of cattle, 25,cxdo head of horse stock, 1 2,000 sheep, and 1 50,000 acres of land, and last year invested 1^29,000 in the Jackson & New Orleans Railroad." Thomas O'Connor, a soldier in the Texan war of independence, received his discharge in 1837, when his only earthly possessions were a Spanish pony, saddle and bridle, two old belt-pistols, one of them broken off at the breech, and an old rifle-gun. I le went into the business of raising stoi U on this capital, and forty years later had 80,000 head of cattle, 500 saddle and stock horses, and 26,664 acres of land, with a river front of six leagues. In 1 85 1, a gendeman named Adains started a ranche (or grazing farm) twelve miles west of San Antonio with only 200 head of cattle. Upon his death his sons continued the business, and in 1877 sold the ranche, delivering to the purchasers 68,000 head of cattle. In 1858 Captain Richard King, who had been a cabin- boy on board a cc.-iiting ves.oel, came to Texas with a capital of pluck and energy, but with no money. Selecting a ranche at Santa Gertrudes, thirty-five mih-.- west of Corpus Christi, he commenced rearing stock in a very small way. In 1878, twenty years later, he had 60,000 acres of land all fenced, over 50,000 head of cattle, more than 10,000 horses and mules, 22,000 sheep, and 8,000 Angora and grade goats. He brands 15,000 calves yearly, sends about 10,000 beeves to market every year, and 30,000 fleeces, besides a large number of horses and mules. The beginners on a small scale having, we will say, a ranche of i.ooo acres, which will not cost, on the pasturage land." of Texas, more than |^i,ooo, ard with the cabins, corrals, etc., from $300 to $500 more, can purchase 100 cows with calves for from ^12 to $14 each, and two good Hereford or Durham bulls at I50 each— the entire investment not exceeding ^^3,000. The milk from these cows, allowing one-half to the calves, will fur- nish milk, butter, and cheese enough to support the family from the first, with the aid of a small vegetable garden. The calves being detained for six months in the corral, and " roped off," after drawing about half the milk, the cows will be gentle an4 come home at night regularly, — until the herd becomes too larg^ ^;|!V'.if-' saSvSft^.., g^V..- iiHB STOCK- K.ttS/XG m fC.IA/S.IS AND COLORADO. I7» ow six steam. ,000 head of antl, and last ns Railroad." ndc'pcndcnce, y possessions It-pistols, one in. He went id forty years stock horses, leagues. In : (or grazing 200 head of iness, and in 68,000 head been a cabin- 1 a capital of a ranche at s Christi, he 1878, twenty over 50,000 J 2,000 sheep, 5,000 calves ry year, and d mules, •ay, a ranche ige land.«5 of lis, etc., from ves for from lam bulls at 3,000. The ves, will fur- family from The calves "roped off," ; gentle an4 jes too larg^ to be managed easily at the homestead. The increase from this stock, as has been demonstrated by repeated experiment, will be in twelve years not less than 14,537. Selling off a portion from year to year, at a fair market valuation, and the remainder at the end of twelve years to close out the business, will show the agffi"^j:,'ate receipts to have been not less than ;Jl 10 1,7 50, aside from the value of the ranche, which will have more than doubled in that time. From this is only to be deducted the cost of an extra hand after the fifth year and an additional one each year thereafter. For this expense $4,250 is an ample allowance, leaving $97,500 net for the twelve years' work. The stock will support itself without the outlay of a dollar for hay or grain. This shows a very handsome profit, even with stock at low prices. But, of course, the profit of a great ranche, properly managed, is proportionately greater. In Kansas and Colorado stock-ranches or farms are managed somewhat differendy. The buffalo and gama, or gamma grass, of the unbroken pasturage lands, is somewhat more nutritious and fattening than that of Texas, and the stocks of catde are of better blood. ' At present it is not difficult to obtain pasturage for even a large herd, on unsurveyed government lands, the stock-raiser entering perhaps three quarter-sections under the Pre-emption, Homestead, and Timber Culture Acts, in order to secure water for his herd. But there is this difficulty in regard to these unsurveyed lands, that the surveys are going on with considerable rapidity, the frontier of arable farming lands is pushing, westward at the rate of fifteen or twenty miles a year; and ere long the stock-raiser will find himself pushed by the tide of farming immigrants, and will be compelled " to move on." Congress has now before it a bill to sell the pasturage lands suppobed to be only fit for pasturage, at a low rate, in lots of four miles square, or about 8,000 acres, reserving its mineral rights below the soil. It will thus be possible to obtain, in per- petuity, stock ranges at a moderate price. The purchasable stock in these States is of better grade than the Texas cows or steers, and brings better prices. Cows are worth from $18 to $20 per head at three years old, and steers 171 OUR WESTEXAr EMPIRE. from ^^, to jjiioat two years old. No sensible stock-raiser would think of purchasing any but the best pure blooil or hijjjh ^rade bulls. There must also be some provision nuule for the shelter, either by sheds or by means of natural or planted forests, if not for the feeding of catde from the severe storms of die elevated grazing lands of Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming ; and the wise manager will provide a moderate supply of good hay or forage and shelter for the storms which sometimes sweep down from the north. The herders or cow-boys are of a higher grade than most of the Texan herders, and commanc' usually ;^20 a month, with food and shelter, etc., found. All this costs money, but the Kansas and Colorado catde have so high a reputation, both at the East and in England, that they command high prices and pay a large profit. But it results from this condition of things that stock-raising cannot be very success- fully carried on in these States, or indeed, in most of diose north of the thirty-seventh parallel, except on at least a moderately large scale. A man with little or no capital, but thoroughly ac- quainted with the business and the care of stock, can make a good arrangement for conducting the business with a capitalist, who does not understand it, putting his skill and knowledge against the other's capital, and perhaps taking his salary in cat- tle. In many cases these large ranches are owned by joint-stock companies, and the business is conducted by a manager, who, if honest and capable, can, in a few years, make an immense for- tune for his employers, and a very satisfactory one for himself. Let us give one example of stock-raising on a large scale in Colorado : the Colorado Cattle Company's estate of Hermosillo, in Pueblo and Huerfano counties, on the Huerfafio river and its tributaries. The estate consists of 91,000 acres, with half a mil- lion acres more of mountain land dependent upon it. Four thousand acres were under cultivation by the former owner. Colonel Craig, and yielded forty bushels of wheat to the acre ; fleventy-five to eighty of corn, seventy-five of oats, and abun- o.ooo per year. The following table, copied from Mr. Frank Fo sett's "Colo- rado," gives the profits on the cattle increase alone for seven years. The company is supposed to have a nominal capital of 5 3 3,200 3,200 4,480 5. 760 7.55a 9.856 12,877 Pi 1,600 1,600 2,240 2,880 3.776 4,928 6,438 g 1 6,000 16,000 22,400 28,800 37,760 49,280 at }6 per head ;?28,8oo 28,800 40,320 51,840 56,640 49,280 38.628 72,000 1366,308 «74 J i OVA IVHStK/tN KMr/MK. STEERS. Ym* 1'^ One i.6oo Two 1 ,600 Three K(»iir five • a>a40 3,880 3.776 4,9j8 6.438 Six Seven , 1 1 6,000 16,000 21, (OO 3M,8oo 37.760 49.2«0 is* >9,(>oo 9,600 13.440 17,180 81,656 1 1 6,000 16,000 0,400 18,800 Add fur Cowi and Heifer Calves as above Total produ't in seven years of 4,000 Cows costing ^71,000, includ in^ cost of Cowt , |4i.6oo 41.600 5«,j.»o 7l,H8o 60,416 49,iSo .18,618 364.644 ^6^oH ^730,95 » The profits or increase on the seventh year alone would be ^{154, 791, or more tlian fifty per cent, on the capital of f 500,000. The profits on the cij^hth year would be 1317,444; and for the ninth, tenth, eleventh, aixl twcllth years a constantly iu'-reasing proportion, viz.: ninth year ^451,3^1, tenth year 5519,473. anti »o on. To this may be added the profit each year of buyinj^ 5,000 two-ypar old steers atid selling the next year at $10 or more ad- vance, netting ^IxCogo of clear profit, which is much more than the annual cost of runninj^ the ranche. The annual increase of calves is calculated at 80 per cent, of tlu: mm her of cows, allow- ing 20 per cent, (a liberal allowance) for accidents and losses. Mr. Fossett makes no estimate of the cost of the ranche and necessary buildings, and in his estimate of stock, makes no esti- mate for the bulls. Of these, for the herd with which they com- menced, eighty full-blood Herefords or Durhams, costing not over 4;6,ooo (the best are the cheapest), or, if Holsteins, perhaps $8,000, would insure cattle which would bring the highest prices in the market. As these cattle are raised for beef, and not for milkers, there would be ho advantage in an Ayrshire, Alderney, or Jersey cross. Mr. A. A. Hayes, Jr., in Harper's Monthly, for November, 1879, gives the figures for a ranche of about the same number ^.■rt«v»T»iw«3ai&3WPirar- • FAT CATfUL n. S7X>/t£ CAI TLK, m 16,000 16,000 3J,40Q ]M,8oo incUid |l4i>6oo 41.600 58.140 7»,HMo 60,416 4'),i«o .lH,6a« 364,644 j66^oK ^730.95' l« Jt»54.79». or \\s on the eighth ith, aixl twcllth ;>45'.3"i tenth buyinjr 5,000 ) or more ad- :h more than 1 increase of cows, allow- and losses, ranchc and iak»:s no esti- ich they corn- costing not eins, perhaps lighest prices and not for re, Alderney, ' November, ame number of cows, in Southern Colorado, somruhat more in tietail, but unl'Ttiinatcly. he docs not carry it beyond the third year. Still, in that linv* with an invatmcnt of 5154,149, of which ^%osxyQ i» the cost nf the ranchc (10,000 acrrs, with priv 'tge of grazing on other mountain lands), 576,000 cost of stock, and 528,149 i.ipilal, used in expenses for the three years, he shows net profiis of 5129,65' (51 14/)51 profits on stock an'1 5^15,000 in apprcuation of the \d\\sii. of the properly), making ih',* tola! assets at the end o( thrrc years 5283.S0U. These profits would be greatly in creased in the years that follow* d, for f'le first three y;ars are thi- years of greatest outlay, and in th( later yrars there is no possibili^v of such K) >ses as would wk^c out any considirable amount of the increasing profits. Land will, of c< irse, soon b<" higher, anil the free pasturage will diminish as the arable lands are more clearly defined, anIc lands, as the ability of the stock- raiser to fatten his beeves for the market from his own grain will make a great difference in the pric(! 1h^ can obtain for them. All the great ranches of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado will soon be within ( asy distance of the great trunk railroad lines which will take their beeves on the hoof to Sr, Louis, Chicago, or Dululh, whence they can be shipped for L. lope direct. Hitherto they have been carried by rai^ from these States as storr CiitUc (the steers weighing about 1,400 pounds), to Illinois, where they were fattened and shipped from Chicagf) lo Liver- pool. Th«^ Chicago dealers paid about 537 ^f^r them in Colorado and sold them in Liverpool for %\qo, while the entire trans- portation between Coloratlo and Liverpool did not cost over 530. Hon. J. W. Barclay, M. P., who visited Colorado for the third time in the autumn of 1879, and from whose article in the Fort- niglUly Reriiew^ of January i, 1880, these figures are taken, uses them to insist that the British Government should allow the im- portation by English farmers of store cattle ; from our position they seem to afford a much more powerful argument for the fat- tening of his stock by the Kansas or Colorado stock-grower; as he might thereby receive the greater part of the 163J per 1^6 OVM H'gSTKKI^ MMNMR. head which now go<'» into tl.-r pocket of ihc Chicaj^o dralrr and ■Hipper, Mr. Rarclay tlcmoriHtruics that wc can land fattrnrd cattle at Liverpool at an averaj^e price of JI90 to f,\oo, yieliljnj; us a very larjje profit and still ^jriatly undrrsell the llrili^h ■tock-raiser in Iuh own nmrkct. 'Ihc tiliippin^' of slau|;;htcrcd beeves in rcfrij^erator earn and Hteamers with tht! recent improve- ments in artificial refriyeraticvn offers still greater prolitt. In the more northern and northwestern Stales and Tern- torieH, of whiih Montana may p«:rhap8 Ik; tukcn an the typo there arc some slight differences in the management of the biisi ncss, as well as in the pasturage and the character of the stock. In all these .States and Territories pasturagt: is free; that is, the l^vernment lands, as yet unsurvcyed, furnish, and will for years to come, abundant pasturage in well-watered valleys for much larger numbers of cattle than are likely to bo raised there. There is no buffalo or gama grass there, but the bunch grass, especially in Montana, is more nutritious than either, and the stock fatten on it as well as they would on grain. The Nbjntana beeves have an excellent reputation for juiciness, tentli:rncss, and (lavor ; the only complaint in regard to them is that they are ho fat. There are no Texas cattle here: they are all of the American or native breed, or grade animals from Short-horn or I lereford *«tock. Many of the stock- raisers keep them out on the range all winter, and claim that their loss is not more than one or two per cent, as the bunch grass, which grows to the height of two or three feet, is not often covered with snow on the hillsides ; but the best stock-m^'n think it safer to provide some of the wild hay, which can be cut and stacked for %\. to $1.25 per ton, against possible emergencies, and also to provide rude shelter for their animals during severe storms. They have one cow-boy to 1,500 or 2,cxx) cattle. The cost of raising a steer for the first four years is from 60 cents to %i per year. A three or four- year old steer is worth at the ranche about $20, at the larger towns or railroad points from $25 to $30. Much of the stock- raising is done in these territories by companies, usually joint- stock companies, who trust the management to a competent and 'H ») ,iou, yirldinj^r II tho llriti^h • 1' slaii^'htcrrd * '1 ur \ 178 OUX WESTERN EMPIRE. shelter, but tlie long dry season burns up the herbage so thor- oughly that tlie best stock-growers find it necessary to sow the Alfalfa and other forage grasses largely to feed their stock in the dryest months. There are still many large ranches, but the proprietors are usually wide-awake Americans, and they do not confine themselves to raising stock. Extensive wheat-fields, vineyards or olive-groves, or the rearing of great numbers of horses or mules, or large flocks of sheep, also occupy their atten- tion and prevent their exclusive interest in either pursuit. The herdsmen or cow-boys — vaqueros is the more sonorous Spanish name, and is most used in California — are often Mexicans, but quite as often French, German, Swiss, Swedes, or Irishmen. The lasso is used as in Texas in rounding up the herds, and the other features of the business do not differ materially from those already described, except that greater care is taken in improv- ing the breeds by the introduction of the best imported csttle. Dairy farming is rapidly increasing in California. The butter is generally good, and some of it of the "gilt-edged" quality. It brings a high price, ranging generally from 40 to 60 cents a pound, or, which is substantially the same thing, from 60 cents to $1.10 a roll, the roll, though nominally two pounds, always coming considerably short of that weight. The milk is of excel- lent quality, though there are comparatively few Alderneys or Jersey cows in the State. Cheese is not very largely produced, reliance for this product being had upon the Eastern cheese fiactories. 'd'jnn-j m^^mIj "fo v/>l /-n.V ■ .o^ii' i-T. f^Ji;/:*;^ 'i.ii! .;Utr . 1. The rearing of horses and mules is not a large branch of the stock-raising industry west of the Mississippi river, except in California, Texas, and Arkansas, though it is increasing in Kansas, Colorado, and perhaps New Mexico. In Texas the greater part of the horises raised on the ranches are either mus- tangs (the descendants of the Spanish horses introduced into Mexico three centuries a^o), very tough and serviceable, but vicious and tricky, or a cross between these and our larger American horse, somewhat larger than the mustang and less tricky, but not quite so tough. These are usually called bron- chos. The Indian ponies belong to this cross. Horses of better '■r RA/S/NG /fOKSES AND MULES— CAMELS. 179 crbage so thor- sary to sow the leir stock in the inches, but the ind they do not ve wheat-fields, jat numbers of ;upy their atten- ir pursuit. The inorous Spanish n Mexicans, but js, or Irishmen, le herds, and the rially from those aken in improv- n ported cattle, nia. The butter :-edged " quality. 40 to 60 cents a g, from 60 cents ) pounds, always milk is of excel- w Alderneys or argely produced. Eastern cheese •ge branch of the river, except in is increasing in In Texas the s are either mus- introduced into serviceable, but and our larger nustang and less ually called bron- Horses of better breeds are raised on smaller farms and brought into these States from States cast of the Mississippi, but never^ in large droves. In California the Norman and Percheron horses are now being introduced in large numbers for draught horses. The rearing of horses and mules is said to be very profitable, and some of the large stock-ranches in Kansas and Colorado are turning their attention to it. The rapid extension of rail- roads in these new States and Territories creates a vastly in- creased demand for good horses for purposes of draught, for car- riage use, and for the saddle. Every station has at least a dozen settlements tributary to it, all of which require teams to make the connection. The raising of mules is still more profitable, since the mule is more surefooted, hardier, and will live on poorer fare than the horse. He is more vicious and stubborn — granted, but that is partly due to the abuse to which he is sub- jected. Mules bring on the average a price considerably higher than horses. In the mining districts, and especially in the new mining regions, mules are in great demand as pack-animals, and for drawing the immense freight-wagons, and command high prices for these purposes. The great stage company. Barlow, Sanderson & Co., whose lines run daily or oftener to all parts of Western Colorado and Northern New Mexico, where there are practicable roads, keep hundreds of horses and a still larger number of mules in their stables. An attempt has been made to introduce the camel into Texas, and it has met with a moderate degree of success. The animal would seem to be well adapted to a part of Texas, Arizona, Southern New Mexico, and Southern California, and if the Bactrian species could be introduced it might do well farther north ; but the camel is better suited to the indolent oriental than to our wide-awake, restless, impatient Yankees. t- ' 1 . 1 /■'• iX; HI m m'^- ■'%)J^ i8o OUR IVESJEK.V eMr/A'S, V. \ CHAPTER XVI. Shekp-Farmino and Wool-Grom inc. — Number or Sheep and Annual Increase OK Lambs in each State or Territory — The Great Wool, States — Improv- ino the Breed — Merinos — CoTswouns — Soutiidowns — Leicesters— Tastes Differ — Perils or the Flocks from Cold, Starvation, and 1 hirst — Winter Shelter and Winter Food Necessary in Kansas and further North — Diseases of Sheep — Tur: Sheep that Browse and the Sheep that Crop their Food— Shrubs and Plants Poisonous to Sheep — Sheep-Farm- ing — The Shepherds— The Sheep-Farmer in Colorado— The Purchase of the Sheep-Farm — Buying the Sheep — The Account — Beginning on a Small Scale : the Man with only | 1,000 — Crossing the Breed with the Big-horn — The Angora and other Goats — The K'jcky Mountain Goat. Therf are none of the States or Territories of the Great West which are not engaged to a greater or less extent in the rearing of sheep, either for their wool or their flesh, or both ; but the extent of the business, and the size of the flocks, differ very greatly in different sections. The latest statistics give the number of sheep in this Western Empire as approximately ao,8io,ocxD, somewhat more than one-half of all in the United States, and the numbers are increasing, at a ratio which will soon enable them to rival Australia in the supply of mutton and wool to the world. California leads the whole country in numbers and perhaps in quality; her flocks numbering about 7,300,000, and averaging ninety lambs each year to every one hundred ewes. Texas follows with about 4,560,000, of an average quality somewhat below those of California, but improving. Her sheep-growers claim about eighty lambs annually to one hundred ewes, Col- orado is next with 2,000,000 sheep, mostly of good quality, and modestly estimates her net increase at seventy-five lambs for one hundred ewes. Next follow in their order Missouri, Oregon, and New Mexico, with 1,450,000, 1,250,000, and 1,000,000 re- spectively. Those of New Mexico are largely of the old Mex- ican breed, and the Navajo Indians have flocks exceeding 500,000. Utah and Iowa are the only other States or Territories whose flocks approximate half a million. . ., » . ,, B/!i:EDS—Mi:K/XO rKF.l-E/iNF.D. l8l D Annual Increase )L States— Improv- NS — Leicesters — NATION, and 1 HIRST ^NSAS AND FURTHER NDTHE Sheep THAT lEEP — Sheep- Farm- X) — The Purchase r — Beginning on a HE Breed with tki been added. This is by no means the only disease caused by [)arasitic insect*, from which the sheep suffers. T/ic tick is an insect whici works its way through the wool into the flesh of the sheep, and, like the preceding, causes intolerable itching and loss of wool. Dipping the sheep when they firat manifest the symptoms of its presence is an effectual cure. The various worms or maggots which enter the body of the sheep, or are taken in with the food and hatched in the stomach, are a cause of great suffering and mortality to the poor animal. Among these are the grttb in the head, the fluke, or liver-rot, tape-worm, lung-worm, the white intestinal worms which cause " the pale disease " in lambs, or what is known as " paper-shin" in the full grown sheep— and hydatids or worms in the bladder and kidneys. Most of these diseases are incurable, except in the earlier stages. The use of sulphur, spirits of turpentine, linseed oil, castor oil, Glauber salts, wood and cob ashes with salt, etc., are recommended, but in these, as in most cases of diseases of animals, the treatment is generally empirical, and without any very clear ideas of the indications to be fulfilled. The foot-rot is another troublesome and often fatal disease, which is especially prevalent in Texas. It is said to be caused by pasturing the sheep on low, moist lands. It first ap- pears as a purulent sore behind the hoofs, and if not treated, not only produces great lameness in the animal, but causes the hoofs ' to slough off and the sheep to die. This is also best cured by the use of the " sheep-dip," or impure carbolic acid. The black- leg is a more speedily fatal disease, usually affecting young lambs ; the legs become swollen, turn black, and seem filled with a black, decomposed blood, and the lamb dies within two or three days. It is said that bleeding on the first indications of the disease will cure it. Sheep are also subject to pleuro- pneumo- nia, to snufifles and snoring, to colics, constipation, diarrhoeas and scouring. They are generally much more healthy in a tolerably dry atmosphere, and on high land along the slopes and '!■ 1 1 ••( V ;'■■' .,1 ii pti' S foot hills of the mountainK. The nifsas, or isolated tabl* lands of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, woiiM afford them good pasture-grounds, if, by artesian wells, or reservoirs, they could be supplied with the very moderate quantity of water they require. Such a re^jion was found in I'aleatine, cast of the Jor- dan, on the elevated plains or mesas, where the King of Moab, Mesha, and his predecessors, kept their myriads of sheep, 200,000 forming his annual tribute to the King of Israel. Different breeds or varieties of sheep feed in different ways. The Cotswold and Leicester breeds crop the grass very closely, but do not browse, or eat the branches of trees or shrubs ; the Merino, on the contrary, is a browsing animal, and where there are shrubs, plants, or young trees having limbs within reach, it prefers them to grass. This necessitates two precautions in pasturing this breed ; they should not be pastured in an orchard, especially of young trees, as they will do great injury, though on a field of winter wheat during the winter or very early spring, their presence is rather beneficial than injuriuus, as they do not crop the roots so closely as other sheep. Great care should be taken in their pastures that no poison- ous shrubs or vines should remain within their reach ; for the sheep has not the keen instinct to avoid poisons which the hog possesses. If poke -root {Phytolacca decandra), bitter-sweet {Solatium dulcamara), deadly nightshade {Di^tcUis purpurea), aconite, henbane {Nyoscyamus), or either the green or white hellebores, the poison ash, or the poisonous species of the Rhus or sumach, comes in his way, the sheep, and particularly the Merino sheep, will be sure to eat them and die. Sheep-farming is more monotonous and unexciting than stock- raising, or the care of catde or horses ; for the sheep is a timid and harmless creature, easily controlled, and not as intelligent or sympathetic as the horse, the cow, or the dog. The shep- herd has a lonely life in taking care of his flocks, and but for the companionship of his faithful and almost rational companions, the collies, or shepherd-dogs, his lot would be almost intolerable. But, humdrum as it is, it is more immediately profitable, and we flospect, even for a period of ten or twenty years, with Hocks of large size, more permanently so, than the cattle range. d tabU lands lrecautions in in an orchard, Liry, though on y early spring, as they do not hat no poison- reach; for the which the hog I, bitter-sweet xlis purpurea), reen or white es of the Rhus >articularly the Ing than stock- heep is a timid : as intelligent ig. The shep- and but for the al companions, ost intolerable, fitable, and we , with flocks of inge. TtiK YOUNH SHMHrrARMtft AND HIS FLOCK. x%% Let us iliustrnlr this an^ertion b)' taking an actual case, in no respect cxcrptional, in Colorado. Wt; srlcct this State bicause from its c<'niral |)(>sttion wc find here all or nearly all the aiKan- tagcs and disailvantages attending sheep-farming in any portion of "Our Western limpire." Wc tako the case of a young nun who lias, or can command about ;jji5,cxx), and who has rcholved to put his money into a shepp-farm on the hills, or father plateaux of Colorado. He selects as his location I*!l I'aso county, on the eastern hlope of the Rocky Mountains, though he might have found locations, pcrhr.ps ee sKeep-master will be better situated if he owns his land. If there is a land ofRco near him, and a sale takes place, he can purchase a quarter section (160 acres) at the government price, ^1.25 per acre. He can next pre-empt 160 acres more for $1.25 per acre and fees, having six or thirty months to pay for it and receive his title. Next he can claim 160 acres more under the Homestead Act, paying only fees, and having lived on it for five years can obtain his title, and lastly he can claim 160 acres more under the Timber-Culture Act, planting in the course of five years forty acres of trees upon it which he will need for the shelter of his flocks. He has now 640 acres, or one mile square, which may cost him, all told, possibly $500. But he needs more. How is he to obtain it? In one of three or fipur ways. If, as is prob- able, the bill now before Congress passed during the recent session, he can purchase, at a very low price, a tract of from four to eight square miles as pasturage land, subject to the Ita- btltty of being explored below the surface for minerals, but with a guarantee of all his surface rights. If it did not, he can ; ij % ■l^v. iM oun H^ssTMjry fSMr/xjt. buy up soldiers' or l>oiinty laiul scrip at fi or $y$o per acre, which hc! can locate where he pleases. If he is within rIx or ci^ht niilen of a lanil-^rant railroad (and all the railroads here- abouts have land grants), Ik; can purchas': from thcin, piohably at fs per acre, on long time, the additional land he wants. Or he may very possibly fmd, as the man described by Mr. A. A. Hayes, Jr., in Har fur's Monthly for January, iHiSo,* did, a sheep-farm for sale with its corrals, cabins, etc., favorably situated, but which its owner, tired of this monotonous life, and anxious to go back to civilization and Ilastern comforts, was willing to sell for j^.ooo. It is ample for 5,000 sheep, but in order to be secure he avails himself of his privileges already described and secures an additional 640 acres. This purchase made, the young shecp« farmer has next to buy his sheep. He avails himself of the Judgment of an expert, buys a,ooo selected ewes, " second cross " if they are to be had, at $3 per head — jJ6,ooo; and 60 bucks at an average of JI30— $1,800. He needs also a pair of mules and a saddlc-horso, for which hc has to pay about $275 more, and finds it best to break up eighty acres and sv «v it half in wheat and half in Alfalfa or some other forage crop. This costs him, perhaps, $500 more. He has now left, of his $15,000, $1,925 as working capital. This transaction is completed, we will say October i. He must employ for this flock one herder, a cook, and for a time team- sters, etc. His ewes will come in during the following May, and from the 3,000 ewes, he will have living, on the first of the following October, a year from the time of making his purchase, at least 1,500 lambs or seventy-five per cent, of the whole number. (The Merino ewe very seldom has twin lambs.) This is a very liberal estimate for losses, blunders, etc. The Texan sheep-masters claim that they raise from eighty to ninety per cent., which would be 1,800, and surely with all his precautions he should do nearly or quite as well, but we prefer to understate rather than overstate the probable results of the business. Let us now go on with his account (supposing him to be an accurate •We are indebted to Mr. H«yei' very able article on the " Shepherds of Colorado," for moft of the details of this account of the expentet and profits of a sheep-farm. j.5o per acrc\ within six or lilrnads here- lirm, i)r(>hably nd he wants, etl by Mr. A. i88o,* dill, a rably situated, nd anxiouH to willing; to sell r tw be He til re d and secures young shecp' rt, buys 2,000 e iud, at $3 $30— $i,8co. for which he eak up eighty 3r some other ore. He has apital. This I. Me must a time team- Mowing May, le first of the his purchase, of the whole lambs.) This The Texan o ninety per is precautions to understate usiness. Let >e an accurate Colorado," for moit 4 SMBKI* MASTKK .»' PKOFITS. \%f and carciul accountant) for the next tlirce years. Ills gross 'ncrca^e of values and receipts for thin (irnt year will be : 1,500 Inn'lxi (average one-half cwr«, one-half wcthcm), at %t cath . |j,ooo 00 In June he ahean hi* wool, anil gets ir')nt t •,000 cwck, 5 lU. each, or io,uoo lU., at 11 cent* . %i,\Qo 00 6obuLki, 17 lU. each, ur 1,000 lbs., at 15 tents . . 150 00 1,150 00 15,150 00 Ilcrclcr-., fjMnntcm, rook, and provisions %^fi\% *o Shearing J. oAo sheep, at 6 tents laj 60 Hay and grain • • '75 ^^ |a.«3i 60 L0sstt (all estimatetl lu made up, in monoy) < Kwcs, 4 |>c-r(:ent. on |6,ooo |'40 "o Uutkj, 5 per cent, on >i,8oo 9000 3J0 00 DtprtdatioH : On bucks, 5 percent, on 1,800 90 00 •.'JSJ 80 Net profits for first year . . • |>)59^ 40 SICONt) YEAR. I'hc 1,500 lambs will be a year older, and worth an additional 15 |)cr cent, (or 15 percent, on ^3,000) ^450 00 1,500 new lam." will be worth, as before ► 3,000 00 And there will L of wool from a, 000 sheep, 5 lbs. each, or 10,000 IIm., at ai cents . |a,ioo 00 1,500 lambs, 4 lbs. each, or 6,000 lbs., at at cents . i,a6o 00 60 bucks, 17 lbs. each, ur 1,000 lbs., at 15 cents . 150 00 3,5..^ 00 %i,^)(iO 00 Expenses : Herders, etc ;|a,o6o 00 She.irinR 3,560 sheep, at 6 cents 31360 Hay and grain 35° °^ |a,6a3 60 Losses ; On ewes, 4 per cent, on |6,ooo ^340 00 On bucks, 5 per cent, on ^1,800 .... 90 00 On lambs, 7 per cent, on f 3,000 .... a 10 00 540 00 Depreciation : On ewes, 5 per cent, on ^6,000 I300 00 On bucks, 5 per cent, on 1 1, 800 .... 9000 39000 3>SS.^ ^^ Net profits for secor.d year ^3>4o6 40 I ' ..'.•it«0l(«iMaaSlU#4aft3ii»tt^UNlf:ilc«is^ ■I , 1' I' ,< i Ui' m- ,38 OUR WESTEHN EMPIRE. THIRU YEAK. The secGi>d year's lainbs will be worth an additional 15 per cent., or, say (15 per ccin. on l3,ooo) . |4S<* 00 There will be 1,500 lambs from original a, 000 ewes, and, say, from new 750 ewes (one-half of 1,500, not more than 60 pen cent. it in first lambing, or, say, 450—10 ail, 1,950 lambs, at |a . 3,900 00 Wool will be : From 3,500 ewes, 5^ lbs. each, or 19,250 lbs., at ai cents I4i04a 5° Fromi,95olamb8,4lbs. each,or7,8ooU>s.,at2icent8 1,638 00 FromCobucks, i7lbs..each, or i,OQolb9.,.atiscent8 15000 5,83050 f 10,180 JO Expenses : ' 1 Herders and fodder i3>V7o 00 Shearing 5,510 sheep, at 6 cents . ... . . . 33060 New corrals, etc 300 00 13,600 60 Lasses : On ewis, 4 per cent, on |t, 30 .... 1 340 00 On new sheep, 4 per cent, on |4»Soo • • • *8o 00 On lambs, 7 percent, on ;J3,ooo .... aio 00 On bucks, 5 percent, on J5:, 800 .... 9000 73000 .i,,,;i . Depreciatiom ''' On old ewes, 10 per cent, on |6,ooo . . . ^60000 On bucks, 20 per cent, on ^1,800 .... 360 00 960 00 5,i8o 60 Net profits for third ypar . . . » ^, |t4>899 90 '-'''''■■ ■ '-■' RECAPITULATIOK. ■■ '- •.■iir;' , First year's profits ^2,596 40 Second year's profits 3,406 40 Third year's profits ... 4.899 90 Total ^10,902 70 ' At the end of five years after selling off the original 2,000 ewes, which are now more than replaced by those of a better grade, which will give larger lambs, and yield heavier fleeces, and disposing also of 2,000 wethers and lambs, our young sheep- master finds that his net profits received within the five years amount to a little more than $37,500, and that he has still on hand 3,500 ewes and ewe lambs, 2,013 wethers and male lambs ^alll over a year old, 1 50 bucks of high grade and good size, and ^ ''■ I or. |4So 00 3,900 00 t 31 1 10, 180 50 o 60 c 00 o 00 5,i8o 60 14,899 90 |a,596 40 3,406 40 4,899 90 ^10,902 70 ^n^ original 3,000 le of a better ier fleeces, and young sheep- the five years he has still on nd male lambs good size, and SHEEP FARMING ON A SMALL SCALE. {g^ that the increased value of his land and buildings being added to his stock its present value is 528,767. In other words he has earnings, stock on hand and improved land to show to the amount of ^^66,267, for an original investment of not more than 1^13,200, or about 500 per cent, advance in five years. Extend the time to ten years, and if he can obtain land he will, after selling off his surplus stock to the amount of at least ^^25,000, have a flock of 25,000 sheep, 450 bucks, and can shear from 180,000 to 200,000 pounds of wool annually, and his possessions, in land, buildings, and animals in the absence of any extraordinary misfortune, are worth from jjioo.ooo to jjti20,cco, and his net income over ^540,000 a year. Of course it is possible to build up a handsome fortune in the course of ten or twenty years from a much smaller beginning than this ; there were instances, when laiul was lower and sheep- ranges on government lands were more available than now, when. an investment of $1,000 resulted in an ample fortune in fifteen Of twenty years. If, however, the emigrant knows something of the care of sheep, and has but a thousand dollars, our advice tG' him would be to secure land, if he can, under the Homestead and Timber-Culture Acts, or by pre-emption, and hire himself out in some capacity to a large sheep-farmer, either taking his pay in lambs to be herded with his employer's flock, or invesdng a part of his money in them, and gradually getting ready his tabin and corrals, putting out his trees, and hire, say, forty acres of his knd broken and seeded to wheat, and perhaps an equal quantity to corn, Alfalfa or millet. In this way he can, at the end of three or four years, have a range of his own with r.ooo t'wes to stock it and can go on swimmingly from that time. His wheat and forage plants, lor wliich there is a ready sale, will bring him not only an ample support, if he takes his pay for herding in lambs, but will give him additional means for the pur- chase of land and stock. But we would not advis-^ a young man to marry or to bring his family to this wild primitive life till he has a comfortable cabin and sheep-ranche of his own. The life of the shepherd on a large sheep-farm is isolated and lonely, though not in most sections fraught with any considerable dan- I i ''I ' ; I I I ' , If ' ''i: •J? > '^i i h.\ i % ^ V i 190 OVK WESTEKN' F.MPIKE. ger; but his family would find it monotonous and wearisome beyond measure. In Texas the sheep-farmer usually resides with h s family in a village, which may be ten, twenty-five, or even fifty miles from his farm and flocks. It is not necessary that he should be daily in attendance there if he has competent and faithful shepherds. As land becomes more valuable even for pasturage in this Great West, and there comes a demand for a hardier breed of sheep which can ascend to the higher mountain pastures, and whose flesh will be of finer flavor, it may be worthy of experi- ment to try the crossing of the wild native Rocky Mountain sheep or Big-horn with the largest Merino grades, and thus pro- duce a large and hardy breed which will combine the excellen- cies of both. The Big-horn ranges in weight from 250 to 350 pounds, and thrives and fattens where the common sheep would starve. Its coat or fleece is a fine and silky hair rather than wool. Its flesh is tender and of excellent flavor. Its form and motions are graceful. If these qualities could be grafted upon the Merino, without materially injuring the value of its fleece, though they might change its character, it would be a great gain to the sheep-masters. The rearing of the Angora goat has become a favorite in- dustry with many of the larger stock-farmers of the West. A single stock-farm in Colorado has 8,000 of these animals, and they are largely raised in California, Texas, and to some extent in Kansas and Wyoming, Those raised here are usually grades from pure Angora or Syrian bucks crossed with selected she- goats of the native stock, and the crossing continued until the progeny is not more than one-eighth or one-sixteenth of the common stock. The mohair or curly glossy hair from these is said to be fully equal to the best Syrian mohair. They are hardy, of much larger size than the common goat, will live and thrive on the roughest and poorest fare, while their fleece is very valuable. If the so-called Rocky Mountain goat {Aplocerus Montanui) is really a goat and not a goat-like antelope — a point not yet quite settled — a cross of this and the Angora goat, which it strongly resembles, might be still better. OTHER EMPLOYMENTS. nd wearisome sually resides wenty-five, or not necessary las competent 191 The flesh of the Angora goat is better than that of the com- mon goat, and it yields about four quarts daily of an excellent and rich milk, while the cost of its keeping is only about one- twelfrli that of a cow. In some scciions this is an important consideration. turage in this iier breed of pastures, and thy of experi- :ky Mountain and thus pro- the excellen- m 250 to 350 \ sheep would r rather than Its form and grafted upon of its fleece, t a great gain a favorite in- the West. A animals, and 5 some extent isually grades selected she- ued until the teenth of the from these is Ir. They are , will live and fleece is very It {Apiocerus lope — a point ra goat, which CHAPTER XVII. Employments in Cities, Towns and Villages— Horticulture, Floricul- ture, Arboriculture— Mercantile Business — Banking — The Profes- sions. Clergymen, Lawyers, Physicians, Engineers, Artists, Musicians, AND Teachers of Music, Vocal and Instrumental— Teachers and Edu- tATOR«:— Artisans of all Trades— Machinists, Operatives, and Em- ployes IN Manufacturing Establishments — Employments Connected WITH Mining, Reducing, Smelting, and Refining Metals— Farming, Herding, and other Employ#.s— Day-Laborers— Facilities foa Manufac- turing—Water-Power, Steam-Power — Woollen Manufacture — Cot- roN Manufactures and Cotton Seed— Other Textiles— Iron and Iron Wares — Machinery— Manufactures of Wood, etc. " But," says the man who is contemplating a migration to the Great West, and who has read the preceding pages with great interest, " in all this, I do not find anything which exactly hits my case. I have not the capital necessary for the purchase or opening of a mine of gold or silver, of platinum or copper, of lead, zinc, or iron ; nor have I the education in metallurgy, which would qualify me for that business, if I had the capital. I am not familiar with the timber or the lumber trade, and the capital for engaging in that is lacking. I have no practical acquaintance with farming, am no judge of soils, and if I were to put what litde money I have into a farm, I should probably lose it all, and find myself a penniless stranger in a strange land. I have never been accustomed to the care of large herds of cattle or flocks of sheep, and if I had, these callings require a capital which is far beyond my means. Is there not something which a professional man, or an educated man of small means, or of a limited fixed income, or a retired army officer, engineer, chemist, or govern- ir 111 1 * h' -,^«ief*iiii**4s«««*ik34"- ipa OUR tVESTERJV EMPIRE. ment clerk, banker's clerk, accountant, tradesman, gardener, flofist, nurseryman, carpenter, builder, painter, mason, marble worker, glazier, tinman, jeweller, blacksmith, brass-founder, paper-maker, factory operative, or willing and honest day- laborer can do?" Yes, friend, there is room enough and work enough for all these classes, and to whichever of them you belong, if you are in prime health and vigor, and have enterprise, patience, endurance, and even a small capital, you can do v/ell in your calling. An English immigrant, who had tried a great variety of pur- suits without adhering long to any, and whom Mr. A. A. Hayes, Jr., met on a sheep-farm in Colorado, herding sheep at $20 a month and his keeping, said to Mr. Hayes, with a grim resolu- tion, " I tell you a feller can just make money in this country, 6ut he's got to have sand** Sand is the Colorado vernacular for jf«V, or dogged resolution. .« . »■ The Great West is no place for any man who is easily dis' couraged or disheartened, and who, after a two or three months' trial of a business, into which he has thrown very little energy, becomes home-sick, and concludes that he had better return to the East or to Europe. Such a man will not succeed anywhere. . But to the man who has energy and pluck, who is not cast down because everything does not go just as he expected it would : the man who has given pledges to fortune, who has a wife and little ones dependent upon him, or who is looking for- ward to having a home to which he can bring one dearer to him than life, or who has parents or minor brothers and sisters, who must look to him for support, the man who knows how to do at least one thing well, and who is observant, patient, brave, honest and true, there is no part of the world where he can do better, whatever his calling; than this great Western Empire. Such a man has been an assistant to a market-gardener, florist, or nurseryman at the East or in Europe. He has become familiar with the plants, flowers, shrubs, or young trees to be raised, and with the best methods of propagating and cultivating them, and he has been sufficiently prudent and far-sighted to save 1^0 or $500 |o start in his new home at the West. Let THE FLORIST OR MARKSTGARDENER. >93 lan, gardener, nason, marble brass-founder, 1 honest day- ;nough for all J, if you are in ice, endurance, calling. krariety of pur- . A. A. Hayes, leep at $20 a a grim resolu- I this country, do vernacular ';. .' . - 1-' -. 3 is easily dis' three months* ' little energy, etter return to eed anywhere, ho is not cast »e expected it ne, who has a is looking for« dearer to him d sisters, who 1 how to do at brave, honest can do better, )ire. ^n. -^li;' rket-gardener, le has become g trees to be ind cultivating far-sighted to le West. Let him locate his garden, or nursery, or nvirket-garden, as near as may be to some one of the new towns, which are springing up all over this region. If I19 is early enough to toke up his forty acres under the Timber-Culture Act, it will be just the thing, for he can plant his ten acres with trees for nursery purposes, and while obtaining his land for ten or fifteen dollars, can be making a profit from the trees, which give him the land. But if there is no suitable location of t^iis kind available, he can buy land from the government, near the railroad, for $3.50 an acre, or with sol- diers' bounty warrants, or from the railroad company, so that it will not cost him at the utmost over %2qo for the forty acres he takes, and this on sufficient time, to enable him to realize on his first crop before paying for it. The breaking up the sod will be the first considerable expense, and this he can provide for, either by changing works with a neighbor, or, which will be better, by hiring out for a year to seme one in one of the same lines of business with hiniself. Meantime he can put in his first crop, and, if he is wise, he will make that a root crop, potatoes, beets, turnips, ruta-bagas, sweet potatoes, or something of the sort. From this crop, even on twenty acres, he will realize enough to build his cabin, stock his nursery, flower-gar4en, or market- garden, and obtain a horse and wagon, or a pair of pack-mules or asses. Smarting ^hu^ fairly in his second year, he will find, if he will make his pla^e and wares known, that there is a ready and good market for everything he can raise ; and so rich is the virgin soil, that for perhaps a score of years, no manure, or at most only th^t n\ade on tl^e place will be needed. At the epd of three or, at the most, four years from the time he first plants hi? foot in the West, he is so well situa(t?d as to be able to sup- port his family, qr those dependent on him, in comfort, and that withoMt inipajring his business capital. If he is very enterprising he will be likely by this time tp combine the three vocations of ipa,rket-gardenejF, florist, and nyrs^eryman, and acquiring mofe l^nd, and employing th^ necessary help, he will soon be on the high road to fortune. The intending immigrant has been perhaps a clerk or small pr that it is sufR- I, if east of the oseph, Omaha, or if he needs uis, or New Or- t for the quanti- vellei's will visit do so. At first 3 soon as possi- selling, a week's eepers, and the if they buy and is prices as low customers, but lost, give credit I buying closely, and living eco- though he may ler callings, can- the course of a he purchase of igeous, as it will when improved and has a good even though he may not have much capital, there is a good opening in almost every part of the West. Coming to a town or city with good references, and pU-nty of enterprise, he can, in the legitimate course of his business, make a fortune id a few years, if he will carefully avoid all reckless speculation. Men, and men in new mining and farming communities especially, are very credulous and reckless in trusting their money with anybody who will promise to take care of it for them ; but they will be furious if they fihd that they have been defrauded. But both mining and the sale of crops require banking operations, and if these are well and honestly conducted, the young banker has an excellent opportunity for success. The professions are somewhat in danger of being crowded, though " there is always," as Horace Greeley said, " plenty of room at the top." Clergymen coming to settle in the new towns or villliges, if dependent upon their professions for a living, and having sufficient health to preach and act as pastors, will find it necessary in most cases, at first, to take an appointment from their denominational missionary boards, and draw a part of their pay from thence, as the young churches, in these new settlements, are generally composed of those who have yet their fortunes to make ; and though they may be, and often are, liberal, even to an extent beyond their means, they cannot, at first, erect churches and support their pastors without aid. This condition of things is, however, but temporary, and the missionary societies at the East, with their wealthy clientage at home, furnish most of the aid required, till they are able to go alone. In cases of emigra- tion in colonies, of which we shall have more to say by and by, the colonies are often of a single denomination, and bring tlieir pastors with them. This has usually been the case with the Scandinavian, Mennonite, and Roman Catholic colonies from Europe, and with many of those from the Eastern States. If a clergyman of moderate means, who is not disposed, on account of health or for any other cause, to devote himself solely to his clerical duties, migrates to this western region, the way is open to him, of course, to engage in farming, wool-growing, stock- raising, mining or any other reputable employment, and his V A I U>'' J' ) 4 :; lit t' maamnnemssi' it m !•;!:•» Iff mm? ill: 196 OUn WKHTEKS EMPIRE. chances of success arc not lessened by his profession, while he may, if he is really an earnest Christian man, do a great nmount of good. iSJ ni •''^''■' "' " "r< ' ' '1 '-'i'' ' ■^"■" ■■ i' The lawyers have a better chance for a fortune than the clergy- men, especially in the minima districts, although they congregate there in large numbers. There is always a great deal of litiga- tion in regard to mining property, and the disposition of mining estates ; and in addition to this, crimes against the person, fights, shooting affrays, murders and suicides, the results of the two great vices of mining towns in their early history, — gambling and intemperance— are sufficiently rife to give employment to very many lawyers. In the farming towns there is less litigation, but conveyancing and disputes about boundaries, transportation, and prices of crops, and other matters, give the legal profession generally, a fair share of business. The joint-stock companies, which now carry on most of the mining, and a large part of the farming, stock-raising, and sheep-growing ranches, each have their counsel, and sometimes more than oi>e. - ^ \, ,gg OVM WBSTBItU KMrtKK. these new lands? Most assuretlly he can, and the higher and purer his artistic attainments, thr more abundant will be hin patronage. The vast wealth attaiiuni by a large number of mining and other capitalists in this region, is freely lavished on objects of art, and they are not generally ho ignorant as not to know a good picture or group of statuary when they sec it. Nowhere is the true artist more sure of hcariy appreciation than here. . ■ ':t'n^. ,ii >■ 'ti.'- .,.i.. .•.. . . ,.' .* ..'/fJ ,»*-)*> l,>,m r-i'*^'>* ^*'^ >■ As to musicians and teachers of music, vocal and Instrumental, there is no calling in greater demand. A very large proportion of the emigrants from Europe arc Germans, lovers of music from their birth. Another considerable portion are Scandinavi- ans, equally gifted in natural fondness for music, while for the others inatrumenul and vocal music has come to be considered a necessity. Nowhere is the performance of a really excellent brass band more thoroughly appreciated than in any of these western towns ; the best opera-singers receive a far more enthu- siastic reception, in the towns and cities of this western region, than awaits them in the great cities of the East. Every church and hall has its choir, and every town of 3,000 inhabitants its musical as-sociation for culture in vocal or instrumental music. As an instance of the fondness of the western people for parlor- music, an incident related by a visitor to Colorado may suffice. This gentleman went to Le^dville, Colorado, wh^ it was in the formative plastic condition, in the winter or spring of 1878. There were very few even frame buildings yet erected, and the majority of the citizens were living in large tents, happy if they could secure boards enough for a floor to keep them from the mud. Sod-houses were also in demand, among those who found the tents a little too frail for the strong winds. The near- est accessible railroad station was 130 miles distant, and the roads leading to it were horrible beyond description. The low- est price of trsmsporting freight from the railroad station to Leadville was fifty cents a pound, and the railroad freights to their final station were also very high. There were yet very few women in the town, a^ the accommodations were so rough and poor. He had been doing some business with a young man MVStClAUS ASO MVSlCTKACHRItX. 199 ; hi^jhcr and \ will be hU number of r lavished on ant as not to they sec it. ■eciation th«n instrumental, jc proportion rers of mu^ic e Scandinavi- while for the be considered :ally excellent any of these r more cnthu- »tern region, Every church inhabitants its mental music. pie for parlor- may suffice. 1 it \vas in the ring of 1878. :cted, and the happy if they hem from the ig those who s. The near- ,tant, and the on. The low- >ad station to ad freights to vere yet very vere so rough a young man who was working' energetically at a shaft of .-r new mine, and whom he found very intelligent, though roughly clad ; and at the conclusion of his busincHS, the young niiner asked him to gu homo a';d dine with him if he could put up with "canned viltles." lie accepted the invitation, and the miner led the way through the mud to one of these tent-houses. They were met at the f'.oor by a very beautiful young ludy, whom the miner introduced as his wife. She was plamly but tastefully dressed, and lu;r manners and conversation showed that she was a well-educated, refined and accomplished woman. As she arranged the table for their meal, the visitor looked about the room, and was aston- ished to see on one side a Chickering grand-piano. " Mow did you ever get that here?" he asked. "Oh," was the reply, "it was brought piece- meal on the backs of pack-mules, and we put it together after it came." " Out it must have cost you an enormous sum to transport it so far?" "Well, yes, a little under ;|^20O, but then we were both so fond of music, and my wife is one of the best players I ever heard, and I was afraid she would be lonely here amid so many discomforts." The visitor expressed a desire to hear some pieces played, being hi'nself a connoisseur in music, and when his hostess complied with his re- quest, without any apologies or excuses, he was fain to confess that her husband had not overrated her skill. . .^ ^ ., The railroad has but just reached Leadville, but among the wares offered for sale in its principal thoroughfares, pianos and cabinet organs, as well as other mus'cal Instruments, hold a con- spicuous place. In the farming distruls the great ambition of the farmer, after he has purchased and paid for his harvester, is to get a "pianny" for his daughter. "But," asks another anxious immigrant, "can you tell us whether the schoolmaster, or the teacher of any description has a chance there ? " " Yes, indeed I There is a very active de- mand for good teachers all over this vast region, greater per- haps in the northern and middle tier than in the south, but a good teacher will find employment very readily anywhere. The immense amount of school-lands and their judicious man- agement in all the new States and Territories, insures for them. It i ^1; ' MO or* n'Ksr.rjf.v r.i/rMX, V In the not rmal Schools s. There are nd dcnomina- Thesc educa- muscd. The education, has former prece- listrict school, than that for r three excep- le best cduca- ic schools, are portunities of elve weeks of ^3•$ per «'»*• s are few and not of hijjh jjratle. This deficiency U partly made up by privato or tlenotuinational scIiooIh, hut these arc not very wi II su*«tatncd. Id New Mexico, where a iarj^'e proportion of the inhabitanta arc KiipanoAiuericanii and Pueblo Indians, and more than ninety-five per cent. Rf)man Catholics, the control of the school funds hnn fallen into the hands of the Jesuits and other monastic and t« acliifi;; ortlcrs of the Roman Caiholio Churih, ami these moneys have been perverted to cxilusivc deiU)minational teaching, and even to payinj^ the board of tlicological studcnia in Roman Catholic Heminaries. These abuses cannot be prc- venteil until there is a more entcrprihinj; arul larj;er non-catholic population ; but, until a change takes place, the Territory cannot come into the Union as a .State, since it has not a fully Rcpub* lican form of government. In Texas anil Arkansas, there has been, until rccenfly, Icsa interest in public instruction than in some of the mor : northern States ; but this difference is fast disappearing, and the school syatetits of these States arc being rapidly and efficiently organ- ized.* Texas has a large number of private and denominational schools, many of them of a high grade. On its admission into the Union, having been previously an independent Republic, it did not cede its unclaimred lands to the United States Govern- ment, but retained them all in its own possession. The State has, however, made a very liberal provision of lands for scliool purposes, and will eventually have a large school fund. For arf/siiMS of all the usual trades there is, in the newer States and Territories, ample employment. Carpenters and builders, masons and bricklayers, and generally tinners, painters, and glaziers, are in especial demand, and at fair wages. Bakers and confectioners find employment in the towns and cities, and the plumbers, gas-fitters, and brass-founders are mostly confined to the larger cities. Butchers are, of course, wanted everywhere, and fishermen and fish-dealers find generally ample employment ah the coasts, and in the rivers and lakes of the interior, which dbound in fish of hi6st of the edible kinds. *The nowly awtkened zeal for public tchool education in Arkania* it laid lo b« olmoat |>H*> nomenal , and indicatei a brilliant future for a State, which, in npite of great natural advaotagei, has, in (he post, been apathetic, and lacking in public npirit and cnterpritt. h i>:-A, •m ■ tiMtiwmimximttim'' 302 OUR IVESTEXN EMPIRE. Hatters and furriers find business enough where furs and pelts are so plentiful; the blacksmith finds constart employ, and the saw-mill and grist-mill are kept busy, and profitably so. Machinists have abundant work in the mining districts, and to some extent also in the farming region, since the universal use of agricultural machinery often necessitates repairs which are beyond the ordinary skill of the blacksmith ; and where there are extensive flouring mills, they, too, require the skill of an expert for their repairing. ^^,.^j >.•,,.,., j ..,, ,; ..^ Manufachiring is conducted with great advantage at many points, the admirable water-powers being so abundant, and oper- atives from woollen mills, cotton mills (a limited number), all kinds of wood-working factories, millers, sugar-boilers, brewers, smelters, furnace men, and workmen on coats, vests, and panta- loons, overalls, etc., etc., will fmd employment in Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, California or Texas, and the metal workers in most of the mining districts. Farm-hands, herdsmen, and shep- herds will seldom fail of employment, in the farming and grazing regions, if they are trustworthy and faithful,; even though they may not have had much previous experience. The day-laborer, unskilled in any of the arts or trades, is wel- comed in all parts of the West, if he is honest, temperate, and willing to work. On the farms there is plenty of work for him, except in mid-winter; in the grazing districts, there is always need for extra hands at fair wages, and he can, if he will, acquire, for a merely nominal sum, a piece of land sufficient for the needs of his family, and erecting a sod-house at only the cost of labor, can be comfortably situated, and, in a few years, can attain what to him will be a competence, such as he could never have acquired in the East or in Europe. In the mining districts, too, there is abundant work for brawny arms and powerful muscles. Here, also, he can have what land he need^, almost for the asking, and the chickens, eggs, potatoes, and other vegetables he can raise, and the pigs he will contrive to keep, will always com- mand a high price at his own door. Then there are railroads to be built, canals and irrigating ditches to be dug, and sluices to be laid and tended. '"»^''' ""■ ■•"'' " " ' ''■ "'" '< •'" " " "'"' ■"■"'"' '^*"" '■"'* 1 ; i;' FACILITIES FOR MANUFACTURING. 203 urs and pelts employ, and profitably so. stricts, and to universal use rs which are where there e skill of an age at many int, and oper- number), all ilers, brewers, ;s, and panta- 11 Minnesota, tal workers in en, and shep- 1 and grazing though they trades, is wel- ^mperate, and work for him, ere is always 3 will, acquire, for the needs cost of labor, ,n attain what I never have districts, too, erfal muscles. Imost for the vegetables he II always com- re railroads to d sluices to be The industrious, well-behaved, and honest day-laborer can nowhere have a better chance of bettering his position than in the Great West. Not a few of the great bonanza capitalists and mine-owners have, with commendable enterprise and industry, worked their way up from this very "lass. One of these men said to a friend, a few months ago, " Tom, I read the papers now-a-days what I can, though I make rather slow work of it, for you know my early eddication was neglected, ill along of my having to carry a hod so much when I was a boy ; but I find some things in the papers that bother me. I thought I knew all the wild varn.int about here pretty well, for I have shot enough of 'em, but the papers are telling about a new one, which they say is very plenty, but I don't seem ever to have heerd of it before." j'b'^ii- vj--i. Hcl h-r-rr-A rioft/;;-.-.-. /i/.-u ;)'.fi, •'. n"l'; . . . " What do they call it?" asked his friend. "A lynix," was the answer, " and that's what bothers me ; I don't seem to remember no lynixes round here." "How do they spell it?" asked the other. " L-y-n-x— lynix," said the capitalist. " Why that spells lynx : you certainly know what lynxes are ? " **Lynx, is it ? To be sure 1 do; I've killed hundreds of 'em; but who ever thought of spelling lynx that a way; I supposed it was spelt l-i-n-k-s. What a fool I was, to be sure." .Jiuiq. ,•-<<] .1 'C l^ij'wl*-, J.^.-.i 'u^ --Tuy r ; t 11; i, i I i III': % , .!, ■-iifrK' ' ■.•--•.:.^*.:> •\. . ovK wesrsx.v empire. ^ v. steam-power is more economical than water-power, though Vre might be inclined to doubt it, where the water-supply was con- stant and from a sufficient head or height, still we can point the advocates of steam to the immense coal-beds already described, which traverse nearly or quite every State and Territory, and furnish a fuel which is very cheap, abndant and admirably adapted to its purpose. Within the rtext ten years wool will become one of the largest products of this region, iind the wool- growers of the vast grazing districts will not consent tb send their wool to the East, and have it manufactured there, to be returned to them, with its value enhanced, five or ten fold, or d6 in the finer goods, twenty or thirty fold. They will prefer to huve it manufactured in their own vicinity, and thxxs not only the cost of a double transportation saved, but a considerable portion of the manufacturer's profit also. aU.u Uiv:k;x {.^fUtot ifiU */;'' 1 Already the woollen goods of California and Oregon have a much higher reputation, in certain lines, than those produced eliiewhere in Europe or America; and comrtianding the finest and rtiost perfect machinery and workmen of the highest skill, with their wool at a lower price than it can be obtained elsewhere, there seems to b^ no good reason why any goods made wholly or in part of wool, should not be produced there, in the greatest perfection, Jind at the lowest price. The mohair goods made in part from the hair and fleece of the Angora goat, and In part frorti the long combing wool of the Cotswold or Leicester sheep, arid, in the cheaper gradfes, a filling of cotton, can be made equally well here. The fr.aterial is kll at hand for making these goods of better quality, and at lower price? than they have ever ydt brought. k In the southerri tier of States and Territories, the manufacture of cotton ^oods can find its finest development By a process discovered a few years since, the cotton can be spun into yams of all degrees of fineness, just as it comes from the field, ungihned, and with its beautiful and glossy fibres unbroken and unbruised by the teeth of the girt, while the cotton seed can be pressed for its valuable oil, and its oiincake sold tio the fftriners and stock-raisers for thtir cattle, ^fhe cloths made from this MANUFACTURES OF TEXTILES, IROif AND WOOD. ZQ$ , though we )ly was con- M\ point the y described, jrritory, and 1 admirably irs wool will nd the wool- ent t6 send there, to be :n fold, or d6 • ill prefer to not only the rable portion cgon have a ise produced ig the finest highest skill, zd elsewhere, made wholly the greatest )ods made in (oat, and In or Leicester can be made naking these ey have ever manufacture By a process n into yams )m the field, nbroken and seed can be the farmers de from this unginncd cotton will far surpass in beauty and durability any cotton goods made elsewhere ; while the cost of manufacture will be greatly reduced, and there will be no waste. Other textiles, the growth of this region — flax, hemp, jute, ramie, agave and other fibres, the cactus fibre and the tuUt rush, bunch grass, straw, etc. — can be manufactured very largely into cloths and into paper pulp, the uses of which are every day in- creasing, till already eveiything, from the driving-wheel of a locomotive, to a petroleum barrel, or a linen handkerchief, a house, a wash-pail, a lamp, or a pill-box, is made from it. But it is not simply in the department of textiles that the Great West oJfTers the best field for manufactures. Iron and steel can be smelted and manufactured more cheaply than any- where else, and the telegraph wires which span the world, the rails which stretch across the continent, the steel plates for our new navy, the huge steel guns which will constitute its offensive armament, the locomotive and stationary engine;*, and the vast and complicated machinery used in tlie reduction or smelting of gold, silver, qi'icksilver, copper, lead, or zinc, as well as the agricultural machines which now cannot be manufactured fast enough to supply the demand, and the infinitude of iron and steel castings, will all be manufactured in this western land, not simply on its borders, as now, but in the very heart of the country. ~~< The manufactures of wood in all their numberless varieties of wooden ware, furniture, machinery, carriages, wagons, carts and drays, doors, sashes, blinds, and even houses all complete, with inner walls of a compound of paper and gypsum, are already largely produced in many parts of this Great West, and are destined to an infinitely larger production, as the demand for them goes on increasing. There is than abundant room and employment for every honest, industrious man who will come, but no room for th^ idler, sluggard^ or drone. '.•v:> : .'n" ij\:i i<('''hlOi^:' fj" i-U:,-X :>,i !,:; V. i i f x6 OUJt WESTEKN BAtPlRE. \\;\ir ■.i\ .■,- CHAPTER XVIII. '\ !•■ •, •A' '"rr It- !!• I r : ( ■ II ■;';■ Thb Future, thi Glorious Futuri or this Grand Empire or the West— The Causes which have led to its Growth— Bishop Berkeley's Pre- diction—The "Empire" he saw— The Germ or the Great Repub- lic—What THE Empire is and what it is to be— Its Growth and FUTURE Capacity— The future Climate— The future Soil and Pro- ductiveness — Influence or Railroads in Developing this Reoion —The Gold and Silver Mines as aidino in the Development op the ' Country— The Future of the Mines of trk Precious Metals— The • Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains full or Gold and Silver- Results OF Increased Production of Gold and Silver— Eifect of Increased Production of other Metals — No Metal but Tin to be Imported— Mineral Earths and Elements to be Developed— Coal— V/r Petroleum— Metallic and Mineral Products of the Far West in 1880 ^.^. —The Production of a. d. 1900— Vegetable Products— Wheat— Indian |.(^ Corn— Corn Crop of 1879— Sorghum— Sorghum Sugar— Oats— Barley— 1. Rye— Buckwheat— Egyptian Rice Corn— Summing up or Cereal Products «"^— Root Crops— Potatoes — Sweet-Potatoes — Other Root Crops — ^^.^ Orchard Products— Textiles— Cotton— The future Demand roR Cotton tA —Wool— Wool Clip in a. d. 1900— Other Textiles— The Hay Crop— > Dairy Products— Tobacco— Sugar, not prom Sorghum— Hops— Summary 1|; or Vegetable Products, Exclusive or Cereals— Fisheries or THiPACiric AND the GuLr, or the Lakes and Rivers or the Inti»ior— Fish-Culturi:, Present and Prospective — Live-Stock in 1880 and ipoo-FoREST '^*' Products— Various WAys in which Wood is used and destroyed— tv Probable Value or Forest Products in 1900— Manufactures— Future f^jJor MANurACTURES— Commerce— Internal ANi> Interstate Commercb— ,yi General Summary— Character or future Population— Little Danger :^ or War— Indians— Probable early Extinction or iNbiAN Tribes— The '^* Colored Race— The Mexicans, Chinese and Japanese— Probability or A large Influx or CitiNESE on the PAoric Coast in the near Future- European iMMIORANTSf^EMIGRANTS FROM THE EASTERN UNITED StaIES —The Character of its Citizens the best Guaranty or its Futuw^^. , •< Westward the count of empire Ukei iU way i The four first acts already paat, A fifth shall close the drama with the daj } Time's noblest oflspring is the last" So wrote Bishop Berkeley more than a hundred and fifty years ago, when this Great Western Empire, which we have f,. %4s)i f. ., I M. f>f THE West— Jkrkeley's Pre- Great Repub- s Growth and Soil and Pro- [o THIS Reoion LOPMENT OP THE s Metals— The LD AND Silver — iTER— ElFECT or but Tin to be ELOPED — Coal — HR West in 1880 Wheat— Indian Dats — Barley — Cereal Products RooY Crops — lAND FOR Cotton fHE Hay Croi»— Hops — Summary IS or THE Pacific — FiSH-CULTURF, > 1900 — Forest #D destroyed — CTURES — Future TB C0MMERCB7- -Little Danger AN Tribes— The -Probability or t near Future- United STAtES its FuTOWfcff Ij • « - dred and fifty rhich wc have iiimiw«MHiriiiiiiirwiMiiwiiMmi»;iiiai«ti<^ ■^M— wy iii< I - I I l y i r iiii wf <»' ,'-,■• '** •4?- .■'■!••* ■«MilMRMiMiii«MMaM< 1:' GROWTH AND FVTVRR CAPACITY. 307 endcaiorcd to describe, was utterly unknown to the civilized world, except from the reports of adventurous navig-ators who had touched upon its southern or western shores, or the journals of Jesuit missionaries, who had established themselves in California, New Mexico, and Texas, or the few hunters and trappers who had penetrated up the Missouri or its tributaries. The empire which he then saw in vision (for he had not at the time of the publi- cation of this poem visited America) ^vas composed of the colonies, which lay between the Appalachian range and the Atlantic. A population of not more than i,200,cxx> was the nucleus of the future empire. Yet in this mere handful of people scattered along the Atlantiv* coast from Maine to Georgia, lay the germ of the grandest empire this world has ever seen — an empire destined to realize in altogether another sense than the late British premier gave to it, when he quoted a few months ago, the dictum of the great Roman orator, — Imperium et Libertas. Here is, and is to be, the umpire in its vastness of extent, its teeming population, its immensity of resources, its ripe and universal culture, and its moral power over the nations of the earth, and united with this the liOerty which is the right and privilege of a great people — a liberty which is not license, but law ; a government^ the people, for the piiople, and by the people. And of this great empire, the portion largest in population, most abundant in resources, and foremost in all great enterprises is to be the region lying between the Mississippi river and the Western Sea. To-day, this region has more than eleven millions of inhabitants. In a. d. iqcx) it will have fifty millions. In a. d. 1950 who shall say how many ? The capacity of the country, in point of production, to sustain human life, has never yet been tested ; but if, when our arable lands are not one-twentieth developed, and our grazing lands can feed twenty times the cattle and sheep now there, we are feeding fifty millions at home, and nearly twenty-five millions in Europe, what can we not do when our reisources are tasked to their full extent? But where shall we begin to speak of the future of this goodly heritage, with which Cod has endowed this Nation ? We lidve :■«!»!'*"■ 2Q8 0(/K WMSTB/lff MMPlAg. told you of US present varied but beneficent climate, with its western Gulf »tr«ain from the north, bringing mild and genial breezes to the Pacific shore ; of its torrid heals, coming up from Mexico, to bo tempered by the Arctic cold from the Valley of the Red river of the North. Is there to be an Improvement in its climates ? Wc fully believe so. The vast plains beaten almost %o the solidity of stone by the Ivoofs of the buflklo for many hundred years, arc being rapidly broken up by the plow, and warmth and moisture penetrate the soil. The rainfall is in- creasing, and these treeless plains are fast becoming clad with groves and islands of forost trees, which will turn whjut was on^c a desert into a fertile field. The mesas and plateaux beyond the Rocky Mountaijns, dr«^ined of their moisture by the deep caHons cut by the rivers, were once densely inliabited, and again, by the planting of fores'; trees, and the boring of drive and artesian wells, their capacity for cultivation, and for susuining a large population, drawn thither by their mineral wealth, will be fully restored, and the region so long remarkable for its intense heat \^ $^nimer will enjoy an equable temperature. Arc we to look for any improvement in the soil and its culti- vation ? There is every reason to expect it. The greater rainfall will render those lands arable, which have not hitherto been con- sidered so ; and irrigation, which is only yet in its infancy, will develop the best qualities of a soil, whose fertility is almost incredible. Deep plowing and careful seeding should largely increase the grain crops, and the use of forage grasses and cotton-seed cake give opportunity for much larger herds of cattle and sheep on smaller ranches, than the great herds now occupy. All these changes will conte, for the spirit of en- terprise and improvement is rife among these western citizens. It is difficult to prediict to what points the tide of inunigration will flpw most strQQgtly during the twenty or fifty years to come. The e^Ftraordinary efforts made by the railway companies, which have lands to 9ell, have had a great itvBuence in directing it toward certain States and Territories. The railway companies of Minnesota, the Northern Pacific an^l it3 feediers, have made known tp immigrant; both in £MrQ|>e and the United States, the great ''%aiM >- ( late. witii its U and genial ling up from I Valley of ihc cement in its jeatiMi almu6t ialo for many the plow, and rainfall is in- king clad with Mrhat was on<;c IX beyond the c deep caSlons 1 again, by the 3 and artesian lining a Urge 1, will be fully Ls intense he^it 1 and its culd- Lrreater rainfall erto been cen- ts infancy, will ility is almost should largely e grasses and rger herds of eat herds now spirit of cn- estern citizens. of inimigration years to come, mpanies, which in directing it ^ companies of re made known tates, the great LEAD ISC FACTORS OF IMMlCKATlOff. g^ advantages offered by the climate, soil, and manufiicturing privi- leges of Minnesota, ami especially the great ferulity and pro« diictivcncss of the Red River valley, and the lands adjacent In Dakota ; while other railroad companies in Iowa and Southeast- em Dakota have commended the farming lands of that section. The Chicago and Northwestern Railway, with its extensive con- nections, the Wabash, and the Chicago and Burlington, all of them connected with the Union and Central Pacific Railways, as well as the latter roads themselves, have rendered great service to Iowa, Nebraska, and Northern Kansas, and Colorado, as well as to the Territories beyond. So, too, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa F6 Railway has been so important a factor in the settleir«ent of Southwestern Kansas, and Southern Colo* rado, that it is within the bounds of truth to say that it has hast- ened their development by more than twenty years. The roads extending from Missouri, through Arkansas and the Indian Ter- ritory into Texas, as well as the Texan roads themselves, have added three-fourths of a million of souls to the population of that State within the past ten years. On the Pacific Slope these agencies have not been so actively at work, but they are now fast developing at the Northwest in Oregon and Washingtoh, and at the Southwest in Southern CaHfomia, Arizona and New Mexico. The wonderful development of the mines in Colorado, Mon- tana, Utah, and the Black Hills, has contributed largely to the influx of population into those sections, within the past three cr four years. There is every reason to suppose that the discov- eries of the precious metals in these States and Territories are aS yet only in their infancy, and that they will go on for years to come with increasing magnitude each year; while New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Idaho, and Nevada, with its added facilities from its Sutro and other tunnels, and possibly Eastern Oregon and Washington, will fill up the measure of prosperity in this direc- tion to overflowing. '*'^"' w-*^f^/^ l^^ ^r%n viriir.n .> /jf -.-.vtw it is vain to attempt to predict the quantities of gold and silver which will be produced in this region within the next fifty years : we only know that already the yield of silver has disturbed the pro- 1 V 14 V > V •10 OUM WMSTMMN MMP/Kg. portionatr* value of silver and gold, which had exiittrd for tltr In^t five hundred years, when fifteen ounces of silver would pun hasr an ounce of gold. Now the ounce of gold is worth more than fifteen and a half ounces of silver, and with our vastly increaHnl production it will soon require sixteen ounces to purcliasc an ounce of gold. ^,,,, ,A,,..i , ,, ' ,,. , " > The prevalent opinion among the best mining geologists Is that tlie western and some of the eastern slopes of the ranges composing the Rocky Mountain chain, and the spurs running east and west from it, are charged with lodes or vt- ins of gold and lilver-lx*aring ores; and there is every reason to bclicvf that the eastrrn, and perhaps the western slope, of the Sierra Nevada, through its whole extent, is equally rich in these ores. They have been traced as far north as the line of British America, and, indeed, beyond it; they exist in Montana, Idaho, and Eastern Oregon, and Washington, in Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona (in the last three, perhaps, most abundantly of all), and in Western Texas. The valuable mines of California are mostly on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, though a few are on the eastern slope of the Coast Range, if. p, ,^,,,[,, i. .!. i . If this opinion of the geologists shall prove to be correct therfi is nothing to prevent the opening of three hundred thousaml mines, all profitable, if well managed, and a yield of one thousand ' millions of gold and silver annually. Such a yield could not fail to produce two results : the further disturbance of the ratio between the values of gold and silver, since the production of silver will , be far greater in bulk, and probably greater even in value, than that of gold ; and a universal advance in the price of other com- modities, or, which is the same thing, a depreciation of the pur- chasing power of gold. But it is not solely in the so-called precious metals that the production will be so greatly increased ; lead is combined with ' silver in certainly eighty per cent, of the ores ; copper and zinc with both gold and silver in a very considerable proportion, and iron, platinum, osmium, and other rare metals in a small num- '.,^tf»,,: But all these metals, or rather their ores, are found in iti tXCt:K.4SK Of MhTALLVHiitCAL DtyHLOI'MRM', ill n\ for the InHt ouW |)iiriha^«* th more than istly incrcasnl > purcluuc an \ , r gCOloglHtS Is of the ran^ts rs running cast iH of K"'^ **^^ )«:lieve that the ■iicrra Nevada, le ores. They h America, and, 0, and Eastern 1 Wyoming, in three, perhaps. The valuable n slope of the rn alopc of the be correct thirf^ ndred thousaml of one thousand could not fail to le ratio between on of silver will ;n in value, than :e of other com- tion of the pur- metals that the combined with copper and zinc proportion, and in a small num* ;s, are found in great abundance without any admixture of tt)« precious moialt, and the ores of lead, copper, /inc. and iron are capable of im- mense devclopmc!nt. Another decade will hcc copper oreM reduced, and the copper refmed, in the immediate neighburhucxi of the mines, in such quantities that there will be no necessity of importation of that mctnl, and still less of sending the ciNtccn- trnted ores to Swansea, or anywhere else, for reduction. Iron and steel will be made so abundantly and cheaply from the very best ores and by the best processes, that, instead of importing either to supply our greatly increased demand, we shall export both iron and steel to all the nations around ut. Before ihe dawn of the twentieth century, tin will be the only metal we shall liave occasion to import ; and if, as seems probable, the small veins of tin already discovered in California, Nevada, Utah, CoU orado, ami Texas shall enlarge as they go deeper into the earth, this, too, may be stricken froir the lisc of our imports. Platinum, nickel, aluminium, all destined to play an important part in our manufactures, in the near future, exist here, and can be produced as cheaply as anywhere else in the world. All the metallic and mineral earths and elements used in medicine, chemistry, farming, or the useful arts, and all the salts of these, either exist as the natural productions of this region, or arc capable of easy transformation into the compounds adapted to use. Of other mineral products, coal exists in too large quantities, and of every known quality and variety, to make any lack of it possible for ages to come ; whether required for the production of heat ot* steam, for manufacturing or for smelting, for coking coal for the production of iron and steel, or for family use, an- thracite, semi-anthracite, bituminous, semi-bituminous and lig- nites, in all these forms, are to be had for the asking, at reason- able prices and at hundreds of points. Petroleum, whose existence has long been known, but which has not been largely developed, is now found in such quantities in Wyoming and California as to have already become a large item in the traffic, and will eventually prove a formidable rival of the Eastern oil wells. If, before the close of the century, eleo* \-. I '■■ \M'-CV U\ \ \ ^"i nnf'r^t "• -II - " ■-"-i-'-i-— '■ ^th*!^'ki iHt^j- 919 OtfM It'FsrXA'y KMriKK. tricity rlor« not brcomr thr iinlvf nal illuminator, thr oil wrtln of Wyoming ami California may br tnxrd to the utmost to •tipply the Illuminating and heating matcrip! for this Western Kmpirc. ' '" nin* ''iiifi •..■>.,. >.!i , -j ; . •■• »i»,,f''- ' An cminrnt mrtatturjjiHt nn<1 sclentUt ha^ recently estimatrd the entire mineral production of the region west of the Miisii* •ippi for the year 1880 as worth f 1 .ooo.o&o.ooo, and ha« jjivrn the irem« on which his rstiinatr is based. With the wonderful development which Is now takinjj place in everything appertain- ing; to mineral propulatit»n of the United States, In a. d. 1900, will be not far from one hundred millions, of whom at least 90,ooo/X3o will reqtiire wheat brerad ; and a barrel of flour, 200 pounds = eight bushels of wheat, will not be more than a fair supply for each. This would require 720,000,000 bushels for home consumption. Our last year's product (1879) was in round numbers 450,000,000 bushels, of which fully one-half, or abou* 130,000,000 bushels, was grown west of the Mississippi. But Ml export demand is now from 1 50,000,000 to 200,000,000 bush is, and is constantly increasing. Within the next twenty years, all the wheat districts of this Western Empire will be traversed so thoroughly by railroads that the wheat-grower In Montana, Oregon, or Washington will be able to obtain a fair price for his wheat, and to market It at once ; the greater part of the arable lands of the whole region, and especially the wheat lands, will be under cultivation ; better methods of plowing, seed- '4ng, and where necessary, Irrigating and fertilizing the soil, will prevail, and the lowest average for the wheat crop will be twenty INOI4N €OHH in 4, f>. IfSA Hi thr oil wrlln *• Utmost to ihis Western •i^ .1' • tly ettimatrtl f the Miosis- 1(1 ha* jjivrn he wonderful rtgf appertain- rtainly within u D. 1900 will » should esti- ed as cxces- (ducts of this years hence ? 1 the pioneer ir lands, easily r price. Wfc In A. D. 1900, rhom at least of flour, 2fX) re than a fair J bushels for 1879) was in ly one-half, or Mississippi, t) 200,000,000 5 next twenty mpire will be eat-growcr in obtain a fair greater part ally the wheat plowing, seed- the soil, will win be twenty if not twcnty-fivc IhuIkIh to tho acre. Under these circunv stances thr wheat crop of that year ou^ltt not to \m'. Icmh than a,cxx>tOao,uuu iHisheln, ami may r\( red tliut amount. This would be ample for our own supply with \,i)if\<\K),t-jtx) tnishrlHof wluat or itH c(|uival(:nt in lluur for export. This crop nhould certainly be worth |j;j,ooc>kOOO/MO. Indian corn itt thr larj^cHt of our ^raiti cropH, yirUtin^, in 1K79, ill round numbers, i,545,c)ou,(kx> Im iliels. It is not certain to mature in the extreme northern poriiuns of the Great West, but is a successful crop to the extreme houthcrn limit, requiring fuf its perfection a lunger summer than it can always command near th«' lint: of British America. We export of Indian corn an4 its various prrparationn, the e(]uivalciit of about i(X),ooo,ooo bushels, and our export of this is increasing ', though the foreign demaml for it is lesH than for wheat. Ihit our home consump* tion is largo and varied. It forms tho principal food eniployed k>«' fattening cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry, is largely used (<^ feeding horses, especially those which are constandy work'.'d< forms tlie stabile article of food of at least 6,000,000 of our peo- ple, is manuAictured into corntnoal, samp, hulled corn, or hominy, mai/ena, corn-starch, common starch, glucose, sugaf, and syrup, fusel oil and whiskey. When the price \h low, and markets not easily accessible, it is burned instead of coal, bcinj^ somewlut cheaper and making a hotter fire, Its leaves and stalks, green or dried, are used as a fodder for cattle, and from the juice of its stalks, cut when the corn is just ripe, a cane< sugar is made. In all of these ways this grain is utilized, lurge ««; the crop may be. 'Of this great crop which, at a low valuation, was worth nearly $600,000,000, a UtUe more than two-fiflh.; or about 650,000,000 bu^ols was raised in the region west of the Mississippi ; Iowsk> being second only to Illinois in the magnitude of its corn cropt and Missourip Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, and Minnesota being the other States of largest production. Although the prcduc- tion of this grain west of the Mississippi is destined to increase largely within the next twenty years, and may very possibly reach in that time the present product of the entire United •nfOJitti^iHt* •hi* ,...»«^ itit.je;^u:i.;i»ifc, . .> Mi M'>-4v*y ■ i-^^ ;,r.-*.-^!u*i--w . ai4 O^iP IVESTEK/^ EMPIRE. States or even a little more, yet we do not anticipate for it so rapid an increase proportionally as in the wheat crop, for several reasons. It cannot be grown so successfully or with as much certainty as some other crops in the whole of the region where the greatest agricultural activity and enterprise is displayed; other crops produced more easily and with greater certainty, will, to some extent, take its place. Among these we may name the pearl and other millets, and the Egyptian rice corn, all of which yield larger crops and with less labor, and are better liked by cattle, and form a less heavy food for horses and swine ; the great progress which is making in the cultivation of barley, three-fifths of the whole crop being ra'«»ed west of the Missis- sippi, and its substitution to some extent for corn for horses and cattle ; and the wonderful impulse recently given to the culture of sorghum, and especially of the early amber sorghum, for the production of sugar. All the sorghums, as well as the millets, the rice corn, and the broom corn, belong to the Zea family, and the seeds of the sorghum furnish a valuable food for animals, while its stalk yields a considerably larger quantity of saccharine juice than the Indian corn. There is, however, an increasing demand for corn for the manufacture of glucose sugar and syrup. This industry has very recently become largely devel- oped, immense factories for its production having been estab- Hshed, mostly since January, 1880, in Buffalo, Chicago, and oither cities and towns in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. One in Chicago has cost $650,000, and is said to have a capacity of 20,000 bushels of corn, equal to 300 tons of sugar per day. The net profit is said to be 300 per cent. The export demand for corn, while increasing, is not likely to be enlarged very rapidly, and will be rather in its products than in the corn itself, since its eultivation is also increasing in the south of Europe. But with the multiplication of the facilities for speedy and cheap trans- portation, the price will be enhanced, and it will no longer com- pete with coal as fuel. Should the crop of corn, in the region west of the Mississippi, amount, in a. d. 1900, to i,6db,ooo,doo bushels, it would be perfecdy safe to estimate its value at *I, 200,000,000. : ■'"' ::''U ' :.' li^'M' \ jomsMMiimm MWIMlllirw '.-.".i.&M.'JM-^ ■ 11 f ate for it so p, for several 'ith as much region where is displayed ; ter certainty, ve may name e corn, all of » better liked d swine; the )n of barley, f the Missis- )r horses and to the culture ghum, for the as the millets, ta family, and 1 for animals, of saccharine an increasing >e sugar and largely devel- r been estab- Chicago, and owa. One in a capacity of )er day. The •t demand for very rapidly, itself, since its pe. But with cheap trans- o longer com- in the region i,6do,cxx),doo its value, at 'Jim SORGHVii. 315 We have alluded to the great probable increase in the culture of sorghum, and especially of the early amber variety, which ripens its seed long before frost comes. Though the smallest of the sorghums, and yielding a smaller quantity of juice than the other, the early amber kind is the one best adcpted to the Northern States and Territories. Careful and oft-repeated ex- periments demonstrate that in ordinarily good corn-land, either by manuring and irrigation, or without, as is the case in most of the arable lands of the Great West, a crop can be raised which will yield on an average a ton or more of raw crystallized sugar to the acre.* With that yield it would be by far the most pro- fitable crop which could be cultivated, as, in addition to the sugar, the leaves and seed form a very valuable food for cattle, and even the bagasse or exhausted stalks, where not required to furnish fuel for the evaporators, have a value for paper stock and for other purposes. Even if but three-quarters of a ton of sugar could be made to the acre, worth from $70 to $75 per ton, which is considerably below the present price of raw sugar, it would still be a very profitable crop, and one for which there wojld be an unlimited demand. We are importing annually from $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 value of sugar and sugar pro- ducts, besides the amount made in Florida, Louisiana and Texas from the sugar-cane ; and all our exertions to increase the pro- duction of sugar from the cane have proved ineffectual, and must continue to do so, because the sugar-cane cannot grow here from the seed, but is only propagated by cuttings, and gives but imperfect results, with very frequent failures. The culture cf the sugar-beet for sugar has not, so far, proved successful on a large scale, ani cannot probably compete with the sorghum. If, by the cultivation of this plant, we can supply the present and constantly increasing demand for sugar, and prevent any necessity ot importation, the devotion of three or five million acres to this crop will be one of the best measures which our Western farmers can adopt. The processes for sugar-making ° '*Tbe esperimenU of the Agricultural Department in 1879, which were nil with the early amber cane, give an average of 1,588 pounds to the acre, but these were not a fair test of what can be accomplished with other and larger varieties. ';rT MK ^.'it~iA^ '^,000 fpr it twenty )'ears hence, with our population doubled, and their appetite for Kweets increased. "the next great cereal crop is oais, of which we now raise iibout 420,000,000 bipshels in the entire United States, of which »)ne-third is grown west of the Mississippi. The present vsdue v)f the entitle; crop is alpout $125,000,000. Oats are so valuable both for human and animal food that w^ may confidently expect tl)at the crop, whioh. is , so well adapt;e4 to the I^Ojrthern and Ce^ntral State;^ and Territories, a^nd yields po bountifully there (seventy to, eighty bushels or more to the acrq), will be more largely cultivated each year. Our expprts of this graip> though iw)^ large (5,50Q,pap bushels in 1879), c^re increa^ .-, while our ^mpQrts «f it have nearly ceased. , W^ m?iy s^ifply '^f;v down the oat,:Crp|>: of thei Qreat West* in a., J?u igoot i^t 'or x)0,poo bushej^, audits inoiv?y value as at l^^s^ $^ 75,900,000.,, ^i /mmtsfm«isiu.-ii RYE AND BUCKWHEAT. «I7 : than those y from ;|^ioo ch will yield le syrup can General Le ything more lould be one hum is culti- out the year lOt to be for- product, and be, fhc con- the increase 3,000,000 for for it twenty • appetite for ;^e now raise ites, of which ;)resent value e so valuable deotly expect 'Northern and intifully there wiU be more grain, though i'^ while our t; aown the 5vy ^i9po of which we ajid import ch, ft i^ to be PI'S, ^8. for its the German, an article of ahd on suit- able soils yields almost as largely. It brings from seventy-five cents to a dollar a bushel, and on the newer lands is a fairly profitable crop. The product of barley in the Great West, in A. D. 1 900, may be safely set down at 200,000,000 bushels, and worth as many dollars. Rye will also increase moderately. The crop for the whole country now ranges from 23,000,000 to 28,000,000 bushels, and it is worth from sixty to eighty cents per bushel. No^ quite one- fourth of the whole crop was grown west of the Mississippi. It is not here, as in Europe, now largely used for food, though there is some demand for it in the manufacture of whiskey ; it is seldom fed to cattle, but with the influx of emigrants from Central and Southern Europe, it will be more largely used for iij-j iw. , !-)^trt( ft .' ^/■.ai P'l'iiirf'ffivi ni ' ./I;*' vn t«'fi Kt It grows well on poor soils, and most of the soil in the Great West is too rich for it. It may reach 50,000,000 bushels, west of the Mississippi, by a. d. 19100, but that will be its utmost limit. Buckwheat, the cereal which is least grown in the United J?l!ates, its largest crop being only a little more than 1 3,000,000 bushels, is Hardly an appreciable crop, west of the Mississippi, 3'^o,ooo bushels being the largest crop ever grown there. It is nttt probable that it will become a very important crop at any tihie, though it may reach 4,000,060 or 5,000,000 bushels, worth fifty or sixty ttfents per bushel. - '^ - - . Vi 1 1 The Egyptian rice corn, ani3' tfie p'eiart*''itfiiltiet, boih cereaKs, belonging' to the millet fkmily, are likely to be largely cultivated, vHthin the n^j^t twenty years, both as folfage plants, and for their ^e^ or giratns. Tliey yield nearly as liiueh seed as oats, and Ac amount of fodder -^krhich may be cut from them is from forty to eighty tons of green' forage, or frdm sc*vl^h *** ten tons of d'ry, in threei cuttingi, in a Single season. T^e grain of the rice corn is regarded by r to Indian corn for cattle and hogs, and many prefer Its meal to corn or oat meal for human food. We may confidently expect that from tiiese Qerealft or their congeners, the crop of a. d. £900, west of the Mfississippf, tvIIT rtdt be less than, 50^009,099 bushels of see4 9r. its equivalent of forage. ,/ *« ta ...< ,i-^mvtJt'*» ^■'« " tKv> .<*.ii* ■-^j^.^t y§^ bn***^ i;«*i«ss«ii«'- H> kVinMtl-. .«4< \.iLa.,iiii*mv!JiSMPiii.'i',i ■i^M i\-' i' i ai8 0C//1 H^ESTEKJ^ EAtP/KE. Thus much for the cereals.* We foot up the crop of a. d. 1900 as follows: , _ ■.. , ,, W^f*' a,ooo,6oo,ooo bushels, Value $3,000,000,000 Indian Corn . . . 1,600,000,000 '« ",, . 1,300,000,000 Sorghum Sugar, etc. . *» 500,000,000 ^**' SOv,ooo,ooo " . . **-... 175,000,000 Barley , .y^^ . . . 300,000,000 " W 300,000,000 Ry« • ..... 50,000,000 •' ,,r M .. 40,000,000 Buckwheat '. . . 5,000,000 " ' " r ,. . 3,500,000 Millet and Rice Corn 50,000,000 with forage, " . " 50,000,000 '„ ,■■'«'''/ , ' _— __ •■»-;i ;\ <-^,'Jt. ']■; ;>-i;ii':...h;nRnit*/j|i k5 w •(■.A hzi.:^ $4,167,500,000 df the cereal production at dates still farther in the future it is not wise to speak. Circumstances may change ; an oriental population, if largely in the ascendancy, may prefer other grains, and cultivate them by other processes, in the coming century ; or root crops, or such edibles as the bread-fruit, the cassava, or the pith of the sago-palm, may be deemed preferable to those grains which we have been accustomed to consider the staff of life. The future century must provide its own bread; ^,j\ 44, ,. We turn next to the root crops and the vegetables, which, though perhaps neither tubers, nor bulbs, serve to sustain life in man and beast. Potatoes rank first in the list— our common, sometimes called Irish potatoes — because they did not come from Ireland,— -the Solanum tuberosum. Of these about 185,000,000 bushels were grown in 1879, although it was not regarded as a very favorable year for this crop. Of these about one-third, or 62,000,000 bushels, were grown west of the Mississippi. The labor of harvesting this crop is greater than that required on some others, though now materially diminished by the use of the potato-digger; but very few crops pay as well. In all the newer * We have not deemed it nece^uy t9 ipeak of the production of »»«,«f which there are a fcw plantations in Western Louisiana and Texas j it is undoubtedly capable of great develop- ment, and in the event of a large mignition of Mongolians to thU Western Empire within the next twenty years, may receive it; but the experience of all the past U that, in warm climates, the culUvatioa of such cereal* a* require much labor and exposure of life and health, is not successfully prosecuted, except where labor is compalsoiy. Other cereals more easily cul- tivated will be subrtiluted for this. The wiU rut, a plant of northern growth, is ««tenIi:;V ' ?p J ?'< W ' wwitwffi mnwwmiHi-. crop of A. D. • i> * if':. |3, 000,000,000 1,300,000,000 500,000,000 ' •" 175,000,000 300,000,000 40,000,000 3,500,000 50,000,000 14,167,500,000 I the future it ; an oriental other grains, ling century; le cassava, or able to those r the staff of id. tables, which, sustain life in 3ur common, lot come from t i85,ooo,cxx) egarded as a one-third, or issippi. The required on le use of the all. the newer which there are a i ct gteat dcvelop- Empire within the is that, in warm of life and heahh, lb more euiiy ciri- wth, i* «(tensivelj VEGETABLE AND ROOT CROPS. 319 lands, and many of the old ones, the yield is from 1 50 to 400 or even 500 bushels to the acre, while the price at the nearest market seldom falls below thirty-three cents per bushel, and ranges from this to sixty cents. A crop which will bring from $60 to %\i^ per acre is a profitable crop for the emigrant to raise, and as there is, and is likely to be, a demand for all that are grown, we may well expect that there will be a great increase in the production. The autumn of the year 1900 will very pos- sibly give a crop of potatoes, west of the Mississippi, of not less than 650,000,000 bushels, worth probably half that number of dollars. ' 1 ' i . ^ The swett potato an^ yam, though largely grown in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and Kansas, will never approach to these figures, but may, twenty years hence, yield 50,000,000 bushels, and at a value of perhaps seventy-five cents per bushel. Neither of these tubers are exported to any great extent. In 1879, 625,000 bushels of the common potato were shipped to other countries, 550,000 bushels going to the West Indies and South America. There is some prospect of an in- crease of this demand both from the Pacific and the Texan ports, biit the principal consumption will continue to be in the home markets. Of the other root and vegetable crops, turnips, rutabagas, onions, leeks, mangel-wurzel, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, peas, beans, pumpkins, squashes, melons, okra, spinage, celery, cucum- bers, tomatoes, pie-plant, egg-plants, salsify, green corn, radishes, lettuce, etc., though we know the present aggregate to be very large, and the prospective one vasriy greater, yet it is difficult to arrive at any very definite estimates concerning it. The census of 1870 reported these products very imperfectly, probably omitting more than it reported. Its aggregates were nearly j|2 7,000,000, while it is perfectly safe to put down the actual production as nearly or quite 1^50,000,000. Since that time these products have undergone an immense development, and what- ever may be the census figures, the actual production cannot fall short of $100,000,000; indeed, the consumption of twenty- five of our largest cities would very nearly reach that sum. We M K I: ''-'1 %^ !■• I Ik- 'i ,. ' m w mi m m ■ mm - —u-estait!^-' ' ■ until rii«>^''»<» ,iiIM»OH.^I|- .nil' .^T,-f-f'T-^T^-'^-«^--^'-«-'t''»* ;%-it'-J«US>'. a,M> 0 mU J.i/>:pb(ii ;(!Cit»;oocj,ooj| lo jn:;»fl&,lIjBt ,^ ^e cultufS; prGQtt9i^ m the Soutih' is not so scientific and tho^, iTii^ir^f.. TEXTILES. iti se articles by in A. D. 1900, including tlie 31 apples, and >e considered, ites, so far as tliat time the ive nearly or then was set rted, in 1878, han half her advance, and ita, and Iowa lillion dollars ! whole coun- ;gion west of )f 1879-80 is this country, mn and early, il. it is esti" rorth not less rop is raised icas, and Ar- :ona, Kansas, Fhe State of uncultivated, of 1879, but iptioi) of the as the cotton )f cultivation le sterile^ithe of ihe cotton >ite >^ULykW; ifijc and tho?- ough as it should be. The average yield per acre in Texas is only about 375 pounds per acre, when it should be, and might be, with proper management, 960 pounds. Greater efforts for improvement are now making than at any previous time, and these cannot fail to result in increased production per acre. Twenty years hence the largest demand for cotton will be for home consumption. Now less than one-third of the crop is retained here, and all the rest exported. That demand may reach 10,000,000 or 1 1,000,000 bales. If it does so, we believe that the whole amount or nearly the whole will be grown west of the Mississippi. We are led to this conclusion from the fact that the tend'ency in all our manufactures is to bring the place of manufacture as nearly as possible to the place of the produc- tion of the mw material. This is particularly true where the raw material is bulky and cumbrous, as is the case with cotton. For many long years the cotton was brought with great labor and cost to the shipping ports, sent thence to England and France, vhere it was made into yarns, thread, and fabrics, and these re» exported hither, and thus we were buying back our own cotton and paying from 400 to 600 per cent, lor the privilege of doing so. Our manufacturers in New England sought to save a part, of these profits to our own people, but the transportation of th« cotton from the South to New England cost nearly as much as to '^ngland, and though there was some gain, yet there was a more excellent way. Already the change has begun, and it wlH^ be carried forward with rapidity. The yarns, at least, will be made from the unginned cotton, near the place where it is grown, and the seed utilized for oil and food for cattle and horses, while ^ yarn supplied to mills, perhaps in an adjacent State, is there manufacttfr^d into cloths, stronger, more lustrous, more beau- tiful, and wearing^ longer than any made in English, French, or Northern mills, and at a lower price. Manufacturing in this way, we can export our goods instead of our raw material ; since no other nation can compete with us, either in the cheapness or the intrinsic value of our cotton goods. China, India, South America, Europe, and Northern and Southern Africa, and Aus- tralasia AMlh gladly tkke all the cotton goods we can spare,* and '•(■■ \'.v ■' m. . **»W3«ie'itw«tteiLt»r/ai'j«rfsti>>»i^a^iri^ ' 222 OVR WEHTRRN liA/P/.K'i:. V. \ it will task the energies of our manufacturers to supply all these and our home market; while our agriculturists will be stimulated by the demand to make two bales of cotton grow where now only a half bale is grown. Wool has improved as much in quality as it has increased in quantity within the past decade, and the improvement and in- crease has but just begun. The wool clip of the region west of the Mississippi in 1879 exceeded 100,000,000 pounds, and was fully equal in quantity, and much superior in quality, to that of the whole United States in 1870. . ..k,?,^ ^.,1 j^.,.; The rapid multiplication of flocks of sheep of improved grades, throughout the whole region, insures to that region within twenty years, an annual clip of not less than 350,000,000 pounds, of an average value of not less than twenty-two cents per pound, or an aggregate of $77,000,000. This will all be required at home, and we shall cease to import wool for our manufacturers. The hair of the Angora goat and the grade goats, and possibly also that of the camel, will also be largely in demand, and there will be a sufficient supply at remunerative prices. Probably these textiles will make up the,junount to full $100,000,000 by the year a. d. 1900. ■[' ? * » Raw, or ratlier reeled silk, is now imported, to the extent of from $7,000,000 to $1 2,000,000 annually, to be manufactured here. If common sense, without excitement or mania of any sort, shall ever take possession of the minds of our people on tne subject of rearing silkworms, every farmer who has been five years on his place will be as sure to have a cocoonery as he will to have a barn. The children and young women of the household will rear the worms, gather and stifle the cocoons, and the town or village filature will reel them. Then instead of sending $1 2,000,000 abroad for raw silk, and $25,000^000 more for silk goods, we shall export both. Fifty millions of dollars wiH be less than the value of our raw silk and silk products, raised and made west of the Mississippi in the year a. d. 1900. Of the other textiles proper, flax, hemp, ramie, Jute, cactus fibre, etc., they are all destined to have a considerable develop- ment, and if methods of bleaching e^ual to those provided by . ' i^Mmi»miimmimmmmmmmmumtim mwiimnaiiiMai » THE HAY CKOr AND DAIRY /NTEKKST. aaj upply all these 1 be stimulated ow where now as increased in ement and in- region west of >unds. and was \ to that of the proved grades, I within twenty pounds, of an per pound, or uired at home, icturers. The d possibly also and there will Probably these xx),ooo by the to the extent manufactured mania of any >ur people on vho has been icoonery as he women of the e cocoons, and en instead of 3,0oo more for )f dollars wiH oducts, raised 19CO. (?, juie, cactus 'able develop- eprQvidqd by nature in Ireland, can be invented or discovered, there is no good reason why the culture of tlax, ramie, jute, hemp, nettle and cactus fibre, should not increase to an enormous extent. Flax is now cultivated principally for its seed, and the oil obtained from it. The present value of this for the United States is about $5,000,000 ; that of hemp about |2,ooo,ooo, and of the other textilies perhaps $150,000 in all. To what extent these values may be increased within the next twenty years it is impossible to say. We imported in the year 1879 nearly $1,000,000 worth of raw flax, and $1,829,000 of raw hemp; and $14,600,000 worth of manufactures of flax, and $107,000 worth of manufactured hemp, $3,781,037 worth of raw jute, and $1,776,750 worth of manufactured jute. All of these articles and raw material should be produced here, and perhaps they will be, within twenty years. But we have not yet noticed a crop which ranks third among our great national products, being surpassed only by Indian corn and wheat — the hay crop. In 1879 this was estimated by the United States Agricultural Department a/ 35,648,000 tons, having a value of $325,851,280. This crop, in the nature of the case, must increase ; the great increase of cattle and sheep will require it, in all the Northern and Middle States nd Territories of the Great West,' and the magnitude which the dairy interest is assuming, will add to the necessity. Under this general head of hay, all plants cultivated for forage must be included. Much of the hay, in the north especially, is wild, and costs only the labor and expense of the gathering, but this will eventually give way to the cultivated grasses. The vailue of the hay crop of tlie Great West in a. d. i 900 will not be less than $700,000,000. Intimately associated with this crop is the dairy interest, which is now rapidly increasing under the stimulus of a large export demand, a demand which, by good management, may be almost indefinitely enlarged. The exports of butter and cheese in the year ending June 30, 1879, were $18,000,000, and for the coming year they 'will probably be much greater. It is estimated that 1,500,000,000 pounds of butter are now made in this country, and about 900,000,000 pounds of cheese; 1,000,000,000 gallons of milk are sold, and condensed milk to the extent of about f. ■I % if 4iK>-'rlUiBHn^4>*4»canc, maple and sugar-beet. The value of these products in 1879 vas about $18,000,000, and it does not seem to us likely to increase. As the sorghum sugar begins to tak^ possession of the market, the sugar from the cane Ix'ing in som : sense a forced product, and an uncertain crop, will fall off. The sugar maple is not a very abundant forest treo west of the Mis sissippi, and will not greatly increase its present production of sugar ; while the sugar*beet sugar is so dependent upon the soil, and upon rather complicated processes of manufacture, and costs so much more to make than the sorghum, that it cannot add very materially to the aggregate production. We should be loth to allow more than $15,000,000 as the value of these products in A. D. 1900 west of the Mississippi. Adding to these the glucose' product, mostly from corn, and we have probably $75,000,000. 3. Hops have been a very uncertain crop, cultivated only in certain localities, and in many instances failing even there. It has been more successful in California than elsewhere in the West, but is so unreliable that it is difficult to estimate its prob- able prospective value. The crop of 1877 was the best for several years. It was about 23,000,000 pounds, and was valued at about $4,250,000 dollars. That of 1879 would not bring half that amount. It is doubtful if it will ever be worth $3,000,000 west of the MisstssippL >ft*m r^*fi.'>£>O0v. tmAiHof^-tifi- .»&#»• ■ :he Mianinsippi ,000 worth of t demand may :losc our .sum spectivc, viz.: years, but its production of large, as some regarded as a , If that region United States lewhat better. y:ar and syrup value of thcsi! 3oes not seem begins to tak'^ tK'ing in som : fall off. The St of the Mis production of upon the soil, ;ure, and costs nnot add very iild be loth to e products in le the glucose ' r $75,ooo,cxx). ated only in en there. It where in the late its prob- the best for d was valued lot bring half th $3,ooo,cxx) SCmUNV OF OTNKK CKOPa. ^1% Tlic oil-lx-aring plants and Heedn arc largely those; which have other claims to be cuiisidcrcd than the oil they pn)diice. Yet they ought not to go entirely unnoticed. Cottun-sced oil is in such demand that its production is sure to increase largely. Linseed oil is also in great demand ; the oil front colza or rape- seed, and the other vegetable seeds of its class, tar-weed, sesame, etc., is always sure of a market, and the pea-nut 't ground-nut is now largely cultivated for its oil. The castor-oil plant {Ricinus communis and sanguinarius) is largely cultivated in several States for its oil ; and we are just beginning in California, Texas, Arizona, and some other States, the cultivation of the olive, mainly for its oil. It is difficult to estimate the amount of all these oils which will be produced beyond the Mississippi twenty years hence with any great definiteness, but probably of them all, $25,000,000 would be a very low valuation. Let us sum up now in regard to these farm crops other than cereals, and their yield in a. d. 1900. The Common, or Irish Potato . . 650,000,000 bushels, Value 1335,000,000 Sweet Potatoes 50,000,000 " " 37,500,000 Market-Garden Vegetables of all kinds ...... " 150,000,000 Orchard Products •' 310,000,000 Textiles— Cotton 10,500,000 bales *' 588,000,000 ^ wool ..•••» " 77,000,000 .»^s Kli Goat's Hair, Alpaca, and Camel's Hair . . . " 83,000,000 Silk and Silk Products « 50,000,000 Flax, Hemp, Jute, etc. . . , . , .... " 30,000,000 Hay and Forage ■ ,yr ,ij j. ^ '^f.^.,* .♦. ^.\,.^ » r .f,', •. f* . ; " 700,000,000 Dairy Products ., .',♦,». f • . . • . . . " 600,000,000 Tobacco .,...,,.. «• 35,000,000 Sugar and Syrup, not from Sorghum . . . 'U*- . . " 75,000,000 Hops «• 3,000,000 Oils ofVegetableProduction,Cotton-Seed, Linseed, Olive, etc. " 25,000,000 -iiU .;.-;, Total. » '. . V »- > ♦ , , ♦-'; k i , |3,o>8,soo,ooo The fisheries of the Great West demand our attention also. The salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast and of the Columbia river have already attained a great magnitude, and but for the artificial replenishing of its waters with this right royal fish, they I 3 %■■ I a^ OUM WKSTRKN KMtlRR. would exhaust the supply within trn or fiflrrn yrars. In 1H78 morr than 1 1 n,cxx>,cxx> worth of cannrti Kaiinon wan nhippcU from the vicinity of the Columbia river, and in 1879 the catch ami khipmrntn wrre fifty per cent, greater than the prrviouH year. Salmon are also brought in large (juantiticH irum our great northern Territory of Alaska. !; Hut this vast product from a single fiHh, greater than all the products of all the fisheries in the United .States, in 1K70, by twenty-five per cent., by no mcann cxhauHts the resources of the fisheries of the Pacific The seal, sea-otter, nca-Iion, and other fisheries of the mammals of the sea, amount to over 1113,500,000. while the markets of the Pacific coast swarm with fish of all kinds ; and the whale fishery, concluded Irom Pacific ports, lias taken the place of that from the former wluling ports of tlie At- lantic. The Great Uakos at the Northeast and the coa!>i. of Texas and Louisiar? on the South are teeming with edible fish. But far beyond these, in its aggregates, within the next twenty years, will be the fisheries of smaller 'ikcs and rivers from artifi- cial propagation. Every State an* 'ritory of the interior can profit by this. Minnesota claims /.vajo lakes, many of them of considerable size ; Dakota, Montana, Oregon, and Washington abound in lakes. California has many, and most of them of great purity. Utah has them both of fresh and salt water, and all the States and Terfitories have greater or less numbers. Then the rivers, which have their sources and many of them their entire course in this region : the Columbia with its gigantic affluents, the Clarke and Lewis, or .Snake; the Missouri, with its scores of affliAents, some of them themselves mighty rivers ; the Pl?itte, the Kansas, the Arkansas, the Red river of the South, and the Red river of the North ; the Brazos, the Colorado, and the Rio Grande of Texas and New Mexico ; the great Colorado of the West with its tributaries, the Grand, Green, San Juan and Little Colorado, the Sacramento and San Joaquin of California, and the Gila of Arizona, and the numerous bays and estuaries iqfl the PacififC ^pcjIGulf coasts are al^o teem/ng with the finny tpbes. All these Ia^.s, rivers and estuaries are now b^ng ^ficked. or ha^ve already been supplied with thousands and vc^\. 'I'.,, ' \\ atmtim l/rMMTVCAT /A A, D. 190a, »J7 yrarn. In 1H78 ^n wuN Hhippcd 1879 the calch in the prcvioiiH ititicH irutn out I Xer than all the itPH, in 1870, by rcsourccH of the i-lion, and other over $3,500,000, with fiiih of nil 'acific ports, las ports of ilie At- id the coa>k. of vith edible fish. the next twenty ivers from artifi- thc interior can lany of them of nd Washington ost of them of salt water, and less numbers. many of them with its gigantic issouri, with its hty rivers ; the the South, and orado, and the at Colorado of S^n Juan and n of California, s and estuaries with the finny are no^v bfcirvg isands and i9iL V '')':, K: lioMM of young fish of the \H'%t kinds; the Urgrr luken have the lake trout, the land ItK'ked Halrnon, the white fish, th^* muMkc* longc-, the blai:k Imnh, tlie grayling, and the Ninaller fry; th«i Htn*amM are replrninhed witit the brook trout, which, in Home of ihvni, att^iuM a huge huv., while in the HtrcamM (lowing into the Msa, the 4Jklmon in intriHluccd, or it*i waste Hupplicd, the khui.!, striped \m%h, wlute ('ihI), SpaniHh muckc;rrl, and other fmh e()ua!l) valuable, but nut ho well known, are inlroiluced in large num- berH. The result iit likely to be that fish will be pit nliful in all partH of the West, and at Huch priccH an to make them in de- mand for the food of all clasHes. Die finh product of the Great WeKt in A. u. 1900 will not fall below ;;^ 1 o^>,uuu,ouo. We turn next to the live Htock of tliiA vast region. In 1870 thft States! and Territories west of tie MiiiHisHippi held, accord- ing to the census of that year, live-stock of the value of $347,- 350,790. In the summer of 1878 the numbers and value of the live-stock of the .s:\tiie region had increased until was worUi, at the very low ^'rices then ruling, $625,314,521, which was divided as follows: IIorseN, $204,753,432; mules and asses, $4S>i^7'S^'< niilch cows, $92,870,880; oxen and other cattle, $'95,237,488; sheep, $39,424,200; swine, $47,160,981. The ratio of increase which had ruled from 1875 to 1878, if continued in 1879 and 1880 (and it has gone much beyond the average of those yean'.), would give for the value of live-stock, in the sum- mer of 1880, in these States and Territories, $706,518,831 ; a lit- tle more than double the value of the live-stock of the same region in 1870. We are warranted in believing that, owing to the extraordinary activity displayed in all parts of that region, in the rearing of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and goats, and the great care taken to improve the stock, as well as the increased attention paid to the breeding of milch cows, the census of 1890 will show the value of live-stock to be not less than $1,500,000,- 000, and that of 1900 somewhat more than $3,000,000,000. The greater part of this increase will be in the items of horses and mules, of milch cows, and of catUe for draught and for sale, and of sheep. Swine will increase when the population shall increase, btit their increase will not be proportionally as rapid as that of 5h«:ep or neat cattle. < \ , i.« 228 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. 1 \ I: •■ \ if-' It is difficult to estimate what may be the future supply of the products of the forest. Under this head are included all the timber, spars, and lumber exported or consumed in our own country, all railroad ties and track beams, all the wood used for fuel and for fencing, clap-boards, laths, shingles, telegraph poles, hoop-poles, shocks, staves, hogsheads, and barrels, every description of wooden war a, the wooden portion of agricultural and other machines, house furniture, the wood used for car- riages, cars, wagons, trucks, sleighs a'ld sleds, the consumption for spools, matches, tooth-picks, etc., etc., all barks of trees or shrubs used for tanning purposes, the wood made into paper pulp, all the tar, pitch, turpentine, rosin, and wood spirits, charcoal, crude, pot, and pearl ashes, and wood ashes generally . The timber and lumber production aione was in 1870, in the region west of the Mississippi, of the value of nearly $125,- 000,000, and since th^t time it has enormously increased. The extensive forests of Northern Minnesota have furnished logs enough for the immense jaw-mills of Minneapolis and the upper waters of the Mississippi and its tributaries, to manufac- ture into timber, lumber, shingles, and staves for its great flour- ing mills, and for a wide region of the Northwest ; and Washing- ton and Oregon have been increasing, to an almost equal extent, their lumber production. The 40,000 miles of railway has gathered up all the available timber within its reach for railway ties and telegraph poles, for stations, snow-sheds, and signal- posts. The factories, which are turning out so many scores of thousands of agricultural machines and implements every year, are eating up the forest at a fearful rate ; the furniture produc- tion, though less extensive here than in the East, yet consumes year after year, vast quantities of the harder woods, as well as much pine and cedar. The consumption of the forest trees for fuel has been enormous and wasteful. In the mining regions, fjharcbal has been largely used instead of mineral coal for smelt- ing and reduction of the metals The production of small articles of wood, such as spools, matches, tooth-picks, nine-pins, and of paper pulp, from bass wood, etc., etc., has used a far greater amount than is getierally supposed. Fencing the farms has also 'l:'.'\A., ■v«;. ture supply of iciuded all the :d in our own wood used for fles, telegraph barrels, every of agricultural used for car e consumption •ks of trees or ade into paper wood spirits, shes generally . in 1870, in the f nearly $125,- icreased. The furnished logs polis and the ss, to manufac- its great flour- and Washing- st equal extent, f railway has ch for railway Is, and signal- lany scores of ts every year, niture produc- yet consumes ds, as well as forest trees for lining regions, coal forsmelt- 3f small articles e-plns, and of a far greater farms has also PRODUCTS OF THE FOREST 330 required vast quantities of timber, and the erection of log- houses, the timbering of mines, tunnels, and sliafts wh* h requires in some sections all the available timber for many hun- dred square miles ; the erection of bridges, and the making of corduroy roads, have added to the consumption of the forest till its aggregate, in any year of the past ten, must be enormous. The use of the bark of the hemlocks and oaks for tanning pur- poses has not iiitherto been as great in the West as in the East, but it is increasing, and unless it can be supplied by the watde, the mezquite, the sumacs, or the hardbacks, it must prove very largely destructive of timber ; and on the Pacific coast and in Louisiana and Texas there is a constandy increasing demand for naval stores, tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine, which will ere long denude the mountains of the pine forests. In all these ways the products of the forest annually con- sumed ir the region west of the Mississippi cannot have been less than $500,000,000 at any fair valuation, and may have gready exceeded that sum. Unless the planting of trees goes on much more rapidly tlian now, in the immediate future, and some means are found of substituting other materials for wood, in many ol the purposes for which it is now used ; as iron and glass for buildings; glass, metal, or stone for railroad ties; paper made from straw and condensed into a hard wood for furniture ; artificial stone or cement for supports of mines ; and coal for fuel and smeldng purposes, the whole West wiU be, by the year 1 900, a treeless region ; but before that time comes, the coming scarcity of forest trees will enhance the price of all the products, and even if the consumption should be no greater than now, its money value would not be less than a thousand million dollars; .w.;,ri? ifix. « , ^-..-.f .U. +,..t • . ^.,^ -.. .-v.?' «iriJTie manufacturing industry of this region did not make a comparatively large showing in 1870 with the Eastern States. Of the $4,332,325,442 of reported manufactured products for the preceding year, only $437,232,117, a less amount, probably, by$6o,cxx),C)OOor$7o,ooo,oc)o than the existing condition of manu- factures there warranted, was set down as the production ol the entire Western region, and of this amount, nearly one-half was to '•' 'ii**»'»ti»^iM'i^mimsiii>itm^»ii^.:s -^»^^*»ii€AdkS'i^ffifS»%MJ^^S^;^^^ ^ t jK.tatiiiiL-jA.i.'f '.r,-~ •i I ^30 f>^Jf WF.STE/IN EMPIRE. the credit of Missouri alone. At that time only Missouri, Califor- nia, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Texas had manufactures exceeding in value $10,000,000. The other States and Terri- tories were new, and had not yet emerged from their almost wholly agricultural condition. Nine years later, Minnesota had manufacturing industries exceeding $75,000,000 in value ; Kah- sas about $95,000,000; Iowa more than $100,000,000; California more than $150,000,000; Texas about $50,000,000 ; and Missouri over $300,000,000. The newer States and Territories were wheeling into line, and in 1879-80 the total manufacturing interest of this region was over $1,000,000,000. In the near future, the amount of manufacturing here will exceed that in the East. The water-power, the raw material the coal, the iron, the cotton, the wool, flax, hemp, jute, etc^ the wood, copper, lead, zinc, grain, paper, and paper stock, every- thing indeed which enters into the composition of any kind of manufactured goods, is at hand. The skilled labor is there also, and if the capital is not now, it soon will be. It is not a rash or liap-hazard prediction, which we make, when we say that the census of a. d. 1900 (the twelfth census) will show that the manu- factures of the region West of the Mississippi exceed in annual product $5,000,000,000. '*• •*'^'^^^^' ■ -^^'^m--^^ ^^^mm^'^-m'^^H^m. ;* The amount of the commerce of this Western Empire at ^e end of the next twenty years is not easily predicted. The number of good seaports on the Pacific coast is not as large as on the corresponding extent of the Atlantic, but a few of them are among the best in the worid. On the Gulf coast, aside from New Orleans, which hardly belongs to our Western Empire, none of the ports are of ♦^he first-class, though several are good for all but the largest vessels. There is alsb A great extent of river and some lake navigation. The commerce with 'Eastern Asia, with Australasia, with the Sandwich Islands, with the Northwest Coast, Mexico, Central America, and ^Snt west coast of South America ts likely to be greatly increased, and from the Gulf ports, Europe, the Mediterranean, NorA^m Africa, India, and the eastern coast of South America will be 'Veadily reached. ' " f^^ ::, I ssoiiri, Califor- manufactures tes and Terri- 1 their almost tfinnesota had 1 value; Kah- oo; California ; and Missouri jrritories were manufacturing i ring "here Will w material the , jute, etCo the rr stock, every- of any kind of >r is there also, s not a rash or e say that the that the manu- ceed in annual ;rn Empire at redicted. The is not as large :, but a few of he Gulf coast, I our Western flrough several als6 4 great :ommerce with :h Islands, with ., and Ae w6st increaseii, and lean, Nortiiftrn merica will be SUMMARY OF ANNUAL PRODUCTION. 23 1 ^' The internal and interstate coAimerce, by coast and river steamers, and by the numberless railroads which gridiron the whole region, will aUo attain a magnitude almost beyond our conception. On the ocean nnd coast steamers, the river steamers, and the railroad freight trains, almost the entire yield of our mines, placers and quarries, of the farms and forest pro- ducts, and all the surplusage of live-stock, as well as the wool and hides, and the flesh of all the slaughtered animiils, all the machinery, dry-goods, groceries, hardware, drugs, dils, etc., in- tended for the consuiT^ption of 50,000,000 of people, will be car- ried. We dare not attempt to reckon up the aggregate t>f this commerce, test we should be accused of oriental extravagance of statement; but a summary of the various items of production, which Nve have demonstrated as probable twenty years hence, will give some idea of what the Outgoing commerce of that period may be, and the incoming commercial receipts will be very nearly as mucb more. ;. , ' ' . "^ . '' '•■ We sum up, then, as follows : . . . ;. , - ' Mining Products and Quarries in A. D. 1900 . . . ,*p,.s, Textiles, Maiiflcet Garden, Dairy Products, Hay, Ji' Tobacco, ieltc. 3,028^^00,000 Fisheries . irwi/s;. i ),« u/.-k ,•«)<>: '•"•'•» -ii.i'V i» lyl «o'#!ii roo,ooo,ooo Live-Stotk . . . -. '. .1 . . .' . . < -i • r. ., ),ooo,odo,oo6 Forest Products . . . .... . . , . . . -^.^^.j^, , 1,000,000,900 Manufactures. * • • '» r*-i • *•» • • r> <, • • • • .^ 5,000,000,000 oj ,.',':•''■ Ghmd Total It -vi-t' \.^ cqijrvjijrr .'v'.i V'''ir*r,; ^zr, 296,600,060 r more thalh ten times our present national debt It is to be remembered tbat this is only the valuation of the products and crops of a single year ; that it does not include either the value of the real or personal estate of the 50,000,000 who w^l inhabit our Western Empire at that time. ,( v \ , ^ ^ '.^. And what shall we say of the popujattoii which, twenty ye^^s hence, will fill this vast region with life and industrial activity^ Remember, Tt is l)ut twenty years, but Iittie moi^e th^n half a gen- eration ; an4 many of those who are actively engaged in business how will be active and useful then ; but who that remembers the it I 4'r ft )-■■ ^ • : y' i^sMtiimiimHi»t^>i*>^ ' ■4-><'«^^ -:j:.~.'.''.'i ^M.-U>w,"^ fthe coolie or peasant class. When a better class come, bringing their families, such a tide of immigration will pour in upon the Pacific coast, as will materially change the situation of affairs there, though not necessarily for the worse. The better classes in China are by no means barbarians, but people of as much refinement and delicacy of manner as can be found anywhere, and in morals vasdy the superiors of their persecutors in California. It is worthy of notice, that wherever the Chinese have emigrated in considerable numbers, they have always in the end become the masters of the country, however intelligent and physically vigorous and powerful the natives might be. This has been the result at Singapore, at Saigon, at Bangkok, and in other parts of Malaysia. They can, if they choose, plant 50,000,000 of Chinese colonists on the Pacific coast and th« interior, within the next twenty years ; but that will hardly be their policy. If they obtain a foothold they will become largely engaged in commercial transactions, in which they possess great skill, and the peasant class will be in demand for both skFlled and unskilled labor. We regard it as altogether probable that the census of 1900 will report not less than 10,000,000 of them west of the Mississippi. Of the emigrants from Europe, it is probable that the nation- alities will prevail in about the following order : Germans, Irish, Scandinavians, English, Scotch and Welch, Italians, Russians, Canadian French, French, Swiss, Spanish, Belgians and Hol- landers. There will also be a considerable number of emigrants from the West Indies, and from South America. But the larger proportion of immigrants will be from the States east of the Mississippi, not a few of them originally European emigrants, who are rtow drifting westward; others, the children of such emigrants, but a fair proportion of the genuine Yankee stock, drawn thither to become farmers, mine-owners, stock-raisers, sheep-mastefs, or manufacturers. Very many of our best citizens are among these settlers in the Great West, and they will do gOdd service in making it and keeping it patriotic, loyal and pure. The future of this Western Empire is to be what its citizens iiiifiwiliiiftlwifiv. j-^vaa»Mt*vti0i^rtikiSiiftA'lirt*>-*iSatfi*m'tm>tn<'f»ii^CiiJ^ V 1^ ,V .• OUR WESTERN EMPIKS. y. sliall make it. With all the advantages of mineral wcahh vastly surpassing that of OrmuzU or uf Ind ; with a soil of such extent and fcrtiUty, diat it could supply the world widi bread, with Hucks and herds beyond the dream of the most opulent of the patriarchs of die East, and all the elements of material prosperity in such abundance as to defy description, if its citizens are industrious, enterprising, intelligent, moral, law-abiding. God- fearing men and women, there is in reserve for it a future which not all the dreams of the poets, or the rapt vision of the seers, can describe in too glowing colors — a future which shall make the ancient Paradise a modern reality, and cause men to flock thither, as to a new Eden. But if industry and enterprise are lacking, if morals are debased, and intelligence wanes; if reverence for law and order is lost, and diere comes a time when they do not fear God and keep His commandments; if pride, self-confidence, and fullness of bread, lead to all the vices which ruined the empires of the Old World ; all this material wealth and prosperity, all these advantages of situation and production, will only make its downfall the more sudden and terrible. And its swift de- struction will call forth a wail of anguish from all the nadons of the earth, as much deeper and more distressing, as its position had been grander and more imposing, than that of any of the older empires. Which shall it be ? a government of the people, for the people, by the people ; a government firm and persistent for liberty and law, for freedom, jusUce, and right, between man and his fellow-man, and between man and his Creator ? or a government without law, without justice, without purity, without right, and without order ; — an anarchy, where men's evil pas- sions and corrupt practices, all the arts of the demagogue, all the schemes of the hypocrite, and all the vices of the debauchee are allowed to destroy the nation, without check or restraint ? Rome and Greece, Babylon and Nineveh, Corinth and Ephesus, the most pov/erful empires and cities of their times, owed their ruin to this uncontrolled spirit of license and mis- rule, and in modern times, we hav*>: seen powerful nations *)rought to the verge of destruction from the same causes. Let us heed the warning while there is time. calth vastly such extent , with (lucks ent of the 1 prosperity :itizcns are iding, God- uture which )f the seers, 1 shall make nen to flock morals are or law and lot fear God fidcncc, and the empires rosperity, all only make its swift de- : nations of its position any of the the people, id persistent etween man reator ? or 31 ri'ty, without n's evil pas- lagogue, all * debauchee estraint? 1, !orinth and their times, )se and mis- rful nations :auses. Let PART II. IMMIGRATION. , Who Should Go, and Why ? The 1 low, When and Where of Emigration to the Vak West. . ,.,^ CHAPTER I. , Who Should Migrate to this Western Empire, and the Reasons Why— Desiradlbness or Accurate Information — Intentional and Unin- tentional Misrepresentation— Who should not come— The Land- Grant Railway Companies, and the Emujkation Societies— Auk Beyond which Emigration is Undesirable — Other Oust acxes— Amount or Capital Necessary— This varies with the Occupation— What are ' Necessary Expenses— Why some Emigrants are Dissatisfied. "Are you thinking of emigrating to that 'Far West* in America, about which we hear so much lately ?" asks one neigh- bor of another in England, in the winter of 1 879-1 880. " Yes," is the reply. " I am thinking of it very seriously, but I find it hard to come to a decision. All my acquaintance are here ; I feel strongly attached to the country and place in wliich I was born and reared, where I found my good wife, and where my little ones were born. England is very dear to me ; and yet I cannot buy an acre, no, nor a rood of ground, even to be buried in ; I must be a tenant all my life, and liable to be evicted at the landlord's pleasure. I had, in past years, laid up a little money, but it is fast going, in these past three years of bad crops, low prices, and poor markets, and yet I am paying five pound rent per acre for my place. Then again, my children cannot get on here, and as I belong to the Methodists, they can have no chance unless they go to the church, which I don't like ib^.o-:**'-. -.A-'Jt.v ajS <"^* IVKSTKflf/ BMPIKK. to have them tlo. Now, I am told that I tan takr up a farm of 1 60 acres in that western country, under what they call the Homestead Act, for less money than I pay rent for one rcre here, and exc(dlent land too, and that in live years' time I can have as j;ood a farm as this— yes, atul better — all my own, and a steady income of jCsoo or /600 a year, and good schools and churches, all convenient. When I consiiler all thesols the.s<: thinjjs > leave dear ok, or some- ic all about what I ougt^^ but in Ireland » Austria and jrnsj'lves and ite to this far* lomforts, and rh intolerable, own country, same ques- ts of light in the informa- them at the benefit. We ony, mintVig^ or orpaniza- wn a square do so ; but ages, and we d obtain the DresentatfVeJj rness of our one who vnW s an honest pose, an«} the HOKh'OMS OF TMR OLD KMtORATWN. %y^ knowledge of the subject which we ponarst, wc will proceed to annwer the very Important (|ut>»tionH, Who shoidd cmi^'ratc, and why ? The emigration HOcictieK, the railroad compatticH, and the stcamHhi{) agent**, would answer the question very promptly, by saying, " livery one who has thcr means to reach the WeHt should go;" and they would l>e grrady in the wrong, and if they were believed, woidd do much wrong to emigrants by such an answer. No ! nol every one who has the means to reach there should go; not even every one who has from $1,000 to $io,(/to to invest, after reaching die country The ({uestion, " Who should go ^" requires a previous consideration of many other questions before it can be rightly answered. There are always many hard.- ships attending emigration ; not so many now as there were in former days, when the ICuropcan emigrant took passage across the Adantic in the steerage of a sailing packet, and was tossed on the waves, widi but scant fare and horrible accommoci.itions, for from thirty to si.xty, or seventy-five days, and lanf these magnificent ocean steam* ships, though a vast improvement on the old sailing vessels, is not quite an " earthly paradise," as indeed it could not well be. Most of these steamship lines, also, are in some way connected with some one or more of the emigration companies, which, in turn, have their arrangements with some of the great railway companies, and are under obligations to send their emigrants to particular sections of country, where their lands are situated. Of course, these emigration companies and railroad agents extol their particular section in the highest terms, and cannot say any- thing too strong in disparagement of every other region. They have no intention, probably, of misrepresenting either their own lands, or the lands in other States or Territories; but human nature mt' be differently constituted from what it now is, if the emigrant does not find that some things have been overstated, and that the advantages of other localities hav^ been unduly depreciated. There are two remedies for this difficulty : one, that the emi- grant should inform himself thoroughly before making arrange- ments to come to this country, what will be the best location for him, taking into consideration climate, chances of employment, accessibility to good markets, prices of land, condition of society, advantages of education, etc, etc. His sources of information must be free from all temptation to misrepresentation and self. interest, and they must be from parties who are fully informed of the present condition of affairs there, for so rapid are the changes which are taking place in this Great West, that statements which u.3mm^*Mma^bammm!m^m»mmm»ist^ heir tle«lrcd from slormn out of llu:ir • whole trail t>n« of their with human tlani;rrH and ere arc now vouUl not be rn or twelve ucean Mtcam- ig vessels, it not well be. ay connected L's, which, in jreat railway emigrants to are situated, agents extol II not say any- igion. They icr their own but human ow is, if the n overstated, been unduly that the cml- :ing arrange- ^t location for employment, on of society, If information lion and self. informed of the changes :ments which ritKXKffT HARPatlUrS OP RMICKATIOff, were* perfectly true two year* ajjo, are now very far from the truth. It hail l)ern our hoIc object in the preparation of this work, to make it a«t perfect a guide to the emigrant an it could be made, one which should be in every rcitpect impartial, and have no interest except that of the emigrant to nerve. If the intending emigrant will study such a book faithfully, he will find no diffi- culty in determining what is the best locality for him, and then can make his arrangements with that steamship or emigration company, which will take him directly to his desired location ; but he should be careful to make no contract, binding him to pur- chase land of any emigration company till he has seen it for him- self. II(; can, of course, procure his tickets and transportation at a considerable reduction, if he takes his land from the emi« gration company, but the extra cost of this will much more than make up the difference, if the land they allot to him should prove undesirable from any cause. The other v.--^ of avoiding the difficulty Is this : the emigrant, having by inquiry and study come to a conclusion as to the best location for him, takes passage on a steamer for New York on New Orleans, and thence by rail to the point where he desireji to settle, leaving his family, if he has one, behind him, till he can provide a home for them. This will cost him more than to buy his ticket from the emigration company, but if he wants a farm, he can take up his land under the Homestead or Timbcr-Cul> ture Acts, or pre-empt it, and the cost under either of the former plans will not exceed ^^25 for 160 acres, and under the latter not over $1.25 per acre with thirty months to pay for it, while that must be very poor land which he can get from the emigration company at anything less than $5 per acre. As soon as he is able he can send for his family, and buying the ticket here it will cost him no more than if he had bought it of the emigration company. Bot, in whatever way the emigrant secures his land, there are still hardships ; his first home will be in all probability a log-cabin, an adobe,* or a sod-house. If he purchases in the northern, or even the central tier of States or Territories, the deep snows, and the consequent embargo on travel, will annoy 16 * A hooM buili of lun-dried briclu or of clay morUur. 7,'.- 'x.:j.\fj^:->:^:: ".Ti^rt^^s-isiu;^: . Atfrsj'i"j-raf'>i,.;: :^f OUR WfiSTMXN EMPIRB, and distress him, as being so different from all his past experi- ence. The climate, too, may, very possibly, affect his health at first ; an unusual languor and listlessness may oppress him, the effect of his acclimatization. There will be times when he feels as if he must go back to his European home ; as if he could not endure life in a region where everything is so different from the home of his childliood. But if he is brave and resolute these feelings will soon pass away, and when his first crop is harvested and sold, he will iook forward hopefully to a better future than he could have had at home. In gen/eral we may lay dv>wn these rules in regard to immir gration :■■"-■•'' --••;■ ..!<•!.;< ,•':■?■" •-" • 'i.' ^•-.■'■'\'. -U I. Age. A man who has his fortune to make, or a family to support, should not emigrate from Europe to the West, after he hfis passed his forty-fifth year. There may be a few excep- tions to this, but they are very few. After a man has reached his forty-fifth year, he finds it far more difficult to change all his habits and modes of life and thought, than when he was younger. If he is a farmer, stock-raiser, or sheep-master, or has been a foreman or manager in ei<;lier of these callings, he wiU find that it is necessary to learn all his business anew, from the difference In soil, climate, and ways ojf doing business. A capitalist who ]Im»s. money to invest in these or any other kinds of business, can xjQme and make his investments at any age, when he is able to travel, and examine the property for himself; but we are npit making a book for capitalists, but for workingmen. - <' •• ' - ' 3. As a general ru^e an invaJid, or a person in feeble health, will not find it advisable to con^e to the West to become a per manent resident, unless he has sufficient property to insure his support. Some do migrate under these circumstances, espe- cially those whose lungs are affected, and in Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Southern California. New Mexico, Utah, or Washington Territory, find positive: benefit; while Arkansas, Texas and Arizpna have a good reputation for rheumatic affec- tions. But, in either disease, tfee beneficial result is contingent ^pon a permanent residence there. Toconj* away, even after several years, is, in most cases, certain to prove fatal ; while a WHO SHOULD NOT COME. «43 past experi- his health at reas him, the /hen he feels he could not •ent Trom the esolute these 3 is harvested ir future than yard to immir )r a family to e West, after e a few exccp- 1 has reached change all his 5 was younger. )r has been a ; wi)l find that the difiference capitalist who f Uisiness, can I he is able to xt we are not feeble health, become a per- y to insure his istances, espe- esota, Dakota, Bxico, Utah, or lile Arkansas, teumaitic affec- is cpatingent ray, even after fatal; while a majority of those who go to these States and Territories for their health, after a brief and temporary improvement, suddenly become worse and die of the disease. The invalid, if he will come, should not stay in the larger towns but resort to the hills, ^^efe an open-air life is possible. 3. No man should come who is averse to work, or who ex- pects, by coming, to lead an easier life, for some years at least, than he is leading at home. Since the primeval sentencp .i^ *he expulsion from Eden, "In the sweat of thy face shalt il.i - ^at bread, until thou return unto the ground," there has . een .10 reprieve from toil, of hand, or brain, and there will not be, till the lost Eden returns, which will not be in our day. Industry will reap a better reward here than elsewhere, and the hones : toiler may hope, in the later years of life, to enjoy a competence ; but it can only be procured by hard and wearisome labor, 4. No man should come whose temper is fickle, and who will give way at the first rebuff and become discouraged, despondent and home-sick. The persevering, earnest, and sanguine worker, who grows stronger under defeats and discouragements, who will not give up, is the man to succeed. 5. No man can come with much hope of success, unless he has a little capital beyond what is necessary to bring him to the West. This is particularly true of a man who has a family. If he brings his family with him, which it is not always wise to do at first, they must have something to live upoti till he can receive some return for his labor; and he will need m.oney to purchase his land, break it up, sow it, cultivate it, and reap the harvest If he attempts to raise stock, or to keep sheep, still more capital will be wanted ; if he starts a market-garden, a nursery, or raises flowers for profit, he must still have some capital to start with; if he is a mechanic or r. :radesman, he cannot start without some capital. How much he must have will depend very much on what he proposes to do; for what would be sufficient for a mechanic or a market-gardener, might be too little for a farmer, a stock-raiser, or a tradesman. The safe rule will be, as much as the emigrant can command ; but in no case less than $500 after the traveling expenses are ?xf;7a::.t:tjXTS!H3s&J5as;rss::»a«6!:i'E^^ 244 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. paid; and for a farmer, stock-raiser, sheep-master, miner, or tradesman, not less than $1,000, and as much more as he can honestly command. If the man has a family, these sums should be doubled. " But," asks the intending emigrant, " isn't it possible to go to the West and settle down with less money than this ? With the utmost economy I have not been able to save but /i 00 in ten years, and it will take at least ^25 of it to pay the passage and trans- portation for myself and family. Must I be cut off from all hope of realizing the object for which I have been saving and working so long?" No, friend ; hope springs eternal in the human breast, so you need not give over hoping ; but as to the emigrating, you have just a choice of two alternatives : either to postpone your emigra- tion for two, three, or five years, in the hope of being able to make up the amount you need— >a somewhat doubtful expedient in the present depressed condition of the markets and failure of the crops; or, leaving with your family, say ;^75 of the £,\qo, take the rest and go alone to the West, and seeking employment as a farm-hand, or herder, or shepherd, or miner, secure as soon as possible a homestead farm of 80 or 160 acres, on which the only payments will be from fourteen to twenty-five dollars {^£^2 ids. to ;^5) ; gst twenty acres of it broken up by changing works, and have it planted to root crops, or sown with wheat; by the second year a sod-house can be built and a crop raised, which will not only pay for further improvements, but leave ;^20 or £2^ to be sent to the family at home. At the end of four or five years, with good management, you can send for them, and welcome them to a home, humble and rude indeed, but your own, and with a fair prospect of improving your condi- tion rapidly. We recommend the latter alternative, because homestead lands, in desirable locations, are becoming daily more scarce, and in two or three years may not be obtainable at all. But to come with a family, with too small a sum to sustain them, and make the necessary outlay for the scanty comforts of the pioneer, until you can receive a return frpm your crops, is to expose yourself and them to severe suffering, and, perhaps, to THE DISSATISFIED EMIGRANT. 245 r, miner, or t as he can )ied. "But," to the West the utmost in ten years, e and trans- rom all hope and working reast, so y6u ng, you have your emlgra- able to make )edient in the failure of the e ;^ioo, take jloyment as a e as soon as rhich the only rs(;^2 16^. to ig works, and eat; by the raised, which leave £20 or end of four :nd for them, indeed, but your condi- tive, because ig daily more linable at all. sustain them, forts of the crops, is to 1, perhaps, ,^P premature death. Farther on wc propose to show what can be done with ^i.ocx) by a careful and intelligent emigrant. 6. It is unwise for aged people to come, even if it is with their young and robust children. The hardsljps of the pioneer life fall with peculiar severity upon the aged; they miss the little comforts and privileges to which they have been for many years accustomed ; and the fatigues and exposures they must undergo very often shorten their days, without adding to their happiness. It is because these precautions have not been heeded, because so many emigrants have come without more means than were just sufficient to carry them to their destination, firmly believing that they could pick up money in the streets, or that they could obtain employment which would be immediately remunerative, that there are so many dls-appointed and homesick emigrants in the country. Without employment, without money or food, sick from the long voyage and journey, from the change of climate and water, or possibly from some malarious influences to which they have been exposed, they are indeed in a pitiable condition ; and though the kind hand is almost invariably stretched out to help them (for the western people are full of kindness and charity) they often become so utterly wretched as to be unmindful of the kindnesses they have received ; and even when they have been helped to return to their old homes, they will often denounce the country and those who have aided them in the strongest terms, when the fault has only been with themselves, that they came hither so entirely unprepared for their new life on the frontie. . The prudent, energetic emigrant who comes expecting liardships, but prepared to meet them, who does not expect others to do for him what he can do for himself, and who recognizes the necessity of providing for his own support and that of his family until he can receive returns for his labor, will encounter soma hardships, but he will rejoice in triumphing over them, and very soon will be in a position to help others. ''••'!'' *' " " • »i' • "' The emigration societies and the land-grant railroads, though they make such a fair showing, and paint in such glowing colors the prosperity of the emigrants who have come out under their auspices, cannot guarantee success to those emigrants who have >. l»'MW.»ri. ^ti w » .'«l*.^ '-"-^-' '-rViri ^^''' i-^u^' 'T' ' V 2^ OVX tVESTEftN EMPIRE. no disposition to help themselves. The railroad companies and the emigration societies also give the emigrant from six to eleven years to pay for their land, but the price is high, and the interest at from seven to ten per cent, adds materially to the price, while the first payment comes hard on a man who has little or no money, and his title is not complete till he has paid for the land, •while a default in payment works a forfeiture of his farm, and the loss of most of what he has paid. Meanwhile, if he has no money, how is he and how is his family, if he has one, to be fed before he can raise a crop, or earn money for immediate support? Neither the emigration society nor the railroad company can or •will support him. He would have done better to have gone to work for any one who would give him his board and even mod- erate wages, and if he could secure a farm under the Homestead or Timber-Culture Act, he would at least have no heavy debt to weigh him down, and no ground of anxiety about his own food and raiment. No industrious, willing, able-bodied man need starve if he reaches the West alone, with but a dollar in his pocket, but he will not accumulate property so rapidly as if he had a little to start with. John Jacob Astor, the founder of the Astor family, once said, that the only difficulty he had in accumulating his vast estate was in earning the first thousand dollars. f,j j,-q!ort n j . We have purposely presented the dark side of the picture to emigrants, because they need to know the worst as well as the best. The rosy and pleasant side is presented to them every day, and they are tempted to believe that there are no shadows tfli they come into the actual experience of them, and then they fiflid them so dark and gloomy that they are ready to recoil from them, and say, "If we had only known, we would not have come." jnufj^rfr? Liw- ,inda -•■m, loj ;:fr5!>Kt ;>7i:!;;;;t -nfr. ;,;ii ii^ruj . But the emigttant who goes to the Wept with small means should know beforehand that there afe awaiting him and his family, if he has one, exposures to severe cold and intense heat ; hard beds, perhaps of pine or sprUce boughs, or dried leaves on the ground ; scanty food at times, with hunger for his only sauce ; poor cooking, from the want of proper utensils ; clothing THE HARDSHIPS OF THE EMIGRANT. 247 mpanies and six to eleven i the interest I price, while liule or no for the land, lis farm, and if he has no >ne, to be fed iate support? apany can or have gone to id even mod- le Homestead lieavy debt to his own food 4 -. . ' .' itt ' starve if he ocket, but he had a little to Astor family, |ating his vast ie picture to IS well as the them every no shadows md then they to recoil from uld ti^K havjB • _,. , f 'l-v,-,.. small means him and his intense heat ; dried leaves for his only isils; clothing which he would have disdained at his old home ; a lack of all the conveniences of life ; very possibly at first no schools, no church, no post-office within twenty or thirty miles ; a house of one or two rooms built of sods or of logs, with a floor of eartht and upon this humble hoUse, perhaps the summer's sun beats fiercely, and the winter's snows may bury it out of sight. But he should know also that these privations and discomforts will be but temporary ; that in, perhaps, four or five years, he will have a pleasant home and farm, with all the comforts of life, and all his own ; that school and church, and town-hall and post* office, with perhaps a daily mail, will all have come by that time ; that good clothing and the luxuries of choice beds, excellent and toothsome fslre, and the music of organ or piano, may gratify his tastes ; and knowing these things, he should decide whether the privations of the first few years were worth enduring, for the sake of the comforts and substantial benefits which will probably follow. I There ;s another view of this subject of emigration to which attention should be directed. For some years past great efforts have been made to direct emigration to other countries than the United States ; the Dominion of Canada, Australia, Brazil, Bue- nos Ay res, VeAezu^la, Colombia, Peru, and Chili, have sought to attract emigrants to their respective countries. The Dominion and Australia have been moderately successful^ for the whole influence of the British Government luis been exerted, properly enough, in th^r favor ; but the emigrants to Canada have had much greater hardships to undergo than those to our western country, and very nearly two-thirds of them have eventually crossed the border and located themselves under the Stars and Stripes."* The Australian emigrants have struggled manfully with the trying climate, and the very great hardships which they have had to encounter, but many of th^m have come into the n I . Ill T I ''* --' .--. --.. _ — -■ '--■ ■ - * Lately there it much complaint among the emigrants to ManitbbA, (hat fey reeent Acts of the ColoAtal L^kttufe, thty eaunet mow Ittndi widiin fiver milet of the proposed railway to the Pacific coast fOr leai than six dollars per acre, and all homesteading is cut off from that belt, and, further, that hy the Act of July last, the homestead grant, liowever distant froita imrkef, M limtted to eighty actesi wHHe the ^SMxtA $lUXt% Goy«Mnen( liMtlM it ifo'acrMt .... 3^j OVR WESTERN EMPIRE, West by way of San Francisco, and the tide of emigration to the United States to-day is more than four times that to Australia. The emigration to the South American States has in most cases proved a complete failure. Liberal as were the offers of the governments, the whole matter was badly organized and man- aged, and the sufferings of the emigrants became so intolerable that they were glad to escape to their old homes with the loss of everything, being indebted in many cases to the consuls of their respective countries for a free passage homewards. The present rapid influx of emigrants from Europe to the United States, and their strenuous objections to going to any other country, shows conclusively that the experience of sixty years of emigration has convinced the people of Europe that the* will fare best here. »ti.. i'. . CHAPTER II. The Routes by which our Western Empire is Reached — The Northeastern Region — The Central Region— The Southern— The Southwestern — The Pacific States AND Territories. ,. ;,,, ^f ji .,, .. ? • ^ ^^ The immigrant who has valiantly resisted at Hamburg, Bre- men, Rotterdam, or Havre, at Southampton, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, or Cardiff, the blandishments of the emigration com- panies, and the glowing representations of the railway companies, and who lands at Castle Garden, New York, unpledged to any company, and under no obligation to take a poor route when there is a better to be had, may well rejoice in his freedom ; but he will find himself beset by as htingry a horde of runners and canvassers for all the different routes, as ever drove a poor man to distractioni''"«^^''f'/5 isoi;:! x^.vt. :>fi.t bna ,>jJi,rmr-> iini^'irJHi r^iv. '■■**'■ If he has made up his mind to what section of the West he will migrate (and he should have done this before leaving home), our advice to him would be to stop over a day at Castle Garden and make choice of the route which will bring him most directly, quickly, and safely to his desired destination. He cannot well do this from the flaming posters placarded there ; nor from the ROUTE FOR NORTHWESTERN EMIGRANT. 349 ration to the Australia. 1 most cases jfifers of the d and man- 3 intolerable with the loss : consuls of wards. The the United o any other »f sixty years that the will ; Northeastern outhwestern — imburg, Bre- ool, Glasgow, igration com- ly companies, :dged to any route when reedom ; but runners and 2 a poor man the West he aving home), astle Garden most directly, ; cannot well nor from the noisy vociferations of the nmners; and there is a strong possi- bility that even some of the officials may have been slightly in- fluenced by interested persons to give the preference to one route or another from motives not altogether disinterested. Knowing where he wishes to go, and knowing also, as he may, what railway lines will take him thither most surely, directly, with the greatest amount of comfort, and the smallest amount of cost. he can make up his own mind as to his route as well as anybody else can do it for him, and, as all the routes have their real eastern termini at Castle Garden, he can purchase his tickets there and have no further trouble, except occasionally looking out for his meals and his baggage, till he reaches his destination, or the railway terminus nearest to it. The journey on an emigrant train will be at the best a long and weary one, but if he has a fellow-countryman or shipmate of his own way of thinking, and bound for the same vicinity as himself, the companionship will relieve the journey of some of its tedium for both. If our immigrant is a farmer, or farm-hand, and desires to establish himself in Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, Northeastern Montana, or Nebraska, he will probably find it desirable to make Chicago his point of departure for the Northwest. Chicago is distant from New York about 950 miles, the five trunk roads running thither varying from 933 to 975 miles in the length of their lines to it. There is very little room for choice between the Hudson River and New York Central, the Erie, the Penn- sylvania Central, and the Baltimore and Ohio roads, all of which run trains through to Chicago. They are all good roads, and give the immigrant as nearly the worth of his money as they can possibly afford. These lines, we believe, now all make close connection with the Chicago and Northwestern lines, which are the connecting lines with the Northern Pacific, and the Minne- sota, Iowa, and Dakota Railways. By taking a through ticket, via the Chicago and Northwestern, to any point reached by this railway or its connections, he will be insured a passage with as few annoyances as he will fi[nd on any route. One precaution he should not fail to take. The number and class of his railway: ; ijfc^iifc"*-"***^'' g|0 OUK WESTERN KMrtMB. ticket, and the railroads over which he is to pass, and the num< bers and Htamps of his baggage checks, should all be noted down in a litde memorandum, and he will do well occasionally to see that all his baggage is on board. In case of loss of cither baggage or ticket, he will recover damages much more readily if he can tell on which of the afifiliated roads it was lost and what were the numbers. He should also have a printed time-table of the roads over which he passes, which will be furnished him for the asking at the oflRce of the railroad on which he is to travel, in Casde Garden. It seems a pity to be obliged to caution a man against his fellow-man, especially when he is a stranger in a strange land ; but it is necessary to say, once for all, not only to emigrants from Europe, but to our own people who may be migrating westward, that it is best to be shy of strangers, unless they are introduced to you by those whom you have reason to confide in as honest and trustworthy, and even then it is not necessary or wise to become too confidential with them, to tell them all your family history, to show your money to them, or inform hem just the amount you carry about you. It is very imprudent and foolish to engage to any games of chance or skill with strangers, especially in any involving the winning or losing money. If you win, your antag- onist has probably lost what he can ill afford to lose ; if you lose, as you probably will (for generally, it is only sharpers who pro- pose to play in a public conveyance), you will feel the loss and have occasion at the same time to lament your folly. Never manifest a suspicious disposition in regard to those who are about you. If diere is anything you cannot understand, ask the con- ductor, courteously and pleasantly, and he will generally be cour- teous in his reply. Do not make yourself conspicuous by loud talking, or a swaggering nlanner. There are always people on the train who will weigh a man at what he is really worth, not at the value he may set^ upon himself. Do not judge of people by their dress or their pretensions. You will ofcen find in the West, a millionaire in plain, rough clothing, or an eminent scholar in a dress which might bt wcrki by a tramp ; while a gambler, Uack'leg, or bovse-thief may sport his dkMnofida^ or dress ta irre* pooachable taste, ■*r-i.'4i^ft'-«t«^t:«jt •0Tc- A^'«?4t»'*>tJni? ,»<>«• J3i*.^t. ««f -"'mmm mama m cl the niim- notctl clown nally to see icr baggage ily if he can lat were the of the roads r the asking :1, in Castle n against his gc land ; but grants from ig westward, 5 introduced ,s honest and le to become tmily history, the amount sh to engage pcially in any , your antag- ; if you lose, in who pro- the loss and oily. Never ho are about ask the con- ■ally be cour- lous by loud rs people on worth, not ;e of people find in the lent scholar a gambler, 'CSS ta trre> XOUTRS FOX THE PACIFIC STATES. g|| The immigrant who is attracted to Nt-hraska, KansnH, Colo- rado, Wyoming, Western or Central Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, or New Mexico, Texas or Arizona does not need to make Chicago his point of departure, unless he chooses to do so. His more direct route will lie through St. Louis; and Omaha, Nebraska, Kansas City, Missouri, St. Joseph, Missouri, o: Atchi- son, Kansas, will be his points of departure. Omaha is the east- ern terminus of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railways, though r jcently a part of its traffic has been transferred to Kan- sas Cily. St. Joseph is the terminus of the St. Joseph and Den- ver branch of the Union Pacific, antl is otherwise a railroad cen- tre of some importance. Atchison is the eastern terminus of the central branch of the Union Pacific and also of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa F6 Railway, the most enterprising and on. The States and Territories on the I'acific can also Ixi re.iched from New York at about the same expense liy .reamers to San I'Vancisco, r/Vi Panama R,4ilroad, and other steamer lines plying from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon, to the Columbia river and Pugci Sound, and southward to I.os Angeles. San Diej,'©, and up the Gulf of California to Fort Yuma, near the mouth of the Rio Colorado. Very soon, probably within two years at the farthest, all Southern Arizona, Western Texas, and Southern California, will be reached by a much shorter and more direct route through Texas. Those emigrants whose destination is to Missouri, So' 'astern Kansas, Arkansas, Indian Territory, Western Louisiana or Texas, will make St. Louis their point of departure, and can go from then"> either by Mississippi river steamer to any points below, and by New Orleans steamer to any points on the Texas coast, or by Missouri river steamer to any points in Missouri, Dakota or Montana, lying on that river or on its principal navigable affluents, such as the Dakota, Yel- lowstone, Jefferson, Gallatin, etc., etc. ' If they prefer, however, to continue their journey By rail, they can go from St. Louis by the Cairo and St. Louis, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern ; the Atlantic and Pacific, or the Missouri Pacific with its continuation in the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, and some of its branches, and the Tvxas Pacific. Or they may take the New Orleans or Galv eston steamers from New York .'nd go direct to Louisiana or T'xas. '•""•' \" * «■•' On the railroads the emigrant trains move slowly, oeing under the necessity of switching off frequently, as the faster trains have the right of way. The emigrant train from Kansas City or Omaha to the Pacific coast, on the Union and Central Pacific Railways, is usually nine or ten days on its journey. The emi- grant cars are fairly comfortable, about equal to the third-cl.' s cars in Europe. They have no cushions, are warmed by flat- J RAILItOAD fAMfiS. »S3 incisro and emigrant's liii ruutc is Lathroj) on illicin Call* ikI Tucson, bo reached ners to San lines plying lunbia river San Diej^o, ic mouth of years at the d Southern more direct iiuitii^n is to Territory, cir point of issipi^i river steamer to steamer to n that river )akota, Ycl- )y rail, they St. Louis, cific, or the uri, Kansas acific. Or mers from ^eing under 1 rains have as City or tral Pacific The emi- third-cl." s led by flat- topf^ed stoves, on which the passengers can heat any food or drinks they need for yoimjf children or invalids ; have an .irran^c- meiil by which, by the use of U^ards furnished by »hc company, bunks can be iiuide in which, with tiu aid of coats, blankets uid fthawlH, the passcn^'^fra can slerp a$ well as in the steerage of a ..i:amship. The folUnving tahU . c^)rnpil( d with gr«at care, j^mvcs th(^ railroad fares which prevailed in the autumn of 1S79; Dnilnjilan >MMi antl TcrriMrlM. PartUml, Qr«(Ml Pnn I >t nil , Or«gt»n .... i'titiUiiO, I InigiMt.. , ., • . P< rlUnil, OragiMi Pori lUniuM, MonUna... tmt IWnMin, Monun* , H*l' 'lA, Monitfrm . »«nv«r, ('(ilormtltf HiMble, i;iilur«ilu. . . ,. . Coliiriido Spring!, (Joi. . > CtHMi Cliy, Colomdo . . A UmiHiii, Colorado Dal Nunc. Ci.lnradu .. t I.*«1vincni«on, Taaa4 fort Worth, Taxa* Vfnii.« Indian Territory . Fort ^lnllh, Arhanaat HoUM'iii, Texav pallw, Teaat Dutdwood, Black HIIU, DakoM DiBdwood. BUck HIIU, Dakota Virginia City. Novada.... Canon, Ntvada Lot An>-'* >, Califarnia.,, Ran ^11^0, CallfofMia.. .. I ThCton, Ariiona. h I «>.ao 11'. »> ¥>y Of yt M V J1J« U .-* JJS« Hit 41.56 47 »« Ji li 4'>.lK) :*/ ,',41 19.41 0(1 . 1 I 6i.Qri tit, 00. 00 jfi.go JJ.CM »9 S" lJ.}o f7.>» ffO.fX) tl.)l 30,5.1 •y.jo 39S" U.oo 67.00 19.00 I Railrun'l «r Swanwr Niy K«li»n A U via I/. P K R. Il ^i;ifc« by Juncliun N«(tii'»K •ndRiMttmri; '• ly r i< .Ac IM.iil in Sun Fntncl«k:rt, and ihcnc* ky ■immario Porllaad... , nyUiiInn AC«it Padltc.and UuhA Nor. R. R. hy Mi««v<'r L«l"'r rain hy Union PaciAc, Uuk A Nonhani k » fla St. I.4 Ciiy, and ilia Aicliinon, Topekaft Hania ft H H Tin M. I.oin.1, K«n City Tupi4 • IkSania r» K. K ws Ijoiilt, Kan««'> City, and tl>a Alchitun, Sy Atc'l .UU ao.ou »H«0 ao.on aj.uo •l.ou 34.1.1 4i.«. i» 1^ •4.7J 40.0^ It 7.05 4"^ •14 4" 44 yn J» 44 3" SI ' ti.ao l).aii C,oo J7"* .0.1 H 00 IHl ♦J.»' >S.oa tJ.MI tS.cal ly.oo J0.0U li'" 39, .V, 47.00 4S.OO Kt.tVi By U. P., and Stage from Sydney to Daadwood. By Northern T... iflc, and Siugc from Dlanarck. Hy Union and Central Pacific il ,, .1 ^^ ^ By Union, C«nirat& Southern Pacific ,,. ,1 .1 II If If M..oi, 53.00 44 5' > 4o: 47.r«. 66. 00 jj,5o an, 00 ilS.oo 17.50 105.) IV.0J 3I.OJ I8.UII J^.OO * In March, lUo, the Utah and Northern R. R. waa compieled to Hclenn, Munlina, and the bnsi to that ti.wi-, >*d to Fort Banlon, have comMt'ienUy been reduced lomewhat on ihi« roiita. f The completion of ihe railroad to {.cadvlit..-, ALimou and Santa Ti, haa nidiii'ad iheae farei nomcwhtat. (The Southern Pacific ii now completed to Tiii-iun, and farca are !uwcr. >S4 OUM WMSTMMS tMNMM, CHAPTER MI. How TO ontAiN T.ANn— novKHNMKNT I.ANtM -Ihiirta or Ararli 01 Parmino I.ANrMH-I'l'RCHAIlR AT Aui (ION OR l»RIVATR KnTRV—I'RR RlimOH— I'MR HoMMrKAii 8ai.k»— I.AKD Warrant*— Thk Iimm»m Culturr Acr—TRRMi AND MotiR or FURCHAMRO' I'lMHRR I.ANUn — CiRAIINU I.ANt)S: NOW SRiURRU. Having; arrived at his dcntination. the immigrant, if a farmer, or if disposed to invest in arable lands, looks atiout him, to ice liow^ he can best secure a farm. If he is a member of a colony formed in Europe, or in our own Eastern States, or if he comes oiU under the management of an emigration company, he is spared that trouble. He takes what is allotted to him, whatever its quality, and without any pi Ivilcge of change ; or if he is allowed a voice in the allotment, it must still be in the same tract of land. Not all the immigrants, however, arc disposed to come into such an arrangement as this. It is very well in a small colony, where all the colonists are friends and acquaintances, and where the town lots and farming lands are about equally eligible, to unite together in this way, but to be only one of several thousands to whom land is allotted without choice of the party who is to cultivate it, and without the stimulus of individual enterprise, though it may suit foreign colonists, is not much to the taste of our independent and self-reliant American emigrants. . ** : r We will suppose, then, that our immigrant, having decided where he desires to locate his farm, proceeds to secure it. There are many ways in which he may do this ; some of them depending upon the amount of money ' i has at command, others upon the locality itself, and the amoui.t and desirableness of the govern- ment land in the market. If he has a sufficient capital and proposes to farm his own land, he will perhaps find it advisable to purchase a partially improved farm from some settler who desires to pay off the debts he has incurred and start anew on government land farther west. There are very often such oppor- tunies by which an immigrant, who has some capital, may, for less money than he would have to expend on new and unbroken lands, procure a good farm, with such improvements af m|^^ enable him ift ,ii vi)- "'wV^ifirsfei;"! ay:%kir It! Ol FaRMINO lEMmoN — TMB mv Act— TMMi i: nowSbcurbd. if a farmtT, or m, to ice how colony formed he comes out , he i« spared , whatever its ■ he i« allowed e tract of land, come into buch I colony, where where the town I unite together lands to whom I to cultivate it, lough it may ur independent decided where it. There are lem depending thers upon the af the govern- nt capital and id it advisable le setder who start anew on en ftuch oppor- \, may, for less nbroken lands, nay enable him ifOty TO SMCVJtK A PAHy, gM to enter upon it at once. In all these cases, however, he should carefully examine his title, and see that thrre arc no clouds on it If, however, there is no such op|K>rtunily where he winhes to locate, he will do wt-ll to purchane, if he can fmd it, government l^hd of the best quality, cither at auction or by private entry, \yt\\\^ careful to select a farm with either a spring or running water on it, and, if it is to be had, one of the alternate Hcctions on or nrar a railway line, present or immediately prospective. The land, if not near a railway, will be held by the government at $1.35 per acre and the fees, which may bring the price up to $'•33 o'' ||I-3S pec Bcre. If it is within the railroad limit the price will be $2.50 per acre, with the fees, which may bring it up to |t2.6o, In either case, he will do well if he can afford it to take a quarter-section (160 acres) in this way. If he needs more hereafter he can probably secure it at a less cost. But it may happen that there ha:i been such active emigration to that neighborhood, that dierc are no desirable quarter-sections to be had, amon^' theHc alternate sections along the railroad, and that the remoter lands are, for some reason, not desirable. Or, it may be that there is no railroad in the immediate vicinity, or that the lands have not been Hurvcycd, and so put upon the market. In the 6rst case, he can probably buy the railroad land, paying a litde more for it. usually %% per acre, but receiving a liberal discount for cash payment. In the second case, he may be obliged to pre-empt his land, in which case he will have thirty- three months to pay for it, and a longer time if it is not surveyed, but meantime does not receive a full tide; or he can enter it provisionally under the Homestead or the Timber- Culture Act, receiving his full title in five or eight years. Or, he may find some school lands or other State lands in the vicinity, which he may be able to purchase on fair terms ; or, at the very worst, if there is no survey, no railroad near, no State or Territorial lands ready for purchase, nothing but a mining settlement just sprung into existence, which will afford him a good market for whatever he can raise, he can "squat" on the land, taking his chance of dispossession, but with pay for his improvements, if the land should prove to be mining land, and filing a pre-emption claim as soon as possible. 2*6 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. The immigrant who has but little money will take a sor ewhat different course. He will c'j better to look out for a quarter- section under the Homestead Act, or the Timber-Culture Act, or Loth, if he needs so much land, and he will find it for his advantage, if there are lands near a railroad, to secure those, taking if he chooses, only half the quantity and thereby saving something on entiy fees. His entry fees for eighty acres (an eighth of a section) will be about $14, and if he takes the same quantity under the Timber-Culture Act, it will cost him $14 more; but he obtains his full title only at the end of five years of cultivation (unless he was a soldier in the late war, when the time of service in the war is deducted), and under the Timber- Culture Act, not till the end of eight years, though the tree-plant« ing is extended over the whole time, a certain quantity being planted each year. If there is no opportunity to obtain a desirable farm in this way, the next best mode is by pre-emption, which will give him at least thirty-three months, time for two crops, before he will have to pay for his land. Or failing this, the school lands, which though of sligh;^^y higher price are usually sold on time, in seven or ten annual instalments, or he may purchase on long credit, though at a higher price, railroad lands in an eligible location. In order .that there may be no possibility of misunderstanding the pmvisions under which government lands are sold, we give below the acts and inter- pretations of them, by the United States Land Office, under which the public lands are .sold or given to settlers for farming or grazing purposes, and also the laws in regard to timber lands and mining lands. These have been compiled and compared with the reports of the office with great care, and are believed to embody every particular necessary for procuring government lands under all circumstances. We ought to say, that there is very litde government land eligible for farming purposes i.i Iowa, Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Eastern Nebraska, or California, and none in Texas, though the State has vast quantities for sale at merely nominal prices. In some of the other States and Territories grazing and timber lands are greatly in excess of those adapted to cultivation. In Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, HOW TV SECURE GOVRKNMSNT LANDS. »57 a soir ewhat r a quarter- Iture Act, or d it for his :cure those, ireby saving Ly acres (an es the same 3st him $14 ive years of ir, when the the Timber- te tree-plant* lantity being to obtain a pre-emption, :ime for two Ir failing this, er price are Iments, or ho >rice, railroad may be no nder which Its and intet- , under which Ir farming or timber lands id compared e believed to government that there is loses \\\ Iowa, [alifornia, and ies for sale at States and in excess of ita, Montana, Wyoming, Western Nebraska, Western Kansas, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, there are still krge quantities of arable lands, and a considerable amount in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, and Arizona, diough in all these the grazing and mineral lands largely predominate* HOW TO OBTAIN GOVERNMENT LANDS. I. Arable Lands. — The following is compiled from circulars issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and is explicit in reference to tfie manner of acquiring title to public lands: • ■ ' , There ?re two classes of public lands — the one class at $1.25 per acre, which is designated as minimum, and the other at $2.50 per acre, or double minimum. Title may be acquired by purchase at public sale, or by ordinary "private entry," and in virtue of die pre-emption, homestead, and timl ';r-cultuie laws. ■ By PuftCliASE At PUBLIC SALE. 1. This may be done whe^e lands are "offered" at public auctioh to th6 highest bidder. . , . ' '^' BY "PRIVATE ENIRY" OR LOCATION. ' . 2. The lands lilblie tb disposal in this manner are those which were offered at public sale, but were not then sold, and which have not since been reserved or otherwise withdrawn from mar'cet \n ihh class of offered and unreserved public lands, the following steps may be taken to acquire title : . , iUu. (li ..'1^;;^: '(,'.i i a; CASH PURCHASES. :■ 3. The applicant wiM present a written register for the district in which the land Thereupon the register will so certify to the price, and the applicant must then pay purchase-money. The receiver will then issue his receipt for the money paid, and when the proceedings are found regitlar, a patent qr com- plete tide will be issued. ^^ -^ v- ' •^•'•' ..W.u;..^ ,>. ..:».. 17 application tb the desired is situated. receiver, stating the the amount of the 15: 259 Ol/Jt WESTERJV EMPIRE. LOCATIONS WITH WARRANTS. 4. Application must be made as in cash cases, but must be accompanied by a warrant duly assigned as the consideration for the land; yet, where the tract is $2.50 per acre, the party, in addition to the surrendered warrant, must pay in cash $1.25 per acre, as the warrant is in satisfaction of only so many acres, at j^i.25 per acre, or furnish a warrant of such denomination as will, at the legal value of $1.25 per acre, cover the rated price of the land. The following fees are chargeable by the land officers, and the several amounts must be paid.; h;.':fj' :t'1f' ^.,'.i -v-l *:r,i .'>ii'[V'M '' ■ri-:' . ,' •' i ' For a 40-acre warrant, 50 cents each to the register and receiver — total, ^i.oo For a 60-acre warrant, 75 cents " For an 8o-acre warrant, ( '.oo " For a 120-acre warrant, $1.50 " For a luo-acre warrant, |2.oo " 4,1 M M i'f- i\ M « f. m- ,ri ,f-^m|ition ism THE HOMESTEAD LAty. 261 by law, the , or one of It and pay- :eased pre- ; within the iving. E. ;mbraced in /e to every ti to become ke affidavit c of twenty- " the United :h; and that eiit, and for ■- ;. , .'. Ttr;': jment on the [ cause, from affidavit may :ounty within jing require- da of the dis- e. 'ir' >^ro7.' by s\ich pro- in regard to lis certificate, )ffice as the In making shall appear from good [person at the Ve any ofi&cer tdnw^mcition of his claim, the wido\v, or, in case of her death, the heirs may continue tlie settlement and cultivation, ami obtain tiiie upon requisite proof at the proper time. If the widow [)rovc3 up, the tide passes to her ; if she dies before proving up and the heirs make the proof, the title will vest in them. Where both parents die, leaving infant heirs, the homestead may be sold for cash for the benefit of such heirs, and the purchaser will receive title from the United States. 19. The sale of a homestead claim by the settler to another party before completion of title, is not recognized by the General Land Office, but would be prima facie evidence of abandonment, and might give cause for cancellation of the claim. A party may relinquish his claim, but on his doing so, the land reverts to the government. Where application is made to contest the validity of a homestead entry on the ground of abandonment, the officers will set apart a day for a hearing, giving all the parties in interest due notice of the time and place of trial. The expenses incident to such contest must be defrayed by the contestant, who must ascertain when notice of cancellation is received, and then make formal written application for the tract, which, after cancellation, is open to Hn&firsi legal applicant. 20. As the law allows but one homestead privilege, a settler relinquishing or abandoning his claim cannot thereafter make a. second entry ; but where, a party having made one entry, it is cancelled as invalid, for some other reascii, he is not thereby de- barred from entering again. Where an individual has made setdement on a tract and filed his pre-emption declaration therefor, be may change his filing into a homestead, if he continues in good faith to comply with (he pre-emption laws until the <:hange ijs effected. -.'- ■' r 21. If the homestead settler does not wish to remain fve years ot$ his irofity^he law permits Mm to pay for it with cash or warrants, or agruulUiral college scrip, upon making proof of settlement and cultivation for a period not less than six months from the date of entry to the Hm^ of payment. This proof of actual settlement and cultivation must be the affidavit of the party, made before the district officers, corroborated by the tesdmony of two credibly witnesses. ^- 3w8 Ol/A WEST/ -V EMPIRE. 22. There is another class of homesteads designated as "ad- joining farm homesteads." In these cases the law allows an applicant, oxvning and residing on an original farm, to enter other land lying contiguous thereto, which shall not, with such farm, exceed in the aggregate i6o acres. In applying for an entry of this class, the party must make affidavit describing the tract which he owns and upon which he resides as his original farm. In making final proof, it is not required that he should prove actual residence on the separate tract entered ; but it must appear that he has continued for the period required by law to reside upon and cultivate the original farm tract, and has bona fide made use of the entered tract as part of the homestead. 23. Provisions for the benefit of soldiers and sailors of the late war, their widows and minor orphan children: Sections 2304, 2305, 2306, 2307, 2308, and 2309 of the Revised Statutes, for the benefit of soldiers and sailors, their widows and minor orphan children, provide : First. In section 2-04, that every soldier and oflFicer of the army, and every seaman, marine, and officer of the navy, who served for not less than ninety days in the army or navy of the United States "during the recent rebellion," and who was honorably discharged, and has remained loyal to the government, may enter, under the provisions of the homestead law, 1 60 acres of the puUic lands, • ,v Second. In s6ctt6n 2305, that the tim- of his service, or the whole term of his enlistment, if rhe party was discharged on account of wounds or disability incurred in the line of duty, shall be deducted from the period of five years during which the claimant must reside upon and cultivate the entered tract, but the party shall, in every case, reside upon, improve, and cultivate his homestead for a period of at least one year. - - >- Third. That any person entitled to the benefits of secttoh 2304. who had, prior to the 22d of June, 1874, made a homestead entry of less than 1 60 acres, may enter an additional quantity of land sufficient to make, with the previous entry, 160 acres. '^f Fourth. That the widow, if unmarried, or in case of her death or marriage, then the minor orphan children, of a person who HOMESTEAD LANDS TO SOLDIERS, ETC. 263 d as " ad- allows an :nter other such farm, n entry of tract which farm. In rove actual appear that •eside upon V made use r 0/ the late :tions 2304, statutes, for linor orphan filcer of the e navy, who navy of the as honorably it, may enter, of the public vice, or the [scharged on if duty, shall ig which the [ed tract, but and cultivate Isection 2304. lestead entry Lntity of land I of her death person who would be entitled to the benefits of section 2304, may enter lands under its provisions, with the additional privilege accorded, that if the person died during his term of enlistment, the widow or minor children siiall have the benefit of the whole term of enlist- ment. Fi/^h. That any person entided to the benefit of section 2304 may file his claim for a tract of land through an agent, and shall have six months thereafter within which to make his entry and commence his settlement and improvement upon the land. 24. The following is the course of proceedings for parties to avail themselves of the benefit of these sections of the Revised Statutes in making homestead entries : . . '; First. On the party producing proper proof of his right to do so, immediate entry of the tract desired may be made ; but if the party so elect, he may file a declaration to the effect that he claims a specified tract of land as his homestead, and that he takes it for actual settlement and cultivation. Thereafter, at any time within six months, the party may come forward, either in person or by agent having his power of attorney, make his entry of the land, and commence his settlement and improvement Second. The claims of widows and minor orphan children may be initiated by declaration as above. Minor orphan children can act only by their duly appointed guardians, who must file certified copies of the powers of guardianship. Third, Applications for additional entries must be for a quantity which, with the original entry, will not exceed 1 60 acres. Where the party's first entry has been consummated, the register and receiver will require him to make application and aiilidavit in the forms prescribed, and to pay the same fee and commissions as in cases of original entry. Then, to complete the transaction, the party will make payment of the usual final commissions on the entered tract, for which the receiver will issue his receipt. In case the party has not made proof on his original homestead entry when he applies for additional land, he will be allowed to make the additional entry on proper application and affidavit as above stated, and paying the usual fee and commissions. Thereafter, when the party shall make final proof on the original entry, he ai5^ aUR WESTERN EMPIRE. will be required to pay the final commisBtons on botli entrien, when a final receipt will be issued for the money, and thereupon a final certificate issued to call both for tlic tract in the original entry and the additional tract. 25. The following proof will be required of parties applying fpr the l)cnefits of these sectionH, in addition to the prescribed affidavit of the applicant : First. Certified copy of certificate of discharge, showing when the party enlisted and when he was discharged ; or, if this can- not be procured, then the affidavits of two respectable, dis- interesttd witnesses, corroborative of the allegations contained in the pt escribed affidavit on these points. :* Second, In case of widows, the prescribed evidence of military service of the husband, as above, with affidavit of widowhood. Third. In case of minor orphan children, in addition to the prescribed evidence of military service of the father, proof of death or marriage of the mother. Evidence of death may be the testimony of two witnesses or certificate of a physician duly attested. Evidence of marriage may be a certified copy of marriage certificate, or of the record of same, or testimony of two udtnessAs to the marriage ceremony. 28. w4// lands obtained under the homestead laws arc exempt from liability for debts contf acted prior to Uie issuing of patent 29. For homestead entries or lands in Kansas, fees are to be paid according to the following table : ; 'i • . . ■ 11 * 1 u; One hundred aod sixty... Eighty. Forty V Eighty FwHy ,..»....- Price per owe. 1 as 2 so PoMMittirm. Btya'vle wbcp entry i> made. tA 00 ? 00 I 00 4 00 3 09 Payable i|fti«n certificate Imuci. a 00 I 00 4 00 3 00 Rmh. P«yiible «|lian entry is nuid^ f 10 09 S oo S 00 10 00 5 00 Totitl r«ea and com- >t<«aioiM, f la 00 9 00 7 00 18 00 9 00 NoTB.— Wherf entries are made on fi.jo land by officers, soldiers and sailors, \).ndf:x section 1304 of the l^e- vlHtl ^t^iulev, doilUs Ibe amount of the above comoils^^ious must of course be paid— that is, for 160 aero of fa.ja |l •! the date of entry, and fS upon proving up. TrMBMM.CUL TUKK ACTS. a6s h entries* hereupon B original applying prescribed ving when f this can- table, dis- contained of military lowhood. ition to the r, proof of th may be 'sician duly tA copy of istimony of arc exempt ig of patent »9 are to be IS. Tot»l fWi 1 and com- ■ r«|ban ini««)on*. ■ mi«l«. ■ ■ ■ s 00 ^»8 oo ■ ico 9 oo ■ ; oo 7 00 ■ ) oo i8 oo ■ c oo 9 oo ■ lion 9304 of the l^e- i for i«o acre* of |«-S» LAWS TO PROMOTE TIMDRR CULTURK. 31. The Timber-Culture Act of June 14th, 1878, amendatory of the act of March ijUi, 1874 (sections 2464 to 2468 of the Revised Statutes), is to the following effect : First. The privilege of entry under this act Is confmed to per- sons who are heads of families, or over twenty-one years of age, and who are citizens of the United States, or have declared their intention to become such. Second. The affidavit required for initiating an entry under this act may be made before the register or receiver of the dis- trict ofifice for the land district embracing the desired tract, or before some officer authorized to administer oaths in that district, who is required by law to use an official seal. Third. Not more than 1 60 acres in any one section can be entered under this act, and no person can make more than one entry thereunder. Fourth. The ratio of area required to be broken, planted, etc., in all entries under the act of June 14, 1878, is one-sixteenth of the land embraced in the entry, except where the entered tract is less than forty ai res, in which case it is one-sixteenth of that quantity. The party making an entry of a quarter-section, or 160 acres, is required to break or plow five acres covered thereby during the first year, and five acres in addition during the second year. The five acres broken or plowed during the first year, he is rcqifired to cultivate by raising a crop, or other- wise, during the second year, and to plant in timber, seeds, or cut- tings,during the third year. Thefive acres broken or plowed during the second year, he is required to cultivate, by raising a crop or otherwise, during the third year, and to plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings, during the fourth year. The tracts embraced in entries of a less quantity than one-quarter section are required to be broken or plowed, cultivated, and planted in trees, tree seeds or cuttings, during the same periods, and to the same extent, in proportion to their total areas, as are provided for in entries of a quarter-section. Provision is made in the act fof an extension of time in case the trees, seeds or cuttings planted 366 OUH WESTERS FMP/JtE. I •hould \jc Uciitroycd by grastthoppcrs, or by extreme and unusual Urouj^lu. lu/lh. If, at the expiration of eijfht years, or at any timer wirhin five years thf^rcaftcr, the person making ilu; entry, or, if he or she be dt ad, his or her heirs or lej^^al representatives, sliall prove by two credible witnesses the fact of such planting, cultivation, etc., of the said timber for not lesh than the said period of eight years, he, bhe or they shall receive a patent for the land em- braced in said entry. Sixth. If at any time after one year from the date of entry, and prior to the isiiue of a patent theirefor, the claimant shall fail to comply with the nrquirements of this act, or any part thereof, then such land shall become liable to a contest in the manner provided in homestead cases; and u[)on due proof of such faikirr? the entry shall be cancelled, and the land become again subject to entry under the homestead laws, or by some other person under the provisions of this act. Seventh, No land acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of final certificate therefor. IJghth. The fees for entries under the act of June 14, 1878, are ten dollars, if the tract applied for is more than eighty a( res, and five dollars, if it is eighty acres or less; and the commission of reg- isters and receivers on all entries (irrespective of area) are four dollars (two dollars to each) at the date of entry, and a like sum at the date of final proof Ninth, No distinction is made, as to area or the amount of fee and commissions, between minimum and double-minimum lands ; a party may enter 1 60 acres of either on payment of the prescribed fee and commissions. Tenth. The fifth section of the act entitled "An act in addi- tion to an act to punish crimes against the United States and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1857, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations and affidavits required or authorized uy this act. Eleventh. The parties who have already made entries under id unusual iin«! wifhin >r, if he or ihall prove cultivation, )(1 of L'i^lu land cm- • of entry, mant shall r any part ntest in the c proof of nd bcconif* or by some of this act Df any debt I certificate 4, 1 878, are y acres, and ision of reg- ja) are four 1 a like sum amount of le-minimum ment of the ict in addi- States and 1 extend to fhorized uy itries under AI'l'SAlS UNDMR TtUSKk-CLLTURB, ACTS. ff* the T'mbcr- Culture Acts of March 3, 1873, and March 13, 1874, of whi'h the act of June 14. 1878, is aM\cndatory, may coinplrlc the sditte by conipliance witi. the rec)uiremcnts of the latter act; that is, they may do so by showing;, at the time of nuking their final proof, that they have had under cultivation, as requind by the act of June 14, J ' '8, an amount of timber sufficient to make the number of acres r< (juircd thereby, being one-fourth the num- ber required by the lormer acta. 32. The following e^nilations are prescribed pursuant to the fifth section of the act it June 14, 1878, vix. : First, The register and receive r will not restrict entries under this act to one quarter-section only in r ach section, as was for- mt rly done under the acts to which this s amendatory, but may allow cinries to be made of subdivi ions of diltercnt tjuarter- sections ; provided that each entry -jhall form a compact body, not exceeding 1 60 acres, and that not more than tltat quantity shall be entered in any one section. Second. When they shall have satisfied themselves that the land applied for is properly subject to an entry, they will require the party to make the prescribed affidavit, and to pay the fee and that part of the commission payable at the date of entry. Third. When a conte'^ is instituted, as contemplated in third section of the act of June 14, 1878, the contestant will be allowed to make application to enter the land. Should the contest result in the cancellation of the contested entry, the contestant may then perfect his own, but no preference right will bcalod, the drcJMiun ii by law made fmal. II. TiMUKk ANri SioNK Lanimi. — The lawi of the United States pttrmit the »alr of lands imfit for citltivation, but Vi.liiablt: unly or chiefly for the timber and Htunr they contain, an Be ii enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Ameriea in Conf;[ress assembled. That it shall be lawful for any citizen of the United States, or any person of re ([uisitc age " who may be entitled to become a citizen, and who has filed his declaration to become such," and upon payment of twenty-five cents per acre, to file a declaration, under oath, witli the register and the receiver of the land district in which any desert land is situated, that he intends to reclaim a tract of desert land, not exceeding one section, by conducting water upon th( same within the period of three years thereafter: Provided, hoivever, That the right to the use of water by the per- son ^o conducting the same on or to any tract of desert land of 640 acres shall depend upon bona ^d» prior appropriation ; and such right shall not exceed the amount of water actually appropriated and necessarily used for the purpose of irrigation and reclamation; and afl surplus water over and above such actual appropriation and use, together with the water of all lakes, rivers, and other sources of water supply upon the public lands arKl not navigable, shall remam and be held free for the appropriation and use of the public for irrigation, mining, and manufacturing .<' lUiyt from Uic Sccro* oppcalcti, itcd States iiubU: unly I not with- purchuHcr ly UccUrcd cc of such h the uMual cted to 1 60 rcss passed rt lands, in fur the laltt ^atUm: • .'i stives of the ,t it shall be ' person of :n, and who 3n payment under oath, n which any a tract of cting water thereafter: by the per- sert land of iation ; and ;er actually >f irrigation such actual akes, rivers, nds and not ipropriation inufacturing .U lAAAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 mt2A M15 lu Uii 12.2 IS! Kii "^ 140 Photographic Sciences Corporation ^^^^^^BB^^^Ws^HW^ni^'^^^.** 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^■v'^^^WHti ■ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques "u^:!-'.T!K5p^;i,'? J t f y i>SSJiXT LANDS ACT, 269 purposes subject to existing rights. Said declaration shall describe particularly said section of land if sarveyed, and if unsurveyed shall describe the same as nearly as possible without a survey. At any time within the period of three years after filing said declaration, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and receiver of the reclamation of said tract of land in the mainner afbresaid, and upon the payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre for a tract of liand not exceeding 640 acres to any one person, a patent for the same shall be issued to him 1 Provided, That no person shall be permitted to enter more than one tract of land and not to exceed 640 acres, which shall be in compact form. -v; Yj-^ju ; ' • v , Sec. 2. That all lands, exclusive of timber lands and mineral kinds, which will not, without irrigation, produce some iftgribultur^kl crop, shall be dleemed desert lands within the meaning of this act, which fact shall be ascertained by proof of two or move credible witnesses under oath, whose affidavits shall be filed in the land office in which said tract of land may be situated. , #pii^ t^ttis-vMl ibi»llltfo<>r*^«»llfT» ; Skc. 3. That thi$ act shall only apply to and take effect tfi the Slates of California, Oregon, and Nevada, aind the Territorieis of Washington, Idaho, Montana) Utahj Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, and Dakota, and the determination of what may be con- sidered de^iert; land shall be subject to tlie decision and regulation of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. ; More than 1,000,000 acres of these lands were sold belore June 30, 1 87S, a period of fifteen months after the law took effect. . Provision will probably be made for the entry of these deseit lands as homestead lands under the same provisions, as they mfiU in most oases prove vaiuaible as wheat lands or for root crops. IV. Grazing Lands. — Up to 1880 grazing lands could onliy be purchas>edt t^ept! lA Texas; Or from tiik: great landtgrant rail- ways, 01^ the) Bsune terms as other agrioultural lands ; and, asia IQOnse^ueniQQii i(^ the t^nly settled States and Territories, the greater psufti of tiie herds were pastured on tbe unsold and ^ffl^erally I unsurveyed govJsrnment landb. As these were /* a^o OUK WESTEJilf EMriRE. v.: it A gradually encroached upon by the farmers, the stock-raisers had begun to be desirous of purchasing their pasturage lands, which being usually on the mountain slopes were not generally con- sidered arable. The laws in regard to agricultural lands made this almost impossible ; but a bill was introduced into Congress at its recent session (1879-1880) which will probably obviate the existing difficulty. It provides for the sale of grazing lands (which are carefully defined) in quantities of eight square miles 9^ l^s, at nominal rates, with the usual fees. • CHAPTER IV ' ^''^^^ ri:>irfw <««n:^/J /o ,;?hfH;( tii» 4*yJT .1 :^^. MiNiNO AND Mineral Lands—The UNrrsD States Laws and Regulations OF THE Land Office in regard to t: .4 —State, Territorial and Local k Rules or Laws. ii. "' V. Mining and Mineral Lands.— The Ortited States haih regulating mining lands and mineral resources have been very often modified, but are now reduced to a practical basis ; these laws, however, are to some extent modified in their operations by the State mining laws, and the local regulations in the mining districts. They are at this time as follows : :u«*.V/ »* \my. • LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES, > fxwjJu- RELATIVE TO MINING LANDS AND MINERAL RESOURCES, RESERVED FROM SALE UNDER THE PRE-EMPTION ACTS. r [From Rerited Statntn of the United Statei, being a fall text of all lawi now in force concern- inj mining right..] !f|o^ *^ «i.«^ Jo< Chapter 6. — Sec. 2318. In all cases land valuable for minerals shall be reserved from sale except as otherwise expressly directed by law.— &tf. 5, 7'«6'4» ^866. Sec. 2319. All valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging 1 1 the United States, both surveyed and un«urveyed, ixt hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and (iui^clttuse, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States, and those who have declared their : ,Cdg!,"^SJSE" 'u'-iW^i MINING AND MINKKAL LANDS. »?I -raisers had lands, which nerally con- lands made Congress at obviate the razing lands quare miles D Regitlations UAL AND Local States laws ve been very basis; these ;ir operations in the mining n ES, RESERVED inK In force concern- , . ( 3 for minerals essly directed ■ .Vi ( belonging t » d, ire hereby f^utchaise, and i purchase, by declared dieir intention to become such, under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or ruhs of miners in the several mining districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States.— 6*<:. i, May lO, 1872. L .,.„,.;. J,. EXTENT OP CLAIM. ' T f - • " Sec. 2320. Mining claims upon veins or lodes of quartz or other rock in place, bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper, or other valuable deposits heretofore located, shall be governed as to length along the vein or lode by the customs, regulations, and laws in force at the date of their location. A mining claim located after the loth day of May, 1872, whether located by one or more persons, may equal, but shall not exceed 1,500 feet in length along the vein or lode, but no location of a mining claim shall be made until the discovery of the vein or lode within the limits of the claim located. No claim shall extend more than 300 feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, nor shall any claim be limited by any mining regulation, to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing on the 10th day of May, 1872, render such limitation necessary. The end lines of each claim shall be parallel to each her.— ^i-*:. 2, May 10, 1872. RIGHTS OF CLAIMANTS. Sec. 2321. Proof of citizenship under this chapter may consist, in the case of an individual, of his own affidavit; in the case of an association of persons unincorporated, of the affidavit of their authorized agent, made on his own knowledge or upon informa- tion and belief; and in the case of a corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any State or Territory therfcof, by the filing of a certified copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation. — Sec. 7, May 10, 1872. ytuJi VEINS — HOW CONTROLLED. Sec. 2322. The locators of all mining locations heretofore made, or which shall hereafter be made, or any mineral vein, lode, or ledge, situated on the public domain, their heirs, and assigns, Wt. •7" OtW WMSTEKU EMP/KB. where.no adverae cbim exists, on the loth day of May, iS;?, so long as they comply with the laws of the United States, and with State, Territorial, and local regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States governing their possessory title, shall have the exclusive right of possession and enjoyment of all the surface included within the lines of their locations, and of all veins, lodcti and kdges riiroughoul their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such surface lines extended downward verti- cally, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular in their course downward as to extend outside the vertical Imes of such surface locations ; but their right of possession to such outside parts of such veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie between vertical pbnes drawn downward, as above described, through the end lines of their locations, so continued in their own directions that such planes will intersect such exterior parts of such veins or ledges ; and nothing in this section sliall authorize the locator or possessor of a vein or lode which extends in its downward course beyond the vertical lines of his claim to enter upon the surface of a claim owned or possessed l^ another. — Sec. 3, Ma)f 10^ 1872. .^ 'ff TUNNKLL.NQ. ^m^f^f>^ f^Ut^ Sec. 2333. Where a tunnel is run for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mineSi the owners of such tunnel shall have the right of possession of all veins or lodes within 3,000 feet from the face of such tunnel on the line thereof not previously known to eocist, discovered in such tunnel, to the same extent as if discovered from the surface ; and locations on the line of such tunnel of veins or lodes not appearing on the surface, made by other parties a^ter the commencement of the tunnel, and while the same is being; prosecuted with reasonable diligence, shall be invalid ; but failure to prosecute the work on the tunnel for six months shall be considered as an abandonment of the right to ail undiscovered veinBion the Ha« of such tunnel. — Sec, 4, May no, 1872, REQUIREMENTS OF LOCATION AND LABOR. , Sec. ^324. The; miners of each mining disitrict may make regU' '~'^'^ ^¥v¥ ■'^ ''* ^ \ r^''' ' :j^2si;35223tic.^: :^n yumrJ^^fT^sm^iSmw^-^usr'is^ [ay, 1372, 80 tes, and with Met with the ry title, shall nt of all the d of all veins, op or apex of mward verti- r depart from :tend outside heir right of :dges shall be ertical planes end lines of ans that such ins or ledges ; r or pousessor :ourse beyond face of a claim 1872. )ment of a vein of such tunnel ies within 3,000 ' not previously same extent as the line of such ip-face, made by nnel, and while igence, shall be e tunnel for six t of the right to il-^Sec. 4, May itia)E.m^^.r|ga- REQUIREMRNTS OF LOCATION AND LABOR. •r$ lattons not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the State or Territory in which the district is situated, governing the bcation, manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining claim, subject to the following requirements : The location must be distinctly marked on the ground, so that its boundaries can be readily traced. All records of mining claims hereafter made shall contain the name or names of the locators, the date of the location, and such a description of the claim or claims located by reference to some natural object or permanent monument as will identify the claim. On each claim located after the loth day of May, 1872, and until a patent has been issued therefor, not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or Improvements made during each year. On all claims located prior to the loth day of May, 1872, $10 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made by the loth day of June, 1874, and each year there- after, for each 100 feet in length along the vein until a patent has been issued therefor ; but where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made on any one claim, and upon a failure to comply with these conditions, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation, in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made : Provided, That the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal r.epresentatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after fsMlure and before such location. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners to contribute his proportion of the expenditures required hereby, the co-owners who have performed the labor or m^de the improvements may, at the expiration of the year, give sijch delinquent co-owner personal notice in writing or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim, for at least once ^ week for ninety days, and if, at the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing or by publication, such delinquent shall fail or refuse to contribute his proportion of the expenditure required by this section, his interest in the claim shall" become the property of his co-owners who have made the required ejq)endiuires,—r^(pr. 5, May 10, 1872. / ''\, V4 OLA' H'ESrEKS EMPJKE. HOW TO SRCURE PATENT. :, \ Sec. 3325. A patent for any lanu claimed and located for valuable deposits may be obtained in the following manner : Any person, association, or corporation authorizied to locate a claim under this chapter, having claimed and located a piece of land for such purposes, who has or have complied with the terms of this chapter, may file, in the proper land office, an application for a patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together with a plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common, made by or under the direction of the United States Surveyor-General, show- ing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in such plat previous to the filing of the application for a patent, and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons, that such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of the notice in such land office, and shall thereupon be entitled to a patent for the land in the manner following : The Register of the land office, upon the filing of such application, plat, field notes, notices, and affidavits, shall publish a notice that such application has been made, for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as publisihed nearest to such claim ; and he shall also post such notice in his office for the same period. The claimant, at the time of filing this application, or at any time thereafter, within the sixty days of publication, shall file with the Register a certifi- cate of the United States Surveyor-General that $500 worth of labor has been expended on improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors ; that the plat is correct, with such further description by such reference to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description, to be incorporated in the patent. At the expiration of sixty dayd of publication, the claimant shall file his affidavit, showing that, the plat and nodce have been posted in a con- spicuous place on the claim during $uch period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the Register and the Receiver of the -proper land office at the expiration of the f/ hxiaaJSiXC. '.hii^^ .'^'9>-,»sted in a con- 1 of publication, te Register and xpiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of f 5 per acre, and that no adverse claim exists ; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of this diapter. — S€C, 6, May 10, 1872. 't V v-'fij PROVISIONS FOR PLACER CLAIMS. Sec. 2339. Claims usually called "placers," including all forms of deposits, excepting veins of (juartz or other rock in place, shall be subject to entry and patent under like circumstances and conditions, and upon similar proceedings as are provided for vein or lode claims; but where the lands have been previ- ously surveyed by the United Sta^s, the entry in its exterior limits shail conform to the legal subdivisions of public lands. — Sec, \2, JtUy i), \%^o. ,.j,. ,,^ .,, - , t^-j ... ,. „.^,,j. Sec. 2330. Legal subdivisions of forty acres may be subdivided into ten-acre tracts, and two or more persons or associations of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, although such claims may be less than ten acres each, may make joint entry thereof, but no location of a placer claim i.iade after the 9th day of July, 1870, shall exceed 160 acres for any one person or association of persons, which location shall conform to the United States surveys; and nothing in this section contained shall defeat or impair any bona fide pre-emption or homestead claim upon agricultural lands, or authorize the sale of the im- provements of any bona fide settler to any purchaser. — Sec. 1 2, 7«/y9, 1870. Sec. 2331. Where placer claims are upon surveyed lands, and conform to legal subdivisions, no further survey or plat shall be required, and all placer mining claims located after the loth day of May, 1872, shall conform as near as practicable with the United States system of public land surveys and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys, and no such location shall include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant, but where placer claims cannot be conformed to legal subdivisions, survey and plat shall be made as on unsurveyed lands ; and where by • -'. \ |;( OUR WaSTKHIf FW/Jflt. tbo segregation of mineral LamI in any legal HulHlivision a quan- tity of agricultural land Ichs than forty acres rcmainR. such frac* tional portion of agricultural land ntay be entered by any party qualified by law, for homestead or pre-emption purpos««. — Sm. IQ, May 10, 1^72. ,.,.. ,,, ^ , LIMITATIONS AND tlBNS. ' ^'^ ^mtt; •. i| ;i}, ^, Sec. 333a. Where such person or associaition, they and their grantors, have held and worked their claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations for mining claims of the State or Territory where the same may be situated, evidence of such possession and working of the claim for such period shall be sufficient to establish a right to a patent thereto under this chapter, in the absence of any adverse dahn ; but nothing in this chapter shalKbe deemed to impair any lien which may have attached in any way whatever to any minin|^ claim or property thereto attached prior to the issuance of a patent — Sec. 13, 7«(y 9. »870. li'nil» fi^(i<«ryU ' PLACBR AND LODE CLAIMS JOIKTLV. !''■», i ^^HVt-,i ...^ ' Sec. 2333. Where the same person, association or corpora- tion, is in possession of a placer claim, ^nd also a vein or lode included within the boundaries therepf, application shall be made for a patent for the placer cl^im, M'ith the statement that i( in- cludes such vein or lode ; and in such c^ise a patent shall Issue for the placer claim, subject to the provisions of this chapter, in- cluding such vein or lode, upon the payment of f$ per acre for such vein or lode clafm, and twenty-five feet of surface on each side ^erepf. The remainder of the plajcer claim^ or any placer cl^im not embracing any vein or lode claim, sh^ll be paid for at the rate of ^2.50 per acre, together with all costs of proceedings ; and where ^ vein or lode, such as is described in section 2320 of this act, is known to exist within the boundaries of a placer claim, aa application for a patent for such a, placer ctajm which does not include an application for the vein or lode claim, shaH be construed as a cbpcTu^ive declaration tj^at the cYairhant of the placer claim has no dg^t of possession of the vein or lode claim ; JWU^ ^■ii\.'-i':.ttt.z.lA. ■•'.n,\i\!m nas TO SVKl'MWMS. n* Hion a r\\\9,xk' IH, such frac- by any party 'posM. — Set, .il ritl.l. ey and their period equal s for mining yr be situated, aim for such atent thereto e clahn; but ny lien which iin|f claim or f a patent — ..»'», I or corpora- i vein or lode shall be made int that it in- nt shall issue is chapter, In- 5 per acre for irface on each or any placer be paid for at r proceedings ; action 2320 of s of a placer ;r claim which je claim, shall lairhant of the or lode claim ; but w^^'re the ^^xlstence; of a vein or lode in a placer claim is not known, a patent for the placer claim fthnll convey all valuable And other mineral depositH within the buundarie« thereof.— >SW. II, MMjf lOk 1S70. '''"" nuro 5UHVEV0M. '" *' Skc. 2334. The Survcyor-Ciencral of the United States may appoint in each land district containing mineral lands as many competent surveyors as shall apply for appointment to survey mining claims. The expenses of the survey of vein or lo«^le claims, and the survey ami subdivision of placer claims into smaller quantities than 160 acres, together with the cost of pub- lication of notices, shall be paid by the applicants, and they shaU be at liberty to obtain the same at the most reasonable rates, and they shall also be at liberty to employ any United States Deputy Surveyor to make the survey. The Commissioner of the General Land Ofifkc shall also have power to establish the maximum charges for surveys and publication of notices under this chapter, and in case of excessive charges for publication, he may designate any newspaper published in a land district whev% mines are situated, for the publication of mining notices in such district, and 6x the rates to be charged by such paper ; and to the end that the Commissioner may be fully informed on the subject, each applic^^nt shall file with the Register a sworn state- ment of all charges and fees paid by such apf^icant for publica- tion and surveys, together with all fees and money paid the Register and Receiver of the land office, which statement shall be transmitted, with the other papers in the case, to the Com- missioner of the General Land Office. — Sfc. 12, May 10, 1872^,^ ■.*;;-a4u r PROOF OF CLAIMS. •■:u\\i,.{ .>!.,.. •7ii Sec. 2335. All affidavits required to be made under this chap*^ ter may be verified before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claim may be situated, and all testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer, and, when duly tertified by the t)ffiefer taking the same, ^all have tJie same forc6 and effect as if taken before the Regis- tcr Alul Rrccivrr of the land oflice. In casei of contest %% to the mineral or agricultural chararttr of lanr location shall take ihe vein below the point of union, including all the ipace of intersection.— >&r. 14* May to, 187a, '*^* <• *^ ^l'^^^^illCllM ^rytffiat/f.?n »M . V/sm nxA m n^ijcn W(fi '^^Sec. 2,337. Where non-mineral land not contiguous to the vein or lode is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or tode for mining or milling purposes, such non-adjacent 8ur< face-ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to the survey and notice as are applicable to veins or lodes; but no location hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall exceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the rate as fixed by this chapter for the superfices of the lode. The owner of a quartz-mill or reduction works not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill-site as provided in this section. — Sec. 15, May 10, 187a. •fi. DaAiMAeE, SASBMENTS, rrc ««Kr^'ii«?«rA'i3fi^ Sec. 3338. As a condition of sale in the absence of necessar^ U^ai^ >. '.^u^ a :i' ^i-OK-»! HOMJiSrMAM ON MtNUkAL L4SDS, a79 contest at to Htitnony and al nolicr of I tarty cannot ck for thirty jinler of the cii Innil : and i been given. r cms each location shall ;hc space of \ the right of uses of con- • more veins in below the on. — 5!?^. 14, juoiis to tfie of such vein adjacent sur- pplication for ' be patented ements as to lodes; but no shall exceed de at the rate e lode. The ling a mine in ir his mtU-tite \ of necessai^T leginlatlon by Coni;r^Kiii, the IfK-ai I.e^iittat*ire 01 any State or 'I'crrilory ma/ provide ri.le"* \Kit wurkinj^ iiiim •» mvolvinj; tasc- ments, tlraina^jr, and other necessary nitaiii In ihtir ctniiplctc development, and tho»e condiiionn shall be fully expre»»eU in the patent. — Sic. 5, July 36, 1866. 1 IM- ■' li, 'I ,'t .. s ■ . . , VISTtn WATKR mOHTS. Sec. 9339. Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of »'ater for mining, agricultural, manufacturing or other purposes, have vested and accrued, and the same arc recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws and decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained at^d protected in the same ; and the right of way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified, is acknowledged and confirmed ; but whenevt;r any person in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or dam- ages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage. — Sec. 9, July 26, 1866. Sec. 3340. All patents granted, or pre-emption or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or Wojhts to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such waiv.. rights, as may have been acquired under o: recognized by the preceding section. — Sec. 17, July 9, 1870. HOMESTEADS. . Sec. 2341. Wherever, upon the lands heretofore designated as mineral lands, which have been excluded from survey and sale, there have been homesteads made by citizens of the United States, or persons who have declared their intention to become citizens, which homesteads have been made, improved, and used for agricultural purposes, and upon which there have been no valuable mines of gold, silver, cinnabar or copper discovered, and which are properly agricultural lands, the settlers or owners of such homesteads shall have a right of pre-emption thereto, and shall be entitled to purchase the same at the price of $1.35 per acre, and in quantity not to exceed 1 60 acres, or they may » W M s? aSo fi2fed to establish addltioiial kind districts, and to appoint the necessary ofllicei-s under exist- ing laws wherever he may deem ttie same nefcessafy for the public convenience in executing the provisions Of this chlapter.— Sec. 7, yuiy 26, 1P66. Skc. 2344. M; ag jcolntaitied in this chapter shall bte con- strued to impair in anyway rights ol* interests in mining property acquired under existing laws.— S&r. if, 7^(y 9, 18 70; Sec. 16, Af^ 10, rS'/i. ""'"^* ^t f?, -.^ . a\\''<\ Stec. 2347. Every perswn above the age of tteenty-one years, Who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his ifttention to bedomc such, w any association of persons severaliy qualified as above, shall, trpbn application to the Register of the jMtJtJer land dffice, hivte the fijgrht to tented, by legal iubdiviSlbn^, tAy quantity it>f vacant ttba! lands of the United States not btheh- Wfee appropriated or reserved by competent authority, not ta- ':iiSiM^tdim:^X;:i:'^xrt:^.ti:' ■■'aa^ ^'^'S'-V»>Clf. WHO CAN CLAIM, i^.;,,; a*.?". 'i^4i^'fn^'''"rvH*V-;''*''-*^ *■'«'' RBOISTERINO CLAIMS. i.'*i?i£''^,7 -.ift 'm\ , uti Sfec. 234$. All claim*, under the preceding section must b^ presented to «ili6 Regif.ter of the proper land district within sixty days after date of actual possession, and the commencement of improvements on the land, by the filing of a derfaratory state- ment therefor ; but when the township plat \i ittrt oh file at th* date oif such improvementis, filing mrust be ttiadt t^ithin isiitty days from the receipt of such plat at the district offite ; and ^h^t^ i}r.2 improvements shall have been made prior to the expiration of three months from the 3d day of Marcji, 187^, sixty days from the expiration of such three months shall b« allowed for the filing of a declaratory statement, and no sale under the provisions of this section ?h»ll be allowed until the expiration of six months from the 3d day of March, iZn-Sec^z* i^';^,imi »m-\p^^m^ ENTRIES AUTHORIZED. Sec. 2350. The three preceding sections shall be held to tmm miiiiiaB! ^^&>:^..i^i^M^i^jiid^^id^:U^^&!^»Ji^^ aSa owe WESTERN EMPIRE, authorize only one entry by the same person or association of persons ; and no association of persons, any member of which shall have taken the benefit of such sections, either as an indi- vidual or as a member of any other association, shall enter or hold any other lands under the provisions; and all persons claiming under section 2348, shall be required to prove their re- spective rights and pay for the lands filed upon within one year from the time prescribed for filing their respective claims ; and upon failure to file the proper notice, or to pay for the land within the required period, the same shail be subject to entry by any ether qualified applicant. — Sec. 4, ibid. ,< /,j,,, >^*;iw».n. h«^j,| I Sec. 2351. In case of conflicting claims upon coal lands where the improvement shall be commenced after the 3d day of March^ 1873, priority of possession and improvement followed by propei filing and continued good faith, shall determine the preference right to purchase. And also when improvements have already been made prior to the 3d day of March, 1873, division of the land claimed may be made by legal subdivisions, to include as near as may be the valuable improvements of the respective parties. The Commissioner of the General Land Office is authorized to issue all needful rules and regulations for carrying into effect the^ provisions of this and the four preceding sections. — Sec. 5, idid. ^^JSec. 2352. Nothing in the five preceding sections shall be construed to destroy or impair any rights which may have attached prior to the 3d day of March, 1 873, or to authorize the sale ofj^jidijf^uaj^lf^ Jpr mines of goI^sjlY^jr or ^pti^K.^,^f. 6, «M, .1 k TME ACT 6PW4. Ail aet ttiuiitMd m^etMlitled "An act to promote the development of iKe mining retourect of the United Sutes," p«ssed May lo^ 1S74. ^^ *^*Be it enacled by the Senate and House of Representatives of thi* United States of America in Congress assetnbied. That the provi-' sions of the fifth section of the act entitled "An act to promote the development of the mining resources of the United States," passed May lo, 1874, which requires expenditures of labor and Jia.^- •li«ay„^;'tir»' ;•; . ^-fj: v^t..>a :■^■,. , UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE RULES. 383 isociation of >er of which as an indi- lall enter or all persons ove their re- hin one year claims; and for the land t to entry by lands where lay of March^ ed by propei e preference lave already n of the land le as near as :tlve parties, luthorized to ito effect the Sec. 5, ibid. ons shall be h may have orize the sale s milling Kiourees itatives of the at the provi- t to promote [lited States," of labor and improvements on claims located prior to the passage of said act, are hereby so amended that the time for the first annual expenditure on claims located prior to the passage of said act, shall be extended to the ist day of January, 1875. — Approved June 6, 1874. THE ACT OF 1875. An act to lunend iccUon two thousand thrm hundred >nd twmtx-four of tht Reviicd StafttM, , ^ niatfng to the development of the mining retource* of the United States. ,,, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Stales of America in Congress assembled, That section 232/1 of the Revised Statutes be and the same is hereby amended 50 that where a person or company has or may run a tunnel for the purpose of developing a lode or lodes, owned by said person or company, the money so expended in said tunnel shall be taken and considered as expended on said lode or lodes, whether located prior to or since the passage of said act ; and such per- son or company shall not be required to perform work on the surface of said lode or lodes in order to hold the same as re- (juired by said zci.^Approved February 11, 1875., .^^„,,f ^i«...m, *^ To these mining laws should be appended the "^ *'^*" ' "^^** ' ii ' -RULES OF THE UNITED 'StviTis LAI^'c&fe^'^-''^^^ ^'\ P (Under the Act of Congress of May lo, 187a, and now in force.) '• trit will be perceived that the first section of said act leaves die mineral lands in the public domain, surveyed and unsurveyed, open to exploration, occupation, and purchase by all citizens of the United States, and all those who have declared their intention ^llv^... fV.^ ■-■•'''t';s*» -'")■! to become such. j^ti Jrr ;.iii:. LODB CLAIMS PREVIOUSLY LOCATEBp-'t ^t 2. By an examination of the several sections of the foregoing act it will be seen that the status of lode claims, Xoc^t^d previous to the date thereof, is not changed with regard to their ^Ar/««/ along the lode or width of surface, such claims being restricted and governed both as to their lateral and linear extent by the State, Territorial, or local laws, customs or regulations which were in ■ kj-jl - it-^*> 'T.i- c-i^ #^r^*■ ^j^.i^^" *»*.;^j*i^ 'wW'jjun'";* r*-"* t «•:'■» "F ■ wwiWiwiiiiwii TOMWftfiiiiiaimiiiitiinm iH ^?^v c^;^ tti^s^itk ^t'/Jt-E. force in their respective districts at the date of such locations, in so far as the same did not conflict with the limitation fixed by the iMining statute of ju1)r 26, 1866. ''^'-'' • ■> • ,..,-^.~^.^. * ENLARGEMENT OF RIGHTS. t 3. Mining rights ac()uhossessory right of all the surface included within ihe UMes of their locations, and of all veltis, lodes, or ledg*es throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of sudi swrfaee lines extending downward vertically, although such veins, lodes, or ledges may so far depart from a perpendicular, in their *eourse downward, as to extend outside tbe vertical lines of 6uch loditions at the surface ; it being ex- pressly provided, liOwtelver, that the right tjf possession to sUth outside parts of said veins or ledges shall be confined to such portions thereof as lie betWeteh vertical planes drawn downward as aforesaid, through the end lines of their locations, so continued in their own direction, that such planes will intersect such exterior p^rts of suc)i veins, lodes, or ledges ; no right being ^t'sLttt^d, however, to the clainiiant of such outside portion of ^ vehi 6t ledge to enter u^on the surface location of anotbei; daimiiht . r, . < , . i .,ff| tlAliri OF THE LAW. 4. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the law limits the possessory rigiHs to veins, ^odqsi or ledges PiAer than the one named in the original location, to pqclv as were not uJuerxly etaimidt at the date qjf said aci p/ M(i^ 10, i^^2% and thUt whentt sucli other vein or ledge was so adversely claimed at ihM «bte, the right of the par^ so adversely claiming is k bo wa^ iifeipaired by scudact. ^^ ANKVAL laMOR, .:l' 5. From and after the date of said act of Congress, in order to NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW. aas 1 locations, in t.ion fixed by ( ,' locations are, the fdbtirirtg aken veins or nply \vith the &1 f^uUtioMi I, ar'e invested ill the surface 11 veins, lodes, apex of which ard vertically, lepart from a xtend outside ; it being ex- ission to sUeK ifined to such wn downward I, so continued ntersect such right being ; portion of %. >n of another the law limits ^ than the one not adversely nd thtil: wheiv 1 «t thM «bte» twa^Mkipftired ' i ss, in order to hold the possessory title to a mining claim ffreviously iotafed, and for which a patent has not been issued, the law requires that kn dollars shall be expended annually in labor or improvements on each claim of one hundred feet on the course of the vein or lode until a patent shall have been issued thereibr ; but where a number of such claims are held in common, upon th*; same vein or lode, the aggregate expenditure that would be necessary to hold all the claims, at the rate of $io per loo feet, may be made upon, any one claim, a failure to comply with this requirement in any one year subjecting the claim upon which such failure Oiccurred tp relocation by other parties, the same as if no pre- vious location thereof had ever been made, unless the claimants under the original location shall have resuaofid work thereon Alter SMBkiittUkre, aad before such relocatioo. FAJLURE TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW. ft)r.»':>V?!M") 7) -Iff** 6. Upon the failure of any one of several co-owners of a vein, lode, or ledge which has not been patented, to contribute his pro- portion of tba expenditures necessary to hold the claim, or claims «o held ii^ ownership in common, the co-owners who have per- forn^ed thie ^bor, or made the improvements as required by said act, may, at the expiration of the year, give such delinqueat cq- owner personal notice in writing, or notice by publication in the newspaper published nearest the claim for at least once a week for ninety days ; and if upon the expiration of ninety days after such notice in writing, or upon the expiration, of one hundred and eighty days after the fiirst newspaper publication of notice, the delinquent co-owner shall have failed to contribute his piro- portion to meet such expenditure or improvements, his interest in the claim, by law, passes to his co-owners who haiYe ^oode tke expenditures on irapvovemeats as aforesaid^j^v*^ B^?t^^\r'to fTt!iilT» '!,r-t'«lmy.a--U ' I»IGHTS UNDER OLp PATENTS. ,«>:^»^1:.^r»>U^' 8. Applications for patents for mining claims pending the date of the act of May loth, 1872, may be prosecuted to final decis- ion in the General Land Office ; and where no adverse rights are affected thereby, patents will be issued in pursuance of the provisions of said act. \^^f>s^i EFFECT OF ACT OF 1 872. jr : 9. From and after the date of said act, any person who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become a citizen, may locate, record and hold a mining claim o{ fifUen hundred linear feet along the course of any mineral vein or lode subject to location ; dr an association of persons, severally qualified as above, may make joint location of such claim of fifteen hundred feet, but in no event can a location of a vein or lode made subsequent to the act exceed fifteen hundred feet along the course thereof, whatever may be the number of persons composing the association. EXTENT OF SURFACE GROUND. ,, f la With r^rd to the extent.of surface ground adjoining a .-.i'life oundary lines ed downward nay so far de- rnward as to It the surface, such veins or » lie between d lines of the direction that luch veins or that all veins, iside such sur- patent, which excluded frcm :nding the date to final decis- adverse rights rsuance of the rson who is a 1 his intention I mining claim >f any mineral on of persons, •cation of such L location of a fteen hundred he number of St:f ' ' ind adjoining a KXTKNT OF SURFACE GROUND. 387 vein or lode, and claimed for the convenient working thereof, the act provides that the lateral extent of locations of veins or lodes made after its passage shall in no case exceed three htindrrd feet on each side of the middle of th* vein at the surface, and that no iiuch surface rights shall be limited by any mining regulations to less than twenty-five feet on each side of the middle of the vein at the surface, except where adverse rights existing at the date of said act may render such limitations necessary, the end lines of such claims to be in all cases parallel to each other. '1 -v A I,. ,. .;,»., >.iij v!(f; 't tV*'- \ > /I' ■•'«<''l)'iMv>/ M'd 'I. •! 'ii SURFACE RIGHTS. 1 1 . By the foregoing it will be perceived that no lode claim located after the date of said act can exceed a parallelogram fifteen hundred feet in length by six hundred feet in width, but whether surface ground of the width can be taken depends upon the local regulations or State or Territorial laws in force in the several mining districts ; and that no such local regula- tions or State or Territorial laws shall limit a vein or lode claim to less than fifteen hundred feet along the course thereof, whether the location is made by one or more persons, nor can the sur- face rights be limited to less than fifty feet in width, unless ad- verse claims existing on the iQth ^Y ^CMf^y* ^^T^% render sucji lateral limitations necessary, ^i^^^'i^^^^^^ ■^m'^^r^rwm "^M • '■■Ql ««HS a88 OUR WRS1ERN MMP/RE. uripUtm of iki (/aim ot (/aims located, by reference to some natur«d object or permanent monument, m will iUcntify the claim. Oft ifsHr SrtR Mt^tVI'* ^" WKORDINO CUIUS, « xVv >H^Vsf, ^>»V> M of 13. The taid act declares that no lode claim can be recordecl until after the discovery of a vein or lode within the limits of the ground claimed; the object of which provision is evidently to prevent the encumbering of the district mining record with use* less locitions before sufficient work has been done thereon to determine whether a vein or lode has been really discovered or not ' i;,v.*RMtui»#^,^p*^«vv« • . .;..>-;yvv ^hy -i'^ ' -^ I ) ,nW» t/U€H '>M imll WHAT CLAIMANT SHOULD DO. 1"l firfilVU . N, ^" 14. The claimant should, therefore, pripr to recording his claim, unless the vein c^n be traced upon the surface, sink a shaft, or run a tunnel or drift tq a sufficient depth therein to discover and develop a mineral-bearing vein, lode or crevice ; should deter- mine, if possible, the general course of such vein in either direc- tion (irom the point of discovery, by which direction he will be governed in marking the boundaries of his claim on the surface ; ^nd shpuld give the course and distance as nearly as practicable from the discovery sh^f^ on t^e claim to some permanent, well- known points or objects, such for instance, as stone monument^, blazed trees, the confluence of streams, point of intersection of well-known gulches, ravines or roads,, prominent buttes, hills, etc., which m^y be in the immediate vicinity, and which will serve to perpetuate and fix the /ocus of the claim and render it sus- ceptible of identification fVom the description thereof giv^n in the record of locations in the district. NA^ES OF ADJOINING CLAIMS. 15^ |n addjtiqn tp the foregoing data, the claimant should state ^he names of adjpi.nijng claims, or, if none adjoin, the relative posii^ions of the, n^^rest claims ; should drive a posit, or erect a tfu)fk]tfnisnt of sjtpnfis %t e^ich corner of his, surface ground, 9n . r ...»,,... 'T »., ^ ... ■ . . . i6. Within "^'J*'' Qf wtit rKAHm.tw:^ ■tor nf>vi!: ni yJitotbi g^^oKN statements. • 'J«'<'' '♦'' 'J' -^^ 23. At the time of posting notice and marking the lines of the tunnel, as aforesaid, a full and correct copy of such notice of location, defining the tunnel claim, must be filed for record with the mining recorder of the district, to which nol'ce must be attached the sworn statement or declaration of the owners, claimants or projectors of such tunnel, setting forth the facts in the case, stating the amount expended by themselves and their predecessors in interest in prosecuting work thereon, the extent of the work performed, and that it is dona fide their intention to prosecute work on the tunnel so located and described with reasonable diligence for the development of a vein or lode, or for the discovery of mines, or both, as the case may be. MISCELLANEOUS. <,l\t.\ 34. This notice of location must be duly recorded, and with the said sworn statement attach^^, kc;pt op the recorder's i^l^s for future reference. t •, , . 25. By a compliance with the foregoing, much needless difficulty will be avoided, and the way for the adjustment of 1 «■> ;i' If' .V >»» OUM WKSTKRH KMPtHt. a\ tejjal ri^^litH tkvt\\\\TrA in virtur of na\t\ fourth section of the act will be madr-miieh more easy tml certain. '»■»»'♦*' »».»*«»'j*iV( i '■ a6. Thi^ officr will takr partitular care that no Improper advantage in taken of thin proviiion of law by parties making or profeHHiojj to make tunnel location*! ontennibly for the purpofie named in the Mtatute, but really for the purpose of monopo- lizing the land lying in front of the-ir tunnrh to the detriment of the mining intereitM and to the exclusion of ^//rt ////<• prospectors or miners ; hut will hold nuch tunnel claimants to a strict com- |riiant-e with the terms of the act ; and as teitsomihU liiHgnut or their part in prosecuting the work is one of the essential con- ations of their implied contract, negligence or want of due diligence will b'' construed as working a forfeiture of their right to all undiscovered veins on the line of auch tunnel. , ,, „r J , . OOViaNMENT TITLl TO VEIN OR LODE CLAIMS. jUli^Kytel-i 37. By the sixth section of said act, authority is given for granting title for mines by patent from the government, to any person, association or corporation having the necessary qualifi- cations as 10 citizenship, and holding the right of possession to a claim in compliance with law. U ! 7f « M • ii» • ^ « * I .i.>IJ! J b'^fbniu: Correct suRVEVti" ^■. . ."i . ' i. ,^. . ... , 28. The claimant is required in the first place to have a correct survey of his claim made under authority of the Surveyor- General of the State or Territory in which the claim lies ; such survey to show with accuracy the exterior surface boundaries of the claim, which boundaries are required to be distinctly marked t>y monuments on the ground. ft^rit l*»5H f ^I'jfijrjiitif ytu TTJI fOSTINO copy OF PLAT. 29. The claimant is then required to post a copy of the plat of such Su.vey in a conspicuous place upon the claim, together with the notice of his Intention to apply for a patent therefor, which notice will give the date of posting, the nkme of the claimatit, the name of the claim, n^lne or lode, the mining district or county ; Whether the location is of record, and If so, where HMi.n soras^MiOHfs re thm MKmmUk '01 an of the act no Improper PS making or the piirpow > of monopo- (Irtrimrnt of > pronprrtorn a strict com- r diHgfn€t or. t*fl rilLO NOTRS. 30. After |)Osting the aaid plat and notice upon the prcmi»ei^ the claimant will file with the proper register and receiver a copy of such plat, and the firld nuten of nurvcy uf the claim, accompanied by the affidavit of ut V-.A'M two crrdiUc wiinoMHeN that such plat and notice are ^lo.sted conspicuously upon thd claim, giving the date and place of such posting ; a copy of tho notice so posted to be atiaclicd to and form a part of suiil affidavit. 10 inrAirf^o"; t*>\\^iA ■»'>rli«^ Voa. 1'» •«. "^fh v.f (>.]:.,( pm .»'irr.»rn»/»""ir|nii r>, aiOHTS TO THE rRBMises. .! ^.*i.l^ 31. Attached to the field notes so filed, must be the swori statement of the claimant that he has t!ic posses, y right to th« premises therein described, in virtue of a compliance by himself (and by his grantors, if he claims by purchase) with the rninifl|0 rules, regulations and customs of the mining district, State or Territory in which the claim lies, and with the mining laws of Congress ; such sworn statement to narrate briefly, but as clearly as possible, the facts constituting such compliance, the origin of his possession, and the basis of his claim to a patent. .^ ,„., .,^i r. SUPPORT OP APPIDAVIT. 32. Tliis affidavit should be supported by appropriate evidence from the mining recorder's office, as to his possessor}' right as follows, \\i. : Where he claims to be a locator, a full, true and correct copy of such location should be furnished, as the same' appears upon the mining records ; such copy to b<: attested by t|)^ seal of the recorder, or, if he has no seal, then he should make oath to the same being correct, as shown by his records. Where the applicant claims as a locator, in company with others, who have since conveyed their interests in the lode to him, a copy ■ .... ..,.• .1 > v/ - It Mwme»..- «MM|<«*>f>>M seal or oath rights in the )ticant claims copy of the )ath as afore y the proper tinuous chain )plicant. i Mr ' -' ; r'case having it of the fact isory title will the claimant, t of the facts nprovements, certificates of ay be in the lim, should be ■ ' . I ! ter will, at the ipplication for ed riearest to ( office for the be as full and given in the )reparation of /bptiipleteness viiidityo^the *; I 'I : se papers ii(rith the Register or at any time during the sixty days' publication, is required to file a certificate of the Surveyor-General that not less than $500 worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon tlie claim by the applicant or hiis grantors; that the plat filed by the applicant is correct ; that the field notes of the survey, as filed, furnish such an accurate description of the claim as will, if incorporated into a patent, serve to fully identify the premises; and that such reference is made therein to natural objects or permanent monuments as will perpetu<'te and fix the /oats thereof. '**?'i 'i^i ^ ^^-f+Mje'W/iyi^P ,7W''i! GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FROM SURVEYOR-GENER/O, . , 38. It will be the more convenient way to have this certificate indorsed by the Surveyor-General, both upon the plat and field notes of the survey filed by the claimant as aforesaid. ,.,»*i»! ^, . , 39. After the period of sixty days of newspaper publication has expired, the claimant will file his afifidavit, showing that the plat and notice aforesaid remained conspicuously posted upon the claim sought tw be pati^nt^d,, during s^id sixty days' publi- cation. ,,, . , r. t . .'■ . ..1 40. Upon the filing of this afifidavit the Register will, if no ad- verse claim was filed in his ofifice during the period of publication, permit the claimant to pay for the land according to the area given in the plat and field notes of survey aforesaid, at the rate of j(5 for each acre and $5 for each fractional part of an acre, the Receiver issuing the usual duplicate receipt therefor ; after which the whole matter will be forwarded to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a patent issued thereon if found regular. •» ,j .. _ r ., , ,i. 37 in each township; the claim M& ' ;,i (*> mmnmirM "••«• w*«««^*H»f 396 jj.,v,.s OUK IVESTEKN BMP/JtE. \ to be SO designated at date of filing the plat, field notes, etc., in addition to the local designation of the claim ; it being required in all cases that the plat and field notes of the survey of a claim muft, in addition to the reference to permanent objects in the nfMf«N*ir«naMiw- "fanjl^ m^ BOUA'n.lRiES AND KXTEi^f »F C/./t/MS. 297 lotcs, etc., in ing required ;y of a claim bjects in the reference to corner of a ates surveys, note distance reference by leighborhood 9CUS until the laries. Iverse claims; e legal effect, shall be filed lUst be on the iw the nature, n. )perly carried iformation of the Register or patent was thin the sixty fore an officer rict, or before Ifc' 'nature and adverse party i- as a locator ; certified copy 1 was a mere iding the pur- h facts should be supported by the affidavit of one or more witnesses, if any were present at the time ; and if he claims as a locator, he must 61e a duly certified copy of the Ic cation from the office of the proper recorder. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT OP CLAIMS. 49. In order that the "boundaries" and "extent" of the clain^ may be shown, it will be incumbent upon the adverse claimant to file a plat showing his claim and his relative situation and position with the one against which he claims, so that the extent of the conflict may b(! the better understood, This plat must be made from an actual survey by a United States deputy surveyor, who will officially certify thereon to its correctness ; and in addition, there must be attached to such plat of survey a certificate or sworn statement by the surveyor as to the approximate value of the labor performed or improvements made upon the cl?im of the adverse party, and. the plat must indicate the position of any shaits, tunnels, or other improvements, if any sqch exist, upon the: claim of the pauty opposing the application, rtsjoiv mrti^upw-iBii 50. Upon the fpregoing being Bled within the sixty days as aforesaid, the Register, or in his absence the Receiver, will give notice in writing to both parties to the contest that such adverse claim has been filed, informing them that the party who filed the adverse claim will be required within thirty days from the date 4>f such filing to commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question of right of possessioni apd to prosecute the same with' reasonable diligence to final judgment, and that should such adverse claimant fail to do so, his adverse > claim will be considered waived, and the application for the patent' be allowed to proceed upon its merits. 51. When an adverse claim is filed as nforesaid, the Register or Receiver will indorse upon the same the precise-data of filing, and preserve a record of the date of notifications issued thereon ;• and thereafter all proceedings on the application for patent will be suspended, with the exception of the completion of the publi- cation and posting of Notices and i^t, and the filing of the neces-' sary proof ther^, uhtil the controversy ^11 hsive been adjudl-> cated in court, or the adverse claim waived or withdrawn. ' - ^" 10^ ■ip' '■ m ttiii«»iasiattw»itttfMitid slight modifications in t^ notice, or otherwise, as! may beiilecessary in view of thie different nature, of the. two classes df claims ; plater claims being fixed, however, at $2.50 per acre, or fractional part of an acre. 55. The twelfth and thirteenth sections of said act of July. 9, i,fi70, read as follaws f vi'/b/.'^ 56. , Jt wJJJ }^ observed that that ppirtion of the first proviso to the sa|d twelfth section, ivhlqh reqqires placer claims upon sur- v^yt^ J^fifls tO;q<)fifQr/n tQ jegfiV.siib-divisipns, isj-el^t^d ty the p^qfuenti statute «rith;^4$gard to claims h^retpfpre locat<:(i but ^t where syf)> pj^ims are;lo(jat^fl.pjrc{viojip to jhesm^v^y and.Jfl^C.W i»i«n»u..--- w..i«.,^. ii.i. PLACER CLAIMS. '^^* 299 y the court s to render n provides : ng the right ds, and for I remain in itent, which Cion six and ode cUiims ; 1 lands and >lat shall be ;d shall con< s system of }ns of such than twenty claims can- slat shall be ins or lodes ry to repeat thereto by 3 act under- ations in t^ thie different being fixed, Lcre. ct of July 9, jt proviso to s upon sur- l^t^d by the tfi4 but that y an4V," and as the case may be ; but, in addition to this de- skiription of the land, the notice must give all the other data that is r^iiired in a mirieia} amplication by Which parties may be put ^ QUANTITV OP PLACER GROUND SUBJECT TO LOCATIOW. 63. By the twelfth section of the said amendatory act of July- 9, 1870, (third proviso,) it is declared "that no location of a placer claim hereafter made shall exceed 1 60 acres for any on« person or association of persons* whuch location shall conforrn t^. the United States surveys," etc. ; ,.,. 41) 64. The tenth section of the act of May lo, 1872, provides that " all placer mining claims hereafter located shall conforn), as near as practicable, with the United States system of public li^nd surveys, and the rectangular subdivisions of such surveys ; and no such locations shall include more than twenty acres for eaoj^ individual claimant." .>y, 65. The fore;;oing provisions of lavy ^re construed to menp, that ?ifter the 9th day of July, 1870, no location of a placer clain]k[ call be made to exceed 1 (5o acres, whatever may be. the oumb^ of Jpcators dissociated together, or whatever the local regulatioi^. of ^Q district may allow ; and th^t frpin and after the passage of said act of May 10, 1872, no location made by an individual can exceed twenty acres, and no location made by an iMssocia- tipp of individual? can excepd \()f> a?re^. which locs^ion of 169, acres cannot) 6^ made by a less number than 4^ bma fide locators, but that whether as much as twenty acres can be located byan individual, or 160 acres by an associatioii. depends entirely, uppn the mining regulations in force in th^ respective dUtncOi at the date of the location ; it being held that such mining regu^ If^tipns axe in no way enlarged by said acts of Congress, but iiei^ain mts^ct ^nd in fuU force with regard to the $i2e of locs^i tions, in so f^r »9 th^y do not permit Ippations in eajce^s of thft> Ijui^ fixed l^ Cpjigfessi bijit th*| where 9u<;h regulation?; permit ikHewMw«ttMR a placer clairnf e.the punib^, al regulatioi^ r the passag<^; an individual] by an associa* tcation of i69r g^jt b ocK n'nsriiXiV nMrtRg. or by jurlicial decree ; an«J any aUiliticnal facts, within the clai^^ ant's knowledge, having a direct bearing upon his poHHosiiion and bona fidts which he may desire to submit in sii^ipurt of his claim. ,,t;. • \ »; w ■., . i i; 70. There should likewise be filed a certificate under seal of tlic court having jurisdiction of mining cases within the judicial district embracing the claim, that no suit or action of ni char- acter whatever, involving the right of possession to any portion ol the claim applied for is pending, and tliat there has been no liti^'ation before said court affecting the title to said claim or any part thereof, for a period equal to the time fixed by the statute of limitations for mining claims in the State or Territory as afore- said, other than tl at which has been finally decided in favor of the claimant. 71. The claimant should support his narrative of facts relative to his possession, occupancy, and ifnprovements, by corroboi'a- tive testimony of any disinterested person or persons of credi- bility, who may be cognizant of the facts in the i^ase, and are capable of testifying understandingly in the premises. 72. It will be to the advantage of claimants to make their proofs as full and complete as practicable. , ; ,...,,, DEPUTY SURVEYORS — CHARGES — FEES OP REGISTERS AND RECEIVERS. ETC. 73. The twelfth section of the said act of May 10, 1S73, pro- vides for the appointment of surveyors of mineral claims, author- izes the Commissioner of the General Land Office to establish the rates to be charged for surveys and for newspaper publics^- tions, prescribes the fees allowed to the local officers for receiv- ing and acting upon applications for mining patents and fof adverse claims thereto, etc. 74. The Surveyor-General of the several districts will, in pur- suance of said law, appoint in each land district as many .compe- tent deputies for the survey of mining claims as may seek such appointment ; it being distinctly understood that |ill expenses of these notices and surveys, are to be boi WP.IK DUT/KS. lin the claim- it poHM!H»ion 1 ftii^i('urt of inder seal of 1 the judicial of ail char- any portion has been no 1 claim or any [)y the statute itory as afore- d io favor of ' facts relative by corrobora- K>ns of credi- case, and are les. p make th^if «) V<{ *. •/ Mir! RBCBivtRs, rrc. IO, 1873, prp- :laiins, author- ce to establis|i )aper publicac crs for receiv,- tents and for nth tiji anu&lj ;ts will, in pur* i many .compe- may $eek such .11 expenses of ntini^ claim- df making dd- is instructions* m^ being hereby revoked as regards fuild work, the claimant having the option of employing any deputy surveyor within such district to do his work in the field. , i;;t;»«tiw 75. Witiiout regard to the pfafiitt/r of the claim arid other office tvark in the Survcyor-Cicnerars orficc, that officer will make an estimate of the cost thereof, which .iniount the claimant will deposit with any Assistant United States Treasurer, or desig- nated depositary, in favor of the United States Treasurer, to be passed to the credit of the fund created by " individual deposi- tors for surveys of the public lands." and file with the Surveyor- General duplicate certificates of such deposit, in the usual manner. 76. The Surveyor-General will endeavor to appoint mineral deputy surveyors as rapidly as possible, so that one or more may b»^ located in each mining district, for the greater conven- ience of miners. 41.10 h;i:»tit«( I jiiffi' , 77. The usual oath will be required of these deputies and their assistants as to the correctness of each survey executed by them. ^ 78. The law requires that each applicant shall file with the Register and Receiver a sworn statement of all charges and fees paid by him for publication of notice and for survey, together with all fees and moneys paid the Register and Receiver, which sworn statement is required to be transmitted to this office, for the information of the Commissioner. 1 una 1 n 79. Should it appear that exccisive or exorbitant charges have been made by any surveyor or any publisher, prompt action will be taken with the view of correcting the abuse. 80. The fees payable to the Register and Receiver, for filing and acting upon applications for mineral land patents, made under said act of May 10, 1872, are five dollars to each officer, to be paid by the applicant for patent at the time of filing, and the like sum of five dollars is payable to each officer by an adverse claimant at the time of filing his adverse claim. * 81. All fees or charges under this act, or the acts of which it is amendatory, may be paid in United States currency. 82. The Register and Receiver will, at the close of each ■.» •.•i'l nmm ■MM |04 i*\. "-V OVM WMSTRKN JtM^/MM.'^^"^^^ , month, forward to thin office an abstract of mining; applications filed, and a register of receipts, accompanied with an abstract of mineral lands sold. •• "• ••' "'*>" - • "- ■" 83. The fees and purchase-money received t)y Rejj^sferi and Receivers must lie placed to the credit of the United Statrn in the Receiver's monthly and quarterly account, ohargfinj; up in the disbursing account the sums to which the Register and Receiver may be respectively entitled as fees and commissions, with limitations in regard to the legal maximum. «.»84. The thirteenth section of the said act of May 10, 1872, provides that all aAidavits required under said act, or the act of which it is amendatory, may be verified before awy officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district where the claims may be situated, in which case they will have the same force and effe' t as if taken before the Register or Receiver, and that in cases of contest as to the mineral or agricultural character of land, the testimony and proofs may be taken before any such officer on personal notice of at least ten days to the opposing party, or, if said party cannot be found, then, after publication of notice for at least once a week for thirty days, in a newspaper to be designated by the Register as published nearest to the location of auck land, proof of such notice must be made to the Register. 85. The instruotioRs heretofore issued with regard to disprove ing the mineral chamoter of lands, are accordingly modified so as to allow proof upon Ma/ /ww/ to be taken before any officer authorized to administer oaths within the land district, and that where the residence of the parties who claim the land to be mineral is known, such evidence may be taken without publica- tion, ten days after the mineral claimants or affiants shall have boen personally notified of the time and pbce of such hearing ; but in cases where such affiants or claimants cannot be iierved with personal notice, or where the land applied for is returned as mineral upon the township plat, or where the same is now or may hereafter be suspended for non-mineral proof, by order of this office, then the party who daims the rig'bt to enter the land as agricultural will be required, at liis own ewp^nse, to publish a notice once each week for five consecutive weeks 4n the news- ■JA^'*''>"iai>**^*»*^«***'"''*''''^*'^'-'*'«^»*' "-■*■ ^(**|.'^A*V,-i/- ,iw,.. mmm applications I abstract of rfjiJifers and nl SiatcH in irjjinjj up in Legistcr and :ommissiont, *■ lay lo, 187J, or the act of any officer ict where the ve tlic Mmc Receiver, and iral character ore any such the opposing lublication of lewspaper to J the location the Register, d to disprov- f modified so ■e iny officer rict. and that e land to be tout publica- ts shall have mch hearing ; ot be Served >r is returned me is now or ", by order of nter the land I, to publish a 4n the n«w8- paper of largest circulation published in the county in which said land is MJtuntrd ; or, if no newspaper is published witiiin such county, thrn in a n(*WH|>aprr published in an adjoining county, thn nrwnpaprr in either case to be designated by the Kcgister, which notice muHl be clear and specific, embracing the poinia recpiired in noticen under instructions from this olfice, of March 30, 1873, nnd muNt name a day after the last day of publication of said notice, when testimony as to the character of the land will be taken, stating before what magistrate or other officer such hearing will be liad, and the place of such hearing. fff^ I I i*i<'i MILL-BITRS. ......I 86. The fifteenth section of said act provides, "That where non-mineral land, not contiguous to the vein or lode, is used or occupied by the proprietor of such vein or lode for mining or milling purposes, such non-adjacent surface-ground may be embraced and included in an application for a patent for such vein or lode, and the same may be patented therewith, subject to the same preliminary requirements as to survey and notice as arc applicable under this act to veins or lodes : Pravidtd, That no location hereafter made of such non-adjacent land shall ex- ceed five acres, and payment for the same must be made at the same rate as fixed by this act for the super6ces of the lode. The owner of the quartz-mill or reduction works, not owning a mine in connection therewith, may also receive a patent for his mill-site as provided in this section. 87. To avail themselves of this provision of law, parties hold- ing the possessory right to a vein or lode, and to a piece of land not contiguous thereto, for mining or milling purposes, not ex< ceeding the quantity allowed for such purposes by the k^cal rules, regulations or customs, the proprietors of such vein or lode may file in the proper land office their application for a patent, under oath, in manner already set forth herein, which application, together with the plat and field notes, may include, embrace and describe, in addition tQ the vein or lode, sm:h non- contiguous mill-site ; and after due proceeding as to notice, etc., a patent will be issued conveying the same as one claim. ''vm4>, P **'!^ i ||0 OVK WMarHKM MMrtMK. 88. In making the nurvcy in a case of thU kind, the loA ihotiUt tx? tlcttcrilKHl in tiu* plat anf a quartz mill or reduction works is not the owner or claimant of a vein or Icxle, tht; law permits him to make application therefor in the same manner prescribed herein for mining ciaimH, and after due notice and proceedings, in the absence of a valid adverse filing, to enter and receive a .patent for the mill-site at said price per acre. V 90, In every case there must be satisfactory proof that the land claimed as a mill-site is not mineral in cliaracter. which proof may, where ihe matter is unquestioned, consist of the •worn statement of the claimant, supported by that of one or more disinterested persons capable from acquaintance with the land to testify understandingly. 91. The law expressly limits milUsite locations made from and after its passage to five acres, but whether so much as that can be located depends upon the local customs, rules or regulations. 93. The Registers and Receivers will preserve an unbroken e^ consecutive series of numbers for all mineral entries. ,J:J PROOF OP CrriZBNSIIIP OP MINING CLAIMANTS. 93. The proof necessary to establish the citizenship of appli- cants for mining patents, whether under the present or past enactments, it will be seen by reference to the seventh srction of the act under consideration, may consist, in the case of an in- dividual claimant, of his own affidavit of the fact ; in the case of I. limmMiitm MT4TM AM OTH^It LO€AL M/NtffC LAWH. P7 the lotle cloim \ " Lot No. 37. vcr may Ik? it^ tliHiantf from claim to \tc in- a copy of tlu' canH|)iciioii!»ly or UkU; for th«' ry, no nrparat** ill-siU!, but thf ihracoil in onr jnal |>art of an irtion works is i\v pcrn)its Itim ner prrscribt'tl id procc'cilinj{», and receive a proof that th<; uiractcr, which consist of the that of one or ntance with the made from and uch aH that can or re^^ulations. e an unbroken rics. ■ 1 NTS. :nship of appli- }resent or past seventh srction e case of an in- in the case of ■fl MMciation of persons not incorporated, of thr afTuIavit of their authorized ai^ent, made on hii own knowlrd|{e or upon in formation ami Ixlicf that tix! Nevi.ral members of said aHNociation arc (iti/t'n!«: and in the case of at) incorporated company, or){an- izeil iMxlcr the laws of the United Staler, or the lawn of any State or Territory of the United States, by the filing; of a certi- fied copy of their charter or certificate of incorporation. • 94. These affidavits of citizenship may be taken before the Register or Receiver, or any other officer authorized to aihninis- ter oaths within the district. < ■ ■ STATK AND OTMKN l.OCAI. MININa LAWS. Repcattrd alhisions are made in these mining; laws and rules of the Uniteil States Government, lo the State and other local Uww and re(;ulationH, as restricting', or otherwine mof~*y Sec. 31. On the first Saturday of August, 1866, at which time the first assessment year shall begin, this act shall supersede all district mining laws, and thereafter said laws shall be considered as repealed : Provided, Any and all rights heretofore acquired under and by virtue of such distinct mining laws shall be deter- m,ined in accordance with said mining laws existing at the time vjhen said rights were acquired. During the period extending f^om and including the ist day of May, 1866, to and including the day immediately preceding the first Saturday of the following August, no claim shall become subject to relocation by reason of the non-performance of assessment work. Locations may be made under this act at any time on and after the second Saturday of July, 1 866, at which time the district recorders elected under this act shall, if qualified, enter upr n th -discharge of their duties, and on and after said second Sati 1 cui) ui July, no location shall be made under district mining laws. Sec. 32. The doing of assessment work, or the payment of assessment dues, shall not be required in order to hold, a cls^im diiring any assessment year, if during the year next preceding such assessment year there has been done on said claim, by or oh behalf of the claimants thereof, an amount of work costing, at a fair valuation, not less than fifty cents for each foot in said claim ; but in all other cases assessment work shall be done or assessment dues shall be paid as provided in this act. Assess- n^ent dues shall be paid for every assessment year by the parties hQJdiog th^ claim to the district recorder eler '^! under this act, bpfore the first Saturday of August, commen- . -^ " - • ;''.WJidK9!«lU•:^«>^*■Ji..a«i«U^■'-^»K:.--^■;rtv-.■*HWK^^ ■ . -WV*' '>-.'■ ->.-:.*>;-. :■ -*t.ii- .>.. .--.j-'j..i^'./-Bif(" vwt.«,'i'pf,'-^«r.i:.:«jirj'iK;'^«*i'4l RBGULATIONS OF VIRGtNtA DISTRICT. 311 ry of a claim It which time supersede all be considered fore acquired liall be deter- \g at the time od extending ind including the following by reason of tions may be ond Saturday sleeted under >f their duties, location shall : payment of > hold, a cls^im ext preceding 1 claim, by or )rk costing, at \ foot in said ill be done or act. Assess- by the parties jnder this act, 1 ^^assessment n ided in this ion 32, every ning laws, on ten work done larth or loos^: 10 feet in such, every mining. claim located and held under district mining laws, on which such work has not been done before the i st day of May, 1 866, assess- ment work siiall be done on or before the day immediately pre- ceding the first Saturday of August, 1866. The doing of such Uiisessment work or the paying of such assessment dues shall enable the owner of said claim to hold the same for the next ensuing assessment year, commencing on the first Saturday of August, 1866. i«1&»M 5^^^^^ '■tAy*A'-AmR':''f:id^P,';\j.y.:T'£ii.- Sec. 34. The assessment work done within the thirty days after the location of a claim under this act, as provided in section 22, shall hold the same only up to the beginning of the assessment year following the date of said location, and for such next en- suing assessment year and for every year thereafter, except as provided in section 32 of this act, such claim shall be subject to assessment dues. ?u0 htwf rliljr H/ Skc. 45. The extraction of gold or other metals from alluvial or diluvial deposits, generally called placer mining, shall be subject to such regulations as the miners in the several mining districts shall adopt ' ^ — ,,.i ,*,„.^ ■•"■•-'■ ■'-- •■'•' ■ ^- •"■■■• Aim\ 18. — REGULATIONS OF THE VIRGINIA DISTRICT, NEVADA. .3 **i, The following^ are the regulations of the district of Virginia City, Nevada, adopted September 14, i859^< n- ijr >/ * ,r« * is Idlf Article i. All quartz claims hereafter located shall be 200 feet on the lead, including all its dips and angles. it Art. 2. All discoverers of new quartz veins .shall be entitled to' an additional claim for discovery. Art. 3. All claims shall be designated by stakes and notices at each corner. Art. 4. All quartz claims shall be worked to the amount of jjio or three days work per month to each claim, and the owner can work to the amount of $40 as soo . after the location of the claim as he may elect ; which amount being worked shall exempt him from working on said claim for six months thereafter. ^ ■> Art. 5. All quartz claims shall be known by a name and tf^ sections. ^ Art. 6. All claims shall be properly recorded within ten days from the time of location. «>MH«n««M>v>T'^*sr7r Sec. 9. Work done on any tunnel, ciit, shaft, or drift, in good faith, shall be considered as being done upon the claim owned by such person or company. Sec. 10. Every claim (whether by individual or company) lo-* cated shall be recorded within ten days after the date of locationi Sec. 1 1 . All miners locating a mining claim iii this district shall place and maintain thereon a good and substantial nionument or stake, with a notice thereon of the name of the claim, the names of the locators, date of location, record, and extent of , claim. It is hereby requested that owners in claims already lo- cated do comply with the requirements of this section. Sec. 1 2. The recorder shall go upon the ground with any and all parties desiring to locate claims, and shall be entitled to re- ceive for such service one dollar for each and every name in a location of two hundred feet each. Ik <;■• u^^n ; J . ois Sec. 1 3. It is hereby made the duty of the mining recorder, ' upon the written application of twenty-five miners, to call a meet< ing of the miners of the district by giving a notice of twenty' days through some newspaper published in the Reese river district, which notice shall state the object of the meeting and^ the place and time of holding the same. Sec. 14. The laws of this district passed July 17, 1862, are* hereby repealed. . .y%i:u.: , >i\i . uj \ • .tMi..i-v > a^ Sec. 15. The&d la>Vs shall take effect on and aftelr the 4th diy of June, 1864. 1. * . 20.— QUARTZ STATUTE OF THE STATE OF OREGON. ,, **t^ Section i. That any person, or company of persons, estab-/ lishing a claim on any quartz lead containing gold, silver, copper, ^ tin, or lead, or a claim on a vein of cinnabar, for the purpose of mining the same, shall l>e alllowed to have, hold, and possess the land or vein, with all its dips, spurs, and angles, for the distance of tiiree hiitidred feet in length, and seventy-five feet in widtl> on ; each side of suc'h lead or ve?n. " Sec. 2. To establish a valid claim the discoverer or person' •"vsmmm*, \ tmmmfmmmKm itiilfj- in Mni ii wMayi OT B fiymff rtm' T *'' " *^^^^^ ' « tim u !u >te»iimyia«mmmim»ii,-^tii>sm--mm ■■'n QUARTZ STATUTB Of ORBGOff. SIS II claimants' rift, in good :laim owned ompany) lo- 1 of location, district shall I monument c claim, the d extent of \ already lo' >n. vith any and titled to re- y name in a #nw: >,■■ ■ ng- recorder, ) call a meet- ;e of twenty' Reese river neeting and ;, 1862, are tliie 4th day rsons, estab- ilver, copper, ! purpose of possess the the distance \. in widtl^ on r or person wishing to establish a claim shall post a notice on the lead or vein, with name or names attached, which shall protect the claim or claims for thirty days ; and Ixifore the expiration of said thirty days he or they shall cause; the claim or claims to be recorded as hereinafter provided, and describing, as near as may be, the claim or claims, and their location ; but continuous working of said claim or claims shall obviate the necessity of such record. If any claim shall not be worked for twelve consecutive months it shall be forfeited and considered liable to location by any per- son or persons, unless the owner or owners be absent on account of sickness, or in the service of their country in time of war. Sec. .3. Any person may hold one claim by location, as here- inafter provided, upon each lead or vein, and as many by pur- chase as the local laws of the miners in the district where such claims are located may allow ; and the discoverer of any new lead or vein, not previously located upon, shall be allowed one additional claim for the discovery thereof. Nothing in this sec- tion shall be so construed as to allow any person not the dis- coverer to locate more than one claim upon any one lead or vein. Sec. 4. Every person, or company of persons, after establish- ing such claim or claims, shall, within one year after recording or taking such claim or claims, work or cause to be worked to the amount of fifty dollars for each and every claim, and for each successive year shall do the same amount of work, under penalty of forfeiture of said claim or claims : Provided, That any incorporate company owning claims on any lead or vein may be allowed to work upon any one claim the whole amount required as above for all the claims they may own on such lead or vein. Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the county clerk of any county, upon the receipt of a notice of a miners' meeting organizing a miners' district in said county, with a description of the boun- daries thereof, to record the same in a book to be kept in his oflfice as other county records, to be called a "book of record of mining claims ;" and, upon the petition of parties interested, he may appoint a deputy for such district, who shall reside in said district or its vicinity, and shall record all mining claims and :ami^b I »MiiW i »g »tia»ii M i i i ii oii r »i ii«i liiP i' '^« jitf .7 OUR WBiTEKtf BMr/KM. . ; water rightH In the order in which they arc presented for records and shall trannmit a copy of such record at the end of each month to the county clerk, who shall record the same in the above-mentioned book of record, for which he shall receive one dollar for each and every claim. It shall further be the duty of said county clerk to furnish a copy of this law to his said deputy, who shall keep the same in his ofifice. open at all reasonable times for the inspection of all persons interested therein. *^'*^'^ ^f?^* *' Sec. 6. Miners shall be empowered to make local laws in ne« lation to the possession of water rights, th« post>ession and working of placer claims, and the survey and sale of town lota in mining camps, subject to the laws of the United States. Sec. 7. That ditches used ior mining purposes, and mining flumes permanently affixed to the soil, be and they arc hereby declared real estate for all intents and purposes whatever. Sec. 8. That all laws relative to the sale and transfer of r^l estate, and the application of the liens of meclianics and laborers therein, be and they are hereby made applicable to said ditche*' and flumes : Provided^ That all interests in mining claims known as placer or surface diggings may be granted, sold, and conveyed by bill of sale and delivery of possession as in cases of the safle of personal property : Provided further. That the bills of sale or^ conveyances executed on the sale of any placer or surface' mining claim shall be recorded within thirty days after the date-' of such sale, in the office of the county clerk of the county xtn^ which such sale is made, in a book to be kept by the county] clerk for that purpose, to be called the record of conveyances) i of mining claims. " ^' Sec. 9. Mortgages of interests in placer or surface mining^ claims shall be executed, acknowledged, recorded, ahd foreclosed as mortgages of chattels. Sec. 10. The county clerk shall be entitled to a feid of onis doltar each for every conveyance or mortgage recorded under the provisions of this act. 21.— (Quartz sTATtrre of idaho. ,,, rlThe following is the statute of Idaho in regard to quarts claims : i for record; end of uach same in the receive one the duty of said deputy, onable times I laws in rte* ;t>ession and }f town lots >tates. and mining arc hereby tevcr. «''^ isfer of r«^\ md laborers said ditches [aims known nd conveyed I of the sale Qs of sale or or surface fter the date le county in f the county :onveyances face mining d foreclosed I feid of one sd under the d to quart2 QVAMTZ STATUTE OF IDAHO, Jif Sic. I. That any pemon or persons who may hereafter dis- cover anyquartz lead or lode shall be cntitU'd tf» one claim thereon by right of discovery, and one claim »>arh by location. SiGC. a. That a quartz claim shall consist of tMro hundred feet In length along the lead or lode by one hundred feet in breadth, covering and including all dips, spurs, and angles within the bounds of said claim, as also the right of drainage, tunnelling, and such other privileges as may be necessary to the working of said cUinv Sec. 3, 'fhe locator of any quartz claim on any lead or lode shall, at the time of locating such claim, place a substantial stake, not lesa tha* three inches in diameter, at each end of said claim, on which shall be a written notice specifying the name of the locator, the number of feet claimed, together with the year, month, and day when the same was taken. * ' Sec. 4. All claims shall be recorded In the county recorder's office, within ten days from the time of posting notice thereon : * Pi'ovided, That when the claim located is more than thirty miles distant from the county seat the time sluUl extend to fifteen days. . . * . SECi 5. Quartz claims recorded in accordance with the provision? of section 4 of this acf shall entitle the person so recording to hold the same to the ise of himself, his heirs and assigns: Provided, That within six months from and after the date of recording he shall perform, or cause to be performed, thereoa wpdf amounting in v;»Jue tp tlie sum of one hundred dollars. ,♦, ' S,EC. 6. Any person or persons holding quartz claims in pursuance of this act shall renew the notice required in section 3. at lei^st once in twelve months, unless such claimant is occupy- ing and working the same. nrrnn Sec. 7. The conveyances of quartz claims heretofore made by bills of sale or other instruments of writing, with or without seals, shall be construed in accordance with the local mining rules, regulations, and customs of miners in the several mining districts, and said bills of sale or instruments of writing con- cerning quarte claims without seals shall h^ prima facie evidence m ttmrnmuMnmm m iii i iimn i m :> jl8 / OVK WISTKRS hxtriKi. of Hale, as if such conv«., ancc liad been made by deed under seal. '(Wj'rb fH»' usi itju'r •^'H't'Hih^ i >Mrtii»j|^yn*tH't ? Skc. 8. Conveyances of quartz claims shall hereafter require the same formalities and sliall be subject to the same rules of construction as the transfer and conveyance of real estate. Sec. 9. The location and pre-emption of quartz claims here- tofore made shall be established and proved when there is a contest before the courts, by the local niles. customs, and regulations of the miners in each mining district where such claim is lo'^^'*d, when not in conflict with the laws of the United States or the laws of this Territory. "'' ' ■•' ' ■- ''^ Sec. 10. This act to take effect and ^ \a fn fc^Pe^ frtotn and after its approval by the governor. Approved February 4, 1864. '{(fM 'i ■a* 'i|{> ( r''ts!m>rr> i^ntu 43. — statute of Arizona, b, \H\ ,t .vifi. '^ The following is the statute of Arizona on the registry and government of mines uud n.ineral sits, with the exception of the sections providing the manner In which the rights of miners shall be enforced by the courts: Sec. I. AH mining rights on the public lands of the United States, as well as rights acquired by disccjvery on the lands of private individuals, are possessory in their character only, and such possessory rights shall be limited, regulated, and governed as hereinafter provided. Sec. 1 5. Every mining claim or pertenencia is declared to consist of a superficial area of 2CX) yards square, to be measured so as to include the principal mineral vein or mineral deposits, always having reference to and following the dip of the vein so far as it can or may be worked, with all the earth and minerals therein. But any mining district organized in accordance v/ith the provisions of this chapter may prescribe the dimensions of said mining claim or pertenencia for such district: Pfovidedy That in no case the dimensions so prescribed shall exceed the number of yards allowed by this section ; and further provided^ That no such mining district 6hall diminish the extent of the territorial claim to one pertenencia, as defined in this section. ^ /\ (iced under kftcr require »mc rule* of cMtate. claims here- n there i« ft u atoms, and where »uch f the United rce from and 1 *;• u; registry and ihe exception hts of miners f the United the lands of ter only, and ind governed i declared to uare, to be in or mineral die dip of the the earth and in accordance le dimensions ict: Provided, ill exceed the ther provided^ extent of the ds section. MININO ttUGVLATlONS Of AHItONA. .||p Sk<:. 1 6. Any person dlscovcrinj; or oprning a vrin or other mineral dcponit in this Territory, not actually worked or legally ownt:d by other parties or regiitticil in accordance with this chapter, shall by properly dirnoiincing and rrglstering the sami; Im: eniitleil to claim and hold a {xiHKcsHtiry right to a tract of land to the extent of tM^o mining claims or prrtrnencias, including the taid vein or mineral deposit, and conforming us nearly as possible to the general direction thereof, each to be measured 300 yards long by 300 yards wide, the direction of die lines to be deter* mined by the person claiming. > J^\, Sec. 17. If two or more persons are aitOciated, and h..v« formed a company for th>j exploration and working of mines, and one or several shall make discoveries of mineral deposits in consequence thereof, said company so engaged in exploration sh'ill be entitled to denounce and register one discovery claim only upon each lode. f •»rn rtto'^refhf ' Sec. 18. It shall be lawful for the claimants of a mine or mineral lands to locate and take p9ssc:;f;^on of public lands for a mill site and other ncc«.l.sary works connected therewith, which shall not exceed one-quarter »rction, containing a stream or other water suitable for the purpose. They shall have a right to place a dam or other obstructions on such stream, and to divert its water for the above uses and purposes. They shall, within the time and in the manner prescribed in this chapter for the registration and denouncement of mines, proceed to denounce and register the same with the clerk of the probate court, and they shall be known as auxiliary lands. And if within three years from the day their notice of claim is so recorded they shall expend in fitting the .same for a mill, or in placing a mill or reduction works thereon, the sum of j»ioo, they may cause the record of such work to be made and proceedings for confirming their title to be instituted as provided in section 39 of this chapter, with like effect, and receive a certificate of title as thereon provided, conforming as nearly as they can to the require- ments of that section. Instead of the work required by section 32 of this chapter they shall use the machinery or other works erected upon said land for mining purposes at least thirty days I ' -il^**^^^*^^^^^^^^ i ISO Oi'H WKSTRKM MMPtMB,^ l in eftch year. Such claims Hhall be lubject to all the proviMJont of thJM chapter which are applicable to mining rights, and may be abandonrii and relocated. All rights to auxiliary lands ac(|uired Hubstantial esencc of the «• who shall kme has been t the opening sgistercd and ilaiming them rding to the ive a faithful ) of lands, the id their con- >bjects in the lonumcnts or \. subsequent and it can be change shall robate court, ¥ boundaries ones arc re>- ', pvv ■ • „" id vegetation rgistered and or them who d wherein or d for mining the right to ong the pul>- MWING MKCVtATtOm Oft AKUOSA. S«l lie highwmys, where thry were provided by nruire in natural tanki, springs, streams, or othtrwisj', nor (rom nuking mith etpiitablc disposition of the waters as the legislature shall pre* •cribc. Skc. aa. No person shall have the right to impctle or incon- venience travelling by fencing up the public roailK, (illiiig ihcm up with rubbish, or undermining them so as to endanger their •ifety, neither shall any one change their csiablishctl direction without sanction of the proper authoritici. t . j Skc. 2 j. Whenever two or more persons or parties explore and prospect one and the same vein, and at or about the name time but at different places, and without knowledge r»f each other, then he or they who shall prove first occupancy shall havn the right of first location, taking the principal point of excavation as the centre of their cLim or claims on each side along the general direction of such ve»n or deposit. The other" parties shall proceed by the same laws after the others have fixed their boundaries. Should there be left vacant ground between the different p lies, then it shall be at the option of the first dis- coverers so to change their boundaries as shall best suit them, and have tlicm recorded accordingly. Any other parties shall locate in the order of the time of their arrival on the vein or mmeral deposib(M/ ,/' ■ i .Nti'A" i-^if. j^iu'.i . Sec. 24. Whenever two or more parties shall select the same mine or mineral deposit for exploration, and the parties first on the ground, knowing the other parties to be at work, shall fail to give warning, either verbally or in writing, of their priority claim on such vein or deposit, then that portion of the mine situated between the main excavations of the two parties shall be equally divided between them, irrespective of the number of members each company may have : Pravided, That the intervening por- tions shall not exceed the quantity of land allowed by the pro- visions of this chapter. Sec. 25. The laws and proceedings of all mining districts established in this Territory for the denouncement, registration, and regulation of mines, mining claims, mineral lands, and auxiliary lands, prior to the day this act takes effect, are hereby .'4 Mi i SI "_ *^ * r»* ■ r ..w.'sasr^i. , . isoixtmi^.^ 523 H^j^ OUfi tySSJMX/V EMPIRE. *W I ; i legalized and declared to be as valid and binding in all court.s of law as if enacted by this legislative assembly, to the extent and under the conditions and restrictions herein contained. I. All rights, claims, and titles to any veins, mineral lands, or mineral deposits, and auxiliary lands, acquired before this act takes effect, under, by virtue of, and in conformity to the laws of said mining districts, are hereby declared to be valid and legal, and shall be respected and enforced in all courts of this Terri- tory, when sustained by the evidence herein provided ; but no amount of work done thereon shall be construed to give a per- petual litle thereto, but shall give such title only and such rights and privileges as arc provided in section 29 of this chapter ; and no person who was at the time of the location of his claim an inhabitant of this Territory shall forfeit his claim because he was not a resident also of the miningr district in which his said claim was located. And no such right, claim, or title shall be con- sidered as aljandoned provided the claimant shall within six months from the Jay this act takes effect file with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which his claim is situated a brief descrtption of the same, giving the name of the district in which the lode is situated, and of the lode or lodes, and the ex- tent of his clain Iiereon, widi a declaration that he intends td retain and work tlie same according to law, unless such claim has been forfeited and subject to re-location under the laws of such mining district before this act takes effect. «if^ II. All records and all papers required by the laws of said mining districts to be deposited with the recorders of said dis- tricts for record shall be received as evidence of their contents if, all courts of this Territory, and shall not be rejected for any defects in their form, when their contents may be understood, but shall be valid to the e^ttent provided by said mining laws, except as hereinbefore restricted : Pnnided, That such records and papers are deposited with or recorded by the clerk of the probate court of the county in which said mining district is located, and wkhin three months from the time this act takes effect; and iE said records or papers are lost or mutilated^ o*r if such recorder of a mining district shaU neglect or refuse to t.-*^f "R^.A>fci^J»>-«> -. M/iV/JVO KAGULATIONS OF ARIZONA. jaS J all courts of tie extent and [led. -'■>'•:' eral lands, or efore this act to the laws of lid and legal, of this Terri- /ided ; but no to give a per- id such rights chapter; and ' his clarm an :cause hf was his said claim shall be con- all within six I the clerk of I is situated a the district in s, and the ex> le intends td 3s such claim ;r th^laws of '^- '-tfii -ij\ >,r\\t^ laws of said s of said dis- their contents ected for any £ understood, mining laws, such records ! clerk of the ng district is [hi^ act takes luttlated^ Otr if or refuse to deposit the same as aforesaid, an affidavit of their contents made by any person interested therein, or certified or sworn copies thereof, may be so i°corded, and shall- have the like effect. »»lt III. All conveyances of mines, mining rights, min 'al and auxiliary lands made prior to the time this act takes effect shall be valid and binding to pass the title of the grantor thereof, although defective in form and execution, if their contents can be understood, and as such shall be received and regarded in aU courts of this Territory: J^oinded, That such conveyances shaH be deposited with or recorded by the clerk of the probate court! of %\\t county where said mihes are situated, within three months from the time this act takes effect, and if lost or mutilated, copies or affidavits of their contents, executed as aforesaid, may be recorded as provided above. Sec. 26. Every recorder, register, clerk, or other recording officer, of every such mining district, or who has at any time acted as such recording officer, within three months after this act takes efTect, shall deposit with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which said district or p^reater part thereof is- situatl:d, all records which he has so kept, and all papers dep(i6ited in his hands for record, and papers so made or depOisited with his prcdecessots in said office, which are in hi» hailds as aforesaid, or he shall so deposit certified copies of tiie safhe. And such records and other papers shall be securely* k^pt by such clerk, open in office hours to public inspecttonv slfid copies of the same diuly certified by him shall be received iiR' tU courts of justice, afid have the same effect as the originals; And any such recorder, register, or other recording officer of each mining district} who shall neglect or refbs^ to comply withr the provisions of this section shall be liable in damages to the party injured thereby, and shall be liable to be punished by the judge of probate of the county in which skid! niining district, or th^ greater part thereof, is situated, for contemj^t, by fine noli exceieding f 5,000 atid imprisoned riot morie thah one year, and shall be inCiipable of holding any such office alltd mining claim. ^^ S£<^. ^. Mining districts now existing may be continued, or new rtHning districts may be estaUished in tfa^ mariner and iak tho' purposes hereinafter provided. if 324 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, '\l A? I. The recorder of every mining district now existing shall at the same time that he deposits the records of said districts with the clerk of the probate court, as the last preceding section re- quires, take an oath before the judge of said court that he will faithfully perform the duties of his ofifice until another recorder shall be elected and qualified in his place, which oath shall be recorded by the clerk of the probate court. He shall record in a book to be kept by him for that purpose all notices of claims or rights to veins, mineral deposits, mineral lands, and auxiliary lands which may be left with him to be recorded, and shall note on all papers which may be received by him to be recorded, the time when tLey were so received by him, and they shall be con- sidered as recorded from that time. He shall, when requested by any such claimant, go Vith him to his claim and see that the same is measured by metes and bounds, and marked by substan- tial monuments on the surface of the earth, and shall make a record of the same, and of the time when it was done, and cer- tify it to be correct, or shall make a record and certificate of the same on the evidence of a credible witness, who was present when the same was done, and is cognizant of the facts, and whose name shall be entered on the record. He shall, when re4 quested by any such claimant, go with him to his claim! and ex^' atci^ine any shaft that may be sunk by him, or tunnels that may b3g^*8IS!S»S««iSo»(KWB^ rilneral tracts or to run a :\n or In the rface, for th*- city of such n the day of the recorder is completed, eposit. And td make and nation, which ity of the vein rmed, and a port shall be rent parts of he record so required by rt. And said ecimens shall irved for the ersity of Ari- ly time within said court, as int in writing their claims, ficate thereof, le as required be confirmed, :, to be issued, named there- n the day the of sudi com- d, a copy i^^j/| i K ' 1 -•I : r [^•'*J^»**ai'fl«>^->v. .i<;tv3.;,vi ^•)%)ll«jW visions of this chapter relating thereto are suspended for that time ; but any claimant may sink a shaft or do such other labor, and at any time after the record of their claims with the probate court, and thereupon institute proceedings to confirm their tides, and be entided to all the rights and privileges provided for io 5 this chapter. Sec. 31. No single person or company shall be compelled tOs sink shafts or make other improvements on more than one of the tracts of land claimed by him or them for the same vein or mineral deposit; and any number of claimants on the same vein or mineral deposit, who may unite for said purpose, shall be allowed to concentrate labor, capital, and energy to any one? single point which to him or them shall be the best suited to as- i certain to the best advantage the general character, quality, ana capacity of that particular vein or mineral deposit, and may take the like proceedings to confirm their tides. ,- Sec. 32. After the work required by section 28 of this chapter has been performed, and the record thereof made as therein pro- vided, two years shall be allowed the claimants of mineral lands to develop the same, and procure machinery and provide for working the same; and, during that time the same shall not be considered abandoned, although no work be done thereon : Pro- vided, T|iat in such an event, they shall annually, and before the ist day of June in eagh year, file with the clerk of the probate court an affidavit signed by them that they have not abandoned such claims, but jntend, in good faith, to work them ; and said term of. two years shall pot conimence; until the ist day of January, a. d, 1863. ,Ar»d after the expiration of said term of two years, it shall be ol^Iig^tory upon claimants to such mineral lands to hold actual po^^otision of them and work the vein, which obligation shaU , be qonside^ed a^ complied wi^h by doing at least thirty days' work chereon in eafh year; bv^t .if suipb, claimants are prevented from working such veii;i by the hostility pf Indians or other good cause, ed ccndition [iiired to be t oommence 1 all the pro- Jed for that other labor, the probate n their tides, >vided for in :ompeIled to in one of the ime vein or le same vein osc, shall be to any one suited to as- , quality, and ,nd may take this chapter ; therein pro- line ral lands provide for shall not be lereon : Pro- sefore the i st )robate court ndoned such said term of anuary, a. d, years, it shall p hold actual tion shaU . b^ y days* work :vented from r good cause, NiNlNG OX PRIVATE LAS'DH. 329 rendering said working difficult or dangerous, they may, 1 y au- thority of the judge of probate first obtained, be relicvctl from performing labor thereon from time to time, but for not niorc than one year at any one time, during the continuance of such cause. Sec. 33. Any person who may discover a mineral vein or de- posit as aforesaid, which is not included within a mining district, or which may be in a mining district in which there is no l('j;ally authorized recorder, may acquire title thereto, and to auxiliary lands, by giving notice as aforesaid, and recording the same with the clerk of the probate court of the county in which the same is situated, and may take the same proceedings, with the like effect, with the clerk of the probate court that are required to be taken with the recorder of a mining district, '^i.- " y .rui ! Sec. 34. Discoverers of mines on lands in the legal ownership or possession of others, and not public lands, before doin;^ ihe work of sinking the shaft required by section 28 of this chapter, shall pay to such parties such compensation for the use of the same as may be awarded by the judge of probate upon complaint of either party, or shall give bond to such parties for payment of the same, and sureties to be approved by said judge ; and whenever it becomes necessary or advantageous to construct tunnels for the purpose of drainage, ventilation, or the better hauling of ores or other subterraneous products or mining materials, it shall be lawful for any party or parues to construct such tunnel or drift through all private and public property: Provided^ That all damages arising from such subterranean works to the other parties, to be determined as provided above, shall be paid by the parties for whose benefit such tunnelling is done, to be paid before such work is commenced, or security given to the satisfaction of the judge of probate for the payment of the same ; but no damages shall be paid on public lands when claims for such lands shall be set up after such tunnel shall have been projected or actually in process of construction : Provided, That the lapse of time between projection and actual work shall not excieed ninety days, and that the tunnelling parties give timely notice of their project to any new claimant of the so affected ground. %. 6!ai».^-4^-^i-'A^*^^-W4W^'"-i'^&^ ttrntumiimmkimtm mUim "^^ " OVR WESTkKfr EMPIKK.% Sec. 35. Whenever such tunnel as mentioned In the preceding •ection shall intersect or traverse mineral deposits, or run along lodes claimed and held by other parties, then it shall be at the option of the owners of such other mineral dt|Mi»it8 either to pay one-half of the expense of excavation for the distance that such tunnel runs through their mineral deposits, and secure the whole of the ores excavated, or to divide the ores with the tunnelling parties, the latter paying all expenses of excavation : or, it shall be optional with cither party to abandon all claim to the ores excavated. Sec. 36. If, in the construction of such subterranean works, new veins or deposits a.re encountered in ground not claimed or owned by other parties, they shall become the property of th<} party for whom such tunnel is constructed, and shall be denounced and registered as is required of new mines, and shall be governed by the same laws as are prer.cribed in this chapter. i ,1^ » Sec. 37. Any claimant or claimants not complying with any of the foregoing conditions and obligations, shall forfeit all right to any such recorded or unrecorded claims to mineral and auxiliary tracts ; and it shall not be lawful for him or them to register such claims anew within a period of three years after such forfeiture. All such tracts shall be free for working and registry to any but those excepted in this section. Sec. 38. All veins and mineral deposits situated on public lands, whidi have not been worked and occupied from the time of the acquisition of the Territory by the United States up to the time of the passage of this chapter, except as herein pro- vided, shall be considered as abandoned and subject to registry and deoouncemeat. , ..jua^ i i n- j I Sec. 39. All veins and mineral deposits that have been or may be abandoned hereafter shall; in all cases and respects, be gov- erned hy the laws regulating the opening and working of new veins and deposits, as prescribed in this chapter. Sec. 40. Whenever any mine, vein, or mineral deposit shall have been abandoned or forfeitetl in accordance with the provi- ajona of this chapter, and regi^ered anew by other parties, It shall l)e obligatory upon such parties to give the former owners warning a w saiWw iM Wi i iii'MMW i w i iwi A^AffDOffKD MltfmO Ct.AIMS. }» \t preceding ar run along all be at the cither to pay ice that such re the whole le tunnelling ; or, it shall to the ores nean works, »t claimed or >perty of th«j e denounced be governed r with any of t all right to md auxiliary register such :h forfeiture, •y to any but !d on public ed from the cd States up 3 herein pro- ct to registry been or may ects, be gov- rking of new deposit shall th the provi- arttes, It shall 'ners warning thcrcoll fo an to remove from the tract, within the space of three months, anything he or they may think valuable or UHc?ful. Such warning shall be given in the nearest newspaper published in the Territory, and by posting it at three of the most conspicuous places in the county where the mine is situated. Three months after the expiration of such warning, any and all buildings, furnaces, arrastras, metals, and every other species of property which may still remain on the ground of such mine, vein, or mineral deposit shall become the undisputed property of the new claimant, without compensation of any kind to any person what- ever. Sec. 41. Any person taking possession of or entering upon a mining claim or auxiliary lands, registered according to the pro- visions of this chapter, and before it is abandoned, shall be ousted dierefrom in a summary manner by the order of the probate judge, and the malfeaser shall be adjudged to pay all damages and costs consequent thereon. .., *;,.„, ^»,., Sec. 51. It shall be the duty of persons who may dRscovcr and claim mining rights or mineral lands, at the same time that they may define the boundary of their claim or claims to any lode or mine as required by the provisions of this chapter, to lay off and define the boundary of one pertenencia, as required by the pro- visions of this chapter, adjoining their claim or claims, which shall be the property of the Territory of Arizona. And at |he same time that they present their notice of claim or claims to be recorded hy tlie recorder of the mining district, they shall also present to such recorder the claim of said Territory. And, if said discoverers Und claimants shall neglect or refuse to present to such recorder the claim of said Territory as aforesaid, they shall forever forfeit all claim to the mine or ledge so discovered by them. Any record- ing officer recording the claim or claims of such discoverers and claimants, when the daim of said Territory is not filed therewith as aforesaid, shall b^ subject tp all the penalties provided in section 26 of this chapter. Such claim shall be recorded as pro- vided in this chapter for like claims, but no work shall be required to be done thereon, nor shall it be considered to he abandoned so long as^it is the property of the Territory ; and if sold, the 3! i MawiiMMiaitiiiii 3J3 0U9 WKSTKKN KMPilfM, time within which the purchaser Ahall l)C required to work said claim shall commence from the day of sale, except when the time in suHpended as before provided. Kvery clerk of the probate court, as soon as he record* the said claim, shall send a copy of his record to the treasurer of the Territory, and no fees Hhall br charged by any recording officer in any matter relating to naid claim. And the Territorial treasurer may, at any time after six n onths from the day he receives such record as aforesaid, and at such time and place as in his opinion will be most for the interest of the Territory, cause such claim to be sold at auction to the highest bidder ; but every such sale shall be at Ifrast twice adver- tised in the Territorial newspaper, and be held at his office, or the office of the clerk of the probate court, or the recorder of the mining district of the county where the claim is situated. And the treasurer is authorized to make a deed of the same to the purchaser in the name of the Territory ; and the amount received by him shall be added by him to any fund now or here- after provided' for the protection of the people of the Territory of Arizona against hostile Indians, and be expended as provided by law. And after all such expenses as are incurred by the Terri- torial authorities for the purpose of destroying or bringing into subjection all hostile Indian tribes in this Territory are liquidated, then all remaining or accruing funds, out of all or any sales of Territorial mining claims, shall be applied as a sinking fund for school purposes. Sec. 53. The extracti6n of gold from alluvial and diluvial deposits, generally termed placer mining, shall not be considered mining proper, and shall not entitle persons occupied in it to the provisions of this chapter, nor shall any previous section of this chapter be so construed as to refer to the extraction of gold from the above-mentioned deposits. ainW Sec. 53. This chapter shall be in force and take effect from and after the ist day of January, a. d. 1865. V'i .'■?•• MM mm work Mid [» th«^ time c probate a copy of ;• chall be ng to Haid c after six aid, and at l\c interest ion to the vice adver* is office, or reorder of • s situated. tie Bame to he amount jw or hcrc- e Territory IS provided ^ the Terri- in|(ing into liquidated, ny sales of g fund for |nd diluvial considered in it to the ition of this f gold from effect from M/y/A'o lAwx or coioa'apo. MINING LAWS OF COLORADO. Hi .♦ , ' . .. AN ACT roNCERNINll MINF.S. IW k •fiAClvd liy the Council «nd (lou^ ttf K«|trv««nuiivff« uf Culorftdoi "'''''''' '" BXTKNT ur LODK CIAIM. Secfion I. The length of any lode claim hereafter located may eciuul but not exceed 1,500 feet along the vein. niMRNnioN*. Sec. 2. 'The width of lode claims hereafter located in Gilpin, Cl<*ar Creek, BouI^Jer and Summit counties, shall be seventy-five frtt oil each side of the centre of the vein or crevitc; ; and in all other counties the width of the same shall be 150 feet on each side of the centre of the vein or crevice : Prorided, That here- after any county may, at any general election, determine on a greater width, not exceeding 300 feet on each side of the centre of the vein or lode, by a majority of the Icjjal votes cast at said election ; and any county, by such vote at such election, may determine upon a less width than above specified. .^^ ., 1. ,j,, t , ' ■" i- - il#> *^W?fif '*»•■ CERTiriCATK or LOCATION. '! *(,j ;, !u '>,llt,». Sec. 3. The discoverer of a lode shall, within three months from the date of discovery, record his claim in the office of the recoi ler of the county in which such lode is situated by a loca- tion certificate, which shall contain : i st, tlu; name of the lode ; 2cl, the name of the locator; 3d, the date of location; 4th, the number of feet in length claimed on each side of the centre of the discovery shaft ; 5th, the general course of tlie lode as noar as may be. - 1..,(.^<^: .«• f...<>JH*.n/«-. t*A WirA WHKM VOID. Sec. 4. Any location certificate of a lode claim which shall not contain the name of the lode, the name of the locator, the date ol location, the number of lineal feet claimed on each side of the discfA'cry shaft, the general course of the lode, and such descrip- tion as shall identify the claim with reasonable certainty, shall be void. DISCOVBRY 8HAPT. Sec. 5. Before filing such location certificate the discoverer \ I .jrtffdlni'^- Rhall locntr \m (taim hy firnt linking a diKCOvery fthnCt upon the lode to tin; cirptli of at leant ten feet Trom the lowc»t part of the rim of mu h shaft at th« Hurface, or deeper, if nrtfssary to »how a well defieie«l crevic '. *SfitmJ, by posting a( the point of dii^- covcry on the surface, a plain »ij;n or n«>iKt' toniaminjj; the name of the loile, the name of lite locator, and the date of diiu:ovcry. Thint, by marking the surface boundaricM of the claim. kTAKINO Sei . 6. Such lurface boundaries shall be marked by six aub- aUlttial poHtH, hewed or marked on the vide or Hides which are in toward the claim, and sunk in the )|round, lo wit : One at each corner and one at t. ^ centre of each aide line. Where it it practically impojutible on account of bed-rock or precipitous ground to bink such posts, they may be placed in a pile of stones. Skc. 7. Any open cut, cross cut or timnel which shall cut i lotte at the depth of ten feet below the surface, shall hold such lode the same as if a discovery shaft were sunk thereon, or an adit of at least ten feet alonj^ the lode, from the point where the lode may be in any omnner discoyejred^' aliail be equivalent to a diwovery shaft. ,.,'J,l,'{uus, , ' , Tim u. I ^%tc. 8. The discoverer shall have sixty days from the time of tinco'^ring or disclosing a lode to sink a discovery shaft thereon. lu •Jl3n*>> •Sdl U} 'eONSTKUCTION or CERTlrfCATt '" • ' ■''^f* '''8ec. 9. The location or location certificate of any lode claim shall be construed to include all surface ground within the ^ixr- face lines thereof and all lodes and ledges throughout their entire depth, the top or apex of which lies inside of such lines extended downward, vertically, with such parts of all lodes or ledges as continue to dip beyond the side lines of the claim, but shiin not include any portion of such lodes or ledges beyond the end lines of the claim, or at the end lines Continued, whether byi dip or otherwise, or beyond the side lines in any other manner than by the dip of the lode. ' h'. lafi upon the It part of the sary tJ) show point of Uin^ 10); tho name uf ilincovcry. iim. ::i" • i by BIX Bub* ei which aru wit: One at e. Where it r precipitoua }ile of stonci. \ shall cut a ill hold such hereon, or an int where the ^utvalent to a n the time of ihaft thereon. ly lode claim ithin the idr- lughout their of such lines all lodes or the claim, but :s beyond the i, whether by 3ther manner MU'lOCATtOfi Of ClAtiljL ))S 9rr. to. If thr top or afux oi a |«' followed in it« longitudinal « oursc beyond the point wIktc it U intrrncctf**! by ihr exterior linci.f' <'* . ,, • ' » ^», ♦•«.!! yum V'dl j,^,,,^ „^ ^,^y ^^„ g,y^^ y^ HunrAc* ' " ' Sr.C. II. All minin)i; claimn now hxatr-d, or which may hcrt** after !)«• luratrd, nhall be subject to the right of way of any ditch or llumc for mining purpoNcf, or any tramway or pack-trail, whfther now in u*e or which may be hereafter laid out acroMi any such location: I*rm)uUd aJtvays, That such right of waynhnll not be ex«rciHed against any locition duly nnuU* and recorded anti not abandoned prior to the establishment of the ditch or iUime. tramway, or pack-trail, without consent of the owner, except by condemnation, as in cane of land taken for pubNe highways- I'arol consent to the location of any such easement, accompaiMcu by the completion of the same over the ckaim, shall be sufficient without writings. And provided furthtr. That such ditch or llumc shall be so constructed that the water from mn:h ditch or flume shall not injure vested rights by flooding or Otherwise. Sic. li. When the right to mine is in any case separate from the ownership or right of occupancy to the surface, the owner ci* rightful occupant of die surface may demand satisfactory security from the miner, and if it be refused, may enjoin such miner from working until such security is given. The order for injunction shall fix the amount of the bond. .^ > . RELOCATION or CM»MS «. r< ,. ' Sec. 13. If at any time the locator of any mining claim here- tofore or hereafter located, or his assigns, shall apprehend that his original certificate was defective, erroneous, or that the re- quirements of the law had not been fcomplied with before filing? or sliall be desirous of changing his surface boundaries ; or of taking in any part of an overlapping claim which has been aban>t doned ; or in case the original certificate was made prior to the V * I I 'fit i' % I jj(5 OUR WESTERN EMPIRR. passage of this law, and he shall be desirous of securing the bene- fits of this act, such locator or his assigns may file an addi- tional certificate, subject to the provisions of this act: Provided, That such relocation does not interfere with che existing rights of others, at the time of such relocation ; and no such relocation, or t!.e record thereof, shall preclude the claimant or claimants from proving any such title or tides as he or they may have held under previous location. ^nVt'm I!/* ,'f*)>f^ PROOF OF DEVELOPMENT. ' 'iJl* ' IhSec. 14. The amount of work done, or improvements made during each year, shall be that prescribed by the laws of the United States. ' /Hii''.,Mi.;'4vv,.v. \ . ■" 'ni*, . FORM or ArriDAviT. Sec. 15. Within six months after any set timfe, or annual period herein allowed for the performance of labor or making improvemenis upon any lode claim, the person on whor^e behalf such outlay was made, or some person for him, shall make and recQ' 1 an affidavit in substance as follows: State or Colorado, ) County or ) Before me,;the subscriber, personally appeared who, being duly sworn, saith that al least dollars' worth of work 01 !rn« ^ provements were performed or made upon [here describe the claim or part of claiin'] situate in mining district, county of. State of Colorado. Such expenditure was made by or at the expense of. owners of said claim, for the purpose of said cliiim. [Jurat.];! sa ■■ (Signature.) •And such signature shall be prima facte evidence of the perv formance of such labor. if won XING OVER CLD CLAIMS. ' Sec. 16. The relocation of abandoned lode claims shall be by sinking a new discovery shaft and fixing new boundaries in the same manner as if it were the location of a new claim ; or the relocator may sink the. original discovery shaft ten feet deeper than it was at the time of abandonment, and erect new or adopt Ae old boiindariesi 'renewing the posts if removed or destroyed. In either c^se a new locatioii-stake shall Ibe erected. In ^i^ R£QPHD FOR QLAJM. 337 J the bene- e an addi- : Provided, iting rights I relocation, r claimants y may have nents made laws of the , or annual r or niaking 'hofie behalf II make and ....who, being of work 01 Jm- aim or part of State .(Signature.) of the per* s shall be by daries in the aim; or the 1 feet deeper lew or adopt Dr destroyed, ted. In ^iiy* '<^ act are bereby repealed. Sec. 1 9. This act shall be in force from .and after June 1 5, «874. Approved February 13, 1874. ■■>fW :f SUPPLEMENTARY ACT. Be it enacted by the Council )ind House of Representatives of Colorado! JURISDICTION OF AUTHORITIES. »' Sec I. In all actions pending in any district court of this Territory, wherein the title or right of possession to any mining claim shall be in dispute, the said court, or the judge thereof, may, upon application of any of the parties to such suit, enter an order for the underground as well as the surface survey of ;$uch part of the property in dispute as may be necessary to a just determination of the question involved. Such order shall designate some competent surveyor, not related to any of the parties to such suit, or in anywise interested in the result of the same ; and upon the application df the party adverse to such application, the court may also appoint some competent surveyor, to be selected by such adverse applicant, whose duty it shall be to attend upon f :h survey, and observe the method of making ti>e same.; said s^ond survey to be at the cost of the party asking therofor. It ^11 also be lawful in such order to specify the names of witnesses named by eith^ par^, not exceeding jhr^e on each side, to examine such property, who shall hece- r'-iis^W- v^^iniiiiift&i^^ % 338 OVJt WESTERN EMPIRE. upon be allowed to enter into such property and examine the same ; said court, or the judge thereof, may also cause the re- moval of any rock, debris, or other obstacle in any of the drifts or shafts of said property, when such removal is shown to be necessary to a just determination of the questions involved: Pfovided, however. That no such order shall be made for survey and inspection, except in open court or in chambers, upon notice of application for such order of at least six days, and not then except by agreement of parties or upon the afifidavit of two or more perspns that such survey and inspection is necessary to the just determination of the suit, which afifidavits shall state the facts in such case, and wherein the necessity for survey exists ; nor shall such order be made unless it appears that the party asking therefor has been refused the privilege of survey and in- spection by the adverse party. ^ ,> ^ WRITS RESTORING POSSESSION. Sec. 2. The said district courts of this State, or any judge thereof, sitting Ip chancery, shall have, in addition to the power already possessed, power to issue writs of injunction for affirma- tive relief, having the force and effect of a writ of restitution, restoring any person or persons to the possession of any mining property from which he or they may have been ousted, by force and violence, or by fraud, or from which they are kept out of possession by threats, or whenever such possession was taken from him or them by entry of the adverse party on Sunday or a legal holiday, or while the party in possession was temporarily absent therefrom. The granting of such writ to extend only to the right of possession under the facts of the case in respect to the manner in which the possession was obtained^ leaving he parties to their legal rights on all other questions as though no such writ had issued. i PENALTIES FOLIiOWING UNLAWFUL ENTRY. r Sec. 3. In all cases where two or more persons shall associate .themselves together for the purpose of obtaining the possession ,.of any lode, gulch pr placer claim, then in the actual possession of another, by force and violence, or threats of violence, or by MMMMMH iMMIiil fOKCE Of VIOLENCE, 339 nd examine the io cause the re- any of the drifts is shown to be stions involved: made for survey chambers, upon ix days, and not ; affidavit of two 1 is necessary to ts shall state the »r survey exists ; } that the party if survey and in- e, or any judge on to the power ction for affirma- it of restitution, >n of any mining ousted, by force ire kept out of ssion was taken on Sunday or a was temporarily ) extend only to ise in respect to nedy leaving the US as though no IS shall associate y the possession ctual possession violence, or by stealth, and shall proceed to carry out such purpose by making threats against the party or parties in possession, or who shall enter upon such lode or mining claim for the purpose aforesaid, or who shall enter upon or into any lode, gulch, placer claim, quartz-mill or other mining property, or not being upon such property, but within hearing of the same, shall make any threats, or make use of any language, signs or gestures, calculated to intimidate any person or persons at work on said property from continuing to work thereon or therein, or to intimidate others from engaging to work thereon or therein, every such person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not to exceed $250, and be imprisoned in the county jail not less than thirty days nor more than six months ; such fine to be discharged either by payment or by confinement in said jail until such fine is discharged at the rate of $2.50 per day. On trials under this section, proof of a common purpose of two or more persons to obtain possession of property, as aforesaid, or to intimidate laborers as above set forth, accompanied or followed by any of the acts above specified by any of them, shall be sufficient evi- dence to convict any one committing such acts, although the par- ties may not be associated together at the time of committing the same. '.'/os' FORCE OR VIOLENCE. Sec. 4. If any person or persons shall associate and agree to enter or attempt to enter by force of numbers, and the terror such numbers are calculated to inspn-e, or by force and violence, or by threats of violence against any person or persons in the actual possession of any lode, gulch or placer claim, and upon such entry or attempted entry, any person or persons shall be killed, said persons, and all and each of them so entering or attempting to enter, shall be deemed guilty of murder in the first degree, and punished accordingly. Upon the trial of such cases, any person or parties cognizant of such entry, or attempted entry, who shall be present, aiding, assisting, or in anywise encouraging such entry, or attempted entry, shall be deemed a principal in the commission of said offence. ■•r , :>■-:■■> '^.•r/A^^i'i^ll^f^ 340 OVR WESTEKrf EMPIRE. Sec. 5. This act shall take effect end be in force from and tffterits psssagfe. ♦''*' "■" '' -Alwir-Twrv w»n,!,i;jnv;^».T,nf1'»-; • Approved Ftftiruary 13, 1874. ">"v..: -^j ^/to^jc ■^vr.Uf ' , ?, , THE ACT OF 1877. . .,' ^ An Act to provide for the Drainage of Mine*, and to regulate the Liabilitim of M inert, Mine* Owners and Mill-Men in certain ca*c*, and to repeal all Territorial acU on the lubjact. Be it enacted by the General Astcrobly of the State of Colorado i DRAINAGE. 1830. — Sec. I. Whenever contiguous or adjacent mines upon the same or upon separate lodes have a common ingress of water, or from subterraneous communication of the water have a common drainage, it shall be the duty of the owners, lessees or occupants of each mine so related to provide for their pro* portionate share of the drainage thereof. TENALTY FOg NON QOM PUANOK. 1831. — Sec. 2. Any parties so related failing to provide as aforesaid for the drainage of the mines owned or occupied by them, thereby imposing an unjust burden upon neighboring mines, whether owned or occupied by them, shall pay respec- tively to those performing the work of drainage their proportion of the actual and necessary cost and expense of doing such drainage, to be recovered by an action in any court of competent jurisdiction. COMMON INTBRESTS. 1833."— Sec. 3. f t shaU be lawful for all mining corporations or comfianie^, and all individuals engaged in mining, who have thus a •Q0mm6n interest ;' , , , ,^ '.'• . ',. • ACTION TO RECOVER. ' ' ^fk>t .i s > ( . I 854.-~<-Sec. 5. When an action is commenced to recover the cost and expenses for draining a lode or mine, it shall he lawful fbr the plaintiff to apply to the court, if in session^ op to the jtidge thereof in vacation, for an order to inspect and examine the lodes or mines claimed to have been drained by the plaintiff; or some one for him shall make afRdavit that such inspection or examination is necessary for the proper preparation of the case for trial ; and the court or judge shall grant an order Asr the underground inspection and examination of the lode or mines described in the petition. Such order shall designate the number of persons, not exceeding three, besides the plaintiff or kis representative, to examine and inspect such lode and mines, ffnd take the measurement thereof, relating, to the amount of water drained from the lode or mine, or the number of fathoms of ground mined and worked out of the lode or mines claimed to have been drained, the cost of such examination and inspection to be borne by the party applying therefor. The court or judge shall have power to cause the removal of any rock, debris, or other obstacles in any lode or vein, when, such removal is shown to be necessary to a just determination of the question involved: Protdded, That no such order for inspection and examination shall be made« except in open court or at chambers, upon notice of application for such order of at least three days, and not then except by agreement of parties, nor unless it appears that the< plaintiff has been refused the privilege of making the inspection and examination by the defendant or defendants, or his or their ■agent VATER RIGHTS. 1835. — Sec. 6. That hereafter, when any person or persons, oc corporation, shall be engaged in mining 01 milling, and in the 6 in OVK WKSTBR!^ EhtPIRB. H^k prosecution of such business shall hoist or raise water from mines or natural channels, and the same shall flow away from the premises of such persons or corporations, to any natural channel or gulch, the same shall be considered beyond the control of the party so hoisting or raising the same, and may be taken and used by other parties the same as that of natural water-courses. 1836. — Sec. 7. After any such water shall have been so raised, and the same shall have flown into any such natural channel, gulch or draw, the party so hoisting or raising the same shall only be liable for injury caused thereby, in the same manner a^ riparian owners along natural water-courses. EXPIJ^NATORY. 1 837. — Sec. 8. The provisions of this act shall not be construed to apply to incipient or undeveloped mines, but to those only ^vhich shall have been opened, and shall clearly derive a benefit from being drained. EVIDENCE. ' 1838. — Sec. 9. In trial of cases arising under this act the court shall admit evidence of the normal stand or position of the water while at rest in an idle mine, also the observed {Prevalence of a common water-level or a standing water-line in the same or separate lodes ; also the effect, if any, the elevating or depressing the water by natural or mechanical means in any given lode has upon elevating or depressing the water in the same, contiguous or separate lodes or mines ; also the effect which draining or ceasing to drain any given lode or mine had upon the water in the same, or contiguous or separate lodes or mines, and all other evidence which tends to prove the common ingress or subterraneous communication of water into the same lode or mipe, or contiguous or separate lodes or mines. Approved March 16, 1877. TAXES. Section 3, Article 10, of the Constitution of the State of Colorado, reads as follows : "All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects ffWMWIBWlMM'iilliWWMWWMltir^ jfiamiwiiMCifiiwi water from away from iny natural beyond the aind may be : of natural ;n so raised, ral channel, : same shall ; manner as >e construed I those only ve a benefit ■I ; ' this act the position of le observed water-line in he elevating leans in any vater in the 1 effect which )e had upon les or mines, mon ingress iame lode or .ij ji-.jt.i ... , tie State of s of subjects M.NING LAWS OF NEW MEXICO. 343 within the territorial limits of the authority levyirtg the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws, which shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, real and personal: Provided, That mines and mining claims bearing gold, silver, and other precious metals, (except the net proceeds and surface improvements thereof,) shall be exempt from taxation for the period of ten years from the date of the adoption of this constitution, and thereafter may be taxed as provided by law. Ditches, canals, and flumes owned and used by individuals or corporations for irrigating lands owned by such individuals or corporations, or the individual members thereof, shall not be separately taxed, so long as they shall be owned and used exclusively for such purpose." MINING LAWS OF NEW MEXICO. 'till: 't\ An Act to Regulate the Manner of Locating Mining Claimt, and for Other Purpoaet, t hSec. 1. •f>' CONTENTS. nsp rt/ >i'iiy&'>i\ I 'i -IS-'. t Sec. 3. . Sec. 4. 'f .■■ ■ Sec. 5. Sec. 6. ftt'**«. .»4., Location — bounds to be marked ; notice of name of locator ; make record in three months. Record books must be provided. Value of labor on mining claims defined!^ Locations heretofore made, there being no adverse claims, may file claim within six months. Ejectment in mining claims and real estate. Repeals former acts. % t-nfii' Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico 1 '*^ Sec. I. That any person or persons desiring to locate a miningclaim upon a vein or lode of quartz or other rock in place— -f bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper or other valuable deposit, must distinctly mark the location on the ground so that'' its boundaries may be readily traced; and post in some con- f spicuous place on such location, a notice in writing, stating^, thereon the name or names of the locator or locators, his off; their intention to locate the mining claim, giving a description i, thereof by reference to such natural object or permaneht monu- • • iM'iriPiu^ms&iim m Ol/Jf WRSTBKN MM>IHM. ment as will identitV the claim ; and also within three months after posting such notice, cause to be recorded a copy thereof in the office of the recorder of the county in which the notice is posted ; and it is provided that no other record of such notice shall be necessary. Sec. 3. In order to carry out the intent of the preceding section, it is hereby made the duty of the probate judges oi the several counties of this Territory, and they are hereby required to provide, at the expense of their respective counties, such book or books as may be necessary and suitable in which to enter the record hereinbefore provided for. The fees for record* ing such notices shall be ten cents for every one hundred words. Sec. 3. That in estimating the worth of labor required to be performed upon any mining claim, to hold the same by the laws of the United States, in the regulation of mines, the value of a day's labor is hereby fixed at the sum of four dollars : Provided, Mmvever, That fn the sense of this statute, eight hours of liabor actually performed upon the mining claim shall constitute a day's labor. Sec. 4. All locations heretofore made in good faith, to which there'shall be no adverse claims, the certificate of which locations have been or may be filed for record and recorded in the recorder's office of the county where the location is made, within six months after the passage of this act, are hereby confirmed and made valid. But where there may appear to be any such adverse claim, the said location shall be held to be the property of the person having the superior title or claim, according to the laws in force at the time of the making of the said locations. Sbc. 5. An action of ejectment will lie for the recovery of the possession of a mining claim, as well as of any real estate, wh^re the party suing has been wrongfully ousted from the possession thereof, and the possession wrongfully detained. Sec. 6. That "an act concerning mming claims," approved January i8th, 1865, and an act amendatory thereof, approved January 3d, 1866; also, an act entided an act to amend certairl afcts conceming mining claims in the Territory of New Mexico^ approved January ist, 1872; be and the same are hereby ''■*i'^<»^i3jpgl^j|fu!i^s*«i.J'^'v^*•^yxt*'*<4^^ '.•rsWv«j*v'.s/*j«M^^M,. ■»./.»■ ■r,w.*,«wW».jA»« ■mmimr^. STATE AND rKKRITOR!At. LANDS. 341 ree monthf y thereof in ie notice is 8ucb notice ; preceding; J judges of are hereby ive counties, ; in which to B for record- idred words, quired to be by the laws 5 vahie of a s : Provided, >urs of labor titute a day's kith, to which lich locations irded in the made, within by confirmed be any such the property Drding to the jcations. coVery of the real estate, tAd from the etained. s," approved of, approved mend certain New Mexico^ are hereby repealed : ProvitM, That no locations completed or commenced under said acts shall be invalidated, or in anywise affected, by Huch repeal. Sec. 7. That this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage. Approved January 11, 1876. i ■ - ^v ... . - if. fji :;*;/ -■ \\-%y-,,9n:Hyi ■, acres, or the privilege of locating that quantity of land on any government land^, nsfuatly in the State or Territory, to ead» ne^ State and Territory, for the fdninding and maintenance of » State or Territorial University. These lands are located by wmmt^mmtmm^ State or Territorial officern, and do not always rate quite as high as the school lands, though thr^y may be as valuable. Tlu-y are sold at prctcnt, in nioiit of the States and Territories, at trom $3 to $6 per acre. The Agricultural Collrge lauds or st rip are granted only to the States, un*kr the law of 1862. ''Ii'- j^rant is of jo.ocx) acres for each Senator and Rcprcs* itativc in C ongress when tilt* grant is madr ; the -crip issued for it haviu); the privi- lege of location in any State or I'erritory where then* ari* govern- ment lands unsold. This land scrip of the various Stau i is often in the market, and is purchasable at various rates, from ;^3 to $5 per acre. There arc also grants, from Congress of land§ for the building of State prisons, for insane hospitals, institutions for deaf mutes, blind and idiotic children, etc. Some of the States have also received from Congress grants of swamp and over- flowed lands, and of desert lands, whi( h had been long in the market without selling. Some of these lands are of excellent quality, and with slight expense for drainage or Irri^'ution will be very pr 'active. There a : also bounty land warrants capable of location on any govf.rnment lands, the scrip for which w.is granted to soldiers of the war of 1812, the Florida w.ir, ^lexican war, or the late civil war. These, which usually realized to the original owners but about fifty or sixty cents per acre, are now held at from $3 to $4.50 per acre, but, for some purposes, are well worth the money. In California, New Mexico, and Arizona there are lands yet held under Mexican tide's, sometimes of great extent, but these are, for the most part, pasturage lands. There is always a liability to a conflict of titles m relation to these, and therefore they are less desirable than government lands in which the title is absolute and without a flaw on which to base a litigation. ' When the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States and berame the State of Texas, her public lands were not given up to the United States Government, as all the other public lands had been, but were retained by the State for the purposes of edu- cation, internal improvements, etc. From the prc^ceeds of these lands the State has built several railroads, has laid the foundation for a very large school fund, and endowed a university, asylums, finw— i M w a n to TMXAS LA.SfD&^HOW SOIP, 34f lite as high Tiny are at from $3 r H«ri|) arc he )4rant is [J C ongrcHS ^; ll»c privi- are y;ovcrn« il( i is olicn tm ;^a to $5 f land§ for titutions for the States » and over- lon^r in the of excellent i^ution will location on i to soldier3 or the late inal owners t from $3 to the money, ■e lands yet It, but these ys a liability ore they are f is absolute In; ' , nitcd States re not given public lands OSes of edu- sds of these e foundation ity, asylums, etc. Thi: hool fund now amounts to i^y$oo,ooo, and when the school lands Are all r the best uality: '.1 - (..rjili •• Persons desiring to securr hornet in Texas can do so either (1) by s<'ttlemates.' The * straights ire those issued to early settlers as headrights or for service in the Texas revolution and to some railroad and ditch companies, and arc 1( cated without any reser- vation for public schools. These certificates are worth from fifteen cents to thirty-five cents per acre, according to quantity — the largest bringing the lowest figure. 'Alternates' are issued to railroads and other works of internal improvements, and require the survey of double the amount of land called for by the certificate. This is divided in two equal parts, one-half of which patents to the owner, and the remainder is reserved for common schools. These certificates can be bought for about ten cents per acre. '*^ i» •' The State does not sell any certificates, and they can only be imm B ^VM WMSTEMff BI^PfMM* boujfht frDin t)»o person* or corpofation* to whuin they were Unund. Untirr cither of the ttlx)vc iMiMieit flr»tcl«HS lunil must not be expected in the: uiUcr and Hcttlvd cvuiuicx, but inuat bo •oii|;ht ill the: went and northwest. " By the third inudr, vi/., purchaiie, choice homeii may b« ■eciircd. Within the 'ottlcd and or|^ni/t:d counticN of the Staio there arc about 13,800,000 acre* of cuminon hc1ux>1 lands, a 191* 000 acres of univcr ity, and 407,615 acres of asylum lands, These are all (or Halo on ten years' time; tlw university aa4 ttylum lands to actual settlers in tracts of 80 to 160 acres, at • minimum price of |l 1.50 per acre ; tiiu common school lands iit tracts of 160 acres to three sections, or 1,920 acres, at a mini- mum of $1 per acre. These lands are anion]; the fmest in th« State, and are to be found in almost every organized county. Application for purchase- must be muile to the county surveyor, in whose office will be iound a map and general description of the lands of his county." We come next to railroad lands. The great enterprises whkk were proposed for opening highways from the Mississippi to the Pacific coast, and for encouraging the settlement of lands faff ))eyond the frontiers, were too vast to be undertaken by private o^rporations without government aid in some shape. When, in the midst of our civil war, it became desirable to initiate a system (»r railways, which should connect the Mississippi valley with tlM I^acific coast, it was found necessary not only to grant landa along the line, alternate sections, to a width of ten miles on each side of the track ur road-bed, but, as these lands could not be made readily available, the government loaned its credit^ issuing bonds to the amoint of 154,700,000, and taking bonds of the roads in return. - these bonds the United States gov- ernment has paid interest beyond what has been repaid, to the amount of more than $26,000,000. Similar aid was subsequently granted in the way o4 bonds, though iu ^iViaUer amounts, to the Kaoiias Paci6c, (he Western Pacific, and uie Sioux City and Pacific Railroads to the amount of nearly $10,000,000 more^and interest to the amount of $4,500,000 has been paid on these bonds by tkci government, do that these roads )Mive been furnished with MMtlHOAD lANPCKAfm, S49 they were lanil inuit Lit inu«t bo PM may b« jf the Suia ^lum land*. vrr»ity attdi I acres, at a >ol land* in I, at a mini* inest in th« zeU county, ty surveyor, iscription of prises whkh Hsippi to the of lands fax n by private When, in ite a system ley with tbe ^rant lands en miles on Is could not its creditt iiking bonds States gov- epaid, to the subsequently ounts, to the y and Pacific and interest bonds by mished with 1)ondr!iid«M» tht* land-grants, which amounted on the Union and Central I'ucific- atul tht-ir branches to ul>')ut 9,oiK,ooo acrcn. Hut the grants of lanfl for aid in railroad construction w»«re, by no mcann, confinf-d to thrnr roads which rn rived bonds ; Other roadn project«'d becntisr of the succrsn of the ^lr^t trans- continental railway, tnadr their plans and HtirveyH with termini on the Pacific coast, and df*maniled both land and tmnflH, and rei rived the former, Init not the latter. The Northern Pacific wan the largeHt and boldtrst of these cnterprines, and as denervin^' as any one of them. It propovd to extend itn l-m- from Diiluih, on Lake Superior, to the mouth of the Columbia river, with siveral branches, its general cotjrsc being between the 45lh and 47lh parallels. It has a land-grant of about 6,ooo,cx3o acres, in alternate sections, on both siden of its road-bed, and is now operating more than 800 miles of itn roail. '"'"'" ^^'' ' ^ t ''''*r In general, it may be said, that all the railroads in Minnesota, Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, Wash- ington, and Idaho are land-grant railroads, cither as branciuts of the great trunk roads, or by direct grant under their own cor- porate titles. . After the Unicm and Central Pacific and the Northern Pacific, the most important of these are the Chicago and Northwestern and its branches and leased roads, the Wabash and its connections, the Burlington and Missouri River, the Kansas Pacific, the Denver Pacific, the Atchison, Topn the lands ; :en to twcnty- mainder, and on the princi- uently annual e is paid up. is about ten act to give a ranty deed is ley have also them for two, rer than in fhe here are other e time flf pur- >y some ro»ds Timber lands ying, however, r can buy pn pleases. ' He t th^ govern- odd sections) e' a mile apart, eep, which he may do if it is not taken up by pre-emption, or purchase, or bounty land-warrants, or altogether. The government does not sell or pre-empt its lands (except desert lands) in greater quan- tities than 160 acres, but it will tai|iminax >:>^J ik> j-'*'' s^,,: icnnfi; • _j Most of the roads, in their circular to immigrants, present a schedule like the following, which, though taken from the Atchi- son, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, substantially represents them all, except in its discount for a full cash payment, which is thirty- thre'* and one-third, while most of the others are but twenty- five per cent. -i-^.., „ M .;, TERMS OF SALE. • ., ; A\ . ;^.. ,L,..;.^ .• .ELEVEN VEARs' CREDIT. -, ^^ .- ' Terms No. i — Is on eleven years' cre(^it,,wi.tn seven percent, interest. The first payment at date of purchase is one-tenth of the principal and seven per cent, interest on the remainder. At the end of the first and second year^ only the interest at seven per cent, is paid ; the third year and 6ach year thereafter, one- tenth of the principal is paid with seven per cent, annual interest on the balance until the whole is paid. ■ EXAMPLE. ■•■'- % '- 160 acres, at $5 an acre, bought April i, 1879, the payments would be as follows : Data of Payments, ,M;ff« 'if, ^if-^t- April I, 1879, (date of purchase) April 1, 1880 April 1, 1881 April I, 1882 . . . . April I, 1883 .... April I, 1884 . April I, 1885 April 1, 1886 April I, 1887 , April I, 1888 April I, 1889 April I, 1890 . . ., Total of payments at end of 11 years Principal. $So 00 80 CO 80 00 80 00 So 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 $800 00 Interest, $5° 40 50 40 SO 40 44 80 39 20 33 60 28 00 22 40 16 80 II 20 5 60 >352 80 Toul. $13° 40 SO 40 50 40 124 80 119 30 113 60 108 00 102 40 96 80 91 20 8s 60 80 00 Ji.iSa 80 •: M: ,ffisriigi0/' :a T J'i >\ < iSa Oa/{ lyiiSJJiHN EMPIkE. :\:\ V. > SIX YEARS CREDIT. ' • ': I ..... l^-j»',^ " 30 per cent, diicount. Terms No. 2 — Is en six year.s' credit, with seven per cent, interest. The first payment at date of purchase is one-sixth of the principal and seven per cent, interest on the remainder. ► The second payment at the end of the first year is only interest. Afterwards one-sixth of the principal is paid and seven per cent, annual interest on the remainder until the whole is paid. We make a discount from the appraised price of twenty per cent., and the payments will come as per EXAMPLE. 160 acres, at ^5 an acre, bought April i, 1879, would amount to |8oo. Twenty per cent, off would reduce it to ^640, and the payments would be as follows : Dam of Payment*. April I, 1879, (dftte of purchase) . . April I, 1880 April I, 1881 ........ April \, i88a April I, 1883 April I; 1884 April I, 1885 Total of -.Ayments at end of 6 years Principtl. ^106 67 106 67 106 67 106 67 106 66 106 .66 ^^640 00 InleiCil. 137 33 37 33 39 86 33 39 M 93 7 46 *i49 30 Total. /144 CO 37 33 »36 S3 129 06 131 60 114 18 106 66 178;^ 30 TWO YEARS CREDIT. 30 per cent, discount. Te% ms No. 3 — Three payments. In consideration of the pur- chaser's paying one-third of the principal at time of purchase, with ten per cent, interest on the remainder, and the balance in two annual payments, we make a discount from the appraised price of T^iiRTY per cent, and the paymtnts will come as per EXitMPLE. x^o acres, at I5 an acre, bought April i, 1879, would amount to ^800. Thirty per cent, off would reduce it to 1560, and the payments would be as follows:- Date of Payments. April I, 1879 • • April I, 1880 April I, 1881 . Total of payments at end or 3 years Principal. |r86 67 r86 67 r86 66 ^560 00 Iiiterett. 137 33 18 67 I56 00 Total. ^334 00 305 34 186 6ti ^616 00 ;n per cent, one-sixth of ; remainder. )nly interest, 'en per cent. J paid. We TY per cent, lount to fSoo. Its would be as It. Toul. 33 ^144 00 33 37 33 86 136 S3 39 139 06 93 131 60 46 114 18 • • 106 66 30 ^78;^ 30 ti of the pur- of purchase, e balance in he appraised ne as per nount to ;^8oo. nts would be as est. Total. 33 67 • j;224 00 205 34 186 66 00 ^616 00 ATCIflSOt^, TOPEKA Al^D SANTA FE RAILWAY LANDS. 353 v/ .•!■ " I ■-7'-- il" 1 iyA P*"" "il- discount. ' Temts No. 4. — This is a sale where the whole amount of pur- chase money is paid down and deed given. For cash, we make a discount of thirty three and one-third per cent, from the appraised price. ujuki Iihk ,<« K;!j«''jvn>*'i)fn3«j ifUid'i^iHifl m\ 1,0 ' ■— •■• .-,-j It' i|;^ ^.^i^ April I, 1879, 160 acres, at ^5 per acre .1 . ^^,\i .,,. | ^800 00 ,,j .^^ Cash discount of ^3^4 per cent, offf^^,^ |^.^^.^;..^,,, j^ ^ 266 67 . ' ' Total amount of payment . ^ i-' v''!/^ ^r . • ; '^ - U^ .' . . . 1^5333. or less than half the amount at eleven years' credit, ht ;,) ■ ti 1 -.fft ;, • ' If payments are all made in advance of maturity and deed taken, purchasers on long credit will be allowed a liberal dis- count. **>"»• .-.fi^f.-f ■••rn' ■ -ti'-^iiy/' %^ '.'I'll: PRICE AND LOCATION OF THE COMPANY'S LANDS IN KANSAS. Counllw. vuj« rtiiitM i$ni rjiUm'' Wabaunsee . . Morris . . . Marion ■>'} ^V>f?t4,.^r:^.t 1); Butler . . ,,„,j ..■ :; .' ^.■u)\n:^ i/ ' . Harvey . . * .. ... . ^ ... . Sedgwick . 'I^'* '',!' .f ; ; • . . . . McPherson . ■. ?j .,:■ .' ..Ji; :*,.,. . Reno .... Rice .... Barton Rush Pawnee Edwards . '::•,,' iQ 1 , J'„> pii^x -,1. Ford . . . . . . . . Pratt Hodgeman ...... ^: Acres. 11,688.94 27,069.13 123,650.50 90,422.87 38,746.0a 44,961.54 42,566.41 29.837.59 202,038.77 86,467.10 196,013.43 57.403-67 127,858.52 91,716.63 95,721.10 12,012.04 74,099.55 Price, per acre. %2> 50 to 2 50 to 50 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 00 to 2 4 5 5 5 S 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 2 4 s 50 6 50 9 00 9 00 9 00 10 00 10 CO 7 5° 8 OO 8 00 00 00 7 00 6 00 8 OQ 4 00 8 00 7 6 The Northern Pacific Railroad makes its prices, especially in Dakota and Montana, including the fertile valley of the Red river of the North, and the excellent lands of Northern Mon- tana, somewhat lower, ranging from $2.50 to $8.50 on credits of six years, Or will take its own preferred stock at par in pay- ment, a privilege which three or five .years ago was equivalent "3 ESJ- :-x3^tL:3,mmmA:i!mi- 354 OUX WESTERN EMPIRE. to seventy-five per cent, discount, but this stock lias now ap- preciated, though still quoted at fifty-four to fifty-Fix. The immi- grant on this, and we believe on all the Minnesota and Dakota railroads, receives also material reductions of fare for himself and family, and specially low rai^es of iV^^ight for the transportation of his household goods, live-stock, and farming implements, and this, whether he buys the company's lands or government land. The freights of grain and other produce on this road going east- ward are also very low. The rates of interest on Minnesota and Northern Pacific Railroad lands are seven per cent. ; on the Iowa Railroad lands they are only six per cent, but on the long credits the price of the lands are advanced ten per cent. ; |, In Texas the prices of railroad lands are considerably cheaper, ranging from $2 to $^ per acre on long time, and seldom exceed- ing $2 when they are paid for in two or three years. In the northwest counties, where there is so much drought that the lands are only suitable for grazing, they can be bought at lower prices than these, especially if taken in large quantities. I West of the Rocky Mountains, on the Union Pacific, Central, Western, and Southern Pacific and their branches and connec- tions, prices are higher, and terms (there being litrie or no com- petition) are more rigorously enforced. The following extract from the latest circular of these roads explains itself. Some of these lands are well worth the price asked for them ; others are nearly worthless ; but as the buyer is requested to select for him- self, and the company refuses to make selections or take any risk, there is no ground for complaint : '"''%-■ No Sale Be/ore Patent. — ^Tbe general rule of the company is to sell no land before a patent has been issued to the company. This protects the purchaser against the danger of getting a bad title, and the company a/];ainst the suspicion of taking advantage of the ignoHtnt. ! Railroad TUle. — The company holds under ? patent direct from the Federal Government, and its title is thus free from the dangers that beset all titles that have passed through a number of indivicluals. No suit will be instituted against the railroad title on account of minor heirs, undivided interests, defective m :* ^ CENTRAL, WESTERN AND SOUTHERN PACIFIC LANDS. jjj has now ap- The immi- and Dakota r himself and ranspcrtation ►lements, and rnment land, d going east- m Minnesota cent. ; on the It on the long • cent. rably cheaper, ildom exceed- 'ears. In the ught that the )ught at lower itities. acific, Central, s and connec- ,de or no corn- owing extract elf. Some of |m ; others are [select for him- or take any le company is the company, getting a bad ling advantage ■ n- patent direct free from the lugh a number It the railroad jsts, defective acknowledgments, or those common flaws to be found in a long succession of conveyances. Viju -hi \A\ -a. l! i ;, ; Setllentent Before Patent. — ^The company invites settlers to go on the lands before patents are issued or the road is completed ; and intends, in such cases, to sell to them in preference to any other applicants, and at prices based upon the value of the land without the improvements put upon it by the settlers. It makes no definite contract with any individual upon this basis, but it treats all fairly. It will not sell to somebody else, merely be- cause the latter offers a higher price. It will not sell to any one land that may be required by it for railroad purposes, such as places for depots, stations, etc., or for town sites. Any person desiring to settle upon vacant railroad land, after survey and before it is patented, should address a letter to the Land Agent of the company, requesting a copy of a blank application for the purchase of land. The following is a copy of one of these appli- cations as filled in, the words and figures here enclosed in brackets occupying spaces which are blank in the printed form, and which the applicant should fill in to suit his own case: m APPLICATION. SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, LAND DEPARTMENT. ^ ... -rf. . ».> [Bakersfield, Nov. ist, 1876.] The undersigned hereby applies to purchase the [northwest quarter] of sec- tion [6] of township [30 south] range [25 east] [Mount Diablo] base and meridian, in [Kern] County, California, containing [160] acres. Residence [2 miles south of Bakersfield]. •/ ])> > oV U'sKfJAnv.n' Post-office address [Bakersfield, Kern County, Cailforcia]. I '<:<'«/■-■« I. jtifl^ t/jtiliiif «fiA*.;ii.i?*J"' »},>i" ''Vi.f^' , »v^," iitelH t v.| Jo^rf °:uT4 HX- .'♦.r The value of the application depends entirely upon the care and correctness with which the blanks are filled in. If the num- bers are wrong, or if the signature cannot be read, or if the post- ofifice address is not given with entire clearness, the applicant must not blame anybody but himself if the application does not benefit him. Every letter in the signature should be so plain that there can be no mistake about it. A scratch may be intelligible to a personal friend, who, knowing from whom to expect a letter, and what to expect in it, may understand that which would be illegible to others. Five minutes of extra time ■-••■. f' .C\\\\.\ .-.A- OUR fV/':.'!7/-A'X RMPIRK. '■ is all that is necessary for ettinjsf the application right. The address given should be tht j 'rmanent address, where the ap- plicant can be reached at any time ; and if, after giving it, he should move, he should then send his new address, mentioning in his letter the township and range of the land for which he has applied, so that the new address can be put with the application, which is filed according to the township and range in which it is situated. If he wants several pieces of land in the same town- ship, he should include all in one application ; if he wants land in different townships, then there should be a different application for each township. The Land Agent will send a receipt for the application, and if then the applicant will, without unreasonable delay, permanently occupy and cultivate the land, he can expect to have preference over all other applicants ; but his claim will not be entitled to any consideration if he does not show his goo;! faith by occupa- t' -n and cu' tivation, or improvement. The company will give a prtferenre to settlers over speculators. If the setder p^oes upon the land before survey, he should de- scribe it as nearly as possible, and so soon as the survey is made, send the description to the Land Agent. An application for land confers no vested right or privilege on the applicant. It is merely a notice that he wishes to buy. The filing of an application does not carry with it the right or permission to cut wood or timber from the lands of the company, except for fire-wood for the domestic uses of the actual occupants of the tract applied for, or for fencirg and improving it. Applicants, or other perbu. -, who shall be detected in cuttinjj wood or timber on railroad lands, except for the purposes above specified, or in selling or carrying it away, will be prosecuted with the utmost severity of the law. Land Policy of Company, — The policy of the company has always been, and is now, to encourage the settlement of its lands in small tracts, by persons who will live on and cultivate them. To this end settlers are invited to make applications to buy and to occupy and put to use the vacant lands until such time as they shall be reac^y for sale. If the settler desires to buy, the company mmmmm»mtwmMm^mmmtmmmmmmm ". •) SOUH/hkX J'AC/HC RAILWAY LAXDS, 35f jrht. The ;re the ap- ving it, he nentioning lich he has ippHcation, which it is lame town- ints land in application tion, and if ermanently preference entitled to by occupa- ■ will give a ! should de- vey is made, privilege on buy. the right or le company, al occupants it. d in cutting joses above secuted with ompany has t of its lands tivate them, o buy and to time as they tlie company gives him the rirst privilej^e of purchase at tin; fixed price, which, in every case, shall only be the value of the land, without regard to the improvements, it must be understood that the application of a speculator, or of a person who does not improve or occupy the land, will not, although received first, take precedence or priority of that of the settler whose application may, perhaps, be filed last of all. The actual settler, in good faith, will be preferred always, and the land will be sold to him as against every other applicant. The company also wishes it to be known that a mere application to buy land, unaccompanied by actual improvement or setdement, confers no right or privilege which should prevent an actual setder from taking it» if vacant, into possession, and culti- vating and improving it. f ■ ■! ^ When thei*e are two or more applicants for the same tract of land, an adjudication of their respective claims will be made by the Land Agent, upon due notice given to the parties, and the right to buy, at the graded price, will be awarded to the applicant who shall be deemed to have the most equitable claim. Should the applicants, or either of them, pay no attention to the notice, or fail to be present in person, or by representative, at the time and place mentioned in it, they shall be considered to have aban doned their applications, and all right or claim to purchase; and the land will then, at the option of the railroad company, be open for purchase by any person to whom the company may choose to sell. Careful regard is paid to the requirements o{ the law in every particular, so as to protect the officers of the company against complaints for the past and distrust for the future. The cultiva- tion of confidence is nectj^sgtry for the company. » iwtll;;! No deed will be made ifntH ihe entire price shall have been paid. "** ■>^kll^-.i^ ff.'i\<,n^'X^I. ''.iV.nW.if-.'^yS'ii .iJU'tin-ir--; Payment in Coin. — All sales are ma »*iinRt«f' "?• fllri 7i.nj'<'* tr.'tiir.fii' (• The company does not give free transportation to persons who wish to examine or buy, or who have bought land. Nor after purchase does it carry their building material, furniture or cattle, free. In this as in other respects, the land and transporta- tion departments of the company manage their business on the cash basis and on separate accounts. > rH»r.jf; nt l»/h Prices. — The lands are not uniform in price, but are offered at various figures from $2.50 upwards per acre; usually land covered with tall timber is held at $5 per acre, and that with pine at $10. Most is for sale at from jjja.so to 55- I^ 's im- possible to give the prices by sections or minor subdivisions in this pamphlet. Special inquiry must be made as to each piece. ' The purchaser must pay for the acknowledgment of the three signatures to the deed — the law now allows one dollar for each signature — and he must pay for recording, usually about $2.50 for each deed. Grading Lands. — When lands are ready to be sold, the cotH- ■ pany sends a man well acquainted with the quality of soil and ' skilled in determining the kind of agricultural product to which • it is best adapted, as also in detetrflinlng its true market value, to look at the various sections and trarts. After personal ex- amination, he grades the land as being first, second or third . quality of farming, vineyard, timber or grazing land, and reports the value of each piece. His report is examined, and, if found » correct, a price is established. The price is generally that of ' unimproved land of the same quality in the immediate vicinity at * the time of the grading. In ascertaining the value, any improve- SOVrHERN PACIFIC RAIL WA V LANDS. 359 ifore such ,wn by any th which it ' payment, yrment. If , he should t is useless I something eparate ac- to persons land. Nor urniture or transporta- iness on the re offered at isually land r»d that with It is im- bdivisions in each piece. of the three ar for each about $2.50 d. the corri- yr of soil and uct to which larket value, personal ex- ind or third and reports nd, if found • rally that of ite vicinity at* any improve- ments that a settler or other person may have on the land will not be taken into consideration, neither will the price of the land be increased in consequence of them. Further, there is but one price — that fixed by the company — and land will be sold at that rate to those who in equity have the best right to buy, even if others should offer more per acre than the amount asked. Set- tlers are thus assured that, in addition to being accorded the first privilege of purchase at the graded price, they will also be pro- tected in their improvements. ' -» ' ' ' When Time Allowed. — Land is sold on contract allowing time for payment of a part of the purchase money — if the tract be eighty acres or more and if it have no timber. If it be less than eighty acres, or if it be covered with timber, no sale will be made except upon full payment of (ash before the execution of any paper. The rule of the company is to make no contracts for sale of land before the patent for it has been received. Terms of Time Sales. — All contracts for the sale of land on time are made in uniform manner. The terms are the same in every case. The purchaser must pay one-fifth of the price and also interest for one year on the balance before he can get a con- tract ; he raust then pay the interest in advance at the beginning of each subsequent year, till the fifth year is up, and then pay his principal XiwA take his deed. No instalments are accepted, but if his interest is not delinquent he can at any time pay the principal and get his deed. This system protects the company against complication of accounts, gives the purchaser an abun- dance of time for making payments, and enables him to select his own day within five years for closing up the transaction. As stated, payment in full of the purchase money can be made at any time, but after interest has been paid, no part of it will be refunded. This is done in order to avoid confusion in keeping the accounts. The purchaser can draw interest on his money in a savings bank till the end of the year, if he sees fit. No longer credit than five years is allowed in any case. In many cases in which purchases have been made on credit, the buyers have made enough from the crops of a single year to pay for the land. •^{■'vih a(fe»>t:'>!rM^> ■:i«;^wtV|-{iiVf -fi^^nim^fA ■■.■ -' ■ - . ,- . . ■■ • ' .- '■ .-K'-WA jl9 ovu wtsruMy ump/ke, Let uM Huppub'- that the purchaser takcH 160 acrcn at $5 per acrr, under contract tlatcd January i»t, 1877. The total (ike 1* $800. If he wants to buy uii time, he must pay in advance onc- ftlih of the principiil, $160, and $(34 as interest at 10 per cnnt. on the $640 of the remainder, or $224 in all, casih, on the day when the contract is tnude. Then hf must pay 1^64 interest on the i st of January, 1878, and as much more on the same days in 1879, 1880 and 1881 ; and on tht: int of January, 1882, he must [)ay the $640 remainder of the principal, and tlicn he is entitled to his deed. iij. ijf'ntnu* nt\ IJo-t -i f/in. 1 ■-.\.i/.v'ri , -..v \ '.*.vVM On land s^old under contract the purchaser must cut no wood save for domestic purposes, or for fencing the tract bought, until he has made his last payment. All contracts may be assigned by the purchaser. When the contract is made, the purchaser must from that date see that the land is assessed to him, and must pay all the taxes and assessments of every kind levied on the land for public purposes. IJ. ^n ; .numiJU ';n« 'ru; flt rUi;ni -vis, 'jr*^ AiW o/" Deed. — The company gives what is known as a bargain and sale deed, the form customary in California. It warrants to the purchaser that he gets the entire title acquired by the company from the Federal government, and is signed by the president and secretary of the company and two trustees. Select /or Yourself. — No officer of the railroad selects land for another person, nor could uch selection be made without ex- posing the company to vexatious complaints. Everybody who intends to buy should, if possible, visit and examine the land, for nobody knows so well what he wants, or at least nobody can safely assume the responsibility of deciding for him. Rent. — The company will lease its vacant grazing or agri- cultural lands by the year, or for a term of years, but reserve.1 the right of selling its grazing lands so leased at any tjme, or its agricultural lands at the end of any crop year, repaying to the lessee a share of the rent money proportioned exactly to the area sold, the time of the sale and the duration of the lease. The lessee must not cut any timber except for fire' od for domestic purposes. The conditions are distinctly states' in the lease. ''^gffiiWWP''*'''^^'^''^^^^ at $*) pi(j i>>-i: •, and being perhaps not a good manager, or having a large family and meeting with misfortunes in his crops, finds himself in debt, and unable to extricate himself and keep his farm. Per- haps he has bought too much land, and the cost of breaking it up and his annual payments on it swallow up all he can make, and he becomes discouraged. He will find that if he mortgages his land, the interest will eat up the whole value of the farm, and, being sold out under foreclosure, he has nothing left, and has to hire himself out as a laborer. If he can sell the farm, the pay- ments yet to be made can be met by the purchaser, and though ami w! «rr it clHiincU it ,'ivrn in full t procuring JH notiiin^ a mine, ami ri thoHC who I interest in rovides that liles or \v%n, it if a mine hall not be pportunities ms and cat- > frequently 1 dollars of these farms, "fered in this ility, climate, 3rics that so ead to it are :n up a farm r under the f the railroad iving a large inds himself farm. Per- r breaking it e can make, e mortgages ie farm, and, ;, and has to rm, the pay- and though r^rr ^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ ^ *•- t 1.0 I.I kAMll 12.5 ■^ lU 12.2 u lift lU u u 9III-25 nil 1.4 US. 6' •1' V] 0^ <^ "^ >^ V / Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)S73-4S03 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historlques it f u iSnSSi :vsiSi'jiffi!'i Ji'i •mg ff>: BUYING PARTIALLY IMPROVED FARMS. 363 he receives less than he has expended in money and labor upon the land, yet he is out of debt and can move on to the frontier where, taking a farm under the Homestead Act or Timber-Culture Act, and building a sod house, he can have a better chance to retrieve his fortunes. Meanwhile, the immigrant who buys finds the land ready broken for crops, and perhaps the crops for the season sown, so that within four or six months he can, if the sea- son is favorable, realize from his crop nearly what the farm has cost him. 'i ,:vi":'; 'rJ'n 'w ■' ' i 'i'^-A-.:.;: .•:f!.i^;>;! )!;:.;(■; ; ':■ ■' !' i. These farms ran generally be bought at a reasonable price, because there are so many in the market. They should not be bought at a high price for two reasons : first, that in most regions there is some uncertainty about the crop from drought, grass- hoppers, Colorado beetles, worms, or excess of rain ; and second, that the first crop, especially of grain or roots and tubers, is usually larger than those which succeed it. J ■! ' 'i'' ' ' ' ' By caution in buying, the immigrant will generally do well, and by careful and thorough cultivation he may find his partially improved farm a source of great wealth. ; . . •y.-.-^vh tl. • -I r CHAPTER VI. Farming Life — The Amount of Capital Needed — Management of a Farm AT THE West — The Best Farming Regions — What Crops are I est — Hov/ Farming can re made most Profitable. Having in previous chapters shown the immigrant how to reach the West, how ';o select his land or location, and the various methods by which he may become the owner and pos- sessor of a farm or other landed estate, we are now ready to assist him in settling upon his land and making his first crops. In the case of immigrants from Europe this is particularly neces- sary ; for though it is very possible that the immigrant may, in his own country, and under the circumstances existing there, be as good a farmer as can be found-, yet the circumstances here are so different in the character of the soil, tlie climate and sea- '; -1 ■I ■! lii -^ 3^4 ^^^' "-Vsy/AA'iV UMPIRE. i\' sons, the amount of rain-fall, and the crops most in demand, that he will find that he has much of his business to learn anew. The first thinjj to be decided is, what description of crops he would prefer to cultivate, and this point should be settled before he sets out for the West, whether his previous home had been in Europe or in the Atlantic States. If he desires to raise the small grains, and perhaps root crops, he must still decide whether he will grow winter or spring wheat and rye. I'or spring wheat and the other small grains, as well as for root crops, there is no region so good as Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, and perhaps Iowa and Southern Dakota, east of the Rocky Mountains, and Washington and Oregon west of those mountains.* The spring wheat of Montana surpasses that of any other part of the world. In an average season it weighs sixty-nine pounds to the bushe , sixty pounds being the standard, and with ordinary care in cul- tivation thirty-uve to forty bushels to the acre, many entire crops exceeding this large yield. Dakota and Minnesota and Oregon and Washington Territory are not far behind. Iowa grows some winter wheat, though the spring wheat largely predomi- nates; but, probably on account of less thorough cultivation, neither the yield nor the weight are equal to those of the north- ernmost tier of States and Territories. Th'^re is one other rea- son alleged for th^ excellence of the grain crops of this northern region, which includes the fertile valley of the Red river of the North ; it is that the surface frost thaws very early in the spring, but that at the depth of three and one-half or four inches the earth is still frozen, and that when the seed is sown this deeper frost, thawing gradually, keeps the roots of the grain moist and develops them more moderately and surely than can be done in any other way. There is this further advantage in regard to Northern Minne- sota. Dakota, and Eastern Montana, that the crops can be quickly and cheaply marketed over the Northern Pacific and its * For all this northern region iprhtg wheat is a very certain crop, winter wheat an exceed- ingly unceltaiu one. During the long and severe frosts, the roots of the winter wheat are frozen, or winter-killed, and in many instances it does not recover its vitality. Some winter wheat is sown in Minnesota, Northern Dakota, and more in Iowa, but it proves very nearly a failure, while the spring wheat yields from twenty-one (o forty bushels, dr even more, to the acre. nand, that mew. f crops he :led before had been > raise the de whether ring wheat there is no id perhaps niains, and The spring f the world, the bushu , care in cul- sntirc crops md Oregon [owa grows ly predomi- cultivation, f the north- e other rea- his northern river of the the spring, inches the this deeper in moist and be done in hern Minne- -ops can be acific and its wheat an exceeJ- winter wheat are ily. Somu winter roves very nearly a more, to the acre. WINTER WHEAT, MAIZE AND SOKCIlUAf. ,55 branches, and that they can be sent to Europe direct, and will ordinarily bring largely remunerative prices there. Root crops of all kinds yield enormously over the whole of this region. The immigrant who wishes to preserve this abundant productiveness of his lands, should do two or three things which very many of the farmers there do not do ; he should plow deeply ; the soil is from five to ten feet, or even more, in depth, and will yield con- tinuous large crops, if the ground is plowed to a depth of from eighteen inches to two and a half feet, but this should be done in the fall, and with a thorough harrowing, in the spring the soil will be in fine condition for a crop. He should rotate his crops, not after the five years' plan adopted in England and on the continent, but, perhaps, one year of grain, one of root crops^ and one of clover, Alfalfa, Hungarian grass or millet, thus allowing the constituents withdrawn from the soil to be replaced. He should also keep h.orses and mules for his work, oxen and cows, sheep and swine, and though it is a general matter of belief with the settlers on these new lands that they need no manuring, he will not find his crops at all diminished, if he uses upon his lands all the manure, liquid as well as solid, produced by his animals, and he can consume a part of his crops at home, and turn them into products which will pay him better than to sell them direct. If our immigrant prefers to raise winter wheat, Indian corn, sorghum (though the early varieties of the sorghum will do well almost to the Canada border, while the latter and larger varie- ties yield more bountifully in the central belt), he will find Southern Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Wyoming his best region east of the Rocky Mountains, and Northern and Central California, some districts of Nevada, Utah and Western Colorado, west of these mountains. Here, too, most of the root crops, and many special crops, such ais the castor-oil bean, pearl millet, Egyptian rice corn, sweet potatoes, alfalfa, and Hungarian grass do well. Especially can we commend Kansas and Ne- braska and Eastern Colorado for the winter wheat and Indian corn crops, among the States and Territories east of the Rocky Mountains. But we must caution immigrants, even in these States, that they should not press forward beyond the line of ..i" ; V 1" ^66 OUR tVESTEfiX EMPIRE. general advance in their settlement of these farming lands. That line is moving westward at about the rate of fifteen miles a year in Kansas and Nebraska, but it is not well for the immi- grant to go to the front at first, for thesr reasons : As we go westward from the Missouri river to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, the amount of rainfall diminishes, and there is dan- ger of drought, which would be fatal to corn, though the wheat, ripening earlier, might not be so much affected by it. The rain- fall is increasing as the line of cultivation moves westward, because the spring rains are absorbed where the hard surface or crust has been broken ; but where the soil has been beaten solid for hundreds of years under the hoofs of millions of buffalo, all the rain which falls either runs off or is speedily evaporated. The deeply-plowed lands drink in the rain, and the vegetation which springs up gathers the moisture from dew and showers and suffers it to be more slowly evaporated and return in rain. We know, that taking one year with another, the rainfall which ten years ago, on these unbroken lands, west of the 98th meri- dian, was only 10.5 or 1 1 inches annually, has steadily increased, till in 1879 it was 17 or 17.5 inches. Even with this amount some of the crops would be the better for irrigation ; but with the prospect of an increasing rainfall eiach year the setder can bide his time. Two things can be said in regard to the danger from drought in this region of very moderate rainfall : first, that though the amount of rain is perhaps somewhat less than could be desired, it always falls just at the right time to help the crops, and is not so violent or copious as to uproot oc injure them ; second, in the valley of the Upper Arkansas, where much of this land is situated, there is a remarkable provision of nature to prevent injury to plants and grains ; the river and its branches, though fed in the spring by mountain torrents, never overflows its banks, but its valley, which is alluvial, is underlaid at a depth of eight or ten feet by a close, solid clay, and the water spreads out and flows under the surface of this loam and above the clay, saturating the loam with moisture. The soil of this valley re- tains its moisture even when there is no rain for three months 9jr more, a^n4 the qrpps do not sufTer frow drought. The valley ^ ^^^*;\ '-j-''-'^ ^ _;•> ^-■^-" ' ^^.' ™i.,j." .l'« ....-__:.vo:_iil_. ^z;.-,. .:*i^^:^.„ ming lands, ftecn miles a ar the immi- 5 : As we go jf the Rocky there is dan- ^h the wheat, t. The rain- es westward, ird surface or I beaten solid of buffalo, all ^ evaporated, lie vegetation and showers -eturn in rain, rainfall which the 98th meri- dily increased, 1 this amount tion ; but with le settler can to the danger fall : first, that ess than could lelp the crops, injure them; e much of this of nature to \ its branches, ever overflows aid at a depth water spreads ibove the clay, this valley re- three months It. The valley '■u liKV LANDS AND IRRIGATION. 367 of the Platte, in Nebraska, is somewhat similarly |)rotectcd from drought. With the increasing rainfall that portion of these States east of the meridian of 99° west from Greenwich, is not now in any great danger from drought ; while the lands west of that meridian which are cultivated can generally, at moderate expense, be provided with irrigating canals. In t!astern Colo- rado the lands are still more elevated than in Kansas, ranging from 5,000 to 6,500 or 7,000 feet above the sea. Portions of this land are too high for corn crops to be raised with certainty, as the cool nights and somewhat early frosts may prevent its ripening ; but most of it will, when irrigated, yield most astonish- ing crops of corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes. The immigrant who does not come as a member of a colony, or under the direction of an emigration company, will hardly find it advisable to farm lands requiring irrigation unless he has a considerable capital to invest. The first cost of irrigating canals or ditches is considerable for a single individual, and can better be borne by a colony, where there are a considerable number to use the water thus obtained. Still, where a man has sufficient capital to take up a square mile (640 acres) of the so- called desert land, which can now be purchased by the payment of ;jii6o down and $640 more at the end of three years, construct his Irrigating ditch, which may cost him from $1,000 to $3,000, according to location, stock his farm and break up one-half of his land, which will cost him $2,000 more, or $2,500 with his cabin and corrals, he can rely with considerable certainty upon gathering crops from this 320 acres under cultivation before the expiration of the three years from the time of taking the land, of a net value of not less than $25,000 on an outlay of not more than $7,500 or $8,000 at the outside, and he will have his land clear and his irrigating canals ready for further operations. Some farmers on these lands have done much better than this.* The advantage of irrigation is that the crop is always certain. If the * In Northern Colorado, California, and perhaps some of the other Slates and Territories, land and irrignlion companies have lieen formed, often with English capital, which buy large tracts of land, construct irrigating canals, sometimes of fifty or sixty miles in length, and sell the land with the guaranty of water for irrigation at from f 13 to |iS per acre. Many purchaseri have found this plan profitable. ,^iaJ!(&S^i!B(3i'.-. r .^v;-. \ ^6g OUR WHSTEHN KMI'IKE. rainfall is prratcr than usual, l«:ss irrifjalion is required ; ii it is less than usual, more water fan be turned on, and these lands which, when watered, are the richest and most fertile in the West, respond with a great crop every year. • '■-, 'i'' "= ' *'' Of course irrigation does not entirely preclude the dangers from the insect pests, the Rocky Mountain locust or grasshop- per, and the Colorado beetle or potato bug ; but it is a partial preventive to the ravages of both, and the farmers of those regions have learned how to prevent serious evils from their depredations, by early and deeper plowing, ditches, fire-pits, and the protection of tlie grouse or prairie hens from indiscriminate slaughter. /^'^JkI'MJ ciim ,r ,>,-.» ,^^^..•^^r* ..uy.f.r i-.i ' ■ ^^ ' ' ■', .^t,tii The enterprising farmer will find farming greatly facilitated, when his land is once broken, by the use of agricultural machinery and improved methods of cultivation. We cannot urge upon him too strongly the necessity of deeper plowing than is generally practised, and thorough harrowing and cultivation. For these purposes, and especially on prairie lands, he will find it wise, if he can, to procure the best kind of gang-plows, and those which will turn the deepest furrows, the best harrows, cul- tivators and horse-hoes. And having procured good agricultural machines, he must take good care of them, not exposing them to the weather to rust and crack and fall to pieces when not in use. If the farmer keeps as much stock as he should, say for a farm of 1 60 acres or twice that quantity, a pair of stout, strong and serviceable horses, a pair of good mules, one or two yoke of oxen (better two than one), two or three good milch cows and half a dozen pigs, and cultivates ten or twenty acres in forage grasses, such as Alfalfa, Hungarian grass, millet or Egyptian rice-corn, he will, if he manages well, accumulate manures which will restore to the soil the elements which his wheat, barley, oats and corn have taken from it, and though his neighbors may laugh at him for doing so, his enormous crops will show that he is wise in putting his fertilizers on even prairie soils. But to return to the new agricultural nrachines : The grains and root crops are sown so much bette* and so much more rapidly by the use of some of the drills or seed-so>yers, and the bi^^;'>'-''-"^ cd; ii it is these lands rtiie in the l)t.r l-> I '■■■• he dangers r jjrasshop- is a partial rs of those , from their ire-pits, and discriminate ly facilitated, agricultural We cannot plowing than i cultivation. ^ he will find !g-plows, and harrows, cul- d agricultural )sing them to in not in use. ay for a farm t, strong and two yoke of cows and half jrage grasses, 1 rice-corn, he will restore to ind corn have 'h at him for /ise in putting The grains o much more >wers, and the f \ V 1 . ' ■ - V . ■ * ■lifti ■■i^■^•• \ AUK/CLLrLHAI. MACHINES NkCh&HAHY. 3^ farmer who uses tlutm has ho much mor** opportunity to diversify his crops, and make those accurate exprrinunts in re^Mrit tu improved seetUnj; and the niliivali(*n of ntvv ( rops, as w» II a-- to employ profitably his teams in work for otiurs, that they very soon pay lor thems«lves He must not, however. fi»r^«'t that his crops need careful cultivation, and th.tt vvei ds ^row in the West as well us in the Kast. Mis Indian corn, his sorghum and his root crops, as well as most special crops he may cidtivate, will need, certainly two or thne times in the season, cartrful cultiva- tion with the horse lioe. iiis fruit trees and small fruits will yield much better for b(;in^ carefully cared for, and the insect pe^ts destroyed before they have had time to destroy the fruit or foliage of the trees. If he cultivates hops, pea-nuts, beans, broom- corn, tobacco, castor beans, sweet potatoes, (lax, hemp, jute, or any other special crop, on a moderate scale, devoting a few acres to them, he will fmd that all, or nearly all, of these crops exhaust the soil and require, for success, the Iree use of the manures he has been accumulating ; and as rich soil is almost invariably a weedy soil, he will require for these crops a more earnest and constant conflict with weeds than with most others. i Very early, in this middle belt of States and Territories, does the harvest commence. The hay crop is not so important here as in the East, and not so important as it will be a few years hence. If the farmer has any considerable crop of the small grains he must of course use the harvester in gathering them — his own, if he can possibly afford to buy one ; if not, a hired machine. Threshing machines, with all the attachments for winnowing, assorting and sacking the grain, are very often owned by men who go from farm to farm, and thresh and sack the grain. The eye of the master should be on all these operations to avoid waste and carelessness, and to sec to it that all the grain is gathered, threshed and delivered. In harvesting the corn and sorghum crops, the practice is very general, now, of gathering the ears of corn first and then cutting and stripping the stalks, the leaves being cured for fodder, ami the stalks bound and sent immediately to the sugar mill, the heads of the sorghum and rice-corn being cut off after they ace 24 II 1 fgO OCA' HAM/AA'.V kMIUtt. biinillri! * wiv n th«! corn or HorKhum ncrtlh ar»! \\'fX t\yv nml not too hard, tUc nulkii yiclU the Urgent quantity ol cryHtaiit/aUe ■ugar. The hiiskinn anle to attempt the fivt: years' rotation which is recommended by the bt!st ICnglish farmirrs — but root crops should succeed grain, and clover or thr foraj^'e granseh the root crops, an■»-►;'.?•• mVm i.^^\^%k^^' ,«>.■» ,^*^«^.. »tt*in p^-.^,^^ .^ ^^.^.^^^.^..f^'^f^i^^f^t-tf^J^^;.^^^ OVASriTY OF SRKD TO THf. ACKK. ji'ftt ripe And >l cryHUtlli/aUu f prrformiril by (•tf''t tcil by • \\k\ iruit, M^akc rcry biiny one. he Hcaton than iH, comtntim-H. I n rotation of be ftUHilJe or s rccomnujncled thou Id Hiiccccd :ro|)H, an«! t'vtn of niatuircH. or : found tu yivld d by all intelli- ycar of cultiva- icrc. Montana hcls of wheat to ir large amount ids ; while Iowa d, cannot report Arkansas, with ut six bushels. crop is equally lio, Indiana, and cause her lands not mysterious scratched to a ition of crops; le soil ; except, n their value for now- either vrbole or ^ruuiid, Ml that in some Hfction;!. the latter in burnrd, rithtr to g«-t rid of it or a* fuil for the Hti .irM throhem and other iinph iniiitH, and the alkaJicN ami eartlm thu» t«ikcn from the i^oij, and not rt turned ta it in any way, impoverish it. lh«* ritmch'H arc: dit p plov\i()|||^ rrr«toraiii)i) to tlie soil of what thr crops havi* taken Iroin it, and .1 rutalicm of crops. 1 he gr(*at Dalryinple faniis ol nord\- eaHtern Dakota, ten years heme under the preM-nt moile of tulti* vation, will not yield ten bushels of wheat to the at re. There! \% no excuse for thus wasting' the j;oodly heritage which the Almi^hty has bestowed u|)on us. On one other point there in need of improvement, vi/ ; in th« quantity of );r.iin sown to the acre. Under llu* old system of S'jwin;^ it broadcast, there was j{reat wasK! ; two bushels or two and a iuM of seed- wheat was re^^arded as the smallest amount which should bt: used in sowing an acre. The new methoil of drilling the wheat has materially reduced the cpjantity deenieU necessary, but it is still loo large In Minnesota and Kansas eighty to eigluy-five pounds of seed, equal to forty or forty-thrcf quarts, per acre, is the usual allowance. Yet, there is no state- ment conn(!cied with a"^riculture, and especially with the cultiva- tion of the cereals, mo. >. e.ipableol absolu'.e mathematical d;.mor>- stration than this, that the quantity of seed now used is about five times larger than is necessary. The seeil, whether of wheal, barley, or oats, should l)e carefully selected, the finest and larger ears being culled, and those from secrd which has shown the moat disposition to tiller or ex,)an(l, so as to produce the greatest nurnber of stalks from one se'!;••[) v We recapitulate : the essentials to great success in the raising of cereals in the West are : deep plowing ; the restoration to the soil of the elements taken from it, either by manuring, plowing in of green crops, or the turning up of a new stratum of soil; rotation of crops ; in the cultivation of winter grains, a very careful selection of the best and most productive seed; early sowing, not later than the first of September ; and sowing !Ly drill, each grain being ten or twelve inches distant from each other, to give *ThU I'cxult of inci'c.ivii)^ the production by tillering was not confined to wheat, for Major Hallett exhibited to the British Association at the i^atne meeting a plant of bailey from a tingle grain with i to stems, and a plant of oats from a single grain with 87 stems. 'it "W ADVANTAGF.a OF A LARGE V/F./.D. S73 :hrough a long lucing and ex- ain of the ordi- ur stems, each ar of this wheat ains from one.* increase in the n England, and the acre), or by •election of the in England and sowing, and the ive inches apart, the last week in able to obtain a wheat fields, for k of delay after ddition of from ay increases the of tillering, and lieat sown about ays; about the f November, in der twenty-eight than diminished ;ss in the raising estoration to the inuring, plowing stratum of soil ; ns, a very careful d; early sowing, ng Ly drill, each Lch other, to give ined to wheat, for Major it of barley from a single tems. it opportunity to tiller. The* scv-d per acre thus sown should not exceed from six to eight quarts to the acre, and the yield should be more than double what it now is, and should not diminish from year lo year. Some western farmers may say that it is of no use to increase the production of grain, for the market is often glutted, and the prices are not remunei alive. The folly of such a position is easily demonstrated, for in the first place, the market is not glutted with the best quality of grain, it is only the poorer quali- ties which are salable only at low prices ; there may be a fluctua- tion in prices in different years, but the best grain is not raised at a loss in any year. In the next place, suppose that it is not desirable to increase the quantity of grain raised, is it not easier and every way better to raise 6,000 bushels from 100 acres, than the same quantity from 300 acres.' If your farm consists of 320 acres, and you can raise 6,000 bushels of wheat from 100 acres, can you not put the other 220 acres in oats, barley, Indian corn, sorghum, or root crops, and thus realize triple profits 01^ your land ? Even if wheat is down to eighty-five cents a bushel, as it was two or three years ago, doesn't it pay better to realize $$\ an acre from it with the same labor than to realize only ^ij} Our cereal crops are so important to our national wealth and prosperity, that we have felt justified in devoting considerable space to the consideration of the methods by which their produc- tion per acre can be greatly increased, and we believe that our readers will appreciate our labors in this direction. Let us now turn tc the immigrant farmer who has decided to try farming in the milder and more tropical southern belt of States and Territories. He seeks a home in Arkansas, Western Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or Southern California. If he comes from Europe he find? a climate and crops to which he has hitherto been wholly unaccustomed. This is also true of immigrants from Illinois or the Ohio valley, in our own countiy ; but a large proportion of the American immigrants into Arkansas, Texas, etc., are from the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, where the climate, crops, etc., do not essentially differ from those of Texas and the States and Territories adjacent. The farmer ^7^ OUR WES/KKX EArr/KE. who migrates to this region can have a much wider choice of <*rops than the norther i farmer; whether he can or will find his Ibbor better remunerated remains to be proved. Arkansas, Texas, and Southern California are the three sections in this ffcgion in one of which the farmer will be most likely to settle, tor Louisiana is not sufficiently healthy for settlers from a north- ern climate, and Arizona and New Mexico, as well as Northwest Texas, have too little rain-fall to be attractive to farmers gen- erally. It is not indispensable if an emigrant settles in Arkansas or iTexas, that he should devote himself exclusively to the culture Af cotton, or indeed that he should grow it at all. Much less fthould he reason that because rice and cane-sugar are produced there he must necessarily cultivate those crops. These States have lands adapted to a great variety of crops, and When all the circumstances are taken into account, perhaps one <*op is as profitable as another. If the emigrant selects his fitfm in any of the coast counties, he will find the land some- what high priced, but he can raise sea-island or long staple cotton, Mhd if he cultivates his crop skilfully he ought to make at least A bale to the acre of this valuable product ; or he can grow rice bt sugar cane, though for the latter he will require a large efipital for his sugar works. The middling, or short staple cotton, cAti be grown here, though not so profitably as fifty or sixty jfriiles north, as the land is too valuable ; nor is this land well adapted to whe£it, but all the subtropical fruits as well as most bf those of more temperate climates, and most of the root crops eim be cultivated with great profit from the early date at which they ripen. Two crops of sweet or Irish potatoes ctin be raised ih the k)ng seasoft, and the first will be at least six weeks earlier t^an iti the vicinity of St. Louis. Strawberries, raspberries, peathes, grapes, plums, as well as bananas, olives, figs, oranges, lem6rtS, ^uavas and all market garden vegetables grow luxuriant y, and are all from six to eight Weeks eartier than in die Nor 1. The tfade irt these articles of produce, betweeh thfe coast counties of Texas and St. Louis and Chicago, is large ahd cOilstantly increasing. ; ,- - CROPS IN TEXAS. 375 !r choice of will find his Arkansas, [ions in this ely to settle, rem a north- s Northwest armers gen- Arkansas or 3 the culture Much less ire produced of crops, and perhaps one t selects his 5 land some- staple cotton, make at least :an grow rice juire a large staple cotton, fifty or sixty this land well well as most he root crops date at which cftn be raised weeks earlief' , raspberries, figs, oranges, ;tabl«s grow \AtX\tt th«tn iii betweeh thfe ), is hfge add If the emigrant prefers a farm seventy or eighty miles back from the coast, he is in I'^stern Texas in the " timber country," where he can 'ngage if he chooses in the lumber business with a good opportunity to make money; and the land here is fair for cotton, excellent for corn, and yields moderate crops of wheat. In Central Texas, at this distance from the coast he will find the best cotton lands in the State, and if he will give his undivided attention to his crop he can raise two bales of cotton to the acre ; but he must not let the weeds overrun it, nor the worms destroy it.* The easy-going planters around him will not set him a good example in these respects. Their shallow plowing without manure, their scant and slovenly cultivation, and careless picking, yields from half to three-fifths of a bale ta the acre, and with an indolence born, or at least nurtured by the protracted heat of the long season, they are content with this result ; and it is no more than fair to say that our energetic immigrant, after a fewyears' experience of the enervating inlluence of the climate, will very possibly fall into the same careless ways. • ■ ^•nu-.^y . ;-.'■ ;, >■ A hundred miles or mdre north from the Gulf coast, in North- eastern and Centrrxl Texas, is a good region for the cultivation of the cereals. Indian corn grows well and yields fairly every- where in Texas, except in the arid lands in the northwest of the State ; but the lands of which we are now speaking yield good crops of wheat, oats, barley and millet as well as corn. Texas is not, however, one of the great cereal-producing States. Her wheat crop is not more than sufficient in ordinary years for the consumption of her own people. A moderate amount of flour and wheat (2,213 barrels of the former and 4,614 bushels of the latter in 1879) are exported, but the importation of wheat m more th^in twenty times, and of flour about twelve times as much. There is no good and sufficient reason why, in these more elevated lands, where the heat is not so enervating, the quantity of all the cereab annually produced should not be ten or twenty I ■ ■ I ■ "- — I 1 — ■ — ^ * A Mr. S. C. White, oi Jasper, Texas, claims to have discovered and have practised for seven- teen years a method by which his grd#ing Mtton is rendered perfectly •wirm-prMf, and offtrt in a* opporivmty of testing his proectt. The 4iseoveiy, if it proves tw be oae, will be iavalivf^y for the cotton crop. ' ^ il' ' ! ■I , I' I i ty$ Ol'R H'ESTEXJ^ EMPIRE. times what it is ; corn is a crop so admirably adapted to these lands, and the demand for it at New Orleans on the one side, and throughout Arizona on the other, as well as the lar^e home market, should make this a favorite crop with the immigrants. The production of wheat, barley and oats also might easily be increased almost indefinitely. Good corn land is also good land for sorghum, and boih can be planted in February, and if two crops are not produced from the same fields in a year, as they might be, of the earlier varie- ties, it is entirely practicable to have the sorghum planted at different times, so as to have the juice extracted from tlie stalks and boiled down into syrup in those months when other labor is not driving. Another very important consideration in favor of this mode of cultivation is that the leaves and seeds make an excellent fodder for milch cows, as well as other cattle, when the heat of summer has dried the grasses. The millets yield a large amount of forage and almost as much sugar as the sorghum. Root crops also yield largely in this region of Texas, and there is the great advantage that the best qualities of Irish potatoes as well as sweet potatoes can be ripened so early as to be put in the Northern markets full six weeks earlier than those grown in Illinois or Iowa, and so bring a better price. It is claimed, and we presume correctly, that of both kinds of potatoes two crops can be raised on the same land every year. Of other miscel- laneous products named in the consideration of the productions of the central belt, all can be produced with equal advantage here by proper care and good farming, and the crops will be largely remunerative. But Texas lands, especially after several years' cropping, and mere scratching the surface with a light plow, will not yield large crops without deep plowing and thorough, not lavish, manuring. It may as well be said here as anywhere that, except in the cotton and grain region of Central Texas, the soil though fair is not of the first class, and will very soon run down without careful cultivation and a moderate use of fertil- izers. Fortunately, some of the best of these, after farm-yard manures, plaster of Paris, some of the marls, and alkaline earths, salt, etc., are easily accessible in the neighborhood of most of *TPI^^ mospECTs m Arkansas. nn ;d to these de one side, large home immigrants. !it easily be ul boili can )dutccl from arlicr varie- I planted at m the stalks ther labor is on in favor ;ds make an le, when the yield a large rghum. vi .,ci. fis, and there \ potatoes as to be put in 3se grown in claimed, and :s two crops )ther miscel- productions il advantage :rops will be after several 1 a light plow, nd thorough, as anywhere al Texas, the ery soon run use of fertil- ter farm-yard kaline earths, \ of most of .%<■■ ^ the farms, while guano, fish guano, and the natural and artificial phosphates can be purchased at a moderate price. The soil does not leach, and fertilizers are retained for a considerable time, so that often the second crop after their application is better than the first. The other portions of the State, as well as part of South- western Texas, are better adapted to grazing than to cultivation ; still, much of these could be cultivated and would yield large crops if they were irrigated ; most of the region of Northwestern Texas is capable of successful irrigation, either from the Pecos or the Rio Grande or their affluents, or where these cannot supply water, by artesian wells, ai.d thus irrigated, it would prove the most pro- ductive land in the State. But irrigation costs money, and, while the State has so much unimproved land of moderate fertility for sale at such low prices, it is not probable that the lands which require irrigation will be taken up except in rare instances. Arkansas has litde or no land adapted to rice or cane sugar crops ; but her cotton lands in the Mississippi, Red, Arkansas, and White river bottoms, and her corn lands on the higher levels, are very productive. Arkansas is awakening from the lethargy which has so long bound her, and though she has as yet but few immigrants, industrious and enterprising men would find her lands on many accounts desirable. Race and slavery antipathies are dying out ; the new school laws are being put in operation with great success ; the lands are rich and cheap, and markets generally accessible. The days of careless and slovenly tillage of the soil are fast passing away. Twenty thousand enterpris- ing, clear-headed, and skilful farmers, intelligent and upright in character, could almost revolutionize the State and make it a region which would be as desirable a home for immigrants as any other of the Western States. But the twenty thousand should come in groups of considerable size, and plant villages or settlements, which may become models to rouse a spirit of emulation on the part of those already there. The farming lands of Arizona mostly lie along the Gila and its tributaries, though there are some good lands farther north which are irrigated. The Rio Colorado and its affluents, the Colorado A\ l>\ 1 mh^ \> I ! V j^ OUK WESTERN EMPIRB. Chiquito, Flax river, and in the northeast the San Juan, ruit through caHons so deep as to drain very effectually the moisture from the mesas or table lands. Still, irrigation is possible on many of these lands, and would make them very productive, while the occasional protracted storms, might by cultivation, be made to give place to a larger and more equally distributed rain- fall. The mineral wealth of Arizona will call a population thither sufificient to make irrigation practicable, and then as in former ages, this region will show its thriving farms, its beautiful vil- lages, and its populous cities. In the central part of the terri- tory, not far from Prescott. the Maricopis Indians raise large crops of wheat of such excellence that it commands the highest price in San Francisco, in competition with the best California wheat. Southern California is the garden of the State. Vast crops of wheat and barley are grown here, and the vineyards, olive- yards, and plantations of pomegranates, almonds, Madeira nuts, etc., give the country an almost tropical appearance. Cotton does not succeed so well as other crops here on account of the long dry season. .vw. w The climate is delightful, and is regarded a^ particularly benfe- ficial to those suffering from pulmonary diseases if they come before the disease has progressed too far. Although much of t^e land is taken up in very extensive ranches, there are stilly especially along the route of the Southern Pacific Railway, many desirable farming lands, both of the government and the railway grants. ).;' >07tv.r:);w.jii •rj^JVi.'-v/ a- , .Y^vyiy ;^t['V'i^,^l'WJ.. J-'HT +-,«' ■»»■>>■ Vf'iT jr' ■,lijv :,!;•,-;*' h(!K yXf-^ui ■ ■-if' ■»'vin<'!>j^i;i'> ■■■>'! . ir:\*, >rK'\i^A'.> 5^'' 'J|Hri;^;'f«;n! ji'^^'l ••ino'l it- -)lff.'^">'.-^>; ?»; 'n\ 'sA^wn Hlitliw \V''-',;,f: 7'-- ■■■ ■ ':■-.: :' w&x-fA-}. ^bfi'-j'iiti 'ivrioriiri'ty j^kq iirt/ rioprtijis^tH'ij- 4'>irf^^r^ Axii*<\.\miv\\\i *f>nJ»l, ix.H,'>'/' '.'KJO!^ '.nrt ^ms% a>4H,n*iJ' !«-«:it«imJvri; :i.j- ilL t Juan, run lie moisture possible on productive, Itivation, be ibuted rain- ition thither LS in former leautiful vil- >f the terri- raise large the highest it California Vast crops yards, olive- [adeira nuts, ce. Cotton count of the :ularly bene- if they come igh much of sre are still, lilway, many 1 the railway ffl['^i-ni«bS;fy ' 'ft'' ■•?»»>' imhMiMr. "WtfAT A THOUSAND DOLLARS CAN DO.'* 375 CHAPTKR VII. Western FARMiwr. Continued— What Capital is Nfxessary for a Comfort. Aoi.F. Heuinnini; on a New Farm ai iiik We-jt— A Larger Amount Needed IN SOME SlATES OK rERRIIOHIES IIIAN IN 1)1 HERS —AdVICE IO THOSE WHO ARR UNAni.R Ai' KiRsr ro Uuv AND SiocK A Karm - Inciuen I s OF Farm-Lif» — Reniing L*nd UNADvisAiii.E— Grkat Farm< oiijEcTioNADLE— The Home. STEAD and OTHER Exemptions IN THE DM KEREN I States. In a former chapter we have referred briefly to the amount of capital needed for successful farming ; but we cannot too strongly impress upon the mind of the immigrant, the necessity of a mod- erate capital, if he proposes to own and develop a farm at once. It is possible for an immigrant to bring his family, unless it is a very large one, and most of his children too young to work effectively, to any of the newer districts of Dakota, Montana, Nebraska and perhaps Kansas and Minnesota, or to Washing- ton Territory or Oregon, if after reaching his destination he has ^T,ooo; but he can only do this by securing his land under the Homestead or Timber-Culture Acts, or pre-empting it, or buying oil long credit of a railroad company, emigration company or ^diool lands of the State, which are usually sold payable in ten annual instalments. Even then it will in all probability be a very severe struggle for him for the first four or five years, especially if there should be any bad years, from a long and severe winter, a very late spring, drought, grasshoppers or other insect plagues. In Texas or Arkansas he may do better as the land is cheaper, but the cheap lands are generally less productive, and a large part of Texas suflfers from occasional droughts. Tlie following statement of "what can be done with $i,ooo by an industrious, energetic farmer in the Arkansas Valley in Kan- sas," is put forth by the Land Department of the Atchison, To- peka and Santa F6 Railway. It is nearer the truth than any Statement we have seen published by any railroad or emigration Company, but it is rather highly colored, nevertheless. This was published. in the autumn of 1879. and there may be, even in io short a time, some changes in the prices. It should be siid also L B ' .i'! \ I' I i \%\' \ \ 3SO Of^'f WESTERN EMrtRR. that those lands art* not more foUilo than other lands in Kansas and ('ls«!\vhi'rc', and are occasionally sid)ji'ct to droiij^ht. I'he proyramnu' as there hiid down, if the eniijjrant has hut the $1,000, requires incessant and very severe hibor, and the margin, which leaves nothing; for furniture, is mucli too meagre for the support of a family for fifteen months or more, and will require some other sources of income or the incurring of indebtedness, liut here it the statement : ' •> ) , • .< " First payment on 1 60 acres of railroad land, on six years' time, »t the rate of $4.80 per acre, will be 51 72.80 ; house of two rooms and small kitchen, $350; team and harness, 5180; breaking* plough, |i22; harrow, %,\o\ cow, $30; int<;rest payment on land one year from purchase, *f^44.8o; total, $709.60 — leaving a bal- ance of ;^39(>.40 for seed and support of family until crop can be raised. Nearly every family coming to Kansas to make a home have more or less furniture, farming implements, etc., which they can rarely sell to advantage. By inquiring of our nearest agent, they can ascertain the cost of chartering a car to destination, or rate per 100 pounds, and if the amount they will sacrifice on the sale of their goods is greater than the cost of transporting it to their new home, they can readily see it will pay to bring these things along, and they will find them very useful, if money with which to lay in a new supply is scarce. > ^ «. t , , ,, . f*The cost of starting on a new farm in a new country of course depends largely on the size of the family, and the economy, energy and perseverance of the farmer, but no man with a family should come to the Arkansas valley with less than $1,000 to start with. For a man of limited means, it is most advisable to come in the early spring, say in February or March. A week or two will get his house up, and his family settled, and then he is ready for business. No time is wasted in clearing the land of stumps and stones ; it lies all ready for the plow, entirely free from either, and the farmer commences at once turning over the sod. In a few weeks enough sod will be broken to enable him to put in a fair crop of barley, rye or broom corn ; the latter does well on sod, and is one of the best paying crops in the State^ gnoueh vegetables can be raised for family use the first year. >, * . ' , w ■ ■ ■ . in Kansas ij^ht. 'I'hc tlic $ 1 ,000, rgin, which support of omc other I3ut here is , ' ■ ,.{ years* time, two rooms 1 brcaking- nt on land /ing a bal- :rop can be ikc a home which they irest agent, itination, or •ifice on the orling it to bring these money with ... ii;. .■,..-.,• ry of course e economy, nth a family 1 $1,000 to idvisable to A week or then he is the land of entirely free ing over the > enable him e latter does 1 the State, le first year. ^WHAT A THOUSASD DOLLARS CAN DO." 38 1 A few hogs and chickens krpt through thr summer will, when added to the spring crops and vegclahles, carry an industrious and economical family through to tlu* followinj,' spring. If ready cash is scarce the first year, work can g( mrally Ixr ha«l lor a team in the neighborhood, and by this means a hanlworkiug man can earn a little now and then, to carry him along while making his own improvements, until his first crop has matured. "After the spring crops have boen put in the ground, enough new ground can be broken during the summer, which, when added to that already in spring crops, will enable him to put in at least fifty acres of fall wheat. He will not be able to buy a grain drill of his own the first year, but he can secure the use of one from a neighboring farmer, and pay for its use by a day or twos work with his team. In harvesting his wheat, in June following, the same course will have to be pursued as in drilling, /. e„ by ex- changing labor. This wheat crop, when harvested and marketed, gives him the ready money with which to meet current expenses, make necessary additions to his stock of implements, improve- ments on his farm, and provide enough for the next payment on his land. f ' "This makes two crops raised from the same land within fifteen months from the time of his commencement on his new farm. The quick returns that can be secured in so short a time, is what makes it possible for men with limited means, but with industri- ous habits, to secure a farm and home of their own. "After harvesting his first crop of wheat, the farmer begins to realize the reward of his toil. Each year adds to the number of acres cultivated, and to the productiveness of the farm, and the occupant is usually able, by the third year, to pay up on his land and take a deed. By this time, by dint of hard work, frugality and some self-denial, he has made himself a comfort- able home, all his own, and nearly all paid for from the products of his farm, which will in a few years become valuable in conse- quence of the rapid growth of the country — yet it was secured, and a start made on it, including cost of house, stock, imple- ments, etc., with a capital of less than $i,ooo. If the farmer is a man of taste, he will at the end of five years have his farm all 1 ii 1% I i'i i v.p : •urn»unil'il ami tllvulctl by n hcaiiliful 0*aj»c orangf hndne fence, and ;;rovcs of forest trees, fruil-bearin^j orchards, luiiall fruits of all kinds, and (lowers antl ornainrntal shade trees will surroinul his home. All ihe-.f impruvtuKnts. that in the l£a»t- cm States would have re<|uiri:il a lu;avy outlay of inontiy ojul many years of time, are here iiecured in a very nhort time at a nominal cost. * ■ . . ., "The new settler is not oblijjed to spend any money in fencing his larm. The herd-law protects his fields, and he can devom all his time to the breaking of sod ami growing of crops. i'cncDS can be grown with Osage orangi; that will turn stock in four years, and costing only the farmer's own labor in carin^f fqr them. "If the settler can fmd on the alternate sections of the lands along the railroad, any desirable lands as yet unsold, he can pre- empt 160 acres for very small fees, to be paid for at the end 0/ thirty-three months, for ^^2.50 per acre, the sum of $4cxDand sQmc fees to the amount of |;30 or 525, or he can take up 80 acres in Homest(;ad and 80 more under the Timber-Culture Act ; the fees for both being about $30 or ^^36, but he will not obtain a clear title under from five to eight years. By securing his land by one of these methods his payments will at first not exceed $30 or $36, and so he will have from ^^136 to $142 more for the support of his family, making his entire sum $425 to $431 {w their support for fifteen or oftcner twenty months, aside from what vegetables and other produce he can raise in thai time. From this small sum must be deducted what he has to pay ie^r furniture or the freight of it if he has brought it widi him, and also probably for pigs and poultry, though a part of this can come out of the item of interest payment on land one year from purchase, $44.80." .-/itbaK^ We think it might be possible for an energetic, IndustrionAS farmer, who is a good manager, to live with his family, and plow, sow, and stock his farm on $1,000, till he can realize from his crops, if he pre-empts his land, or secures it under the Home- stead or Timber-CiiUure Act; but buying railroad land, even on six years' time, it would be in>possible, unless he had o^Htr hards, %ina\\ ic trees will in the KaK- inuncy ;uul >rl time M a ry in fcncinj^ I can iIcvoR* x)ps. I'cncfls lock in four fi caring; fur of the lanUH , he can pr«- t the end o[ ooand some ) 80 acres in re Act; the lot obtain a ing his land not exccftd nore for the to $431 kur , aside from n thai time. IS to pay for I'lth him, antl of this can ic year from 111*. 't^liixitsij^tV , industrkxAs ly, and plow, ize from his the Home- I land, evftn te had oliher "W/Z/f r A TNQVMNti DOLI.AKS CANNOT DO.** ||j •OurccH of incoitu:, or overworked himHelf and his team. The item uf " $250 fur house ot two rooms and small kitchen," mi^ht be Uiiiiinishcd by living in a sodhouHc or a dii^ out, but this i» not pleasant. With an additional 5500 many of the difficulties would \w. avoided. Care and (*X()norny wouKl still be necessary, and there would be many privations and inconveniences to bo cndurcil, but if he is not visited by droii^^ht, ^rasHhoppers, or other insect or animal pests, and neither the t atile distrase. nor cycloncH, nor prairie fires visit him ilurin^ the first three years after his imint^ration, lie may, at the end of that time, have a good farm all his own, aiui within two years more be so situated as to enjoy life, thou}{h only on condition of hard and steady labor. The diK.'\Hters to which wc have alluded, thoM^rh sufficiently distressin),!^ at any time, are peculiarly severe and ruinous when they fall upon a furiner who is just lookinjjf forward to harvest* \t\y^ his first full crop. In a few days, ptThaps in a few hours, his crops of ^rain and of vegetables are swept away and not a vestige of them left; or unilcr the blaze of a summer's sun, un- tempirreii by clouds or rain, his arid fields have faiU.d to yield a harvest; or the insect and rodent tribes, banded together for the destruction of his crops, have destroyed alike what is alx)vc and what is under the surface; or more terrible still, the prairie fire rushes irresistibly over cabin, hay-ricks, and stacks of grain, scarce permitting himself and family to escape, scorched and blistered, from their burning home; or, once more, the swift moving storm plowing through the young and thriving village, involves scores or hundreds in a common disaster; houses, barns, churches, forest trees, the growing grain or the gathered crops, are alike torn and scattered to the four winds of heaven, and it is much, if many lives, but an hour before joyous and full of hope and activity, are not also destroyed. Disasters by flood are infrequent in the West, though they sometimes occur along the upper affluents of the Mississippi and the tributaries of the Missouri. Yet, while these disasters visit the weBtern settler only at 1 !i I'K^ m 'i'«: irregular and %(>inrtim» n ditttaiu intrrvaU, and cannot always bo guarded a>{ainHt by any known pre aiition, their |K>«til)ility \% to Im* taken into thr account, us a drawback ufion what mi|{ht oilicrwiHC be a |Hrd«uiM prosprrity. arul an the farmer attains a Inttcr position, \\v. will do well to Hc*ek, if he can, to brcomc the owner of a Hccond farm (not falling into the error of tr;in^ to hold too much land) diHercntly located, and, if po»iible, adapted to a different kind of culture. If his first is a y^ram farm, hit ■econd may be ilevotcd to root crops, or sor^himi, or ioratjc grasses, or to some of thfi specialties already noticed ; if the first is on a prairie or in a valley, the second may be on a hill-side, in the timber, or at least by the banks of a stream, or he may gradually work into the rearing of cattle or sheep, or horses or mules. The cyclone or the prairie fire may spare one if the other is swept as with the besom of destruction ; or If the grass- hopper or locust, the weevil or the cutworm, the caterpillar, or the gopher and mole destroy his grain or root crops on one farm, there may be something left on the other. The young man with but little capital, but with no one dependent upon him, can, of course, commence farming with a small sum, but he will find his account, after purchasing or securing his land, and breaking it up and sowing his crop, in hiring out to some farmct' in ths vicinity, and working his way up to competence, in five or six years. At the end of that time he may be the owner of a good farm and farm-buildings, mainly the result of his own labor during thone years. To those possessing somewhat larger means, say $4,(xx> or $5,000, a better plan is to buy a partially improved farm, from some of those settlers who are constantly disposed to obey the policeman's injunction, and " move on." In many instances these setders have either pre-empted their lands, secured them under the Homestead Act, or bought of the railroad companies, and in either case, have become embarrassed from some cause, and unable to make the desired payments, and so they are disposed to sell out, and moving to the extreme frontier try again. Some of this class have thus moved on, by successive stages, i.onx Eastern Iowa or Missouri to the frontier of Kansas, Nebraska. IL ■MM ■ -Bj-ft i»(hl Mfc« 4fc i ' ot ulwayii U: «»ibility i» to what miK^t ncr attaint a ) brcome the of ir; injj to lihlc, uciapleil rain larin, hi* m, or foratjc id ; if the firiit on a hill-HiUc, im, or he may I, or hor»c» or re one if the ir if the grass- caterpillar, or crops on one , The younjj lent upon him, im, but he will his land, and some farmv:. :nce, in five or le owner of a lis own labor say $4,000 or ed farm, from ;d to obey the nstances these d them under ipanies, and in ne cause, and y are disposed again. Some stages, l.om sas, Nebraska. Bifvinr, AN immovtin fAnitt ji^ Hakota, or even into \forii.ina. Wyoming, or Utah. If their land in a liomrntrad claim, it im worth only the* improv«mrnis, as they havf no title, and leaving it lieforr the five yrars art* up. the fee simple reverts to the Unitcil States j{«)vcrnment. and ran br entered anew, rither as a homestead, or by pre entption, or pur- chase at government price, If preemptrti by tin* original nrtilcr therr it probably a num due to perlec the title. The purrhahrr thoiihl see to it that there are no Ii(*n4 on the property for taxeN or judgmentst. but that his title is perfectly free from (loud. («en- erally, a purcha.se of thin kind can be made for ccmsiderably less than it has cont, at the ordinary price of lalK>r. The cabin and other buildings will prol)ably Ih; |K)or or indifferent, and there may be no fences, or very imperfect on«;s. but this is noi ol much consequence, as the herd law, in most of the States and rerri- tories, protects the settlers' crops, and better buildings are not expensive ; but, on the oiher hand, a considerable portion of the land has U'en broken by the plow and harrowed, and has yielded one, two. or three crops, and thtrre may be a growing crnp on it at the time. The first cro}), with the superficial plowing so gen- erally practised, is generally the best one. but the purchaser can. and will if he it wise, put in his plow for his next crop " beam deep," and turn up fresh and virgin soil for a more plentiful harvest, u, ., .. ul •/. -' . 1 ' ' . , ,: A farm of I60 acres, conveniently situated, and near a railroad or navigable river, may be purchased in thi.'i way with clear title, cabin, sheds for stock, eighty acres under cultivation, and with perhaps a growing crop, the necessary live-stock, wagons, harness (the latter a little the worse for wear), and plows, hoes, rakes, and other agricultural implements, though hardly much agricul- tural machinery, in Dakota, Western Nebraska, Western Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana, or in Oregon or Washington Territory for $800 or |i,ooo. In Minnesota, Missouri, Eastern Nebraska, or Hastern Kansas, or in California, and probably in Texas, it would cost about twice as much, but the buildings and fences woald be better. There are two courses, either of which the man who has a Cwnily and has but little more than money enough lo t^ke hta» as \\ ft 'fi j; 3»'*l,#*- i^ [ ;i||0 ' ' OUX tyK STERN EMPIRE. and them to their destination maychoose; for without the jjji.oooor $1,500 he cannot buy a farm, nor support his family on it while wp'ting for his first or scrond crop, even if tl»e land were given him outright ' " ' ' ■ .' • . •> .■ 1 ■ ; He may rent a farm with a cabin and the land broken, agree- ing to give half the first full crop for the rent the first year, and $1 to '>i.50 per acre thereafter, but he must still have money to buy his furniture, agricultural implements, and necessary live- stock, and to support his family till his first crop comes in. This will require at least $450, and that amount is more than he proba- 'blyhas, -11 • "lO'^isi \'> vmi^p ■. 'imiin'* :^dj jj; 4r •'-> -■■r.ri '< «|^j.! Or he can hire oul his own services to some large farmer, and those of such members of his family as are able to work, and secur- ing a homestead claim, erect his humble cabin, and after four or ifive years of hard work, he may succeed in getting his farm clear of debt, but not well stocked, nor very well cultivated. The pri- vations he and his family must undergo before he reaches this ■point, and indeed for two or three years aftor, will be very painful and severe, but in the end, perhaps, they will feel paid for their • 'Sacrifices, '''i ;/»»> jm.< ■, iiw ip^-^i,/ .i,-jij^;v-6iii>j>w.)!j4i-,<;'.i',!' /ci^^'tsi*^ Tjiii«->.!- Hard as this life is. for so long a time, it is much beii'ter than '? renting a farm, and yet very many are to be found who are ' ' anxious to rent lands. Indeed, so much are farms in demand ifor rent, that as we have noticed elsewhere, Englishmen of ^Vfixed incomes, retired army or navy officers, clergymen, and VVetii'ed civil officers have come to this country in very con- /siderpble numbers, purchased railroad and other new lands, 4 hired them broken with tlie plow, erected cheap cabins, and 'rented them, deriving a much better interest for their money H>from the rental, than tJiey could realize in England. In many '?• instances these foreign purchasers become the possessors of '%large tracts of land, and thus lay the foundation for a landed ^aristocracy in the fijture. ^f^ Renting farms is not a good practice in our Western Empire. It is not wise for those who hire the farms, and it will in the end jprove injurious to the owners if they settle in the vicinity of fi -their lands. The policy of our government and of our wmmsmmmtmm>Uiitmmm)ttmm»mattimmiK^ ■-'^■'^'■"•■'"-■'''i''Tlii'»ii"i"if Wry^j:*^m- '.■-■'i^ny--. ut the $1,000 or mily on it while ind were given broken, agree- e first year, and have money to necessary live- comes in. This e than he proba- irge farmer, and work, and secur- ind after four or [ig his farm clear vated. The pri- he reaches this 11 be very painful :el paid for their nuch better than found who are iarms in demand Englishmen of clergymen, and try in very con- )ther new lands, leap cabins, and for their money gland. In many \e possessors of ion for a landed Western Emplfe. it will in the end in the vicinity of ent and of our T^ RENTING FARMS UNWISE. 3R7 institutions is to have the land held in small parcels, not more than 160 acres, by as many holders as possible, one requisite being that these landholders shall be citizens of the United States or have declared their Intention to become such. One result of these sctdements with small farms is the speedy establishment of schools, church«.'r., newspapers, and all the appliances of an intelligent, high and pure civilization. The rented lands, especially with absentee landlords, contribute nothing to this. The farmer who rents his farm of a wealthy land- lord is not.except in States where a poll-tax is exacted. a tax-payer, and has no special interest in the promotion of schools or general intelligence; the building up of a village, and the improvement of the moral character of the community, and its subordination to law, are matters which do not concern him. His only object is to get as much from his farm as possible, and spend as litde on it as is consistent with that object . for renting as practised in the West tends to demoralize a man and to bring out his greed, selfishness and meanness, and indeed all his worst traits. " '" i We have already referred briefly to the evils attendant on farming on a large scale; but we cannot speak too strongly in reprobation of it in its effect on the future welfare of those portions of the West where it prevails. California has suffered the most from these overgrown farms or ranches, and Texas and Colorado have also been materially hindered in their growth by them, and now Western Minnesota, Northern Dakota and Montana, are in danger of injury from the same tendency to own vast tracts of farming lands. The Northern Pacific Railway, after its disaster bf 1873, disposed of its lands already patented to it-at $2 to $2.50 per acre and received its preferred stock and its bonds at par in pa) -nent. As these were for a time held at very low prices, sevc al men of large weal'h wlio knew the value of these lands too.c the opportunity of procuring large tracts, paying for them in bonds and stock, and thus secured immense properties at from twenty to twenty-five cents per acre. These lands have been generally sown in wheat and other easily cultivated crops, and 25,000 to 35,000 acres in wheat has been a not unusual crop on \ I' li h ili I j£g OUR WF.STERN EMPIRE. some of these great farms, and some of the wheat-fields of Southern California have been very nearly as large. This brings in a large revenue to the proprietors, $200,000 or $300,000 annually for the present, bui the objections to it are these : I . The soil is not properly tilled ; the plowing is of the shal- lowest, merely scratching the ground ; the same crop is sown on each field year after year, and the yield per acre diminishes every year. The grain is all sent away, the straw and refuse burned in large heaps. Nothing is left to feed the soil or re- place what is taken from it. .,.,'>.>*•- t, pt. -■»-,/. j,.,-i';l.i..i - 8. There are no villages, no schools, no trade built up, noth- ing to encourage, and everything to discourage permanent set- tlement. The proprietor chooses to cultivate his own land, and desires no neighboring small landholders. 3. This mode of cultivation encourages tramps and wandering farm laborers, and discourages families and homes Each divi- sion of the great farm has its superintendent, who has his head- quarters during the farming season in his division, with excellent stables for his numerous horses and sheds for the agricultural machinery. There are rude temporary cabins where the travel- ling laborers sleep at night well packed together, and a large cabin where the cooking is done for the entire di^'ision. The men who come from all quarters are hired by the day or week, and dismissed as soon as their work is done. The superintend- ent and foremen are in the sad^e all day through the plowing, l^rrowing, sowing and harvesting and thre^ng, overseeing their workmen and dismissing them at ooce if they are not thor- oughly ef^ient.' When 'the work is ^ximpieted, the men are sent ofif without a word, ftnd their future wcliaire is not a matter of consideration with anj of tbe ooiployers, who do not even know the names of their men- 4. These vast iacms. often comprising two, three, or four townships, are utterly <]j{:^posed to the genius of our institutions, and prevent that healthy growth of pppulation, manufactures, mechanism, and the industrial progress w-hich has niade our country what it is. Ev^Q the ma^nery, the horses, the pro- visions are pujrchasod in lar^ distant cities. Small (arms with '^JIBiiiifiiitiTiifi iSMi 'iilSiimmik itimiim 'iiif^V'il1ilT>afeitrinffl'tiiif^f the shal- op is sown diminishes and refuse • ^il or re- lilt up, noth- manent set- vn land, and ,d wandering Each divi- lias his head- lith excellent ; agricultural ^e the travel- and a large vision. The day or week, superintcnd- the plowing, , overseeing are not thor- ) the men are not a matter do not even iree, or four ir institutions, manufactures, as made our rses, the pro- II farms with UOMESTEAD PMO VISIONS. ||g flourishing villages dose at hand, a thrifty trade, manufactures struggling into existence, and the hearty feeling of good-will on the part of all the inhabitants of the neighborhood, the desire "to live and let live," furnish a much better basis for a new and enterprising State, than these overgrown estates in which arc developed the worst features of large proprietorship, without any of its redeeming traits. ! I *! Most of the States and Territories have homestead exemption taws which protect the struggling and impecunious young farmer from the danger of attachment of his farm, or house, or house- hold goods, by summary process. Some of the States have probably gone too far in these exemption laws, and have opened the way for cunning and unprincipled men to defraud their cred- itors easily; but, as a general rule, these laws are not abused. It is a question with many wise political economists whether it would not be better to abolish all stay laws, and all laws for the collection of debts, and make credits depend solely upon the character of the purchaser. Were this rule tried, we think there might be some men who would And it diiificult to obtain much credit. We give the Homestead Exemption law of Minnesota as a fair average of these laws throughout the West. Kansas, Ne- braska, and Dakota exempt 1 60 acres instead of eighty, while Iowa exempts but forty ; Arizona, California, Idaho^ and Texas exempt homestead or dwelling to an amount not exceeding ^5,000, and furniture, books, tools, live-stock to a limited amount besides. Other States and Territories vary in amount from III, 000 to $2,500 or $3,000 on the h<^ie^ad, v(|i^ othpr ^' emptions. T ''^ \ ■^,;>-«t**''.'v.^- ■'■'•{' ,- --.i^.jfi'^,. The following are the provisions of the Minnesota law: » r,;>. " That a homestead consisting of any quantity of land, not ex- ceeding^ eighty acres, and the dwelling-house thereon and its appurteivances, to be selected by the owner thereof, and not included in any incorporated town, city, or village, or instead thereof, at the option of the owner, a quantity of land not exceedh tng in amount one lot, being within an incorporated town, dty^ or village, and the dwelling-house thereon an4 its appurtenances^. m MA 390 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. owned and occupied by any resident of this State, shall not be subject to attachment, levy, or sale, upon any execution or any other process issuing out of any court within this State. This section shall be deemed and construed to exempt such honje- stcad in the manner aforesaid during the time it shall be occu- pied by the widow or minor child or children of any deceased person who was, when living, entitled to the benefits of this act." The same law provides, in addition, that furniture shall be exempt to the amount of $500 ; animals, with food, and farming utensils, jji30o; provisions, tools, the books or instruments of pro- fessional men, etc., 1^400. :<,. >;.;-' N 'WmLH!, Vi ,r-i.O('' \\\..;\ 'ri' ,n'>i:^i'';,v >. •\ ;ii !: I Xs CHAPTER VIII. 1 J\iiv.>, to) ;^:.A :;,(! >iip,i. .4..;* ,.a .,,,.( r^" t.ft.- ...,. ,.? -.-f ...r. T' The Immigrant as a Cattle-dreeder and Stock-raiser — Methods or Stock- breeding IN Different States and Territories — The Texas Cattle RANCHE — The Ranche in California, Colorado, Wvoming, Montana — Caitle-breeding in New Mexico, Utah, Arizona — In Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho — Minnesota, Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas as Cattle-breeding Stai es — Lands best Adapted to this Pursuit — Different Methods Advisable in Different Sections — Scenes in a Cattle-ranche — " The Bulls ok Trinity "-^The Cow-uovs or Herders: their Care of their Herds — Their isolated, half-savage Life — Rounding up— Branding — The Capital Necessary for Success — How A Poor Man can acquire a Catile-ranche in Time — Staiistics of. the Cost of a moderately large Ranche. .^. . . Our immigrant, like the sons of Jacob, has "had his trade or occupation ab( it cattle from his youth until now," and he desires in migrating to this Western Empire to continue in the business with which he is familiar ; or he has heard wonderful tales of the great success and wealth gained in cattle-farming, and he believes that a similar success is within his reach, if he follows the busi- ness. This latter view of the case is one more likely to be enter- tained by one who emigrates from one of our Eastern States than by a European, for our Yankee is a universal genius and believes himself capable of doing anything and everything which any man has ever done — ^and generally>it must be acknowledged* MittJttMiitiil dJMiw _J^'^ CATTIE-BREEDINC IN TEXAS. 39 « ill not be on or any ite. This ich honic- 1 be occu- ,' deceased if this act." e shall be id farming nts of pro- ,11 -IK -i ll ODS or SiocK- EXAS Cattle , Montana — Washington, lska, Kansas, BEST Adapted ent Sections iHE Cow-boys I, HALF-SAVAGE OR Success — -Statistics OF his trade or d he desires the business tales of the 1 he believes Ns the busi- to be enter- stern States genius and ything which ;knowledge4 he is successful in what he undertakes — while the European im- migrant generally prefers to follow the particular line of busi- ncss to which he has been trained. How, or under what circumstances, can the immigrant go into the business of stock-raising as it is conducted here, with a fair prospect of success? There are several other questions to be answered before we can reply definitely to this. These (jues- tions are : i . VVMiere does he propose to establish his cattle farm ? 2. What amount of capital has he ? 3. Has he any per- sonal acquaintance with the busy^ss? 4. Is he informed as to the methods used in stock-raising? 5. Is he qualified to take the management of a large cattle-ranche owned by a joint-stock company and conduct it successfully ? ^ A cattle-ranche or cattle-farm in Texas is one thing ; one in Colorado, or Montana, or Wyoming is quite another. If our immigrant proposes to start a cattle-farm in Texas, he will require less capital than for such an enterprise farther north; for his cattle will cost less money, he need not buy much land, certainly not at the beginning, his buildings can be fewer and less costly, he has no occasion for barns or shelter corrals, his herders or cow-boys will be mainly Mexicans, and their wages will be lower, and aside from the expense of rounding up and branding his cattle, with a herder for each 1,000 or 1,500 head, they will take care of themselves, and he need not see them oftener than once a year. To counterbalance these advantages, however, the general run of Texas stock is decidedly inferior in quality ; they are long- horned, not of large size, very wild,and do not take on Hesh readily. They cost less when two or three years old, and when ready for market bring a lower price, both alive and as beef carcasses. The cattle from Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and particularly from Montana, are larger, of better breeds, not wild, fat readily and will bring much higher price both alive and as dressed beef. They require somewhat more care, and a more intelligent class of herders, and should have some preparation made for shelter and for fodder during the wintry weather, but do not always get it The cost of rearing steers, in the large way, in Texas is only Iw' : .U M&j ar" 393 0(/X Pr£SJ£/t/V SMriJtE. about forty to fifty cents per head per annum ; in the central and northern tiers of States and Territories, it ranges from 60 cents to 1^1, 10; but this difference is more than made up in their greater market vahie. As to the capital required, this depends, even in Texas, very much upon the ability or inability of the stock-raiser to buy and fence his land. Land is very cheap in Texas ; grazing lands can be bought for from 10 cents to $1 per acre — but from 3,000 to 5,000 acres are required for 1 ,000 head of cattle, and the fencing of this from $1 ,500 to $2,500, the fence being at first a single board and a barbed wire — whWi will be sufficient to turn cattle. If the stock-raiser prefers to pasture on the range he must have for 1,000 cattle at least six herdsmen, whose wages will be from $1,200 to $1,500 and their cabins and keeping. Eight hundred cows, each with a calf, will cost about $10,000, and it will be best to invest not less than $2,000 more in Durham or Holstein bulls in order to improve the breed. The house, stable and pens, rven of the rudest kind, will cost $1,000, and the horses, saddles, wagons and supplies not less than $1,000 more. If the immigrant buys and fences his land, he will have to invest from $18,500 to $21,500 at the start. If he buys no land except a homestead and pastures on the unimproved lands, he will be able to get along witli about $4,500 less, say from $14,000 to $17,000 in all. For three years the returns will be small. The stock-raiser will "keep his heifer calves, and sell a few of his steers when they are a year old, though it pays better to keep them till they are two or three years old. His stock will be improving in quality every year, and at the end of three years he will have a mixed herd of 1,200 to 1,500 head, and can thereafter, unless his herd should be attacked by cattle plague or some other disease, sell off every year from $6,000 to $8,000 worth of cattle and yet increase his herd each year ; but he will have to buy his land and fence it, if he has not already done so, and increase the number of his employes. But, says the immigrant, can I not start in the business of cattle- ratsing With less than $13,000 or $20,000? Yes, if you arc a single man, and have decided to aetde in Texas. You may begin ^VtnMSBB MMMi aiitm&m MMifl 'm* flM*!******^ central and \ 60 cents to heir greater (ids, even in stock-raiser :as; grazing e — but from attic, and the ; first a single turn cattle. le must have will be from out $10,000, e in Durham The house, ,000, and the $ 1 ,000 more, ave to invest ) land except h, he will be n ji 14,000 to ; stock-raiser ;rs when they n till they are ng in quality : a mixed herd s herd should , sell off every t increase his and fence it, lumber of his ■ness of cattle- , if you arc a 'ou may begin .%■ (JligfitfiW'iiiTi irovteitAfsim r/f cet.fntADo. 593 If with a small grazing; fnnn, 500 acres or more, and purchase but 100 cows anil calves amJ attend to these yourself, milking a part of your cows, makinj; some butter and keeping a dozen or twenty pigs. But even with this small beginning, you cannot start on much less than $4,500 to $5,000. Tliere arc other methods by which an immigrant with a still smaller capital may succeed in stock-raising in other States and Territories, but in Texas intimate association with the rough herders would be too unpleasant to be endured by most men, and there are few or no joint-stock companies which would employ a foreign manager on their great ranches. It might be possible to commence, as some of the present " cattle kings " in that State did, twenty-five or thirty years ago, with little or no capital, but times and circum- stances are changed, and there are not now so many stray cattle without owners who can claim them, as there were in war times. The business was not then organized or systematized, and wages as wdl as cattle are much higher than they were then. There arc very few instances in Texas where the large stock-raisers make any account of the milk. Most of them buy their butter or go without it. In Kansas, even where the herds of cattle are mod- erately large, a part of the cows are kept for their milk, and dairying is often carried on in connection with stock-raising. Here a man may begin with a few cows and calves and gradually build up a cattle-ranche and dairy-farm at the same time. On the frontier it is still possible to raise stock without owning an acre of land, or at most only a homestead claim. In Eastern and Northern Colorado and in Wyoming, many of the cattle-ranches are on a large scale, and while their proprietors (in some instances joint- stock companies) purchase considerable tracts of land, they also avail themselves largely of the unimproved and unsurveyed Gov- ernment lands. Even the great Hermosillo Ranche, now owned by the Colorado Cattle Company, besides its 91,000 acres of purchased lands, pastures nearly 500,000 acres more of unsur- veyed lands on the adjacent mountain slopes. As a rule, stock- raising in Colorado only pays well when conducted on a large scale. The great parks, as well as the mountain slopes, afford fine pasturage, and Colorado beef has the highest reputation. '''^^■ 1.=: -H 394 OVM WKSTKtfU MUriMK. The man who attcmptn to start a cattlcrnnche with K'hs than 1,000 head, aiul with a capital uf Ksh than 1 30,000 or 1^5,000, will hardly firul it profitable. Ami whiU; this i» the lowest limit. |^ioo,ocx>, $200,000, or «ven f 500,000 can bo invcHted with j;reat advantage and profit in the; btiHincss. VVc havo Hpolcen ol the joint-stock companicH for stock-raiHin);. Per>*onH of inodurate capital, but who have money which can lie for two or three yearn without much return, in the hope of an ample one after that time, may find this a desirable mode of investment. It is not difficult for men who have been accustomed to the care of cattle, and who have a little capital of their own, to obtain a situation on these larj^e rp iches, where piirchasiny; and branding a few cattle, they can have them pastured free on the ranche, and securing for themselves a quarter or half section of land, can, by degrees, erect the necessary cabins and corrals, break up their land, and sow it with forage grasses or root crops, and keeping up two or three of their cows, they have their own butter and milk, fat some pigs, and at the end of, say, five years, have a fair stock of aittle to start their own ranche, and if the location has been well selected, with abundant water, they can probably secure, when needed, suffi- cient land to pasture their stock, at very moderate prices. The herder's life is, however, a very lonely one, and a man who lias a family will find it very distressing to him and them, to lead a life of such isolation and with so few comforts. There is indeed a prospect of a moderate competence in the future, but that future seems so far off, and meanwhile his children, if he has any, are growing up without opportunities o^ education, and without the refining influences of social life. Catde-ranches of large extent cannot exist in the immediate vicinity of large villages ; they require too much room ; some of them occupy an entire county, and except the necessary dwellings and offices at the home pf the proprietor, where there may be also a post-office, there will be in the whole county no setde- ment aside from the isolated cabins of the herders, and, of course, neither schools nor churches. The life of the herder is not without its perils, and those more serious than are usually supposed. These perils are of various '^1^ timmm ktrntm miiimmambim ■^ rlitft than r i2S,ooo, west limit, with ^rcstt xw oi lite mode rate l»ri;t; yearn r that time, lot difficult cattle, and tiiation on few cattle, d securing L>y dejifrecs, r land, and r up two or Ik. fat some >ck of ciitde ell selected, eeded, suffi- rlces. The 1 who has a lead a life is indeed a that future tas any, are without the immediate i\ ; some of ry dwellings ere may be y no settle- d, of course, those more e of various PhtliLS Of TttK //MJtDMA'S UPM. ||| kinds: where, ah in Texas, California, and New Mexico the cattle are largely of the long-horned, half-wild Mexican brecdN, the hulls and steers are dangerous, specially when the herder or any one rUe meets them in large numbers, and when excited by ihirHt or rage. The poet-novelist. Hret Marte, has immortalized in his "(iabriel Conroy," " the bulls of the Blessed Trinity," a ranche of South- ern California. Arthur Poinsett, one of his heroes, and a lawyer, visits the proprietress of the ranche. Donna Oolorcs, on business, and while waiting for her answer to his propositions, wanders out upon the grazing lands on foot, and suddenly finds vast herds of the bulls and steers of the ranche coming toward him from all dir-ctions. They are not ferocious or fierce ; they will even retr(;at for a little distance when he faces them resolutely, but meantime others are coming up at his back; he is surrounded, and by a stolid but determined herd, who v.'ill trample him under foot, without rage or excitement. There is apparently no hope. Hut just at the crisis of his fat(\ he is rescued by the lady who, mounted on a powerful horse, rides directly at the oncoming herds, and causes them to swerve on either side, and saves him. though he had already fallen, in terror and despair. The Colo- rado herds are fiercer and stronger than these Texan and Cali- fornia bulls, but perhaps not so wild. If the herder is well mounted, he is not in much danger, except in rounding up time, when the excited animals, worried by pursuit, will sometimes turn upon their pursuer, and unless the lasso is quickly and deftly flung, and both horse and rider are wary and alert, will gore and toss them to death in a moment. But this peril from the herd itself is by no means the only danger to which the herder is exf Dsed. West of the divide or highest summit of the Rocky Mountains, the grizzly bear roams monarch among the beasts of prey, and has a decided appetite for fresh beef. If he is very hungry, he will pull down a steer or cow, even in the presence of the herder. He is said to be terri- fied by the yells of the herders, but, when ravenous, he will not hesitate to attack men as well as beasts, and his great muscular power, his terrible claws, and his remarkable vitality, render him l( f^ W^ OUM MTMSrMMM JtMtiMM. a n\o%t formiilabic ant;igoni»l. It u very d.tn|;rr()ii« to aU«ck him »in|;le-han drifts, and the herder must plunge in after them till some- times the horse and rider are too weary to regain the track and both sink down and perish. On such occasions these rude, rough men often manifest a heroism and fidelity to the rnterests of their employers, an un/iinchiBg courage, which goen to certain. V'T-ci S r "iVt^ »mmiklAmmmmt»a6itmitimlm i'.ti.JJb^ <- tn atlAck juifiiar or whenever overt, o»n! mier. i/iiteii p*!*' irvrrity of il anu feed juffalo and they fatten lost too fat alH of eight h'ep snown tlie hunch lialf feet to level of tl\e fk, .'li.v .'.• .-■' r Huch sea- , groven of I ; where the tr, such pro- r is a supply csian wells, Imill-pumps. lisers is not V. During -re. In the saddle, en- der his care, inows grow e, wild with ICC buried i« m till somt!- he track and these rude, the interest* >eH to certain . xrociciidntsa iK cMi.ironNtA, , n^ doath, with a npirit worthy of tlx* iiol>li!i»t of the martyn ol* ancient or modern timm ; nameirNK iK^rucs, whose faithful ser* vice ancl unilinchin^' nrlf tacritice sliall yet Ik: found recorded in the archives of heaven. When tl)e sun hun again resumed his sway, and the winter NnowH art* melted, the gray wolf, the coyote and the v(ilturt;s have thtir ahntulant IrastH off the (ariasscH of the drad tattle, and iK'fure mid .tummer their bones lie, bleached and white, on all the hills. In Montana, a.id to some extent in WaKhington and Oregon, the business of stock-noising lias fallen into good hands. Most of the ranches are large, they are carried on by joint-stock com« panics, limited, or by a partncrslup with a large capital, and employing the best men to be found as managers. The cattle are of high grade and are larger, fatter, and mortr tender of flesh tluin those of any other region of the West. The excellent aiid nutritious bunch-grass and tlv: white sage bush after frost, have much to do with this peculiar excellence of the Montana btreves. Some of the largest rancl^s there have shelter, and wild rice or other hay for their cattle when the winter is severe ; but in many of the valleys where the snnw does not lie deep and the bunch-grass is tall and stiff, they are not sheltered, but keep out all winter and do not ordinarily lofie much Hesh. In tite spring and summer the only complaint in regard to Montana cattle if iJiat they are too fat. They can be exported to England by way of the Northern Paci6c and Duluth without special fattening and at a very large profit In California there are but few of the old Mexican-Spanish ranches left. A better race of cattle have taken the place of the long-horned, raw-boned, lean Mexican cattle, and the proprietors of large herds are not now the dignified, rather pompous, but easy-going hidalgos of thirty-five or forty years ago, but wide- awake, keen-eyed Americans, Germans or Englishmen, whose cattle can boast of a pedigree in the herd-book, and whose object is to make fortunes out of the cattle trade. The number of cattle raised in California, though large, is not much in exccM of the local and inter-state demand, and beeves are not shipped n \ / % m M4\ w. ifc.ifc.«b. ■-MA'k^c-t'Wu-ltf.b. «.e*kiUAA:. 39' OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. thence to other countries to any great extent. They number probably about 1,800,000 head, of which about one-third are milch cows, and dairy-farming is rapidly increasing in importance. The character of the stock is very high, and some of the best im- ported cattle on thi? continent are to be found in California. Both the bulls and cows are in demand in the States and Terri- tories east of the State, for stocking new ranches. / Kansas and Nebraska, especially the former, have been more famous in the past for pasturing and fattening Texas cattle driven thither for that purpose, and shipping them when fattened over their railways to the East, than for the mana^jement of large herds of their own ; but this practice is le.ss prevalent now than some years ago, as the Texas cattle are now fattened to a considerable extent at home, and shipped cither as live-stock by steamer to Europe, or slaughtered and sent packed in rcfriger- ■^ ating rooms on the steamers to Europe or to New York. Kan- sas has now nearly 1,300,000, head of tattle, of which about one- third are milch cows, and Nebraska about 700,000 in the same proportions, while Texas with her 7,000,000 of cattle has not over 800,000 milch cows. The western half of both Kansas and Ne- braska is well adapted to stock-raising, and with the facilities for shipping their stock to market over nine or ten nearly parallel railways, the business can be conducted with large profit. Iowa and Missouri have each nearly 2,500,000 head of cattle, of which in. Iowa more than 800,000 are milch cows, and in Missouri about 675,000. jifoftjiv/- rittiIrK I bn." :)i (./" imu^ t'.j^j*v/ • Wyoming has large and increasing herds, and is probably i^omewhat better adapted to cattle than to sheep. Besides her own extensive ranges of pastiiie, ti e Wyoming stock raisers have for some years driven largfe herds into the North Park of Colorado, where the pasturage is excellent. ^^ **<' 'Utah jmd Nevada have some good' grazing lands, and are turning attention to cattle-raising, and the number of herds, though small, is increasing. New Mexico is peculiarly adapted tQ( sheep-culture, but, though dry, is also a good region for cattle, 9^- are also portions of Arizona,- In the lofty wf^jra* or table- lands from which still rtibre lofty spires and peaks lift their heads m ^mmmA mimm Mitt '"W^is^^-^rayt J' 1 ••r///; ROUND vr." 399 They number one-third are in importance, of the best im- in California, ites and Terri- ivc been more r Texas cattle I when fattened ana^jement of prevaU:nt now V fattened to a IS live-stock by Led in rcfriger- V York. Kan- liich about one- X) in the same :le has not over Cansas and Ne- the facilities for nearly parallel [e profit. Iowa cattle, of which id in Missouri ind is pr6bibly Besides her vr Stock raisers North Park of lands, and are nber of herds, :uliarly adapted egion for cattle, mesas or table- lift tiieir heads into the region of perpetual snow, the melting snows form lakes and pools whose waters can be made to irrigate the lands below, and th«!se lands, 6,000, 7,000 and even 9,000 feet above the sea. furnish excellent grazing for cattle. In all those States and Territories where there are large herds which pasture upon the unsurveyed government or State lands, being turned out, as the phrase is, upon the ranq^e, they mingle with other herds and stray away often many miles. The herders do what they can to keep them together; but there is a neces- sity once a year for a " round up" which, if the herd is very large, may last two or three weeks. This is a great occasion for the herders and the catde men, of whom a considerable number are employed as extra hands. These are all experts in horse- manship and in the use of the lasso or lariat, and they have need of all their skill very often. In Texas, New Mexico, the Indian Territory, Arizona, and formerly in Southern California, where the cattle were very wild, the herders, after gathering the herds together from over a wide circuit, rode into the crowded masses of cattle anc' lassoed every steer or cow which had the brand of their employer upon it and drew them out into a herd by them- selves. The calves followed their dams, and each herd was guarded and separated from the other till they could be driven to their corrals or their own particular herding ground. Occa- sionally a bull, bullock, or steer, or a cow unaccustomed to this rude treatment, and afraid her calf wias to be taken, from her, would show fight, and, with head lowered, would attempt to gore or toss the horse or his rider, from whose unerring aim the instrumeht of torture had been flung, but the horses trained to their work vere too active and alert to be in much danger, and both they and their riders enjoyed the sport. «. The herd being thus separated from the herds of other owners, two other important dyttes remained to be performed ; the calves were to be branded, which was effected by driving them with the dows through a passage so narrow that but one animal could pass through at a time, and at the narrowest part of the passage the brander, his branding-iron heated to redness in a blazing pile; of' logs at his back, pressed it down upon the back of the --li. 4» Omt WRSTERN EMPIRE cair. Every proprietor has his own peculiar brand, which is recorded in the county records. • ^^ ■ > The next thing to be done is to select the three or four-year old steers to be sent to market, and, if any of the cows and calves are to be sold, they also are withdrawn from the herd. The se- lection of these animals for sale is easy or difficult, according to the degree of wildness which they manifest ; sometimes they are readily and easily culled out, but at other times the lasso is re- quired, and there is a protracted struggle, before a refractory steer will take his place where he belongs. -. ♦/ . *, ■? *': Where, as in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and to some extent in Montana and California, dairy-farming is connected with stock-raising, and the herds are much smaller, it is possible for a man who is thoroughly conversant with the tr.sin *• to conduct a good stock and dairy farm« beginning, we wi.l su), Widi forty or fifty cows and two or three bulls, with as many yearling or two-year old steers as he can find pasture for, with a capital at first of not more than |ji6,ooo. For this purpose he should buy a quarter-section, pre-empt another, take another under the Homestead Act, and am)ther still under the Timber-Culture Act, if on the plains, looking out for the springs, and if he makes a wise selection he will have the land between the springs for a free range for some years. He will need to put considerable money into fixtures for a dairy farm, to sdect his cows from Alderney and Jersey grades if he can find them ; if not, Ayrshires or Holsteins ; and he should have at least one Alderney and pej-- liaps one Holstein bull. r^r He should sow forage grasses largdly iind keep Tiis dairy cowb near the homestead, feeding them freely as the past^ires become dry. He will be able to sell bis steers at the end of one or two years if in good condition for a very lai^e profit, and well-made butter and cheese always commafKls high prices throughout these States and Territories. An industrious and skilful dairy fanner beginning in this mod- erate way can, in ten yea>rs, have as large a dairy as be will wish to manage, and sell every year from fyaoo to $6,000 worth of choice stock without impairing the value of hb he/d, and witlkiA mim Mimm "^im'^im "•m w I, which is r four-year and calves , These- xording to 2S they are lasso is re- refractory nd to some connected L is possible bt'.sini J" to iri/. sa) , Widi iny yearling ith a capital e he should vc under the Culture Act, he makes a prings for a considerable cows from jt, Ayrshires ley and pej:- IS dairy cowb res become one or two 1 well-made ighout these 1 in this mod- be 'Will wish I worth of ft, and withtA DAIRY Al^D STOCK FARMltfC COMBINED, '.0g that time he can buy all the land he needs to pasture, and, hav- ing it under fence, he need employ no herders, and with his other farming can raise good crops of grain and increase his production every year. Except as v/e have indicated in previous pages, however, there is very little opportunity for a man with little or no capital to engage in stock- farming with any reasonable prospect of profit. If he is an expert in the management of cattle he may obtain a situation as manager on one of the joint-stock ranches, and, under a plan recently tried in Montana, he will eventually be- come vrealthy. This plan, as described by Mr. Zimri L. White, is as follows : one or several capitalists purchase a herd of cattle of as good quality as possible and put them in charge of a man- ager in whom they have confidence ; he finds a suitable range and undertakes the payment of all the expenses of corrals, cabins, wages of herders, the hay provision, etc. (the range is free, being on unsurveyed lands), llie capitalists retain their title in the original herd, but the manager makes sales from the increase of the stock, and if he chooses may buy from the proceeds yearling or two-year old steers to fat and sell at the end of one or two years. When he has paid back to the investors the sum they originally put in, he becomes the owner of one-third of the herd and of the business, and receives thereafter one-third of the net profits after paying the expenses. In ten years' time a man whose abilities and integrity qualify him for the position can become wealthy. / <]*vjii^'. "i* ; 1 ■ ; .;■• •'.^ JiOljt'm fij; b/r ■ ■••^'■^-^ .•'^^.r!Ji3 li'iflfl^ . .'.fn 1*» •iTs^m ' ?' ii^Y :>|iy ltm;.rii^-'ki OUJt It^ESTBRN EMrritB. t^VHt* Ui iMfH',>« nw l;i» ; nii,»i^ CHAPTER IX, .ra nij) -^.'limifli^ nib^Uo Shekp-farminc and WooL-r.RowiNG — Thr Best Rrcions and the Best •:« Breeds— The Most Direct Routes TtnTHSR — The Methods or Sheep- PARMiNO IN OUR Western Empire — Capital Required in Dipferint Sec- tions—The Shepherds — Antagonism of the Herders and Shepherds— t , Improving the Breeds — Wintering the Sheep— Water in Abundance a Necessity — Destruction o* the Herds from Thirst — Snowing Under — f Fatal Effects of a Sevepk Norther — The Shepherd's Life more Isolated AND with less EXCITEMENT THAN THAT OF THE HERDER OR COW-DOV — ITS Risks and Dangers — How to Buy and Stock a Shebp-ranchb — ^Th e Amount OF Capital Necessary — ^The Cost and the Profits — The Enemies op the ,^^T-H0W A,?P9R >IaI^ (^ 9ECQME A SWiiR-MASTBB. ,, , The increasirig attention which has IJeen given within Uie past ten or twenty years to sheep-farming in Great Britain, as well as on the continent, and the fact that in the Australian colonies, the South African colonies, and the Dominion of Canada, it is one of the chief branches of agricultural industry, will almost neces> sarily inspire in the ttiinds of emigrants from Great Britain or the continent of Europe the desire to engage in it here. In Europe sheep- farming, except on a very small scale, cannot be conducted by any but wealthy proprietors. The land, especially in the United Kingdom, is in few hands, and is so valuable that a sufficiency of it for a large sheep-farm is beyond the means of the small farmer. Sheep-pastures, which rent at from ^'8 to ||(2 5 per acre, are certainly beyond the reach of men of small means, especially if they reckon as they do in Colorado, in their lavish way, that they need to have a range of five acres to a sheep, in \ order to change their flocks from one pasture to another. The large and constantly increasing importation of sheep and mutton for food purposes into Great Britain from Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, reduces the price, of mutton there so low that the farmers cannot raise sheep for their flesh, and the vast increase in the production of wool, and the marked appreciation in its quality in the United States and Canada, as well as in other countries, ke^ps down the price of that staple. r^fmt^mmfm^l^timmtms^ 'j jTT Wi trfc- Tri B»M^iai>i|iiiji^p||i»|^^aiiBMWii ! AND THi Best rHODs or Sheep- r DiFrBRiNT Sec- ond Shepherds — in a dun dance a >«owiN(i Under — FE MORE Isolated t>R Cow-Bov— Its HE— The Amount E Enemies of THE i . f . ■ ■ ..•'■'• ' ■ ■ within the past tain, as well as in colonies, the nada, it is one I almost neces- reat Britain or in U here. In cale, cannot be land, especially valuable that cl the jTieans of froni ;^8 to $25 )f small means, , in their lavish s to a sheep, in mother, n of sheep and rem Australia, hices the price, raise sheep for jn of wool, and lited States and n the price of rl] iii jiii^ i m^. m:f} mtMimmxmmuimtmm •i\i'f - ja!«.s^nu;.\-:.,~M"i^MJiJi}^im';^i.if,.-,ii^-,-- 01MM''' _a^rjaftltm»lll!llJ-!-'ll-iH*g*iMW8'4-tCT*B#^ A m' «" >^ 1 >. II iiiil aaiin iiiilii'V -r mil II CAtlTAI. NEKDF.D FOR SHF.RP FAKMIf/G, ^m% Let us then consider whether the immigrant coming to the West from any part of Europe, or from our own Atlantic States, with a small capital can enter upon sh^ep-farming with any fair prospect of success ; and if so, in what region it will be best for him to locate, and what breeds of sheep he will find it most profitable to rear. Let us say, at the commencement of this discussion, that to . the man who has not at least %2,ooo at his command, profitable sheep-farming, except as an employ^ of others, is well-nigh impos- sible ; and even with that much capital, it is only practicable in a very few of the States or Territories, and with a much smaller flock than would suit the ambition of most of our sheep-masters. For ^ starting on a small scale, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado have some great advantages and some disadvantages. Perhaps Kansas is, on the whole, the best for these small sheep- farms. Texas has cheaper land and more free range, but Kansas has enough for all present necessities. The Texas sheep are yet so largely of the Mexican breeds, that they yield but three or four pounds of wool at a shearing; the Kansas sheep have been improved till they will average over five pounds, perhaps nearly six, and their wool commands a somewhat better price in the market. The Texas sheep are subject to the scab, which gives them great torture, and sometimes kills them ; they suffer somewhat also from foot- rot, though nor nearly as much as some years ago. In Kansas there is no foot-rot, and very litde of the scab. \^j^r^\y^^^ sU? jt But, perhaps, the best testimony we can have from either State is that furnished by the simple testimony of practical wool- growers, who give their account of their success without any motive to make out a case worse or better than the facts will warrant. These statements will be far more satisfactory to the intending immigrant who desires to become a sheep-master, than any theoretical estimates which can be figured out, becausife they are what has been accomplished by men of average skill as wool- growers, and men perhaps no more skillful than those who desire to engage in the business. In Texas, with its vast flocks of sheep (about 7,000,000 the present year), the sheep-masters do not encourage small sheep-farms, because they are apt to be in the iiiiiiiiiiib^ / i ,-^'>vV^,*^' OUH WESTERN EMPfKE. *>*'*> way of their great free^rangcs, and, as they allege, on account of the greater profit and advantage of handling them in large flocks ; but it is well to note what these sheep-masters say of the busi- ness. Col. John James, a sheep-master for thirty years, and occupying an extensive tract west of San Antonio, writes that that region known as Western Texas is well adapted lor Merino sheep. "We have not tried fairly," he says, "to raise the finer and heavier mutton sheep. We know they do not herd well, or as well as the Merinos, and a great deal of expense is saved by being able to run them in large Rocks. The finer- wooled sheep pay the best. We know no other disease among them except the scab,* which is not hard to cure, nor is the expense heavy to do so. We think that the scab will not originate in that country if the sheep are properly cared for and kept out of dirty pens. We have now an excellent scab law, and that disease will be so generally controlled that we will not hear much of it from this time forward. We run our sheep in flocks of from 1,000 to 1,500, generally as high as the last named figure, and we use Mexicans for shepherds, and pay them f 12 a month, and rations which cost about $6 a month more. The cost of living on a ranche may be rated somewhat as to the taste and habits of each ranchero. If persons can economize labor, tiie outlay for food is not a serious item. Meat is abundant and cheap, and is gen- erally produced on the ranche. The people live generally upon fresh meat — cattle, hogs, mutton, chickens, and game. CoflTee, sugar, and flour cost higher than where there are railroads. Com is either raised on the ranche, or purchased at about $\ per bushel, and there are mills within reach to grind it "Sheep and cattle men care very little fbr farming, their atten- tion th the spring of the year 'jeing devoted to their stock, which then requires more attention than at other times. " We do not pen our flof the busi- years, and writes that 1 lor Merino Ise the finer »erd well, or is saved by ooled sheep ihem except ISC heavy to that country f dirty pens, ease will be h of it from rom I ,o©o to and we use », and rations r living on a mbits of each itlay for food I, and is gcn- jnerally upon ime. Coffee, ire railroads. about $1 per gr, their atten- stock, which rds^leepotrt t night, being ire put up any hey get, tipon hu bMB fMtfiiUy an average, are as good in January as in June. Nor do we have any shelter for th«m during stormy weather, except what we fin4 in the ranges in the way of thicketa and undergrowth — (he objjcQt then being to break off the force of the wind.,H j« >t/^- '! .r{| " "Our grasses, we thinkt are as nutritious and valuable a» the best cultivated grasses. But the grasses are not all that sheep require. Herbs, shrubs, nopals and saline grasses and plants, contribute more to fatten these animals than the grasses. These last named are peculiar to that country, and which we Americans know the names of, in some instances, by the designation given to them by Mexicans in their own language, but not otherwise. "The climate in the sheep country referred to is generally warm, but very healthful — being tempered by the breezes fron| the Gulf in summer, while our coldest weather comes as northers -—sometimes wet, but oftener dry. For a considerable part ofi the year the atmosphere has but little moisture in it, and this ii one of the reasons why it is so good a sheep country. Often ii^ the best ranges the sheep have to be driven two or four miles tQ water ; and this is another reason why the sheep thrive so well, (or sheep do not require much water. In the hottt t weatheri water once a day is plenty for them, and they do bettc . so tbai> when water is abundant in their ranges, for they will drink it when it is better that they should not, h if trite. Hhf^ i^ drM climati^- is the best for sheep. v<< t <. s W " '* It |s doing well to raise 8oo lambs a year old from I;,oqq ewifs« Probably 900 will be born, and generally nearly all raised* Thq Merino sheep seldom bcingji qmr^ thani one lamb. 3hea«Fing 't« done in May. A good hand at that work will shear and tie u^ fifty fleeces in a c^. If the labor is employed 00* tjbo mnche, tl^e cosj^,pf< slveafjng. tying up the wool aod sacking it,.iA /ive cents a Qeeqe; We do not wash pur sheep, and we sell pur wool, a^SanA^^^o. '^ The fleeces taken from the fine Merinos are the heaviest, the li^le^ican sHi;^p, fyrnish the lightest Aeece. My flock this year averaged four pounds only.* Our wethers are M>td as fosf — -y ' ■■- ■ ' ■' '* 9 wm ■ I. . n il ■ ■ — i-ii ^ ■ 111 ■ Ml II II *^^M p f II 1 1^ *TM« Mhovnf of fl«ece, or weight of mutton, woal4 liar4ly utiifj t]^ man ^pMr|i^Uiii|^ i(i vaiiAmi>w»"" i I OUH WKSTiKN MM t tit a. \\ t ■• they mature, nay in the winter preceding the clip ; therefore they are four years uld. Such was the case the present year, and these animals produced the most wool. " The heaviest Mcece we sheared from a ram, raised at home, g;ave over seventeen pounds. Good withers give from six to tan pounds for the year's growth. '^ "Sheep kept in smaller flocks give more wool than when kept in large flocks, but not enough to compensate for the extra expense. "There are plenty of four-year-old mutton sheep upon the ranches now, in Uvalde and Frio counties, which will net sixty pounds, and will yield twenty pounds of tallow, and this is a good weight for Merino sheep to reach. "When a wool-grower has sheep enough to supply a flock master, say five thousand head or more, fifty cents a year will keep and care for each sheep, including taxes and other ex- penditures, and will also enable a man to procure and {>ay mor^ reliable ln.bor than we have now. •*'*'The business suits single men better at the present time, but upon the general occupation of the country, that diffic(ilty will be less felt. ''''- "Lands for sheep have be^n purchased generally during the past year at about fifty cents per acre, but values are increasing. " Wool-growers may begin upon a small tract of land, but the time is at hand when they will be required to own or rent the knd they graze upon. All prudent wool-growers buy lands adjoining to them as fast as their means will permit them to ^ g0^ m5 I....' r\\-'>i, ^.,iv. y:. ■ .{...In ;i ■ ** It is true that itus'buslness will be an important one Iri* diis country. I think it will be second only to the great cotton inter- ests of Texas, but it will take time to get the breeding stock to occupy the country. Sheep for breeding purposes c&n be got from Mexico, but they are very indifferent in quality and size,^ and wool very coarse ; otherwise thev have to come from the Western States: " By selling our mutton in January or February, when animals (br fibiod are ofteh on the decline in more northern counties, $uid ■■•i.-«ss»-,--*ssi»**.'<^' A^,»«U^M*..--^j^>^"»w<^*»r':k-i*>>*ttf/- h^'-ttaii''idif''^t, . *>'»,V™,i.j:*B%b-a*---V'.'-Vw-'Ji!Jl;- THR KANSAS ^Ol.fCY IN SMRHf^l'AliMINO, 407 ; therefore cient year, il at home, irom six to than when [>r the extra p upon the ill net sixty nd thift is a pply a flock \ a year will id other ex- td (>ay more iresent time, lut difficulty y during^ the e increasing, land, but the or rent the s buy lands mit them to one in this cotton inter- ing stock to I can be got ity and size, me from the vhen animals aunties, and generally no in other parts of Texas, we are enabled to girt fair prices, which conipen!iate!« us for the distance we ar** frotti our market ; (his we will call the first crop. The second crop is the wool which romes into market aF nut the first of May, and I regarH each crop as more certain than by cultivating the soil." The policy of the Kansas people is, on the contrary, to encour- age sheep-farming on a small scale, and generally in connection with the culture of crops of grain, roots, etc. There arc very few of the larger class of sheep- ranches in Kansas, no county In the State reporting 18,000 sheep in 1879, yet the aggregate of the State was about 51 a,ooo that year ; and is rapidly increat* ing. The experience of these small sheep-farmers, most of them cultivating the soil also, and as their several reports show, man- aging their little flocks carefully and pnidently, cannot fail to be interesting and instructive to those who wish to follow their example. We have selected from a mass of about 150 returns to the inquiries of the late excellent Secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, contained in his Quarterly Report for December 31st, 1879 (really published in February. 1880), six reports, one from the extreme east of the State, one flVjm the West, where the sheep range is the still unbroken prairie with its tufts of buffalo grass, one from the Northern Central, and one from the Southern Central or Arkansas Valley part of the State, and two from the central belt of counties. Each one tells his own story frankly and honestly, and none of them seem to have invested more than from %\sxx> to $3,000 in their enterprise at first, yet their success has been very fair for the capital invested, and is ilkely to be still better in the future, as the cultivated, or as they call them, "tame" grasses, take the place of the wild ones. T. Mcintosh, Oskaioosa, Jefferson County. — " Have raised sheep here nine years ; had some experience in Iowa. Own aoo head now. Original stock obtained in this State. Long-wooled breeds, such as Cotswolds and Lekesters, are best for both wool and mutton. My ewes average about a lamb a piece. Average weight of fleece from my ^eep is a trifle less than seven pounds. Sell mutton at home for three cents. Sold wool in 1879 for '-'tf^(et;ji^d44i««4K.4«»;a«' ■'■^iK^- ' mmmmmi»thKm9mMl0aim h^ twtnty two cenU. Long, fine wool most pro(iubl«. W«thert may be kept until three or (bur ycart old; ewe* until teveo. LxMe from two to three per cent, of my flock annually by natural causes ; dogx kill about two per cent. ; wolves this year got threa per cent. My sheep run on prairie in summer ; kept in a dog* proof corral at night. Turn them on tamr [>a«turc towards fall, and when this begins to fail commence feeding prairie hay, millet or clover, increasing the hay until they have all they Mrill eat. As cold weather comes on, feed a little corn, gradually increa^ ing quantity until they get an ear apiece each day ; give corn morning and night, and all tlie hay they will eat clean ; aalt twic4 a week in summer, and once in winter. Last year I had 148 sheep, wurth (333— -aold wool for I303.38: mutton. $31,500* 133478: and have now x>8 head, worth $600. Dogs and wolves are great drawbacks here to succesa in raising sheep." A. 7. Uki, DaHgiau, Buiitr Cotmty •»'* Have been for thinteen years raising sheep in Kansas; previously had experience in Illinois and Texas. Find Kansas has much drier clim^'e, not so much mud ; sheep-lots and corrals can be kept in \ better condition ; no fear of foot rot, unless shipped in witl. ..k from abroad; much larger percentage of lambs cun be raised on account of dry weather at dropping time, which, with me, is in Match aad April. In Texas, grasa dried too soon, and winter feed cost too fOAJoh. My flock came originally from Michigan': have OMToed same stock for eighteen years ; in that time had rama from Vermont, Illinois, and Missouri. All seemed to do well* fcoBx whatever section they came, with proper care. Many bfiinig sJMrap to Kansas latei ia bll, thin in flesh, half feed them, theo attribute faiXv^m to *eciimati0n. I think good feed and proper care all the acclimation needed in Kansas. Have at present 478 in my flock ; 1,000 roi^ be successfully kept in one flock. I Qooaider Cotswold ewea, bred to Merino rama, best cross for wool ; for mutton, Southdowils preferable. My expe< rience is, however, that mutton ak>ne will not pay : for both wool aad mutton, ci^oss from Cotswolds and Marinoiv best, l raise eighty-five per cent of all lambs dropped. My avesage weight ^. fleecei in> 1 8}i9«^84veRteeQ and a qMarler pounds. ScU; my mui- mmk ttemm »sitoiJv.-"/ii4Awi&- ^ MAM%AS FAatfMM'M PLOCK, 40» Withers itil tcveo. by natural ' l{ot thre« io a (log* warUf fall, hay, millet •y will eat. Ily increai» give corn ; lalt twica 1 had 148 DogA an4 J •!!€«?." for thimeen p«rience in n''»c, not aa \ better . .* from • raised OH h me, is in and winter Michigan^ t time had med to do larc. Many feed them, feed and Have Al kept in one rams, best My expe- ^t both' wool •t. Ii raiac fag« weight idlroyntui- lon in Wichita at $3.40 per 100 pounds, grons. Price of twes» culled, $5 : wethers. %^. My wool (or 1H79 brouj^ht twenty cents per pound. Most profitable grade of wool, in my opinion, OfMS of Merinos and Cutawolds. Six years about as lung aa profitable to keep nhccp. My loss from natural <-auses about Ave per ccni ; mme from disease, wolves or do^s ; Jiecp licrdcd during day, at night kept in corral. Fut nty sheep on prairie as soon aa grass is high enough in spring, and kerp there till fall, then turn into corn-field; when that is eaten, feed shock'corn remainder of winter. Have owned sheep twenty-one years; they have always been profitable ; some years have made ninety per cent, and with exception of one or two years, never lesa than fifty per cent, on the investment. Do not think it bcHt to keep goats with sheep. Greatest drawbaik to success, dags. They are a great numancc, and should be heavily taxed." '''/4. D, JhyUm, Lahm, Ktamty County, in the extreme west of the State.— " Have been in the sheep business in Kansas three years. My flock now nui >ucr8 %i cents. Sheep can be kept with profit till f(9ur years old. My losses from natural causes, abi>ut five per cent, per annum ; have lost no sheep by disease or dogs ; wolves have killed fifteen head in three years. During summer my sheep, range the prairie, and are corraled at n^ht ; in winter, are on the prairie except during storms, when they are kept under sheds ; if the storm lasts more than from six to ten hours, they are fed with hay r have never had grain, and at no time have consumed ten pounda of hay per head during winter. Original stock cost 1^350; have sold wool and. mutton to the amoant of ^53o.40t and have on haod 51s sheep wortli %z eacK lii i i wi^'iitinp u BWW i Bo awr' lliilllltLlW vmmmmm- iH OUR WBSTE.MN RMFIRE. , or $1,024. Coats are advantageous to lead sheep; there are eight in my flock, that lead the sheep out in the morning and back at night. I see no drawback to successful sheep culture here ; if sheep are sheltered from storms, and not allowed to get chilled, there is no fear of disease." u- y. L. GrinntU, Peabody, Manon County. — " Have raised sheep here four years; was ne^'er in the business elsewhere. Have 500 now; ewes from Iowa, bucks from Missouri. They do bet- tcr second year than first. For wool, a cross of Merino and Cotswold is most profitable ; for mutton, Southdown, or cross of Southdown and Cotswold ; and this last is also preferaUe for both wool and mutton. Increase in my flock was 108 lambs from 100 ewes. Cotswolds are most prolific. Avt.agt. weight of fleece from my sheep, six and a quarter pounds. Only local market for mutton; price, $3 per head. Delaine or combingu wool most profitable. Pays to keep wethers until four years old for wool, rather than to sell younger for mutton ; good breeding ewes should be kept until exhausted. Losses from natural causes, about tliree per cent, per annum ; none by disease or wolves ; dogs killed this year about ono and a half per cent. My fk>ck is herded by day and corraled at night during summer; in winter^ kept in yards '^vith good sheds.; p€L fair days, allowed to range in stalk-fields. .tiv^ii ., . loT Original cost of flock ,.^iijl<^'»i], i^y>r,:^^' i^^^fih^ih^'i^i'J'yfi^ Original cost of bucks ii^ ,''H^^munr\^yp whi^^ ^{XMb Lost ^by dogs. .... .i:,^^ys4itrm-ii^%-;^*Jmm^i^^ Lost by other causes , ,. ,iA^.tjj*fr/|^:f.^^v^J^« $k-^\'^uiti\ib_J^ ■ iVrtai. . . > J^ w»i>Hv^M '-^#; .ij»;iiU?^/'1ti ji,4yo Value of wool sold . i;'^ /J^^^'^J f^^^^'^'.'^T^^'fTl^^l^ Vilue of mutton sold •;•'';' <.'-*1"'; f^ Wi ^inH ^y'P P'^l^^*' *n Present'value of $a>ck.'..4>;*inTit-^p,;ili*.tftk'ii. 1,600 Total. ,. ,. ,,,..,♦ .. i**., . V, J « .,.,. 'j^^, , t »3>»'3 ,■ i.-.- -• '. J? xtif;Wcal:Jfc&fM:'t5»^ii,,sjrt*i nn ■» t>if ' 1r i fel>f?cia = t ^ Drawbacks are want of tame grass for fall pasture, and dogs. • Joseph Hosietter, ■. Gias^o, Qoud' County ^-^" Have been raising sheep for six years in Kansas ; previoufsly handled sheep in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. Some of the a4vantages Kansas »ifiim^ ' J/Oky MR, HOSTETTER SUCCEEDED. 411 ; there are Drning and eep culture )wed to get atsed sheep ere. Have 'hey do bet- Merino and or cross of eferable for \ 108 lambs agt. weight Only local or combing- >ur years old jod breeding rrom natural >y disease or lercent. My summer ; in s, allowed ta . ■»pT' .. . »».4yo ire, and dogs. > been raising led sheep in tages Kansas 'M ■A possesses over Pennsylvania are : less expense in handling, cheaper lecd and pasture, a drier and more healthy climate, and shorter winters. Have now 650 ; obtained my rams in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin ; ewes I bought in Kansas — the stock coming originally from Ohio. For wool I deem the American Merino most profitable ; do not know what breed or cross would be most profitable for mutton ; have always raised for wool, mut':cn being a secondary object ; for both wool and mutton, should prefer a cross from Cotswold ewes with Merino rams. Average annual increase of my flock, about ninety per cent, of number of ewes. Maximum weight of fleece twenty- five pounds, minimum two, average eight pounds ten ounces. Kansas City is 6nr market for mutton. Price of ewes ranges from %2.

'■••;■'■■?' ■;-^"--.'r-'^:- ^. '-' ■;:''••;''•'■_• •,..v:/^.".,-*";-' 400 head, at »»47d 00 Interest ! year, at 10 per cent: . '. V . . . • \» • • .• • «47 00 Herding 7 months, at #5 . . .'^iUlv-^^V^'^l'^W^'X' ■ 3500 700 bushels corn, »t 15 cenu .! ;»C>i;g,l4V!^'^^>*2i¥b:ifli .rf.Ki(„i 10500 35 tones hay, at fs • . .^aaawa»beKj imi* ,•;•->; w-"^ '^ - 7000 Shearing, 5 cents per, f»c^^^_,.| ^,,j^^ \t\.ch^j:X->i^. ih ^;d.:^i^fd> *S 00 Lobs, s head,. at |3 . •• .*■ *^ », » » • . •■ •,.*•••• 15 00 ?:i;i ; ^T«tal.. i., ..m.. ^. qiii^._4(j4d^cj>;^ ia^^ila*^«:j^.aiiid^,»i. • t^fi^l OQ I rl .■1 ■-diimtiMiMMmiitt 413 « OUR WESTSUl^ SMPiM. v.V Spring of 1879, 650 .9So 00 Wbol. 4,.9i lbs., at »>^ cent, ^^^'^^^^ 'I A^n;^!,^!,,^ R,, ;. _93»_5d Tot«li 1. b^JUfiixk* >P50 • m . .. .1. . ..i«:j««if |»,88a 50 P'ofi» •;.f u*>»Mt* ><«^Jix) 1»>ix years o^. No ^)ai^s from othi^r tjb^i> natural ca,<^ses, aboi^^ three per ceo*lipH*)fiv«;l»'*^eU 9^ corn a day ; sometimes feed straw, but usually hay, givinig,;^ they will eat ; in nice weather, often turn them on the prairie. "The' flock has cost about $1,068; ex^enises, if^^^! toi:^'^ $^1,370 ; receipts to date, $2,3 15 ; present value, of, AqcJ|cV |2i9$i; total) $4,400. Deduct cost^ $1,370; net incomie, $3,030; Wanf e>f shade in summer, and carelessness on the part of owners, are the drawbacks to successful sheep husbandry.. '*A practice prevails in some parts of the StSii^e by wHIdlPa farmer' who has a flock of sheep, but who prefers^ toigive his PENT/NG OUT SIIEEt. 413 11,950 00 |3,88a 50 knovw of ;perience» ir always r businew • ive yevs! , j mild,, dry ty of «ch My fitKH Missouri^ for wool; both woql i. Flewe^ : pr^ •:iv;t-tnirir vt it?«>f'Vl •:^i But it is true, as Colonel James says, that the proportional profit from large flocks is greater tlian from small ones, and this profit increases in almost a geometrical ratio, when the flock reaches its tens of thousands. In illustration of this we give statements thoroughly verified of two sheep-tanches or farms of more than 2,000 sheep, llhe first that of Mr. G. H. Wadsworth, of Pawnee county, in Southwest Kansas, south of the Arkansas river, as furnished by him with illustrations of buildings, corrals, etc., to the Kansas State Board of Agriculture; and the other a sheep-farm in Colorado, started in 1875 by a Mr. G., formerly of Geneva, N. Y., as reported by Mr. W. H. Coleman in the Christian Umioh, of May 19, 1880. "In March, 1876, Mr. G. H. Wadsworth took up under the Homestead and Timber-Culture Acts 320 acres of government land, situated eleven miiles south of the Arkansas river, in Pawnee county, and the same distance from Lamed, the county-seat The first improvement on the land was the Iniilding of a stable, consisting of six posts covered with straw, sided up with rough lumber, with sod wall on the outside. This house was used by die men breaking prairie and opening up the fanti, during die summer. In August of the same year, Mr. Wadsworth moved his family to his hrtn. In October, he In-oughtliis flock, 2,085 head m all, ihd turned on the range. Before winter set in Mr. Wadswx)rth had built two sheep-sheds, each one hundred and tweftty-eight feet long by twenty-nine feet niride, one running -e&st and west, comermg with the odier running north and south, ifonning two sides of a square pointing to the northwest and 'OfMm to the southeast A light portable fence running around % ;,(?( !:,. m mi m^ «..« , ^ ■*».-.. 4>4 OU/t WESTERN EMPIRE. the open sides of this square completed the corral. A stable was also built, measuring fourteen by thirty-two feet, and con- necting with the south end of the shed running north and south. At the same time a well was dug, thirty feet deep, and a wind- mill put up, with a capacity for raising water for 10,000 sheep. In 1877, Mr. Wadsworth built his present residence at a cost of about $1,500; and in 1879, a granary large enough to hold 2,500 bushels of wheat, with shed for farming implements and two buggies, twenty-four by thirty-two feet, at a cost of $100. The roof was thatched with broom-corn, and fastened with wire. There arc no fences on the far.n^ except the portable one around the corral, the herd law being in force in the county. On the right are two sheds, one hundred and twenty-eight by twenty- nine feet each, which cost, including corral, JI525, the lumber used costing $30 per thousand feet. On the south, and connect- ing with the shed running north and south, is the stable, fourteen by thirty-two feet, which cost $20. Next south is the sod shanty, the first home, which cost $75. Farther south is the granary and tool-shed already mentioned, while back of this is the new home. The wind-mill cost $50 ; the well underneath, $20. Near the wind-mill is a reservoir made of two-inch plank, five by six- teen, and three feet deep, supplying four troughs, each sixteen feet long and one foot wide ; ample to water 4,000 sheep ; cost $35. Near the well arc appliances for dipping. The boiler is eighteen inches deep, thirty inches wide, and eight feet long, with plank sides and galvanized iron bottom, in a clay and partly excavated furnace ; the smoke-stack is ten-inch stove-pipe — total cost, $7. Tlie dipping-vat is built of two-inch pine, and is six- teen inches wide, five feet deep, and twelve feet long at the top. The end farthest from the dripping-platform is perpendicular, but the end qearest the platform slppes from, the. upper edge inward, for six feet, or to the middle of the. vs^f, fprming at once the end anu the, bottom of one-half of it; On this skjpe are nailed cross-slats, to give the sheep a footholdt ta walk out It leads to the drippiog-platfonp, an ascending inclined plane^ six- teen, feet long by: ten. feet wide, diyided by a fence supporting a cut-gate at the lower end, and at the upper end a gate for each MR. WADSWORTH'S SHBEPRANCHE. 415 rral. A stable feet, and con- orth and south, p, and a wind- 10,000 sheep, ence at a cost nough to hold nplements and cost of jlioo. ;ned with wire, ble one around unty. On the ght by twenty- 5, the lumber h, and connect- itable, fourteen the sod shanty, is the granary lis is the new th, $20. Near k, five by six- ;, each sixteen XD sheep ; co$t The boiler is feet long, with ay and partly ve-pipe — total le. and is six- ngat the top. perpendicular, e. upper edge rmingat once hid slope are walk out It led plane, six- supporting a gate for each division. The floor is made of matched stuff, with half-inch strips covering the joints. Over these, and crossways, are nailed inch strips, to give the sheep a foothold. The half-inch strips make the floor water-tight, make a clear run-way under the cross-slats for the drip, and guide it back to the vat. When one division of the platform is filled with drying sheep, the cut-gate is swung so as to shut them in and open the lower end of the other division. When this is nearly filled, the upper gate of the first division is opened, and the sheep are driven out by way of the descending platform, making room to gather in a fresh lot from the vat while those in the other division are dripping. These steps are repeated until all are dipped, thereby economii* ing time and fluid. '•' '^ " The portable corral fence is so arranged that the pen from which the sheep are taken to the vat holds only 100 sheep at a time, and connects by a gate with a larger pen capable of hold- ing 1,000. The liquor used for dipping is made of tobacco, fifty pounds, sulphur two pounds, and arsenic one pound, for each 100 sheep ; cost, $2.30. The liquor is prepared the day previous to dipping, when ihe large reservoir from the well is brought into use. The liquor is boiled and run off into this reservoir. On dipping-day the liquor is run back into the boiler, again heated, and gradually fed into the vat as needed — since it i^ much more effective when used warm. Cost of vat, $10.50, dip- ping-platform, |6, and boiler, $7; cost of apparatus complete, $23.50, with which four men can dip 3,000 sheep in one day. The sub-ranche is six miles from the farm— its improvements consisting of shepherds' sod house, $50 ; well, wind-mill, and watering-troughs, $100; with sheds and corral for 2,000 sheep, $400; total, $550. Mr. Wadsworth furnishes the following statement of receipts and expenditures for the three years he has been engaged in the sheep, business on his present farm: K*f ^ COST or RANCHE. Shepherds' house Sheds and corral Windmill, well, ^nd watering-trou^s .fi<» '-M Sheds and corral ^J'.ir'"' h.,4S, ^V?^i75'oo . W t3 5«S 00 10^ CO Dipping-vats, boiler, flc. »"♦♦''•*'* •"'^•"«'''»' •• •' •■"<*•"» fidr* » ^9330 Incidentati .V 95o 00 Ewes sold «*.vi»"'-«^ »,-•• i»«$o 00 Wethers and bucki sold . . 935 so roia:H,w^\!^¥'t i$i,4*s so For year ending October 1. 1878: ^|y i|»,^.,rfi,, ..^^.^f, ^ , .-imvi'v BxrBNBKs.,to''niii Two shepherds .... $6ao 00 Grain rff '-""rri Hay • • • Shearing . ."■.".' '. . • Dipping. . .'V^'fUuH i4^ieep, died . -. • •> • Tj sheep, killed by wolves ; , ■,fnd dogs ^^^^ . j<^^, , . . I7S 00 140 00 150 00 85 00 JS 00 3» 50 »Ii<5o 00 Ewossold 1,375 00 Wethers and bucks sold . . 763 50 Total . . . >l 1V5 . .>i,8i7 50 For year ending October i, 1879: , . ■Jib .. i^rsn >M J-tfT' 'xW i»!.;i!f*{'»«i?T»^! Total. . . J$i^ •|4>>87 50 , f jj u EXPENSES Two shepherds .... f 600 00 Grain lao 00 Hay 135 00 Shearing, dipping, etc. . . 300 C3 16 sheep, died 40 00 Total 3,55o 00 iiajttfgi'ir . . $93 50 . . i778 SO teaded. and need Octo- ibs, and 23 r I, 1877: t t ;/ .Ji,9S<» «« , . 1,950 00 . . 395 SO ,-* . . >a,i50 00 ,,,. ».375 00 . . 76a SO . .|4.«87 50 . .|i,8oo 00 . 1,750 00 . . »3.550 00 /I COLOKAOO sun A/' /'.4 AM. :^m For these three years the total expenses are $3,743.50, total receipts, $1 1,263, leaving a net cash profit of $7,420.50 on orig- inal investment of $4,948.50. The original Hock was worth $2 each, or $4,170 in all. From this he has graded up a flock of 3,200, /; - i. 1 Mr. Coleman's narrative of the Colorado sheep-ranche is as follows: In the fall of 1 874, G., a young man of consumptive tendencies, after several years of office work in Geneva, N. Y., and elsewhere, found his health steadily failing, and was led to spend the winter I in Colorado. He rapidly improved during his stay there, and by hspring had decided to remain and engage in sheep-farming. He 'entered eighty acres unlder the homestead law, in El Paso county, about twenty- five miles from Colorado Springs, and stocked it with 1,350 kmg'wooied Mexican sheep, at $2 delivered, and twenty-five Merino bucks from the east at $25 each. He was ^' industrious and a good manager, and now, at the end of five 27 ■r,W,>ii ;>•.".'» f,ij:. . vi«!/-'-'J i I'*- ^t^-.tajrwj rrZXSUK'^iV ^l8 OUK WBSTBKl/ BMHRB. years, he has eighteen ranches,* 6,000 sheep, and occupies 100 square miles of land. The slender, delicate youn^ man has grown rugged and robust, and weighs 184 pounds. From It^tters and conversations I propose to briefly outline the character of a Colorado sheep-farm, wii'ino:. mv (i ^, *;«t ,4«. .<»c»; '• < -A ranche or ranch is a definite term for a spring of water and lome rude buildings, and an indefinite amount of grazing land. These springs are found at various points on the plains, mostly in ravines, and several miles apart, and the owner is entitled, by mutual consent of the farmers, to graze the land on either side half way to the next spring. It is an object therefore to buy as many springs and as little land as possible. In securing new ranches, G. would enter them in his herdsnicn's names, and then buy of thc;m at a low figure. The spring is literally the main- spring of sheep-farming, as the land is valueless without water, and wells have been sunk 600 and 800 feet without obtaining water. There is neither dew nor rain except for a brief time in^ spring. The water is carefully used, being pumped into reser- voirs, and the sheep watered from troughs. 'X r*' rail to Boston, and netted there twenty cents per pound. It can, however, be sold to gotod advantage at Colorado Springs, and the clip of 1879, 20,000 pounds, G. " pooled " with a neighbor who had 30,000 pounds, and by careful watcihii^ of the market. With weekly tele- grams from dn Eastern Wool-hoiise, the lot was sold for twenty- four and a-half, when others were getting twenty and twenty-tivo cents. El Pasb couhty wool Is rated two or three cents higher >5oo 00 Merino \%m% 1,000 00 3,300 00 Five years' tak of wool |i 3,500 00 1,000 old Mexicans anU oiheri told a, 500 00 i 15,000 00 Value of preacnt herd 15,000 00 He raised 3,000 lambs in 1879, and will have 2,500 ewes in 1880. He proposes when his tlock of 6,000 is incroasc^d to 10,000, to send the surplus lambs in the fall to Western Kansas, where corn is cheapest, feed till spring, and ship to ChiL.igo, where they will bring 5450 per head ; $2.50 will cover expenses. But the Lcadville excitement is opening a home market, which may change this plan A neighbor sold 775 wethers for $3,100 ($4 each), hay and grain being scarce this winter, and G. was offered the same price for 500 three-year olds, but declined it. We have already (in Part 1.) given an account of those great sheep-farms where the flocks number 30,000, 50,000 or even 80,000 head, and the profits are reckoned by tens of thousands of dollars annually. The men who own these great properties must have begun, or would now find it necessary to begin, with from $1 5,000 to i^so.ooo or more, of capital ; and many who have come to the We . Irom Europe with more than the latter sum have, after two or thf o years' experiments with sheep-farming, been sold out by the sheriff, and in some instances have been obliged to seek employment as shepherds, perhaps on the same ranchc where they had once been proprietors. The counties of El Paso, Pueblo, Huerfano, Fr -mont. Las Animas and Bent, iiv Colorado; have many stories to tell of these young men who ^ "' ''"'^ " ' .1,..: '■.:■■": - " -" i ' '■ ': \ ^ -w»",rai 4» otm WKxruity /tMr//nt. playrd tlir Gr.ind Sfi^nior on no larjjp a nrale, and woiitcl come into Colorado SprinjjH or Pufblo, drivinj"; thrir four in -hand* and •pmdinjf srvfral dayn at a time in rccklcHH dinnipation. Nrjrlrct- In},' fhpir biisinrns, thry wrrr constantly flfpcpd by ^liarprrs. till tlv ir capital was all expended, and they were often too far ilown In the scale of social demoralisation, to retrace thrMJtAf/XC IN saw MMXtCO. otild com**, hands and luirprrs, till K) far ilown •trpH and u*r in Hiock- K'H not jjivc 'lIuTt! are : unlc'HH the ,iml«Tstand» iftcH proper 3wn special of the class I'Hl of tiu'tn, i) farm, had ■ the protec- lich once in I the Kat^****- •rs were ilis- a section of he Mexican the brink were lost. L'ted, In that )r more, and e his sheep, It was not ■A shepherd whose only rming, New is pleasant, y, and very old Spanish ism oppress r lands and from the I'!a»trrn Stntrs are cordially rrccivcd, anti both lh« mining' and utockraiNint; inicrcMtM an* hcin^ dcvrlo(>cd with con* Nidcrabl'- rapitlity. Tlx; prr«ent ChirtJuHticc of the Territory, Moil. I.. Hradlonl Prince, nayM that " sheep- rai»ing is the most iiiipott.mt iiithiHiiy in the tttrritory; the r< ){ion for tihecp farnit ••.xuihIh from tin: h«'.ul watfrs of lh«: Lanailian river in the tx« treiiie cast to the San Juan (ountry in the far northwest. 'Ilio sheep of New Mexico arc already counted by the million, but there in abundant room for new enterprises both ai^ to number and c|uality. To comment e the buHlneMS pioperly retjuires a capital of Jl5,cxx>, which will buy 3,0011 sheep and provide for all necessary expenses until a regular income is derived from the flock. No business can be safer, sur«r or more healthful ; but, like all others, it rec|uires work and attention : and if any onit thinks that sheep-raising is to be conduttird profitably by livin){. in town and having flocks ro.iming tiitr prairies under irrcsponsi* ble herdsmen, without percw.iai aitcntion, he had better remain at the Kast." »t y 1,./ tt-n The native sheep of New Mexico is a descendant of the Span* ish Merinos, brought there 340 years ago, and has degenerated from its early type, but when bred with pun; improved Spanish Merino bucks it is capable of becoming in the third or fourth generation a most valuable sheep for wool, and the wool product is there much more valuable than the mutton product. The flock doubles every year under ^ood management; it is said to be capable of demonstration that sheep can be well kept, through- out the year, at a cost not exceeding fifteen cents the head, and that the yield of wool, beginning with two pounds for each ewe and two and a half for each wether, can be increased in five years by careful breeding to five and six pounds per head, and the quality of the wool so much improved that it will bring from twenty to twenty-eight cents per pound. In other Territo- ries and States it is said, that the Mexican ewe, especially the im* proved ewe, which is the product of a cross with other and larger breeds, seldom or never bears twins ; but in New Mexico twin lambs are so common that their number fully makes up for any losses in the flock, and it is an underestimate to reckon the ^ , ( ■\^ A' '•' -1 (■■ 424 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. annual increase of the flock at one hundred per cent, of the ewes. As the mutton is of no particular account in New Mexico, the whole profit turning upo.j the wool, the young wethers at two years old are exchanged, after shearing, for more ewes to increase the stock of wool-producers. A sheep-farmer, in three years' time, beginning with a flock of 5,000 ewes and 100 bucks, will have 18,000 sheep and lambs, and will shear from 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of wool, and in five years he will shear 40,000 sheep and obtain 120,000 pounds of wool or more. In New Mexico, while the rainfall is scanty, the snow and rain on the mountains fill the streams, and the facilities for irrigation and for pres Tving the water in reservoirs are generally good. Sheep thrive better in a dry than in a wet country, and they require water but once a day, and this they can have without difficulty. Artesian wells generally succeed well on die plains in this Terri- tory. There are no diseases here to which sheep are liable, and the few destroyed by wild animals are the principal losses. The corrals are usually of adobe or sun-dried bricks, and can easily be made, where they are not already, proof against wild animals. Neither the jaguar nor the grizzly bear are found in New Mexico, and the cougar or panther and gray wolf are not abundant. The brown or cinnamon and the black bear seldom attack sheep when in care of a shepherd, and never in a corral, and the coyotes are too cowardly to attack any except the sick, lame, or wounded. No provision for sheep in the winter is necessary in New Mexico. There are no heavy snows there, except high up in the mountains, and the floods which sometimes pour down such torrents of water into the Rio Grande and its tributaries, are either skilfully turned into the reservoirs for irrigation, or are drank up by the thirsty sands of the river beds. -The rail.ways which already traverse, or will soon cross the Territory in different directions, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe and its branches, the Denver and Rio Grande, the St. Louis afnd San Francisco, and perhaps also the Ariantic and Pacific, or *% branch of the Texas Pacific, will make New Mexico convenient of access, and enable her to send her products to market 00; favorable terms. , iWWBfllilll nt. of the cwcs. jw Mexico, the ifethers at two wes to increase n three years' ICO bucks, will rom 40,000 to 11 shear 40,000 lore. In New id rain on the igation and for good. Sheep d they require thout difficulty. IS in this Terri- liable, and the il losses. The and can easily St wild animals, bund in New wolf are not :k bear seldom ver in a corral, iccept the sick, the winter is y snows there, lich sometimes rande and its reservoirs for the river beds. >oon cross the leka and Santa ;, the St, Louis and Pacific, or ico convenient to market on SHE EP.FAR MING Iff CALlFORmA. 435 California is favorably situated for sheep-farming, especially Southern California, but the higher price of her lands, and the fact that so large a portion of them are arable, renders the busi- ness somewhat less profitable than in New Mexico, though she has a better market for wool in San Francisco, and more encour- agement to grade her flocks up to the best quality of both felt- ing and combing- wools, and higher inducentents to raise sheep for mutton, as well as for wool. The California flocks number nearly 8,000,000 sheep, and include some of the best breeds tc be found on this continent both for wool and mutton. In South- ern California the flocks are driven to the hills in the summer and return when the autumnal rains have started the new grass on the foot-hills and on the plains. Alfalfa, Hungarian grass, and the millets are raised largely for forage for the best breeds of sheep, and their use tends to produce the uniformly fine fibre so characteristic of the best grades of California wool. 1 The sheep-farming of Montana, Idalio, Washington, and Oregon, as well as that of Dakota and Minnesota, diiifers from that of the States and Territories farther south mainly in the necessity for more ample provision for shelter and fodder for winter, and the greater length of the winter season. The flocks in most of these States and Territories (Oregon only excepted) are seldom very large ; the aggregate sheep of the other five States and Territories probably aggregating not much over 2,000,000, while Oregon alone has about 1,500,000. Eventually probably Washington, Montana, Dakota, and perhaps Idaho will be found to be well adapted to the raising of fine wooled sheep. Utah, also, is a good sheep country, though there is in some parts of the Territory a lack of water. Wyoming is better adapted V cattle than sheep, and Nevada will probably raise a larger p oportion of cattle than sheep, though perhaps not very large numbers of either. n;u,' 'u;, (ii To recapitulate : we believe for the sheep-farmer who has but a very moderate capital, say not more than $2,500 or $3,000, New Mexico offers the best opportunity, and Kansas and Ne- braska the next best; for those vvith somewhat larger capital, from $5,000 to $15,000, Colorado, Southern California or Texas, '■\ I I ill m >'!:-i i-'-«aiiE- ' V 426 OUK iVESTF./tff RMPIRS. if they wish to avoid building shelters and gathering fodder. Oregon, Montana, Dakota, and perhaps Utah, if they are not averse to these precautions. Those having a larger amount of capital can do well in Texas, better, perhaps, in California, and still better in Colorado or New Mexico ; while, if they choose to make the provision for wintering their sheep, Wyoming, Mon- tana or Dakota afford excellent opportunities for conducting sheep-ranches of the largest kind and with excellent profits. For mutton sheep and lambs, which will, at the same time, yield large fleeces of combingwools, the succulent pastures of Mon- tana and Dakota afford the best feeding grounds, and they also furnish grasses which make the fibre of the Merino v/ool long, even and fine. We give here a few brief descriptions of the different breeds of sheep most popular throughout the West, for which we are indebted to the late Hon. Alfred Gray, Secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture. >- ^.J. y-> ^af*v».i>. ■c^:f:m:f. -mk ■ The Merino is a fine white-wool sheep, of a dark, greasy appearance, medium size, snug build, body shortish, round and thick, good quarters, legs short, stout and woolly, ears short, cheeks and forehead to the eyes thickly covered with wool, skin wrinkled or in folds, weight 100 to 180 pounds, fleece twelve to twenty-nine pounds, wool two to three inches long. The rams have curled and convoluted horns. It is classed as a wool sheep. History. — The Merino originated in Spain, in the first century. It is a cross between the Tarantine, of Southern Italy, and the best native sheep of Spain, and was introduced into the United States in 1800. In Spain, this breed was driven from the south northward every spring, 400 miles, and back in the fall; each journey was made in six weeks. The name. Merino, is a modi- fied form of the name of the special officer in charge of this highly valued breed. .* , t;, j' n? The Southdown is a whitish, coalrse, short wool, hornless sheep, medium size, fine form, well-balanced proportions, hind- quarters square and full, thighs massive, breast broad, fore, quarters well developed, legs rhort and trim, face and legs dark- brown or black and without wool. Yearlings yield seventy^fives ing fodder, ley are not ' amount of lifornia, and y choose to ming, Mon- conducting lent profits. : time, yield es of Mon- id they also 5 v/ool long, ;rent breeds /hich we are the Kansas • k' iffl ; 'Mil i lark, greasy I, round and , ears short, h wool, skin ce twelve to The rams wool sheep. irst century. aly, and the > the United m the south e fall; each 0, is a modi> irge of this 01, hornless rtions, hind- }Foad, fore< d legs dark- seventyfive HKEhDS OF SHEEP. ^^ to eighty pounds, dressed weight. Average weight of fleece about six pounds. Its wool makes flannel and soft goods. It is classed as a mutton sheep. .-'■'■'■ "• ■ ; History. — The Southdown is an English breed, developed by carefully inbreeding common sheep inhabiting the hilly portions of Southern England from its earliest history. The improve- ment began about one hundred years ago. The name of the breed is taken from the low chalk hills or downs of Southern England, where it was developed. The Hampsiiiredown is a whitish, coarse, medium-wool, horn- less sheep, good size, much resembling the Southdown, but larger, and with longer and coarser wool. Yearlings weigh eighty to a hundred pounds, and yield a fleece of six to seven pounds. It is a mutton sheep. History. — The Hampshiredown originated in England about seventy years ago, in a cross between a pure Southdown and a white-faced horned sheep of that district, from the " downs " of which section it derives its name. •' i " ■ •> 'l* " ' ' " »-^ The Leicester is a white, medium, coarse, long-wool sheep, of large size, square and angular build, long, slender, clean head and ears. Eyes and facial bones about the eyes prominent, hind quarters tapering toward the tail, legs good length, slender and clean. Yearlings dress lOO pounds and at two years 150 pounds. Full grown have reached 380 pounds, live weight. Average weight of fleece seven to eight pounds. It is a mutton sheep. J'--' ;"*tiiS «t\iA ■ i,i ii:jd*;.i"ii^;rii> iv^^.tuij'-.hiA'-'y mm .L'-\,:>:::i.\ History. — This breed was developed in England over 100 years ago by a Mr. Bakewell, from the common sheep of Leic stershire, from which district it derives its name. The methc 1 of breeding was kept secret. They were introduced into tlic United States by General Washington. T111; Lincoln is a white, coarse, long-wool, hornless sheep, surpassing all other breeds in weight of body and length of wool. It has dressed ninety-six and a quarter pounds to the quarter. Two year-olds dress 1 20 to 1 60 pounds, and yield a fleece of ten to fourteen pounds washed wool, measuring nine inches and over in length — used for worsteds. It is a mutton $heep. M V !•! il 'ii'l Mh'«Mi«%>^-*'''-u-'>'^'J>*lM^e-iT^ issi^Hd-tittcom' 42S OUR WF.STLJiX EMPIRE. History. — The Lincoln originated in England less than 100 years ago, as a cross between a Leicester and a common breed now extinct, but then inhabiting the low, alluvial and rich herbaged flats of Lincolnshire, from which it takes its name and where it best flourishes. The Cotswold is a white, coarsC: long-wool, hornless sheep, large size, long bodied, broadening from shoulders to rump, head well tapered from ears to nose, finely proportioned, and covered to between the eyes with a thick forelock of wool, ears long and well formed, legs good length, well shaped and clean. Weight of yearlings about 120 pounds; full grown have dressed 344 pounds. Weight of fleece about eight pounds. Wool some- times nine inches long, and >yidely used f^r woollcDS.. It is a mutton and wool sheep. , a^,„fi ,»,A%r „« . •,; *t .-»!,.,,.. History. — ^The Cotswold originated in England less than 100 years ago, as a cross between a Leicester and descendants of common sheep imported from Spain in the twelfth century. Its name conus from the cots or huts built in the hilly wolds or fields where it was developed and established. OxFORDDowN is a whitish, coarse, long-wool, hornless sheep of medium size, round bodied and short legged, face and legs dark, a Cotswold-shaped head and thick-set and somewhat curly i fleece of eight to nine pounds of wool five to seven inches long^ used for worsteds. At fourteen months it dresses eighty to eighty-eight pounds. A mutton ^nd wool sheep. History.— T\iG Oxforddown originated in Oxfordshire, England, since 1830, whence its name. It is ^ cross between a Cotswold ram and a Hampshiredowa ewe, followed by careful inbreeding. Cheviot is a white, coarse, medium-wool, hornless mountain sheep of medium size, long bodied, hind-quarters and saddle full and heavy, fore-quarters light, face strong featured and massive^ head and legs generally white, but sometimes dun or speckled. At three years they dress eighty pounds. The fleece yields abopt five pounds, and is used for Scotch tweed and cheviot, clot|i. It is a mutton and wool sheep. History. — The Cheviot is a cross between a Lincoln and a" breed pf comoion sheep fpupd jn titie hilly parts of the Scottish m than loo imon breed \ and rich 8 name and tless sheep, rump, head ind covered irs long and n. Weight Iressed 344 iVool seme- ns. It is a I less than descendants century. Its )lds or fields ] ,, 1 pss sheep of :e and legs lewhat curly inches long, s eighty to ire, England, a Cotswold inbreeding, js mountain i saddle full ,nd massive, or speckled, leece yields ind cheviot i/V .-k^i-iimp icoln and a': Ithe Scottish BKSEDS OF SHEEr-ANGORA GOAT. 4«9 lowlands, believed to be descended from common sheep of Spain, cast ashore here in 1588, from wrecks of the Spanish Armada. The Improved Kentuckv is a white, coarse, long-wool, hornless sheep, heavy bodied and heavy fleeced, resembling the Cotswold, but the quality of its wool, midway between the Leicester and Cotswold, distinguishes it. It is a mutton and wool sheep. History. — The Improved Kentucky is an American breed originating in Frankfort, Kentucky, about forty years ago. It came from successful crosses, as follows : Beginning with local, common ewes and a Merino ram, the issue was crossed with a Leicester ram, this with a Southdown ram, this with a ram one* quarter Southdown and three-quarters Cotswold, this twice successively with Cotswold rams, this with an Oxforddown ram, and this with a mixed Cotswold, Oxforddown and Leicester ram, followed by careful inbreeding. The Caraman or Fat-Tailed Sheep is a white, short, soft-wool sheep, of different varieties and sizes, but readily identified by its remarkable tail, which weighs from fifteen to twenty and in some instances 50 pounds ; the fat being used by some in place of butter. v'-'- .'v^;,.. -.-.•. i.> ,.„,.. \.^a.-\,\. History. — The Caraman is a ftativfe sheep, found in portions of Asia and Africa, and by some is regarded as a separate group. Those now in the United States are from recent importations from Karamania, in Asia Minor. The Angora Goat is of a grayish white, about as large as a medium-sized sheep, has a square build, a straight back, hog- shaped head, lifted ears, large, long, wavy horns rooted close together on top of the head, and spreading at once latterly and pointing a little backward, a tuft of long, coarse hair under the chin, clean, trim legs, and undercoat of short, coarse hair, and an outer one of long, curly, soft and silky hair, termed mohair. Both coats are used, and together weigh about two and a half ' pounds. i-teiiSie- f,*ttd'-fii«;tJi;>,*tol j:m^i^^-(^:^^x iu:.>ir.mvi\ -isjo ,■}<>■ /|- History. — ^The Angora goat is an improved variety of a com- mon goat, native of the district about Angora, in Asia Minor. It was imported into this country about fifteen years ago. The Cashmere Goat is generally of a grayish white, built R tmitlmtm 3iC< 430 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. much like a sheep, is of medium size, back near the hips a little crowning, ears long, wide and drooping, no tuft under the chin, small horns, sometimes spiral, shooting out near each other from top of the head, erect or slightly spreading and pointing a little backward, a long, heavy outer coat of coarse hair and an under coat of soft, silky, fluffy wool, weighing about one-half pound, and used for Cashmere shawls. History. — The Cashmere goat is a noble species of the goat, inhabiting the high table-lands of Cashmere, Thibet and Mongolia, in Central Asia. It was imported into the United States about fifteen years ago. \,u:^ tt^.f ->;•?< mr-* i-rt M»i.i f Diseases of Sheep. — It is perhaps desirable to add here a brief description of the diseases to which sheep are liable, especially as it is as true now as it was twenty years ago, that the diseases to which sheep are liable in this country are very different from those which affect them in Europe. The late Hon. Henry S. Randall, in his valuable treatise on Sheep Hus- bandry, published in i860, and subsequent writers on diseases of sheep, have called attention to this fact. It is true, also, that diseases which prevail in one section may be entirely unknown in another. Thus the foot-rot has prevailed extensively in Texas, and to some extent in Southern California and Southern Kansas; but is entirely unknown in the Northern States, and Territories of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Dakota and Minnesota, and very infrequent in the middle belt of States and Territories. The scab is found everywhere, but is now treated successfully. Worms in the head are not common in the West ; though they kill many sheep in England and some in the Atlantic States. Inflammation of the lungs is less common ^,,than in England, but does occur. ^^^ Mr. Frank D. Curtis, of Charlton, Saratoga county. New York, one of the most intelligent, accomplished and successful of our American sheep-masters, has described so briefly and so .well the greater part of the known American diseases of sheep, that we cannot do better than to give to our readers his essay, only supplementing it with two or three western diseases, which he has failed to notice. .,„..;;,, .,,,..,. .. t«» JKJJ^».«.(S.JJ.;. [5i_.V,*f -„ I > iii njM m i mifi'^mmimim DISEASES OF StiEEP. 431 ic hips a little nder the chin, Lch other from ointing a little and an under le-half pound, 2S of the goat, , Thibet and to the United to add here a ep are liable, rs ago, that the ntry are very pe. The late n Sheep Hus- rs on diseases true, also, that irely unknown extensively in and Southern rn States, and Dakota and >elt of States |e, but is now t common in and some in less common county, New md successful [briefly and so ises of sheep, lers his essay, liseases, which Sheep are very delicate animals to treat when diseased. They are easily discouraged, and when sick lose their appetite and rapidly become enfeebled. It is by far the wisest course for every shepherd to study carefully the habits of sheep and their nature, and to endeavor, as far as possible, to regulate their diet according to their natural wants, and to do nothing to shock them either by terror or abrupt changes in th^^ir management. They will not bear suddtn changes of food, sudden chills, or sudden changes of extreme heat and cold. Regularity in feed- ing and evenness in temperature are essential pre- requisites to their healthful condition. They will not endure wet, neither will they thrive on low, marshy ground. The different' breeds have somewhat different characteristics, and they are not all alike easily affected with the same diseases, as, for instance, fine- wooled sheep having flatter feet, with closer connection between the hoofs, are more liable to foot-rot than the coarser-wooled varieties, with more rpright feet and wider space between the bisections. The latter, however, on account of their open and distended nostrils (they have larger lungs and require more space for the circulation of air into the respiratory organs), are much more liable to the attacks of the gad-fly ( CEstrus ovis) than the smaller breeds with more contracted nostrils. The fine- wooled are much more hardy in our changeable American climates than the coarser-wooled breeds, hence precautionary management in regard to climatic influences and carefulness in diet are not so necessary, as they are not so subject to colds and stomach disorders, colics, etc. There are several infectious dis- eases which prevail among sheep. The two oldest and most common in America are foot-rot and scab. There are also other parasitical disorders which infest the internal organs of sheep. The latter have been far more destructive in foreign countries than in this. They have prevailed disastrously in England, South America, and Australia. We shall speak of internal para- sites {entozoa) under the hfiad of parasites, with such subdivisions of the subject as apply to the various forms and indications of tile disorder as manifested in this country, and of external para- sites {epizoa) under the appropriate names of scab and ticks. ■iiMM liwni-«-iTwntn^rtn'-rf r.s-i. .£>«. TfiriVrhinri-' ■Si-ar.itPiViTff" •.,-:• L<:,:l'>iti 433 OVK ITESTKKN KAirjKK. pAKAsiTES. — The most ancient and ditastroui of the maladies caused by the development of worms in the body is the liver-rot, which is caused by the presence of sucking worms, like leeches which are developed in the liver. These worms or flukes pos scss the power of self-impregnation, and are propagated by eggs of which they prodr^c immense numbers. These eggs are car ried along with the bile into the stomach, and so passed out with the excrement of the sheep. They are supposed to be hatched in stagnant water, in which they develop into a form of mullusks. But as the disease {liver-rot) is almost unknown in the United States, and especially in the West, we will not take time or space to fully ucstribe it \ hi'.i».vio vtl .jAn* .4ii\\ ks, >-,^:.h vwh I J There is another worm which is developed in the lungs and bron- chial tubes of sheep. These worms cause the " pale disease " in lambs, which has been so fatal in many sections of this country. The worm is akin to the gape-worm in chickens, and is a species of Strongylus, a slender, thread-like worm. They are supposed to l)e breathed into the lungs or taken into the n* uth while feeding, from whence they make their way through the trachea into the air-passages, in which they produce such derangement in aeration or the purification of the blood as to cause irritation and violent coughing. The important functions of the blood being interrupted, paleness of the skin and debility of the body soon follow, and result in the death of the animal. The disease is more prevalent or fatal among lambs than among sheep. '- As soon as a lamb is attacked a poor appetite ensues, which helps to reduce the strength. Such penetrating medicines as turpentine, sulphur, and assafcetida may be given, which, through absorption, will reach the lungs, and in the earlier stages of the disuse may effect a cure. In order to allow free and full absorption, no food should be given for several hours afterward, nor for a few hours before. Twenty grains of assafoetida and a half teaspoon of spirits of turpentine are all that should be administered at one dose to a lamb. One- third more may be given to it full-grown sheep. This may be followed by a taUe- spoohful of sulphur daily, mixed with molasses. As the appetite is capricious and feeble, in order to keep up the strength gruels t aT ii.i the maladies the liver-rot, , Hkc leeches, r Hukes pos- aied by eggs, eggs arc car- iiseU out with ;o be hatched I of muUusks. in the United time or space ngs and bron- e disease " in this country. d is a species are supposed Ht uth while \ the trachea rangement in use irritation )f the blood of the body The disease sheep. » ' nsues, which medicines as lich, through stages of the ree and full rs afterward, oetida and a should be nore may be d by a table- the appetite ength gruels t r/fX LVNG WORM IN S/fKBI'. ^| should be poured down. The turpentine and assafcrtida may be mixed with a tablcspoonful of linseed or castor oil. Infected sheep should be kept by themselves, and well ones should not be allowed to run in the tame pasture, nor upon ground whrro the manure of diseased sheep has been spread. There arc besides the above, parasites {hydatids) or worms in the bladder and in the intestines. The latter, when prevalent among lambs. are fatal. The first symptoms of their prevalence is a fulling off in condition anJ mild diarrhcea. The worm is a species of tape-worm, and is swallowed by the sheep in an embryo form, and may have been dropped by a dog or other animal. Emaciation rapidly follows. The excrement is soft and mixed with mucus, and by close observation worms may be observed in it. As soon as the presence of the disease is apparent, a dose of turpentine should be given, from one-half to one oun':e, according to the size of the sheep. This may be mixed with an ounce or two of linseed or castor oil, and should be given evvry three days for two weeks, or until no worms are voided. Nourish* ing gruels should be given during the time of treatment. The purgative will have better effect if the animal is required to fast a few hours before and after administering the dose. Copperas will not cure the disease. When given in small quantities it acts as an astringent and keeps the worms in the body, and when given in large quantities it is an active poison. The same dose of turpentine and linseed oil is the best remedy for parasites in the bladder and kidneys. :;». jinw^yir., . - >> .. . Worms in the head are not so common in this country as in England, owing to the fact that so large a proportion of our sheep are of the smaller breeds. The gadfly ( CEstrus ovis) in the summer months deposits its ^gg^, with a sting, in the nostrils of sheep. At the season of the year when this fly is active, sheep stand huddled together with their noses inward and close to the ground to avoid being stung. After being hatched the grub crawls up the nostrils and feeds on the mucus until it reaches the upper passages, where it remains until it arrives at maturity, and then passe^i out of the nostrils to the ground, where it ultimately develops into a fly. Sometimes they penetrate ta as ruMMMPaMvfwMW**' -fi'i! 'i^^ 4S4 OVJt ty^SHiKM BMPI/tM, \ . the brain, causin|3f the sheep to Icmr itsi appetite and die a lingering and painful dcalh. Wtr have known them to (kik* away, scarcely eating' anything for wecksi — simply breathing — until they die of starvation, or were killed to put them out of their misery. There is no remedy except m the tirst stajft" of the disease, when the maggots are passin;' up the nostrils. This may be known by violent shaking of )X\*t head, sneezing, and running around. Tobacco-smoke blown up the nostriU at this time, or the §moke of a small quantity of burning sulphur, may cause them to lose their hold on the membranes, when the sheep will cast them out. Some people pour spirits uf turpen- tine into the nostrils. They lay th<^' sheep upon its back so that the liquid will run into the head ; but this is a dangerous and cruel practice. In the first stages, in the hands of > skilful person, it is possible to open the passages of the licad and remove the maggots, without permanent injury to the animal. Smearing the noses of she - in July and August with tar, two or three times a week, wiU» to — me extent, prevent the attacL. uf the gadfly. :;,•■:■• ' '»• ■>"?!' ''' ..(..■.11 1.,. ScAii.— The worst form of external parasites is til Acarus scabiei. This insect is a mile in size and attaches itself to the skin, into which it burrows. It multiplies rapidly and cuts of!* the connection of the cuticle from its attachments to the body, when it becomes dry and hard, and the wool is lo( sened and lalls out. Its presence can easily be determined, as the sheep is uneasy and inclined to nib itself against any v onvcnient thing. Unless they are destroyed, the whole body will soon be covered, causing great distress to the sheep and entire loss of the fleece. They will also be conveyed to other sheep, and eventually spread through the whole flock. One female will produce thousands of insects in a few days. The proper cure is to dip tne animal in a solution of sulphur and tobacco, in the proportions of four parts of tobacco and ten of sulphur to a gallon of water. The stems of tobacco will answer every purpose, if thoroughly steeped. The sulphur may be stirred in the liquid. Patches of loose skin and wool should be removed before the sheep are immersed. 1 he liquid should be as warm as the hand will bear, and time should yimfm rx'f^nsr'-. '^t*'iS:^**ii^^' I "' ond di(* • it!m to I »no brcithing — hem out of •St staj^t" of the nostrils. »d, snee/.iiig, le nostri'^ at iini; siilpiuir, cs, when the ts of tur pen- back BO tltat nperous an«l of I skilful lie head and » the animal, th tar, two or attacks of tlic xtH'i l!»li >;) 11*1 i t\v Acarus \ itself to the and cuts off to the boely, :ned and lalls epis uneasy ling. Unless lered, cauBing leece. They lally spread e thousands ip tiie animal tions of four water. The ;hly steeped, if loose skin lersed. The Lime should D/SKASKS 0/- ~tlKBP~TllK FOOT ROT. 43S b<* jj^ven for it to penetrate every part. After dipping, the animal nhouhl be left in the yard until iXxs when it would be well to smear all the iiw and drnudetl portions of the boowdcred tobacco in the wool After shearing, the ticks leave the old sheep and fasten to the lambs. The latter should be dipped immediately, and again after the lapse of three weeks. In this way a flock may be rid of ticks, which are a costly and torturing nuisance. Foot-rot. — This disease is contagio s, and may be produced by allowing sheep to run on low, wet ground. It is an ulceration upon the heels and between the toes, which excrete fetul matter. It is most common in the fore feet, and may be known bv lame- ness. Lameness, however, does not always proceed trom this cause, but may be produced by foul feet or from inflammation of the interdigital canal, which opens at the bottom of the foot. When this canal or duct is closed by any foreign substance, in- flammation will ensue. The prompt removal of the obstacle and the probing and cleansing of the duct will generally effect a cure. When there is ulceration, there must hv prompt and effective treatment. Canker of the foot, which shows itself by spongy or fungous sprouts at the bottom, can be cured by the same treatment as for foot-rot. The hoofs should be pared away so as to expose, the bottom of the ulcers, when the whole foot, and iQspecially the uloefous portion, should be ^oroughly I aHture where those aifccted with tont-rot have run until u winter's frosts have intervened, which will destroy the virus. Incipient foot-root cnuscd by feeding on wet ground may be checked without difficulty by prompt applications of blue vitriol in li<|uid form, or by ililuted carbolic acid ; but when the disease becomes thoroughly ulcerous, several applications of the remedies recommended are necessary to effect a perfect cure. CoNsnrATioN. — We have known fatal constipation, accom- panied with fever, to prevail in the spring of the year following a long and severe winter, during which fodder became so scarce as to compel farmcri to turn out their sheep f)efore the fresh grass had started. The sheep ate of the dry and frost-bitten grass so heartily as to cause it to become clogged in the rumen, producing constipation in whole flocks. In some neighborhoods it was so general that it was supposed a contagious disorder had broken out among them. A number died before the cause was discovered. Purgatives, together with restraining the sheep from feeding in the fields, soon restored the Aocks to their nor- mal condition. " i jfftfM 1"»k .t VlfnoJ >!.* fn norrnno'j Jjorn ci J } Colics.— -These troubles are caused by costiveness or flatu- lence, which also causes stretches (lying on the ground and roll- ing about), the latter being more of a syr )tom than a disease. A change of food in this case, as well as ii. the opposite case of scours, is the first thing to be done. Injections of warm water and soap, or linseed oil, followed with an ounce of the latter or of castor oil, or foUr ounces of Epsom salts, given by the mouth, is the first remedy in cases of costiveness or colic. Powdered sulphur and salt should be frequently given as correctives and aids in digestion. Abrupt changes from dry to succulent food are dangerous, and should never be made on an empty stomach, as these animals, like cattle, are equally sirbject to bloat, and ISfLAMMATIOS OF IVH^M, 437 one pound ; one c{iiart. to the (cM)t. acid) wouUI rsi ture tor )G allowril in run until a y the virus, und may be f blue vitriol n the (liHeaNC thr remedies ition, accon*' ear (ollowin^ me 8o Hcarce jrc the fresh d frost-bitten in the rume-n, eighborhooils disorder had :he cause was ig the sheep \ to their nor- less or Hatu- lund and roll- lan a disease. )osite case of r warm water the latter or by the mouth, :. Powdered rrectives and Dcculent food npty stomach, to bloat, and with ithem It is more rapid in its rcHultn. A chan^^e from dry frrd K.t) j^rcen, without an admixture of dry {wA followin^r, has produced fatal colic even when the pasture was stinted. |)|/\KKH(KA AND S(f»UM». — I'hc formiT tiiHordtT in very common tu latadxt while sutkiii;; and during' tlw tir^t winter. Unless checked, diarrhuca will soon run into the more serious conditicm of scours, and rapidly deplete the tender animal of needed strength. A teaHpoonful of laudanum and a tal>le?t|K)onfid of Hlonj^' K''^i»'^'' ^*-*" ^''' "iK'n thei'-i:.>i»;>^. ' i^ifi!'}-;ii;. !'j;.« k^vm\'> '■■!.»' ■''!.; t. Abortion. — On account of the timid nature of sheep they are easily frightened, and when roughly handled or chased by dogs they are apt to abort. Dysentery and other acute derangements of thfi stomach will sometimes produce this same disorder, hence abrupt changes in diet should be avoided, and a mixture of dry and green food given through the winter. Roots are verv essen- tial to the good health of sheep. Salt and water shouW always be accessible, as sheep desire to drink often and but little at a time. If these sanitary recommendations are carefully carried out, sickness among sheep will be very much lessened, especially in the severe forms of abortion or other disturbances of the uterus. 't;The black-leg is a disease which has affected lambs in- various parts of the country. Its character seems uncertain, though generally believed to be connected with disease of the lungs. The legs seem to become powerless and the flesh turns black. The disease generally proves fatal in a short time. It may be the same kuojHrn as lung-worm in other sections, but this is doubtful. Some attempts at medication have proved beneficial in delay- ing the fatal termination, while others have apparendy hastened it As a general rule, the administration of and-septics and stimulants, such as diluted carbolic acid, powdered charcoal. ¥SSSM ympxy««Mmp * iEsiaas'^' te nostrils and at grows, which foul stuff. On g laurel, Saint Tects are some- ngement which The lips and lants, especially mouth so sore rient medicines dressed with a essential to get n'Kifi: ',,'■ '.»' -'•] ..: sheep they are :hased by dogs derangements disorder, hence mixture of dry are verv cssen- should always I but little at a arefully carried ;ned, especially rbances of the mbs in- various lertain, though of the lungs, rns black. The Hi". It may be ns, but this is sficial in delay- endy hastened fid-septics and ered charcoal, "STXICANA /AT SHEEPr 439 minute doses of sulphate of iron (copperas) and cayenne pepper seems to be indicated, though when the disease is fairly developed, it is doubtful whether any medication will prevent a fatal termination. The disease is not contagious, though it may be epidemic in certain localities, i /. i ri ' ! The disease described by Mr. W. B. Shaw, of Beverly, N. Y., in the following paragraph, as paper-skin, seems to be identical with what Mr. Curtis calls "the pale disease " in lambs. Lambs in this locality have been scourged for several years past with a disease called " paper-skin," which seems to be worse in wet than in d^v seasons. It is not uncommon to lose an entire flock by the disease. It attacks the lambs at the age of from three to five months, and those in good flesh are as liable to it as those that are in poor condition. When attacked, they become very pale and weak, apparently almost entirely bloodless. The stomach contains small red v^orms, and frequently, in addition, the animal will be found to nave tape- worm. We have no knowledge of the cause of the lung -worm — a name given for the want of a better, perhaps, k affects young sheep in a greater degree and to a greater extent than matured animals. The worm is a small white one, and is found in con- siderable numbers in the lungs, or in the ;;jbes connecting the windpipe with the lungs. The disease is less frequent than either of those named above, but the fatality is greater in com- parison with the number affected. The symptoms are weakness, failure to eat, loss of flesh, and a cough. This disease is but little understood by the wool-grower. ■i,.,!i ,'tvl t'» .r - . Stricana or strichina is perhaps a very incorrect name (or another disease affecting sheep. It is caused by a very small worm, so minute indeed, that it cannot be seen without the aid of a magnifying glass. It is believed to cause the sheep to pick or bite the wool from its sides, flank, and other parts, until the fleece becomes more or less ragged and wasted. The skin becomes rough and shows symptoms of disease. It is not contagious, but attacks sheep of all ages. It is more damaging in flocks that have been closely bred " in and in " for many years; indeed, this is the case with most diseases. As both a "-»»«(«• iWrfi»*V_'«/.V'K';^«.ft«ti.'i*,..-^ j;i =i'-J5--it»tt!*!Ka!h.'3li«¥i*^i»f^*'' ;.iiH;t:y3Ki*i9»m;i!5CJC- ' 440 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. preventative and cure, wood and cob ashes with salt are used with partial success. We have seen sheep in Vermont and Massachusetts badly affected with this disease as well as in our own State. ■■ -^i' -^^ ■'■■ ■ ' *' ■'■-'•'•^ • The sheep in the more Northern States and Territories of the Great West, are as a rule less subject to disease than those of the Southern States and Territories. This is probably due to the absence of marshy and moist lands, the purer and more elevated atmosphere, the great range of pasturage and the absence or rarity of those insect and vegetable pests which produce and promote disease among these harmless animals. CHAPTER X. ^; s - ' Other Farm Animals — Breeding Swjne — Swine Husbandry less Popular IN THE Great West than East of the ■ 'ississippi — The States and Terri- tories MOST LARGELY ENGAGED IN IT — ThE BeST BrEEDS — MoDES OF MAN- AGEMENT — The Margin of Profit in the Business — Diseases to which Swine are Liable — Breeding of Horses, Asses, and Mules for the Mar- ket — This Pursuit very Profitable — Dogs — The Shepherd Dog — Dogs for Hunting — The Greyhl-und; Different Varieties — Pointers, Set- ters, Bull-dogs, Coach-dogs, Terriers— Mongrel Hunting Dogs — Indian Cur-dogs — Crosses Between Dogs and Wolves — Worthless Dogs very Destructive of Sheep. . ^^ The whole of " Our Western Empire" reported, at the close of 1879, but a litrie more than I2,cxx),cxx) swine, only about one- third of the whole number in the United States. Iowa had nearly 3,000,000, one-fourth jf the whole number, and Missouri another fourth. Of the other half, Texas had a little more than 2,000,000, or one-third; Kansas and Arkansas respectively 1,300,000 and 1,200,000; and the remainder were divided among the other States and Territories ; those on the Pacific slope having the smallest numbers. Beyond the Rocky Mountains, rearing swine is not a favorite pursuit with the farmers, partly perhaps because the climate and seasons are not so well adapted to the animal, and pardy because there is more difficulty in protecting a herd ot SWINE-BREEDING IN THE WEST. 441 alt are used ermont and rell as in our itories of the lan those of jably due to r and more ge and the pests which animals. • LESS Popular PES AND Terri- lODES OF MaN- \SES TO WHICH FOR THE Mar- ID Dog — Dogs 'ointers, Set- Dogs — Indian ESS Dogs very the close of ' about one- a had nearly ouri another in 2,ocx),ooo, 30o,ocx) and other States the smallest ^ine is not a because the animal, and r a herd of swine from the attacks of wild animals, and from other thieves, than sheep or neat-cattle. Sheep are easily driven or led, but the swine seems to have inherited the perversity of his ancestors, and persistently seeks to go in the very direction that he should not. There are, however, hogs and hogs ; some bn^eds are quiet, gentle, and well-behaved, while others, lank, lean and long-limbed, will spring over a fence as nimbly as a shepherd's dog, and though fleet of foot, and of evil and pugnacious temper, possess few or no good qualities to counterbalance these objectionable ones. The Southern swine are not, as a rule, of the best breeds, though there have been great efforts made of late in Texas to improve the stock, and with a commendable degree of success. Iowa is, after Illinois, the largest raiser of swine in the Union, and in that State, Missouri and Kansas, which follow after in the numbers of their swine (the three States having about 7,000,000, worth about J542,ooo,ooo), great efforts have been made to raise only the best stock. In these States, long experience has led the best farmers to prefer two or three breeds, and their crosses. In Kansas, and we think in Iowa and Missouri, these breeds are the Poland- China, especially as improved by D. M. Megie ; the Berkshire, either the English or the improved large Berkshire; various crosses of these two, some preferring the Berkshire and others the Poland-China boar with the sow of the other breed, and the Chester White, either pure or crossed with the Berkshire. A very few cling to the Essex and Suffolk breeds, but the number of these, as well as the advocates of the pii re Chester Whites, are decreasing every year. The general opinion seems to be that the Poland-Chinas make the largest and most quiet hogs, and give the best return for the money expended on them, and give the largest litter, but are rather too large in bone, and require a great amount of feeding. The Berkshires have smaller bones, and their meat is in the right place to make fine hams and shoul- ders, and their flesh is very fine-grained. They are the best for the farmer's own packing, but do not weigh as much at a year or a year and a-half old as the Poland-Chinas, and do not have as large a litter as the Poland-Chinas. It is universally agreed that . j »^ Ksr';^, t^rWNrtfr*^-- itasflujiasfaci: i^-t^i'ti! 442 OCX uT.s/r.KX /■:A//'/A^e. m the crosses of these breeds make altogether the best animals for market. These crosses should weirli at one year old, wht-n fat- tened, from 350 to 450 pounds, and at ei^jhtecn or tvcply months from 650 to 700 pounds. With corn at twciity cents a bushel, and some pasture, and proper treatment, pork can be made in Cen- tral and Western Kansas at from $2 to $2.25 per 100. pounds, and it will bring from $2.87 to $3.50 per hundred, live weight. Most of the diseases, to which swine are subject, can be pre- vented much more easily than they can be cured, and the sensi- ble and judicious swine-breeder will find that, by avoiding crowd- ing, damp and filthy pens or wallows, by occasional changes of pasture, and the use of green food, and mashes when the dry food is too constipating, it will be possible to ward off disease, and to have a perfecdy healthy herd of swine. The various forms of worms which infest swine— the tape-worm, the trichina, and the round worms — are, to a considerable extent, the result of gr6ss and foul feeding, and of filthy and close pens. The hog is not an uncleanly animal if he has the opportunity to be clean. The great losses sustained, for some years past, by those engaged in rearing swine, from the disease variously known as Hog-Cholera, Swine-Plague and Hog-Fever (losses amounting in 1877 to more than$i2,cx)o,CKX)), led the United States Agricul- tural Department at Washington to make, in 1878, a very thorough investigation of the disease, including its history, symp- toms, causes, diagnosis, prognosis, post-mortem appearances, preventive measures and treatment The investigation was con- fided to four of the most eminent veterinary surgeons in the United States — Drs. H. J. Detmers of Chicago, James Law of Ithaca, N. Y., D. W. Voyles of New Albany, Ind., and D. E. Salmon of Swannanea, N. C. — each of whom spent months in the investigation, pursuing it ind-^pendently of all the others, and without conference with them. The results of these investiga- tions were published 'n a very valuable volume in the autumn of 1879, with numerous colored plates of the appearances of the lungs, stomach and intestines, and tables and records of the con- clusions to which they came. These reports are so able and exhaustive, and of so high and conclusive authority^ that we be- m. wm THE SWINEPLAGUR OR HOC-CHOLERA. 443 est animals for ' old, when fat- tv.'tPty months ts a bushel, and made in Cen- :r loo. pounds, id, live weight, t, can be pre- and the sensi* voiding crowd- lal changes of when the dry rd off disease, The various n, the trichina, :ent, the result ens. The hog ty to be clean, jast, by those jsly known as ies amounting States Agricul- 1878, a very history, symp- appearances, ;ation was con- rgeons in the [ames Law of 1, and D. E. months in the le others, and ese investiga- the autumn of irances of the rds of the con- : so able and y, that we be- lieve we are doing a valuable service to the farmers of the United States, and especially of the West, in giving a brief summary of the results of their researches. They will serve, at least, to show that the only safeguard against the disease lies in measures of prevention and precaution, which every farmer engaged in raising swine should adopt ; that great pains should be taken to keep swine in a perfectly healthy and vigorous condition, and that their pens and troughs, as well as the swine themselves, should fie kept clean; that close inbreeding is wrong, as weakening the con- stitutions of the animals and rendering them more liable to dis- ease ; and that where the disease appears, the infected herd should be kept isolated, thorough disinfection practised daily, and all diseased hogs killed at once, and either buried very deeply or burned, so as to prevent the spread of the infection ; that the owners of the slaughtered hogs should be repaid two-thirds of their value, if they will report the casts immediately on the out- break of the disease and follow directions ; that all hauling of diseased or dead hogs along public roads or by railroad trains, or in any way exposing other herds to infection, should be pro- hibited under heavy penalties, and all communication of the infection by fodder, running water or the clothing of swineherds or others, should be prevented; and the lots on which these dis- eased herds or animals have been penned even for a single night, should be disinfected, and plowed deeply to prevent the spread of infection, i < < > /. ^.r. ^.i .<- But we can perhaps best benefit our farming friends by giving summaries of these reports in the very words of the veterinary surgeons ; and, first, of the i'n ','nc yr'.rti >!■ DESCRIPTION OF THE DISEASE. The disease, though popularly called Hog- Cholera, has really no resemblance to cholera or to malignant pustule. It has somewhat more resemblance to the pleuro-pneumonia which has proved so destructive of catde ; but is not identical with that dis- ease. It is undoubtedly contagious and infectious, and the ex- periments and researches of these veterinary surgeons, many times repeated and under a great variety of circumstances, J m ."J^ [iTi^fXr^anTiar^ OUX H'SSI'EJIA/ AAf/'//(t% tojjether with their post-mortem examinations, have proved that it can be transmitted, by inoculation and by devouring portions of the flesh of diseased animals, to other swine, and to rabbits, sheep, and dogs as well, and produces the same symptoms and as often the same fatal termination, as where it is communicated by ordinary contact. The veterinarians are agreed in these points, that i*^ is produced by the transmission of a specific germ, a bacillus as some of them call it, into the stomach or circulation, and that this germ is propagated with inconceivable rapidity and may promote diseased action in any organ or set of organs, the lungs, liver, stomach, bowt;ls, lymphatics, kidneys, mur.cles, nerves or brain, but that the lungs and the lymphatic glands are always affected, and the other organs and tissues, one or more of them often. The best name for it is Swine-Plague or Hoff' Fei'er. The disease does rot originate from filth, crowding, and improper or heatuij food, but when It has been once communi- cated to any member of a herd of swine, its propagation is gready accelerated, and its moriHlity hastened and aggravated by impure and unwholesome surroundings. , ,,v , ,,, ;. SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS. The disease is ushered in by a cold shivering, lasting from a few minutes to several hours, frequent sneezing ami more or less coughing. The temperature of the body is increased, and though it is a difficult matter to ascertain the exact temperature :vithout a struggle which will, of itself, increa, the temperature, yet enough seems to have been ascertained to make it certain that it ranges between two or three and ten or twelve decrees above the normal or healthy temperature. There is also at first a partial, and soon a total loss of appetite ; a rough and some- what staring appearance of the coat of hair ; a drooping of the ears (characteristic) ; loss of vivacity ; attempts to vomit (in some cases) ; a tendency to root in the bedding and to lie down in a dark and quiet corner ; a dull look of the eyes, which not seldom become dim and injected ; swelling of the head (observed in several cases) ; eruptions on the ears and on other parts of the body (quite frequent) ; bleeding from the nose (in a few '^^----■'^sHirtiliiii iil SWlNRPt.ACUE: HOW RECOGNIZED. 445 ve proved that uring portions and to rabbits, symptoms and communicated reed in these specific germ, or circulation, ivable rapidity set of organs, Ineys, mur.cles, atic glands are 3, one or more ^lague or Hoc^- crowding, and nee communi- :)ropagation is id aggravated asting from a and more or increased, and t temperature : temperature, lake it certain ivelve degrees is also at first §^h and sonie- ooping of the to vomit (in id to lie down /es, which not ;ad (observed ther parts of se (in a few cases) ; swelling of the eyelids and partial or total blindness (in five or six cases) ; dizziness or apparent pressure on the brain ; accelerated and frequently laborious breathing ; more or less constipation, or in some cases, diarrhoea; a gaunt appearance of the Hanks ; a pumping motion of the same at each brcatn ; rapid emaciation ; a vitiated appetite for dung, dirt and saline sub- stances ; increased thirst (sometimes) ; accumulation of mucus in the corners of the eyes (very often at an early stage of the dis- ease) ; more or less copious discharges from the nose, etc. The peculiar offensive and fetid smell of the exhalations and of thu\\:u\ Wherever pigs of hogs had been ringed, the wounds thus made showed a great tendency to ulcerate. In several cases the morbid process had caused sufficient ulcerou's destruction to form an opening directly into the nasal cavities large enough to enable the animal to breathe through, instead of throu,qli the nostrils, which had become nearly dosed by swelling and by exudations and morbid products adhering to their borders. ^' ''' In those few cases in which the disease has not a fatal termi- flfation the symptoms gradually disappear, coughing becomes more frequent and easier ; the discharges from the nose, for a day or two, become copious, but soon diminish, and finally cease alto- gether; appetite returns, and becomes normal; the offensive smell of the excrements disappears ; sores or ulcers that may happen DISriXCTIVK SYAtrrOMS OF SWINE PLAGUR. U7 the previous )ws very faint ffcrtmce to its 1 and jj;cneral tie tliseaso has y, parchment- t bnaks out y-ci^l'.t hours ulsions (com- .stniy;j.;l('. A vvxl only once, '•^•innini:^, or in onecl. It con- okintary mus- ad no oppor- ous nodules) 2 of the body w casc>s whole 5 hand) were 1 left btliind A the lowrr lip, jone ulcerous 'iUi 'III • wounds thus eral cases the estruction to •ge enouj^h to tlirou;;;li the lling nrul by jorders. fatal termi- )e comes more for a day or y cease altO'- ffensive smell may iiappen to exist, show a tendency to heal; the animal becomes more lively, and gains, though slowly, in llesh and strength ; but some diffi- culty of breathing, and a short, somewhat hoarse, hacking cough remains for a long time. The diagnosis, or disdnctive symptoms of the disease, arc thus detailed by I )r. Dctmcrs : "The diagnosis is very easy, especially if swinc-plague is known to be prevailing in the neighborhood, or has already made its appearance in the herd, and if die fact that many animals arc attacked at once, or within a short time and in rapid succession, are taken into consideration. As symptoms of special diagnostic value, scarcely ever absent in any case, may be mentioned the drooping of the ears and of the head; more or less coughing; the dull look of the eyes ; the staring appearance of the coat of hair; the partial or total want of appedte fpr food ; the vitiated appetite for excrements ; the rapid emaciation ; the great debility; the weak and undecided, frequently staggering, gait ; the g.-eat indifference to surroundings ; the tendency to lie down in a dark corner, and to hide the noie, or even the whole head in the bed- ding, and particularly the specific, offensive smell, and the peculiar color ol the exi rcnunts. This symptom is always present, at least in an advanced stage of the disease, no matter whether con- stipation or diarrhoea is existing. As other characteristic symp- toms, though not present in every animal, deserve to be men- tioned : frequent sneezing ; bleeding from the nose ; swelling of the eyelids ; accumulation of mucus in the inner canthi of the eyes ; attempts to vomit, or real vomiting ; accelerated and diffi- cult breathing; thumping or spasmodic contraction of the ab- dominal muscles (flanks) at each breath, and a peculiar, faint and hoarse voice in the last stages of the disease." ' The PROGNOSIS or probable result of the disease is decidedly unfavorable, but is the more so the younger the animals or the larger the herd. Among pigs less than three months old the mortality may be set down as from ninety to one hundred per cent. ; among animals three to six or seven months old the same is from seventy-five to ninety per cent. ; while among older animals that have been well kept and are in good condition, and J.i ^^'^^ at/ium fiif/Mi i ■*'' itif ' -itmk- 448 otNt nmxrjtJty HMtiitM. !!!!. ill naturally stronj^ and vijforoiis, the mortaln y Hornctinu's may not exct't;d iw«niy-rive per cent., but may, on an averaj^e;, rracli forty to filty |)<;r cent. The pro^noxi.s ih conipatiitivcly tavorablc only in those ft:w cases in which ihtr morbid proccH* is not vt;ry violent; in whicii the !«rat of the disease in confmed to the retipiratory organs and to the skin , in which any thumpinjr or pumping motion of the flanks is absent; and in which the patiient is, naturally, a strong, vi^^^orous animal, not too young and in a ^'ood condition ; further, in which but a few, not more than two or three, animv-\lH are kept in the same pen or sty, and receive nothing but clean, unmntimiinated food and pure water for drinking, and in whirh a frequent and thorough cleaning of the sty or pen pn^- vents miy consumption of excrements. The duration of the disease varies according to the violence and the seat of the morbid process, the age and the constitution of the patient, and the treatment and keeping in general. Whei-e the morbid process is violent, where its principal seat is in one of the most vital organs — in the heart, for instance — where a large number of animals are kept together in one sty or pen, where sties and pens are very dirty, or where the sick animals are very younj^r. the disease frequently becomes fatal in a day or two, and somcimes even within twenty-four hours. On the other hand, where the morbid process is not very violent or ex- tensive, where the heart, for instance, is not seriously affected, and where the patients are naturally strong and vigorous, and well kept in every respect, it usually takes from one to three weeks to cause death. If the termination is not a fatal one, the convalescence, at any rate, requires an equal and probably a much longer time. A perfect recovery seldom occurs ; in most cases some lasting disorders — morbid changes which can be re- paired but slowly or not at all — remain behind, and interfere more or less with the growth and fattening of the animaKuviuuii From a pecuniary standpoint, it makes but little difference to the owner whether a pig affected with this plague recovers or dies, because those which do survive usually make very poor returns for the food consumed, unless tiife.att»:k has been a very jnild one. ft^#il*okcn of th<» eontA^^foui anci Inffctlons char- acter of the disease*, and of iiM propaganon by mcan^ of the diffu »ion of gt*rms, Ihrse gemis, though of a v > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ■u Itt ■2.2 I.I r 1^ I zo 6" nioliographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (7:i)S72-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ECMH Collection de microfiches. Canadisn Institute for Historical MIcroreproductlons / Instltut Canadian de microreproductlons historiques .4. NOW THE DISEASE IS TKANSMlTTED. 451 vailed among hogs that had access to running water (as small creeks, streamlets, etc.), that all the hogs and pigs which had access to the creek or streamlet below contracted the disease, usually within a short time, while all the animals which had access above remained exempted, unless they became infected by other means." Dr. Detmers thinks that this infection is not carried through the air to a greater distance than a mile, and perhaps not so far, but that the infection travels in this way with the prevailing direction of the winds. ' ;i ■ ■ " :*! um " One thing," says Dr. Detmers, '* I am sure of, and that is that an exclusive corn diet, as has been asserted by several agricultrral writers, wallowing in dirt and nastiness, starvation, in-and-in breeding, etc., although by no means calculated to pro- mote health or to invigorate the animal organism, cannot con- stitute the cause and cannot produce a solitary case of swine- plague, unless the infectious principles (the bacilli and their germs) are present. If they are, then, of course, dirt and nasti- ness, consumption of unclean food and of dirty water, facilitate an infection, and warmth and moisture, pregnant with organic substances, or organic substances in a state of decay, are un- doubtedly well calculated to preserve the bacillus-germs and to develop the bacilli^ ' The propagation of these germs by inoculation in healthy pigs, and also in rabbits, sheep, and young dogs, and the develop- ment of the swine-plague with all its characteristic symptoms and its fatal result, tried so many times by all these veterinary surgeons, demonstrates conclusively that the bacilli germs were the specific sources of the contagion. ■■--■rfii: -f 'Mv ■.#«rj| riw .arr/itad. .-,« PREVENTIVE MEASURES. ,.$ ,„,,,„^,„,. >, ; Dr. Detmers expresses very clearly and forcibly the measures which these four veterinary surgeons agree in recommending, " If any transportation of, or traffic in, diseased and dead swine is efifectually prohibited by proper laws, a spreading of the swine- plague on a large scale will be impossible, and its ravages will remain limited to localities where the disease-germs have not 4$2 Our western empire. Iieea destroyed, buf have been preserved till they find sufficient food again. In order to prevent such a local spreading, two remedies may be resorted to. The one is a radical one, and consists in destroying every sick hog or pig immediately, wher- ever the disease makes its appearance, and in disinfecting the infected premises by such means as are the most effective and the most practicable. If this is done, and if healthy hogs are kept away from such a locality, say for one month after the dis- eased animals have been destroyed, and the sties, pens, etc., dis- infected with chloride of lime or carbolic acid, and the yards plowed, etc., the disease will be st?imped out. I know that this lis a violent way of dealing with the pb.gue, but in the end it may prove to be by far the cheapest. The other remedy is more of a palliative character, and may be substituted it swine-plague, as b now the case, is prevailing almost everywhere, or in cases in which the radical measures are considered as too severe and too sweeping. It consists in a perfect isolation of every diseased herd, not only during die actual existence of the plague but for some time, say one month, after the occurrence of the last case of sickness, and after the sties and pens have been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with carbolic acid or other disinfectanrs •of equal efficiency, and the yards, etc., plowed. Old straw-stacks, etc., must be burned, or rapidly converted into manure. It is ,tlso very essential thai diseased animals are not allowed any access to runaing water, streamlets or creeks accessible to other healthy s^vine. Those healthy hogs and pigs which arc within sthe possible influence of the contagious or infectious principle, perhaps on the same fa;rm or in the immediate neighborhood of a diseased herd, must be protected by special means. For these, I think, ic will be best to make movable pens, say eight feet square, of common fence-boards (eleven fence-boards will make a pen) ; put tWa animals rn each pen ; place 1^ latter, if possi- ble, on high and dry giroufid, but by no means in an old hog-lot, on a manure-heap, or near, a slough, and move each pen every noon to a new place, until after all danger has passed. If this is done the aninials wiU not be compelled to eat their food soiled with excrements, and as dry earth is a good cNsinfectant, an in- ,*•-, find sufficient ipreading, two Ileal one, and ediately, wher- isinfecting the : effective and dthy hogs are I after the dis- pens, etc., dis- and the yards know that this the end it may sdy is more of wine-plague, as or in cases in severe and too every diseased plague but for )f the last case een thoroughly ^r disinfectants •Id straw-stacks, manure. It is ot allowed any essible to other hich arc within tious principle, sighborhood of ins. For these, say eight feet >ards will make latter. If possi- an old hog-lot, sach pen every passed. If this iheir food soiled ilnfectant, an in- rKEVENTIVR Aff.n/CAT/OX OF iJJTIE USE. ^if fection, very likely, will not take place. Besides this, the troughs must always be cleaned before water or foci is put in, and the water for drinking must be fresh and pure, or be drawn from a good well immediately before it is poured into the troughs. Water from ponds, or that which has been exposed in any way or manner to a contamination with the infectious principle, must not be used. If all this is complied with, and the disease not- withstanding should make its appearance and attack one ot another of the animals thus kept, very likely it will remain coiv* fined to that one pen. ' • ' > ' ' i' "If the hogs or pigs cannot be treated in that way, it will ht advisable to keep every one shut up in its pen, or in a bare yard, from sundown until the dew next morning has disappeared from the grass, and to allow neither sick hogs nor pigs, nor othei* animals, nor even persons, who have been near or in contact with animals affected with swine plague, to come near the animab intended to be protected. That good ventilation and general cleanliness constit-te valuable auxiliary measures of prevention! may not need my mentioning. The worst thing that possibly can be done, if swine-plague is prevailing in the neighborhood^ is to shelter the hogs and pigs under or in an old straw or hay stack, because nothing is more apt to absorb the contagious Qt infectious principle, and to preserve it longer or more effectively than old straw, hay, or manure-heaps composed mostly of hay or straw. It is even probable that the contagion of swine-plague, like that of some other contagious diseases, if absorbed by, or clinging to, old straw or hay, etc., will remain effective and ii source of spreading the disease for months, and maybe for a> year. "Therapeutically but little can be done to prevent an outbreak of swine-plague. Where it is sufficient to destroy the infectious pnrictple outside of the animal organism, carboFtc acid is effec- tive, and, therefore, a good disinfectant ; but where the conta- gious or infectious principle has already entered the animal Qi^ganism its value is doubtful. Still, wherever there is cause to suspect that the food or the water for drinking may have become contaminated with the contagion of swine-plagme, it will be ad^f •iM 5: 'I 454 OUR WESTER f/ EMPIRE. disable to give every morning and evening some carbolic acid, gay about ten drops for each animal weighing from 120 io 150 pounds, in the water for drinking ; and wherever there is reason to suspect that the infectious principle may be floating in the air, it will be advisable to treat every wound or scratch a hog or pig may happen to have immediately with diluted carbolic acid. During a time, or in a neighborhood in which swine-plague is prevailing, care should be taken neither to ring nor to castrate any hog or pig, because every wound, no matter how small, is apt to become a port of entry for the infectious principle, and the very smallest amount of the latter is sufficient to produce the disease." , u <. i; ,, .:; .: >-• ■■■<■,.<: •;,,•■■,. , "Still, all these minor measures and precautions will avail but little unless a dissemination of the infectious principle, or disease- germs, is made impossible, i. Any transportation of dead, sick, or infected swine, and even of hogs or pigs that have been the least exposed to the contagion, or may possibly constitute the bearers of the same, must be effectively prohibited. 2. Every one who loses a hog or pig by swine-plague must be compelled by law to bury the same immediately, or as soon as it is dead, at least four feet deep, or else to cremate the carcass at once, so that the contagious or infectious principle may be thoroughly destroyed, and not be carried by dogs, wolves, rats, crows, etc., to other places." Another thing may yet be mentioned, which, if properly exe- cuted, will at least aid very materially in preventing the disease -, l^at is, to give all food either in clean troughs, or if corn in the ear is fed, to throw it on a wooden platiorm which can be swept clean before each feeding. , ,,j>v>, TREATMENT. ' ■■• *'If the cause and the nature of the morbid process and the character and the importance of the morbid changes are taken into proper consideration, it cannot be expected that a therapeu- tic treatment will be of much avail in a fully developed case of swine-plague. 'Specific' remedies, such as are advertised in column advertisements in certain newspapers, and warranted to be infallible, or to cure every case, can do no good whatever. TKRATMENT OF SWINE-PLACUE. 4SS ; carbolic acid, om 1 20 lo 1 50 there is reason atinj; in the air, ch a hog or pig carbolic acid, swine-plague is nor to castrate ir how small, is s principle, and t to produce the ns will avail but ciple, or disease- on of dead, sick, it have been the ly constitute the aited. 2. Every st be compelled \ as it is dead, at cass at once, so yr be thoroughly rats, crows, etc., if properly exe- ting the disease •, )r if corn in the ch can be swept .4. process and the anges are taken that a therapeu- veloped case of ire advertised in ind warranted to good whatever. They are a downright iraud, and serve only to draw the money out of the pockets of the despairing farmer, who is ready to catch at any straw. No cure has ever be one recovered from a slight attack— it had external lesions, which were treated with carbolic acid — and one remained ex- empted. To bleed sick hogs, in some places a customary practice among farmers against all ailments of swine, has had invariably the very worst consequences, and accelerated a fatal termination. A great many farmers in the neighborhood of Champaign have used several kinds of 'specifics' and 'sure cure ' nostrums, but none of them are inclined to talk about the results obtained, and so it must be supposed that the latter have Hemained invisible. h1 ;,;... i...,...,. . - .; . ,.. . "A case which I should haife related, deserves to t>e noticed. Mr. Crews had forty-odd hogs, of which he had lost ten of twelve, and was losing at the rate of two to four a day. 1 !'fl 4 I I ^j8 OUR tVesrHMAT KMPIKM. advisetl him to separate thone apparently yet healthy, or but ftli^'htly affected, from the very sick oncH ; to put the former in a separate yard, not accesnible to the othern ; to feed them clean food ; to water them three timers a day from a well, and to gwe to each animal, two or three times a ilay, about ten drops of carbolic acid in their drinking water, lie did so, and saved every one he sep.irated (fourteen in number), while all others, with the exception of two animals which died later, died within a short time." Dr. Salmon had made many experiments in the treatment of the disease with bisulphite of soda, salicylic acid, bichromate of potassa, and bromidt; of ammonia. These were all administered at an early sta^je of the disease. The first two mitigated the symptoms somewhat, but in most instances the fatal result followed. The last two did not produce any appreciable result. Dr. Law recommends the following measures to arrest and extirpate the disease : Witliout entering at this time into all the details of the necessary restrictive measures, the following may be especially mentioned : i . The appointment of a local authority and inspector to carry out the measures for the suppression of the disease. 2. The injunction on all having the ownership or care of hogs, and upon all who may be called upon to advise concerning the same, or to treat them, to make known to such local authority all cases of real or suspected hog-fever, under a penalty for every neglect of such injunction. 3. The obligation of the local authority, under advice of a competent veterinary inspector, to see to the destruction of all pigs suffering from the plague, their deep burial in a secluded place, and the thorough disinfection of the premises, utensils, and persons. 4. The thorough seclusion of all domestic animals that have been in contact wuh the sick pigs, and in the case of sheep and rabbits the destruction of the sick when this shall appear necessary. 5. Unless, where all the pigs in the infected herd have been destroyed, the remainder should be placed on a register and examined daily by the inspector, so that the sick may be taken out and slaughtered on the appearance of the first signs of illness. 6. Sheep and rabbits that have been in contact with the I GKSKHAl SASITAKY MKAXVKKS. 459 althy, or but »c fonnrr in a L*d tlvin clean well, anti to out ten drops so, and saved lilc all others, L'r, died within ; treatment of bichromate of 11 administtred mitigated the le fatal result reciabic result, to arrest and me into all the foUowinjj may local authority suppression of : ownership or pon to advise known to such fever, under a The obligation ent veterinary ering from the 1 the thorough sons. 4. The have been in ep and rabbits ear necessary. rd have been register and may be taken first signs of ontact with the nick herd nV uld aUo he registered, and any removal of such siiould be prohibited until one month after the last sick animal shall have been dis[>osr«l of. 7. All animals and birds, wild and tam<', and all persons except those employed in the work, should \w. mosL carefully excluded from inf«'otfd premises imtil these have b<'en disinfected andean be considenul safe. S. The lossct Mustained by the necessary slaughter of hogs should be made good to the owner to the extent of not more than two-ihirils of the rc?.l value as assesried by competent and disinterested parties. 9. Such reimbursement should be forfeitetl when an owtKT fails to notify the proper authorities of the existence of th<; disease, or to assist in carrying out the measures necessary for its suppression. 10. A register should be drawn up of all pigs present on farms within a given area around the infected herd — say, one mile — and no removal of such animals should be allowed until the disease has been definitely suppressed, unless such removal is made by special license granted by the local authority after they have assured themselves by the examination of an expert that the animals to be moved are sound and out of a healthy herd. 11. Railroad and shipping agents at adjoining stations should be forbidden to ship pigs, excepting under license of the local authority, until the plague has been suppressed in the district. 12. When infected pigs have been sent by rail, boat, or other mode of conveyance, measures should be taken to insure the thorough disinfection of such cars or conveyances, as well as the banks, docks, yards, and other places in or on which the diseased animals may have been turned. Other measures would be essential in particular localities. Thus in the many places where the hogs are turned out as street scavengers, and meet from all different localities, such liberty should be put a stop to whenever the disease appears in the district, and all hogs found at large should be rendered liable to summary seizure and destruction. The great difficulty of putting in practice the means necessary to the extirpation of the disease will be found to consist in the lack of veterinaiy experts. No one but the accomplished veterinarian can be relied on to distinguish between the different ■itmmmixm^^'- 4to Otm if£Sr/tMJV KMrUTM. coinmiiniciiblu «ii The rearing and bn.eding of swine Is conducted In connection with other farming, and often, and i>crhapB most profitably, on dairy farms. Where the swine can have good pasture and plenty of buttermilk, or sour milk with their food, they thrive well. Where there are large herds of swine, if the farmer raises also large crops of corn, or the Egyptian rice-corn, he can fatten his swine very cheaply, hi. >Jj(»«H *>;!I nnVH e'vn'\i\ inr.tif -nil m f-n(\ J ; may ind to adopt thr (lifTrrcnt rroiii rt'porW «"rn found to cut kinds of r> tapruHtrttis, IS. 'I'o clant ive mrtsiircii distinguish 1 wide; extent worn it would iH the natural ' science and id must for a rts to restrict luccosH under ;o losses that njfc'd effort ifc ndtheU \itcd It of all dtose future well- in connection jrofitably, on re and plenty thrive well, er raises also an fatten his for breeding spidemic dis- f-scction, 320 \f in corn and fty cows, can the Poland- bur boars of ■ r |aoo; may< count upon two littern a year (the \rc%x. limrn arc in Mar« h and Scptrml>«:r), and an increaKn for the two llttrrs of fourteen to each NOW, and may market the neKt year 330 ^At ho^<« wri^diin^ An avemj;e of over 40CI pounds earh, at $3.50 to ^4 per hundred pounds' live wci);ht, at the lowest price nettinj^ him ^4,90^ and have enoujfh left to jrjve hirn at the end of the rnsuin;; year a herst valuable points of a good hog. A first-clas.s Herkshirc should be flossy black, white strip in face, feet and tip of tail white, body deep andmodcrauJy long, straight back, hams thick and full, legs straight, short, and rtrong, face short, wide between eyes, neck sI;ort and thick, jowl heavy, indicating quick, easy feeder, ears mv^Uer- ately small, slightly inclined forward, tail small, hair fine and thick, skin fine and pliable. Berkshire boars crossed on Poland- China sows roa. fattened about 100; soW over 100 shoats, we'ghing oveir 100 pounds each, fifty or more pigs and sows ; ha i as high as 400 at one time ; now have 200. Berkshire is a te.ji- .Ajijiiy.Mi ' 8iai g a,. ' .»iA ' '. ' t. ' » ' j'-"i.j> u».CTi»»-. Easlem Kansas, »w raising pure- :ir gentle, quiet non-liability to >d length, short I square hams, lioi i: head, wide e-breds, Poland s old ; sows, at ch and Septem- s weigh 375 to II confined, hav- rate from other feed dry corn. >ilers, but found >asture to make Never had any about two cents at twenty cents 3ork, $3.37 per ill-fattened hog success here; ng and raising f Kansas, — "In Poland China, >hire males on id, having been [) old sows and d 100 pigi that old fewer pigs, shoats, and fait 200; in 1878, nes, and had at ver 100 shoats, igs and sows-; Berkshire is a EXPERIENCE OF KANSAS FAHMERS. fine^haired, black hog, some white in face, white feet, small, erect ears, round, symmetrical body, and short legs. Think Berkshire on our Western stock produces as good results as any other, making a beautiful, easily-kept hog. In my large herd, don't use boarls first younger than one year, and have used same ones two years, bdt think one year preferable ; can't keep my sows sepa- rate ; should be one year old at time of first litter ; breed them twice a year ; they will begin to farrow April 1 5th this year, and continue till next November ; when I had fewer, had litters come in March and September ; saves labor and feed to have them come, as much as possible, in the growing season of the year, and a larger percentage of pigs can be saved. Stock hogs, at a year old, weigh 300 pounds; fat ones, 300 pounds and upwards. Have had no disease ; think close, foul pens a fruitful source of it. Since getting a large number, am compelled to put each sow in pen by herself, just before pigging time, and keep them there till pigs are three or four weeks old, then put several together in a small field or yard, with shelter and pasture ; also have a yard with fence open sufficiently to let pigs through, so as to feed them extra; have a three-acre lot, with water and shelter, for fattening purposes ; balance run in a sixty-acre field of prairie with horses, cattle, etc. ; water and straw sheds for shelter ; feed com twice a day; have had 400 together, but stronger ones are apt to cheat younger ones out of their feed. Don't think it necessary to grind and cook feed ; pasture is necessary for health as well as for feed ; have so far used only prairie grass. Pork at three cents per pound, live weight, will leave a margin for profit Receivdd %i,(it iV' '■<:', "'•' Im-- ■■! "i^- ■-, i^' •■;."(•)■-.. jMi)i.;-;f But while the " broiicho " has great labors to perform, and often with scanty and indifferent fare, his humble, patient, and much-enduring congener, the " burro," has a still harder time of it. Every sort of long-eared animal, except the mule, from the stately Spanish or Maltese ass down to the gentle little donkey bestridden by the young tyrant in knickerbockers, goes by the name of "burro," and its office is to bear burdens. Over the : ^i ..^^ssiaii'afe*- I! if H ^68 OUJt WESTERN' EMPIRE. passes of the Great Divide, nine, ten and eleven thousand feet above the sea, passes never tracked by a wheel, and only pene- trable by the sure-footed ass during the four summer months, the patient little donkey picks his way, bearing a heavy load of concentrated ore, or panniers of " canned vittlea," or perhaps furniture or grain, which could not by any other mode reach the mining camps far up in the mountain gulches. Strange that an animal so gentle, meek and patient, should, by the mingling of a nobler strain of blood with its own, give birth to a progeny so thoroughly perverse and refractory, yet so indispensable on account of its hardiness and strength as the mule. This contrary, obstinate, sulky brute, whose intelligence seems to be wholly concentrated on the best mode of accom- plishing the greatest amount of mischief and destruction, is nevertheless invaluable in all the western lands. He commands a price at least fifty per cent, higher than that of a horse of the same grade ; and is universally employed in hauling ore, timber, miners' supplies, groceries, dry-goods, furniture, hardware, etc., etc. Unlike the burro, the primary function of the mule is not to cross the " Divides " on mountain trails, but to draw over the roads, good or bad (generally the latter), those huge wagons with their loads of from two to four tons. A mule-team may consist of four, six or eight mules. But there are pack-mules also, which bear on their backs heavy loads, fastened to them with all the packer's skill, and which, if well bound with the skiU ful but complicated diamond hitch,* will resist the determined and desperate efforts of the mule to rid himself of it. But woe to the packer who, in his zeal to display his skill, comes within * This ii a peculiar fastening of the ropes which bind the pack on the mule's back, and thi ■ability to execute it successfully is regarded »« one of the highest attainments among the moun- taineers. It is related of one of Professor Hayden's corps, that at one time he was separated from bis coropaniotw and fell into a camp of packen and tnule-drtvcrs. His new companions looked with contefnpt upon the delicate and apparently frail youth, and btgan to badger him. " You are nothing but a tender-foot," they said ; " what business have you up here, among men Chat have been in the moantatns for years ? You had better go home to your Yankee friends and let them take care of yo«. W« ilon't need «ny • tender-feet • up here." " I nuqr be a tender- foot," replied the young man, quietly, "probably I am; but I can put the dinnjond ihitch on a mule's pack with any of you." " Can you ? " asked his tn-ventors, in astonishment. " Then you are weicnme to the beat we have in camp^" .... ji^ n thousand feet and only pene- Kimmer months, a heavy load of les," or perhaps mode reach the ur Mil I'li' patient, should, ith its own, give efractory, yet so strength as the lose intelligence Tiode of accom- l destruction, is He commands >f a horse of the iling ore, timber, :, hardware, etc., " the mule is not |:o draw over the e huge wagons mule-team may are pack-mules istened to them nd with the sk'iU the determined of it. But woe 11, comes within e mule's buck, and lh<« nent« among the rooun- e time he was separated His new companions began to badger him. >u up here, amofig men our Yankee friends and I maijr be a tender- the diamond >hilch on a Mtonifbment. " Then DOGS OF AJ.L A'WDS. ^ reach of the heels of this vicious brute ; he will find it looking most demurely, but without the slightest warning those legs will lash out with lightning sj>eed, and whosoever awd whatsoever is within their reach, will feel that they possess all the hardness and elasticity of steel, and will not desire to r<:peat the experiment. The rearing and breedirig of mules is not a very expensive business. It is only necessary to have the nuile parent of large size and of good pro[)ortions ; the mother may be a mart! of almost any breed ; even the Indian ponies or the mustangs answer the purpose. The mule colts are much hardier and tougher than the horse colts, and feed upon anything which comes in their way, shavings, sage-brush, weeds, bufl'alo grass or anything else. They bring a high price because the demand is always greater than the supply. There is probably no agri- cultural business which will return surer and more liberal profits, upon a moderate outlay, than this. We regret that we are un- able to give figures, but the horse and mule-breeders, if not a close corporation, are ^t least close-mouthed, and will not. as the slang phrase goes, give themselves away. Our record of domestic animals and their relations to the farmer, stock-raiser, or sheep-master would not be complete without a notice of the dog. Nowhere is it more true than in the Great West, that " there are dogs and dogs." From the shepherd-dog or colly, which rivals man in point of intelligence, or the graceful and fleet grey-hound, whether of English, Danish or Italian breed, to the base cur-dogs which are always found around an Indian camp, base, sneaking, half-starved brutes, half wolf or coyote, the descent is almost infinite. The sheep-farmers complain bitterly of the ravages of these cur-dogs (and some- times, it is to be feared, of the better sorts) among their flocks, and often in their haste and anger, demand that all dogs shall be slaughtered or banished from the State, not even excepting the' collies, which, with rare exceptions, are the best friends of the sheep ; but while it is to be wished that th€y might succeed in destroying all the mongrels and curs, we cannot desire the destruction of the more beautiful and intelligent canines who are not destroyers of sheep or cattle, -^i;.. j. ,-,.,. ;, • mji;, , ,/;:, > /. i! )Ti ; \i^ MM I, It .,-ii*.ii' '^iVt'ikjv,* ■' 470 OUK H^RSTKRX F.MPrKE. \ t i The shephrrd-dojj Ih truly the companion of his master, listrn!* to and understands every word spoken in his hearing, and is so faithful in ^uardin);; his woolly flock that he will sacritice his own life for their preservation. We may be told that sometimes even these dogs have proved unfaithful to the trust confided to them, and have killed the sheep they were set to protect. This may be true in very rare instances, but have there been no cases where men, honored and trusted, have proven false to their trusts ? If so, why visit on a poor dog the punishment due to man, with his superior intelligence? ' • In those parts of the West where game is still plentiful, hunt- ing dogs are in great demand, and there are many kennels of superior breeds. The hunters in Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Dakota and on the Pacific slope, have many fine dogs adapted to the great variety of game found there. The pointers and setters for feathered game, are of excellent quality, and the stag-hounds, employed for hunting the deer and elk, arc not sur- passed anywhere. The fox-hounds and wolf-dogs are not always quite so good, but answer a tolerable purpose. Very few of the most plucky dogs like to attack the grizzly bear, for a single blow of its powerful claws kills them. They are not in so much fear of the black or cinnamon bears, and often render efficient aid to the hunters in bringing them down. The whole tribe of cur-dogs, Indian dogs, mongrels, and crosses on the coyote or the gray wolf are a nuisance, and kill more sheep than the coyotes or gray wolves, ten times over. The laws for the destruction of these pests are very strict and severe, but it is difficult to carry them into effect. Where there are Indian camps there are sure to be scores of these wretched dogs, mangy, ugly, and half-starved, but the Indian values them very highly, and some of the savage tribes offer them as sacrifices at the burial of their dead braves, while others, when hard pressed, cook and eat them. Most of them seem to be on excellent terms with the coyotes, the most despicable of all the carrion hunters of the wolf tribe, and it is not always easy to distinguish which is dog and which coyote. We have alluded, incidentally, more than once to the rearing RA/srNG rovunv. 471 master, listen? rinj;, and is so crilice his own lat sonvtimes St contidcd to protect. This been no cases false to their shment due to plentiful, hunt- iny kennels of ido, Wyominj*. nany tine dogs The pointers [uality, and the Ik, are not sur- are not always /ery few of the ir, for a single not in so much ender efficient whole tribe of the coyote or eep than the laws for the vere, but It is Indian camps ,, mangy, ugly, y highly, and at the burial sed, cook and erms with the unters of the li which is dog Ito the rearing of poultry, as a pursuit to be follow(;d in connection with a grain* farm, a market-garden, or even a laborer's " little patch " of land. There is hardly any crop which a farmer will find more profit- able, in the small way, to help out his income, than a crop of chickens. We do not recommend the breeding of fancy fowls, which most people find unprofitable. Neither would we advise the establishment of a chicken factory. These are well enough in their way and are probably sometimes the sources of a large revenue ; but they require capital, experience and skill. But every farmer can have fifty or a hundre'^' hens; the barn-yard variety is the best if crossed with Drahma, Moudan or Hamburg, Black Spanish or Plymouth Rock males. If the children want a brood of Ban- tams, indulge them. The outlay is inconsiderable, and the fresh eggs and the chickens pay a large profit. Take these examples: Raising Poultry in Iowa. — Mrs. D. W. Gage, near Ames, Iowa, raised In 1871, 600 chickens, of which about 150 were Brahmas and Houdans, the rest being half-blood. One Brahma cock, nine months old, weighed 11^ pounds. The poultry brought at Ames 6 cents per pound, live weight, while pork brought $3.20 per hundred. Mrs. Gage states that she can raise poultry as cheaply as she can pork, weight for Weight, and gen- erally sell for twice as much. As to her method of rearing, for three or four days after hatching, the chickens were fed with hard-boiled eggs and cheese-curd, after which they received mush made from corn-meal and wheat. Mrs. Gage recommends willows planted close as a shelter for fowls ; the leaves also afford them an agreeable food. She finds the Prahmas profitable for market, but for the home-table prefers Houdans. Mr. Arthur P. Ford, of Charleston, S. C, an experienced fowl- raiser, thus records his experience in the extreme South, which will be of interest in those States and Territories south of the thirty-fifth parallel : toio'j vniv^^inijui ;k."-* (:■ ; ' '.:• -i 'ili !.,,..;.;-: "Breeds. — The best breeds suitable to our climate are the Game, Black Hamburg, Spanish, Dominique, and the common Barn-yard, and also crosses between the Brahma and any of the 1 i 4^* OVK tirssrhttu XA/j'/jf/t. ■cv foregoing. The large thoroughbred Asiallcs do not thrive nouth of the thirty-fifth parallel of latitude ; the climate iH too warm for them ; they may live two or three yearn, but their progeny in- variably degenerates. This is now a vt;ry generally accrpt^'d fact among those who have had experience in raising fowls in the South for actual profit. The dark colors arc the hardiest, and in every way the most remunerative. Light-colored fowls arc generally delicate, and nearly always inferior layers and set- ters. Persons forming a stock from any of the six varieties named should be careful to select the dark colors. White fowls are very pretty for the fancier, but they are an injudicious invest- ment for the ordinary poultry-raiser in the South. " HousHs. — Fowls should in all cases, wherever practicable, be allowed to sleep on trees for the eight months from ist March to I St November; they enjoy the privilege very much, and are always healthy ; whereas when sleeping in houses during this warm period they will be constantly liable to all the diseases that appertain to their kind. When the cold weather comes on they should be put into the house at night, as they will not lay well during the winter if exposed to the cold rain and ice. The house should be placed upon the highest part of the grounds assigned to the fowls, in order to secure thorough drainage. It should be built of inch boards, placed two inches apart, to afford good ventilation ; the roof should be close, the floor covered with dry, loose saiid, and the roost made of two-inch laths, and slipped between the openings, in order that they may be withdrawn fre- quently and cleansed with kerosene oil. The house should con- tain nothing whatever except the roosts; no nests or boxes should be allowed in it ; and it should be whitewashed at least twice during the winter, and the floor frequently cleansed and supplied with fresh loose sand. ruri .' .itmiT/ ti;/; ."Lice. — Red lice will infest a fowl-house, even during the winter, in the South, and will be principally found on the under sides of the roosts, in small mahogany-colored patches. These lice infallibly cause sore heads, swelled eyes, and the dangerous disease known to fanciers as roup ; they are instantly killed, how-> ever, by applications of kerosene oil ; and for this purpose the lU iimmmmmmmmmitim tOVLTKY JTA/S/m: tS Tlftt SOVT/r. VJ not thrive nouth I in too warm for ifir projrt'ny in- ncrally accepted raisinj; fowU in arc tin; hardiest, ht-colored TowIh r layers and sct- thc six varieties rs. White fowls ijudicious invest- 1. :r practicable, be from 1st March y much, and arc uses durinj; this the diseases that r comes on they will not lay welt ice. The house rounds assigned lage. It should t, to afford good overed with dry, ths, and slipped e withdrawn fre- juse should con- nests or boxes washed at least ly cleansed and ven during the id on the under patches. These \ the dangerous ntly killed, how- his purpose tho roosts should \yc withdrawn and oiled nt least every three woekt. Wh<*n fowU have sore heads, caused by these lite, they will die, unless promptly taken in hand. A simple but iniallible cure is to grease their heads tiaily for three or four days with olive-uil, and make them sleep on the trees in the open air. ^*l^^• large white lice will never be found on fowls that sleep on trees during the spring and summer months ; but if allowed to occupy a house, these lice cannot be escap Icii-alitic!! nr no ilirty |>ri*mi«es. They nhoiiltl iirvrr Iw aIIowihI uri-fHM tu rottt-d iimiuirr hrapw, bn the ammonia ^cner* ated by siirh hrapji aiwuy>t taiiMii Moro cynt and, if (oniiiuuHl. death. n»t«rc In a very ^Tr<\\ tlif'fcrence Ix'twi-rn an ordinary •table, or cow-yard, and a com(>oat hrap ; in thr Ibrmrr thr f.iwU obtain much food without riitk, but in the latter the food obtained id always at the cost of disra«e. "SKrriNci Hk.ns, — llenn should never Ikj net lirtween mt May and ist Srptrmbrr, as the simall lice will become trouble> •ome durin(<; thr warm weather ; and the youn^ chickN will not thrive. I'licy may be Hct advanta^eouMly at any time between Septrmbt in coops for ^ of them will e meat, finely )und of great be kept for ;ven hens will y' family in the fOUL m Y KAiHtHQ, ^y| cmintfy, nnd will yield an ahiindanc'** of ejjj»t nnd thirkenn for c-onHiiinptinn an«l haU' annually. Ihe proliin of krrpin^ fowU in n prui ticablr. onlinary way may be drmonatratrd by the tollowinif MUtcment, calculated lor a |m nod oi two yearM: "Dtvro*. To ,<|e hfncU nf fowl*, «l 75 renu iwr |Mir |ti 15 Tu allow M lo ilie In two yft*T% «ni| Im rcpiared «t 75 tenu |irr |Mtr j 00 To 4H litinlu-l« of frrd, al 50 :cn crrs. At 15 rent* l4i SS Ky 506 < hi< kcnit hud hcd, Irm 100 died, My, 4c6 railed, lit ao centi . Mi jo Ily manure uvrd in two years 3 00 By 30 head of fowU, at 73 rents per pair * I >5 "Thus, thirty heads of fowls will pay a clear profit of 588. S5 in two y«!ars, or an average of %\.\'i e.ich annually, (jood speci- mens of the brcetis named will protluce annually about sixty to seventy eggs each. The settings should average thirteen, and of thcrse about eleven will hatch. The extension of poultry-rais- ing should in every way be encouraged, as it increases the supply of good food at a very reduced cost."', ./ ., ,. 1 • Turkeys are also a source of profit near villages and large towns. Where land is plenty, as at tlie West, it pays well to give poultry a tolerably wide range, accustoming them to come home at night to roost and be fed. They will make havoc with the grasshoppers and locusts, and prevent losses from these pests. They fatten easily, although they require care when they are young. They always command a good price, and as Mrs. Gage says of the fowls, it costs no more, pound for pound, to raise them than it does pork, and they will bring three or four times the price. ./,, .^ - -^ . ,? , . , . ;i.. 1 .4Siimnsai«>:%«a>tkiu^,mrc*:».^x ^ OUR WESTEKS EMPIRE. Ducks and geese are also profitabW: when- there is water. The latter especially haw^ a triple value, for th«ir eggs, their flesh and their feathers, which are plucked from the living bird, once or twice a year. This is a large business now in some parts of Texas, and is conducted on an extended scale. Pigeons are easily raised, especially in the vicinity of towns ; they are very prolific, and the young pigeons or squabs command high prices. The raising of poultry in the West is attended with some risks, as they have many enemies. Foxes, coyotes, raccoons, weasels, ground-hogs, and other four-footed marauders, and the whole tribe of hawks, owls and vultures, are ready to pounce upon the helpless fowls. But a still more formidable enemy is the so-called " chicken cholera," a disease which has made sad havoc in the poultry- yards of all parts of the Country. Many farmers have lost hun- dreds of fowls, and' where a flock are attacked from twenty-five to ninety per cent. die. Ducks, geese and turkeys are as subject tb it as hens and chickens. The disease is contagious and goes throujjh an entire flock when one or two are affected. The symptoms are : at first, the fowl begins to mope around, some- times seeming to have a full crop, but oftener an empty one; it will not eat, but drinks often, and seems to be very thirsty ; the comb and watricc become a dark red, nearly a black color ; the droppings are at first of a pale green color, then dark green and yellow, but grow thinner^ clearer and more liquid with each evacuation, till utterly weakened and prostrate, in the course of from twelve to forty-eight hours the fowl dies, usually with great appearance of agony. Many times they will use their last re- maining strength to crawl or flutter away under bushes or a fence to die. The liver is always found to be diseased. They sometimes have an appearance of fatness, but this is due to dropsical effusion. The discharges and the flesh of the fowls have a most offensive odoft'xj>^ s. himmnm-i ky/jwIc y;'>jjT .j.;n(7o/ 'nn That the cause of this disease, like that of the so-called "hog cholera," was a germ or organism of a contagious nature, and capable of the most rapid propagation, was discovered in Franc " ere is water, ir eggs, their e living bird, now in some lie. Pigeons ns; they are Dinmand high :d with some tes, raccoons, ders, and the dy to pounce illed " chicken the poultry- lave lost hun- twenty-five to re as subject cus and goes iffected. The Lround, some- ampty one ; it y thirsty; the ck color; the irk green and lid with each the course of ally with great their last re- bushes or a ;eased. They this is due to the fowls have PROF. PASTEUR'S DISCOVERIES. 477 nUiKii '.fii.^ So-called "hog" js nature, and ;red in Franr^' by M. Moritz, of Upper Alsatia, and M. Toussaitit, of Alfort, French veterinary surgeons, in 1878 and 1879. Sig. Peroncito, a veterinary surgeon of Turin, also ':orrohorated their investiga- tions. It was reserved, however, for M. Pasteur, the eminent French physiologist and chemist, to apply the knowledge already obtained on this point to practical use. In a paper '• on virulent diseases, and especially on the disease commonly callec^ chicken cholera," read before the Academie des Sciences, February 9th, 1880, and translated and published here by P. Casamayer, Ph. D., in the "Journal of the American Chemical Society," Prof. Pasteur details the results of his experiments carried orf for many months with this specific poisonous germ, by which he has dem- onstrated that its virulence may be greatly diminished, and that if the chickens are inoculated with this modified germinal poison their sickness will be slight and they will be perfectly protected from the original disease. In a word he has applied Jenner's principle of vaccination to the chicken cholera. The processes by which this may be accomplished are so simple and the results so satisfactory that we presume it will be largely practised where there is danger of the prevalence of chicken cholera. But until this method can be more generally made known and adopted, it is certainly best that measures of prevention should be resorted to, and that the roosts and henneries should be kept perfectly free from vermin, by the free use of whitewash and kerosene oil, that no lice or other insects should infest the fowls, and that they should have pure water and perfectly clean feed, with fine gravel, red pepper, and occasionally a litde assafoetida put in their water to act as a tonic. Their food should not be exclusively of corn, but meal, bran and other articles should be given a part of the time. They should have no access either to their own droppings, or any manure heaps, especially if any dis- ease prevails among other domestic animals, but should have during the day the range of a large, and if possible, gravelly lot. Another disease which affects fowls very often, and is con- siderably destructive, though less so than the chicken cholera, is roup. Under ,tluB name several distinct diseases, though all afiectiog the atr passage, are included. It is sometimes »t4«^ 1 i , f 478 OVk WESTERN EMPIRE. analogous to croup, and the fowls die of suffocation ; at other times it is only a severe catarrh, and sometimes a contagious one; at still other times it is an inflammation of the lungs or a sort of pleuro-pneumonia. These are all caused primarily by damp and unwholesome temperatures at the roosts, foul air, currents of air, etc. The symptoms are sneezing, mucous discharge from the nostrils, froth in the corners of the eyes, and a tendency to suffocation — stimulating food, red pepper, and bran mash, are as good as any medicines internally, and the external application of a wash of sulphate of iron (copperas), spirits of^ turpentine or kerosene to the head and throat (taking care that none of it enters the eyes), are the best external remedies. If the mucous discharge is copious and offensive, separate the sick fowls from the rest of the fllock, as, at this stage, the disease is contagious. A lump of borax of the size of a chestnut dissolved in one or two quarts of their drinking water, is a very good remedy for tliC suffocating trouble of the throat. ■1;./ \''\\v- -'iu ;i:fn ■ \;:\ ji'-r. '," ','(! ;<((:.' r^'T^a'^ CHAPTER XI. trn.<\ M Special Crops — Rice Corn — Pearl Millet — Other Millets — Hungarian Grass — Sweet Potatoes — Pea-nut or Ground-nut — The Sugar Question once more — Is not Corn worth more than Twenty Cents a |M Bushel to Manufacture into Sugar? — The Cultivation of Textiles — S,h Flax, Hemp, Ramie, Jute, Tampico, Tule, Nettle, Esparto Grass, the ,H Brake or Swamp Cane — Some of the Cacti — Cultivation of Oil- I Producing Plants— Castor Bean, Olive, Flax, Rape, Hemp and Cotton ^. Seed, Tar Weed, Sesame, Peppermint, Spearmint, Bergamot — Culti- y VATioN OF Nut-bearing and Fruit-bearing Trees and Shrubs — English ^"^'Walnut, Black Walnut, Hickorv-nut, Common Chestnut, Italian l»i Chestnut, Almond, Filbert, Pecan, Hazel-nut, Pawpaw, Persimmon, {j;t Japanese Persimmon, Pomegranate, Mandrake, Apricot, Medlar, ^^ Orange, Lemon, Shaddock, etc.— Ordinary Fruits, Apples, Pears, Quinces, Peaches, Plums, Cherries, Prunes, etc. — Small Fruits, Grapes, Currants, Gooseberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Dew- berries, Partridgeberries, Whortleberries— Employment for Profes- fi sional Men, Artisans, Tradesmen, Florists, Market-Gardeners, Factory - Operatives, btc. ■ ja..j. ,;,■,: ..,r:i,,.,,, .„., :\,^^ In previous chapters we have endeavored to'j^kce before the sfttler the results attained by skilful farmers And stock-raiser4>, :ion ; at other a contagious the lungs or a I primarily by osts, foul air, zing, mucous the eyes, and pepper, and lally, and the n (copperas), throat (taking best external and offensive, , at this stage, the size of a rinking water, if the throat. '"*.'! .' i' '■ ' ';'.»■ ('.-': !TS — Hungarian • — The Sugar rwENTY Cents a » OF Textiles — lrto Grass, the VATION OF OlL- SMP AND Cotton RGAMOT — CULTl- HRUBs — English ESTNUT, Italian AW, Persimmon, iicoT, Medlar, Apples, Pears, Fruits, Grapes, ckcerries, Dew- ST FOR PrOFES- >eners. Factory (C^ before the stock-raisenS», SPECIAL CROPS. 479 in the ordinary crops and avocations of an agricultural or pastoral life. It now remains for us to show what special crops have proved, or are likely to prove, profitable, when their culture is undertaken under favorable circumstances. We have already said in our First Part, that above the thirty- second parallel of north latitude, the best first crops which a setder can raise, on new lands, are wheat or the root crops. But, after the arable land of the farm has been under the plow two or three times, and a rotation of crops seems desirable, it is well for him to turn his attention to some other crops in addition to his wheat, oats, barley, corn and potatoes, which with proper care he may find, perhaps, more profitable than the staples which he has been cultivating, and must still continue to cultivate on the larger part of his farm. If he has any cows, kept for dairy purpor.es, any sheep or swine, he will do well to turn his attention first to forage plants, or to those which, in addition to their value for this purpose, yield some other important product. The different varieUes of Sorghum, differing in their time of ripening, in their size and in the amount of saccharine matter they contain, answer an admirable purpose for both these crops. They can be sown early and cut just as the seed ripens, the leaves stripped for forage and the tops either reserved for feeding stock or for sowing, while the stalks can be crushed for the saccharine juice. Indian com may be made to furnish a triple product in the same way ; the leaves being used for forage, the stalks for sugar and syrup, and the bagasse or dry crushed stalks used for fuel or for paper, the corn preserved for its various uses, not the least profitable of which is now the manufacture of glucose sugar. With such a demand as there now is for com for this and other purposes, it ought to be worth much more than twenty cents a bushel, at which price it has been sold, for several years past, in Western and Central Kansas, and even within ten or fifteen miles of a railway. There is some dispute in regard to the healthful character of the glucose sugar and syrup, which are now made to the extent of many millions of pounds annually in Chicago, St. Louis, and Buffalo, some contending that as made, it contains free sulphuric acid ^nd other i^ OUK WMSTE^^ KMPIRE. ^ '!» ij II \S substances which arc very injurious ; others insisting that it is perfectly devoid of any injurious quality, and equal in quality to any sugar in the market. These crops are both easily raised, and can be cultivated with- out any special insiructions. Broom com is largely cultivated in several of the States and Territories, and is a very sure crop, growing and ripeningwhereversorghumand Indian corn will ripen. In Kansas the average yield is about 580 pounds to the acre. It always finds a prompt and ready sale, and brings from $20 to %2l per acre. Another excellent plant for both forage and grain is the Egyptian rice corn, or Pampas rice. It has been extensively tested in Kansas, and while inferior to Indian corn as a forage plant, its grain is richer in fattening qualities, yields on good land a larger crop, and stands drought better than any oriier grain, ripening its grain where Indian com and all the cereals failed. It is not only excellent for fattening stock, swine and poultry, but when ground yields a richer, better and more appetizing food for family use than any of the other cereals. It yields from forty to sixty bushels of grain to the acre, and as it tillers very widely, requires less seed for sowing than other grains. Another of these forage plants which promises fairly, is the pearl millet. Its yield of forage is enormous ; it can be cut four or five times in a season, and will yield from fifty to eighty tons of green forage, or seven to ten tons of dry, to the acre. It stands drought much better than Indian corn, and thoug'h its stalks are not as sweet and somewhat more woody than those of the com (it is one of the sugar-producing plants), it yields a much larger quantity, and in its green state is eaten with great avidity by cattle. The seeds or grain are exceillent food for cat- tle or poultry, though not quite so rich in the fat-producing prin- ciples as the rice corn. It is sometimes cohfownded with the German millet, an inferior pliant, and one of much less value for forage, though even this yields from five to six tons of dry forage to the acre. AlfcUfd, a species of Lucern, long cultivated in Chill and Peru, has been very widely introduced into California, Arizona, Texats, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas as a forage grass, and is HUNGARIAN CXASS^J'ME TJiXTJ/.ES. ^ ng that it is in quality to tivated with- ly cultivated ry sure crop, jrn will ripen. to the acre. from $20 to ge and grain n extensively 1 as a forage )n good land oriier grain, lereals failed, and poultry, petizing food ds from forty very widely, fairly, is the n be cut four o eighty tons the acre. It d thoug'h its ly than those s). It yields a en with great food for cat- oducing prin- ded witli the less value for tons of dry hili and Peru, •izona, Texats, grass, and is much liked. It lias a long tap-root which reaches far down below the surface and draws moisture from the depths of the soil below, so that it does best in a dry climate. The grass is perennial, and these tap-roott*, in the course of four or five yeara, grow to the size of a carrot. It yields four or five crops, in aU from five to eight tons of hay, in a year, which is very nutritious aad eagerly sought for by boises and cattle. It does not flourish well in cold climates, and cannot be successfully cultivaled north of 40" north latitude. Hungarian grass, a species of millet very nearly akin to the Sitaria Germanua or German millet, is also a j^reat favorite as a forage plane throughout the West. It grows to the height of three or three and a half feet, and yields from two to four tons of hay per acre. It is better to cut it before it seeds, and to take off two or three crops a year. It is an annual, but is better «n the plains than timothy or common clover. The seed should «ot be fed to hoTMs ©r cattle alone, but should be mixed with bran or some lighter food, as it is very rich and stimulating and often proves a powerful diuretic. The product of this grass in Kansas, in 1378., was 1^1,782,000. It is said to exhaust the soil more than the AlfaWa. i'^ .i ' .<- /• i »s 1 n , ; v- , i . ,. v: Another class of special crop?, which will often paj a very handsome profit, are the textiles. Some of these, as cotton, jute, ramie, and the cacti, can only be successfully cultivated in the southern portion -df our Western Empire. All, or neai^ly all, these flourish well in Texas, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, Southern Kansas, N^w Mexico, Arizona, Southern Nevadiv, and Southern Califonnia. Cotton, ^&git/lax and kemp, is valu^e hot only for its textile product -but for its seeds, which produce a Auduable oil,' and a rich oil-cake for- feeding cattle, of which we shall have more to say byiand-by. It can be raised as far jKHth as Kansas, gr in tJbe latitude of Southern Illinois, but is not a very profitable crop above the 35th paisiUel. JitUe is a shrub «f the order Tiliaoese; to whidh the linden or basswood trees al«o belong. It is an annuali a native of the East Indies, but is easily cultivated in «he extreme Southwestern States. The fibre has many uses ; diough too easily affected hy moisture for cordage, -yfes*-' ■ ii ii 483 OU* WESTEX// EMPIRE. it is largely used for gunny-bags, for paper stock, as a substitute ff><- iiair, for cheap carpeting, and employed in the adulteration of cheap silk and mohair goods, etc., etc. The settler in Texas, Arizona, or Southern California would hardly fmd any crop more remunerative. The ramie or China grass, like the hemp and the nettle, belongs to the family of Urtlcacea:, or nettle-like plants. It yields a beautiful fibre, stronger than hemp, finer than flax, and of a beautiful whiteness. It will grow wherever cotton grows, yields three crops a year, of about 1,500 pounds of 6bre to the acre, and ought to be largely cultivated. The different species and genera of the cactus do not require cultivation. They abound in Texas, Arizona, Southern New Mt.'xico, and Southern California, and especially the peninsula of Old California. Many of the species have an abundance of long, wl^ite fibres, easily obtained by crushing them between rollers, and these can be used to advantage for many purposes. In Southern California they are curled and used for filling mat- tresses, for which their elasticity admirably adapts them. ■ The brake, or swamp-cane, which is our only plant akin to the bamboo of the eastern continent, abounds along the shores of the Gulf and the southern rivers. It is one of the best materials known for the production r f paper stock, and by an ingenious machine is easily reduced tQ a tough and fibrous pulp of great strength. The tuU, a rush found abundantly on the islands and shores of the California lake^ and rivers, is also an excellent material for paper stock. So is the palmetto, which will grow on the poorest lands in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico, as well as in Arkansas and tlie Indian Territory. >r viiE> »y,The Agave Americana, a native of Mexico, but sufficiently hardy to grow anywhere south of 40* north latitude, yields a fibre nearly equal to hemp, and capable of being extensively raised on sandy and dry lands. This is good for cordage, for brushes, for which purpose it is sold 9i&^tampuo, and for paper stock. The Esparto grass, which is found in the south oi Spain and on the coast of Algeria, is in great demand in England and to some extent here for paper stock. It grows very profusely FI.AX, HUMP AND NETTLE. a substitute adulteration c settler in dly find any ass, like the Irticaceae, or r than hemp, ;t will grow f about 1,500 cultivated. D not require luthern New peninsula of lance of long, ween rollers, jurposes. In r filling mat- them. j:v;ki It akin to the the shores of jest materials an ingenious pulp of great ■I, Is and shores [lent material grow on the :o, as well as jt sufficiently tude, yields a extensively cordage, for |nd for paper )uth of Spain England and [ery profusely on the poorest lands, and at the price now paid for it would be a very profitable crop for the poorer lands, as there is a great demand for paper pulp, for all descriptions of manufactures. Flax, Linum Usitatissimum • hemp. Cannabis Sativa ; and the nettle, Urtica Dioica, and other species, and we might probably add the New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax, which would be a valuable addition to our textiles, are all natives of temperate climates, and are cultivable in any part of " our Western Em- pire," except where the conditions of drought prevent. All of them draw very heavily for growth and nourishment upon the soil, and rank as exhausting crops, requiring for their best growth a rich and highly manured soil ; but all of them are pro- fitable when properly cultivated ; the fiax and hemp yielding not only the lint, but seeds which produce valuable oils used by painters and artists; and the nettle being very valuable as a forage plant aside from its fibres. The New Zealand flax is about twenty per cent, stronger than hemp, and is well adapted t'.o the manufacture of cordage. We are not aware of any other economical use of its seeds or leaves except for textile purposes. Where the soil and rainfall are adapted to these crops, as in , Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Eastern Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota, and Western Oregon, their cultivation, though attended with considerable labor, even with the present improve- ments, cannot fail to be profitable. The breaking of flax and hemp, I. e., tne process of removing the woody portion from the ' fibre, was formerly a difficult and laborious process, but, thanks to the inventive skill of some American mechanics, it is now only a light amusement. The bleaching of tlie flax (hemp is not often whitened), as practised in Ireland, is a process requiring a peculiar climate and the constant presence of moisture. It is possible that Minnesota, and perhaps Oregon, might furnish the required conditions with their numerous lakes and their some- what plentiful rainfall. But the cultivation of flax and hemp, especially the former, for the seeds alone is very profitable. In Kansas, in 1879 (not a favorable year for these crops), flax was raised for the seed only on nearly 70,000 acres, and the net profit was more than $g per acre. Hemp was raised in that -jjiiiamiWiXOaiifew «*iiiA./i»>:. v V> '~ ' n ~ -* V HftA^M^ . 4.A it^ |i»»/^ ij ^ ©Mr WESTEKN KMPIHK. jitate the same y*ar on '^r.'.y 606 acres, but the crop sold mainly tfor the Hnt for about $56 per acre. The nettle ih not yet much cultivated as a textile and forage plant; but the climate is better adapted to it than that of Germany, where it has proved a great success. The neule fibre is fine and even and of great strength, so that it is well adapted to the manufacture of fabrics for sum- mRr wear, as well as to fine cords, etc. For these pur[X)ses it is thought to surpass flax, and it grows well on a poor soil, though, of course, not as iarge as on a rich one. Turning now from, textiles to oil-producing plants, we notice, •first, after the textile seeds, cotton, flax and hemp, all of which yield oils of great comi^ercial value, and which form a constantly increasing product both for home consumption and export, a very valuable diough humble plant which is ckstined yet to be- come a very important product of the soil — the AracMs Hyft^- '■gady 'known as the pea-nut, ground-nuit, or goober. This sin • •^ular plant possesses a variety of claims upon our consideration ; its straw or vines when cursd make an excellent hay or forage which c.4ttle eat greedily; the nuts or seeds, enclosed in a hard 'shell nnd spreading and ripening beneath the so9 lik« the tubers oT a potato, are, when baked or roasted, in great demand among dhildren, and grown people also ; while they yield on pressure a clear, pMre oil, wliidh for salad purposes is equal to oKve oil, and is of ^great value for Illuminating and lubricating purposes, and is also used for the manufacture of the bettor iC^iialities of •soap. The mits when powdered are, in France, largely mixed "With oacao for tSie manu^oture of chooolale, and in the so-called chocofeoe condiments, are sufosdtuied for the cacao. The pea- nut isfery eaatty cakiviited, and ih a good soil yields a large and profiiaide drop, it fs raised in ciiiisidcr.-kfale quantities in TenlnesBee 'aod in iCam^as, and to borne extent in 'other States. It yields from twenty to (tifty bushels to the acre, «nd with good cultivation 'on ^eod ikmf^ the crop inay eaatty be increased to 80, TOO, ^r V; 486 Ol/M WttSTAMS KMtmR. tlic crop hHouM b«^ from twrnty to twenty five biiHhdn per nprfr, •ml with special carr nhoiild reach thirty huiihrlH. In the absence of any oil-millH near, the price of the lieanH was %\ per bushel. With an oil mill near, an they mi^ht have had in the coimtieH havinjj larjjc crops of it, they would have liecn able to realize at least $1.50 per bushel, and still have left a lar(i[c mar^^in of proHt to the manufacturer. The plant is of lar^re, rank {growth, and matures its beans in a summer of ordinary length. It is planted In Kansas in March, April or M^y, according; to the locality. Peppermint an! spearmint are larjjely cultivated in some sec- tions mainly for the oil, though the dried herbts arc sold in small quantities. In Illinois there arc large tracts sown with them for this purpose, and the culture proves profitable. Bergamot is sown for the same purpose. These plants can bt! profitably cultivated, if there is a distilling apparatus in the vicinity to distil off the oils. They are a cro|) easily raised, as they require no weeding or hoeing, if planted on clean land, and can be Harvested with the mowjT or harvester. I Among other special crops, we may notice also those of the nut-bearing and fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, not included in those of the ordinary orchard.. '' fw tM^ Ul'j.if V'iit* ^ti -it »*j'.^/r)t»t Under the Timber-Culture Act, though orchard trees are not allowed to be reckoned among those planted for the purpose of holding the land, yet quite a variety of the nut or fruit-bearing trees are permitted. Amon^ those which are native to our soil •re the butternut and black walnut, three species of the hickory, the chestnut, of which there are two or three varieties, and its congener, the chinquepin, of which there are two; the horse- chestnut and the buckeye, which though not edible by. man are prized by some animals and have an economic value for their starch; the piflon pine, whose edible nuts furnished food to Fr6mont's men and to many explorers since ; two or three species of the beech, whose three-cornered nuts are greedily seized by swine and squirrels; the pecan nut, a shrub; the filbert, which though not native is naturalized; the hazel nut; and of imported nut-bearing trees, the English walnut, caUed •Iso the Madeira nut, and the Italian chestnut. The last two. *\ w i j?)H ! 4Bil i a!Wm». i Jl'-i" »i w.w^Mw'jj i iiWi i i i iwi e; .) ' ^ ' .-a. ' wig ' . « w ' *^-»j '' ' ' .!)~i'iw^ '»'*it*^ ^m fieln per ftmH 1 the absrncr I per hiiHhrl. I the counties I to realize at irjfin of profit {growth, and It is planted ? locality. in some sec- sold in .small ivith them for Hergamot is hvt profitably :inity to distil they require and can be those of the t included in Lrees are not the purpose fruit-bearing ve to our soil ' the hickory, eties, and its ; the horse- by. man are ilue for their hed food to wo or three are greedily shrub ; the e hazel nut; ralnut, caUed rhe last two. SUTBHAKlSii IMMliS AND S/iKUBS. ^ are Vf ry vnlunbtr* additions both to our nhade and fruit treet. The niitH of tlu? I'.ntjlisth walnut are in ^rv\ii demand and are largely imported. The Italian clu-sinut furnishes a flour which is only interior to wheat, and which forms the only or principal farinacrouH food of the Italian pt-asantH of the Apennines. Its cultivation would therefore be the introduction of an additional f()()d product of great value. ' Our native chestnut is undoubtedly capable of great improve- ment tK)th in size and quality of its nuts, and the wood, which forty or fifty years ago was reganled as only fit for rails ami the like, is now prized as one of tlu; best of our native woods for cabinet work. The <;inigrant farmer, who has settled on "the plains," when planting trees, as it is his duty and for his ad- vantage to do. will ilo well to set some of these noble, kingly trees. They may not grow so rapiilly as ailantus, locust or bois d'arc, but they will be worth a great deal more when they are grown. Orchards of fruit trees, as well as fruit-bearing shrubs, are very desirable and profitable everywhere in the West. Our space does not permit us to enumcMtc all the varieties of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, quinces, and other fruits very widely cultivated in all or nearly all these States and Territories. The apple and pear do well almost everywhere, though of course different varieties are cultivated in different regions. The apples of Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota, Montana. Oregon and Washington are of excellent quality and command high prices. Equally valuable, though of different varieties, are the apples and pears of the middle belt of Missouri. Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and, to some extent. Now Mexico; while Arkansas, the Indian Territory. Northern Texas, and those portions of Arizona where fruit-growing is practicable, produce excellent apples, but do not succeed so well with pears. The apples of Oregon are of such excellence that they are largely exported not only to San Francisco, which is an excellent fruit market, but to the cities and countries along the Pacific coast of South America, and to the Sandwich Islands. n^j^c^3ifi^Ki*r''-!^!i 'i:->^> f.-5fftvH!.»-. ..} ,.»!• t ' Quinces grow best along the banks of streams, but the New I I] 41 ■VN 0^ 0VM WiiTMUff MMriMM. York markef ryros, of which there arc two American species, both very astringent before being touched with the frost, but pleasant afterward, ami t>i€ Japanese persimmon, greatly superior to the American in all respects, and now extensively introduced ; the fig, a favorite fruit in the southern and middle tier of States, where it ripens with> out difficulty ; the pawpaw, or custard apple, Anona, which grow.4 wild, but is easily cultivated, and a Peruvian species of very delicious flavor, Anona Chentnoya : the pomegranate, introtluced into California, and the mandral:e, Podophyllnm pdlatum, whose fVuit, when carefully ripened, is equal to that of the pawpaw. All of these, as well as other fruits which only grow wild, do not flburish well in the northern tier of States and Territories, but are in their best condition in the central or southern tier. The liemort, fime, orange, and shaddock will only mature with cer* tttinty in Texas, ' rizona and Southern California; but a very gtood Chl)»es6 v.»rJefy, which should be introduced here, ripens dnd withstands frdst and other changes^ in that country, above Hhe latitude of 40*> rtorth. * Of th«* «man«r iWdts, the grape, in different species and varie- ties, is cultivated from the British boundary line to the Girff (Mast. The virteyards of California are of immense extent, ahd M Pi 1 9 of gi^antte w moM ex- nrttanni'S, I^ Turk." as I l>y thf niilf rinv may !>€ wj'll only m ' can Im; ciil- kr nortit ah v.hi'rn limit, host' farthfr \cv. of thfir id niann^'fd n Territory, small trt'vH, I, Dioaftyros, y astrin>/('nt rrward, am! eriran in all hvorilc fruit ripens with*- ivhich growi ics of very ', introduced ntum, whose lu! pawpaw, wild, do not •ritories, but I tier. The •e with cer- but a very here, ripens in try, above s and varie- to the Girff extent, add GMArMS ASD SMAlt. FML/IX ^ «ifery ^r*fM» known »o Eumpean vine growem in ctiltivatrd iKertr; i\\r. winr« of California are improving every year, and evrntually mutt rnntrul the market. Minsouh, Texas, New Mexico, South'rn Arizona, and, in a lewi cxtenHtva sen^c, Kan- •AH and Nebranku, are aUo noted for their vinryanln. The win«»« ot Miasouri and Texas have a high reputation. The protluttion of raisin»v and especially " raisins of the sun," han been succcM' fully prosecuted in California, and might k)c in Ariiona and Texas. The Zantc currant or grape of Corinth, a small gra|»« which i*' imported in immense quantities for plum-puddings and for the use of the (jermans, might easily be raised here. The other small fruits, strawlicrrics, raspberriei, of two specie* and srveial varieties, blackberries, also of several varieties, dew* Ijerries, whortleberries, currants, black, white, .ind especially red, gooseberries, and sevcr>l specieti of mulberry, which differ from the others in growing on a tree instead of a shrub or vine ; the |»artridge or wintergreen berry, etc., etc., are for the most part cultivated, and all are cultivable, and will add a very material !ium to the farmer's income. All of them bring good prices and lind a ready market in their season. Their cultivation is not difficult, and the returns arc very considerable, and come at a season of the year when they are particularly convenient We shoidd cal' attentbn here also to the advantages of the cultivation of vegetables, etc., or, what is known In the vicinity of our larger cities, as " market-garden truck." A settler in the neighborhood of one of these western towns or villages, and especially the mining villages, if he has a farm of i6o acres, or even of eighty or forty, can make a handsome fortune in a few years, if he will devote ten or twenty acres to the intelligent cultivation of these vegetables : such as asparagns^ celery, early beetSt peas, string-beans, lima and kidney beans^ new potatoes, sweet early com, salsify, egg-plant, cauliflower, kale, cabbages, onions, leeks, garlics, squashes, carrots, early tumipisv ruta-bagaa, mangel-wurzel, etc., etc., adding, if he can find room and time, the small fruits. .buUM Hm w^^i ^;?ti( /, In a chapter of our First Part we have already pointed out the opportunities which " Our Western Empire " offers to men wlif» i fl .-O-^f^it-^/:^- .tiUat-^JL. jaL,.^L^jlmii>^^ f. lit ■>V 490 CUX ly/iSTflKX EMPIRE. have not beer accustomed to farming, and who have no special adaptation to it. There are very few of them who are not too old for successful emigration, and who possess industry and energy, and a little capital, who will not find, in the course of five or six years, that their condition has been materially im- proved by their removal. All such persons should buy a little land, even if it be not more than forty acres ; the time will come within the next twenty or thirty years when land even in the West will be very valuable and not easily obtained ; and those who have trades or professions, or pursuits which yield them a comfortable support, though they may not desire to farm their lands, yet desire a good vegetable and a good flower-garden. They need also pasture for one or more horses, one or two cows, and perhaps some swine and poultry. Tleir land, mean- while is growing in value constandy, and in their declining years may become their most important possession. We would especially urge this upon professional men, clergy- men, lawyers, physicians, artists, etc., and also upon merchants, tradesmen and master-mechanics. Florists and nurserymen can do well with small tracts of land, and will find their business, if well managed, a surer road to wealth than a large farm. Even day-laborers, especially near the mining villages and towns, will be able, by raising vegetables, keeping a cow, the inevitable pig, and a moderate stock of poultry, to make a much better living than they could in " the old country." H The concentration of a large population in these districts so sparsely setried hitherto, will, of necessity, bring in a great variety of manufactures, and thus furnish ample employment to many operatives ; but to each of these we would say, in all kind- ness : endeavor, as soon as possible, and even at considerable sacrifice, to become the owners of a little land, and to have a home of your own. It is the first step toward independence, and when you have "- » pf.n«i»" awl ;,(• f*wl \ , '■'> rvl' h fiii mt^i "A little home well filled, ^-^pJ' rr;' ;''■* ?^' ,'^ A little farm well tilled, ^jjrrt) iUittr' »,n if AlittlewifewcUwilled," ol,, tt.,.,r , .• f,f and the bliv^-plants begin to be numerous about your table, you <- ^ •"mmnwviv WM.m.vhr'.f ag? ive no special » are not too industry and he course of naterially im- Id buy a little ime will come 1 even in the d; and those yield them a to farm their lower-garden. , one or two r land, mean- 2clining years I men, clergy- tn merchants, rserymen can r business, if farm. Even id towns, will nevitable pig, better living se districts so g in a great nployment to y, in all kind- considerable nd to have a ndependence, )ur table, you ■~> SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 491 will not be so anxious for strikes, nor regard the behests of a labor union as so imperative ; if wages are too low, you can till your own acres and wait till they are higher — but, by all means, secure you a litde homestead. To all classes of settlers we would say, farther: in your zeal to establish yourselves in your new homes, do not forget to rear the school-house within convenient distance of your dwelling. Whether you have children or not, the school is one of the strongest safeguards of free institutions. The State has gener- ously made ample provision, or what will be in time ample, for supplying it with good and efficient teachers, and what the State cannot now do a light tax will accomplish. If your children, and the children of the community, can be well educated, they will be the better fitted to become the rulers and leaders of a great State. And we have still another injunction for you : In all your set- tlements, whether large or small, give your aid freely toward the early establishment of Christian churches. We urge this, with- out reference to the question, whether you are yourselves believers or unbelievers in Christianity. It will not take you long to learn that a church will do more to preserve and main- tain good order and respect for law, will give you a purer and better social condition, and a higher standard of morals, than a gambling-den, a liquor-saloon, or a low varieties theatre ; as you love your families, as you seek after the best interests of society and the promotion of justice and good order, give the preference to the church over these institutions which are fraught with so much evil;y/t|- rlfrnfilo *'-£■ bftn v><: ^ii^-V. -W!!-;:-,..; -;i) .•■v,-;-:. moi; abttji-gnot Ji.O-,v ';^ii ■■! it Xcu '\v:^\'\vi\'<\s'An\:. ■■.,\^ t: _,v;?:%.: him .bi)'^ •>'*■; UK :i:.i'i>d ■■.!:.>' il U' no! -*•:"( !;;.:ri; .r*r)Ii!rt frtJ OH bn:nsi ^ni lU-f u IQ'U i-l '{Jiunr. nttmii til .«;?»!■'« •ns?j;|)?: bfi«v'i»'>if' i/,r»-jr VJDtrmT -i'Ai mi l-iLfumd .-i n li'ion -nhj.: (i .' r; ■.■■ V i-\ *"»n:' i:'. it .■i 'i^ish \>>h ■ ■ no. l«t.f) I i i\i11 -n ' Wi \ a^j^y . '^iA^ « i iil ii i »l#i|ltl ' i«ri nntjMtifliWii i i Mj i 1l[_lruH|1 il Mi|i:.n '■:? . •J ii'' ■■' ' '•'• '•'f, '^» .v> Ji , ' vi'r fii-'fTM >■■:■ • 't ■K'ini.i i .«({'' .'• •■.7'j '(•• ».( ,M'<'^ I'vti. .f( 'Vrr v.';,i !';>: ur\ff ^'ifi >? ■>. .'ff;'.' '•4«i' .,■,,..., ,,,T, ■'^■.•t<'' ;nft ''.('« . PART III ' '■' "'' ' '■'■"'''^'•' Hvi4't» '•■'' THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERf^ITORIES DESCRIBED ,, CHAPTER I: '^'''•i^'i^"'^'' :r^rf'"4''p»:}r»^ .1) ^' ^'^•(■f*:.v4!/* '^ARIZONA Its Location— Extent— Tctpographv — Mountains, Kitbr», Lakes, Canons — Table-lands — Its Soil, Climate, Temperature, and Rainfall — Its WoNPEES and Peculiarities— Its Minerals and Mmus — Ite ZootOGV — Adventures with its Wild Animals — Its Productions, Mini • i"., Animal. Vegetable — Its Populationi— The Indians nearly ?xi .; Races — The Ancient Province of Tusavan — White Inhabitants — Its Present Condition, and the Advantages and Facilities it affords to Settlers — Leiters and Communications from Major-General J. C. Fremont, Gov- brnor or Arizona, and Colonel }. W. Powell, United States Armv, Explorer of the Couoradq, etc.— Its Probable Future. >r<»' ••/, j^xBi... The Territory of Arizona occupies a part of the sowtlrwcstern portion of " Our Western Empire," though separated from the Pacific by Southern California and the rocky and terrible desert of Lower California, above the head of the gulf; it does not extend so far south as Southwestern Texas, but is comprised between the parallels of 31** ac/ and 37° of north latitude, and between the meridians of 109* and 114" 35' west longitude f ^m Greenwich. But a small portion of it has been surveyed, ad as its western boundary along the Colorado of the West k irregular, there is some doubt about its actual area. It is esti- mated, in the last Land Office Report, at 113,916 square miles, or 72,906,240 acres. The probability is that it will be found to exceed this amount by several thousand square miles. Its form is . somewhat irregular ; on the north it is bounded by the Territory of Utah, the thirty-seventh parallel forming the boundary as far ' i"l ' -^-!'fe ' 'iM';W(*4''-! ' '.'. ' ^^g^^m HT ;■ ■ ' )i)iy ]!':■• ^ ■ ■w'^ni} \ i»Ci' ''. .T'f?*.' •'■n> V. "<:'.,' ' ■'.■-:'■ ^rh'ilr .■T , i rORIES'/ • • =" •■j.fi'tl; Y{>'i;-f.' ;|;nrff'/i'j-'!f«^ i'fi*« i^'-^fjte;'* r?fV'»l(ff*H'i '»V?, KKts, Canons t% UiNPALU — Its ra Zoology — f'^'., Animal, > . ; Races — 1 -Its Present po Sbttlbrs — REMoirr* Gov- • »tates Army, * ■°c., mtltwestern '» d from the '• f Tible desert it does not 1 edmprised j ati^nde, and gitude fi-^m '■ : rveyed, and he West ir . It is esti- [uare miles, be found to Its form is le Territory ndary as far ' -^ •t'« "'"'''MHiUSMMi^- ■fl:f n M I >: O^yn^ *f Mrt)t/Aera/St. MS/ Ei 4! i:^! Ul il m n r X. ;.i?^ 's.j:, .. ■- -; , *; •'' ■■> ;■- -*^ BOUNDARIES AND ORGANIZATION. 493 -:. ■',. west as the 114th meridian, which forms the western boimdary of Utah; this meridian forms jilso the western boundary of Arizona as far south as the thirty-sixth parallel, where the Colo- rado of the West crosses the angle formed by the meridian and parallel, and proceeds northwest and then west-southwest, and turning sharply south at Callville, just after it emerges from the Grand Caflon, flows southwardly thence to the Gulf of Califor- nia, forming, for all this distance (about 500 miles), the western boundary of Arizona. The original southern boindary, acquired from Mexico in the Treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo (Februaiy 2d, 1^48), -was the river Gila, the most considerable of the lower afRuents of ihe Colorado, and the only one which is navigable ibr any considerable distance. By the Gadsden Treaty, made at Mexico, December 30th, 1853, atl the territory lying south of the Gila to the border of the Mexican State of Sonora, was conveyed to the United States. The southern boundary now runs due west along the parallel of 31° 20' to the iiith meridian, and thence west-northwest in a straight diagonal line till it reaches the Colorado in about 3J** 30'. The Territory is bounded on the east by New Mexico. ' The law authorizing the ot^ganization of the Territory was passed February 24th, 1863, and the Terrhorial Government inaugurated December agth, 1863. It has never been thor- loughly explored, and, «p lo 1880, only ^bout 6,100,000 acres had been surveyed, about one-twelfth of its area. Its area is about equal to that of all the New England States, New York and New Jersey. The counti^ is mountainous in much of its extent, though there is but litde regularity about its mountain langes. In the middle and hotl!he&st there are elevated plateaux of vast extent having a inean altitude, varying from 3,000 to 7,500 feet above che sea, and from these plateaux volcanic cones and hiUs rise at many points. In the north a mesa or plateau stretches away far into Utah Territory. South of the Gila river die plain sinks dlmost to the sea-level, but in -the southeast and along the Sonora line, there arc fourteen or fifteen detached ranges, and four or five isolated peaks. "Man^', perhaps most, of the mountain ranges liave a general course from northwest to 1 ! 494 OVK WKSTKK.S' HMriKti. southeast, but the Mogollon Mountains, and Hom<: of the other groups extending into New Mexico, hr.ve an east and >vcHt direction. The highest known elevation in the Territory is Mount San Francisco, at the northern end of the lofty San I'rancisco plateau, from which it rises to a height of 13,700 feet above the sea-level. i»i. ;; ij| /''.ii/iii,.^ ji. /it "<^ /t'lDfr! .jijitrmi Scattered among these mountain ranges, detached and isolated mountain summits, plateaux and mesas, are many valleys of great beauty and fertility, but the river valleys are generally narrow ravines, gorges and caAons, accessible to the rays of the sun only at high noon, and whose precipitous and nearly perpen- dicular walls excite terror rather than pleasure. The valleys oi the Colorado Chiquilo, cr Flax river, and of the Rio Salinas, or Salt river, are exceptions to this, being the garden spots and granaries of the Territory, and the bordering mountains fur- nishing great stock-ranges where the cattle are sometimes too fat to be driven. The most remarkable feature of the topography of Arizona is the tendency of its rivers and streams to form caAons, of great depth and with precipitous sides. Either the strata through which these rivers have cut their way to the Gulf of California are more friable and easily eroded than the same strata else- where, or the great descent of tJie rivers and their immense volume when swollen by the rains and melting snows give them a force which is irresistible. The whole Territory is drained by the Colorado river and its tributaries. Most of these tributa- ries — all, indeed, except the Gila, which is in itself a large river — enter the Colorado high up in its course ; the San Juftn, which enters the northeast corner of the Territory and receives a con- siderable affluent, the Rio de Chelly, there ; and the Colorado Chiquito, or Flax river, with its important affluents, the Rio Puerco of the West, Rio Qqemado, and Chevelon's Fork, falling into the parent stream above the Big CaAon of the river, and forming deep, dark and precipitous caAons of their own. The Colorado itself, through more than 600 miles of its course through Arizona, flows through deep caAons, and receives nearly 200 streams, large and small, all of them coming through gorges of i: of the other :ast and wcHt itory is Mount san i-'raucisco feet above the :d and isolated alleys of jjroat nerally narrow ys of thu sun learly perpen- The valleys o( Rio Salinas, or Jen spots and mountains fur- sometimes too fit tirtnfifi IajW yr of Arizona is lAons, of great strata through If of California ne strata elsc- their immense lows give them y is drained by r these tributa- a large river — lAn Juan, which receives a con- 1 the Colorado uents, the Rio n's Fork, falling if the river, and heir own. The ; coarse through ves nearly 300 ough gorges of DKSCBUT OF THR CKAND CANON. 49S less depth, and falling over the as yet only partially eroded rocks in cataracts, into the main stream. Its descent in these 600 miles is more than 3,000 feet. The Uig or Grand CaHun is one of the wonders of the world. Itn descent has b<u..iu i-i j -f c i.iv»> Theae deep caAon« cf Uie principal riven drain much of the surrounding country of its moisture, and render large tracts unfit for anything but grazing, and still larger ones unfit for that, un- less by aqueducts, reservoirs, or artesian wells the necessary water can be supplied for stock. In the existing condition e«f the country, much of the rainfall which, in some seasons, is abundant, or sufficiently so for the country, if it could be savee!, ia wasted, running off from these hard-baWcd table-lands into the caAons and not penetrating the soil. Yet this soil under irriga- tion is wonderfully productive. The lands i^uhich can be irrigateil yield sixty-five bushels of the finest wheat in the world to the acre, and proportionate quantities of other cereals ; while Indian com and the root crops are producnd in almost incredible quan- tities. Fortunately iior the Territory, very much of this lafid which once produced large crops can be reclaimed ; mBny«of the gorges and ravines ican, at small expense, be made reservoiri, and thus treasure «p the water which oomes down from the meltiag snows of the mountains, or that whidi now runs off into the oaAons after heavy rains, and this can be used with great advantage fiar irrijpitioa, for the watering of Hve-«took, and 'for mining purposes ; while deep ptowfing and the broiikrng up «f the hard and idry sod wSll render the soil far more pervious and absorbent of the rains, and so capable of more -Mtsy cultivation. ;But on these mnas and hi|^ tabte-lands, where there are no streams available for purposes of irrigation, artesian wells have never foiled to bring water, and usually with sufficient head and } irc navigable, iktcrt arc only water* of the alifofnia, and, moiit Htaj^nant exico. and for inoui region, or precipUous its course Is \c distance is n much of the rge tracts unfit It for that, un- the necetaaiy condition e*f ne seasons, is 9u]d be saved, -lands into the I under irriga- an be irrigated L- world to the I ; while Indian icrcdible quan- i of this land ! ; many«of the tde reservotrt. »wn from the w runs off into »ed with great -mode, and 'for reakmg up -oT ; pervious and My cukivation. there are no tan wells 1ia¥e lent head and GRSKKAI. FREMOST'n ACCOUNT OF ARtZOXA, 497 in sufficient quantity to (low of itself without pumping and to supply pools or rrservoirs of great extent. No man living is more familiar with the physical geography of Arizona than Major-Cit.-ncral John C. l'*r»'!mont ; ♦ In: explored it thirty-six years ago in his expeditions for the discovery of routes for railways to the Pacific coast, made under the direction of the government ; he traversed considerable portions of It later in the interest of the Pacific railways, of which he was the pro- jector ami president, and, since 1877, as Govrrnor '*f the Terri- tory, he has devoted much attention to its physical geography with a vi<;w to the development of its mining, agricultural, and grazing interests. His recent proposition to our government to restore, by a short ship-canal, the great inland sea which for- merly existed in Southern California, east of the San Bernardino Mountains, where its dry basin is now far b<'low the sea level, was so full of sound sense, so broad and comprehensive in its spirit, and fraught with so many advantages to that whole region, that it should be acted upon promptly. The evaporation from that sea would ensure a moister atmosphere and a greater rain- fall to Western Arizona, and in connection with other measures would render that Territory the garden-spot of all the West, as well as its treasure-house for its mineral wealth. In his Report to the Department of the Interior in October, 1878, General Fremont thus describes the topography of the Territory, with especial reference to its central portion along or near the line of the thirty-fourth parallel — a region which pretty fairly represents the general character of the Territory, being less moist and hot than that along and below the Gila, but per- haps somewhat hotter than that north of the Grand Caflon and above the thirty-sixth parallel. " Broken ranges of mountains, swelling occasionally into lofty peaks «.nd pine-covered masses, and alternating evenly with elevated valleys or mountain basins of greater or less size, rep- resent in general terms the face of the country in Arizona. Its water-ways are the Colorado and Gila rivers, with their tribu- taries, of which none enter either stream in the lower part of its f yu ,' * Sm biographical sketch of U«ncr«l FrimoDt kt the cloM of thii chapUr. ^ \ > ^ OVK WHSTMKN /tMt/ltM. coiirHe. The valley of the Colorado. l)rtwrrn Uh river, hilli <{ l)or(lrrin); mountains, i« ilry, Mony, ami liarrrn, the moiintainl naked rock. Cro«»in>j the»e in joiirneyinjf Iron) Khrcnbcr^ ravil wnrd, a travrlirr in spring wouUI (inil thi» country covcrcil wiij liloom, the ihrubs and trees bcin}; reprcnentrd mainly by arac i.i and cacti, and the ground covered with low*(lowcrin^ plant] amon^ gnk%% growing thinly. Ivxcept for some shrub-like trgollon Mountains lN?4/f€Vry OF H'ATFIt, 4W are thr principal water Nhcds of Ariz )n«, rining from rlrvatrjj plateaux <»f 6,ocx> or 7.ot)0 fret into peak* l)rtwrrn q.ooc) and 1 3,000 fret alxtve the sea. They make a forrtt country averag- ing forty miirs in breadth, rxtrnding through thr Trrritory south- • '.I'.twardly over the hcadwatrm of thr ( iila and pn>l)ably into Mi'xico. North and rant of these rangrn, and running ".p into lite Hanks of thr moiiTtainn, and reaching doubtlrss, far to the •oiith, are reportrti to Ik; thr great coal tieUls of Arizona.* " In confadistinction to the Mastern States, where the strrams in.nintain themselves in gathering strength from mountain to sea, dryness is onr of thr striking features of this whole • Uvatcd region. Streams and springs are few ami far „\\v\tl. The larger streams gather no abluents, but wastr them- selves in absorption and evaporation, and the smaller ones usually sink and disappear under the first valley which they enter, where the soil if generally light and loose enough to absorb them. But the water can there always be found ; in the lower country, at variable depths of 50 to 350 feet, and usually only a few feet below the surface in many of the upland valleys. This may give the necessary provision of water for thr farms in the valleys, while tli mountains furnish it sufficiently for stork. There are two seasons of falling weather : the heavy summer rains, when the washes and stream-beds become temporary tor- rents, and the winter season of rains and snow. Now, at the end of October, the falling weather of the winter has not yet commenced, except in the high mountains. The days are warm, the sky is uninterruptedly cloudless, but ice makes at night, and a light snow has just fallen in the San Francisco Mountain. The grass there is beginning to dry up, and the northern face of the mountain is probably covered with snow, f"! I '1 5I ., /ii).;ii,,. .;i ,»' * Prom Mr. A, O. Nnyrt, who had • iia«r*mill twelve mile* from Prcxcott, iind who wa^ fur m«ny y«tn rinfiiited here in the lamber huvineiio, I learn th«t the pirtc* in the Tre^cott nn«iii run from en avcrege diameter of lwenljr-«igbt inchet to four feet in the largcat tree*. Hut ihi y do not make good lumber, becauie there are «o many knot* in the trees, cauied l)y fire<>, nitil bfeeanse to many tree* have been attuck 1)y the liKhtnin^;, Which i* one nf the ItKal features h> r<-. There arealao In lhl« baiin aoaie very fiat «pr«ce treca, nearly four feet in dinmeier, In ih« largi belt of foreat to the north all is clear^ Bne timber, with an average diameter of four feet, reaching to five feet in lar|;ey Indiana. umiti^HiiVHii'-i^- ■«*>««js*«r"*u'*^ • tftr 500 OUK ll'ESTERIV EMPIRE. "The Little Colorado (Colorado Chiquito) and Salt river (Rio Salinas) regions are reported to be the granaries of the Territory. Their valleys are becoming garden-spots, and the bordering mountains great stock-ranges, where the cattle are sometimes too fat to be driven. Like California, the country is favorable to animal life. In the Salt River valley there are probably ioo,ocx> acres under cultivation ; in the Gila valley, between the Pima villages and the mouth of the cai^on, about 50,cxx); in the Santa Cruz valley, about 25,000; and 25,000 more in all the southern district. In the Salt River valley the amount under cultivation is being rapidly augmented to the full extent of the water supply. On the San Pedro river the land is sparsely occupied, and mostly for grazing ; and farther to the eastward the country is better adapted to grazing than agriculture. Many years ago I found on the San Pedro and neighboring country many wild cattle which had belonged to ranches now deserted, where the people had been killed or driven off by Indians. So far as my present knowledge goes, the grazing and farming lands comprehend an area aoout equal to that of the State of New York." In his report for 1879, dated November 20, 1879, General Fremont gives these additional items respecting the southern and northern portions of the Territory : • " Near the end of February of the present year I found fig trees budding and apricots in bloom at Phoenix. The cotton- wood trees which line the streets were in full spring foliage, and the fields were green with Alfalfa and grain. The town is on the Salt river tributary of the Gila, about i ,800 feet above the sea. The river here runs through a broad valley plain encircled by mountains. It furnishes abundant water for irrigation, and the acequias or water-ditches are spread out over the valley in a space eight or ten miles broad. Streams of running water, which one met in every direction, gave a very grateful sense of freshness in this dry country of Arizona, and remains of old acequias used by the former Indian population show that with them, too, it was a favorite place. For seven or eight months of the year the weather is said tQ be plea«ant» but. hat ibr the jnarmt Lf^, f.-v. j« , si and Salt river anaries of the ■spots, and the the cattle are the country is alley there are he Gila valley, le cafion, about nd 25,000 more ley the amount the full extent land is sparsely to the eastward iculture. Many iboring country s now deserted, by Indians. So ig and farming of the State of , 1879, General hg the southern /ear I found fig ix. The cotton- ring foliage, and The town is on D feet above the y plain encircled r irrigation, and ' :r the valley in a running water, rrateful sense of remains of old \ show that with eight months of but hot for the CLIMATE AND SOIL OF ARIZONA. SOI remainder. The town is the centre of an important f^^rming district, and its growing prosperity is secured and mad'^' perma- nent by its position, which is indicated by the country surrounding it. The trade of a large neighboring Indian reservation has been an element in its prosperity, and now the Southern Pacifir Railway passes within thirty miles of the town. . . . Except its bottom lands, which are of unusual productiveness and strength, the valley proper of the Colorado, below the cations, that which lies between the bordering river hills over a space of fifty miles, is dry, hot and barren. All else is fertile and habitable. In its east and west course running through the northern limit of Arizona, the Colorado borders and encloses a beautiful country. Here in the cafions the Indians from a renioie time have grown excellent fruit and grain, and with their produce have maintained a primitive trade with other tribes. In fact this whole northern region has the resources to sustain a wealthy population, and <:reate a permanent and valuable trade for the first railway which lias the enterprise to penetrate it The climate is healthy and the country fertile; wooded and grassed from the Colorado hills eastward into New Mexico. Water in abundance will undoubt- edly be had when adequate means are employed to get it. Its inexhaustible grasses will support immense herds, and its great coal fields and heavy forests of timber, continuous through the Territory, will command a ready market. It has broad valleys of farming lands, and in its mining districts are abundance of copper, silver and gold." '- A correspondent of the New York DaUy Times, writing from Tucson, May 26, 1880, complains that that region and the Globe mining district east of it, in fact the whole of Southeastern Arizona, lack water and timber. There is, however, a con- siderable tract of pine of large size, the forest being twelve miles long and two miles wide, beside the cottonwood and mezquite, which are used for fuel, and bring $8 to $10 a cord. The Pinal creek, which furnishes water to this district, sinks in the sands once or twice in its course for a distance of ten or twelve miles, but water can always be found by digging in its bed. Still there is unquestionably a scarcity of water in this as in many other 1 i I $02 > 7 Ol/Ji WESTERN EMPIKE. i\ i>l parts of Arizona, though by adopting such measures as were adopted by the highly civilized Indians who had populous towns in all this region ages ago, and adding to these acequias and reser jjrs, drive wells and artesian wells, this desert land may again be made to blossom as the rose. The climate of Arizona may, perhaps, be inferred from what has already been said. It varies in different parts of the Territory. The lowlands, from Fort Yuma eastward, along the valley of the Gila and farther south between the thirty-second and thirty-third parallels, are extremely hot in summer. May, June, July, August, and September are the hottest months, and a record of 112° Fahrenheit in die shade is not very infrequent during those months. During the other months of the year the heat is not excessive, and the dry air makes it healthy. Tht; rainfall is principally in July and August in this part of the Territory, though there is occasionally a season of rain in December and January.* wtj :*HteuUv wi** iiirjijfejurj*} *. .u>, >r> It is, however, a characteristic of the heat of Ariz6na, that it is not enfeebling or oppressive, and that there is much less liability to sun-stroke than in the towns and cities of the north. "In the southeastern portion of the Territory," says General Fremont, "the climate is especially agreeable. In the Sierra de Santa Caterina, the Pinalena Mountains, the Chiricahui Mountains, and the Peloncello Range, as well as the Cordilleras de Rio •Yuma (latitude 3a" 43' 32") « pro'wbly the hottest place in the United .Stales. Army officers assert that it has reached a temperature of 1 26* Fahrenheit m the shade. In 1877-78, Uie signal-service officers reported I106 d.iys, between April 29 and Oolober 3, ni which the ina|(imuin temperature was above ioO° ; thirty days in which it ww »bove 108°, and twelv-e days in which it was above I io». On four days it stood at 1 1 2'>, and on one at 1 13<». Tucson, though a little further south (latitude 32* 28'), is not so hot. Its maximum was i lo", and only dfiy-one dayf, a!l in the summer jdonths, exceeded too*. Phoeaix (Jatitude 33" 18 ), Wickenburg (latitude 33° 58'), and Maricopa Wells (latitude 33» 10') approach Yuma in temperature, the temperature exceeding ioo» for seventy-nine, eighty-two and eighty-six days respectively, and reaching II2» more than once. Florence (" .iiude 33«> 2') is very much liki! Tucson in its temperature. Prescott, the capital of the Territory (latitude 34'> 29'), 5,700 feet above the sea, has a very fine climate. In 1878, but two days exceeded ioqo. The mean of summer temperature did not exceed 84<». The mean of the year was 65" 49'. Camp Verde, in nearly the same latitude, bMt less elevated, had thiriy-six ilays in which the temperature exceeded 100°, and several times reached 108°. Camp Grant (^titude 32" 25'), on the San Pedro river, but above the canons of the Gila, was below Prescott ir. temperature, never exceeding 95* iu summer, though its winter nUnimum luxt not bejow 24»« while that of Prescott yas I<*. ..^^iHi t:i*dlM't'^,aiX.^'K.,^J j-'te.'i I ■>■>-» . ) CLIMAIK OF ARIZONA. Sotober 3, in which the »bove 108°, and twelve oneatlij". Tucson, um was I io», and only % (Jatilude 33" 18). >') approach Yuma m vo and eighty-six day» * 2') ia very much liki- ide 34» 29'), 5,700 feet d ioo». The mean of >S° 49'- Camp Verde, which the temperature e 32» 25'), on the San rature, never exceeding it of Prescott yas I'. Gila, north of the river, and just on the borders of New Mexico, the character of the country is greatly improved. It is sufficiently well watered, and in greater part an exceptionally rich pasture ground, which the mild and even climate of all tlie year makes favorable to animal life. Its annual rainfall is twenty-four inches, and as this occurs mostly in the summer months, the grass remains fresh and green the year round. . . . This grazing country comprehends large tracts of agricultural land which will become valuable because situated in the midst of a rich mining region, and the railroad which is about to penetrate it will carry off its surplus produce." The northern and northwestern part of the Territory is not so well known, and has not been so fully explored as the central and southern portions. The region of the Cerbat Mountains, south of the Great Bend and Grand Cafion of the Colorado, was visited by (ieneral Fremont in December, 1878. He represents it as a grass-covered country, with valleys and mountain ranges well wooded with both juniper and pine. The juniper of this region is a large forest tree often four or five feet in diameter. In the Wallapai Valley, just east of the Cerbat range, is Red lake, the largest lake in the Territory, which receives the waters of a very considerable creek. There are numerous large springs in this valley ; north and east of the Colorado is a region very little known. It is mountainous, but the mountains so far as known are believed to be mesas, isolated, lofty and flat-topped table lands. North and northeast of the Flax river or Colorado Chiquito, between the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth parallels, after crossing a region known as the Painted Desert, from the variegated colors of its rocks, lies the ancient province of Tusayan. with its groups of villages of the Moquis or cliff-dwellers, and the ruins of their ancient towns, which we will describe presently. noyri/'.'.m mmnrn :,j;i i 'JK^v ).jrnfH<' 'MU'IUJ! Yet farther to the northeast, between the thirty-sixth artd thirty-seventh parallels and the 109th and iioth merklians, just west of the Navajo reservation, are extensive beds of anthracite coal said to be of excellent quality. There are also in the Mesa la Vaca (Plain of the Cows) and the Calabasa Mountains, ridh |. •Aatti ■MM wmmm i .m X ■■,':':' V' ■'■ V ■'X- JO4 Ol/X tVESTEX?/ EMPIRE. deposits of gold, silver and copper. " The face of the country here," says General Fremont, " presents mountain ranges with broad intervening valleys running into each other by easy passes. The hills and lower ridges are wooded with juniper and piAon pine, worthy sometimes to be called forests, the higher ranges with yellow pine. The valleys, occasionally of several hundred thousand acres in extent, are covered with varieties of the most nutritious grass, among them bunch and gramma grass. This would be notably a grazing country if water could be had, but the scarcity of it repels settlement, and at present it is mostly unoccupied. The great trough of the Colorado near by seems to have drained it of all except what is afforded by occasional springs and the streams in the higher mountains. But no attempt to store and retain water by dams, or to obtain it by artesian or flowing wells, has been made." The elevation of this region insures for it a mild and equable temperature. The rainfall of Arizona is a variable quantity in the diiiferent sections of the Territory and at different seasons. The five years previous to July i, 1879, had been, throughout Arizona, years of drought ; the rainfall had been very slight, except in a very few localities, through the entire Territory, and hence the reports of the amount of rain during that period must be regarded as below the average of ten or twenty years. This long season of drought is now happily ended. In a private letter to the writer, dated December 30, 1879, General Fremont said: "The whole country here (Prescott) is covered with snow, and the streams are impass- able. We have had for a week a continued storm of rain and snow. Nothing like it has been known for many years past. There had been so little falling weather for the last five years that even the pine trees were beginning to die in the mountains. Now all vegetation will revive, and the Territory will be greatly prosperous during the coming year." The rainfall in Arizona is usually almost wholly during July and August, and so heavy a rain in December was without precedent. The signal-service year, July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1878, the first in which we had any full meteorological reports from Arizona, gave the rainfall at the different stations as follows: Yuma, two inches, Wickenburg^ mmmm >Wi l . » GEOLOGY AND MIKEROLOGY OF ARIZONA. 50s five inches; Tucson, 13.03 inches; Stanwix (six months), 0.65 of an inch; Prescott, 13.81 inches; Phoenix, 5.01 ; Maricopa Wells (eight months), 4.89 inches; Florence, 7.18 inches; Camp Verde, 10.81 ; Camp Grant, 8.96 inches; Burke's (seven months), 0.88 inches ; Bear Springs, twenty-four inches. Geology and Mineralogy. — The only extensive geological ex- plorations which have been made in Arizona are those along the walls of the caflons of the Colorado river. From the upper waters of the Green and Grand rivers, whose union forms the Colorado of the West, to the mouth of the Gila at Yuma, it is estimated that the river has cut through strata representing a thickness of 25,000 feet, or five miles of vertical height, and that there are exposed in its course every geological formation found in North America, from the quaternary alluvial deposits to the primary azoic rocks, and that at some points in its course the rocks have been altered by volcanic action and that vast streams of lava have been injected into the cafions. 1, ;,< k.. Of these strata, worn through by the great volume of water which has thus torn for itself a passage, about 16,000 feet of nearly vertical descent, are within the bounds of Arizona. There are, of course, the superficial deposits, alluvium, and perhaps diluvium, and certainly loess, and the clay and sandstone detritus from the wearing down of the rocks, but we doubt whether there are many strata as high up as the tertiary among the surface- rocks of Arizona. The coal-beds in the northeast of the Terri- tory are said to be anthracite and of excellent quality; but whether they are from the tertiary lignites and bituminous coals which have been transformed into anthracite by volcanic action like the coal-beds in New Mexico, or whether they are true anthracites from the carboniferous strata, seems to be doubtlul. If they are the latter, they are the only anthracites of that period between the Mississippi river and the Pacific coast. Of marbles of all colors and shades, of sandstones, white, pink, orange, buff, vermilion and brown, and granites, rose-colored, gray, slate- (^plored and blue, there is no end. The mineral wealth of Arizona is undoubtedly very great. Its veins and placers of gold, silver, copper and lead, and its car- ] I ?/'-' mi 5?i j06 ^^^ WESTERN EMPIRE. • » bonates and oxides of iron, platinum and quicksilver are dis- tributed very widely over the Territory. Gold is found free both in placers and in quartz lodes ; silver in galena, and com- bined with both lead and copper as sulphides and carbonates ; copper is also found alone in the form of gray sulphurets ; quick- silver in the form of cinnabar and perhaps other combinations ; tin, platinum and nickel nearly pure; iron ores of all kinds, and well situated for producing the finer qualities of iron and steel ; besides the anthracite coal in the northeast there is bituminous coal adapted to smelting purposes at Camp Apache and else- where. Immense deposits of salt of the purest quality have been discovered, and there are large beds of sulphur, gypsum, hydraulic lime, valuable mineral springs, natural loadstones of great magnetic power, and fossil woods of many varieties. There are also opal pebbles, garnets, red, white and yellow; azurite. malachite, chalcedony, sapphires, opals, and possibly some dia- monds. Gold and silver mining was prosecuted by the Spaniards and Mexicans for many years before the Territory came into the possession of the United States, and some of these mines are still largely productive. Among these were the Cerro Colorado, now known as the Heintzelman mine; the Mowry,- Santa Rita, Salero, Cahuabi, and San Pedro, and the quicksilver mine of La Paz. Many others have since been discovered, and new mines are being constantly opened. They are found in all the ex- plored portions of the Territory, and seem to indicate that the mineral wealth of Arizona is greater than that of any other Ter- ritory of the West. For mining purposes all the explored por- tion of the Territory belcw the thirty-sixth parallel has been divided into mining districts. These are most numerous in the southeast, though the new developments are to a considerable extent in the central and northwest portions. Those most noted in the southeast are the Dos Cabezas, the Sierra Bonita (north of the Gila), the Dragoon Range district, the Globe district, the Tombstone district, the Huachuca district, the Patagonia, the Washington and the Harshaw districts, the Santa Rita dis- trict, the mines of which have been worked for many years, and ■emis- 1 il csilver are dis- is found free lena, and com- nd carbonates ; phurets ; quick- r combinations ; f all kinds, and iron and steel ; ■t is bituminous lache and else- ality have been Iphur, gypsum, I loadstones of varieties. There yellow; azurite. sibly some dia- (.> f m i\j e Spaniards and came into the these mines are Cerro Colorado, wry,- Santa Rita, ilver mine of La and new mines i in all the ex- ndicate that the r any other Ter- le explored por- irallel has been numerous in the ) a considerable hose most noted ra Bonita (north ; Globe district, the Patagonia, Santa Rita dis- many years, and I MINING DISTRICTS IN ARIZONA, yy, with profit. A number of new mines have been opened at the south end of the Santa Rita mountain, the Oro Blanco and the Arivaca districts, and still further west, the Baboquivari dis- trict, and near the Colorado the (jiia City district, which, after * being abandoned as a placer mine many years ago, has recently come to the surface as having a rich quartz ledge of great extent. Thtise are all, except the Sierra Bonita, south of the Gila river. North of that river, and beginning at the west, is the Castle Dome district, the ores of which are mostly argentiferous galena ; the Pioneer, Pinal, Tiger and Peck districts ; the Bradshaw, Oro Bonito, Gray Eagle, Silver Prince, Silver Belt and Cabinet mines, Ruffner's Camp (copper and silver), and the Verde mines. Richer than any of these is the great Mineral Park district, above the thirty-fifth parallel and on the meridian of 114° 20*, a belt nearly a hundred miles long, and which General H"remont says, " carries between porphyry walls a mile and a half breadth of ore matter, which is interspersed with veins principally chlorides of silver. These are said to be very rich, reaching several hun- dred dollars the ton. The whole mass is said to carry silver." The Bradshaw and other districts within a circuit of thirty miles around Prescott, the capital of the Territory, have many rich mines. The great obstacles in the way of successful mining in Arizona have been hitherto the dangers from hostile Indians, the lack of capital, want of good roads or railroads, and the scarcity of water and timber. Some of these obstacles are now removed. The greater part of the Indians in the Territory (the Apaches in the extreme east, and the Pi-Utes in the north alone being somewhat uneasy) are now peaceable and friendly to the whites. Much of this quiet and good order is due to the skil- ful management of General Fremont and Major-Gene r£il Willcox, tlie army officer in command of the military district of Arizona. The Southern Pacific Railroad traverses the southern portion of. the Territory from west to east, while the Texas Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe are rapidly approaching from the east. Toll and good wagon-roads traverse all the southern and central portions of the Territory. Capital is flowing in rapidly, and though the vicinity of some of the mines is very bare i ,-.!9»iMi«i<3*^AVi«ifcF»iyi>i» 3^S*;.^*ceeds with his farmers do, but els of ore from t the gold with 5els the quick- : or pouch, and He thus sup- k^ill not detcrio- y complete de- imcnse mineral jhter than ever here are flock- as the miners lie which, while cket or a vein, dear or cheap with very little opinions from it and work up apital of from ids in the mat- ter, dispose of the greater part of the capital to the unwary, who will be very likely to fmd thcniHclves swindleil most rgr<-^iously. For the pur|>ose of exposing these frauds we would counsel any one who wishes to invest in mining property in Arizona, or, indeed, elsewhere, before purchasing to institute the following inquiries: What is the exact location of your mine? How near is it to a permanent supply of water, sufficient for the mine? What is that water — a spring, creek, or river ? Is it a perpetual stream, or does it intermit and lose itself in the sands, reappear- ing, perhaps, miles below ? What timber is there near the mine, and at what price is it held ? What progress has been made in the mine by shafts, tunnel, or winze ? What amount and value of ore is now upon the dump ? What is the average assay, and what the actual practical yield per ton ? What is the estimated present value of the mine as appraised by skiliul and honest experts ? These points being satisfactorily ascertained, the investor may be justified in offering about one-fifth of what is asked for the mine, though he would be safer if he offered only a tenth.* The vegetation of Arizona is peculiar. The lower valley of the Colorado and that of the Gila as far east as the Rio Santa Cruz are for the most part low and dry. In the spring, the cactus, which abounds in all its species here, and delights in a dry and desert land, is in full bloom, and pleases the eye with its gay and beautiful colors. There is very little grass here, and that little dries up under the summer's intense heat, but is renewed by the rains of July and August The mountains are covered with scrubby pines and junipers, and along the streams there is a thin line of cotton- woods. In the desert lands, the mezquite and iron-wood con- tend with the cactus for a place in the parched soil, and these furnish a moderate supply of fuel, though there are bituminous coals in the Gila valley which ?tupplement what is lacking. In * In suggesting these inquiries and urging this cnution, we do not intend to imply that there IS Miy doubt thmt the mineral wealth of Ariiona is vast, and perhaps gri;ater than that of any other portion of the West t but the distance to markets is so great, the expenses so heavy, the obstacles so many, and the facilities for deception so numerous, that great caution on the part of the buyer is obaoluiely necessary. Mif%ii>^>iiiS3Si^\^-*i!i!»'muiuimt*'»>'^-^'' 'I ij ||0 OUJt fKSTKKf/ KMr/KK. thr tiistcrn and Houihcastcrn parts of the Territory there &ro more htrrams, and the ntountains arc covcrtil, though «»parHrIy, with pin< and juniper. North of the (Jila there in in the cast an extensive mass of mountains known as the Mo^ollori Moun* tains, which .'•re covercil with yellow pine, piAon or nut-pine, and juniper, while the valleys which are watered by the streams which unite to form the Colorado Chicpiito, and the Siilitms, San Carlos, Ik)nito, Prieto, and A/ul, affluents of the (Jila. ure cov* ered with rich grasses and are excellent gru/in)r and arable lands. A oroad but elevated valley lies between the Mo^ollon and the San Francisco range, which is watered only by the San Francisco river and its affluents, and by one or two small lakes, and by one or two creeks whidi tlow into die Salinas. This valley plateau is but little known, but in It^ upper poriion at least is probably very dry. 1 he lower portion i:» said to be an excellent grain region. Another extensive mountain mass, extending more than 200 miles from north to south and about 1 35 from east to west, of which the San Francisco Mountains form the eastern Ijar.ier, and which is traversed by many fertile valleys and some lofty mesas or plateaux, extends westward to the I^lack Mountains, which overlook the Colorado valley. Nearly in the centre; of this mountain mass is situated Prescott, the capital of tht; Ter- ritory, which is 5,700 feet above the sea, and enjoys a fmc^ climate, not too hot or too cold, a pure air, and freedom from maluria. The atmosphere here is very dry and highly electric, at times almost painfully so. Thunder-storms are very frequent in sum- mer, and so many of the pine trees, which arc obundant here, have been struck by lightning that they arc unfit for lumber. Most of these mountains are covered with yellow pine, juniper, an') pinon pine, with some oaks, and much good lumber is fur- nished from those thirty or forty miles north of Prescott. In this region, as well as farther south, those fruits which delight in a hot climate and do not require too much moisture, flourish in perfection. The peach, apricot, fig, banana, and where they have been planted, the olive and pomegranate, yield abundant fruit The orange, lemon, and lime probably require more lory there an» loii^li <«{)arHt*|y, r is in the cast o^'ollofi Moun- r tuit-pitu', and y the Hircams he. S;»linns, San • (iila, urc cov* n^t and arable I the Mo;;ollon nly b\ the San wo small lakes, Salina.s. This )pcr poriion at s suid to bu an * more than 200 east to west, of eastern bar.ier, ind jumi; tluim in sep- arate granaries. Their crops of these would inilicate a fertile Boil, and the grazinjj was j^ood for their ^oats and sh IWimUMW 1.^ .^.iMIM* .■lk>»'>««>' I'll all; tlw! Mack ami cinnamon l)rani arr morr numrrnua. The puma or (ouf^ur Ih iuun little cur of an animal scarcely larj^er than a fox, in occanionally »cen ; but there are fKxcarica, reccoonn. opoAXums, skunks, and the frophrr or prairie do^ or marmot. There arc said to btr larj^e herds of muHtan^s or wild horxcH in the plains of Southern Arizona. Of birds there are a considerable number, many of them of jjay-colore;h thtr animal itii<-lf shows rto sifjns oi rabies. These animals are very numerous in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, the Indian Territory and Texas, and though many thi)iisandH of them an* killed every year for their skins, the fur by strme animal, but a sort of night- marc prevented his moving. After some time, however, th« pain and horror together woke him np to find a skunk eating his hand. With » cry and sudden effort he thrtrw the animal from him. tt struck the other side of the tent and fell upon the other man, who, recognizing the intruder, rushe.;-^'f f.>^>i' ^.f../ 7? •■■'; 'f;- 'iV' ^,, Wheat is the principal vegetable production exported. It is of excellent quality, fully equal to the best California, and where irrigation can be practised, the yield is enormous. We have no ^statistics of the vegetable crops gathered the last yea,r, and be- lieve none have been collected. Fruit, of semi-tropical qualities, is beginning to be extensively cultivated. Lymber and timber can be produced in some quarters, sufficient not only to supply the home demand, but to have considerable quantities to export. The Papago Indians, in the, southwest, the Pimas and Maricppas, in the south and central region, the Mohaves, and to some ex- tent, the Yumas, in the west and on the Lower Colorado, and the more civilized bands of the Apaches in the east, cultivate the soil and obtain a livelihood from it, the MarioQpas and Papagos ex- erting conuderable grain to San. Francisco. In the. northeast e wound. The I and gnawed in leans of cauteri- ught they would :ally. So he had Castile soap, cut d, binding it up, d healed, which lonel Dodge for ed any ill effects »nel Dodge says he knew in that iften fatal. - ' m rabies or go rush into houses, )ut $3,500,000 of om Arizona. In • $8,000,000, and leted through the •eased, and lead, r metals will be exported. It is brftia, and where s. We have no ist yea;r, and be- tropical qualities, nber and timber It only to supply mtities to export, s and Maricppas, and to some ex- [Tolorado, and the , cultivate the soil and Papagos ex- In the northeast INDIAXS OF ARI7.0NA. 5«$ the Navajos are largely engaged in sherp-farming, as already noticed. The Hualapais and the Yavapais, as well as some of the Apaches, are more inclined to a nomadic life, but will make good herdmen. The Apaches in the southeast, and the Pah- Utes or Pi-Uten, in the north and northwest, are not inclined to any industry, and are roving, troublesome and thievish. • The white population of Arizona is, according to the census just taken, almost 42,000 and rapidly increasing. In i860 there were 6,482, and in 1870 there were 9,658. There has been within the past two years, a rapid influx of persons interested in mines and mining, as well as some who preferred ap^ncul- tural pursuits, or the rearing of cattle and sheep. In 187 u c were 32,052 Indians in the Territory; the number he p;<; v ably somewhat diminished since that time, as the small-po... .n^' other fatal diseases have raged among them, and some of »^%' tribes have scarcely escaped starvation, but they must rrjml > nearly 39,000 at the present time. > Besides the tribes we have named, there are other smr t bands, such as the Succhis, Apache Mohaves, Apache Coyote os, Cosninas, Chemehuevis and Wallapis. The Apaches, who num- ber about 5,000, and have a large reservation in the southeast, are divided into six bands : the Tontos, Pinals, Arivapas, Mes- caleros, Bonitos and Cochise's band. They are, for the mofit part, treacherous and mischievous, and have of late been raiding in New Mexico, but have met with summary punishment. With the exception of these and the Pi-Utes in the north, the Indians of Arizona are frtendly to the whites, peaceable, and, for Indians, industridus. There are, all over Arizona, ruins of ancient dwellings, castles and fortified villages, together with acequias or water-conduits, caves and dwellings hewn out of the rocks, or built up with larije stones and evidently formerly containing a large population. Of these ruins, Hon. A. P. K. Safford, formeriy Governor of the Territory, and its Co missioner at the Centennial Exposition, says: " Many portions of the Territory are covered with ruins, which prove conclusively that it was once densely populated by a peo- -*1* -J. 1) jl^ OVR WESTERN EMPIKE. file far in advance, in point of civilization, of most of the Indian tribes. '1 here is no written record of them, and it is only a matter of conjecture who and what they were. Occasionally a deserted house is found sufficiently well preserved to ascertain the character of the architecture. The walls of the Casa Grande, situated on the Gila, near Sanford, are still two stories above the ground. In size, the structure is abotit thirty by sixty feet; the walls are thick, and made of mud, which was evidently confined and dried as it was built. It is divided into many small rooms, and the partitions are also made of mud. The floors were made by placing sticks close together afid covering them with cement Around and near the Casa Grande are the rums of many other buildings ; but, by the lapse of time, the decay of vegetation has formed earth and nearly covered them, and all that now marks the place where once a stately mansion stood is the elevation of the ground. Near the Ancha Mountains are ruins not so ex> tensive, but in far better preservation than the Casa Grande; and near these ruins are old arastras, for the reduction of silver ores— 'which indicate that this old people were not unmindful of the root of all evil. On the Verde river are immense rooms dujj in from the sides of high, perpendicular sandstxme banks, that can only be reached with ladders. • AnM xl« fiin? F'iJBiviB'H'tii " Very liittle information is obtained by excavating these ruins. Pottery of tin excellent quality, and ornamented with paint, is found everywhere, and occasionally a stone axe is unearthed, "but nothing to indicate that they were a warlike people ; on the con- trary, scarcely an implement of defence can be found, though there are reasons to believe, from the numerous lookouts or places for observatioft lo be seen qo tJt^ fops of hills and moun- tains, and the construction of th«ir hi6ufies, that they had eRcmies, and that they liviere censtandy on the: ail«tt to avoid surprise ; and ajbo, that by the hands of these enemies they pek'tshed. It is not im^oUible thai '(he Apaches wei^ the "enemits who caused their destni<^tiicMi^ Indeed^ the Apaches have a legfeod that such is the case. During the past year I opened an old ruin at Puebla Viejo, on the Up]^ Gila, ancd ibuind Ifie bones of several human beings within ; also the bones of a number Casa Grande ; :tion of silver unmindful of ise rooms du^ lanks, that can ig these ruins, with paint, is unearthed, but e ; on tiac con- found, though IS lookouts or ills and moun- y had enemies, void surprise; y perished. It its who caused ^ead that such I ruin at Pucbla several human neslic animals. ANCIEirr RUISS IN ARtZONA. <|f On the fire, an alia (crockery-ware vessel) was found with the bones of a fowl in it, and it appeared as though the people within had resisted an attack from an enemy, and had finally been mur- dered. Shortly after, I visited a ruin in Chino valley, twenty miles north of Prescott, and over three hundred miles from Puebla Viejo, and there found that Mr. Banghart had opened a ruin on his farm. In it he found the bones of several human beings — five adults and some children — and the evidences were unmis- takable that the inmates had died by violence, as the door and window liad been walled up with stone, evidently to resist a hos- tile foe. The subject is an interesting one, and it is to be hoped that further excavations may throw more light upon the subject. The ruins of towns, farms and irrigating canals, that are to be seen on every hand through this vast Territory, give abundant proof that this country was once densely inhabited, and that the people who lived here maintained themselves by cultivating the soil. Probably that is about all we shall ever know of thenv, Many hieroglyphics are to be seen on rocks in different portions of the Territory, but by whom made, or what they mean, no one knows. " In excavating a well between Tucson and the Gila, at the depth of one hundred and fifty feet, pottery and other articles, the same as are found in the vicinity of ruins, were taken out" , /• But by far the most interesting of these ruins, inasmuch as they are not wholly ruins, but some of tliem inhabited by the remnant of the original tribes which built them, are those of the ancient province of Tusayan, in the northeastern part of the Territory. Seven of the sixty or more towns which constitute this once populous province, are still Inhabited by the Moquis, who are undoubtedly the descendants of d>ie original nation which once occupied the whole of this Territory, and who sttH adhere to the religion of their fathers. Of the sixty towns, thirty are still inhabited, but all except the seven are under the con- trol of Catholic priests, and the Pctgan rites and' ceremonies are prohibited ; but occasionally the inhabitants steal away from their villages and join with the Pagans of the " Province of Tusayan>'' m. their rites and worship. There are other groups of these vil> ""H R'^^ jlS OUR WESTERN EMPiRB. lages on the San Juan river in New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado, which have been visited by Professor J. S. Newberry and his companions, in i860, whose language, religion, etc^, are identical with these. Colonel J. W. Powell, United States army, visited the province of Tusayan in i87i,and spent about two months in studying the language, manners, customs, and religion of these interesting people. The narratives of Professor New- berry (which has not been published) and of Colonel Powell are both full of interest, and from them we glean a few particulars in addition to those already given in Part I., chapter vi., page 671 which will, we think, be of interest to our readers. .1 .\.i The villages of these Moquis are always situated on some lofty m*sa or isolated table-land, difficult of access; their dwellings are of stone, usually three or four stories high, and around an inte- rior court, common to the village. The outer walls are blank 9ind inaccessible, and the inner court is only approached by a covered way easily defended. Entering the village plaza or in- terior court-yard, the houses are joined together, forming a con- tinuous wall outside, and within the court they are built in terraces, the second story being set back upon the first, the third upon the second, and the fourth upon the third. There are no doors or low windows to the first story ; access to it is had only by ascending a ladder to the top of the story and then descend-* ing another to the floor of the first. This lower story is for the most part a store-house where the corn or other grain used by the family is stored^ each color of the corn by itself. The second slastered care-< ^^■ devices. For ,, ipt that some* ,-, i selenite, thcx^; > the third or. projecting wall r m a little fire<; 2 x\ of wood ; a • ippcd outsider with a pottery pipe. The exterior of the houses is very irregu- lar and unsightly, and the streets and courts arc filthy, though in the centre of each court is a large, deep fountain and pool, which is used for bathing ; but within the houses great cleanli- ness is observed. Separated from the houses, indeed belonging to the village, is the kiva, called Esiufa, " the Sweat House," by the Spaniards. It is a large underground room in the court- yard or plaza, chiefly intended for religious ceremonies, the church, in fact, of the village, but also used as a place of social resort. A deep pit is excavated in the shaly rock and covered with long logs, over which are placed long reeds, these, in turn, covered with earth, heaped in a mound above ; a hole or hatch- way is left, and the entrance to the kiva is by a ladder down this hatchway. The people are very hospitable and quite ceremonious ; they are also remarkably polite. Enter a house and you are invited to take a seat on a mat placed for you upon the floor, and some refreshment is oflered, perhaps a melon with a little bread, per- haps peaches or apricots. After you have eaten, everything is carefully cleared away, and with a little broom made of feathers of birds,* the matron or her daughter removes any crumbs or seeds which may have been dropped. They are a very economi- cal people ; the desolate circumstances under which they live, the distance to the forests, and the scarcity of game, together with their fear of the neighboring Navajos and Apaches, which prevents them from making excursions to a distance, all com- bine to teach them the most rigid economy. Their wood is packed from a distant forest on the backs of mules or asses, and when a fire is kindled but a few small fragments are used, and when no longer needed the brands are extinguished, and the re- maining pieces preserved for future use. Their corn is raised in fields near by, out in the drifting sands, by digging pits eighteen inches to two feet deep, in which the seeds are planted early in the spring, while the ground is yet moist. When it has ripened it is gathered, brought in from the fields in baskets carried by * Some of th*se brushes or brooms are very beautiful, and are made of the feathers of hum* mmg- birds and Other birds of gny plumage found in that region. : *«m«iM«s,j«»-fj»sia)iaa»w *W«R8iw«*!W«^ po OUK WtSTERN MMP/ltK. the women, and stored away in their rooms, being carefully corded. They take great pains to raise corn of different colors, ^d have the corn of each color stored in a separate room. This ia ground to a fine flour in stone-mills, then made into a paste Kke a rather thick gruel. In every house there is a little oven made of a flat stone eighteen or twenty inches square, raised iour or Ave inches from the floor, and beneath this a little fire is built. When the oven is hot <'ind the dough mixed in a little vessel of pottery, the good woman plunges her hand in the mix- ture and rapidly smears the broad surface of the furnace rock yrith a thin coating of the paste. In a few moments the film uf batter is baked ; when taken up it looks like a sheet of paper. This she folds and places on a tray. Having made seven sheets of this paper bread from the batter of one color and placed them (Ml the tray, she takes batter of another color, and, in this way, inakes seven sheets of each of the several colors of corn-batter. They have many curious ways of preparing their food, but perhaps tl.e daintiest dish is " virgin hash." This is made by chewing morsels of meat and bread, rolling them in the mouth into little lumps about the size of a horse-chestnut, and then tying them up in bits of corn-husk. When a number of these are made, they are thrown into a pot and boiled like dumplings. The most curious thing of all is, tliat only certain persons are flowed to prepare these dumplings; the tongue and palate kneading must be done by a virgin. An old feud is sometimes avenged by pretending hospitality^ and giving to the enemy dumplings made by a lewd woman. A^^^rtl ''fh M^rV fIflRW'Vvr 'ifil. In this warm and dry climate the people live principally out of doors or on the tops of their houses, and it is a merry sight to see a score or two of little naked children climbing up and dowR the stairways and Ladders, and running about the tops of the houses engaged in some active sport. In every hoAA&e vessels of stone and pottery are found in great aibundaace. These Indian women have great skill in ceramic ^1, decorating thein vessels with picture-writings in various colors, but chiefly black. r7*n't'^?T?*':r In the early history of this country, before the advent of the eing carefully ifferent colors, tc room. This c into a paste s a little oven square, raised s a little ftrc is cod in a little nd in the mix- e furnace rock nts the film of leet of paper. e seven sheets d placed them d, in this way, of corn-batter. :heir food, but is is made by n in the mouth tnut, and then mber of these ike dumplings. in persons are je and palate d is sometimes to the enemy principally out i a merry sight imbing up and lut the tops of found in great kill in ceramic igs in various advent of the ll CLIPV uwei.i.KRs. iihT -'" f'tn T'tiilliiri II lYwtailltirt-iiiiiiJi w ii j TnirMiaiwwfr fiwf i t i r fl t ji mra !is-iia»i-> > r 1^''^" ., '•• ■ \, •• t« ^> DKBSS Attr> irAfilTS OF TUB MOQU/S. '4 ■;!*. i. ft' ■.». ,. Spaniards, thcHC people raised cotton, ami from it made their clothing; but between the years 1540 and 1600 they were sup- plied with sheep, and now the jjrcater part of their clothing it made of wool, though all their priestly habilimcntH, their wedding and burying garments, are still made of cotton. The weaving is mostly done by the men, anti their woollen blankets are re- markable for their density and their fine texture. They are perfectly water-proof, as we have already noticed, page 67. Men wear moccasins, leggings, shirts and blanke»s ; the women, moccasins with long tops, short petticoats dyed black, sometimes with a red border below, and a small blanket or ahawl throw.) over the body so as to pass over the right shoui- der under the left arm. A long girdle of many bright colors is wound around the waist. The outer garment is also black. The women have beautifid, black, glossy hair, which is allowed to grow very long, and which they take great pains in dressing. Early in the morning, immediately after breakfast, if the weather is pleasant, the women all repair to the tops oi the houses, tak- ing with them little vases of water, and wash, comb and braid one another's hair. It is washed in a decoction of the soap plant, a species of yucca, and then allowed to dry in the open air. The married ladies have their hair braided and rolled in a knot at the back of the head, but the maidens have it parted along the middle line above, and each lock carefully braided or twisted, and rolled into a coil supported by litde wooden pins, so as to cover each ear, giving them a very fantastic appearance. The politeness of the people is shown in their salutations. If you meet them in the fields they greet you with a salutation signifying, " May the birds sing happy songs in your fields." If you do one of them a favor, even though a very slight one, he thanks you ; if a man, he says " kwa kwa;" if a woman, "es-ka-li.'* It is an interesting feature in their language that many words are used exclusively by men, others by woqfiieii. * Father,"^ as spoken by a girl, la one word ; spoken by a boy, it is another ; and nothing iis considered n&ore vulgar among these people than for a man to use a woman's word, or a woman a man's. At the ^wfi of dtiy the governor of the town goes up to the > =!^lif*jalS:ietXiy*i^^jLit»t,»M>¥l^^»iM^^.-\Mfl*.hii-^^^ '• m ill W\ H I ,11! :■ I 512 Ol/Jt HESTKKy FMrrKK. top of his housp and calls on tlu* people to come forth. In a few miniitc^s th f ;• ' '^ But they worshipped also the powers and fon es of nature, at least to the extent of prayer and homage. The aridity of their soil made water, and especially rain, a prime necessity, and Col- 6nel Powell gives us a prayer which he heard addressed, with a variety of other ceremonies, to Mu-tng-wa, the rain-goil, by one MKfjnroVS WnltSHI^ OP MOQVn. Saj • forth. In a <' I b<»nrs, n ablr to pr<>« )r a moment, nd dart away f for dear jife. r»es with little me exercises. ie large room ic lops of the J the fields or icatf «1. They cater of men, : planets, sun, lirit f)f miracu- on, who dwelt 3 them. This the Hercules . and the Hia- li-ta. and they npiaining and •\i\ \V\: . ' " :I i of nature, at ridity of their sity, and Col- ressed, with a' n-god, by one of the Moqui priests: " Muing wa ! \ ry j;ood, thou dost love us, for thou didst bring us up from the Sower world.* Thou didNt teach our faih^ rs, and their wisdom has de»cetided to us. We eat no «jtolcn bre.ul. No »»tolen sheep are found in our flocks. ()ur \'*"'^K ""'" "^♦^ "*" '^'" ^'^*' Htf)l4«»V«Ht«^-M»V .— . **/ f! i \ i\ \i 1 1 l;iii i m II SM Ot/M WhSTMMM MMr/MK. chnam-a-vl. Prof. Newberry fo\iniJ a Rtnalirr numln-r, prrhap« not much more than i.ouo, on the mtsoji of thr Sun Juan rc'|rion ; but thi* ruinn of thfir town« ami villa^cH, Homc of thi*m of i;rcat Rite M\*\ Ktrcn^th and of rcmarkublt; architectural U'aiily, crown th(! Hiirniititx of ahnoHt cvrry mesa and hilltop throu^ltoiit Nc* vada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arlzima, and Southern Cali- fornia. " Not only Salt Lake City, but nearly every settlement in ihe Territory of Utah, and maiy in tlw .Stale of Nevada," sayH Colonel I'owell, "are liuilt on the site of one oi tlu-Hc ancient towns. They have In^en foutid x\so on the S iiImt, prrhapt I Jtinn ri't^'ion ; then) of ^Tcat iK-aiity, crown rably about 65,000. It is now divided into five counties — Yuma, I'ima, Maricopa, Mohave and Yavapai. The last named has an area as large as the State of Iowa. The principal towns are Tucson, the former capital, which had in 1870 a population of 3,224. Its present population is estimated at somewhat more than 6,000 ; the Southern Pacific Railway now extends to it. Arizona City, aituated at the junction of the Gila and Colorado, population In 1870, 1,144, "ow estimated at about 1,600. Prescott, the present capital, which had, in 1870, 668 inhabitants, has now about a,ooo. It is, like Tucson, central to ft fine mining country. Phoenix, on the Rio Salinas, Is a thriving and growing town, though very hot in summer. Ehrcnburg, on the Colorado, Is the chief shipping point for Central Arizona, Fkjrence, Sanford, Mineral Park, Hardyvllle and Wickcnburg are also places of some Importance. We can hardly recommend this Territory to the emigrant ,1 il Ml ,i ' if lii' ■: 1 SI T. J 26 0£//f IV£Sr£JtAf F.MPIRR. farmer, though those who take up favorably situated lands near the mining centres, and can have facilities for irrigation, will imdoubtedly do well. The soil when irrigated is fertile enough to produce any crop. The stock-raiser and the sheep-farmer will fuid excellent grazing lands and a good market in Arizona, nor (vcept in the extreme north or the southeast need they have any great apprehension of Indian raids. Wild beasts certainly exist there, but they are less numerous than in the other new Territories, and the losses from them will not be large, while the profits of both catde and sheep-raising are certain and speedy. But mining is the pursuit in which Arizona, like the adjacent Slate of Nevada, is likely to be pre-eminent Transportation for mining products is now good and will soon be better; capital is flowing into the Territory. The Indians have ceased to be trou- blesome in Ihe mining districts, and wood and water, two indis- pensable requisites for successful mining, though not as abundant as desirable, are yet to be had and without excessive cost; while the placers, veins and lodes, already opened or now opening, indi- cate depo iits of the precious metals, richer than those of any other State or Territory in the West. The future of Arizona, after long years of waiting, trial and disappointment, seems now to be assured. It has purchased this right to a futur*: prosperity with the blood of some of its best citizens, slain eithr.* by the fierce, treacherous and bloodthirsty Apacht^s, or by the still more bloodthirsty and reckless outlaws, who, prior to its territorial organization, made it their refuge and planned and executed there the most gigantic crimes. But they have now been driven from the Territory, and its present citizens are quiet, peaceful and law-abiding. yiif- GENERAL JOHN C. FREMONT. A .;?;■/ ii . No description of "Our Western Empire" would have any claims to completeness, which failed to do justice to the great ser- vices rendered to almost every part of that vast region by Gen- eral Fremont. His fame as an explorer, resolute, intrepid, yet thoughtful of his men, successful, notwithstanding innumerable obstacles, always grappling with broad principles, yet ever mind- ful of the minutest details, has become world-wide, and the title M^i tuated lands near or irrigation, will I is fertile enough the sheep-farmer larket in Arizona, St need they have i beasts certainly in the other new )e large, while the :ain and speedy, like the adjacent rransportation for better; capital is :eased to be troii- water, two indis- 1 not as abundant essive cost; while low opening, indi- lan those of any iture of Arizona, ment, seems now future prosperity ain eithr.- by the by the still more to its territorial 2d and executed now been driven •e qiiiet, peaceful si J would have any to the great ser- t region by Gen- lute, intrepid, yet irtg innumerable s, yet ever mind- de, and the title BIOGRAPHY OF GENERAL FREMONT. ||jf of the "Pathfinder^ everywhere bestowed upon him, boars t*lti- mony to the universal reco).Miition of his great yierits in the way of discovery and exploration. But his executive st;rvices have not been less conspicuous, or rendered with a smaller measure of self-sacrifice. He has devoted his life to the Great West; in his efforts for its development, he has lost more than one colossal fortune, earned by the most extraordinary labors, but has never repined over his losses, A man of impetuous spirit, of great daring and unbounded energy, but sensitive and delicate as a woman in regard to everything which concerned his honor, he has made many frientls whom he has bound to him as with hooks of steel, and has also had some enemies, the bitterness of whose hatred seemed almost infernal in its malignity. But he has out- lived the host'lity of even these foes, and now in the ripeness of his intellectual faculties, and with a vigor which is born of his long outdoor life, he is devoting his great powers to the develop- ment of that one of the Territories of "Our Western Empire," which has hitherto been considered the most hopeless, from its arid climate, its intense heat, and the violence and treachery of the Indian tribes which roam over it. And in this great effort he is likely to succeed. He has won the confidence of most of die tribes, and led them forward to an agricultural and quiet life, and even the savage and treacherous Apaches could not refuse to listen to one whom they had known for thirty-five years as the bravest of the brave, and as a commander w! ; hnd severely punished their offences, but had shown a magnanimity in his treatment of the conquered, which far exceeded their deserts. In all the region south of the forty-nmth parallel, the name of John C. Fremont is honored and reverenced. John Charles Fremont ■was born in Savannah, Ga., January 21st, 18 13. His father was a Frenchman, his mother a Virginian. He was educated in Charleston College, graduating with honor in 1830 at the age of seventeen. His attainments in applied mathematics gained him a position as instructor in mathematics in the United States Navy from 1833 to 1835. He accompanied Captain Williams, United States Army, in a survey of the Cherokee country in 1837-8, and in 1838-9 assisted Nicollet in exploring the country I] '. h gjg Ol/X WESTEKiV EMPtnS. between the Missouri river and the British line. While thus engaged he w{^s appointed second lieutenant of topographical engineers, July 7th, 1838. On the 19th of October, '.841, he married Jessie, daughter of Hon. Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri. In May, 1842, he began, under the authority of the, government, the exploration of an overland route to the Pacific ; examined the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, ascended in August the highest peak of the Wind River Mountains, now called Fremont's Peak, and returning late in the autumn of 1842, published a report highly commended by Humboldt in his "Aspects of Nature." In the summer of 1843, in another expedition, he explored the Great Salt Lake, and reached Fort Vancouver, near the mouth of Columbia river, in November of that year. Attempting to return by a more southern route, his progress was impeded by deep snows, and his party suffered severely from hunger and ccld. Changing his course he returned through the Great Basin and the South Pass, having exhibited a fortitude and daring rarely surpassed, and was breveted cap tain. July 3i3t, 1844. In a third expedition in 1845 ^^ explored the Sierra Nevada, California, etc. In March, 1846, he success- fully repelled an attack by .vlexicans near Monterey; was major commanding battalion of California volunteers, July to November, 1846; was appoIiiti.-d lieutenant-colonel of mounted rifles, 27th May, 1846 ; was aopointed soon after Governor of California by Commodore Stockton, whose authority was disputed by General Stephen Kearney. Arrested by the latter, he was tried by a court-martial and found guilty of mutiny and disobedience. The finding was disapproved by the President, who offered him a full pardon. This he declined, and resigned his commission. In 1848 he undertook a new expedition across the continent. His guide lost his way, and, after experiencing ineredibi« hardships, he returned v/ith the loss of one-third of his patty to Santa F^. Renewing his efforts he successfully encoontered the hostile Apaches, and in 106 days reached the Sacramento river. Ift 1&49 he settled in California, having purchased the aurifefous Mariposa tract, which was believed to be worth many Aiillion^ of dQllars. In hte efforts to develop this somewhat too rapidly, BIOGRAPHY OF GENEItM. tREMONT. 529 While thus topographical ober, 1841, he \. Benton, of ithority of the to the Pacific ; IS, ascended in lountains, now he autumn of [umboldt in his ^3, in another 1 reached Fort \ November of :hern route, his party suffered rse he returned ,ving exhibitefl J breveted cap 45 he explored 46, he success •ey ; was major y to November, ted rifles, 27 th )f California by ted by General vas tried by a (bedience. The fcred him a full Dtnmis&ion. In xjntlnent. Hte libk hardships, Iky to Santa F^. ed the hostile snto river. Ift the auriferous many Ai»Uion& uit too rapidly, he fell into the hands of some sharp New York bankers, who by adroit management (for in financial matters he was as open- hearted and simple as a child) contrived to deprive him of the whole of this magnificent property. He had previously had six years' litigation in regard to it, but in 1855 the Suprcimi; Court of the United States confirmed his title. But during all this time he was actively engaged in the service of his country. In 1849 he was a commissioner to run the boundary line bctwcti-n the United States and Mexico. He used his great influence to make California a free State, when the struggle betwc;»:n the South and the North, in regard to the increase of the slave States, was at its height. In 1850-51 he was the first United States Senator from California. In 1850 he received from the King of Prussia a gold medal in token of his great services to science, and the same year the great gold medal of the Royal Geographi- cal Society of London. In 1853 he led at his own expense a fifth expedition across the continent, and succeeded in finding a new route to the Pacific, about latitude 38" north. In 1856 the Republican party, then recendy organized, made him its nominee for the Presidency, and he received 1 14 electoral votes against 17,4 for his successful competitor, Mr. Buchanan. In the fall of i860 he visited Europe, where he was received with great honors. On tlie 14th of May, 1861, he was appointed a major-general of the United States army, and placed in command of the Western District, with head-quarters at St. Louis. In August he issued an order emancipating the slaves of those wl^o should take arms against the United States. This order was annulled by Presi- dent Lincoln as premature. Wt commenced a vigorous pursuit of the insurgents, whom he had finally overtaken at Springfield, Mok, when, by the intrigues of other commanders, he was re- moved from the command, November 2d, 1861. Three months later he was assigned to the command of an army, poorly equipped apd without sufficient supplies, in the mountain dis- trict of ^^irginia, where he was directed to operate against the skillful rebel general, Stonewall Jackson. His operations were unsuccessful, mainly from the want of efficient support. When General Pope was appointed to the command of the army of to vMf,H :>jb Vti 'V'fl^KV/ >i r:J.f;{M.yJ j/'. ' MTtqift'l (ri'.>l;r> W 'U!'. »,f I — ili if Ml M i ^^: I 1 1^ OUR WESTE/lf/ EMPIRE, ' ' Northern Virginia, General Frdimont declined to serve under an officer whom he outranked, and resigned his commission. But he was too pure a patriot to refuse his aid to the government, though he might deem them slow in their action, and his purf.e and influence were all at their command. In May, 1864, a portion of the Republicar. party, dissatisfied w':h the dilatoriness of the government, nominated General Fremont for the Presi- dency at the coming election in November. At first he accepted, but soon perceiving that his continued candidacy would injure the Republican cause, and might throw the power into the hands of its enemies, he withdrew and supported Mr. Lincoln cordially. For some years after the close of the war he took no part in public affairs, but prosecuted with great energy measures for the promotion of a Southern Transcontinental Railway to follow nearly the line of the thirty-fifth parallel. He visited Europe repeatedly in behalf of this railway, and urged a land-grant for it with every prospect of success; but the panic of 1873 crushed the enterprise for the time, and disheartened some of the pro- moters of it in France. General Fremont's health was seriously impaired for some years; but, on his partial recovery, he was appointed Governor of Arizona, where he is again exerting all his energies for the development of the Great West, and laying broad and deep plans for turning these arid deserts into a fruit- ful field. ^-.--i i !U -•• ,;!.J j,. CHAPTER II. ViY.V s' -;.;:MiKt ARKANSAS. ic: :!r'ihJ.';l, 'li'}h'' ■:.>:. Oil ::U Uii^l< Its Situation, Area, ExrfiNT— Topography — MouNTAms- Rivbrs, Lakes, Valleys — Navigable Rivers ani> Railways — Soil — Climate — Rainfall- Minerals and Mineral AND Hot Springs — Vegetation — Animals — Pro- ductions, Mineral, Vegetable and Animal — Crops — Commerce — Popu^ lation — Origin of Fopulatson — Educat' jn — Religious Denominations — Manufactures — Exemptiot«s — Donateij Lands — Views of Hon. Charles S. Keyser, Hon. David Walker, W. A. Webber, Esq., and Hon. A. H. Garland, U. S. Senator, on the History and Probable Future or '"ARKANSAS and Louisiana form the southeastern States of " Our Western Empire." Arkansas is washed by the waters of serve under an nmission. But c government, and his purse May, 1864, a the dilatoriness for the Presi- st he accepted, y would injure into the hands ncoln cordially, took no part in ' measures for lilway to follow visited Europe land-grant for f 1873 crushed me of the pro- 1 was seriously covery, he was lin exerting all est, and laying rts into a fruit- i .■: ' f .: '.-.^i I ..,.:)^rv, ■ !,., : Rivers, Lakes, ;ate — Rai nfall— t — Animals — Pro- dommerce — popu' Denominations — OF Hon. Charles AND Hon. a. H. •ABLE Future or ern States o( the waters of jijUt. ,-i iLa wgyiwB ■ ^ ill mi i III I SURFACE AtfD TOPOCRAPHY OF ARKANSAS. 531 the Mississippi along nenrly all of its eastern boundary, separat- injr it from Tennessee, ex':ept for the space of one county, where it has the St. I'Vancis river for its eastern bound, and Missouri claims the little peninsula between the St. I'Vancis and the Mis- sissippi rivers. On the north, it is bounded by Missouri ; on the south, by Louisiana, and on the west by Texas and the Indian Territory. It lies between the parallels of 33° and 36" 30' north latitude, and between the meridians of 89° 40' and 94° 42' west longitude from Greenwich. Its area is 52,198 square miles or 33,406,720 acres, one-sixth larger than the State of New York, and about the same size as England without Wales. Surface and Topography. — The eastern portion of the State, from 30 to 100 miles west of the Mississippi, is generally low, containing many lakes, bayous and swamps, and is, with the ex- ception of some of the more elevated bluffs, subject to occasional inundation from the Mississippi river. These inundations, though sufficiently extensive to occasion much loss, seldom or never cover the whole of these lowlands, which rise gradually toward the foot-hills of the Ozark range. The land rises by gradual stages from this low valley of the Mississippi, to the elevated plateaux of the central part of the State, as well as to the Black Hills in the north, and Ouachita Hills in the west. But the principal mountain range in the State is the Ozark, which, beginning in the southwest, trends north- eastward and northward, spreading out into broad table-lands with narrow and deep ravines, and occasionally rising into higher summits, though of no great height. The general elevation of these table-lands is from 1,500 to 2,000 feet, and some of the rounded knobs may rise from 500 to 800 feet higher. The hills of this range have distinct local names, such as Pea Ridge and Boston Mountains (both famous during the late civil war), north of the Arkansas river, and Massime Mountains south of that river. The line of the .St. Louis, Iron Mountain and .Southern Railway, which crosses the State diagonally from northeast to southwest, nearly marks the line of division of the higher forest and mineral lands from the plain, prairie and lowlands in the east and southeast of the State. Large deposits of valuable ir.-*^ ''ilii:' 'ill*! }|j Ot/Jf tVESTRXAf MMr/X/i. minerals arc found in the northern division. The mountains, table- Inndn and valleys of this division present generally a rich surface, good drainage, rumaiuic and picturesque scenery, and a produc- tiveness remarkable fur the formations and latitude. I'lic south- ern, southeastern and eastern divisions have rich tertiary, post- tertiary and alluvial deposits which are not excelled in fertility by any lanil on the globe. Exempt alike from the intense heat of the extri:me south, and the severe cold of the north, the genial climate and fertile .soil of the State yield in abundance the rich production?; of both regions. The rich bottom-lands will pro- duce, under favorable conditions, from fifty to sixty bushels of Indian corn, and about 450 pounds of cotton per acre, which is considered a fair average crop. With better and more carefid culture, they are capable of greatly exceeding this average, and in some instances do exceed it. Rivers, — Arkansas is abundantly supplied with navigable rivers, so distributed as to give access interiorly to all parts of the State. The great boundary on the east is formed by the mighty Mississippi. The St. Francis on the northeast, which rises in southeastern Missouri and flows tlirough the low, un- dulating portions of the northeast, where it intermingles widi lakes, creeks and paludal surfaces, is a tributary of the Mississippi. it IS navigable to and beyond the Missouri line. The White river rises in northwestern Arkansas, flows through the lower southwestern counties of Missouri, and returns to the .State, joining its affluent, the Black river, which affords, from the confluence, almost at all seasons, navigation for a dis- tance of 350 miles. White river, with Its tributaries, gives drain- age for a broad expanse of country from the northwestern, mid- 41,^ and northeastern parts of the northern section of the State. The Arkansas river, one of the largest fributaries of the Mis- sissippi, riseij in the mountains of Colorado, and flows easterly for a distance of 2,000 miles to join the Mississippi. White river is an affluent, flowing into it near its mouth. The Arkansas river bisects and drains this vast country ; it is navigable entirely across the State, and, during high water, beyond it, far up into the Indian Territory. The Ouachita, with its tributaries, drains :.^iiti^miiam )unta!ns, taUle- a ricli surface, and a produc- i. The south- I tertiary, post- led in fertility e intense luai jrth, tlie genial LJance the rich ands will pro- icty bushels of acre, which is i more careful !» average, and /vlth navigable to all parts of formed by the ^rtlieast, which rh the low, un- erminglcs widi the Mississippi. ifkansas, flows •uri, and returns ■, which affords, ition for a tils ies. gives drain- thwestern, mid n of the State.;,, ries of the Mis- l flows easterly jj. White river The Arkansas ivigable entirely i it, far up into ibutaries, drains Jf/yjAS /AT AKKAmAS. 533 almost the entire State lying south of the Arkansas river, or all liiat surface lying between it and the Red river. It is navigable 250 miles. The Red river is tlu; southwestern channel of drain- age, and is navigable throughout its course in the .State, a distance of about luo miles. Black river rises in Southeastern Missouri and crosses five counties, discharging its waters into the White river. It is navi- gable from its mouth to the Missouri line. Saline river rises in .Saline county, and, after passing through six counties, discharges into the Ouachita in Union county. It is navigable for icxd miles. Bayou Bartholomew, another tributary of the Ouachita, is navigable in the State for about 150 miles. The Little river, an afifluent of the Red river, and the Little Red river, an affluent of the White river, are both navigable for from fifty to seventy-five miles for six months of the year. The Petit Jean, a tributary of the Arkansas, is navigable for about seventy-five miles. Several smaller streams, such as the Cach^, Dorcheat, L'Aigu- ille and Antoine, are navigable a part of the year. Nearly every county in the State is traversed by one or more of these navigable streams, which, with their branches, form a navigable highway within the State of more than 3,000 miles, and secure nn abundant supply of water to every county. Most of these streams have their sources in springs in the hills or mountains, and furnish abundant and permanent water power for manufacturing purposes. Of one of these springs, the fountain-head of Spring river, a clear, limpid stream which flows through Fulton, .Sharp and Randolph counties, emptying into Black river, Professor D. D. Owen, in his Geological Recon- noissance of Arkansas, thus speaks : "The country is well watered, and possesses many fine water- [)owers — even at the verv fountain-head of some of its numerous limpid calcareous streams, which frequently burst forth from among the ledges of rock. One of the most remarkable of these forms the fountain-head of the main fork of Spring river, known as the ' Mammoth Spring,' in Fulton county, welling up on the :r IJ4 OUR H^Esm/i/f a Ml'/ fig. Romh side ol a low, rocky ridgf, from a suhmergf^Hl abyM beneath '.A sixt) four It;*'!, aiul constiuitinjr, at its very source, a rcH|)ci.tal)l«' lake of about (Mic-hixtefnlh of a mile l.om north to Huuth, and one-fifth to unc-s>ixth of that dli»taticc from cat^t to west. -, , " It is said by those who have sounded tht to ttom, tliat thf^rr I that thr main JUS opening, of I c-stirnatfci th.it )er ininulf ; ilu* verifyinj;, but it It How would be I run of stones, mil composition h of a variety of itritive quahties, of herbivorous ihis fountain for fowl. Now the iny^ in its waters ;, which appears 1 general resort affordb valuable It reasonably well nded so as to lern road runs les, making con- land-grant roati, choice lands in 5w rates, and by • the State. As ticularly, will do government, the to buy of a rail' yS AV AKK'AJsrSAS. %i% road compn iy, he will find the St, I ouin, Iron Mountjiin and Southrrn Ra Iway will treat him fairly and honorably, as will the other land-grant railways alno. The Memphis and Little Rock road extends from the cajiital Id Memphis. i The Little Rock and Fort SmitI road is running a distance of 168 mil-s, up the valley ol Arkansas, to the hulian bortler. The Little Rock, Line Bluft and New Orleans roail is com pleteii and running a distar - e of eighty miles, from Pine LJIuff to Arkansas City, on the Mi sissippi river. A survey has recently been made of the gap bciween this city and Pine lilufi, which will soon be built. .. r The Mississippi, Ouachita and Reel River road is completed, a distance of about thirty miles west from Chicot. The Arkansas Central (narrow-gauge) is complefmi a distance of about sixty miles, and runs trains regnlarl\ l>etween Claren- don on While river, and Helena 01* the Mi iiii,.s4ppi. A narrow-gauge road is in opcralioi. Uitween Malvern, a point on the S(i though but littir hiy;hrr. Tin* avrra^jr maximum t»*m|M'ratiirr. which U rrarhrtl j>rr. hapM on twrlvr or hftrcn dayn of th<* xummcr, Is 98" I'ahrrnhrit. In exceptionally hot Hiimmcrs it may rinc? to 101 ".5, but not for more than one or two tlayn. The nu'an of the Hummer months is 8 1 ".4. The avera^je minimum is 9", risinjj; some years to 17", and at others sinking' to a". The mean temperature of the year is 6c>".6. The averaj^c rainfall 63.42 inches. Mon. John R. Makin, Chancellor of the I'ulaski Chancfry Court, an eminent afrriculturist and author of a treatise m vini- culture, speaking' in that work of a peculiarity in the cluiiato of Central Arkansas, says: " In the ICastern and Northwestern States, they all try to avoid a northern exposure. Our country is somewhat differently situated, especially that portion lyin^ west of the Ouachita anf| between the moimtain ranges south of the Arkansas. It may be well to dwell on this a little. This section of country, and also that north of the Arkansas river for a considerable distance, is the only part of the United States protected a^i^ainst violent winds. The mountains which shield it ranj^e east and west. The Blue Ritljije, Allejjheny, and Cumberland Mountains run in a north and south direction, and, except in sheltered nooks pro- tected by spurs, the winds rush down on each side of them from Labrador and Hudson's Bay. The same is the case with the northern portion of Missouri, with Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, and on down the Mississippi and the Southern States east of the river. These north winds art; very sudden and destructive, bringing, in twenty-four hours, the climate of the frigid zone — throwing aguinst vegetation the identical air that was but yes- terday on an iceberg. This influence is greatly modified with us. These hills, to our north, perform the same office which the Alps do to Italy. This, as to climate, is the Italy of tlie United States." : rno I't , i ".yju ■ ■•• ir-y.-i; m; T .'■<.,» ■^'■fu ; l<.,t...>. ■ < Sudden changes in the climate are less frequent than in the Eastern and Western States. All evidence demonstrates that there is not, on this continent, any locality supei^or to this region •ntj^rr continued, in rcachfd (»#»r. 98* l'ahrrnlu;it ".5, hut not for lummcr inonthn nc y«*arn to 1 7", kturc of the year iliinki Chanrrry irrntiHc <>n vini- 1 the clunatu of th<*y all try to •what differently u: Ouachita anrl kanHas. it may of country, and Jcrablc distance, I ajjainst violent cast and west, lountainn run in ercd nooks pro- de of them from jc case with the lis, and Indiana, 1 States east of and destructive, le frigid zon*! — »at was but yes- tly modified with ! office which the ly of the United [uent than in the smonstrates that ior to this region '. A IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) # Wl/^ ^ I.I ^I2£ u^ LO B, ■u lU 12.2 £ U£ 12.0 u 1 nil id' Fhotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREiT WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)872-4503 mma A^ I CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. 1 ''k' Canadian Institute for Historical IVIicroreproductiont / Institut Canadian de microraproductions historiquas ifUBto4S»'» ^=ifm^M''>'s>^-^\ 11^ AUKAlVS.iS .IS A HEALTH RESORT. 537 for the equable character of its climate and its freedom from sud- den changes and violent winds. ' ' • I ; In this connection it should be said that Arkansas, and espe- cially this central region, has a deservedly high reputation for the relief of pulmonary diseases. It strongly resembles that of Mentone and Pau in the south of France. The tables of vital statistics of the census of 1870 showed that no part of the United States was so favorable for consumptives as this, and partly no doubt for the reason which Chancellor Eakin has stated. The air, though mild and not subject to sudden charges, is not sufficiently hot to be relaxing, and respiration is not so difficult as in the thinner air of the elevated plateaux of Colorado and New Mexico. The difference may be stated in another way: the invalid who goes to Colorado may recover his health partly or wholly, but he must stay there. If he attempts to return Hast after one or two years the disease returns and .•jpeedily proves fatal. In Arkansas, on the contrary, the process of cure is radical, and the invalid, after one or two years, may leturn to the East without fear of the recurrence of the disease. Minerals and Mineral and Hot vS^;V«fj.— Arkansas has a great variety of mineral deposits, most of them of excellent quality and apparently of unlimited abundance. First in econ- omic importance are its immense beds of coal. The Arkansas coal-fields have an estimated area of 1 2,cxx) square miles, wholly, so far as known at present, in the valley of the Arkansas river, though the carboniferous basin may prove to extend southward beyond that valley. The Arkansas river runs for more than 150 miles through this coal formation. The counties of Wash- ington, Crawford, Sebastian, Franklin, Scott, Logan, Johnson, Yell, Pope, Perry, Conway, White, and Pulaski, are almost en- tirely situated in this coal basin. The veins vary from one to nine feet in thickness, though most of those which have been worked are from four to nine feet thick. It is found at from six to fifty feet billow the surface. The coal is similar in structure and appearance to the Cumberland coal of Maryland, and an- alysis, as well as use, demonstrates its practical identity in quality with tliat well-known coal. It proves to be an excellent steam* 51 .'ill c-g OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. ^ producing and manufacturing coal, and commands a high price for both purposes. Mines have been opened and are now in successful operation near Russellville and Ouita in Pope county, at Spadia, and at Horsehead, in Johnson county, and at several points in Sebastian and other counties. The coal has been used freely in Little Rock, St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans, and wherever tested it sells readily at a higher price than any other coal in the market. Inexhaustible deposits of hajmatite and other iron ores are found in close proximity to these coal-beds, and limestone of the best kinds for fluxing purposes and heavy forests of hard wood for charcoal are close by. Large and never- failing water-powers are contiguous to these coal and iron deposits. In the present demand for iron and steel, Arkansas offers extraordinary facilities for its successful manufacture. Several zinc mines have been opened in the northern part of the State, principally in Lawrence and Sharp counties — which are as rich in every respect as any in the Union. Lead and silver are abundant, and several mines are now being profitably worked. Notable among these are the Kellogg mine, eleven miles north of Little Rock, two mines in Sevier, one in Mont- gomery, another in Boone, and perhaps others. These mines are sufficiendy rich in silver (argentiferous galena ores, yielding about fifty ounces of silver to the ton) to leave the lead as a clear profit, after paying all expenses of mining, smelting, etc. There are extensive caves of nitre and nitrous earth in New- ton and other northern counties of the State, from which large quantities of powder were manufactured and used by the Con- federates during the recent war. There are also numerous salt springs — some of which are being profitably worked, notably one near Arkadelphia, which supplied salt for the entire army of Arkansas during its occupa- tion by the Confederates in 1862-3. ;;J iih f»s ! . 5 >f!,f! Valuable mines of copper have been discovered in Montgomery and other counties, though no efforts have been made to work them. ■ ,l^i<«"/i*--iA V> U.- unties — which >n. Lead and eing profitably y mine, eleven ; one in Mont- These mines I ores, yielding lead as a clear ig, etc. •-''• \n earth in New- •m which large d by the Con- of which are idelphia, which ing lis occupa- n Montgomery made to work ctent and rich- ^ UlNEKALS OF ARKANSAS. jjp The novaculite or whetstone quarries near Hot Springs furnish a rock which has gained almost z world-wide fame, and its supply is inexhaustible. Marble of superior quality and in exhaustless quantities has been discovered in Uoone and Newton counties, a block of which has been placed in the Washington Monument, Gypsum, kaolin, slate, limestone, granite, marl, chrome and other minerals for use as mineral paints, are among the economic minerals found in large quantities in the State, but few of them are as yet mined or quarried to any great extent. Dr. Lawrence, of Hot Springs, contributed to the Centennial Exposition a collection of minerals, mostly from Magnet Cave, Hot Springs county, among which were manganite, or black oxide of manganese ; melanite, or crystallized black garnets ; green, yellow and black mica ; crystallized schorlamites ; quartz crystallized ; crystals of Perofskite, hornblende, elaeolite, epidote, strontianite, Shepardite, Lydian stone or touchstone, agate, hydro- titantte, titanic iron, sulphur from iron pyrites, talc, rutite, isolated and in quartz ; rose, smoky and milky quartz, chert, burrstone ; the hornblendes, novaculite, quartzite, syenite and granite. The Hot Springs of Arkansas are situated in Hot Springs county, about sixty miles southwest from Little Rock. A narrow gauge railroad, twenty-five miles in length, now conveys passen- gers directly to the springs from Malvern Junction, on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway. The springs, now sixty-six in number, are in a wild, mountainous region, issuing from the western slope of a spur of the Ozark range, at an eleva- tion of about 1,400 feet above the sea-level, and range in tem- perature from 93° to 1 50° Fahr. They discharge over 500,000 gallons of water daily, sufficient in quantity to accommodate, with delightful bathing, 10,000 bathers every day in the year. These natural earth-heated waters hold in solution valuable mineral Constituents. Clear, tasteless, inodorous, they pour forth from the novaculite ridge as pure and sparkling as the pellucid Neva; The various springs are qualitatively allied, not holding in solu- tion or freighted with too many mineral constituents, and they are free from all noxious gases. It is believed that the proper* ,.:f„>;#3®-"> ' 540 OUR WESTERN EMPfRE. ties of the waters, especially in the treatment of chronic tliseases, anri particularly chronic rheumatism, scrofula, etc., are uneciualled. There are no springs known of superior value, or that can com- pare with the Hot Springs of Arkansas, as adjuncts in the treat- ment of that class of chronic diseases. The advantages of the climate throughout the entire year, the pure, rarefied mountain air. the delightful waters, all make these springs one of the most delightful resorts for invalids in the United States. Within from seven to twelve miles of Hot Springs are other springs.' sulphurous and chalybeate, but not hot, to which many of the physicians order their patients after two or three courses of the Hot Springs treatment, and the change greatly facilitates their recovery. The Hot Springs waters are not only used for bathing and for hot vapor baths, but the v/ater is drank in large quantities, as hot as it can be borne, and with great benefit. There are about 6,000 inhabitants In Hot Springs City, and it is said that xo.cxx) or more invalids annually avail themselves of its baths and healing medicinal waters.^ i.aii-M mvii m,;; ;ii -f; : ;iu Numerous analyses of the waters, which vary but slightly in their contents, though materially in their temperature, show that among the solid constituents of a gallon of the water are found the following: Alumina with Oxide 6( Iron, Oxide of Manganese, Sulphate of Lime,? *Arsehiate of Lime.? ♦Arseniate of Iron,? Silicates with base^ Bicarbonate of Lime, Bicarbonate of Magnesia, Carbonate of Soda, Carbonate of Potassa, Carbonate of Lithia, Sulphate of Magnesia, w'O.. *Bromme, ^ lodme, a trace, ; Chloride of Magnesia, '" • Organic matter, a trace. : !'. , The city of Hot Springs is in a deep ravine, and the springs issue from the slopes of the mountains on either side — those on one side being of much higher temperature than those on the other. The city consists of one very long and not very * These salts and elements were in very minute quantity in any of the walei-s, and were nol found at all in some of those cKamined. .1 • ;^ .•1, • .".rn lij, i.i .. i: I tesaawuwiweM*'''*-*^" ronic disrases, iK? unof|iialled. that can com- ts in the treat- intages of the fied mountain ne of the most njjs arc other o which many three courses eatly facilitates only used for drank in large great benefit. City, and it is emselves of its but sh'ghtly in ture, show that rater are found cide of Iron, nese. ! ;.* > '(rii '•(!■. ,,'l/f.X'v^ iju;tl -.Hi So \,.j'.!t vflj .;: Ii- i/>v;n' . " This is the best region for wild grapes in America. What we mean to assert is, that the region between the Mississippi and the Staked Plains, and between the Missouri river and the swamp lands of the Gulf, produce more and larger and better wild grapes than any other portion of the known world. This is deliberately said, after much reading, inquiry, travel and exten- sive observation." •£ ; riyuu'irii tbi\0M'-ji\'\U tnVii «»i jytt-tiuiiJ 5» The growing of grapes for wine is largely practised in the State, as well as the culture of the other small fruits for northern * The apples of Washington and Benton counties, and of the southwestern counties geneially, are noted for theif fine flavor and are in demand in St. Louis aiid Memphis. The peach seems specially M home in this Slate. The fruit is lai]g« and of eatfeM^nt flavor, and grows with very little care. Pexches here ripen full four weeks earlier Ibah in the vicinity of St. Louis. t I^igs grow as finely here as in Louisiana, and nothing better can be Mid of that delicioua frtit; E'— . ' inches; prrsim- t inches; Ijoney n inches. The (haustible. The c height of 150 rough. posture grasses, ere exhibited, all • by cattle. The hibited, yielding re. ncluding as well s as those which ,* pears, plums, Tries, and other c State, and arc :e fruit trees and it in the greatest )le to northern the fruit crop of ty years. " ure of the grape, America. What the Mississippi uri river and the rger and better wn world. This ravel and exten- practised in the nits for northern Item counties geneially, phii. The peach seems or, and grows with very ty of St Louis. « taid of that delicious 1M tOOLOGY OF .4 K h'A S'SAS. |^ markets. All kinds of fruit and vejuiftablcs mature and are rrady for market from three to four weeks earlier than in the latitude of St. Louis; and hence the culture of small fruits, and of mar- ket garden vegetables, is as profitable a business as a settler can prosecute, the transportation by river or railroad being speedy and cheap. • Wiid Animals. — Of beasts ol prey, there are some black and brown bears, though a much smaller number than its cxten* sive forests would justify, rarely cougars and other wild felines. The jaguar may sometimes stray up from his Texan haunts, but we cannot learn of any hunterr who have discovered him on the soil of Arkansas. There arc also occasionally wolves, foxes, raccoons, opossums, and perhaps the Texan coyotes. Peccaries and wild hogs are sometimes found. The buffalo prefers the plains, and the wooded mountainous regions of Western Arkan- sas have no charms for him, but there are deer of two species ; rarely the elk, but not except by accident the antelope or the bighorn. Rabbits or hares, squirrels of several species and the gopher, are the principal rodents. Birds of prey are moderately abundant, but mostly of the eagle and vulture and hawk tribes. Of game birds there are wild turkeys, ducks, partridges, pinnated grouse or prairie hens, quail, etc. Of the birds of the State, there were exhibited at the Centennial the bald eagle and the royal eagle, as well as the following : Wild duck, crow, house-wren, blue bird, bobolink, sapsucker, red-headed woodpecker, blue jay, kingfisher, paroquet, flicker, bird hawk, robin, meadow lark, tiiocking bird, red bird, mammoth woodpecker, cock of the woods and the snake-killer or water turkey^ ;; fr;'V-:i !'t,fi ■■*.. r'.mr,,' ;'ji The rivers, lakes and bayous are well stocked with fish, among which are pickerel, black bass, buffalo-fish, cat-fish and shad, while the mountain streams have an abundance o( perch, roach and trout. In the bayous, lakes and in the Red, Ouachita and Arkansas rivers the alligator sometimes makes his appear- ance, though he is less common than in Louisiana or Texas. i The copperhead, the milk udder and other reptiles, venomous t-u ■.\iit>e£tl^^is^ii^A'i(i:i ,<> riie insect tribes in Arkansas are t:xceedlng!y numcrouR in the lowlands, and well disserve the name of pests. I he mus(|iiito ot this region is renowned lor his size, vi^or and venom, and die most fabuloiiH stories are related of his strength and audacity. In the hills, however, thiH insect is less troubleKomc. The bot- fly, the tick, the chigoe and the guinea-worm arc very annoying to man and beast. 1 he cotton worm, the army worm and sev- eral IlicH are destructive of vegetation. Some of the pests found a little farther north, such as the Colorado beetle and the Rocky Mountain locust, have not visited Arkansas ia any considerable numbers. Arclueoloji^y. — There are no ruins of ancient cities or towns, indicative of its having been, in the remote pustt, the home of a semi-civili/ed race, in Arkansas. Neither the Aztec nor the Toltec race seem to have penetrated so far to »he Hast. When l)e Soto visited what is now Eastern Arkansas in 1541, the Natchez, a tribe now extinct, were in possession there, and 140 years later de La Salle found them in possession, while the Quapaws were in the northeast, and the Osages in the western part of the State. Of one or other of these tribes, mounds and relics have been found in Hot Springs, Garland. Montgomer)' and Phillips counties. Some of these wcrr exhibited at the Centennial, and consisted of vases, water carriers, bowls, mortars, pestles, rollers, discoidal stones, scrapers, skin dressers and polishers, axes, hatchets, lances, darts, pipes, beads, amulets, iponays or Indian money, hand hammers^- sling, bails, balls for games, plough points, knives and drills. ' ') .'•>•!•> • '•> > r; <" Productions. — Until returns are had from the tenth census of mineral products, we cannot estimate the mineral productions 'of Arkansas. There is a moderate but constantly increasing quantity of her excellent semi-anthracite coal mined each year, and many thbusand bushels of the lignite in the southeastern part of the State are also furnished to the Mississippi steamers. There are large quarries of hovaoutite^ the Arkimsas hone or oil-stone, in Hot Springs and Grant counties; of brimstone in tJiHi<mt^iM 'Olf '- tlic rattlesnake y nii.nitroiiM ii> 1 lu* moN({iiiiu vtriiDni, ami the ) and audacity. ■omc. The bot- vcry annuyinf; worm and scv- the p».'st8 found and the Rocky ny considerable cities or towns, , the home of a Aztec nor the le Hast. When in 1541, the there, and 140 ssion, while the in the western •cs, mounds and id, Montgomer)' xhibited at the , bowls, mortars, I dressers and beads, amulets, balls, balls for tenth censiii of ral productions ntly increasing ned each year, utheastern part iippi steamers, limsas hone or )f brimstone in AGKKUI. rVHAl. I'tiOUiXTS. S4f thn Ozark Mountains ; of itlate of excellent quality in Pul<>:ki, I'oik, I'ike, and Sevier counties ; and of pink and ^ruy nurblcs in Madinon and other counties. Of aj^rimltural pruductH, the latest full returns (and even these iire partly iislinuted) ^xv. for the year 1875. Ilit^y ^^ »• folloivt: ArticlM. Amount of Crop. AvcniKC Yield I'cr .\cr«. NUrkct VjUio, Cuttun. Doiindt ,., 443,351,400 33,60 1,)00 3,598,200 4,318.800 5". 500 1,778,600 6.69.1,000 76,14* Total value 356 >7X 14 a6 105 ».w 1.86 <55.»Hi..»oo 11,760,420 J.7y7.M6 J, .{80, 840 !»•>'. «7S J.«»o.775 9,202,875 1.524,840 ...f88, 161,071 C'ftrn. 1)ukIm.*Ii Wheat, '♦ Oati, " Rvr. «• Irinh uotatuoi. Uim Sweet " *' Hav. toni '• 1 1 . i / - • 1 ■ 1 of cro(M..... Rf.makka — There were, of course, a number of minor cro|M, wich an sor- ghum, melons, ft :. . ■ ,.. , .- 1 Live-Stock in January, 1879. (Agricultukai. Deparimknt Estimate.; Animals. Horses Mules and asses Milch cows Oxen and other cattle. Sheep Swine Number. 180,300 89,300 187,700 357.000 »93.5oo .'a3.50o Value. I7.347.3as 4,606,987* >.490.779t 3.430,770 437. 3'5 3,696,400 . I v(i,),. /'rl I' Total value $10,999,476 * Probably an underoitimate, t Probably an over-eitimatc. Cattle, horses, mules, and sheep thrive and keep fat the year through, without feeding, in (he central and southern portions of the State, where, in addition to the native grasses, they feed and do remarkably well on imall cane, which, in many locali* as I iTJ '^i^ii'fii^^r- 1^6 f*^lf WKSlKHf^ KMFIItK MtiHu/atlHrts, in Arkansas, nre yv\ in thrir infanty, hut have made consitlrrahh: projjr«»H nincr 1H70. whrn them wen* only i,.'^64 maniifartiirin); i'Htahlishi»unl!i, grrnt ana.i.U-7.V*^ *^f capital anil 1^4,833,651 in value of matcriaU; |)aying $754,950 in wa^cK and prothicinj; jroocU anti wares of the valuer of f;, 699,676. 'I'hrrr wrrr also home manufai tureii of the value of $807,573, Of the whole numlx'r ol maniitacturin^ eslahlishmentii, 38j were cotton gins, 373 flour and meal mills, mostly snmll gristmillt, the average capital l>eing only $1,750, an«l 31 3 saw-mills. There were? two (otton anst cotton torics for waj;ons, sh, blinds, leather, [c and the chcap- ell as the liberal urin^ and minuig )n, the large pro- f hard woods, and \ close proximity, i of manufactures 1870 was 484,471, of i860. Several ng others the civil >f the slaves, the range (luring itie winter. ihi». Prairie nnii Lonoke ear leveral hundred car* y those who have tried it, :o*t. They fatten readily ert of hog» nre driven to tr from tfa« northwalcni 1,1 /• -I - ,1. « .'i^',. , i it rOPVt.ATION Of AUKASSAS, II 547 (Irpreiitiion in biininrRM, and the hopclcHNneM of the inhahitantH In rr^anl ti) their future. Since 1870, \f^xvv>x ihan^'tH have taken |»lace in the Slate. The construt ti<»n of railroadh, the introduc* tion of new brunihcs of induHtry, the improvement in the mean* of eilucntion, a ^nxid market for ail agricultural prtKhutH, and tite iW-velopment of the renources of thcr .Stalt' through llw infu* nion of new blood by immii^ratiun has ^'really promoted iti growth, and the icnsus of iKKo shown a population of the lar^Q numb-r of 80^,564, an incnasc of 318,093 from 1870. It i'l fair to say, however, that the accuracy of the enimieration i* doubted in some (piartcrs. riie ( han^je in the < haracter of the population \% aUo marked. In \ks earlv days, lK)th as a Territory and a .State, it had within its bonlers a jjreat number of outlaws — ruffians, j;ambltrs, high- way robbers, murderers, horsc-thieyes and brigands. Human life waH not safe, and crime was rife. Iwery man went armed, and the " soft notes of the pistol " were heard everywhere tlay and ni^ht; while a man was made an offender for a word, antl was often shot down in tihecr wantonness. I'tie natural conse- f]U('nce of this state of things was that the belter disposed part of the community were compelled to take the law into llurir own i'-'nds. Vigilanc" committees were appointed, and when the Outlaws found their occupation gont , they reti>".ated by banding tl"-'mselves together as " Regulators " and raiiling the settlements. For some years a desperate warfare was wageil between these outlaws and the rest of the community, anil the services of Judge Lynch were often called for. Ai length law and order triumphed ; the oudaws were driven out, and peace and quiet were established. It was time. Busi- ness was paralyzed ; and ignorance and brutishness prevailed. In this partial restoration to order, some attention was paid to education, and from 1850 to i860 there was a rapid growth, the population doubling, and a decided advance being made in the social condition of the people. The number of slaves was very large, and some of the worst evils of slavery were rife there. With the commencement of the war, the old outlaw spirit revived, and for some years there was anarchy again. But the friend^ ■. l.-i I ) .^mkriiMiti^mmti V -.g OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. of law and order were, after a time, in a majority, and they have succeeded in putting down ruffianism completely. The era of railroads was late in opening in Arkansas, but it helped materially in producing order, enterprise and development in the State. The people arc now law-abiding and orderly ; the carrying of fire-arms is prohibited, and the prohibition pretty well enforced. The people are industrious and desirous of improvement; strangers who come into the State to settle are cordially welcomed and protected ; and all things being taken into account, the State is a desirable one for immigrants to settle in. Great efforts are now making to improve the system of puUic school and higher education, and an advance on this subject is perceptible:. • ' If the emigrai}t from the busy States of the East or Europe find the citizens a litde slow or apathetic, tn regard to progress, it is to be attributed to the influence of their early history. There is a most commendable desire for improvement manifested, and if an intelligcp' class of emigrants come into the State and endeavor to p iiote its interests, the Stat*^ wiU become in a few years one of the best in "Our Western Empire," in all the elements which conduce to a permanent prosperity, > > . r"* '^ v h my • Religious Denominations. — The Methodi^ts are the leading religious denomination in the State,' but are divided into the adherents of the " Methodist Episcopal Church, South," and those of the " Methodist Episcopal Church," as the northern body is called. The n'^xt denomination, and but little inferior in num- bers, are the Baptists, with whom may also be numbered in this general estimate, the Christians, Disciples or Campbellites. After these come the Presbyterians, in several division.s, such as the Southern Presbyterian Churc'.i, the Cumberland Presbyterian, Presbyteran Church (north), etc There is a Roman Catholic diocese and a few churches, per- haps fifteen or twenty ; an Episcopal diocese with about the same number; a few Lutherans, etc. ■ i;>ril^.s.lii«5i;snik!ui.j|,> «ef5«1ij?ll I I -fffi D, or 1 60 acres of • istead in any city rovements of that )vements, wiiliout The benefits of ' be removed by imarried ; also to )n to his wearincr nt citizen of the such resident, is 1 process of any taxation for State tton and woollen nachinery, in tan- n mining and in- n for a period of >f October, 1874, 1 : provided, that shments shall e.\- >n, corporation or , invested capital s State shall be nless the capital e per centum of sment. ti ft-";"-- :eed in quantity 5 and $2.50 per •me not" so good. i to them, f land subject 10 of Swamp lands, rovernment, and lyment of taxes, line, and swamp sale at from $2 3, of which there I 'U ?\ ^.*' " i . ' W i -i" « i . »^^»ifWI»»»^r»wMpp ■»><•» UK., 'I t. .h. r^' i^- ■ ('■ > i^-*--, w. ; <'r ■"' \ ^ " w\ ,* .y .■»^J 1; ' 1 . i w 1 SITUATION OF CALIFORNIA. SSI r ' / are over 1,000,000 acreii, are for sale at ;|li.25 to $i per acre, and the forfeited and unconfirmed swamp lands, about i ,6(X),ooq acres, arc for sale at fifty centi^ p<::r acre and lee.s, or are donated to the settler in quantities of 160 acre:) on proof of re.sidcme and cul- tivation and improvement of five acres, and the fees, which are about six dollars. The railways in the State have lands to the amount of about 2,600,000 acres for sale on several years' time at $3.50 per acre. With these facilities for purchase and settlement, the lands of Arkansas offer to the immigrant homes which are within the reach of all. The land may not all of it be of the highest qual- ity, though there is much excellent land there, but there is none of it from which an industrious man cannot make a comfortable living. .jJiniVlifr; ) f •■•■ ' ' fii rilr.* r. f'fic ';,' ^!!— !)tU'. t'/i i'i-)iy> -fit 111!'.") fiir>i>r. "iiili. ii.:'i \n; f'fi; '• 'f l'«t '. .^ . California is one of the largest States of "Our Western Empire," and stretches for 700 miles along the Pacific coast. It is between the parallels of 32° 28' and 42° north latitude, and between the meridians of 1 14° 30' and 1 24" 45' of west longitude from Greenwich. It formed a part of the territory ceded by Mexico to the United States at the close of the Mexican war, and is bounded north by Oregon, east by Nevada and Arizona, south by Lower California, and west by the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific coast of California trends southward from the Oregon line , i** i%, $i» OUM WRSTKItN RMPIKB. to Cape Mendocino in latitude 40", and ihcncc in a nearly south- easterly direction to the coast of Lower California. The area of thv! State is 188,981 square milos, or 1 20,947,840 acres, or about the combined areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and Michigan. Its length is 700 statute miles, and its average breadth more than 200 miles. - :*» >« '» J ■ ' ' Topography. — The mountain systems of California are vast in extent, diversified In character, rich in mineral wealth, and unsurpassed in beauty and grandeur of scenery. They may be considered undor two great divisions: the Sierra Nevada or Snowy Mountains, on the eastern border stretching with its spurs over a breadth of about seventy miles in a aeries of ranges ; and the Coast Range, which, in its several chains, in- cludes about forty miles in breadth, extends near the coast the whole length of the State and into Lower California. These two ranges unite near Fort Tcjon in latitude 35° and again in latitude 40° 35', and separating again form the extensive and fertile valleys of the San Joaquin and Sacramento. The two lines of ranges of the Sierra Nevada may be traced in regular order for a distance of nearly seven degrees by their two lines of culminating crests, which rise in varying heights from 10,000 to 1 5,000 feet above the sea. There does not seem to be as much order in the position and direction of the summits of the Coast Range, peaks of widely varying heights and entirely cHfferent mineral constitution being found in close proximity. The summits of the Coast Range vary in altitude from 1,500 to 8,000 feet. The highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada are Mount Shasta, Lassens Butte, Spanish Peak, Pyramid Peak, Mounts Dana, Lyell, Brewer, Tyndal, Whitney, and several others of tess note. Tho^e of the Coast Range, though richer in minerals, d^re less lofty and less noted. < On the eastern side of the crest line of the Sierra Nevada afC^ a chain of lakes, including the Klamath lakes, Pyramid, Mono 9nd Owen lakes, lying wholly east of the range, and Lake Tahoei a gem of the purest crystal water, far up in the mountains, occupying a depression between two summits. The depression, Mk which most of these lakes arc situated, continues southwarcl' nearly aoiith- la. The area 1,840 acres, or rsey, Pcnnsyl- ite miles, and |rnla are vast 1 wealth, and They may be la Nevada or hing with its ■» a aeries of ral chains, in- the coast the )rnia. These and again in :xtensive and to. The two ed in regular icir two lines s from 10,000 ;em to be as jmmits of the and entirely se proximity, from 1,500 to Ja are Mount 'eak, Mounts ral others of ^ rin minerals, ii. M >;iw.1i.d a'l I Nevada are ramid, Mono^ Lake Tahoe,' R mountains, e depression, :s southwardi X B K > rs n miUini',:<1 of a lar^r lakr or cHtuary comnuiniratinj^' with thf ocean liy a nonuwhat narrow strait, it has n-irntly )><:(-n propost d to rcoprn thin itlrait as a shi|> canal, which could Ix; done at a vrry moderate expense, and thtii re- store this ancient land locked tea. to modify the climate, and remove the tirouyht from a rej^ion ome populous, but now cxccfi- •ively arid. A similar deprffKnioh, though not qiiUe no extentiive, exists on the western slope of these mountains for a wiilth of about fifty miles, and contains several lakes. The n-gion lyiiijf east of the Sierra Nevada is called tin: east- ern slope ; that 'jetween the foot-hills of the Sierras and the Coast Kan^e irt known as the California Valley, and that west of the Coast Ran^e is called the Coast V^dley, or simply the Coast. Another geoji;raphical division is maih- by drawing an east and west line across the State in the latitude of Fort Tejon, that part of the State lying south of this line \\v\w^ called South- ern California. The country between this line ami one extend- ing east and west through Trinity, Mumboldt, Tehama and Plumas counties is called Central California ; all north of this if; known as Northern California. Central California contains about three-fourths of the known wealth and population of the State. The Monte Diablo division of the Coast Range, about 1 50 miles long by 50 miles wide, is a striking landmark of the .State when approached by sea, and from its summit may be obtained the finest views of the varied scenery and landscapes of Cali- fornia which can be found anywhere. ., )n '(»! . ic fi •.• , I I I The valleys of the Sacramento and the St. Joaquin, though the largest, are by no means the only valleys of California. There are hundreds of them of greater or less extent, and many of theni remarkable for fertility and beauty. East of the Sierras, in Southern California, some of these valleys, the deepest por- tions of a former extensive inlan 1 sea, are now salt lakes and I jj^ Ot/M WMMrKMy KMrfMM. art! »iirfoun;able rivers except in two or three instances. The Kio S.linas is the only navigable river on the coast which discharKea illrecUy into the Pacific below Cape Mendocino, but the Sacramento river from the north and the San Joa<|iiin from the south, large and navigable rivers, Iwth discharge into the beautifid Hay of San I'Vancisco. The Klamath river at the north, rising in the Klamath lake, Hows through a crooked valley to the ocean, but is not navigable for any con- siderable distance. This is also true of the other rivers north of the Golden (iate. Most of the rivers east of the Sierras, in the long, depressed basin already described, discharge into lakes in the basin, and have no connection, direct or indirect, with the ocean. '"' 'ii. •mmi . mU ni'^fii /Hinii'* Ml .i..'ii,i'ii The harbor of San Francisco is the finest on the whole Pacific coast, fifty miles in length by nine in width, landlocked and ap- proached by the Golden Cjate, five miles in length with a width of one mile, and having nowhere less than thirty feet of water. 'I'hat of San Diego, at the southern extremity of the State, is next in imi)ortancc, and. with its railway connections soon to be completed, will prove a formidable rival to that of San Francisco. The other harl)ors, ten or twelve In number, are cither shallow or not well protected from violent winds, and need breakwaters or other improvements. There are many islands along th€ coast, seme of them small and rocky, like the Farallones off the Golden Gate, and inhabited only by seals, sea-lions, and aquatic birds ; others are large and adapted to grazing or cultivation, i I The amount of arable lands in California, including those ■which only require irrigation to make them productive, and are so situated that they can be irrigated, and the swamp or tuU I GKOtoav 4sn m*nh ft a /. or, v. fSf t Hcrncry. In r'ilino (tiuriticM lit: la»t nanrtl nction, i.H liut (he Arnur^txa IprolKihly more Mulphiirous. I Hit the Coast crpt in two or igabio river on ic below ('n()r north and the jje rivers, lx)tl» The Klamaih ows through a for any con- tr rivers north the Sierras, in arge into laken direct, with the le whole Pacific ockcd and ap- th with a width ^ feet of water, jf the State, is ons soon to be San Francisco, cither shallow d breakwaters nds along the •allones off the US, and aquatic cultivation, icluding those ictive, and are swamp or tuU M In whiih. whrn reclaimed and protectrd from overflow, yirld th<^ larj^est cro|Mi in the worUI, ii rHtimatrd at not Icm than 60,000,000 acri!*, or niKMit one half the arra of the State; th«? ^rarin^ landu on thr titoiititain nloprs and on thr sidm of the vallr«y:i are rstiiitat^d at 40,o) acre'H morr, and thr fon-st arr'an, much of ihrm too ntcrp for cultivation, were oOii iaily itat«*d at (),6o4,6()7 acres in 1873, but have been ronHidrrabiy diminished nince that time. There are then Homrwiiat more than io,ooc>,(X)0 acres which, from one cause or other— some b<'ing iindrr water, some voUanic aiid barren, or arid and not irri^ablr, or bald and !)are mountain praks — are worthloNs. I his is, h()wrv«*r, but one twelfth of thr area of the State. (ieolo)*y and Aftnfraio/ry. — The Coast Range and its foot hills generally belong to the tertiary system, but at .San INdro bay (atx)ut latitude 34') the cretaceous rocks come to the coast, to he replaced at the mouth of the Margaritii river (about 33' lo^) by oil. I ternary or recent alluvial (hposits which extend to the Hotitlicrn line of the .State. It is these alluvial deposits which (ff'ncral I'rd'mont believes have filletl up \\v. aniirn* strait or estuary which led to the now dry and desert site of the inland sea, which forme-rly occupit'd a large part of .Southeastern Cali- fornia, and which he urges our government to re-open and thus render an extensive portion of Western Arizona and .South- eastern California again habitable. At two points of the Coast Range, viz.: at the Monte Diablo mines, in Contra Costa county, nearly east of .San I'Vancisco, and in Mendocino county (about latitude 39*' 30'), the tertiary coal or lignite crops out in extensive beds. The first of these has been worked for many years, and produces a fair burning coal, of which about 150,000 tons are annually sent to market. i' The valleys lying between the Coast Range and the Sierras belong mostly to the cretaceous formation, though in the extreme south they are overlaid by alluvial sands. There is very little gold in these valleys except \\ placers which have been washed down from the mountains, though occasioniily pockets, and pos- sibly true veins, have been found in metamorphic rocks belong- ing as high up in the series as the cretaceous. This may be due to volcanic action in ages long past i^JftHHitiSiMi^ "TTX- 1 :! jj(5 ^^'f^ WESTERN EMPIRE. The grieater part of the auiiforous and argentiferous rock* of the State belongs to the triassic and Jurassic strata, which form tlie surface rocks of the Sierra Nevada from the Columbia river nearly to the head of the Gulf of California. It is in these triaissic and Jurassic strata that n\ust oi the gold and silver deposits from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific occur. South and west of the sierras, and in the vicinity of the upper waters of Kern river and its tributaries, is an extensive volcanic region, where basaltic and porphyritic rocks, sulphurous and chalybeate springs, deposits of s ilphur and large tracts of lava and lava ashes are found. A somewhat similar though much smaller tract exists in Sonoma county, between two spurs of the Coast Rarige. There are geysers here, and other indications of former volcanic action. Much of the region east of the sierras is of recent formations, though modified by former volcanic action, and is forbidding to the last degree. The lakes or sinks, often very deep, are always salt and bitter, and often without water most of the year. The beds of the lakes are covered with alkaline deposits. The famous Death Valley, the Dry Lakes, of which there are at least a dozen, Dry Salt Lake, Owen's Lake and other sinks of this region "gis^ striking evidence of its former volcaAic cliaracter, and of the great changes which have taken place, some of them within modern times in this part of the Stite. The earthquakes of 187 1 were most violent in this section, especially in Kern, Inyo, and San Bernardino counties. Mineralogy. — Gold is found pure, in scales, fine dust, in nuggets and in crystals, and in combination with copper, silver, lead, zinc, cinnabar, arsenic, iron, sulphur, tellurium, iridosmine, etc. Silver is found native, though very rarely, as a chloride (horn-silver), in combination with lead as argentiferous galena, sulphurets and carbonates of silver and lead, with copper as copper glance, red silver ore, etc., and with several of the rarer metals as well as with sulphur, iron, etc. Copper exists in the form of native copper, and as malachite, copper glance, rubescite, a/urite, chalcopyrite and chrysocolb^ in combination with sulphur, etc. Mercury or quicksilver appears as cinnabar very abun- dantly throughout the Coast Range, as coccinite ih Santa Barbara, Jgeq j^no! K^^^ju ni noB^r/r>fm»lov cyt rnji. fcMj T WWiWM i lw i iiit i i r rri i i iM i i i' iif i'> rrr i i Bii w«iw lamiMinMfir II erous rocks of ta, which form Columbia river It is in these old ant! silver ; occur. South e upper waters volcanic region, and chalybeate lava and lava much smaller •s of the Coast tions of former e sierras is of anic action, and )r sinks, often without water covered with Dry Lakes, of , Owen's Lake ce of its former ch have taken lis part of the violent in this lino counties, fine dust, in copper, silver, jm, iridosmine, as a chloride ferous galena, ith copper as al of the rarer r exists in the nee, rubescite, 1 with sulphur, it very abun- lanta Barbara, C£OL 00 V AND MIXER A T. OG Y. 557 and native in the Pioneer claim and elsewhere. There are now about sixty mines of quicksilver in the State, and the supply increases with the ever increasing demand. Platinum has only been found in California in placers, though its occurrence in veins with gold or silver is not improbable. Tin is found as cassiterite oi binoxide of tin in the Temiscal range about sixty miles from Los Ang<^les, and in grains else- where. Lead is abundant as galena all over the State, and in many cases carries a considerable percentage of silver. The molybdate of lead (Wulfenite) occurs in one or two localities. Arsenic occurs pure in Monterey county, and as arsenilite in one or two counties, and is extracted as white oxide in smelting several ores. Iron exists in variods forms, as chromic iron, as haematite, as magnetic and specular ores, and as oxide or boj.; iron ore in several localities. Tellurium occurs native and in combination with gold and silver and copper, and forms one of the most refractory of ores. Diamonds (so called) are found ii< several localities, but are not probably the genuine article, though they possess n-.any of the properties of the diamond. Graphite occurs in Tuolumne county and elsewhere ; borax and boracic acid in one or more lakes and in the marshes adjacent ; salt as rock-salt, as brine, and evaporated from the sea water and from the numerous salt lakes ; soda, both as caustic soda in deposits of a hundred feet or more in thickness and of great extent, and as carbonate of soda around some of the alkaline lakes, and in the Volcanic valleys ; sulphur, pure, and in sulphurets and sulphates; gypsum, barytcs, antimony, ochre, alabaster, fluorspar, corundum, and cobalt in the form of erythrine, abound in various parts of the State. Magnesite, iridosmine, magnetite, limonite, tourmaline, pyfolustte (binoxide of manganese), zircon, garnets, chrysolite and haysine are the other principal minerals. Coal, as already stated, occurs in several localities. Petroleum and bitumen are found in several of the coast counties, and the former, after many mishaps and failures, has become one of the standard products of the State, and is now supplying a con- siderable part of the local demand. Mines and Mining. — California is one of the great mining I ^ii m t>3yijiii. ■;; v')i;; }:,. Kn 558 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. States. Her production of the precious metals has been larger than that of any other State or Territory, though Nevada has approached it, and amid all changes, and with the exhaustion of the ordinary placer-mining, the State has still maintained a very large yield, and is likely to increase rather than diminish it. Gold or silver or both have been discovered in paying quantities in eighteen counties of the State and possibly more. Of these counties all (except Humboldt, Klamath and Del Norte, which have deposits only in the shore and beacii sands, being all coast counties, and Los Angeles, in which silver mines have recently been discovered) are situated along the eastern or western slopes of the Sierra Nevada ; some of them extending also across the valley to the eastern fool-hiils of the Coast Range. These counties, with the character of their product and the processes used in obtaining it, are as follows, beginning with the southern- most : I . Inya — silver mines in veins or lodes, mostly in Owen's valley and on the western slope of the Inyo or Buena Vista Mountains, one of the parallel ranges of the Sierra Nevada, Irom twelve to thirty miles southeast of the head of Owen's Lake. There are 700 or 800 claims here, and many of them are worked successfully. \\,i, ^r.Mii-iyMi 'Mii iu hm^ r^-yMA ■.>'»uin i.> :>iio ui f'l 1, 2. Mariposa county, lying on the western slope of the main range of the Sierras, and having the famous valley of the Yosemite within its borders. The mines are mosdy in the west and southwest part of the county, and the greater part of them, on the Mariposa estate, were once the property of General Fremont Besides these there are the Oaks and Roese mines, which are largely productive. These are gold only, and in quartz veins,.;! ,,jfimm)iKm\^j>mtim\mi riJ««it>«^jlvi 4>iji:^c :'UJ U^jitxktv 3. T>*oltimne county^ lying immediatdy north of Mariposa on the western slope and foot-hills of the Sierra. The mines, mostly gold, (hough there are a few silver, and all in veins or lodes, are in the west and southwest portion of the county. There are somewhat more than fifty mines. ,r; : ;r;r'; im -fti-rnnir r-- - ..fi, 4. Calaveras county, situated northwest of Tuolumne, but on the same range. The mines are scattered throughout the county. There are many gold mines in quartz veins, and exten- sive placers (of gold), but they are very nearly exhausted. MHi has been larger gh Nevada has le exhaustion of alntained a very lan diminish it )aying quantities nore. Of these )el Norte, which i, being all coast 2S have recently •r western slopes also across the Range. These d the processes th the southern- lostly in Owen's or Buena Vista Sierra Nevada, of Owen's Lake. ;hem are worked jpe of the main is valley of the ostly in the west ter part of them, erty of General tid Reese mines, ily, and in quartz of Mariposa on he mines, mostly iins or lodes, are nty. There are lolumne, but on throughout the (reins, and e^ten- sxhausted. U/V/Z/G Iff THR COUNTtES. ||p 5. Amador county, immediately north of Calaveras, a small county, but rich in gold deposits. It has twelve or fifteen mines, mostly in the western part of the county, gold in quartz veins, and yielding well. 6. Eldorado county, the county in which gold was first discov- ered. This county is partly in the Sacramento valley, and is drained by one of the affluents of the Sacramento river. The mines (gold in quartz veins), which have always been produc- tive, though the placers have long since given out, are situated mostly in the western part of the county. There are a dozen or more large stamp mills and a greater number of mines. 7. Placer county, north and no* thwest of Eldorado. Lake Tahoe is mostly in this county, and the Central Pacific Railway traverses the entire length of the county from southwest to northeast. There are many placers and large deposits in the former beds of what are known as "dead rivers," which are being worked by the process of hydraulic mining. There are also some quartz veins which yield liberally. The product is gold exclusively. There are about forty mines and placers now worked. 8. Nevada county, north of Placer county, is probably the richest of all the counties of California in mineral wealth. Its gold mines and placers, many of them very rich, are scattered all over the county. Its placer gold is nearer to absolute purity than that of any other mines or placers in the State. Of the 1 30 placers recorded, the gold product in most ranged from 90x3 to 976 (absolutely pure gold being 1,000), and the "You Bet" claim gold assayed 994. The gold from the thirty-seven quartz veins of the county did not assay quite so high, but ranged from 798 10875. '■• ' .vtni«i:j .•1'rt: iu n/ii.! ni '-i^w 9. Sierra county, north of Nevada county, is noted for its hydraulic mining. Through this county, on a ridge one or two hundred feet above the adjacent lands, is the ancient bed of a river, which the miners know as the Big Blue Lead,, whose sands, for a depth of five or six feet or more, and for a distance of probably a hundred and ten miles, were rich with gold. It had . beep upheaved in the volcanic changes through which the Sierras i I I i li W. ,tm i jgj, (WJl ir£S7£JiJV^ EMPIRE. have passed, and wherever living streams cross its anciefit bed with tlieir deep cartons, they wash down rich masses of gold dust. The miners havs becji breaking down tlie blue gravel of tliis "dead river" bed by tunnels, blasting, and the hydraulic pro- cess, for the past twelve or thirteen years, and have reaped a rich harvest. In this county was found, in August, 1869, a nuggec of gold weighing 95 )4 pounds, worth $21,156.52. 10. Yuba county, souUiwest of Sierra, is also a famous county for hydraulic mining, having five or six large deposits of gold. 1 1 . Butte county, west of Yuba, has many quartz veins rich in gold. Seven or eight large mines are worked, n.j. r.u.i 'nofit 1 2. Plumas county, north of Sierra, has in the eastern and cen- tral portions of the county fifteen or twenty gold mines, some of them hydraulic, others quartz mines. 1 3. Alpine county, situated on the extreme eastern border oi the Sute, on tiie crest of the Sierras, between latitude 38° 20' and 38" 50'. The ores here are sulphurets and antimonial sulphurets . in all of them silver predominates, in some witli a liberal per centage of gold, in others with considerable copper. The claimi. which are very numerous, are all of them worked by openinjif adits or tunnels. This requires more capital at first, but is necessary in so mountainous a region. The mines, so far aa developed, yield very well, — from %\o to $75 per ton of ore,— diough there are difficulties in the reduction. 1 4. Shasta county, in the northern part of the State, the forty- lirst parallel passing through it, has deposits and quartz veins of gold and copper. The gold mines yieki either free-milling gold or gold combined with sulphurets of copper, lead or zinc. The mines, eight or ten in number, which are worked, are tn the ^ western part of the county. ' 1 5. It has generally been supposed that the western slope of the Coast Range was barren of ores of tht precious metals, but recent developments show that the silver-bearing ledges are found there .as well as on the eastern slope of the sr-me range, lor on both slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Los Angeles county, in the southern part of the State, on the coast, has hitherto been regarded as the finest agricultural county in the State, but TERRA CE MIArWG^ s ancierif: bed i of gold du3t. gravel of tliis lydraulic pro- ave reaped a 869,anuggec imous county iits of gold, z veins rich in . u»i 'J ton I stern and cen- nines, some of «rn border oi de 38** 20' and ial sulphurets, a liberal per •. Theclaimi. d by openitifif Lt first, but iii ines, so far as ■ ton of ore,-»- tate, the forty- [uartz veins of se-milling gold or zinc. The ed, are in the istern slope of )us metals, but ig ledges are le SKme range, ngeles county, s hitherto been the State, but 7". recently there have been discovered extensive veins of srlver there, and numerous mines are clustering around Silverado in the soudicrn part of the county. The ore is argentiferous galena (sulphurets of silver and lead), and the assays range from $18 to $200 per ton. The beach deposits of Dd Norte» Klamath and Humboldt counties of gold in iron sands are not simply those found in the sands washed by the tides, and which are common to all coasts which have rivers discharging into a sea or ocean from gold- bearing mountains ; these sands, though extending ten miles out from the coast, contain gold in such small quantities, as hardly to repay the labor of collection ; but they occur in terraces or old beaches and bluffs, sometimes two or three miles back from high- water mark, and from 250 to 1,200 feet above the sea. In thes; bluffs or terraced beaches are extensive layers of iron sand, rich in gold, and varying in thickness from a few inches to three or four feet. The miaers call thb terrace-mining. Several of these strata have been discovered, one at five miles below Trinidad, in Klamath county, one at Crescent City, in Del Norte county, one in Humboldt county, and one at Randolph, Curry county, Oregon. These terraces indicate either an upheaval of the coast or a retrograding of the ocean. The falling off in the production of silver ia the Comstock lodes of Nevada has produced a reacdon in favor of the gold placer and quarts mines of California, and there is ait the present time (August, iSfio) a greater activity in gold mining in Cali- foiirnia, than at any time fior the last fifteen years. All the gold mines in the countiffs named above bave been reopened, and are sow actively woodced with a greatly increased production ; more tlian a hundred new quarts raiiUs have been erected witMn the past year and a half, and arc now actively at work, and many new mines and placers hav>c been opened and developed in tfte counties wbida have previously yielded gold, while Trinicy, Klamalii,, Fiiesaoi San Bevnardino, and M«ndocino counties are added ti9^^e list of fliiMng counties. It is confidendy predicted chat tile gold yield of Califeniia, in i^So, will be much greater than in any year since i8d6. - ^. 36 -liiiM mmmm 'hi J03 Ot/Jt WESTRRlf EMPIRE, Soils and Vegetation. — " In a region of such vast extent," saya Professor i£. W. Hilgard, "traversed by mountain ranges formed of rocks of all kinds and ages, there is, of course, an endless variety of soils, to describe all of which would exceed our limits, even if the data were available. Unfortunately this is far from being the case, the geological survey" (of which Professor Hil- gard was the chief) "having paid but little attention to the cx> amination of soils, which, it is true, is a subject requiring special qualiBcations and care on the part of the observer to insure use- ful results. There are, however, some general features devel- oped on a large scale in the more thickly setded parts of the State, a brief summary of which may find an appropriate place here." ^r.! i"VPrt- •. ^'--r ;^,.-,- ,'i'- " It is well known that the main axis of the Sierra Nevada is 'formed by granitic rocks, which in the northern portion of the .range, as well as on the slopes, are usually overlaid by clay slates and shales, forming the proverbial ' bed-rock ' of the gold- '" placers and gravel-beds. The soil derived either directly from ' the granites or from the older portion of the slates — in other words, the gold-bearing soil of the Sierra slope — is an orange- colored (commonly called 'red') loam, more or less clayey or sandy according to location, and greatly resembles, on the whole, ^'I'the older portion of the ' yellow loam ' subsoil of the Gulf States. H Of course it contains much more of coarse materials in the shape 1 of undecomposed rock, and its sand-grains are sharp instead of ''rounded. It is the predominant soil of 'the foot-hills,' and f where ridges extend from these out into the Great Valley, they are usually characterized by the red tint, which gradually fades ^^' out as the ridges flatten into swales in their approach to the San :^ Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, being lost in the gray or black yof the ' adobe,' or the buff of the river-sediment soils. Its admix- ' ture is everywhere, I believe, found to be advantageous to the /Other soils; and in the foot-hills themselves it proves to be highly productive, as well as durable, easy of tillage, and what is termed a 'warm' soil. The rocks of the lower slope of the Sierra, but more especially those of the Coast Range opposite, are predominantly of a very clayey character, soft gray clay !:* w rt w w ^d with bowlders and rock fra^'ments. The nature of the materials, as well as the form of portions of this slope, characterizes them almost inevitably as the result of glacial action. "The peninsula on which 5>an Francisco is situated is overnm with the dune sand drifted from the ocean beach for a distance ot several miles south from the Golden Gate, so that the f\K\t\g of the sand and its conversion into soil is one of th« chief prob- lems of the gardens and parks of that city. The city of Oak- land, also, is situated on a somewhat sandy, but nevertheles'i quite productive, soil ; and land of a similar character, but stronger by admixture of the adobe, yet easily till«d> forms the soil of the fe.-tile valleys in the plain lying between the eastern shore of the bay and the Coast Range, which are largely devoted to m»rket>garden8 and fruit-culture, and, farther from the cities, to that of barley. The comparative diAkulty and more or less of uncertainty attendant upon the cultivation of the adobe soils, unless very thoroughly tilled, has caused a preference to be very commonly given to the lighter soils found nearer to the streams, which are formed of a mixture of the adobe with the r>ver sedi- ment, or, nearest the water-courses, of that sediment alor»e. It is suggestive of the character of tlie majority of CaKfomia streams that the word ' bottom,' used east of the mountains to designate the well-defined flood-plain^ \h scarcely heard in the State, the more inddvnite and general term 'vaHisy' being in generail' use. The obvious reason i» that there it in moat cases no very definite terrace, but at nather gvaduai atope from the fannk to the bordering biUs. The Saoeamento andl Snn Joaquin have not, as a ru4ev raised their immediate banks perceptibly ftbovc the rest of the floook-pfatln, beoonise the sediment they - oarry is not such ob will subside at the sKgheest diminution of /vcloci^, but re apt to be carried some distftfice inland At the .)X)int8 of its upper course the San Joaquin, and \n the lowtr ^>l%i^j^e(Mifii^iii*^i^^*^f-'''''"^^''^'''^^''*''''' ■'■ ••■***"■- hr hay wr find injj along the or at times »nlt rd the foot of J and min^^led r the material)!, acterizes them ted is overnm for a distance that the fiKing^ bhe chief prob- e city of Oak- C neverth«leB» character, but Ued, formn the len the ca«tem argely devott'd from the cities, d more or less :he adobe soils, snce to be very to the Rtreams, the Hver sedi- nent alot>e. It ' o( CaKibmia t mountainft to f heard in the s^y' being in I m most cases itoptt fpom the d San Joaquin iks perceptibly !}ediniient they diminution of Inland At the d ifv tb9 Umtr rffM TUt.R LANDS, |^ portions both it and the SacrainuiUo, mib vided with broad ' tule-shoes.' These tule lands, embracing a large number of rich and partly reclaimed islands, such as Union. Bram^an, Sherman, and others, forming part of the counties of Sacramento, San Jouquin, and Solano, continue with varying width along the east shores of Suisun and San Pablo bays, and up the tributary valleys of Napa, Sonoma, and Petaluma, nearly to the limit of tide-water. It is noteworthy that, as regards salubrity, the tules, at least so far as they are within reach of brackish tide-water, are less liable to malarious fevers than the upper portions of the great valleys. i w,.,. • i .. ... .. " The soil of the tule lands is of two principal kinds : sediment land, found chiefly along the Sacramento and other streams, currying much ' slum ' from the hydraulic mines ; and peaty land, more prevalent along the San Joaquin and its branches. The latter kind consists almost entirely of tule roots, in various stages of freshness and decay, to a depth of from two to twentyi and more feet ; in the latter case we have the ' float land,' whick, rests on the water-table and rises and falls more or less with it Like tbe • Prairie Tremblante,' near New Orleans, it often trem- Ues under the tread of man, but will nevertheless sustain herds of cattle without the least danger, its bulges forming places of refuge for them in time of high water. An excellent fuel has been made by pulping this qis^ss ^nd forming it into bricks ]iiiim true peat. 1,ii.d-! jj^r;.. .1 :'»> •f-i , f f'f M 1^ MiUmMm ■■^i)riiiitiiiiiMriir"i'i ■PI OVK WKSTRKS K Mr/It K. " Thr tiile lanH« were lon^ thought to b** worthless except for panturc purposes; but it has now come to In; well undrrHtood that they arc in lar^ftr part of extraordinary fertility, and, if pro. tected from overflow by Irveet, are almost sure to yield abimdant crops every year, even in seasons when those of the uplands fail for want of moisture. In their reclamation the constniction of levees is of course the first thing needful. The sediment land can then be taken into cultivation at once by the use of large sod plows, resembling the prairie plows of the Western Stales. It is usual to bum off the rushes and native grasses previous to plowing, especially in the pf?aty lands where the plow would otherwise find no soil. But here the fire penetrates several feet down, cither to the underlying soil or to moisture, leaving U'hind a layer of ashes so light that the plow is u.teless. At the proper ■eiason grain is then sown upon the ashes, and either brushed in or trodden in by sheep, and extraordinary grain-crops are thus produced during the first years, the duration of fertility depend- ing, of course, upon the soil underlying after the ashes have been exhausted. The tule lands bordering upon Tulare lake are of a different character from those of the lower rivers. The soil is heavy, consisting of fine sediments mixed with gray clay and shell dibris, contains a large supply of plant food, and with proper cultivation will doubtless prove as highly productive as affc the soils of the Great Tulare plains themselves. "The soils of the Mojave desert seem on the whole to be rather light, whitish silts, of whose possible productiveness little can as yet be said, except that without irrigation culture is hope- less. In striking contrast with these close soils of the San Joaquin valley are those which prevail south of the Sierras, San Fernando, and San Gabriel, in the Los Angeles plain and its tributary valleys, the home of the orange, lemon, and olive in their perfection. The fine rolling uplands ('mesas') of that re^on are generally covered with a brownish, gravelly loam, from eight to t>venty feet in thickness, which, with tillage, assumes tfie most perfect tilth with ease. It is a generous, 'strong' soil, vatying locally so as to adapt itself to every variety of crop, yet readily identifiable by its general character from Los Angeles to wtmm 1 ilfsn fxcppt for rll undnrHtnocI ity, and, if pro- yield abundant of the iiplandH le rnnstniction sediment land le use of largf l^estern States, ses previous to le plow would tcs several feet leaving bf*hind At the proper ther brushed in crops are thus ertility depcnd- the ashes have on Tulare lake er rivers. The with gray clay food, and with Y productive as ES. le whole to be uctiveness little :ulture is hope- ils of the San le Sierras, San 3 plain and its 1, and olive in esas') of that gravelly loam, lillage, assumes s, 'strong' soil, Ity of crop, yet -OS Angeles to AL/CAU SOtL. S67 .San Diego. In most respects it may Iw ronnidcred a variety of the red Hoils ol the Sierra slope already dcHc rilxHl, like which it appt.'ars to be prr-eminriwly .ulaptrd to fruit culture. " I'hc HoiJH of the plain to srawarvl of I.oh An|;elcH, and of the coast plains south of Santa Harlara generally, so far as not modified by the Hcdiments of the streamn, seem to be uniformly characterized by a very large amount of glistening mica stalvi, distributed in a rather sandy, dark-colored mass, destitute of coarse materials. They arc easily cultivated and highly pro- ductivc when irrigated, although not unfre(|ucntly afllii teil with a certain taint of ' alkali.' This, however, when not too strung or salt, is here readily neutralized by the use of gypsum. " 'Alkali ' soil is the name used in California to designate any soil containing such unusual (juantities of soluble salts as to allow them to become visible on the surface during the dry season, as a while crust or efflorescence. They arc of course found chieMy in low, level regions, such as the Great Valley, and the plains to seaward of the Coast Range ; sometimes in continuous tracts of many thousands of (icres, sometimes in spots so interspersed with non-alkaline land as to render it impossible to till one kind without the other. The nature and amount of salts in these soils is of course very variable. Near the coast the ' alkali ' is often little more than common salt, and can be relieved only by drainage or appropriate culture. At times we fmd chiefly magnesian salts, when liming will relieve the trouble. But in the Great Valley the name 'alkali ' is in most cases justified by the nature of the salt, which almost always contains more or less carbonate of soda, and sometimes potassa. The presence of these substances, even to the extent of a fourth of one per cent., while it may do but little harm during the wet season, results in their accumulation at the surface whenever the rains cease, and the corrosion of the root-crown, stunting, and final death of the plants. But when stronger, as is too often the case, the seed is killed during germination. Moreover, land so afBicted cannot be brought to good tilth by even the most thorough tillage. Fortunately, a very effectual and cheap neutralizer of this, the true 'alkali,' is available in the form of gypaum, which transforms i I a •NMWMi mm Vtatmm'. 'immim: j^ OVK WMXTKMff KJUr/MM. thr rauitic carbonates into innocent milphatrn. Wherever the amount of alkiiti present it not excet»ive, the une of gy|mum relii;vt:H all itifficuttirH arising from the pretence of tltc former. Moreover, analytiH thowH that in many canes lar;4e anioimts of important mineral plant-focHi, kucH a.i iKXash, phosphates, and niiratrn, accompany the: injtirioiiM Huhstances ; so that when li.e latter are neutralized, the previously uhcI(-s» soil may be exf)ected to possess extraordinary and lasting f«.'rtility. Abundant di |>«iHttt of gypsum have been shown to exist in many portions ot the State since attention has been directed to its im|X)rtancc in this connection. •";'■ »,'-'•;"«•■ .■-.•-f . a- -.i ... i i*^,*-.. *■.■ ♦i,;>^,j ^..*,^,,. . * " On the eastern afffiienfs of the f^acramenio river, the Ameri- can. Bear, Yuba, Feather, and oth< r Btrcamn heading in the region where hydraulic mining is practised, a new kind of soii it now being formed out of the materialH carried down from the gold-bearing gravels. The cnormmis masses of detritus washed into the streams, filling their up[)er valleys to the height of sixty feet and more with boulders and gravel, while a muddy flood of the finer materials overruns the valley lands in tlicir lower course, have given rise to a great deal of complaint on the part of farmers ; and the ' mining d^in's question ' has Iteen the subject of numerous lawsuits, ami of much angry debate in the legislative halls. In some cases the lands so overrun are defmitivoly ruined; in others the new soil formed is of fair quality in itsctlf, but as yet unthrifty; in many, the best quality of black adobe is covered many feet deep with an unproductive 'slum.' By the same agency, the beds of the Sacramento and its tributaries have become filled to such an extent as to greatly obstruct navigation and to cause much more frequent overflows, whose deposit, 1.0 vever, appears to improve, in general, the heavy lands r.f the |)lain, as wel! as the tules. It is difficult to foresee a solution > af this question that would be satisfactory to all parties con- cerned ; the more as the navigation of the bay itself is begin- ning to suffer from the accumulation of deposit, the reddish sediment-bearing waters of the Sacramento being always distin- guishable in front of the city from the blue water brought io by the tides." **^'tiilliliMii>''ii»W'ii''""i''''i'i '' II Kill iwanwi w WM iBi ii i il l i iW« i wai * w TNR MAWiroU OltOVM Oft JUtQl'OfAS, 969 Wlicrovrr the "'* ^^ gypNuin c)l tlic former. <■ arnoiinu of io-«l>l)ati's. and that when ti.e ay be cx|)fcti-«l mlaiit lit {Misitt lortiuns (it tho mrtuiuc ill this '<'r, the AmcrU icachti^r in the kind of soil it lown from the lotrituK wanhf-'d hoij^ht of sixty luddy flood of r lower course, n the part of en the subject I the legijilative nitivcly ruined; tsclf, but as yet )be \h covered By the same ibutaries have 'uct navigation ivhose deposit, y lands r.f the see a solitiiou !1 parties con- tsclf is bejjin- t, the reddish always distin- brought ia by Miirh «if the noil of the State, cspnially ol thr mountain slopes, is (Mculiarly adapted to thr growth of |;i^antic forent trees. Of tlume dK're have been recognized and ilrscribcti frirtyeight genera and one himdrtrd and five Mpecim in thr State, tin; greater part of which are not only indigenous but only to be found on the I'acitic >»lope. Of these forty species arc cvergnTm*. found mostly on the mountains of the Cf>ast Range and thr Sierras. The moiit reniurkabic of those are the two species of SvifHOta, Stquoia jip£i$H/ta, or mammoth tree, and Stqucia itmft«nHKttn^ or California Redwood. Of the former there are niiir (proves known in tlu; State, though the largest trees have Urrn felltxl by the l)arl)arity of the showmen, who couUI not be co i< cd without despoiling the forests of their monarchH, the growth of thousands of years, only that they might exhibit their own mean- ness and brutishness for a miserable pittance. Some of these trees were more than 450 feet in height, with a circumference near the ground of not less than 1 30 feet. The giant Eucalypti of Australia may have hod a somewhat greater circumference, but they were not as tall as these. 'I>ie largest now standing is said to be 376 feet in height and 106 in circumferer>ce. The Mariposa and Calaveras groves are the best "known, though not the largest, of these collections of mighty trees. Mr. A. R. Whitehill, of the Chicago TrituMt, who has recently visited several of these groves, thus describes the "Grizzly Cuant," and die Mariposa grove in that paper : "The principal tree in the grove is the one known as the 'Grizzly Giant,' and the eye and sense of the spectator arc at once bewildered at the size of its mighty proportions. At the base of this tree the carriage road stops, and the t-ail for horses begins. Carefully measuring the circumference with a line car- ried for that purpose, we found it to be over ninety-three feet at the base, and this not counting the burnt-away portions, which would have made the total still greater. We measured thirty- one feet as the diameter. At the base were five openings, any one of which seemed large enough for the accommodation of a camping party; and immediately around these the bark was gone. From the ground to a height of about eleven feel the 1 i^ dtkAai MSM ■ i i i i- i in rur i nn ntriTn' T" rrt'f ""•- r-ii'-tnifii" 570 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. ^ tree contracted perceptibly; then, perfectly round, it shot up with scarcely a change to the lowest limbs, which were fully 100 feet from the ground. On one side were about ten limbs, vary- ing frotn two to six feet in diameter, and on the other about twelve almost as large. The largest limb was probably 1 50 feet from the ground, and this was fully twenty feet in circumference where it left the trunk. Shooting out in a straight line for a distance of thirty feet or more, it curved then suddenly upward in a perpendicular direction, and, at a distance of seventy-five feet more, was lost in the upper foliage. Secondary branches, as large as a full-grown eastern oak, shot out from this primary branch as a trunk, and there again produced other branches, to the third and fourth generation. Some of these branches were decayed ; some were moss-covered ; some were in the full vigor of their extraordinary growth. The top of the tree seemed to have been broken off, perhaps by lightning ; and the appearance of the whole was that of a war-worn veteran of the Sierra, i !».».► . ;'Ut was near dusk when we had finished our inspection of this mighty tree. We were over a mile above the level of the sea, and six miles from our stopping-place for the night. Still we lingered. Although it was then June, yet the eternal snows of the mountains were everywhere around us, and, as the huge banks and drifts stretched away off in the distance, the melting power of heat and the elements was on every side defied. Not a weed or blade of grass relieved the monotony of the view ; not the chirping of an insect or the twittering of a bird was heard. The solemn stillness of the night added a weird grandeur to the scene. Now and then a breath of wind stirred the topmost branches of the pines and cedars, and, as they swayed to and fro in the air, the music was like that of Ossian, 'pleasant, but mournful to the soul' There were sequoias on every side almost twice as high as the Falls of Niagara; there were pines rivaling the dome of the Capitol at Washington in grandeur; there were cedars to whose tops the monumetit of Bunker Hill Ww>uld not have reached. There were trees which were in the full vigor of manhood before America itself was discovered; there were others which were yet old before Charlemagne waa 1 id, it shot up were fully loo en limbs, vary- other about >bably 1 50 feet circumference ght line for a ddenly upward of seventy-five dary branches, m this primary ^r branches, to branches were n the full vigor ree seemed to the appearance e Sierra, spection of tliis ;vel of the sea, light. Still we brnal snows of 1, as the huge ce, the melting le defied. Not f the view ; not »ird was heard, grandeur to the i the topmost lyed to and fro 'pleasant, but on every side ere were pines 1 in grandeur; )f Bunker HUl :b were in the IS discovered; irlemagne was liMia'- f THR GiANT TUBES OF MAMIPOSA. 571 born ; there were others still growing when the Saviour himself was on the earth. There were trees which had witnessed the winds and storms of twenty centuries ; there were others which would endure long after countless generations of the future would be numbered with the past. There were trees crooked and short and massive ; there were others straight and tall and slender ; there were pines whose limbs were as finely propor- tioned as those of the Apollo Belvidere ; there were cedars whose beauty was not surpassed in their counterparts of Leba- non ; there were firs whose graceful foliage was like the fabled locks of the gods of ancient story. It was a picture in nature which captivated the sense at once by its (grandeur and extent ; and, as we drove back through six miles of this forest luxuri- ance, with the darkness falling about us like a black curtain from the heavens, and the mighty caRons of the Sierra sinking away from our pathway like the openings to another world, then it was not power, but majesty ; not beauty, but sublimity ; not the natural, but the supernatural, which seemed above us and before us." The Sequoia setnpervirens, or Redwood, is a very stately tree, attaining a height of 3CX) feet and a circumference of seventy- five or eighty feet. It is the most valuable timber-tree of Cali- fornia, but is fast disappearing, being confined to the upper por- tion of the Coast Range, not appearing below San Luis Obispo and but sparingly below San Francisco, and disappearing entirely wli«'ii felled, being replaced by other trees. Its gigantic congener does not appear on xYz Coast Range, but is confined to four or five counties along the western slope of the Sierras. Both of these trees belong to the cedar family. The sugar pine {Pinus Lambertiand) is almost the peer of the Redwood in size and commercial value. Its wood is white, straight-grained, clear and free-splitting. Its height is sometimes 300 feet, and its circum- ference forty-five feet. It has cones eighteen inches long and four thick; a sweetish, resinous gum exudes from the harder portion of the wood, tasting much like manna, and having cathar- tic properties. There are fifteen other species of pine, of which the finest are the /%»«» ponderosa, or yellow pine, 225 feet high. 7,:«-'/< tv^.*ai(i«tei»iB»»>wmw.fcir<^miimis&^im^i6^^&i^M' > r a - If ri» aifflM i.iiif iirtirmrij, ""^ I'fi f_'J(nj i. "ji 5;a ©Mt WESTEJtN JLVTMX. AW /^>i»j SabinianM, Sabine's or nut pine, which has an edible ccne or nut, much valued by the Indians, and Pinus maigtiis, or Mon- terey pine. This and the yellow pine are similar to our yellow and pitch pines at the East, and are in demand for flooring pur- poses. The other species of pines rise from 30 to 100 feet in height, but are not so much prized. There are six species of true fir, one of them, Adies Dauglasii, Douglas's spruce, being 300 feet in height, and three of the others, stately trees, 100 feet or more in height ; the western balsam fir, PUta grandU^ grows to the height of 150 fuet. \:A'\:y/tv'jvd l«!i.;y »» ,,4a str..- The California white cedar — USocalrus decurrens — grows to the height of 140 or 150 feet. There are abo four species of cypress, three of juniper, two of arbor-vitse, and one of yew— Taxus brevifoUa — which attains the height of seventy-five feet The wild nutmeg — Torreya CcUifcmica — the California laurel— Oreodaphne Californica — the madrona — Arbutus Menziesii — and the manzanita — Ardostapkylos gl(tvc<-~xt. all beautiful ever- greens. There are twelve species of oak, two of them ever- green or live oaks, the rest deciduous. The burr oak — Qmrcus tnacrocarpaf — is the largest of these, but its wood, like most of the others, is principally valuable for fuel. The Quercus Garry^ ana, sometimes called white oak, though not a large tree, has a dense, fine-grained wood, used for making agricultural imple- ments. There is one of the chestnut family, the Western chin- quapin, a fine tree, sometimes attaining a height of 125 feet. There are four acacias, thorny enough ; three poplars, or cotton- woods, one very large ; two alders ; the Mexican sycamore ; one species of walnut — yuglans rupestris — a fine tree ; three species of dogwood or Cornel, all differing from the \. 'i'lem dogwoods; four wild lilacs; two wild cherries, both shrn' wo maples — Acer macrophyUwH — a large and beautiful tree- a XAcercirci- naium — the vine maple, a smaller tree, found only in the moun- tains. There are three yuccas, two species of willow, a box elder, an Oregon ash, and the flowering ash, which is not t true ash. one species of buckeye, cue of ironwood, a Parkimoim or greenwood, small but elegant ; two or more species of cactus, a native persimmon, and the valuable Japanese species; Uie pie- ■■■ CALIFORNIA TREES, SJ/RVBS AND GRASSES. 573 aa edible cone i^is, or Mon- to our yellow r flooring pur- o to loo feet six species of spruce, being trees, loo feet frandis^ grows \rrens — grows bur species of one of yew — renty-five feet brnia laurel — Menziesii — and beautiful ever- of them ever- oak — Quercus d, like most of }uercus Garry- rge tree, has a cultural imple> Western chin- it of 125 feet, lars, or cotton- sycamore ; one ; three species ■in dogwoods ; ». vo maples — \ ■XAeer circi- ' id tbe moun^i willow, a box h is not a true Parkimotti^ or es of cactus, ft> ^ies; ^ pMiv tachio-nut and many species of semi-tropical trees which arc unknown elsewhere. The shrubs and small fruits are numerous, but the 'cultivation of these and of grapes and edible nuts and berries belongs rather to horticulture. There are many medi- cinal plants and shrubs, some of them possessing very valuable qualities. Grasses are very numerous, and some of them highly nutritious, but they are nearly all annuals, and except in the foggy regions along the northwestern coast, there are hardly any native grasses which will make a sod or which are adapted for hay. The greater part of the State is entirely destitute of anything tike a permanent sod, and aside from the wild oat {Avcna sattva), the wild barley {Hordeutn jubatutn), tlie burr clover {Medicago denticulatm) and four or five species ot native clovers, which are annuals, and are cured by the sun at the beginning of the dry season, but form for a time good pasturage, the &rmer and stock-raiser is compelled to rely on Alfalfa and the forage grasses and cereals, Hungarian, German, and pearl millet, Egyptian rice-corn or Dhurra, oats, wheat, rye, sor- ghum as a forage plant, etc., for late feeding of his stock. Wild flowers abound in California, many of them those highly prized by florists elsewhere, of remarkable beauty of form and color, and some of them exceedingly fragrant. The lily and syringa families, many of them shrubs and even trees, and con- spkuous alike for beauty and fragrancy, are found growing wild and filling the air for long distances with their perfume. Of cryptogamous plants, the quantity and variety is almost without limit. One hundred species of mosses have been described, and the mushrooms, seaweeds, lichens and fungi are still more aibandaat. Zoi^gy-r^lhtrti are 115 species of mammalia in California, of which twenty-seven are carnivorous, including the grizzly, Uack, and brown or Mexican h^'\ the raccoon, badger, two species of skunk, the wolverine iisher, American sable or mar- ■ten, mink, yellow-cheeked weasel, California otter and sea otter, ibe cougar, jaguar, wild cat, red lynx and banded lynx, raccoon fox or mountain cat, gray wolf, coyote or barking wolf (this differs somewhat from the prairie wolf, and is becoming annoy- r? I . I .:>mimmmmmmm0mmit* ^i tfMMtMiMHMMHIlMnMl^M^^ 574 OVR WESTERN EMPIRE. .■,»i 1 ■ ingly abundant in the State, preying upon lambs, young pigs, fowls, etc.), five species of fox, three or four species of sea-lion, two species of seal, and the sea-elephant. The larger and more formidable of these carnivora are becoming rare in the State except in some of the more sparsely inhabited counties; the grizzly and other bears are found in the mountains, but the felida, especially the cougar, jaguar, and the lynxes are rare, and the gray wolt is not often found near the settlements. Of the insect eaters, there are two moles, two shrews, and six- teen species of bats. Of the rodents, there are the beaver, the sewellel or mammoth mole, five species of ground-squirrels, pest;i which multiply by the million and levy their assessments upon the grain crop, often carrying off half the crop and riddling the stacks and sacks of grain, and even finding their way into the barns and storehouses. There are also five species of tree- squirrels, more harmless in their character. Of the mouse family there are eighteen species, including three naturaUzed ones. The musk-rat, jumping mouse, four species of kangaroo mice, and five of gophers, a pest almost as destructive of trees, shrubs, Und plants as the squirrel is of the grain. There is a yellow- haired porcupine, six species of hares and rabbits, some of them peculiar to the Pacific coast, and a coney or rat- rabbit. Of ruminants, there are the elk, the white-tailed, black-tailed, and itiule-deer, the American antelope, the mountain goat or goat- antelope, and the big-horn or mountain sheep. *' Of the cetacea, as well as of the sea-fishes, California claims justly all that are found in the waters of the Pacific within the bounds of the United States, possibly excluding Alaska. This includes the right and the California gray whale, the hump-back aind fin-back, two of the beaked whales, the sperm whade, the black fish and three species of porpoise. Of birds there are 350 species or more, recognized as natives of Califot-Aia. There are twenty species of climbers, fifteen of them wood-peckers; of birds of prey there are thirty-seven species, including five of the eagle family, ten species of buzzard- hawks, four hawks and four falcons ; twelve species of owls ; the king of the vultures, and the turkey-buzzard, or turkey- vulture. ltWii'iL *■! idiil I iiwuili ll- I OBJECTS OF tNTRREST IN CALIFORNIA. 575 )s, young pigs, cies of sea-lion, irger and more e in the State counties; the ntains, but the 'nxes are rare, tlements. shrews, and six- the beaver, the 'ound-squirrels, ;ir assessments op and riddling \ their way into species of tree- le mouse family ituraUzed ones, kangaroo mice, of trees, shrubs, lere is a yellow- s, some of them rat-rabbit. Of }lack-tailed, and 1 goat or goat- lalifornia claims icific within the r Alaska. This , the hump-back )enn. whade, the \f^t. die enclosing masses. The river Merced, which rises in die Sierra, some fifteen m^es higher up dian the head of the valley, in the group of mountains of which Mount Lyeli is die domtnatittg peak, runs througii the Yosemite with many graceful windings, and gives rsse at the head of the valley to the remark- able waiterfallsi which will be nodced farther on. Two branches of the main Merced also enter die valley near its head; one, the Teoaya Foek, whidi rists in a beautifVil mountain bice of the same name, comes in from the northeast ; die other, die Iltiloiii- ette, enters from die sondi. These tributaries join die Merced through deep' cxAons, as the mountain gorgtes in the Sierra aite Always called; bnt tbcre are several other smaller streams w4ii>- 9fmiimmm » mtiKmm i m i mum mmme-'t .. XfraWr*' these U the far- e as one of the urate and satis- written is that te Geologist of :my of Science, w: zzly bear,' and f, but that of a nt Indian name rra Nevada of e south of east ►tate of Califo-- the east and n seventy tmUts ngth, and from a mile in depth It has very id in the moun- p general trend. ( general diree- nd retreat, with jrreat variety of ced, which rises the head of the nt Lyell is t^ I many graceful to the remark- Two branches head; one, the kin hike of tfte her, ^ imioih- >m ^ Merced I the Sierra ai*e * streams vAMi giving rise in \ 77/A YOSF.M/T£ VALLEY. $77 almost every instance, to interesting falls ; which, however, are not in general of any great size, except during the early part of the season, when the snow upon the adjacent mountains is melting. "The pleasure-seeking traveller, who visits the Yosemite, does not confine his explorations to the valley proper, but from vari- ous commanding points adjacent to it obtains a great variety of views of the groups of peaks which form the crest of the Sierra in that region, as well as of the spurs which extend down from the m.\in range, or stretch along parallel with it. Thus a jour- ney to the Yosemite properly includes a tour around its exterior, or at least one or more visits to prominent points of view above it, from which the observer cannot only look directly down into the depths of the valley below him, but also command a variety of views of lofty and in part snow-clad ranges, which offer among themselves most remarkable contrasts of form and structure. " In noticing the details of the scenery of the Yosemite, the valley proper may first be considered. The prominent features here are : the great elevation of th^ walls which enclose it ; the remarkable approach to verticality in these walls; their great height and their wonderful variety and beauty of form. To these features may also be added the attractions of the mag- nificent waterfalls which occur at various points on both sides of the valleyi although these, as already noticed, must be seen early in the seaoon in order that the traveller may be greatly im- pressed by them. In entering the Yosemite by the roads which approach it from the lower end, the visitor notices that he has before him a valley of a different type of form from those he has before been accustomed to see. He passes from a V-shaped gorge or cafion into one which may b^ fairly csUled U-shaped, since its walls rise almost vertically from its floor. This change of form is strikingly impressed on the visitor as he approaches what may be call^ die gateway of the Yosemite. Here he sees before him, on the north side of the valley, the mass of rock called El Capitan, and exactly opposite the Bridal Veil and Cisithedral Rocks. At this point the distance across the valley is only a mile, measuried from the summit of the Bridal Veil Roek 1 — S^s^SU"' j^g OUK WKSTEKS RMPIRB. to that of El Capitan, and at the bane of these cliffs there Ih only just room for the river to pass. LI Cnpitan is an inimcnsc block of granite projecting squarely out into the valley, and presenting two almost vertical faces, which meet in a sharp edge 3,300 feet in perpendicular elevation. The sides or walls of this mass are bare, smooth and entirely destitute of vegetation. It is doubtful if anywhere in the world there is presented so squarely cut, so lofty and so impos'ng a face of rock. On the oppo- site side of the valley is the grand mass of the Cathedral Kocks, divided into two parts by a deep notch between them. The most striking face of the larger Cathedral Rock is turned up the valley, but on the side facing the entrance there is a feature of great beauty, namely, the Bridal Veil Falls, made by the crtrck of the same name, which, as it enters the valley, descends in a vertical sheet of 630 feet perpendicular, striking there a pile of dibfis, down which it rushes in a series of cascades, with a vertical descent of nearly 300 feet more, the total height of the fall being 900 feet. This creek flows through the entire year, but tlie fall is only great when the amount of water is near its maximum. When the stream is ntMther too full nor too low, the mass of water, in its fall, vibrates with the varying pressure of the wind blowing in the daytime up the valley in the most beautiful and remark- able manner. It is this fluttering and waving of the sheet of wat'T which has given it the poetic but somewhat fanciful name it now bears, that of the Indians having been Pohono, a term having reference, it is said, to the chilliness of the air under the high clifl' and near the falling waters. There is also a charming fall in a deep square recess of the rocks opposite the Bridal Veil, and just below El Capitan. This fall, which is over i ,000 feet high, is called the Virgin's Tears. It runs, however, but a short time during the early summer months. " Passing up the valley after entering between the Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan, the level area or river-bottom increases to nearly half a mile in width. This area is broken up into Small meadows, gay with flowers in the early summer, and sandier regions on which grow numerous pitch-pines, and some oaks, cedars and firs. The walls of the valley continue lofty and wimm tamamm TNR YOSEMITK VAI.I.HY. fTs there is only is an intmcniie ihc valley, and in a sharp cd^e or walls of this vegetation. It presented so . On the oppo- athedral Kocks, en them. The k is turned up lere is a feature ide by the crt-tk U descends in a there a pile of s, with a vertical of the fall being ear, but tl^e fall r its maximum. e mass of water, le wind blowing ill and remark- of the sheet of t fanciful name Pohono, a term te air under the also a charming >site the Bridal ;h is over i,cxx> however, but a • n the Cathedral ottom increases broken up into y summer, and )ines, and some tntinue lofty and ;^fn .li' ' ■^,' 579 broken into the most picturrscjur forms. Of these the Three Brothers and the Sentinel Rock are the most conspicuous. Nearly opposite the Sentinel Rock is one of tho most attractive feat'ircs of the Yosemite, namely. th<- fall made by the descent of Yosemite creek down the wall on the north side of tht* valley. The vertical elevation of the edge of this fall is 3,600 feet, but the descent is not in one unbroken sheet. There is first a vertical fall of 1,500 feet, then a descent of 626 feet in a sericn of cascades, and finally one plunge of 400 feet on to a low talus of rocks at the foot of the precipice. The body of water is not large, and it decreases considerably as the season advances, be^ coming very small, in ordinary years, by the end of August. The width of the stream in June and July is usually about twenty feet, and its depth about two feet. The beauty and grandeur of this fall, however, taken in connection with the majesty of its sur- roundings, give it a claim to be ranked among the most remark- able natural objects in the world. There are certainly very few waterfalls which can compete with it. ' ''' ' '^♦♦•'^ » ' '•• ''••At the head of the valley the falls of the Merced river are of great interest. There are two of them with beautifiil interven- ing rapids. The lower one is called the Vernal Fall, and t§ about 400 feet in vertical bright. The upper, the Nevada F'all, is about 600 feet in elevation. Th< body of water in these falls is large, and the efTect very grand. As the Merced river is fed by melting snows high up in the Sierra, the amount of water is not so much diminished toward the end of the season as it is in the case of the smaller creeks heading at an inferior elevation ; thus the falls of the Merced usually remain extremely picturesque and attractive objects during the whole summer. " The dome-shaped masses of granite which characterize the vicinity of the Yosemite are also extremely grand. The North Dome, on the north side of the valley, lends itself to beautiful combinations of scenery, as seen from various points a litthe above the Yosemite Falls. The Sentinel Dome, on the opposite side, is not visible from the valley itself, but it affords a magnifi- cent view from its summit of the valley and its surroundings, - and especially of the high Sierras. A projecting cliff called __ ,,111111 Uck of the most rangements are now called, the cary climb, pos- fastened to the ich the climber feet; but the ore magnificent vay by the trail, sd, the traveller 1 world and the that you seem over the val''uy. tain peaks, with I to pigmy pro- tiling ridges re- ceaa turned to t be conceived, down upon you »ectacle reminds E) same impres- mountains and the artist, soys rsion abom the YOSMM/TK Afft) TVOI.imNH VAtlKVX. }|*i valley, with a nephew of the present Czar of RuNnia. At all th,, ., ;, ; , But these remarkable valleys do not furnish all the natural wonders of California. In Tulare, Fresno, Mariposa, Tuo- lumne, and Calaveras counties there are groves of the gigantic Sequoias, whose vast height and wondrous beauty would w«fl repay a journey across the continent. In Napa county, near Calistoga, is a narrow valk-y where zrk all the evidences of recent, and, indeed, existing volcanic action. The whole valley or cafton is filled with flowing (not spouting) hot springs, which are called geysers (an inappropriate name; though they are very singular in their action, flowing with i^ter^ missions), and the whole soil is covered with a crust of sulphur, iron-rust, and other mineral deposits, and filled with steam from the boiling water. The ground shakes under the foot-steps, ancji is so hot as to be uncomfortable to the feet. « Besides these there are the natural bridges and the chyote I 4 ' ' 'j.t rjiL-* n ff ^ -^^''^ m man M n i i B-.iOTT t^'W- 4^ - |gj OUM WhSTMMJ^ KMriKK. caves of Calaveras county, with their liell-sounthn^ rockn, the magnificent grotto near (irixxly Flat, in Ml I )ora' I thus describes the various climates of the State : "Taking as a convenient point of view the central portion of the State, the climates of California may be roughly classified a:; (pllows: ;" ;| -/- .., ■!. j.....,^ ^••i. The bay and coast climati. Its prominent characteristics arc, first, the small range of the thermometer, caused by the tempering influence of the sea, the prevailini; winds being from the west. The. average winter and summer temperature at San Francisco thus differs by only about 6° Fahrenheit (53° and 59" respectively). Snow rately reaches the level of the sea, and is sometimes not seen for several seasons, even on the summits of the Coast Range.* A few light frosts with the thermometer at between 28* and 32* Fahrenheit for a few hours during the •The winter oC 1880 wm on* of the axcepilonftt ye»n In which tnow did re«ch the coMt, m4 the thermometer marked l8* Fahrenheit. TI)U neirere wenlhcr w«» very dettnictive to Howering plants and ihrubs, but wat laid not to have occtirred for more than thirty ycaia pre- ^[M»)y. Ordinarily, the (uchiU and heliotrope live and tl^iive 19 Uii opf n nir there ^b wilder. '■-mmmmmm . •. -^m »■-. »c>ctAiion for winter, while in Humntcr the ntitnbrr of 'hot' « on whiih the thernionirtcr rcachc'n Ho" or more, rar«ly rxcretU right or ten. 'l'hr»e occur chiefly in '.t|v tendxT and under the jnlltience of the ' norther,' which cauiteg th<' h«»t dry air of th«' interior valleys to overflow the Iwrrier of th«' C'o.tNt Kai»j;e. Untl«*r .1 brilliantly clear nky, it nweeps «)v«r the nioiintains, accompanied by < UnuU oi elust, and, like the hot breath til a furnace, it lickii up aM moiHture Ufore it, wilting and withering ilx! leaven of all but the most hanly planis, cracking and l).tkii)^r the hoII, loosening the jointHof all wooden structured, whether wa^'onn, furnitiire, or houses, and causing the latu r to rehound at night with the Hplittin;; of panels and similar unearthly noises, to the discomfort of the nervous sleepers, that .it such times comprise the vast majority of the population. This nni* versal infliction fortunately lasts but rarely more than three days, whtrn the welcome sea-fo/, which has Xnivn kept standing like a wall fort/ or fifty miles in the offing, gradually advance s, and with its grateful coolness and moisture infuse-s fresh lite into the parched vegetation and the irritable, panting population. " Dniing the winteT months the north winel is e(|ually dry, but at the same time coUl ; and while it then Kometimes lasts a week or more, it causes but little discomfort e)r damage, save occa* sionally to the young grass and grain. Thr second distinctive feature of the coast climate is the fogs brought in from the sea by the prevailing west winds or summer trades, as the result of their crossing the cold Alaskan current in-shore. The sea-fogs, coming in regularly almost every afternoon from the latter part of June to that of August, and more or less throughout the year, often with a gorgeous display of cloud pictures, temper materi- ally not only the heat, but also the summer drought ; ;fctasaii BivBt,t«»: 'gte ;, i aa i W:v>i.'«»i«>''ir M;/^.nm~«yi.MmiiV''Ji'«i0^j>'>ii<'nt-u*.majiitfws^amKX»itiWx^M rg;^ Ot/Jt WESTERN EMPIEB. tected by mountain ridges from the direct influence of the sum- mer trade-winds. Thus while a broad river of fog may be pour- ing in at the Golden Gate, covering the two cities and spreading out on the opposite shore to a width of eight or ten miles, the hamlet of San Rafael, only fourteen miles to the north, but under the lee of Mount Tamalpais, and the old town of San Jos^, under the protection of its seaward mountains, forty miles to the south, are mosdy basking in full f-mshine, and ripen to great perfec- tion not only the grape, but also the more tender fruits of their groves of fig and orange. 2. Climate of the great interior valley. "The average winter temperature is lower than that of corresponding portions of the coast, although the minimum is little, if at all, below that of the latter. Sub-tropical plants, therefore, winter there almost as readily as on the coast. In summer, however, the av -age temperature is high, often rem IniLg above ioo° Fahrenheit for imany days, the nights also being very warm. At the same time, however, the air is so dry as to render the heat much less oppressive than is the case east of the mountains, sunstroke being almost unknown. Standing on the summits of the Coast Range in summer, and looking down upon the thick shroud of fog covering all to seaward, t'*e white masses can be seen drift- ing against the mountain side, and, rising upward, dissolving into thin air as soon as, on passing the divide, they meet the warmth of the Great Valley. From points in the latter the i loud-banks may be seen filling the mountain passes and some- times pouring like a cataract over the summit ridges, but power- less to disturb even for a moment the serenity of the summer sky, or to yield a drop of moisture to the parched soil of the Sa.i Joaquin plains. The unwary traveller, starting from Sacramento or Stockton on a hot summer's day without the thought of shawl jor overcoat, may find himself chilled to the bone on crossing the Coast Rai^e, and runs imminent risk of rheumatism or pneu- monia. On the other hand, the San Franciscan, feeling the need Kof having his pores opened by a good perspiration, can have his fivish gratified in an hour or two by taking the reverse direction. The ' norther ' is, of course, more frequent in the great vallqy ..\ «■■■ ce of the sum- : may be pour- and spreading ten miles, the arth, but under ian Jos6, under :s to the south, ► great perfec- fruits of their average winter portions of the ow that of the lere almost as r, the av -age Fahrenheit for the same time, eat much less ains. sunstroke :s of the Coast lick shroud of 1 be seen drift- ard, dissolving they meet the the latter the sses and some- §^es, but power- jf the summer soil of the San )m Sacramento ought of shawl >n crossing the atism or pneu- jeling the need n, can have his rerse direction, le great valley vmmt&itsmmKimeimimmm^ INTERIOR CUUATR. jgj than on the coast ; but its dryness and high i^mperature are not so much of a change from the ordinary condition of things, and it therefore does not cause such general remark, disturbance, or damage unless unusually severe. 3, Climate of the slope of the Sierra Nevada, ""^he essential features of the climate of the Great Valley may be roughly said to extend to the height of about 2,000 feet up its flanks into the ' foot-hills,' with, however, an increasing rainfall as we ascend, and therefore greater safety for crops and less absolute depend- ence upon irrigation. Higher up, the influence of elevation makes itself felt ; snow falls and lies in winter, while the summers are cool ; and we thus return to the familiar rigime of season* as understood in the Middle and Northern States, including, especially in the more northern portion, the phenomenon of summer thunder-storms, which are almost unknown on the coast and in the San Joaquin valley. The same general features •:ome into play more and more as we advance northward in the hilly and mountainous regions lying north of San Francisco bay, toward the Oregon line, marked also in general by a gradual increase of timber growth. The features of the three principal climates described intermingle, or are interspersed, according as the valleys are open to seaward, run parallel to the coast, or are in communication with the great interior valley. We thus find numberless local climates, ' thermal belts,' and privileged nooks adapted to special cultures which may be impracticable in an adjoining valley, and almost insular as regards the region where similar conditions are predominant. To the southward, the chief climates above defined are modified by thi'ee factors, viz. : the increase of temperature, the decrease of rainfall, and the de- crease, from about San Francisco southward, of the feature of summer fogs. As regards temperature, the extreme range is still very nearly the same at Los Angeles as ot San Francisco ; but the averages are very considerably higher at the formfef point, that of the winter being 60", that of summer about 75® Fahrenheit. At intermediate points along the coAst, local variti' tions excepted, tfce averages vary as sensibly a^ th'e latiivJe. As to rainfall along the coast, its decrease is slow, descending I 'A % '11 ,SBljWi«*;^.rR I i>.s£mK!ti& . 'mmim .mjia^em3xn mm miii aum^&.u , Miui.t-anta Barbara, twelve at Los Angeles, and nine to ten at San Diego. But in the interior valley the decrease is much more rapid, as previously stated, modified locally, according as the divide of the Coast Range is so high as to preclude the access of moisture from the sea, or low enough to admit its influence. The same factor influences also the cooling and moistening effect of the summer winds and fogs, which temper the summer climate of the Los Angeles plain, but fail to reach the Mojave desert or the fervid plains of the upper San Joaquin valley." We supjilcnK'nt this general statement by the following table, corrected to the latest date. It is the average in most cases of twenty years: Placet. San Francisco Sacramento Humboldt Bay Benicia . . . Monterey . . Visalia . . . San Diego . . Los Angeles . Fort Yuma 563° 58.5' 53.0° 56-5° 540" 60.6° 59-4' 58.6° 12.0" aia. i 59-5° 71.5" 57-5' 67.0° 59-0° 79-5'' 69.1° 68.6° 90.0" 8i! S8. 58.8' 62.1° 530° 60.5° 57-0" 60.9° 63.8° 65.1° 75-5° I S'-9 47-9^ 435^ 490^ 48.6' 54-3° S7-0' 56.6° 599° 515° 58.0° 55-5° 62.4° 61.6° 61.7° 73-5° III 84-97 19.80 9.96 11.70 19.88 1.89 ^'1 a.31 1.70 053 .80 1.38 •73 i .2^ 27.28 21.50 57-24 23.86 12.20 10.49 12.50 21.26 2.6a In 1878, the maximum temperature was reached in San Fran- cisco, September 15th to i8th, when the thermometer stood at 86**, 90", 92** and 93" Fahrenheit. In no other days of the year, except one in October, did it reach 80°. The lowest point was reached on the 4th of January and was 39" Fahrenheit. There were no frosts during the year. The extreme range of the year was 54**. .>. . €iu-JS2-*afttoj M>imv';,'>'*/»s ;-^i<^,i/^'.»»4iilliifc4 In Sacramento the highest point reached was 103** ; for three days the thermometer rose above 100" ; for twenty- three days it exceeded 95*, and for sixty-three days it was above 90". The^ lowest point was reached January 3d. It was 27". For §135, days there were frosts. The extreme range was 76". t > > ,^ oh In San Diego the thermometer indicated 91*' on the first of ttte«.f.fi; jL ' **'="'•" 'llfif' ' ' -"-'~'- -' - •■'*>1^tft'.*i^ ftecn at .Santa at San Diego, more rapid, as he divide of the :ss of moisture ce. The same »g effect of the ner dimate of )jave desert or bllowing table, most cases of a. 31 1.70 053 .80 1.38 •73 15' .2^ 27.38 31.50 57-a4 33.86 I3.30 10.49 13.50 31.36 3.63 :d in San Fran- meter stood at lys of the year, west point was enheit. There ige of the year 03**; for three :y-three days it ove 90". The 27". For six on the first of AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. J87 September, but did not reach 90" on any other day. It exceeded 80" only eleven days of the year. The minimum was for three days in January, 38°. The range was 53°. Visalia (latitude 36" 20', west longitude from Greenwich 119.16) reached Io6.5^ July 14th. During twenty-three days the temperature exceeded 100°, and for sixty-nine days it ex- ceeded 95°. The minimum, January 4th, was 24*. There were eight days of frost. The range was 82.5°. Los Angeles (latitude 34° 3', west longitude from Greenwich 118® 16') reached 93° on the 20th of July and the ist of Septem- ber. Seven days exceeded 90°. The minimum was 36.5° on the 31st of December. There were no frosts. The range was 56.5". '■ . ' ^ Fort Yuma (latitude 32® 4 V, west longitude 1 24* 36') reached 113*, July I9lh ; four days were above 1 12"; eleven days above no"; fifty-three above 105°, and one hundred and six above icxj**. In other years the maximum had been as high as 126". The minimum, December 31st and January 3d, was 12!" . Range 80". Agricultural Products. — Professor Hilgard has treated these in a manner so attractive, that we quote from him, in part, ir: re- gard to them. Speaking at first of cereal crops, he says : J. " Of all the field-crops grown in the State, wheat is the most important at this time. It was the first culture on a large scale introduced on the subsidence of the gold fever, and the returns recei\ ;d proved to be so much greater and more certain than those from the placer mines that it extended rapidly, and has ever since remained the largest and most generally appreciated product of California agriculture. The amount produced in 1878, an average year, was 22,000,000 of centals, of which 8,069,825 were exported as grain, and about 500,000 barrels of flour. In the markets of the world the wheats of the Pacific coast are noted for their high quality, the plumpness and light color of the ' berry,' and the high percentage of first-class flour it furnishes in milling. At home the extraordinarily high product per acre of fprty to sixty bushels, and even more, under very im- perfect tillage, for a number of consecutive years, forms a strong V.' i • »*a«aii5*w 1 ' I r liMfc Yi - u a t . t.. i i ai« ... _ *iii )rij i ' i-jft I .. i-iiiaiiiM»lW»i iMi . Iwi iiiii«Vi.ir Sm rifti J Wift'i' .g3 OVX tt^£SrEJl2V EMPTKE. incentive to this culture. Nor is the CaHfotfiia wheat-grower obliijed to be very careful in the choice of his seed. Probably every known variety of wheat has in the course of time been brought and tried here ; but all, in a short time, seems to assume very nearly the same peculiar California type, upon which, in fact, it would seem hard to improve materially. It is almost ludicrous, at times, to compare the eastern seed with its Califor- nia offspring, which has undergone the ' swelling process * of one season's growth in her generous soil and climate. It is but fair to say that substantially the same peculiarities are observable in the wheats of Oregon, grown in the valley of the Willamette and on the plains of the Upper Columbia. Since the growing season in the greater part of California extends, with little interruption from cold, from the beginning of November to June, the distinc- tion between winter and spring grain is also in a great measure lost. The farmer plows and sows as early as practicable, watch- ing his chances between rains, in November and December if he can, in March if he must, or at any convenient time between ; increasing the amount of seed sown per acre in proportion as there remains less time for the grain to tiller. Should the ears fail to fill, he can still make hay. " Much discussion has been had concerning the merits of early as compared with late sowing. The objections against the former practice are that copious early rains may start the growth too rapidly, the chances being that in that case but little more water will fall until Christmas. It is true that the weather-wise may sometimes gain materially by delay in sowing ; but the general result of experience seems to be that it is better in the long run to take the risk of having to sow twice, rather than that of being kept from sowing at all, until too late, by persistent rtiins. It has therefore become a very common practice to ' dry^sow ' grain in summer-fallowed land in September and October. The seed lies quiescent in the parched atid dusty ground until called forth by the rains, and in clean fields and ordinary seasons such gtaiti generally yields the highest returns. The preparation of the grourtd for the crop on the large wheat farms is usually madfe by means of gang-plows with from two to six shares, drawn by l« iitaffimMJWiawnwiwwiiiimiwfiriiWHiMn •msL"^" m^ wheat-grower cl. Probably of time been ins to assume pon which, in It is almost th its Califor- rocess ' of one It is but fair observable in /illamctte and rowing season e interruption le, the distinc- jreat measure ticable, watch- December if time between ; proportion as tould the ears merits of early inst the former lie growth too le more water ther-wise may t the general 1 the long run I that of being ent rains. It Iry-sow ' grain er. The seed ttl called foiiih ns such grain tration of tlie usually madlii'-"'"*'-' » 'f 1*0 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. shipment to Liverpool. Even this energetic mode of procedure, however, has appeared too slow to some of the progressive men in business, and we have seen a wondrous and (earful combina- tion of header, thresher and sacking-wagon, moving in procession side by side through the doomed grain. If this stupendous com- bination and last refinement shall prove practically successful, We shall doubtless next see the llouring-mill itself form a part of this agricultural pageant. Where farming is not done on quite so energetic a plan, the reapeil and bound grain being at that season perfectly safe from rain, is left either in shocks or stacks until the threshing party comes aroimd, mostly with a portable engine often fed with straw alone, to drive the huge 'separator,' whose combined din and puffing will sometimes startle late sleep- ers, as it suddenly starts up in the morning from the most unex- pected places. Two wagons usually aided by some ' bucks ' (a kind of sledge-rake, which also serves to remove the straw from the mouth of the thresher) feed the devouring monster. In an incredibly short time the shocks or stacks are cleared away and in their stead appear square piles of turgid grain-sacks and broad, low hillocks of straw. Both products often remain thus for six or eight weeks, the grain getting so thoroughly dry in the interval that there is frequently an overweight of five or more per cent, when, after its long passage in the damp sea air, the cargo reaches Liverpool. The moral question thus arising as to who is entitled to the benefit of this increase I will not pretend to determine ; but the producers say that they rarely hear of any differences in their favor. " The manner of disposing of the straw is one of the weakest points of California agriculture. Near to cities or cheap trans* portation, much of it is baled like hay, and finds a ready market, but in remote districts it is got rid of by applying the torch ; and these 'straw fires' habitually redden the "xutumn skies as do the prairie fires in the Western States, covering the whole country with a smoke haze, as a faint reminiscence of the Indian summer, which is not otherwise well-defined on the Pacific coast. Thi^ holocaust of valuable materials, which might be made the means of some slight return of plant-food to the soil, is a standing re- .t,.-, CALIFORNIA BAKl.F.V, KYK AND OATS, 59« le of procedure, rogressive men •arful combina* 1^' in procession tupendous com- cally successful, form a part of done on quite being at that locks or stacks with a portable tige ' separator/ artle late slee p- the most unex- ome ' bucks ' (a the straw from lonster. In an •ared away and acks and broad, in thus for six ^ in the interval iiore per cent. e cargo reaches who is entitled to determine; ^ differences in of the weakest >r cheap trans- ready market, the torch ; and ikies as do the whole country idian summer, : coast. This ide the means I standing re-^ proach to those who practise it ; yet thry have some rxcuse in the fact that the pfjculiarities of the climate do not make it as easy to convert it into manure as is the case in coiintri- s having summer rains. For in winter the tempfrature is, alter all, too low to favor rapid decay, while during the summer months the intense drought soon puts an end to fermentation. It therefore takes two seasons to render the straw fit for plowing in ; anti in the mean time, as left by the thresher, it occupies considerable ground. As yet, the conviction that straw-burning is pinny wis- dom and pound-t'oolishness has not gained sufficient foothold to induce the majority of wheat-growers to take the pains of putting the straw into stacks with concave tops, to collect and retain the water. But those who have done; so report that the resulting improvement of the soil pays well for the trouble. The practice of burning will, of course, disapijear so soon as the syst< m of large-scale plar.u/g gives away, as it soon must, to that ol mixed farming on a smaller scale. "Of the other cereals, barley and oats are the only ones that can as yet lay claim to general importance ; and the methods of culture are much the same. Like the wheats, so the barleys of California are of exceptionally fine quality, that of the 'Cheva- lier ' variety being so eagerly sought for by eastern brewers that but little of it finds its way into California-brewed beer. The common (six and four rowed) barleys are, however, themselves of such high quality that the absence of the highest grade grain is certainly not perceptible in the quality of the beer, into which, unlike most of its eastern brethren of St. Louis and Chicago, nothing but barley and hops find their way. The various kinds of oats are produced for home consumption only, the difficulty being very commonly that the straw becomes so strong as to interfere seriously with its use for forage. Rye is grown to some extent in the mountain counties, and yields a splendid grain, called for chiefly by the taste of the German population for rye bread. Some Polish wheat ( Triticum polonicum) is grown under the name of 'white rye.' Maize is thus far grown but to a srhall extent, compared with wheat, barley, and qats ; not, how- ever, because of any difficulty in producing corn, which, both as X t? ■Htk a)«ia»»»umsiili»f«iittuMiiJ>v»b'iav&H» -:'-^<^^ s. Willi* .t» JBllf 'HnrTMi .;• .jurt i '■ i > to quality, size, and yield per .icro, can compete with any in the Missisnippi valley. The large foreign element in the population limits the demand for corn-meal, and, as before remarked, on account of the mild winters, hog-raising on a large scale is not likely to hf'rn:> "If' "Of Other field crops, the 'beans' that formed the chief solace of the Argonauts of early days are still prominent, especially where the Mexican element is somewhat strong. To them ' frijoles ' are still the staff of life, supplemented by the ' tamales,' the native preparation of the ' roasting-ears ' of green corn. " The Irish potatoes grown in California are not, as a rule, of first quality, but incline to be watery. The tuber is largely im- ported from Utah under the name and style of ' Salt Lake pota- toes,' albeit much that is sold under that brand is of California growth. The sweet-potato flourishes especially in the lighter soiLs of the coast south of San Francisco ; its quality would noti be likely to be criticised by any but those who have been accus- tomed to the product of the Gulf States or of the Antilles. " The big pumpkins of California have acquired a world-wide reputation not unlike that enjoyed by the sea-serpent. The un- prejudiced observer, however, readily appreciates the fact that when a well-organized pumpkin has ten months' time to grow' instead of three or four, it has every reason to give a corre- sponding account of its stewardship. But while a laudable' ambidon to excel may result in the production of three hundred*- ii.\ ttrntiMI^STf. with any In the the population remarked, on •gc scale is not deal, however, on with dairies, il, and in May :e in the coast op of rain from ne of abundant icm especially favor. The s maize fodder, igated, and the to corn-meal, or to anything the chief solace lent, especially ig. To them y the ' tamales,' [reen corn. >t, as a rule, of r is largely im- )alt Lake pota- is of California in the lighter ility would not ve been accus* ; Antilles. ri i a world-wide >ent. The un- > the fact that time to grow give a corre- ile a laudable hree hundreds SUaitk-BEMTS-ffOrOKOWINa, i^j pound pumpkins, it is hut fair to say thry are not the rule ; being mconvenicnt to handle, and, like other organisms exceeding » certain age, inclined to be hard and tough. The same is true of mammoth beets (mangel-wurzel), carrotM and turnips, which, when l(;ft out in the field during a mild winter, continue incon* tincntly to grow and develop until the time comes to put in another crop. The dairy-m-n and stock-breeders raise these crops largely, and are chiefly responsible for the production of the monsters. >''.., ' " . "The sugar-beet succeeds admirably in a large portion of the State, and in appropriate locations yields a juice of extraordinary richness ; as much as nineteen per cent, is clarified in some cases (but I can vouch for fifteen only from personal experience), and a fair degree of purity. Several prosperous beet-sugar factories already exist, the failures reported having apparently been due to mismanagement. It is difficult to see why, with such material and the possibility of keeping up the supply for nine months by the planting of successive crops, this industry should not become one of the most important and lucrative in the State, and fully able to compete with any sugar-cane planting that may hereafter be introduced in the southern portion of the coast. *' Hop-growing is an important industry in the middle portion of the State, especially in the Sacramento valley and in the Russian river region, north of San Francisco bay. The pro- duct is of excellent quality, and is much sought after by Eastern brewers, *' Of other crops of minor or only local importance may be mentioned the culture of pea-nuts, chiefly in the coast region south of San Francisco ; of the chiccory root, in the neighbor- hood of Stockton, supplying a large amount of the parched and ground 'old government Java coffee* sold by grocers. In the same neighborhood the culture of the 'Persian insect-powder plant' {Pyreihrum cameum) is being successfully carried out, the product being m very general requisition on account of the pre- vailing abundance o( fleas. This neighborhood supplies a quality of mustard that is somewhat overwhelming to the no^rice, and even for plasters should be diluted with flour. Wert rape-seed 3« i ■i .^^^tSI-AS! jpAV^x^** >1 •■->.. ■' > : > 1^ OUM WttsrMMSf KMMHK. oil in demand, thr fui t tliat the: whole State in overrun with the plant that prmluL-e* it, as a most troublesome weed, prove* what could Ih: done with it if iontered. " Nothing, prol>ably, striken the new-comer to California more forcibly, and nothing certainly more agreeably, than the advan- tage» offered by a climate where plants can ordinarily be kept growing from ten to twelve months in the year, provided water is supplied. The immigrant desiring to make a home for him- self is delighted to find that the rapid growth of shrubbery and flowers — and among them many that he has so far seen only nurtured in greenhouses — will enable him to create around him in the course of three seasons, on a bare lot, a home atmosphere that elsewhere it would have required teii or more years to establish. The housewife, however industriously disposed, is not ill-pleased to fmd herself relieved from the annual pressure of the ' preserving season ' by the circumstance that fresh, fruits are in the market at reasonable rates during all but a tew weeks in the year ; so that a few gallons of jellies ib all that is really called for in the w^y of ' putting up.' It is not less pleasing to her, as well as to the rest of the family, that a good supply of fresh vegetables is at her command at all seasons, and that the Christmas dinner, if the turkey docs cost thirty cents a pound, may be graced with crisp lettuce, radishes, and green peas just as readily as it may be celebrated by an open-air picnic on the green grass under blooming bushes of the scarlet gooseberry. Of course there are seasons of preference for each vegetable, but among the great variety naturally introduced by the various nationalities there are few that cannot be found in the San Fran- cisco market at almost any time in the year — if not from local culture, then from some point between Los Angeles and the mouth of the Columbia. The truck-j^ardens are largely in the hands of the Italians and Portuguese, who have brought with them from their home habits of thrift ; and their manure piles, windmills for irrigation, and laborious care of their unceasing round of crops on a small area, render their establishments easy of recognition. Their products are distributed partly by them- selves, partly by the ubiquitous Chinese huckster, trotting with mUlT CVLTVKK IS CALIt'OKNlA. S9S tivcrrun with fhc »rct:d, proves what California more ^ than the advan- rdinarily be kept ir, provided water a home for him- of shrubbery and so far seen only reatc around him home atmosphere r more years to usly disposed, is ; annual pressure ; that fresh, fruits 1 but a tew weeks all that is really \ less pleasing to I good supply of uns, and that the ;y cents a pound, 1 green peas just air picnic on the arlet gooseberry, r each vegetable, :d by the various in the San Fran- if not from local Angeles and the ire largely in the ive brought with :ir manure piles, their unceasing ablishments easy partly by them- ter, trotting with his two huge baskets under a wt>i^r|u that lew Cuucasians would carry for any length of time. Not a few Chini'sr also are en- gaged in tlie truck-farming buHineHS. The vegetables arc in general of excellent ((uality, and it nuy be truly said that in no city in the United States is the general (quality of fare ho good, HO well adapted to every variety of laKte, and, last but not least, so (heap, as in the < ity of the Golden Cjate ; and nowhere is the ilecoration of even the humblest homes with (lowers and shrub- liery more universal, and at the same time so generously aided l)y nature. ^ "In no departmrnt of industry, prol)ably, is the reputation of California better established than in regard Xo fruit cuiiurt. Its pears seem to have been the pioneers in gaining tlie award of special excellence ; grapes and cherries have rapidly taken a place alongside, and, last, oranges and lemons have come to dis- pute the palm with Sicily and the Antilles. I he most striking peculiarity of California fruit culture is its astonishing versatility, not to say cosmopolitanism ; for the variety of fruits capable of successful culture within the limits under consideration in this article probably exceeds, even at this time, that found elsewhere in any country of similar extent, and is < onstantly on the in- crease by the introduction of new kinds from all quarters of the globe. Doubtless, in time, each district will settle down to the moif or less exclusive production of certain kinds found to be most profitable under its particular circumstances, so far as the large-scale cultures are concerned ; but whosoever raises fruit mainly for home consumption will hardly resist the temptation offered by the possibility of growing side by side the fruits of the tropics and those of the north temperate zone — the currant and the orange, the cherry and the fig, the strawberry and the pineapple, the banana and plantain, as well as the apple and the medlar. It would be supposed that the quality of these products must of necessity suffer grievously under the stress of their mutual concessions of habit; and this, of course, is true as regards the highest qualities of the extremes, under the judg- ment of the expert, but unperceived to a surprising degree by the taste of the public in the general market. The oranges . iAiaH^'i*.*f i< *'* M ^'-). i<'k^ • r# ' '* 10 OUH WMSTMMU KMPtHM. grown in name of thr nhrltrrrcl vallryn of the Coant Ran{^. anriKin^^ that many important questions relating' to it should still remain unsettled, and that die best regular routine for the several districts, or even ft)r general practice, sliould as yet not have Uren established. Too many different varieties, whoHe adaptation to the local and general climate is undetermined, fill the orchards, and give rise to im- mense quantities of unmarketable fruit, that ultimately fall to the ahare of cattle and hogs. The high price of labor and of tran»< portation from remote districts condemns another large part to a similar fate, especially in favorable seasons, when the local market soon becomes glutted with fruit unable to bear shipment to the East. Curiously enough, even at such times, the prices of fruit to the consumer are generally higher than is the case at corresponding times in the Western States, showing irrefragably that the cost of production is higher, and cons<«(jufntly that only fruit of high quality can bear exportation. Inattention to this point has rendered unprofitable, or worse, many of the refrigera- tor-car shipments heretofore made, and the same want of proper care in assorting the various qualities is one of the chief causes of 1'-' quent business failures of those supplying the markets of San Francisco. This practice, however, is fast being improved upon, and the disposal of the surplus fruit by drying is beginning to relieve, to a very great extent, the glut that has of\en de- pressed prices below the paying point. The exportation of dried fruits of all kinds is doubtless destined to become one of the most important branches of agricultural industry in the State, both on account of quality and of the natural facilities for the drying process offered by the dr>' summer air. It is found to be absolutely necessary to exclude in the drying operations all access of insects, which otherwise lay their eggs on the fruit and spoil ft withiki a year. This is now very generally and cflTectu- ■ s 1 TMit cvi.TVim (*F .WM-fMor/i'/ti. mvtrs 5g7 tant KariKr. and Hiittr county, priKluct of Lot \h in'int( npp«ratuR, not uncommonly in f-oo|)«rativc factories rrr't tcil by anir» or grnngcu. Hie (pulity of the pnim*'*, piunis, apritotn, prars, etc., curr generally what would be necennary to render ll'-m <>{|ually attractive to the purchaser. "While the orange, lemon, lime, and other sob tropical fruits are more or lenii in cultivation up to the northern third of the State^ tlney form the H|K'(iaIty of Los Angeles, Sun Hernardino» and adjoining counties, wIktc also the pineapple, banana, guava, and other more Mtrictiy tropical fruits ar<- tiiainly under trial. In a measure, what has been said al)ove of the more northern fruits applies h/ re also. While much fruit of the highest c|uality is produced, much also is still in the experimental stage, and some very poor Iota arc occasionally thrown upon the market. The f.ubject has lately, however, Ixten earnestly taken in hand by the young but pro|)ortionally energetic horticultural Society of SouJ: C:;!iruiiiia, in which a number of the most intelligent men have combined to determine in the shortest possible time, by systematic experiments, discussion, and scientific investigation, in connection with the agricultural department of the university, the practically important questions relating to this culture. While the orange and lemon product is marketed without diffi- culty and at good prices, the millions of excellent limes borne by the hedges customary in the southern {lart of the State are still mosdy allowed to decay where they full. The manufacture of citric acid can hardly fail before long to put an end to this waste of precious material. The pomegranate, which is to some extent similarly used, generally finds a ready sale for its fruit. The olive, so universally found arouml the old missions as a relic of the past, has not so far found its place in general culture ; and on the shelves of the grocers in the cities we still find the same mixtures of cotton-seed, pea-nut, and other oils, with a modicum of the genuine product of the olive, that form the standing complaint of salad-caters throughout the United States. The su^ect of olive culture has of late attracted considerable i .1 ir- -«ir, 1- -,»-t.»...».<«i,i.<3.j^j.^ .»^ I :;i ■^t'.:. .Mimik' rafiy- ii;itii.i:;';.iat%'..'... ; L,,i(iJtsiiJi:':.t:^cjL 598 OVK tVESTEKN^ EMPIRE. attention, and small quantities of excellent oil have been made in various parts of the State, proving beyond cavil that its pro- duction can be made an important industry. The culture of the fig in California is co-extensive with that of the vine, and both fresh and dried fruit of the highest quality is found in the market. "As to nuts, the European walnut, Italian chestnut and almond a»" those whose culture on a large scale has been successfully carried out. The filbert may also be mentioned. Of these, the almond has been made the subject of the largest experiments, and, as might be expected, there have been numerous disappoint- ments in consequence of the selection of unsuitable localities, subject to light frosts at the time of bloom. The best results have been obtained in situations moderately elevated above the valleys, • thermal belts,' where the cold air ca^mot accumulate. The quality of the product leaves nothing to be desired, where proper care is had in selection of varieties. < " The Japanese persimmon promises here, as in the Southern United States, to prove an important acquisition. The jujube, the carob, the pistachio nut, and many others are under trial. 'Of small fruits, the strawberry is in the market during the twelve months of the year. Raspberries and blackberries are largely grown, both for market and canning. The currant ib of especial excellence and size, and is extensively grown between the rows in orchards. Gooseberries have not been altogether successful in general culture. ■ -j: x "A good deal has been said and wrftten aiboiit coffee culture. It was currently reported that a kind of coffee grew wild in the foot-hills, and of course the real coffee must succeed. The 'wild coffee,' however, is simply the California buckthorn {FrangtUa Cali/omica), and of course no more suitable for a beverage than turnip-seed. True, coffee trees are now growing at numerous points in the State, but it is not probable that the culture will prove a success outside of South California. "The grape-vine was among the culture plants' fntrbdtid^d earliest by the Catholic missionaries. The similarity of the Cali- fornia climate to that of the vine-growing regions of the Mediter- ^.-X-- -; have been made avil that its pro- The culture of of the vine, and f is found in the tnut and almond >een successfully Of these, the est experiments, rous disappoint- jitable localities, The best results irated above the not accumulate, e desired, where in the Southern •n. The jujube, i under trial, rket during the slack berries are he currant ib of grown between been altogether t coffee culture, rew wild in the eed. The 'wild lorn {Frangtiia \ beverage than g at numerous the culture will ints introduced rityoftheCali- of the Mediter- COFFBE AND GRAPE CULTVRB. 599 ranean would naturally suggest the probable success of vine culture, corroborated by the fact that a native vine, albeit with a somewhat acid and unpalatable fruit, grows abundantly along the banks of all the larger streams. The grape variety introduced by the missionaries, and still universally known as the ' Mission ' grape, was probably the outcome of seed brought from Spain ; it most resembles thaf of the vineyards which furnish the ' Beni- carlo ' wine. It is a rather pale-blue, small, round berry, forming at times very large and somewhat straggling bunches. It is very sweet, especially in South California, has very litde acid, very little astringency, no definite flavor, and, on the w'.v'f. commends it elf as a wine-grape only by the abundance o'^ a. .lice and its great fruitfulness. The American immigrant.. founJ this vine growing neglected around the old missions, along with the olive, fig and pomegranate. It soon attracted the attention of the European emigrants from wine-growing countijo'S, was resusci- tated and propagated, and still forms the bulk of the vineyards of California. We have good testimony to the effect tliat the wines made by the missionaries were of very indifferent quality, owing partly, of course, to the inferiority of the grape used, but chiefly to the primitive mode of manufacture ; the entire caskage consisting of a few large, half-glazed earthenware jars {tinajas), from which the fermented wine was rarely racked off, being mostly consumed the same season. Still, the luscious grapes and refreshing wines of the missions are dwelt upon with all the delight that contrast can impart by travelers just from the fier>' ordeal of the Arizona deserts, or the thirsty plains of the Upper San Joaquin. The European wine-makers soon improved vastly upon the processes and product of the padres, but, in accordance with the fast ideas of the early times of California, they impru- dently threw their immature product upon the general market, and thereby damaged the reputation of California wines to such a degree tl" t it is only of late years that the prejudice thus created has Deen overcome, not only in consequence of better methods of treatment, and greater maturity of the wines when marketed, but also, and most essentially, by the introduction of the best grape varieties from all parts of the world. Th^ result ! \ ^1 . <.HS»fV!n>&«*'iis»* SlSi-^ Jtsa&ri ss&aia i,iifcsii-?m!aJWK5^-4W'i'.' 600 OVK WESTERN EMPIRE. is. that at this time, a large part of the wines exported are either partially or wholly made of foreign grape varieties, and, as a whole, will compare favorably with the product of any European country, while among the choicer kinds now ripening there are some that will take rank wjth the high-priced fancy brands of France. It is true that so far all California-grown wines are recognizable to experts, a peculiar flavor difficult to define, which has been called * earthy,' recalling to mind that of the wines of the Vaud and of some of Burgundy. But this peculiarity re- mains unperceived by most persons, and is not comparable in intensity to the * foxy ' aroma of wines made from the American grape varieties. . '^■u;Klriirn population, point of view) le use of such I of a more acid it will be found B grapes to the itill further the se, the German : there may be every hour of ; value of their which the vini- f improvement. ;he vintners of each country how to obtain the best possible results under their particular conditions; and it is not surprising that during the short period of experience had in California, and with the tend- ency of Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, French and Germans to introduce each the practice of his own country under circum- stances so different, the best methods and uniformity in quality should not yet have become fixed. What is true of wine-making proper is equally so of the modes of culture. The padres natur- ally adopted the system of short pruning prevailing in their own country, and the later comers as naturally continued it, and, oddly enough, applied it almost indiscriminately to the other grape varieties brought from Northern France, Germany and Hungary, in some cases even to the varieties of the native American stock, altogether unused to such summary treatment The experimental stage in California wine-making is also strik- ingly evidenced by the great variety of grapes still found in the vineyards of progressive growers, as the result of which we find in the markets and in fairs a most tempting and beautiful dis- play of the grape varieties of all countries ; and nothing can be more convincing as regards the peculiar adaptability of the State to this industry than the excellence of most of these, often sur- passing in this. respect the best of their kind in their original homes. Yet we can hardly wonder at this in a climate which allows the currant and the orange to ripen side by side. . "Another drawback to the quality of the wines thus far is the tendency of each vine-grower to make his own wines, involving not only an unnecessary multiplication of costly buildings, caskage, etc., but also the unfounded assumption that wine- making is an easy thing, and can be managed by any one having a moderate amount of common sense; whereas, on the contrary, the production of the best possible result from a given material requires in this case, as in other manufacturing industries, a very considerable amount of knowledge and good judgment, which can be in some degree replaced by mere practice only in countries where long experience has settled all into a regular routine. The introduction of large wineries, managed by pro- fessional ex;perts (like the magnificent establishment of Buena i 1 ii r. ;*tt*l«ajl»wi!i;Ai>;J.SS«*iS*a«o\'* 5^ f*M «>< a* »? 'i * ^ • i'^ "The volcanic soils of the beautiful valleys of Napa and Sonoma have thus far achieved the highest general reputation for wines of fine bouquet ; yet even there the products of adjacent vine- ■A redeeming the m them by the S until lately, under foreign merit of being and unpainted, virtue of wine- bundance and adulterate or i^en within the been in part or the surplus ig of an excel- rowing appre- nia wines will iients. e-making is be- ild be said that ;se) the means I are generally i) of the most )nducted in the the grapes by e State applies brandy ; albeit ing process is i, feet can be regions whose jhest qualities lowever abun- »en fresh from :nt, to yield a a and Sonoma tion for wines adjacent vine- THE BEST VINEYARDS. (qJ yards sometimes differ widely, and these differences are not yet, as a rule, sufficiently considered by the producers, or by those who blend the several products for market. The red soils of tin: foot-hills of the Sierra also give high promise of fine wines, and in the Coast Range those of the valley of San Jos6 are note- worthy. The wines made from the sugary berries of Los Angeles are, of course, very similar to those of South France, Spain and Portugal — fiery, and with a heavy body, but less ' bouquet ' than those grown farther north. Its least deserving wine (if it may be so classed at all) is perhaps the far-famed Angelica ; and the mission grape almost alone is in bearing there as yet. " The vineyards planted on the heavier soils of the Sacramento plain yield a large part of the table grapes for the home and eastern markets, and seem destined to become one of the chief regions for the raisin-making industry, to which, the climate of the great interior basin is, of course, especially adapted in conse- quence of its rainless summers and intense, dry heat, sweetening the grape to the utmost, and rendering the curing process easy. Owing probably to a combination of favorable soils and good management, some of the Muscatel raisins from near Woodland, in Yolo county, have proved fully equal to the highest quality of those imported from Malaga. Unfortunately the commercial standing of California raisins, like that of its wines, has been in- jured by putting into market such as, from the mode of curing, did not possess the requisite keeping qualities. The efficient drying apparatus now introduced obviates this objection, and being accompanied by a superior style of packing, it is probable that raisin-making will hereafter take its place, alongside of wine- making, among the most important industries of the State, as in- deed the increased demand and large advance in price already indicates.: ,^H^!vti-:V •:'■;•'■ '■ ' '■' ' " ."■■'i '"' '■■'■■ ' ■ • ) " Brandy-making, also, has not been neglected, but in conse- quence of unfavorable Federal legislation has until lately labored under great disadvantages. Most of the native 'Aguardiente ' has been distilled from pommace, and is, of course, rather hot and rank-flavored. In the Los Angeles region it is, to a great I \ •<«W»«-*!«>M«nHWM«4M«■ >-> f <'i - r ■■■• ..,*rt/ /r,-, fm..'.,.-i.i ; ) I extent, the ' firat run ' of the grapes only that Ih made into wine, no prcss(;s being used ; hence the brandy made from the residue is of higher quality. The distillation of brandy from wine itself (now so rare in France) from the best of foreign grapes has been made a specialty by (ieneral H. Naglee, of San Jose, and the quality of the product is far above that of any imported now in the market. That the extensive importation of grape varieties should result in the introduction of their formidable enemy, the ' Phylloxera, is not surprising ; but we may well wonder at the in- difference with which that now well-known fact is regarded by the majority of wine-growers, even in districts in which the in- sect has already made its appearance, and has shown its power for harm. This is due largely lo the fortunate, as well as unex- pected and hitherto unexplained, circumstance that the progress of the pest has been remarkably slow as compared with its sweep- ing advance in Europe, though evidendy not less sure. It is as (hough the winged form were not produced at all, or very much restricted in its powers of locomotion. It therefore seems quite possible to check, and perhaps stamp it out by timely pre* cautions. But nothing of the kind has been done, and the penalty of this neglect has already been dearly paid in the Sonoma valley, tlie region chiefly afflicted. Sonoma Mountain seems to have proved an effectual barrier against its transmission to the Napa valley. The ravages of the insect are also reported from some other localities, but no noteworthy damage has thus i;ir been heard of. Of other vine pests, the Oidium and a kind of black knot are the chief; but, on the whole, the damage done has been merely local and easily checked, and it may be truth- fully said that to the grape vine, as to the human race, the climate of California is exceptionally kind." ''Forage Crops. — The strong tendency of the farming popula- tion of California to engage in stock-raising, dairying, and wool- growing, and the fact that the rainless sumir.ers of the greater part of California exclude from its agricultural system, at least on unirrigated land, both permanent meadows and clover, render absolutely necessary the cultivation of forage plants suitable for such cltmatijc conditions. The search for these was early begun and is far from being yet concluded. nade into wine, "om the residue »m wine itself Tapes has been Jose, and the iported now in grape varieties ble enemy, the ' ►nder at the in- is regarded by n which the in- own its power s well as unex- it the progress with its sweep- sure. It is as or very much erefore seems by timely pre- done, and the y paid in the Dma Mountain ts transmission J also reported nage has thus ^m and a kind damage done may be truth- ice, the climate rming popula- ing, and wool- of the greater l^stem, at least clover, render ts suitable for s early begun FORAGE CROPS. (Jgj "The most obvious expedient, adopted at the outset, and still supplying the bulk of dry forage, is the cutting of the ordinary cereal crops lor hay before tin: grain ripens. ' Wheat hay ' and ' barley hay,' which, with oats similarly cured, constitute the main mass of the hay crop, are among the Californian oddities that first strike the agricultural immigrant. Most of the late sown grain, as well as so much of the early sown as from any cause does not promise a good grain crop, and the * volunteer crop ' that commonly springs up from the seed shed in harvesting the previous season's grain on land left untilled, is devoted to this purpose, for which it generally becomes fit some time in May, according to location. Oddly enough, embarrassment not un- commonly arises on fresh and strong land, from the fact that the straw is so strong and tall as to render it unsuitable for cuttin;' into hay. A great deal also is cut at too late a period, when the grain is almost full-grown — it being well known that it is then that the greatest total weight is harvested ; the quality, however, is in that case of course injured. During hay-making time (end of April to that of May) the weather is usually so dry that there is little difificulty about curing. There are no sudden thunder- storms to call for a hasty garnering of the hay. So little danger is there that injury from rains will occur after May that the shocks are often left exposed for many weeks to the bleaching action of dew and sunshine. The regular practice, however, is to gather them into large rectangular ricks, built without much reference to protection from rain, but mainly with regard to the convenience for pressing into bales. This is mostly done by contract with gangs or ' pressers,' usually consisting of four men with a wagon and press, who perambulati the country from June to October. "Undoubtedly the most valuable result of the search after forage crops adapted to the CalifornV climate is the introduction of the culture of Alfalfa; this being the name universally applied to the variety of Lucerne that was introduced into California from Chili early in her history, differing from the European plant merely in that it has a tendency to taller growth and deeper roots. The latter habit, doubtless acquired in the dry ; \ i ; ! ' rf^irlKlUJMM:-.:■ 'SJ-n^Xi-^'^- ''•"•*' mx'7vt,-rimi0^'»m - i 608 OUK W^KSIEKS KMP/KR. I on the most rugjjrd j^round. in rctnarkal)lr. It is but fair to say, however, ifuil their pratiicc has brt'ti (jiiitt ^iircrnslnlly iinitattd by other nalionalitirs. and that many a sw.trthy hrrdsmun now- a-dayn rrnponds mo. :* promptly to th«' Saxon or Norse saluta- tion than to that of the Mrxican Spanish dialect. "The purely pastoral n^trthod of stock-raising !», of cotir^te, gradually receiling Ixfon- fhe atlvance of agriculture proper to the nu)r«: thinly seitUil regions; maintaining itHelf, however, in some of the large ranches o\vM«d by partie's declining to sell to small farmers. The obvious (hsadvantag^ of b<.ing entirely at the mercy of the seasons, thus sometimes losing in a single dry year all tin; increase of a previous succession of favorable ones, has gone far toward the introduction of a safer system, iu which the hardj^and nutritions Alfalfa serves to carry reduced numlK-rs of stock of ( Dirf'spondingly higher qiKility safely through the dry months. In lew States, probably, i:s the value of improved breeds more higiily appreciated than in California ; and nowhere, probably can the best strains ol the more important breeds be seen in (later perfection. The one lomestic animal of com- mon n )te, not as well represented in California as elsewhere, is the ho>r; the obvious cause of the comparaive negiect being the absence pf a sufficiently lon am<»ng the most important products of South California ; but tt would neem that the attainni«'iU of the highest ((uality requires some change from the natural con- ditions of pasturage, which present too great a rontrasi between the wet and dry seasons to insure perfect imifotnuty of the fibre. This, however, can undoubtedly Ik; accomplished by the intrO' duction of the proper forage plants. In Jt> seasoiis, such a.i that of 1876-/7, the mortality among the larger tlo^.ks h.is .some- times amounted almost to annihilation. The sheep-owners of the plains, in order to save something, have driven their flocks to the foot-hilLs and valleys of the high Sierras, leaving their route marked with the festering carcasses of the weaker animals, and sweeping every green tiling bt:fore theui, to the dismay of the dwellers in tlie invaded regions, who were thus sometimtrs themselves reduced to extremities, in ordinary seasons, th's migration has its re^'ular methods and routes, the herds ascend- ing the mountains m the wake of the summer's drought, and returning to the foot-hills or plains to winter. •' Of other fleece-bearing animals the Angora or Shawl goat has attracted consideraUe attention, and seems to si, ceed well ; but the industry has not as yet assumed large proportions, chiefly, it seems, on account of the want of a regular market sustained by competition among the purchasers. "Of Horses. — The Mexican mustang, a rather undersized yet hardy and serviceable, but proverbially tricky, race, descended from the Spanish breed, and therefore far from being inferior blood, still forms the greater portion of the horses in common use irf California. The larger American horse brought from the Eastern States, although preferred for heavy work, is not so well adapted to the mountains, and requires higher feeding. 39 ^•m. •****tm\ tM» — "i mM «ii| than that of many CaHfi)rni.i Hiudn it would Im? harti to find anywhirre. Pant homes ami fant men havr her* , |Mrh4|i«. mt>rt! than clHcrwhttre Ix'rn the banc of the n^riiultural lalrH, wiu>HC real and impoieant objectii havr, until lately, U'cn nioMt fr(M|U(*ntly nwnllowrd up '\\\ that of an o|i|K)rtunity ibr U'ttin^^ and hornr-racin);, to the diiigUHt of tlx! a^^ricidturiittM. 1 he in- troduction of the more useful brerdn ha"» not, h«»wever, btrn neglected, as ih evidenced by the tine Noruun and I'en heron dray horses seen on the Htrcets of Son I'Vuncisco. A tolerable ridin^thonie can prol>ably btt bought for less money in Californk than anyvvh<*re else! in the United States, the mustangw (whu;h are generally of li^ht build) Ix'in^ bred in larj^e herds on (uk* lures, with little care and therefore little expense. Hut wlien the excursioniHt pays twenty or thirty dollars for his steed he must not expect to fmd it trained to jjentlenesa and affection, for the ' breakin]^-in ' process which these animals under^'o on the ranches has but f(;w of the features that Mr. Karey would recom- mend. The unwary horseman will pay for his experi<:me by many an unex|>ected nip or kick, or by beinjj left on foot at in- convenient distances from his destination, in conw familiar to the West, it is a hardy, prolific race, yielding a fair quality of beef, and a thick and tough hide, well ■« ml«I ktr hanl to tind vr« , iJfrhap*. more* ultural lairH, wiuMc latj'Iy, lM'sc'rdinarily, abandon :he rider is 'up to' I altogether off his th a ivell-educated American occupa- y still be seen on ace, li^rhtly biiilt, ted horns, which, I fair capacity for these cattle not I'ousin, thf Texas irdy, prolific race, tough hide, weli AfMMf CAITLM Of CAt.lfOMSli, 6il adapted cither to the production of noIc leatlx r or to tliat of the Ntrong rawhide thony;H, which verve the Mexican* in pinie of ro|M.*, twine, naiU and citUer tliMne»tic applianceit deenu-d indis- priisablc by more paniperid natioiiH. Art niilki th, however, its town are a failure; ; nor are itn oxen n-inarkuble for cithiT docility or disposition to < n^'a);e in a^rii ultural pursuilH, l>ein^ the natural result of a nomadic liie on wdd pastures, from which they were tlriven in ami 'corraled,' ior branding; or Hlau^htirin^, only a few lunes in die cour:ie of the year. All thin, of course, ban mate* rially changed since the advent of the American. The immi* ^'rantH brout^ht their cattle with them over the plainH, and found no reason to exchange the progeny of these for the pugnacious nativt'H. The latter have, tlun^fore, greatly dimininhed in num> bers, and are little seen in the more |)opulous regions, xv\\x\x\^ before the advance of culture like their original masler». I he gentler race that accompanied ilie Americans acroHS the Rueky Mountains now dots the plains and (oot-hills of the Great Valley of California ; and since their weaker brethren mostly perished on that trying and weary voyage, a process of selection has taken place, as a result of which the worst breeds of ' scrubs ' are rarely seen in the State. Moreover, the tendency to improvement that is so apparent in tiic use of perfected appliances of every kin " The production of beef is as yet timited by the requirement* of home consumption; but the dairy interest is rapidly assuming a wider range, and with an increasing knowledge of the modifr- cations of the processes demanded by climatic conditions, the I 1'!'^; II' W: g.j . OUX WESTER l\r EMPIRE. quality of dairy products is improving so much tliat as a market for all but the choicest kinds, California will soon be closed to the Eastern producer, and will, perhaps, compete with him in foreign markets. The average quality of the milk supplied to San Francisco and Oakland, from the numerous ' dairy ranches ' op the coast and bay and in the Coast Range, is gready superior to that generally found in Eastern cities ; one obvious reason being that in the absence of distilleries there is no opportunity or temptation to feed the cows on unhealthy offal ; nor do the sleek and healthy cows that range the breezy hills of the coast ever need to be propped or slung up in order to enable them to stand the milking process. ,It is believed that an undue increase of bulk from a too free use of the pump is all that the milk con- sumers of these cities ever have to complain of. ^ "Butter is now very generally of fair quality, some brands being quite up to the 'gilt-edge ' standard. It is usually sold in rolls supposed to weigh two pounds, but in reality always several (ninces below that weight — a circumstance so well understood,, hpwever, that the practice hardly amounts to deception. The price per roll rarely falls below fifty cents to the consumer, and ranges more generally from sixty cents to $i.io about Christmas ijme, when even that which has been packed in casks with salt during the spring and summer brings seventy cents. "The intimate connection (to the housekeeper at least) of butter with eggs suggests a few vi^ords on that subject in this place. The demand for eggs is unusually large in California -.ities, in consequence of the commonly prevailing practice of not only single men and women, but also small families in moderate circumstances, living in lodgings, and taking an easily made breakfast of eggs, bread and coffee, thereafter going to the res- taurant for dinner, and thus avoiding the pains and pleasures of housekeeping. Whatever may be said of the desirability of this practice in a social point of view, it manifests its effects in the price of eggs, which rarely falls below thirty cents per dozen to the consumer, and is more frequently among the fifties and up- Mirard ; even so, fowls cannot often be bought at less than eighty cents apiece, and %\ is a common price. Poultry-keeping is t as a market 1 be closed to I with him in k supplied to lairy ranches ' eatly superior t)vious reason D opportunity , ; nor do the ? of the coast nable them to ndue increase the milk con- some brands jsually sold in ilways several II understood,, ception. The ;onsumer, and out Christmas asks with salt ;s. r at least) of iubject in this in California practice of not s in moderate I easily made ng to the res- J pleasures of rability of this effects in the 5 per dozen to fifties and up- ss than eighty try-keeping is BEES IN CALIFORNIA. 5 A therefore a very remunerative pursuit when judiciously managed, since feed is as cheap as elsev\ here ; and it is one of the indus- tries which have not, as yet, been overdone. There are no special difficulties to be overcome in poultry-raising in Califor- nia ; yet a great deal of money has been lost in attempts made by persons unfamiliar with its proper management. There is no lack of the improved breeds, but among them the Leghorns seem to enjoy the widest acceptance at this time. "Apiaculture is common throughout the State, and nowhere is the product of the bee of finer flavor, or marketed in a mor6 attractive form. The best of improved hives are in common use, and the market is always supplied with the frames filled with the delicate, almost white, comb. Of course the improved varieties of bees have been introduced, and in the southern part of the State especially this industry is practised on a scale not often th be met with elsewhere, as can readily be seen from the figures showing the export, amounting in 1878 to no less than three and a half millions of pounds. How kindly the honey-bee takes to even the desert region of that country is well illustrated in what has been supposed by many to be a ' snake ' story, but what is an unquestionable fact; namely, that some miner?, prospecting in Arizona, struck a regular ' fissure vein ' of honey in a rock^ ridge, where the bees had been making deposits for years, and, although the vein-contents were not what they had been search^• ing for, they took to it kindly and worked it, extracting therefrom ix fabulous amount of honey. Another adventurous colony took possession of the court-house cupola at San Bernardino, and had accumulated several hundred pounds of honey when discovered. The bee is very fond of the flower of the mountain sage [Arte- misia), as well as of a number of other desert plants, and is thus afforded unlimited pasture through three-fourths of the year. It seems that certain kinds of flowers, not yet identified, impdrt to the honey a tendency to become turbid after straining, from the separation of minute white crystals, whose nature has not as yet been ascertained. Such honey, whose other qualities are gehen- ally of the highest, has been unjustly suspected of adulteration in Eastern and English markets! The prejudice arising from ■A'.v*. .uut»<»>!n''*^(Sr>^'KS*«A^^i*«^l- rHPii,>SJ«^r*^-,-VV-K.ii»:A^Vi*4V..;^i;ii*A-^^^^ ll?. rf.< ^,^ OUR WESTERN EHPtRE. this merely conventional defect will soon be overcome, and Sou^ California will doubtless become one of the largest, if not the largest, honey-producing country of the world. *' Silk-culture is at present almost extinct in California in con- Sixjuence of the reaction against the mania for this industry that /bco^an in the State some eighteen years ago and raged with (unabated fury for several years, inflicting severe losses upon those who indulged in the popular delusion that the silk-worm »ould thrive in the State without any special precautions in the way of shelter and such intelligent care as can be given only by those versed in its treatment. Some of the airy sheds that were supposed to be an adequate protection against the compara- tively slight changes of temperature are still extant, as monu- ments of that flush period when mulberry trees were thought to ijbe the only nursery stock worth having. It can hardly hit jdoubted that tf .e advantages offered by a climate in which the food of the worm is available during all but two or three months «n tlie year, yet free from the excessive heat that elsewhere mili- lates against the insect's well-being, will ultimately assert them- selves in the esumption of silk-culture in a calmer mood. It l^as been very successfully kept up, on a small scale, by Mr. ^UPtTvi-j Neumann, of San Francisco, showing pretty conclu- ^tively that it is not the natiire of the climate, but adverse com- fliercLil and industrial circumstances that at present keep the rise of silk-culture in check." ,. ^ ; ;. The tables on page 615 show the leading agricultural products !of the State (except grapes and wine) for the year 1878 as esti- inared by the Agricultural Department; the statistics of 1879 are not yet received. They give also the estimated live-stock ;of the State in January, 1879. In regard to items not entering into these statistics, we may say that in 1877 California had 30,000,000 grape vines, most of them in bearing, one county (Los Angeles) alone having over j6,ooo,ooo ; of fruit trees, common to temperate climates, 340,000 in bearing, and of sub-tropical fruit trees, the almond, lemon, orange, olive, fig, etc.. 500,000. Of wine 6,400,000 gallons were /exported in 1877 over the Central Pacific Railway, and about >mc, and SouOi jest, if not the lifornia in con- is industry that ind raged with re losses upon t the silk-worm ^cautions in the e given only by iheds that were : the compara- xtant, as monu- vere thought to can hardly bf; ite in which the )r three months elsewhere mili- :ly assert them- Imer mood. It 11 scale, by Mr. pretty conclu' t adverse com- 'esent keep the ultural products ar 1878 as esti- itistics of 1879 lated live-stock atistics/wb may ; vines, most of le having over imates, 340,000 almond, lemon, X) gallons were way, and about CROPS AND LIVESTOCK IN CAUFORNIA. 6|j 45,000,000 pounds of wool, beside the large amount retained for home consumption. Of salmon, mostly in tins, 7,841,680 pounds were shipped eastward in 1877 ; of borax 536,000 pounds. Crop?*. Producw. Indian corn I Wheat . |Rye . . lOats . . Rirley . I Potatoes . iHay. . I. Mcaturn. bushels <« tons Qiianlilv produced. 1 Av'go yield (Kr acre. 3,467,250 34 5 41,990,000 »7- 195,000 »S- 4,350,000 30- 14,950,000 23- 4,377,600 114. 1,371,000 205 Miiniber uf acres of each crop. V .liie pir bushel tir Ion. 100, SCO .60 2,470,000 « 03 13,000 145,000 650,000 38,400 •75 .69 •65 .98 ( 20,000 4,036,900 12.61 Total valiiatloa. $2,080,350 43,240,700 146,250 3,001,500 9,717,500 4,290,048 i6,027,3to $78,512,658 Live-itock.— Anlmalii. Number. Average price. Value. Horses .... Mules . ^. . . . Milch cows . . . Oxen and other cattle Sheep Swine 273,000 25,700 459,600 1,010,000 6,889,000 565,000 143-95 66.24 25.90 18.91 1. 61 5-9S $11,998,350 1,702,368 11,903 6,40 19,099,100 11,091.290 3.361.750 $59,156,498 Manufacturing Products. — California, not content with being the richest agricultural State and one of the best mining States of " Our Western Empire," aspires also to a high rank as a manu- facturing State, for which, indeed, she has many facilities. Her earliest manufactures were connected with her mining interests, mining implements and machinery, and generally, miners' sup- plies. In these she has been remarkably successful, and at the present time some of the best mining machinery known is pro- duced at San Francisco, and in other California cities ; the excepn tional size and excellence of her forest trees led to the produc- tion of lumber for mining, building, and railroad purposes, and to the finer manufactures of wood as furniture, etc.; the vast herds of cattle and the great quantities of hides placed upon her market led to the establishment of tanneries aod to the produc- tion of leather for harness, saddles, hunters' trappings, etc., a class of manufactures very greatly to tlie taste of her Hispano- 6iO OUR WESTEHU EMPIRE. ■ ) . American population ; and her vast flocks of shetp made her chief city one of the best wool markets in the country and stimu- lated manufactures of several classes of woollen goods, in which she has attained great excellence. Her immense production of wheat led to the establishment of extensive flouring mills, and the San Francisco hour has a great reputation. The develop- ment of grape culture naturally led to the manufacture of wine anil brandy. Carriages and wagons, and iron manufactures and iron castings were the outcome of the production of mining machinery and miners' supplies. Of other manufactures, most haVc grown out of her commerce. She buys largely of unmanu- factured tobacco, which is made up there into cigars, chewing and smoking tobacco. The raw sugar received from the Sand- wich Islands is manufactured into refined sugar, syrup, and can- dies ; and the bags in which her grain is exported are manufac- tured in her own mills. Gunpowder, dynamite, giant-powder, and chemicals, which also figure among her products, are mostly in demand for the mining districts and miners' supplies. What amount of capital is invested in her manufactures, and what is the annual value of the products now, it is difficult to say. In 1870 the amount of capital reported (and very much under- stated) by the census was ^^39,7 28,202, and the annual product stated was $66,594,556. It would undoubtedly be three times the amount, if not more, in both cases at the present time. Mining Products. — The official statement of the production of gold and silver in California in 1879 gives $18,190,973 as the amount, but this does not include considerable sums forwarded to the East in private hands, nor the amount used for manufac- turing and other purposes in the State, nor what was on hand at the mines, mills, and smelting works at the close of the year, but only what was either deposited at the mint or passed through the express companies. There is to be added to this also about $1,000,000 worth of lead (5.55 per cent.), parted from the silver in the smelting works. Dr. Rossiter W. Raymon i, late United States Mining Commissioner, and now editor of the Mining Exchange youmal, the highest authority on this subject, esti- mates that, throughout all these mining States and Territories, eop made her try and stimu- oods, in which production of •inj; mills, and Ihe develop- acture of wine lufactures and -ion of mining ifactures, most ly of unmanu- igars, chewing rom the Sand- yrup, and can- are manufac- giant-powder, cts, are mosdy pplies. What 2s, and what is ult to say. In much under- nnual product )e three times :nt time, production of 190.973 as the ims forwarded 1 for manufac- t was on hand ;e of the year, assed through this also about from the silver :i, late United •f the Mining ! subject, esti- id Territories, RAILWAYS IN CALIFORNIA. gg* and esp' -lially in California, the gold and silver product is only about on -tenth of all the mineral products of the State; that the quir' iilver, platinum, copper, k:ad, iron, tin, coal, borax, soda, salt, sulphur, gypsum, marble, granite and other building stone, mineral waters, etc., together aggregate nine times as much as the precious metals. However it may be with the other mining States and Territories, this estimate probably very closely ap- proximates the truth in California ; so that we may put the entire amount of mining and mineral products for the year 1879 at about $ 1 ;i 1 ,900,000. Railways. — The present railway system of California is very simple, though it traverses almost the entire State. The Central Pacific and its branches, one of which stretches up almost to the Oregon boundary, and others extend to Calistoga, San Jos^, Santa Cruz, Soledad, and Monterey; and the Southern Pacific, composed mainly of the same stockholders and directors, extend from Redding on the north to Fort Yuma in the southeast and from the Nevada line to a dozen places on or near the coast. The Central Pacific extends to Ogden, where it joins the Union Pacific ; and the Southern Pacific, crosiiing the Colorado at Yuma, has nearly traversed Arizona, and is making its way as rapidly as possible to EI Paso on the Rio Grande. The Southern Pacific is now pressing forward its construction with all speed, irttending by arrangements with roads already built, to make its eastern terminus within a twelvemonth at Galveston, Texas, and thus find an outlet for the rich products of Southern California, by way of the Mexican gulf, and the Atlantic. Two other roads are proposing to enter California at the south; the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa F6, or its extension, the St. Louis and San Francisco, already beyond Santa Fe, will probably cross Arizona on or near the thirty-fifth parallel, and, sending one branch through the rich Mexican State of Sonora, make one terminus at Guaymas on the Gulf of California, and another either at Santa Barbara or San Diego ; while the Texas Pacific, following the valley of the Gila river, will also make its western terminus at San Diego. With the exception of the completion of the Oregon Railway and the extension of some two or three ki jl\ Jv(|ijf;;,^ ?f:-)'jl'if '''»f: <(^ ^I'^h THE CIIINHSR IN CAl.tFOKS'lA. 621 f?7o was, ex. ;S2.o3i. Of African tie- I, and 21,784 sivo of tribal ^malcs. The of tribal In* number of ly increased; ,000, but the 1 the Eastern lavian States, n the part of > in the State derablc num- Lichanics, rail- n very useful ed materially hey work for nd Ij.'irk their them return :m ; that they t the Chinese ts and modes s or at least se companies 1 govern and lid objections nity, who are nd authority, le power, and , or in reality over them a J when these to become ming " is too much like an importation to he welcomed without restriction, too much like an invasion to be looked upon without solicitude. We cannot consent to allow any form of servile labor to be introduced among us under the guise of immigration. ' Still the objections urged against the Chinese as a race, and which have led to serious riots and great injustice against them, seem at this distance trivial. Our country boasts, that it is the refuge and home of the oppressed of all nations, and if some of these objections are to be regarded as valid against the Chinese, it might be well to inquire whether most of them might not be urged with the same propriety against other nationalitie.s, some of which are now the bitterest persecutors of the Orientals. It is rather because of the danger of the introduction of a servile class wholly irresponsible to our laws and institution; , than from any regard to the demonstrations of the hoodlums an<( dangerous classes of the Pacific coast, and the demagogue leaders who have urged them on, that our government, recog- nizing its duties and responsibilities to a nation, with whom all our relations have been as friendly as they have been with China, have sent a commission composed of three of our most eminent citizens to treat concerning these and other matters, with the Chinese government, and while preventing this coolie immigration, to encourage the coming of respectable Chinese citizens and iheir families. We must admit these, and, admitting them, we are firmly persuaded that the dawn of the twentieth century will see a population of not less than ten millions of Chinese in "Our Western Empire." Education. — The educational position of California is worthy of all praise. No child in the State need grow up in ignorance. She has a permanent school-fund of about )j^2,oc)0,ooo, but her annual expenditures for her public schools alone exceed ji5,ooo,- 000, and include a tax of ten cents on every hundred dollars of taxable property. Her teachers are well paid, and somewhat more than $2,000,000 is expended annually for teachers' wages. There are, besides these public schools, which are free to the children of the whole State, a great number of private and endowed academies, institutes and high schools for secondary 633 OVR WKSTRKN KMP/KE. instruction . many of thrni of the hi^est character, A State university, wril cii^lowfd lK)th by thr Stat'* and United Staiiti; a *>latc normal school, an ajfricultiinii college, and a military aca ; «_' 4_j. - T "- '-' - ' ^ tcr. A State 'nitr-d Statvi; irul a military liirtren other iliff( rent rrli- rs and al>out nanent funds, professional 1 there is now •d most liber- ,ick. United States nan Catholics c, nearly 200 of somewhat Spanish, Irish, lethodiNts are hurches and a ;rian churches inisters. The 1 " connection cstant Episco- 3nalists about Jewish Syna-' German Re- , UniversaHsts, ek Church, six seven Chinese Dunties In the iely inhabited, the smallest in , Santa Clara, iolano, Placer, ndocino, Mon- San Francisco It is much the ^^ ii £il. V <^y^ ^i' Mw/^:Xyi> /A'»/ ifti^A mtm ^., IMAGH EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I aa iM |2.5 »» Kii |2.2 L' |i£ 12.0 I' I L25 i 1.4 1.6 - 6" Photographic Sciences Corporation «' ^ v-^ <^ ^ %. S ;\ ^.l^f ':;j^^^^ 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 Bh '^ '9.*^ !« CIHM/ICMH Microfiche S&ries. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques L L loll' Kt-- 11 :^ 1' :■) II 1 .:■! J i'J ' Sr i ■ •j. ' ry,' ;, * > ' ■ ' ( ' ■ ' .'""" ' ■" ' " ' ' ' ' ^'^ ' y ' ^v* '' ; ' ;" '' .'"" ' ^-^" ' yfi* *" 5 . ' f .t i. Tia. FVTUXB. Of CALIFOKNIA. ^2% largest city on the Pacific coast and has an extensive commerce and a large amount of manufacturing. Sacramento, the capital of the Statt-, had 16,283 inhabitants in 1870, and the census of 18S0 ;^ivos it 21,420. Oakland, across the bay from San I'ran- cisco, had 34,556 in 1880 ; San Jose, 1 2,567 ; Los Angelt^s, 1 1.31 1 ; and Stockton in the San Joacpiin valley 10,287 inhabitants; Marys- ville, Santa Cruz, San Diego, and Santa Barbara are ilu; other towns of importance. California, as the gateway of the Pacific, holds a tiiffcrent position to "Our Western Empire" from any other Slate or Territory in it. With its fine climate, its vast extent ol fertile soil, its rich and abundant pasturage, its great mineral wealth, its extensive commerce, and its growing manufactures, it has a career before it much like that of the State of New York on the Atlantic coast. If it shall shake off the death-grapple of the horde of political communists and demagogues, the miserable miscreants, who call themselves " workingmen," but most of whom never did an honest day's work in their lives, who aire now trying to throttle it, it will have a great and glorious future as the leading State of this great Western Empire ; but if nat>-<- •' ' CHAPTER IV. : ' . COLORADO. Situation, Boundaries, Area — Topography — Mountains, Valleys, Plains, Parks, Rivers, Lakes, Canons — Climate, Soil, and Vkgetation— Geol- ogy, Mineralogy, Animals — Mines and Mining Industry — The Extra- ordinary Development of Mining in the Staie since 1875 — Mining Dis^ TRicTs — Farming — Stock-raising — Wool-growing — Railroads — Com* MERCE — Population — Increase since 1870 — Counties — Education — Churches — ^The Future of Colorado. i ri Colorado, often called •' the Centennial State," because k wa« admitted to the Union in 1876, the year of our Centennial celebration of our national existence, is situated very nearly in the centre of " Our Western Empire," the distance in a direct 'imi^''. 524 ^^"^ H^ESTERy EMPIRE. line being abouk the same to St. Louis and to San Francisco— to the frontier of Urilisii America and to that of Mexico. It lies between the thirty-seventh and the forty-first parallels of north latitude, and between the load and the 109th meridians of longi- tude west from Greenwich. Its width from north to south is about 280 miles, and its length from east to west about 370 miles. Its area is 104,500 square miles, or 66,880,000 acres. The great plains which stretch from the Missouri river to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, rising slowly but steadily with each mile of their advance westward, have attained, when they reach the mountains, an elevation of between 6,000 and 7,000 feet above the sea. Eastern Colorado, for about three-sevenths of its extent, from east to west, consists of the most elevated part of these plains, which reach as far as Denver. West of the 105th meridian come the Rocky Mountains, which here attain their greatest breadth. The mountains consist of several prin- cipal ranges (which, however, do not extend continuously from north to south, but are broken off and made irregular by the great parks which are a feature of the mountains in Colorado), and of numerous spurs or short ranges extending westward, southwestward and northwestward, and terminating usually in broad plateaux, which are suddenly broken off by the deep caftons of the Green, Grand, and other tributaries of the Colo- rado of the West. It is a feature of the Rocky Mountains, and perhaps of all mountain chains on this continent, that the eastern slope of each range is generally much more gradual than the western, and that the ascent, even of its highest summits, is less difficult on the eastern than the western face. The western slope of each range is generally precipitous and sometimes im- practicable. The ranges in their order, beginning with the east- ernmost, are the Colorado Front Range, which, though adopting some local names in the southern part of its course, extends from the northern to the southern bounds of the State. It has several lofty peaks, among which are Mount Evans, Mount Rosalia, Pike's Peak, and Cliief Mountain. The first three are over 14,000 feet in height. The next in order is the Northern Colorado or Main Range, which joins the Front Range at the northern face of the n Francisco— exico. It lies |rullels of north idians of longi- th to south in est about 370 1,000 acres, luri river to the t steadily with led, when they >ooo and 7,000 three-sevenths most elevated . West of the ich here attain f several pnn- itinuously from regular by the i in Colorado), ling westward, ting usually in f by the deep is of the Colo- Mountains, and hat the eastern ftdual than the ummits, is less The western sometimes im- with the east- ough adopting , extends from It has several Rosalia, Pike's 'er 14,000 feet )rado or Main rn face of the COlOftADO MO AfTAIAS. (J^j South Park. It has throe summits above 14,000 feet, and three above 13,000; the first three are Gray's IVak, Irwin's Peak, and Long's Peak; the second tiirec, Arapahoe Ptuik, Mount Guyot. and James Peak. Uald Mountain, in Gilpin county, 10,332 feet, is also in this range. The Park Range, between which and die preceding are situated the throe great parks, North, Middle and Soutlv extends from the northern border of the State nearly to the Arkansas river, in latitude 38° 40'. This range has six sum- mits of 14,000 feet or above, vi«, : Buckskin Mountain, Mount Cameron, Horseshoe Mountain, Mount Lincoln, Quandary Peak, Silverheels, and Sheep Mountain, ) 3,589 feet. The Sawatch or Saguache Range, which is reckoned a part of the Main Range, begins at the Grand river and extends soutli as far as the Saguache river, where it sends out a spur to the south- west, known as the Cochetopa Hills— >has ten summits, all but one of them over 14,000 feet ; these are : Mount Antero, Mount Elbert, Mount Harvard, Holy Cross Mountain, La Plata, Mas- sive Mountain, Mount Princeton, Sliavano and Mount Yale, while Mount Grizzly is 13.956 feet in height ;, Between the Ss^guache and the Park ranges is interposed, in Southern Colorado, the Sangre de Christo Range, which has four summits over 14.000 feet; one of them, Blanca Peak, the highest in Colorado, and the highest, except one, in the whole West Besides BJaiwa, Baldy Peak, Culebra and Hunt's Peak are above 14.000 feet, and the two Spanish Peaks are 13,620 and 12,720 feet rcspeciiyely, .v! .■m''-,! in ,••.•:■..; iwn. ... -■' -jl' :-■ > In Southwestern Colorado there is a confused group of moun tatns, consisting of the main or dividing range and numerous spurs, known as the Uncompahgre Mountains, San Miguel Mountains, Dolores, La Plata, etc. There are thirteen principal peaks in this group, deven of them over 1 4,000 feet, several of which are within a few feet of the altitude of Blanca Peak. These summits are, Mount vEolus, Handie's Peak, Pyramid, Pridgeon's San Luis Peak, Simpson's, Mount Sneffles, Stewart's Peak, Uncon^pahgre, Wetterhorn, Mount Wilson, and the two lower summits^ Blaine's Peak, 1 3,905, and Engineer Mountain, f 1:34076 feet. Oa the wesit; these n^ountains terminate In broad. 40 I f \-k'. ^^ '•'k^i»mMm^'i,}!Mjf^M^^M^^S!^& 636 ova WESTERN EMflKE. and elevated plateaux and mesas, which extund to the river banks and there are riven by the deep caHons of the aftliients of the Colorado. Amonj^j these plateaux are the C. . nd Mesa, north of Gunnison river, the Uncompahjjre Plateau, between the Gunni- son and the Dolores, and extending to the Grand river ; the Dolores Plateau, between the Dolores and the San Miguel river, and the Soutiiwest Plateau, between the Dolores and the Rio Mancos, and extending to the San Juan river. In Western Colorado, in what is known as the Gunnison country, there is another mass of mountains, probably spurs from the Saguache or Sawatch range, which trend northwestward, westward and southwcstward. There are many summits in this group which is known as the Elk Mountains ; more than twenty being visible from the summit of Castle Peak, but only four rise to 1 4,000 feet, and one, Teocalli, is but 1 3, 1 1 3. .. < ■ Besides those which we have named, there are several hun- dred peaks in the State ranging from 10,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea, which would be noticeable in any other State, but rising from elevated table-lands 6,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea, they seem much less lofty than they otherwise would. Of the twenty most famous passes over the Rocky Mountains in this State only two are below 9,000 feet, and only five, of which the noted V'eta Pass is one, are below 10,000, while five are above 12,000 feet, and one, the Argentine, is 13,100 feet above the sea, and is only practicable in summer. Of the great numbers of lakes scattered in the mountain vaU leys, only one group, the San Luis lakes, situated in the beauti- ful San Luis Park, are below 8,000 feet in altitude, while the Green Lakes are 10,000 feet, and the Chicago Lakes 11,500 feet above the .jea. -♦■• '- ~-' . -.v-.w'-* .^..ii.w... ,iA Of seventy-three important towns of locations In Colorado, only twelve are below 5,000 feet, and ten are above 10,000 feet, the Present Help Mine on Mount Lincoln being 14,000 feet. " The parks of Colorado are a distinct and remarkable feature of this mountain system. They are generally composed of level or rolling lands, covered with luxuriant grasses, and dotted here and there with groves of tim'.}er. They are walled about with to thr river banks aftlueius of the nd Mesa, north of wv.cn the Gunni- Grantl river; the the San Miguel Dolores and the vcr. as the (junnison obably spurs from d northwestward, ly summits in this more than twenty but only four rise are several hun- 1 2,ifr ,■ Rivers and Streams, — ^Though within the meridians of longi- tude which but five years ago were declared to be those of the " Great American Desert " par excellence^ it cannot be justly sai a a a w< > t ta MftMM»ai^ wtfiATsak^M r>38 OUK WaXTHKN KMPrUM, that Colorado Is not wrll watftred. \\% hiphcr land* may requfre some irrij^'ation, hut th«' strramH arr then- to irn>{atc ihcm. On tin- p.'iHt of the " (irrat Divide " the South Platte river, with about twenty tributarieH on each HiU<>, ritiCH far up ainon^; the summit* of th'- Park Kunj^e, and purHuin)^ a north northeast, and then an piHterly course, drains ten of the central and nortlveast counties; while the North I'latte, takinj{ its rine in the Kabbit Idars Range, drains the whole of the North Park. Keturntnt; to the eastern part of the State tlie Republican river, an abluent of tU* Kansas, with its four principal tributaries drain» the ciastern portion of Weld, Arapahoe, and Elbert counties. But the royal stream of ICastern Colorado is the Arkaanas, \vl;ich rises in the Saj^^achc or Sa watch range, its sources interlacing with those of the Grand river, the largest affluent of the Colorado of the WcHt, and in its passafi^e downwards to the eastern boundary of the Statu receives more than sixty tributary streams. It i« a noble river, and, in its passage through the mountain chains, cuts deep and frightful canons almost to the base of the mountains themselves. Some of its tributaries, like the Purgatoire, Big Siindy creek, Horse creek, Apinhapa, Huerfano river and Foniuine qui BouilU, are themselves rivers of considerable magnitude. The Rio Grande del Norte rises in the San Juan Range, where it inter- laces with the sources of the Gunnison, Dolores and San Juan rivers, and flowing east-southeast receives numcrc js tribu- taries from San Juan, Hinsdale, Rio Grande, Saguache, Conejos, and Costilla counties, turns south near Alamosa and passes oi|t of the State very nearly midway of its southern border. The western slope of the " Great Divide " is drained wholly (except for some small streams which fall into the San Luis lakes) by the principal affluents which go to make up the Rio Colorado of the West All of these except the main stream and some of the tributaries of the Greea river havQ their sources in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and most of them either in the Park, the Saguache, the Elk or the San Juan Mountains. The tributaries of the Green river are, the Yampah or Bear river, Ikrith its brandies. Elk and Elkhead creeks, Little Snake river and Vermillion creek, and the White river with its numerous %.:. i(U may rcqm're ate them. On Ivrr, with about |njr the summit* -St, and then an tlu^st anir>tii:H; [bit lUrn Kanjj^c, ^ to the eastern t of thr Kansas, tern portion of |»c royal Ktrenm in the: Sajfuache )$c of the Grand \e West, and in- ry of the State in a noble river, 8, cuts deep and ins themselves. i}^ Siindy creek, fui'uf qui BouilU', tudc. The Rio r, where it inter- ns and San Juan lumerc js tribu- fuache, Conejos, I and passes out border. drained wholly x> the San i.,uis lake up the Rio lie main stream vp their sources of them either [uan Mountains, ah or Bear river, tie Snake river ti its numerous , ,^ KP^''':^''! , \ ■■■' ^ .im i • . • .^ ^ It t ( ^ 1 r" SS^BHI ■KjBL ."p^'* , ^^^^ ' ^"VHP^^Hka 4j^ ^* ^""v* y. , - .-, ,:^...-^ ■;• • 1 I.ARdN OI' rilK C01.UKAU0. •-^•f'fiiiii^imiMi^AStmSISSMii'' V ■^7 » CMNom Of lOtottAOO. Cay tributaries. The (ir«n«l rivrr hms iin wHjrcct. in ihr North Park, travertoH with itii trihutarielween 40" and .^7" yy' north latitude. In the extreme nouthweHt the Kio San Juan and itn ntuneruuM brandcH drain the whole oi I.a Plata, San Jinin, IlinH- dale, and the weit<;rn part ot C'onejoN rountirs. All these river» have HcoreH of creekn and Htrenms tributary to them, ho tluit there arc but few ti]uare ntiles in the State which are destitute of one or more livin); Htrcnmi. Mr. I'rank t'osiett, a recent able writer on Colorado, thuK ttpeaks of the caAonH of these rivers : "The river caAons, or deeply cut ravin<'s that are found in all of tl>e more elevated portion* of Colorado, couHtiUitcr a peculiar and striking feature of the ^rcat Rocky Mountiiin Nystem. In the countlcsn ages of the past, the waters of the streann have worn channelH deep down into the henrts of the mountainh, leaving the perpendicular prpanitc or sandstone standing on either side for hu'- Ireds, and in seme localities for thou^'indd of feet. Nowhere are the grand and beautiful in Naturv. more eff crually illustrated t'lan in these mountain caHons. The glories of Moulder, Clear Creek, Cheyenne, and Platte cartons, and the Grand canon of the Arkansas all on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, defy description. The walls of the Colorado, Gunnison, and Uncompahgre rivers, in the western part of the State, are still more massive and wonderful. In many sectitms they rise without a break or an incline to heights of thousands of feet, and along the Colorado continue in that way with hardly an outlet of any kind for hundreds of miles. The Grand carton of the Gunnison is one of the world's wonders. Its walls on eitlier side of the stream, and bordering it for miles, are usually not far from 300 feet in width, and arc composed of stratified rock. In places these perpendicular sides, rising from W <')dJi^'4»«iiMHtf4;«{tfiMh^ft«att^»?tifiii. ,*A'/*UtAt««itu^«4^4^ViW*M»4 '.'.AiUw^A 530 OUK WESTERN EMPIRE. the water for distances of from one to thcee thousand feet, ter- minate ?n I(^vel summits surmounted by a second wall of pro- digious height, thus forming a cafton within a carton. Through the chasm between these giant formations and huge bastibns and turrets one above another, dashes the river, its surface ^vhite v/ith foam. The heights of these perpendicular carton walls and their elevations witii that of the river above sea-level at several points, are as follows: Level of the Gunnison at mouth of Mountain creek above sea-level, 7,200 feet; of top of wall or plateau on north side, 8,000 feet; height of wall, 1,600 feet; lieight of wall at point below on east side, i ,900 feet ; on west side, 1 ,800 feet ; height of wall in gneiss rock, 900 feet. Some distance below, the carton wall rises directly from the river, 3,000 feet, of which the 1,800 feet nearest the water is gneiss rock ; total elevation of top of wall or plateau above the sea, 0,800 feet." r'livii x.^^iii !>> .'(Ill, II. 1 -Mil i" . .1) Mj- Climate. — The great e' 'ation of most of the places of resi- dence in Colorado insurv. a temperate climate, rather too cool tlian too hot. The mean annual temperature of most of the towns, which are 5,000 feet or thereabouts above the sea, is not far from 50° — perhaps for a long term of years 48.5° t*^ 49.3". '"' The cumm«^r mean ranges from 64.6° to 69.2°, and the winter mean from 31.3** to 32.8°, so that the m«;an difference or range does not exceed 37** or 38''. The extremes are 93° to 99** max- imum in summer, with from six to thirty days, according to the elevation, above 90°, and the minimum in winter — 3° to — 1 2" with an average of six to ten days with tj;ie mercury below zero. There is, therefore, an extreme range in the whcJe year of from 96"* to IIO*4 rtf'vl.'V// •M\\ iii ..-'■( ma/Ii :»i'ifl(.i|fn(.t.jriU I»rii. .no-'idfiiir.) The rainfall averages about 18.84 inches, and is increasing.' The dry and bracing character of the air at 5,000 to 6,000 feet alxjve the sea renders the climate a desirable one for invalids with weak lungs, where the disease is not too far advanced, and thousands who have resorted thither have been temporarily, and marty of them permanently benefitpd. Generally' it is not safe for persons who are suffering from pulmonary diseases to re- turn to the East, at least not for four or five years, however i ET, lousand feet, ter- ond wall of pro- afion. Through uge bastibns and ts surface ^vhite cafkon walls and a-level at several >n at mouth of f top of wall or' wall, 1, 600 feet; 00 feet ; on west 900 feet. Some' from the river, 5 water is gneiss 1 above the sea, e places of resi- , rather too cool of most of the ^e the sea, is not ■ 148.5° t^ 49-3'*-'"'' °, and the winter ' ference or range ; 93° to 99" max." according to the ;er — 3° to — 1 2*' cury below zero, lole year of from i Mil. ,f)( J ■iiiiijir.) fid l6 increasing;' XX) to 6,000 feet' pne for invalids >o far advanced,^ )een temporarily, jneraily'it is not ry diseases to re- ! years, however CLIMATE, SOIL AND VEGETATION OF COLORADO. gjj complete may seem to be the recovery, as the return of the disease at the East is almost sure to follow even a brief visi* thither. Those whose lungs arc diseased should also avoid the higiier elevations. An altitude exceeding 7,000 feet is danger- ous, because the rarefaction of the atmosphere makes respira- tion more difficult, and will often bring on hemorrhage of the lungs. We give below the Signal Service reports — the average from three points, one of them the staiion on the summit of Pike's Peak. 14,147 feet above the sea, for the sake of comparison : rlACM. Denver... Cotortdo Springt Pikc'i Peak ^5 I 5.i»7||. 6.o«3 ft. MM7 ft 47.8° 18. jO 48.1° 45.° 13.60 n 60. a ^ «4.«'' 35- 5° ■06° U as 5.03' a|< 99« n" S(.aO ■3 So' II ■buve 50°. »5 .9 m -.3.6° 86 i I III" 96.0 (1.8° \ n «8.6V' i».4l' »7.8iO West cf the mountains the snow comes earlier and lies longer and the mean temperature of winter is lower. The average elevation of the towns is higher, averaging at least 8,000 feet. These towns ar so new that we have not statistics of their climate which can be depended upon. .J'li^ 'i' 'ii ^ ■ , '■■ ' " The quantity of the snow-fall is not great except on the moun- tain ranges and higher elevations. In the mountain towns it begins early and lies late, blocking the trails and passes over the mountains, and requiring often a circuitous journey to reach them. The railways now building will be protected from these heavy snows generally by snow sheds. The snow never entirely disapppj»rs from altitudes of from 12,000 to 14,400 feet. ' •- "'< y\ Soil and Vegetation.-'—Oi x}c^t^ 104,500 square miles which con-t sUtute the area of Colorado, it is difficult to estimate very accu- rately what proportion should be considered as arable land, for several reasons. But a small portion, comparatively, of the State has been surveyed; only one-third in all, including the great area of pasturage, mining and timber lands. The great amount of land included in railroad grants, and the still greater quantity in Indian reservations, most of which are now in process ;i i1 1 ■ ; ; s. i !■ of extinction, the uncertainty wliether Und at first regarded as desert, or, at most, as sterile grazing lands, may not prove to be arable land of the very best quality when irrigated; and the almost daily discovery of new means of irrigation. It was roughly estimated m 187S that there were about 15,000 square miles of arable lands, or lands which would become arable with irrigation, in the State. With the great increase of irrigating canals con- structed since that time, and the large body of good lands which will be thrown on the market by the treaty with the Utes, con- firmed by Congress in June, 1880, which sets free nearly 1 1 ,400,000 acres, and the cultivation of the great parks which is just beginning, there can hardly be less than 25,000 square miles entitled to that designation to-day, or in round numbers, 1 6,ooo,ooa acres. Probably not more than one-fifth of this is under cultiva- tion, though the amount is rapidly increasing. "The soil at the first glance does not look promising. It is composed of a fine, dark-brown mould mixed with gravel, very compact, but at the same time very porous and friable. When the gravel has been completely decomposed, or the soil consists of fine dust, blown or washed from the higher portions of the plains (called bluifs), it inclines to clay. Near the surface the earth is darker than lower down, but the quality is essentially the liame and very uni- form throughout. The soil is indeed so rich in the mineral con- stituents of plants, and its depth so great, that with a proper »vf whieat, barley ter, however, is ier valleys trav- [s limited to the i suffice to irri^' now mainly the nds from north e plains at the esB and gradual rigated at smaB ry of Colorado, / from the foot* itreams is com IRKfCATIOS IN COLORADO. 5^3 veyed in canals or ditches, Which arc sometimes as much as fifty miles long. Some of the smaller canals have been built by co- operation among the farmers. In other cases they are owned by local joint-stock companies, of which the shares arc held prin- cipally by the farmers themselves. The large.«it of all — the Lari- mer and Weld Canal — is the property of the Colorado Mortgage Company of London. It is fifty miles long, from twenty-five lo thirty feet wide at the bottom, and carries water to irrigate 40,000 acres. The company itself owns 20,000 acres, which, with a right in perpetuity to sufficient water for irrigation> it is selling at $13 to $15 per BiCre. The land is sold in quantities of eighty acres and upwards. Ac this rate the land is freely purchased, payment being taken in five installments for the convenience of buyers. Settlers on the public lands can buy water for $5 per acre. By homfsteadihg a settler can become owner of 160 acres for a few dollars, but he must reside on it for five years before he can get a title; The settler may choose to pre-empt, in which case resi- dence for six months, together with the execution of certain im- provements, gives a title. By pre-emption the land inay be obtained for %\i%^ aA acre if distant from a railway, or $3.50 an acre if in the vicinity of a railway^ A settler can only homestead or preempt bnioe. Railways are owners of land along their 4ines, in square miles alternately with the public lands, which are subject to homeisteadirig and pre-emption. Railways sell their l»hd at prices varying from $3 to $6 an acre, accordhfig to cir- 'C'ttnistances. 'n'-v/j oJ ■(j.r;-'//j nun! ?\ iwr^f to <]ot» •yiiws.'i: v[ " The ulndtilatlon of tfe plains makes plowing and irrigation very easy. The water id supplikl to tihe farmer, not directly from the main canal, but from a- pubsidiaky ditch, formed with a plow dlong the surface of the plain, on a nearly uniform slope. The farmer excavates with his plow a similar smaller trench along the top of the land he intends to pilow, arid then, making Ibr^aks in the lower side, allows the water to (flow over the whole «Yirftice of the field. After twb or three days the land is ready ■for plowing, and the water is turrted 5ffi ' After irrigation, a pair of light horses will turn over thi soil it the rate of an acre a iday, or a gaiig*plow, drawn by four or six hokrses, will break up 1 V 534 ^^^ WKSTBillf £MI'IR£^\ ten acres in the same time. Cereals require to bti watered once or twice in the season. The custom is to break new land in August, September, and October, turning the sod two or three inches deep, and the winter frost pulverizes it, and makes it into a good seed-bed by spring. Old stubble-land is irrigated in a similar manner before being plowed, either in autumn or spring, and the seed is sown as soon after plowing as possible^ The soil, once thoroughly wet, is very retentive of moisture, and no more irrigation is necessary till June, when the water is again turned over the crops for a day or two. The land is very easily tilled and cleaned, and irrigation is a simple process, as may be easily understood from the fact that one man alone (exchanging, it may be, help with a neighbor in harvest) can cultivate eighty adres under crops in rotation, and that, too, without working so hard as a small farmer in this country (England). Self-binding reaping machines are in general use, and give complete sati^v faction. Threshing machines, driven by steam or hofse-power, are driven from farm to farm as at home. - " Colorado produces all kinds of crops and vegetables grown in England, with the addition of many that flourish only in a warmer climate, such as Indian corn, sugar-beet, tomatoes, etc. Grapes and peaches ripen in the open air, and in the southern parts of the State grapes and plums grow >lvild. Flax is also occasionally met with, growing wild. The wheat and barley raised on the irrigated lands are as fine as any in the world. The average crop of wheat is from twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre; of barley, about thirty-five bushels; and of < oats, it is aissertbd that in the uplands the yield is occasionally as high as from eighty to ninety bushels per acre. Specimens of cabbages, mangolds, swedeis, and beet root of enormous size, are e;thibited at the State fair ; but as catde-feeding is not yet practised, they are raised chiefly for domestic use. Biiit the Average of crops is not much indication of what the soil, in the hands of a skillful farmer, may te made to yield. The majority of those who have taken to farminjg in Colora*do, knew litde or nothing of the busi- ness when they settled, and thiir cul-tavation would geherally be considered slovenly at home, i When the soil is well cleaned ). watered once fak new land in »d two or three id makes it into rrigated in a Itumn or spring, possible^ The loisture, and no water is again id is very easily S8, as may be le (exchanging, cultivate eighty out working so Self-binding complete satii- 3r horse-power, ' T>) •>->n'j|» tables grown in irish only in a t, tomatoes, etc. in the southern L'frFlax is also eat and barley ly in the world nty-five bushels nd of/ oats, it is nally as high as ns of cabbages, e, are e;thibited practised, they age of crops is ds of a skillful hbabie that the enth of its sur- s large, but it irincipal forest ding the white, Jrgia), the ««/- d spruce, large Jorado, several n, the hickory, r are reRplend- JCl'f Ji.ii, •■•\tii, f the State, on its lofty moun- it caAons may this continent. Jtern Colorado he loess which summits. The ►'et it has been ire completely f the summits en the ranges iry, 1880. •• ' "■ run NATURAL WONDKKH OF COLOHADO. 63/ the great parks are tertiary. At numerous points on the moun- tain sides and in the canons the coal crops out, sometimes ter- tiary lignites, but as often from the upper coal measures, and in the southwest from the lower coal measures. Sandstones, lime- stones, slates and shales of every geologic age crop out, espe- cially in Western Colorado, and triassic and Jurassic rocks appear lx)th in the San Juan country and in the region lying between Pueblo and the Spanish peaks. In the vicinity of many of the coal beds the rocks are cretaceous ; while the Devonian and Silurian systems are largely represented in the south and south- west. In the upper valleys of the Rio Grande del Norte, and in the vicinity of some of the affluents of the Grand river, there are evidences of extensive volcanic action. " ' ' ' The erosive action of large streams having a rapid descent and perhaps also of glaciers (though this is not quite settled) has nowhere produced such remarkable results as in Colorado. It is not only manifest in those deep caftons which are only rivalled in Arizona, but in such wonderful productions as the " City of the Gods," in the White river region, in the northwest part of Summit county, where a tract large enough for a ciur is cut into the semblance cf cathedrals, castles, towers, and dwell- ings, in ruins indeed, but glorious in their ruin — the spires, domes, terraces and many storied temples set in such regular order and with such broad avenues between that it seems impossible that it should be other than the work of human hands ; or the similar though less extensive wonders of Monument Park, Talhott Hill and the Bottle Rocks ; or ihe remarkable arrangement of the rocks (which may or may not have been the result of erosion) in the " Garden of the Gods ;" or the Royal Gorg^e, or the Grape Ct*eek and Temple caftons, or the Grand caflon of the Arkansas, and farther west the Great cafton of the Gunnison. For an interesting account of some of these wonders, especially those of Fremont county, as well as of the remarkable bones of the gigantic Camarasuras and other fossils, reptiles and mam- mals of the Jurassic period which, in size as well as geologic ag^e, surpass all previous discoveries, we are indebted to Mr, J. G. Pangborn, author of the " N«w Rocky Mountain Tourist," a part . ,jM%ii^M»«k«Ui«i&-^;aMtjlAf«^M.£ ' 5^8 0^'^ H'HiiTliKN EMPIRR. of whose very vivid description of a tour through this true won- derland we here introduce to our readers. , i ,, i ,u 1 ^. ,. . ,,^ ♦'Ratiliiij^ over the hridj^e spannit»^j the Arkansas at the city's* feet, we speed on through clumps of richly foliated trees, and in a few moments arc at the entrance of the canon, catching a glimpse, just as we enter between its towcrin^^ walln, of the Grand caAon of the Arkansas and the cosy-looking l>ath-houses at the springs near by. A quick word of wonder at the height and the closeness of the walls, a sharp turn of the road, and look- ing back, the way is lost by which we came. Here in die solitary mountains we are alone. No world behind ; no world before. Turn upon turn, and new walls rise up so abruptly before us as to cause an involuntary cry of terror, soon relieved, however, as our excited senses become more familiar with the new tension upon them. Awe still holds us bonden slaves, but the eye drinks in such beauty as fairly intoxicates the soul. On either hand the walls loom up until only the slender opal of a narrow strip of sky forms exquisite contrast with the pine-covered heights. RiHed boulders every now and then wall in the road on the river side, their base washed by the creek, wild and beautiful in Its whirl and roar. Here the perpendicular piles of rock are covered with growths of trees that ascend in exact line with the wall and cast their shadows on the road below. Nature's grape- vines trail along the ground and cling around the trunks of the trees, hanging like Arcadian curtains and making bowers of the most exquisite character imaginable. Between these, we catch bewitching glances of the creek on its merry, tempestuous way to the Arkansas, its sparkling surface throwing back rapid re- flections of masses of green foliage and trailing vines. Deep pools give back the blue of the cloudless sky, and as base accom- paniments come in the dark shadows of the caflon walls with their sharply drawn ridges and truncated cones. Here and there, all along the wild way, are rushing cascades, tortuous twists of the stream, gayly lichened or dark beetling rocks, mossy nooks or glowing lawns, and overhead the cottonwoods mingling their rare autumnal splendors of red and gold with the sombre green . .f.GKtMiCidi..' this true won- as at the city's* (*d trees, and in fton, catchini^ a if walln, of the ing lath-houses Lir at the height road, and look- e in the solitary o world l)eforc. tly before us as t'ed, however, as the new tension Jt the eye drinks either hand the narrow strip of lovered heights, he road on the Id and beautiful )iles of rock are act line with the Nature's grape- le trunks of the g bowers of the these, we catch empestuous way ; back rapid re- g vines. Deep i as base accom- 1 walls with their re and there, all as twists of the mossy nooks or mingling their e sombre green i GItAPii CMUMk' CANON. ^ of pine and cedar. The caflon is beyond question the most b<'iKitiful in marvellous coloring, wondrous H|)U:ndor of foliage, picturesque caHcadrs and winding streams ol any in Colorailo. The Grand carton of the Arkansas is deef>cr, but it is awful as seen from the only point di view, that from the top, and the sen- sations caused in strongest of contrast with those expcricnc(d in Grape Creek canon. The walls of the latter are so gorgtous a variety of colors as to fairly bewilder with their splendor : rt tl— from the darkest tinge of blood to the most delicate shades of pink ; green — from the richest depths to the rarest hues of the emerald ; blue-— from the opal to the deepest sea, variegated until almost defyin, the rainbow to excel in cxciuisitc blending. These glorious transiuons of color meet one at every turn, and the contrast formed every now and then by tremendous walls of bare, black rock, or broad seams of iron ore set in red or green, render all the more striking the singular beauty of the carton. Over the walls on either side, the grapevine, from which tlie carton takes its name, climbs in wonderfully rich profusion, and in autumn, when the leaves become so delicately tinted and the vines hang thick with their purple fruit, the effect is something to call to mind but never to describe. Added to the indescribable beauty of the vines are the many-colored mosses which paint the rocks in infinite varietyofhue.ofttimes growing so high and rank as to reach to the very pinnacle of the topmost rocks and fringe their craggy brows so lavishly as to render them almost symmetrical in appearance as seen below. At different points these moss- covered walls rise to the height of i,ooo feel, and so completely do they hem one in on all sides that with but slight stretch of im- agin^ition the place could be viewed from below as a gigantic, moss-covered bucket, but one that never 'hung in the well.' Just above Temple carton, and where Grape creek enters the carton of its name, the walls are exceedingly high and precipitous, and in the coolest nook of their shadows, where sunlight can never reach, is a quiet, placid pool of water clearer than a crys- tal, and so faithfully reflecting back the curiously and brilliantly colored rocks overhanging it, as to have gained the name of Painted Rock Pool. It is a very gem in itself, and its setting I' »- w..:.i%l>!afM(il hi «(l MP« . W j*iaM>i f .ji*ia,H.. ■^■JH^SSMmSRl 640 OUn WgMM/tN MMPfJUt. 'inU ihr rare );ranci(*ur of tlu) nurruunUinK'^. tH well in kocpini^, Thoiic viMtiiiK the cafiun kliouM iii^t iiiil lu iolluvv u|> the cuurM< of the creek from the puint where it (kbuiuheii into the cuAon. It will liMVC to be ilonc on foot, but the wholly unexpected kvir- priscM of the hour or two's rumble will more than repay tiic ex* ertion. The walls of the iiiiJctt of the parent tanun are fully 1 ,500 feet in height, and so narrow that the tall (>ineH and cot^ tonwoodtt keep the gor^e in a teinler lutlf-li^ht, broken at miii" day by ^1^'*^"^ ^^^^ ^'^' K>^*' <> tnauiuil charm to the hiMnt. On all nideit from points in the waJU ot rotk, tuftH of ({raH» and blue- belU K''<3^> forming;, witii the (grapevines, most plcatiin^ pictures in contrast with many-tinted rocks, in the crevices of which tlK'ir roots have found nourishment Tlie walls are of almost as many colors as there are sharp turna in the creek's <;ourse, and rarr and perfect in beauty is tJic amphitheatre of black rock with pearly-white veins runniii|( in every direction, the whole ove^*- hung by climbing vines and tlieir pendant berries. Just at the entrance to Temple cafion is a little grove of cottonwoodtt. Their pendant swinging boughs meet in perfect arches over- head, and the profusion of their polislKd. brilliant leaves renders complete the most charming of bowers in which t(^take the noon- day lunch and prepare for the climb into Temple caAon. which must be done on foot. Temple is a side caAon, with entrance from Grape Creek caflon, some four and a lialf miles from CaAon City, and was discovered but a year or two ago. " The climb is pot steep, though rather rough, especially to e6fect an entrance into the Temple proper, which is to tlte right of the little caAou, and can ooly be accomplished by clambering over several-huge boulders, which, '*i. removed, would render the illusion of a temple and stairway all the more striking. Once passing in through the great rifts of rock, (or all the world like the stairway to some grand place of amusement, the body of the , Temple is reached, aod to the tourist's astonislwneut, before him is a stage with overhaiigmg arch, with 'Hats' and 'Hies/ with dressing-rooms on either side, aind a scene alri^fidy set as if for some grand tableau. If so intensely realistic from the parquet, ja the broad circling floor oiight aptly be t;ei:i|ie<), or frqii^ ^h^ rUMfLM CASON AND IMK IMMri.K. 64* cll in koeiMMff. (i|> ihc cuurk« iiuo the caAon. ) repay the ex* iiWon arc fully [>lncH and i:u^ broken at mid- the ftcune. On K'raHsi and bluer cuKin}; picture* s of wiiich tiK'ir almuHt UH many Qur-ic, and rarr >Uck rock with \vt whole UVtiV- :$. JuHt at the :ii cottonwuodtt. ct arches ovet- t leaviifH renders ^take the noon- le caAon, which % with entrance ilttM froiD CaAon .. ., I . l\\ especiaJly to h is to die right I by clambering 'ould render the striking. Once II the world like tlie body of the (lent, before him and 'flies,,' with idy set as if for om the parquejt, ed, or frpw the par(iuc!t or dress-circlea. aa the hif{ltrr ledges woidd itugKCHt, the dumber up to the Htage itself rRndcm it ail the mure ho, ior tiicre is fouml ample room iot a full dramatic ur operatic com pany to dinpurt upon, while in the pcrpettdicL lar ledges and caves on eiUmr side, twenty-five to diirty people might retire und not bo observed from the body uf the liall. The stage is at tht; least thit'ty feet deep, and some sixty to seventy broad ; the arrh abtive fully one hundred lect from the floor of the canon, the stage itself being nlxiut forty feet ui)Ove the lluor. The arch is a most as smooth and perfectly proportioned aa if fashioned by the hand of man, and during the wet season the water from a stream above (ails in a great broad sheet over its face to the lloor of the caAon below. At such times the eiifect from the atage of the Temple is, aa can be imagined, exceedingly fasci- nating, for there, onUrcly protected from the water, one looks through the silvery sheen out upon tlie scene below. Upon the rear wall of the sta|^ quite an aperture has l>ecn hewn out by some action, and the shape it ia left in is peculiarly auggestive of tableaux preparation. Away up in the very higltcst crevice under the arch a pair of eagles have mated for years, and though most daring efforts have been made to reach the nest none have succeeded. The coming of visitora is almost invariably the occasion of a flight from the nest, and breaking in so suddenly upon the supernatural atillaesa of the place is apt to cause a shock to the timid not readily forgotten. There is absolutely not a solitary sign of vegetation about the Temple ; all is bleak, bare and towering wialla, and a more weird spot to visit cannot possibly be imagined. Coming out from the Temple itaeli* tlie touriat ahould by all meana clamber up to one of the lofty pinna> cles in the adjoining caAoa» for the sight from them down upon the mighty masses of rock below, the cottonwoods, the stream in Grape Creek caAon and the lofty walls beyond ia on« lobe treasured up amongp the bnghteat recollectioaa of the tour. " One could spend days in Grape Creek and Temple caAons alone, but our week demands that we should spend the second day in Oak Creek oaAoo, witk its wonderful formations of aroheai deep tints of evergreens and wealth of wild flowers. 4i V i s e^i 0V» UrgSTMtS MMtiMM. "OaV. Creek CAAon U left with unfri^'ncil rr^rrt, ami an wc toil u|) tlw! aiicent un thr return trip we cant many };lanir« tiock to ftiil iiitrmory in fixing; it» l)cautic*» upon the mind. A couple of mili-H over a road the tame»t itna^inablt*, after the thr(!e niilen of iluwn ^raile, hriH^H uh to the Ikixo of CurioHiiy Hill, well naiMcil, a» in upeedily proven by the diHCovery of all Ncrtx ol Odd and Ixrautiful little Hpeiimen» of ribbon inotm and linear a(,;ate cryytaU and the like. 'I he Hurface of the hill Ih onr vast tuld of curionitics. and ho plentiful and varied arc they that even thoHC UHually wholly indifferent to Nurh thin^n toon find tlieniitclvet vyin^ with the moHt cnthuitiasitic in v.xclamationH of deli^dtt upon findin^[ Home particularly attractive specimen. Hy blantin^, lar^'c^ iKxIicH of the mont perfect crystaU arc obtained, inv.iriably iH'ddcd in riblK)n a^ate of the moHt beautiful colorn ami t.hapett, and polinhin^ readily, they form beyond all comparison th*! love- lifHt of cabinet attractions. Many very valuable ipecimens of blood n^atc have In^en found on Curiosity Mill, and for ay;atcs of all hues and formn it Ih possibly the most satisfactory furld for the specimen-HJ'ckrr in Southern Colorado. Troltinjj homeward we watch the blazing splendor of the sunset upon the lofty heads of the rocky monarchs around uh, while the cool twilight of the open park between us and CaAon City envelops all about our road. -' lii '/>■ k' ' (If. .;. tri i i moil i\\ aW j ^> :\*ki.t.\>* ' " Next morning we are off for Oil Creek caAon, which is wholly different from others seen thus far. The windings of tht; road in following the heavily-wooded stream are decidedly of a ro- mantic character, running now through a bewitching little ^rovc. and the next moment joining with the merry waters and k<:eping them close company until another cluster of aspens or firs causes a separation of sight only, for the music of the foaming stream comes to us through the leaven, thus rendering the meeting all the more delightful. A half mile from the mouth of the caAon we come upou the oil wells from which the stream tan, which is wholly lings of th<; road decidedly of a ro> ching little ?rovc, atersand keeping >ens or firs causes iC foaming stream g the meeting all >uth of the canon stream tailitieH an that more oil will Ik* taken frcun thcin thiH yrar than rvtr Ixfor" ^'mtc the fimt dincovery. Hcyond thr wclU the road windn aroiirul atul about in <:nticing proximity to the stream, and thrn leaving it, wintls high alMvc, crosHing picturotquc bridges, anti finally emerges into the open known as Oil Creek Park, hemmed in on all HidcH by ranges of Handntone that ^h()W a lOiintleHS succession of rock sculptures, the effect heightcneil by the briliiatu y an!«»;<■. ,»>w»8,iViWia*» »»v.iu.v m \ i \ ' ! ^ OLX IVESrEXff UMPIRE. ** The road, as it nears the head of the park, abruptly dashes into a thickly grown grove of pifton trees. We halt for a mo- ment to get a full view of the largest piAon tree in Colorado, ^nd probably in the country, and after entertaining something of a contempt for the scraggy little trunk of the average pifton tree, it is quite refreshing to behold one fully three feet in di- ^imeter, though all the more uncouth and ugly for its unwonted circumference. The piAons bear extraordinary quantities of the sweetest little nuts, but outside of this they are of no possible worth. Around the sharpest and steepest of curves, a dash across the madly-surging stream, and a heher-skelter scramble up a low but exceedingly rocky ascent, and we are at the mouth of Marble Cave, so near in fact as to barely escape falling into it ff\ looking for it. The ragged, jagged crevice by which the cav<; is entered is anything but enticing, and the sensation experienced ^s one's head is all there is left above ground is far from the pluasantest. " The descent is almost perpendicular for a hundred feet or inore», and the staircase formed by the broken ledges on eithei* f ide of the chasm far from soothiug to one's nerves, especially as all tlie lights obtained are th^. meagre glintings which steal through the three-cornered opening above and struggle faintly |)alf way to the bottom of the rift of rocks. Stumbling over un- seen' boulders, and barely escaping serious contact with the en- compassing walls, we grope to the point where our guide has l^indled a fire, £^nd 6nd it the intersection of the two main halls pf ti>e cave. The ghastly fkre thrown upon the wialls by the l>urning pine cljiUls us to the, bone, and a tremulous inspection of the situatipn adds no warnath. We are in a strange and awful rif( in SiPioite buried mountain, thewt^jlf so narrow that our elbows touch on either side, and sq wei^d and terrific in height, as seen thropg^x the, heavily-roljing si^pke, as to Ipok , ten times the 159 feet our guide infic»;ms us is, t^ distance toi the roof. The pine burns brighter, th^smQkCfgi?9lvs:diicker, but we press on, now crawling on all-fours into sonif? wondrous chamber of ^lactite apd; s^lagmite,. and anon tugging up a strand of rape over frightful bouloers that have fallen from the dizzy height 1 abruptly dashes ; halt for a mo- ee in Colorado, ig something of average piflon hree feet in di- br its unwonted quantities of the of no possible curves, a dash kelter scramble are at the mouth ipe falling into if. y which the c&vi: tlon experienced , is fyK fr,9;n. tl>e hundred feet or ledges on eithei* 'ves, especially as ings which steal struggle faindy iimbling over un- itact with the en- e our guide has e two main halls tjie w!alls by the lulous inspection I a strange and • narrow fhat our te^rrii^c in height, Ipok.tea times pc^ tQ the roof. ser, but we press 'ous chamber of a strand of rope the dizzy height MARBLE CAVE AND TALBOTT HILL. (J^j above, to obstruct nun in learning the secrets of this awful con- vulsion of nature. We penetrate into Satan's Bower, we look ghudderingly into his Punch Bowl, and gasp as we throw our- selves into his Arm-Ch^ir. We draw longest of breaths in Queen's Grotto, and the shortest when thoughts of the way back over those fearful rocks crow^l in and demand consideration. Certainly the clear blue sky never was half so Icveiy as when wq fmaliy stand under it again. The cave is, as its name implies, encompassed by marble walls, and the specimens of marbhi brought from its innermost recesses, as seen in the fuM glare of the sun, are exceedingly beautiful in their mottled surface of red and white. The marble is susceptible of the highest and ridiest polish, and parties in CaAon City use it for artistic as well as practical purposes. All about the hill, from the low crest of which the cave is entered, are the finest specimens of jasperi agate and shell rock, and not far distant are immense treefi petrified to solid rock, and where broken often showing beauti'- ful veins of agate and crystals. On the return trip we take more notice of the cos; pnd comfortable farm*houses scattered throughout the park, and become much interested in the details of the yield of grain — principally wheat — secured through tha system of irrigation practised so extensively in the State ; in fact, no grain whatever can be successfully cultivated in Colorado without irrigation. Midway in the park we pull up at the pleas* ant home of the gentleman who is to show us to the top of TaU tjott Hill, where Professor Marsh, of Yale College, and Professor Cope, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, hav« parties at work exhuming the recently discovered bones of anj< mals, compared to which in proportions and importance the mastodon sinks to insignificance. We at once leave the road anji make direct for the wall of blood-red rock on the west side of the park, and a short drive bringing us to its base, we alight. Reaching- the sumfmit, the long-drawn breath of relief is half choked by tiie indescribable magnifk^nce of the view, and for the first dme we appreciate the sublimity and grandeur of the .Sangre de Christo range. A few more steps and we are at the tent of Professor Cope's party, and all within and without is i K- V ^^ OUR WESTERN EMPJRE. heaped -up bonen, rocks now, and many of them !vo perfectly agatized that at a casual glance it would stagger any but a scientist's belief that they were ever covered with flesh. As teen, here, however, it is so palpably apparent that the seeming rock and agate are bone as to leave no room for shadow of doubt. Before us are perfect parts of skeletons so huge as to prepare one for the belief that Noah's Ark was a myth ; sections of vertebrae three feet in width ; ribs fifteen fret long ; thigh-bones over six feet in length — and the five or six tons of bones thus &r shipped East comprising only the parts of three animals. In one pit the diameter of the socket of the vertebrae measured fif> teen inches, width of spinal process forty-one inches, and depth of vertebra: twenty-nine inches. In another place there was a thigh-bone six feet and two inches in length ; a section of back* bone lying just as the monster rolled over and died, with eleven ribs attached, the back-bone twenty feet long and from sixteen to thirty inches deep, and the ribs 6ve to eight feet in length and six inches broad. Just showing upon the surface was a part of H thigh-bone twenty-two inches in width and thirty in length, and near it a nine-foot rib four inches in diameter, a foot wide at six feet, and where it articulated with the vertebrae, twenty-three and a half inches in width. The entire rib was fifteen feet in length. All over the hill we come upon little piles of broken bones which will require days of patient labor and skillful hand- ling to properly set in place. The first discovery of the (ossils was made in April last by a young graduate of Oberlin College, who, teaching a country school in the park five days in the week, spent his Saturdays about the hills hunting deer, and occasion- i^lly getting a shot at a grizzly. Immediately upon satisfying fiimself of the character of the discovery, the young man wrote to his old Professor in Ohio, and subsequently to Professor Cope, of Philadelphia. Hardly had the latter organized his party of exploration before Professor Marsh had his, under the leadership of Professor Mudge^ of Kansas, duly equipped, and by the mid- dle of May both parties were actively engaged excavating, setting up and preparing for shipment the bones which Professor J^Iarsh declares are seven million years old. j.,,-M^.r>o>^-i\ ^'^^■■'ti^Bi n so perfectly ger any but a vith flesh. As at the seeming for shadow of i so huge as to myth ; sections ^S ' thigh-bones of bones thus ee animals. In X measured fif- ches, and depth ice there was a lection of back- ied, with eleven id from sixteen :t in length and e was a part of y in length, and foot wide at six ae, twenty-three i fifteen feet in piles of broken id skillful hand- ry of the lussils Dberlin College, lys in the week, r, and occasion- upon satisfying ung man wrote Professor Cope, ed his party of r the leadership )nd by the itiid- :ed excavating, which Professor ■....4 GIGANTIC CHARACTER OF FOSSILS. 647 "The first animal discovered was of entirely new genus and species in scientific circles, and was named the camarasuras su- premus, from the chamber of caverns in the centres of the vertebrje. Of the first petrifactions exlnimed was a femur or thigh-bone six feet in length, scapular or shoulder-blade five and a half feet long, sacrum, or the part of the backbone over the hips — corresponding to four vertebrae united in one — forty inches. Vertebrae immediately in front of this measured in elevation two feet six inches, and the spread of the diapophyses was three feet. Professor Hayden, the widely-known chief of the United States Geological Survey, upon visiting this place and inspecting these and other parts of the animal, declared it his conviction that the beast must have been fully a hundred feet in length. The thigh-bone, measuring some six feet, stood over the hips eighteen to twenty feet. The animal was undoubtedly shorter of front than of hind legs, and Professor Marsh thinks it had the power to raise up like a kangaroo on its hind legs and browse off the leaves of the trees from sixty to eighty feet in height. The professor also gives it as his opinion that the 'critter' fed entirely upon grass and leaves, the vertebrae of the neck being some twenty-one inches in length, and the spread of the diapophyses three feet, this being understood of cervical vertebrae. The skeleton is not completely exhumed, though between 7,500 and 8,000 pounds of bone have been shipped to Professor Cope. A part of the jaw of a laelaps trihedrodon, ten inches long, and containing eight teeth varying from five to eight inches in length, has also been shipped. Recently a leg bone of this same animal was exhumed and found to measure a little over four feet, and with a portion of the head all crushed into small pieces, sent on to ihe professor. A part of the femur of another animal has been found, measuring six feet, but somewhat lighter than the others. The vertebrae are three feet six inches in eleavtion, showing a very tall brute, but not so heavy as the camarasuras. When found, it was lying on the right side with vertebrie and ribs of that side in place, the ribs measuring over six feet in length, and the prongs where they join the back fifteen inches in width. Many of the bones of the camarasuras are misplaced i j^|8 OVR WESTERN EMPtKE. and broken up, quite a pile being found at the spot where several of the teeth of the trihedrodon >*fere discovered, thus indi- cating the preying of the one upon the other. While the general estimate of the age of these huge fossils among American geol- ogists is sev'en million years, English scientists declare them fourteen million years old. Both the camarasuras and the trihedrodon were of the Jurassic period, being found in beds, which, according to Professor Marsh, correspond with the Wealden beds of England. All this section of the country must have been a plain when so much of Colorado was covered by an ocean, and before the mountains were formed. The fossils are found in rock long upheaved, its character now a sort of shale or marlite, which upon being dug out and exposed to the air crumbles to pieces. In most instances it is free from bone decay, the parts of animals taken out being remarkable for their clean and per- fect solidity. Marsh and Cope agree that the camarasuras was the largest and most bulky animal capable of progress on land of which we have any knowledge, it being very much larger than the mastodon, which was of a much later period. ''Professor Mudge, with his party, is working about three- quarters of a mile distant from Professor Cope's camp, and very recently discovered portions of an animal of even more monstrous proportions than those already referred to, and of entirely di(^ ferent genus and species from either. The explorations of the Marsh and Cope parties will be pushed with all possible vigor, the entire scientific world being intensely interested not only in the work here on Talbott Hill, but in the setting up of the gi- gantic skeletons at Yale College and tlie Academy of Natural Sciencesat Philadelphia. Excursions from several of the leading colleges to the scene of the discoveries are [Planned for the sum- mer, and the season's work promises to add to the lively in- terest in sdlendAc drdes. " The next morning our way is coudiward ten miles or more to the coal mines, stopping at the iron spring a little over three mHes from town. It is up a short, dry gulch ksa^ding off from the road, and quite peculiar, inasmuch as the water springs from and has worn its tiny channel up the very edge of a long, thin ridge that M he spot where krcrecl, thus indi- lile the general American geol- decbre them isuras and the found in beds, pond with the le country must covered by an The fossils are sort of shale or the air crumbles decay, the parts ■ clean and per- amarasuras was rogress on land luch larger than ig about three- camp, and very more monstrous 1 of entirely dif- slorations of the 1 possible vigor, •ted not only in g up of the gi- cmy of Natural al of the leading red for the sum- to the lively in- niies or more to over three mles RT from the road, s from and has <;, thin ridge that co^/. DF.iOsns OF CA^oy cnv. 6^q juts out into the gulch. Over the face of the ridge the water has scattered its iron sediment with lavish freedom, but only in this is there anything that to the eye indicates aught but spotless purity in the wonderful clearness of the spring. To the taste, however, the iron at once asserts itself, and the water is so strongly charged with it as to render it the healthiest of bever- ages. We drink our fill, and arc off for the coal mines. An hour, and we are bowling along in a coal truck attached to a blind mule, through a vein of solid coal something over five feet in diameter. It is a weird ride, this mile or more into the inky bowels of the earth, the faint shadows from our diminutive lamps causing a ghastly effect not ut all lessened by the blackness of the coal on eitlier side and overhead. Every few feet we peer into the dusky depths of the apparently unending series of side chambers, catching quick glimpse of the little fire-bugs, as the miners look to be, as we pass so swiftly on. We see not the forms of the men, their faces, nor their hands, only the lamp- wicks' sickly flaring from the unseen hats. Every now and then piles of powder in canisters almost block up the entrance to the chambers, and at one point we are shown the very fuse that sent a poor miner to his death but a day or two before. But still the old, blind miile trots on, and the passing through and rapid closing behind us of the heavy, oaken door, that preserves the little of wholesome air left in the drift, is as if it barred us for- cvermore from the world behind. The ride in appears an age ; rtic ride out but of a moment's time in comparison. There are eighty-six side cliambers, or rooms, as the miners know them, in the main entry, fifty-seven in another entry, and in all, four miles of track upon which the coal is carried to the outer world. The veins average five feet two inches, and run three and one-half miles east and west, and ten miles north and south. A hundred miners are at work, and the yield averages 400 tons per day. The gigantic solid lump of coal eight feet nine inches long, six feet across and four feet four inches high, that attracted sutfh great attention at tjse Cemteonlal, being b^opd all comparison the greatest single piece of coal on exhibition, was taken from this mine. It weighed seven tons, and was cut and brought out i I I ; i -^t^lk^Aamt'a 0ro OUR WESTERS EMPIRE. of the mine in tl^ee days. Canon City coal is probably the finest bituminous coal in the world, and is so extensively used through* out the West as to require the running of special trains for coal alone, on the Denver and Rio Grande road, which has its own track to the mines. The supply is beyond all human calculation, for the valley of the Arkansas is one vast coal bed for mile upon mile. • I'juc." )■: ' ' '' •" I- •• On the return trip we make quite a detour to the east, to spend a litde time at the gypsum beds, which are twelve feet in thickness. " Leaving the hotel immediately following an early breakfast, next morning, a drive of twelve miles brings us to the Grand Canon of the Arkansas. Disappointment is bitter, and feelings of resentment almost beyond control, as nowhere cait the eye discover the cafion. In the immediate foreground the piAon growth is rank and dense ; just beyond, great, bleak ridges of bare, cold rock contrast strongly with the profusion of foliage hiding everything beneath from sight, while away in the dim dis- tance the snow-crowned peaks of the continental divide are out- lined sharp and clear against the solid blue of the morning sky. Though grand beyond anything we have seen in amazing extent of vision, the mind is so wrapped up in the anticipation of full realization of thegloorn, and vastness, and solemn grandeur of the Grand Cafion, as to resent almost angrily their apparent absence. A half dozen steps from the clump of piflon trees where the horses have been fastened, and all thoughts of resentment, of disappointment and chagrin vanish, and a very cry of absolute terror escapes us. At our very feet is the cafion — another step would hurl us into eternity. Shuddering, we peer down the awful slopes ; fascinated we steal a little nearer to circumvent a very mountain that has rolled into the chasm, and at last the eye reaches down the sharp incline 3,000 feet to the bed of the river, the impetuous Arkansas, forty to sixty feet in width, yet to us a mere ribbon of molten silver. Though surging madly against its rocky sides, leaping wildly over gigantic masses of rock and hoarsely murmuring against its imprisonment within these lofty walls, it finds no avenue of escape. Every portion of these marble 1 bably the finest ' used through- trains for coal h has its own nan calculation, d for mile tipon to the cast, to L" twelve feet in . , i ' ' arly breakfast, to the Grand er, and feelings re carf the eye und the pifton )leak ridges of ision of foliage in the dim dis- divide are out- le morning sky. amazing extent icipation of full grandeur of the parent absence, rees where the resentment, of cry of absolute — another step peer down the circumvent a 1 at last the eye »ed of the river, Ith, yet to us a madly against js of rock and thin these lofty of these marble THE KOYAL GORGR. %^\ bastions is as smooth as if polished, and ns stationary as the mighty walls that look down upon them from such fearful height. " Fairly awed into a bravado as reckless as it is strange to us, we crawl out upon tottering ledges to peer into sheer depths of untold ruggedncss ; we f»rasp with death-like clutch some over- hanging limb and swing out upon a promontory beside which the apex of the highest cathedral spire in the v/orld would be as a sapling in height. We crawl where at home we would hardly dare look with telescope, and in the mad excitement of the hour tread, with perfect abandon, brinks, the bare thoughts of which, in after recollection, make us faint of heart and dizzy of head. Eager now for still greater horrors of depth, blind to every- thing but an intolerable desire to behold the most savage of nature's upheavals, the short ride to the Royal Gorge is made with ill-concealed impatience. If our first experience upon the brink of the Grand Caflon was startling, this is absolutely terrify- ing, and the bravest at one point become the most abject of cowards in comparison at the other. At the first point of obser- vation the walls, though frightfully steep, are nevertheless sloping to more or less extent ; here at the Royal Gorge they are sheer precipices, as perpendicular as the tallest house, as straight as if built by line. So narrow is the Gorge that one would think the throwing of a stone from side to side the easiest of accom- plishments, yet no living man has ever done it, or succeeded in throwing any object so that it would fall into the water below. Many tourists are content with the appalling view from the main walls, but others, more venturesome, work their way 600 to a 1,000 feet down the ragged edges of a mountain, that has parted and actually slid into the chasm, and as we have come to see it all, the clamber down must be accomplished. For some distance we scramble over and between monstrous boulders, and then reach the narrow and almost absolutely perpendicular crevice of a gigantic mass of rock, down which we must let ourselves 100 feet or more. As we reach the shelf or ledge of rock upon which the great rock has fallen and been sundered, we glance back, but only for a second, the thought of our daring making us grow sick and dizzy But a step or two more, and the descent just r (}p oim ir^.fr/ix\ B.vrmn. made sinks Into utt^r tnfti{;f)ificiinr« romparwl to what is brfofe us. Then we had the hugt! walls of the part^Mi rock as the rails of a staircase : now wc have naught but the smooth, rounded surface of the stonn-washed boulders to clin^ to, and on either side of our narrow way, depths, at the bottom of which a man's body could never be discovered with human eye. Behind us the precipitous rocks, over and through which wc came ; ahead of us the slender barrier of rock overlionginj» the appalling chasm, and all there exists between us and it. Cowards at heart, pale of face and with painful breath, we slowly crnwl on hands and knees to the ledge, and as the fated murderer feels the knotted noose fall down over his head, so feel we as our eyes extend beyond the rocks to catch one awful glimpse of the eter- nity of space. Few dare to look more than once, and one glance suffices for a comprehension of the meaning of the word depth never before even dreamed of, and never afterward forgotten. The Gorge is 2,008 feet sheer depth, the most precipitous and sublime in its proport'ons of any chasm on the continent. The c;)posite wall towers hundreds of feet above us, and If possible to imagine anything more terrifying than the position on this side, that upon the other would be, were its brink safe to ap- proach. Overhanging crags, black and blasted at their summits or bristling with stark and gnarled pines, reach up into pro- foundly dizzy heights, while lower down monstrous rocks threaten to topple and carry to destruction any foolhardy climber who would venture upon them. Among all the thousands who have visited the Grand Carton and the Royal Gorge harm has befallen none, for, despite the seeming horror of the situation, the appall- ing depths and rugged paths, the fascination of the danger appears to give birth to greatest caution. Tlie Cafton, except in the dead of winter, is approachable only from the top, the walls below being so precipitous, and the river sueh a torrent, as to defy all access. When frozen, as the waters are for brief periods during the coldest months, the way up tJie caflon may be accom- pli^ed, but otAy at the rislk of personal comfort and not a fittir dan^r. Mr. Talbott, the photographer at Carton Qty, vent«reoded slopes and 'ious monuments her, and holding le gust of a mo- 65 J tutnts iluration would hurl thrm from tli/zy heights to ilu- |rv»| of tlu: park. Wlule in tlif park, tuagnidcmt views ar«' obtaitx d of Mount lUanca and Pike's Peak, either of them not Iish tl an eighty miles away, and at the siunmit of the divide Ixtween Pleasant Park and the South Arkansas — altitude 7,800 feet — the view in all directions is beyond description. From this the detce.nt is commenced ; at nightfall the solid, comfortable and roomy old stone house, known, Colorado over, as Pales', is rrached, ami with it the South Arkansas. Twenty miles farther is tlu! Chalk Creek region, with its hot springs, fishing and hunting, and thirty miles beyond are the noteil Twin Lakers. I''ifteen miles from the lakes is California (iulch, with the wondtrrful Mount of the Holy Cross to the north." There are, in th«! southwestern part of the State, in La Plata, Conejos, anil San Juan counti<;s, and around the head-waters of the sources of the .San Juan river, many of those ruins of houses cut in tho rocks of the perpendicular cliffs, or on the summits of the isolated mesas or table-rocks, of which there are so many hundreds of examples in Nc»v Mexico, Arizona and Southern Utah. This whole region was densely populated ages ago, and by races far superior to the existing tribes of Indians. The Moquis, already described in our account of Arizona, may possi- bly belong to the same race with these cliflf-dwellers, for they have similar ideas in regard to their dwellings and languages, customs, habits and religion, entirely diverse from any of the other Indian tribes, but some of these ruins are many centuries old. They were in their present condition of ruins when the Spaniards first penetrated here, 330 or 340 years ago. That they had formidable enemies, whose attacks they evaded by their fortified dwelling-places, seems evident ; but whether those enemies were Apaches, Aztecs, or other tribes or nations, now, like themselves, extinct, does not clearly appear. The extent of these ruins, often 2 jo by 600 or 700 feet, the massive blocks of stone of which some of them are constructed, and the vast labor by which others were hewn out of the solid rock, are well fitted to excite our admiration. The Estufas or chapels, for their worship of the sun in these buildings, were very large and '\ .'■«» ■«tijtifa«>3«a«fe;r'ifcaMit*'iMB«i wgslwlfe- n gj(^ OlM tt^AMfAAAf AM/'/AX. claboratrly con»lriu trt>(li(!» of their clc;ul. (Sc*c Ahuona.) The mineral wealth of ColuraUo tltMH not conniHt alone in the anioutu of the precious inetaU containeil in it» bruiKl mineral IktU, thoii|(h thJH will eventually be roiuul, we think, y^reater than that of any other State, hut inchulcs al»o copper, leail. zinc, platina, tellurium, iron in vaHt quantiticit and of all kind* of ores, coal, );y|>Hum, salt, kaolin, and pottery clayi, etc., etc. The coal of Colorado h worthy of Hp'.'cial r-jmark. It In widely distributed, being found and worked in Weld, Boulder, JefTrmon, Kl I'aso, I''r<'*mont, Huerfano, \a» Animas, and La i'lata coun* ties, and is known aUo to exist in San Juan, Ouray, Gunnison and Summit countitii. It is of very different c|ualitiet and cf different ^eolo^ic ages. In the nortli it in a lit{nite of the terti- ary period, of very good quality. Toward the centre of the State it is a lignite of the cretaceous period, but of still betlei quality. In the aouth, in the vicinity of Trinidad, IruLibly Lurncil t uiKt aluiio in the U bruHtl ininrral ink, urtiUcr than pptr, Itatl, zinc, all kindt of ores, cic. ark. It in widely ouldir, JcflirrHon, I -a llttta roun- )uray, C«unniHon <)uulities and cf nitc of the tcri> ie centre of the it of still betlt I lad, I^ft Animav led, and the coal :«t of the Rocky e coal ineasiireM, : action in Las ected the quality !W Mexico, mak- luminous coal, a lt« coal mines of acite, have been :if Mounnvins. The Mark and brown iM-.ir occur in run ttidi* ruble nunibiint both in liastem ami Western Lolurado. and urr hunted to Mime cjitcnt. The \if\tt\y bear is not common cvrn west oi the KtKky Mountains and is unknown in I'l^intcrn Coloratk). lb! in a for- midable cuntomer in a clo»c h^^ht, but is caHily fri^hicnnl away by HhoutH or yrlU, when uniujun-d. The (>unKi, (ou^ar or ^lauihcr is somewhat rare, except in the northwv^t ol the ^tatc, but his con^^cner, the jatfuar, American or mouniain lion, in found west of the Rocky Mountains, in tJic San Juan couoir), tliouj^^h his habitat has brrn ^'rnrraiiy supposed to !>«; limited to Texas and Arizona. The |;ray or biaik wolf i« foiuul wesit of the Rocky Mountains, antl. pe.rhaps, cant of them , the prairie wolf, usually, thuut^h perhapn incorrectly, called ioyoti\ in fretpicnt enough in iviHtern Colorado, but not plenty in the west. I'Ik: lynx, ocelot, wild cat, iiurtin, Hshcr, and !»kunk are her", an clsf* where, in considerable numbers. The buffalo still frecpieniit, thoutfh in greatly decreased numbers, the c|(;vatt:il plains of Eastern Colorado, but never appears in the muuntaina or west of them. His rare congener, the mountain or wood buffalo, is occasionally found, solitary, in tlu; Rocky Mountains. The elk {tvapiti), the fmcst game animal of the West, has b4*cn thus Tar very abundant in the West and especially in the great parks; but it has been so destructively hunted that its numbers arc fast diminishing. The Virginia and mule-deer are numerous, and the antelope is found on the plains, while in the mountains the bighorn, or Rocky Moimtnin sheep and, more rarely, the Rocky Mountain goat, are plenty enough to make hunting of them rare sport. The smaller rodents and munchers, squirrt I , of many species, beavers, minks, muskrats, rats, mice, moles, gophers, marmots, rabbits, sage, and jackass hares, etc., etc., are, in the agricultural district.s, more plentiful than desirable. .„, , Birds, though not as numerous as in California, are yet abundant and of many genera and species. Of birds of prey, there are two, possibly three, species of the eagle, several of the vulture, and hawks and owls in abundance. In and around the lakes, in the parks and elsewhere, and on the plains, arc a great 4'» j!iiai, i ,kt au^ .»f U>, *f^wiatMS,l&im*!-% M tiU»%'iaiiieKttt-n\}. u i ' i I t. 5jg Ol/X WESTEXN EMPIRE. abundance of game birds, the wild goose migrating southward, ducks, brant, teal, and other water and marsh birds, including cranes, ibises and English and jack-snipe. The prairie-hens and other species of grouse, partridges, ptarmigan, quail, and, more rarely, the wild turkey and pheasant, are found in countless numbers on the plains and in the parks. In the mountains arc many song birds.*** "">i vn < ,<-> ■\K\y\m> ii iwu ,.v;ii.,^ m iU'^iU- .m Reptiles are not very numerous lior formidable. There are lizards, horned toads and frogs, terrapins and turtles of the smaller kinds, one species of rattlesnake, and many harmless snakes. 'Fish abound in the rivers and lakes, most of them edible. Trout are plentiful, and of large size in all the mountain streams, and grayling, black bass, pickerel, etc. <>re found in the lakes and larger streams. Many of the streams have been stocked with fish from the United States Fish Commission. The insect tribes, though numerous enough, arc not as annoying as in some sections. Even the fly, which, in the West, accompanies civilization, has been known to the hunters in the Rocky Mountains less than ten years. The mosquito does not " pipe his soft note," nor present his formidable bill as ferociously as in Arkansas, nor are the other insect pests troublesome. The Rocky Mountain locust, rather contemptuously called "grass- hopper," and the ten-lined spearman, generally known as the " Colorado beetle " or potato-bug, are bNOth popularly supposed to be natives of Colorado. We doubt whether the State is en- titled to the honor or the reproach. Many circumstances seem * Mr. S. Nugent Townshend, an eminent English sportsman and correspondent of The FitlJ (London), thus spealis of some of the rarer game bird-", and animals he had shot in Northern Colorado : " A few of ihe rare species we have seen in the Rockies, all of whioh are worth preserving;, are the blue hares (white in winter) ; the gray-crowned finch, supposed to be the rarest lurd in America, because he is alwnys above timber-line, where few go to !dok for him ; Clarke's crow, 4>r the noisy chatterer, also living only at great altitudes ; the pine grosbeak, also found only at high, elevations, red in summer, in winter gray, with yellow bead; long^crested jay, black head and crest, blue and black transverse, ribbed wings and tail ; red-shafted woodpecker, rather rare and a beauty, body cackdo-marked, with regular gray woodpecker head and breast, red under the wings. Great homed owls are, though handsome, very common, ai^ is the towhee finch. The crou-bred. foxes,, bet ween red and gray^ are large, abundant, b.id ve^ V^^^y. wiic« I U/ATXS AND MFNiNG IN COLORADO. 659 grating southward, sli birds, including he prairie-hens and n, quail, and, more bund in countless the mountains arc idable. There are and turtles of the nd many harmless i n,tl \v»\;Vj,'A , irl St of them edible, mountain streams, found in the lakes lave been stocked ission. The insect as annoying as in West, accompanies :rs in the Rocky to does not "pipe as ferociously as in troublesome. The jsly called "grass- ally known as the popularly supposed ler the State is en- ircumstances seem correspondent of 751* /)>/«/ tis he had shot in Northern which are worth pretervinR, >sed to be the rarest Itird in )ok for him ; Clarke's croW, groibcak, also found only at ong'crested jay, black head shafted woodpecker, rather ET head and breast, red under on, a& is the towhce fincb. nt, b.id veqr pretty when to indicate the origin of the latter from some part of the Great Basin, possibly in Western Utah; while the locust, according to its usual habit of making its original home in the desert, prob- ably made its way into Colorado from the arid plains and mesas of Southern Utah and Southern Nevada, or possibly from Arizona. At all events, they have never proved as destructive to the crops in Colorado as they have in Slates farther east and northeast. Mines and Mining Industry. — Though Colorado is likely to achieve some distinction and reputation for her agricultural and horticultural productions, and a much larger measure for her large stock-raising and wool-growing interests, which are now attaining such a wonderful development: yet she is and will h^partxctl- ienc^z mining State. About 100,000 mining claims have been en- tered upon her county records, more than 80,000 of which have been filed since 1875. Of these, of course, a considerable propor- tion have lapsed from not being worked during the time prescribed by law, and others perhaps from the poverty of the veins or lodes ; while of the placers some are exhausted, and others have been turned into hydraulic mines. But every day adds largely to the recorded claims. Those of Lake county, in the vicinity of Leadville, are many of them in litigation, claims having been abandoned or forfeited, or jumped and re-entered over and over again. Just now the drift of the mining population is mainly to Western and Southwestern Colorado, the San Juan and the Gunnison regions in the mountains and basins, and the streams having their . sources in the Elk, Uncompahgre, San Miguel, San Juan, Dolores and La Plata Mountains. Most of the streams in these mountains — all of them, indeed, except the highest sources of the Rio Grande del Norte, and the Sag- uache, which falls into the San Luis lakes — flow westward; here are found the Roaring Fork, the Gunnison, the Uncom- pahgre, the San Miguel, the Dolores, and numerous affluents of each, all tributaries of the Grand river, one of the two constit- uents of the Rio Colorado of the West, and in the extreme southwest, the Rio Navajo, Rio Blanca, Rio Piedra, Rio de los ^u?°^' ?'? ?'^"^^- ^'° ^^ '^s Animas (a large stream), Rio la v«KM»»i®.--- Vi .■i ,: ill ■■■;, 1i!: GxD oirjf fVEsrEKi^ EMPritE. Plata, Rio Mancos (also an important river), McEImo, HoveO' weep and East Montezuma creeks — all tributaries of the San Juan river, another of the principal affluents of the Rio Colorado. This whole region of Western and Southwestern Colorado, com- posed of the spurs and outlying ridges of the westernmost range of the Rocky Mountains, is full of veins and lodes of gold and silver, and unless portions of Arizona may be excepted, there is no richer region for the precious metals in the whole West. ' ' ' ' But let us go into the mining history of the State somewhat niore in detail. Gold was discovered in the Colorado Territory, not far from Pike's Peak, in 1 859 ; it was in refractory forms, mostly sulphurets of iron and gold, a pyrites of iron and gold reduced with great difficulty, though in the placers there was some free gold. The production for ten years after 1859 was dn an average about ^^3,000,000 per annum, exceeding that amount by $300,000 or $400,000 each year of the first five, and falling short of it by about the same nniof r^ in the last five.. All of this product was gold except about $330,000 of silver arid $40,000 in copper, both parted from the gold. The entire production of the Colorado mines and placers up to the close of 1869 was estimated at $27,583,081, and as it was apparently diminishing and was difficult of reduction, while that of Nevada and California was increasing, the population did not greatly increase and many of the miners migrated to Nevada and elsewhere. Thus far all the gold and silver had been pro- duced either on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains or at kast on the slopes of the front or lower range and east of the Main, Park, or Sangre de Christo range. But irt 1870 the silver product began to increase, moderately at first, bi'. •-oon more largely. Lake county had been among the earM^ ; )!'! pro- ducing counties, and its placers, though yielding from f .00,000 to $230,000, yet seemed to be gradually dimini$hing, tilljn 1876, they yielded but about $91,000; then came the wonderful dis- coveries of silver at Leadville and its vicinity, arid the large silver and gold developments elsewhere. The following tables show first the metallic prodliction of the !$tate up to the close of 1879, classed first as gold, silver, copper and lead, and total for each STATISTICS OF MINING TRO DUCTS. 6t)I ktcElmo, Hoven- ries of the San le Rio Colorado. \ Colorado, com- isternmost range Jes of gold and ncepted, there is irhole West. State somewhat lorado Territory, refractory forms, of iron and gold lacers there was s after 1859 was exceeding that the first five, and. in the last five. j30,ooo of silver Id. s and placers up 18 1 , and as it was iction, while that }pulation did not rated to Nevada er had been pro- Mountains or at : and east of the irt 1870 the silver :, bv'i soon more lifirMesi; ' oH pro- igC from " 00,000^ ihing, tltUin 1876, be wonderful dis- id the large silver wring tables show the close of 1879, nd total for each year; and second by counties in each year since 1870, so far as they have been officially reported. COLORADO'S MINIMG PRODUCT PRIOR TO 1880. Ymr. Gold. SlLVM. CuPfMI. Lbad. Total. PrrvioiM 10 laTo .... #97.9i],o8i 00 i-.fioafiao 00 9,000,000 00 1,795,000 00 l,7)tvoaa oo 9,009,487 00 9,161,475 09 9,796,315 89 3.148.707 S« 3.490.3*4 3« 5,700,000 00 |j30,ooo 00 650^000 00 1,099,046 34 1,015,000 00 t,i85/xio 00 3,096,093 00 3,I99«I9 00 3.3>5,59* 00 3.7»«.379 33 6.341. I07 ll 13,100,000 oo f40,o(» 00 90,000 00 30.000 oo «/JOO 00 65,000 00 90,197 00 90,000 00 70,000 00 93.79664 l9,ouo 00 150,000 oo 15,000 00 98,000 00 73.67600 On,ooo 00 Bo,ooo 00 947,400 00 «36«J4 73 899.584 61 >»7.5*3.o8> 00 9,670,000 00 3.059.046 34 3.790,000 00 4,098,000 00 5,969,383 00 5. 134.387 o« 6,191,907 8:1 7.»'6,98t J3 10,558,116 oo •9.679,584 «l 'Sn Mfl 1894 ;gJ:::-:::::::::::: ig;;;;--;;::;;;: Tolol IS3«>7.4SO 7* f 38,91 1,760 43 #789^93 64 y 1,960,584 34 #95.47».79o 99 !;. ..,1. ) .111 COLORADO'S MINING PRODUCT BY COUNTIES. 1870-71-72-73. Namis. Gilpin Clear Creek I^ke Park Boulder Summit Other Products.. .. Total of Colorado 1870. Si.5 ,5S«.o 481,3 ,ocm 00 35408 1 35,000 00 60,000 oo 130,000 00 I5o,«oo 00 171,645 92 ^2,670,645 9a 1871. #1,400,000 00 869/>46 34 100,000 00 100.000 00 250,000 00 66/100 00 274,000 00 I3.0S9/J46 34 •873. 11,389,289 00 1,503.29' 00 133,000 00 250,000 00 346,540 00 135.000 00 50,000 00 f 3,790/x» 00 1873. 11,340,502 00 1,205,761 00 230,000 00 459,000 00 390,000 00 106,000 00 2^.737 00 $4,028fioo oo jiU liii': ,r.oij jHiK tMt>^^ |^k> i'muu^xi-x-; K-.nu :.w t.^ ■ .i^ ...» COLORADO'S MINING PRODUCT BY COUNTIES, 1874-'7B-'76. " ^ COUHTIIS. - 5 f 1 I I ' I >"" ' ■ .!■«■ )li| .i» »— «i . ' i Clear CTeek,..a,.^Lf,4..4...3*Mr^', Gilpin ...v.. ;.... JPwk , boulder Lakie., Summit fVCmont.. The San Juan Region, Other sources and unaccounted for. .''-i-i'-^t^iBlk...' «874- #8,903.047 «> «.53».863 00 S96,39«oo 539,870 00 323,503 00 . I36,ic» 00 40,620 00 I5.362.383 00 1875. f 1 ,780,054 3» 1,520,677 13 716,258 63 6or "^ .'> 00 u «58 63 122413 7« 294,827 58 90,517 24 200,380 55 »S.434.387 02 1876. 11,983,548 28 2.105,544 78 550,044 84 547,085 20 90,900 00 350,000 00 251,121 06 244,663 66 70,000 00 16,191,907 82 I Kfc&tf.iS£L3U!i.:&bfO&VJi?«<%fiSgaitfP ■■ -acS^'-" .. Miitft rtM|- irili' ri 'i' U' 5(53 OUJf H'ESTEJt!^ EMP/KK. COLORADO'S MINING PRODUCT BY COUNTIES, 1877 -'78-79. (.nfurillH. ( — __ I l.-iUe (jilptn Clcitr deck I Houlder I ('u»Ier Hnrk Gunniaon I Summit I Chaffee The San Juan Region, Oiher sources Totals 1877. »5SS.33o 30 a,3o8,oj7 09 a,ao6,577 91 593.3*5 35 354,081 34 6i'>459 32 190,000 00 377^72 5» 118,000 00 17,216,383 53 1I71. I3>IS'>9>5 44 8,JB0,90I II a,5ii,ios 85 679,133 50 453,500 00 436,698 00 330,774 00 534,089 00 300,000 00 110,558,116 90 i«79. 113,033,808 61 3,608,055 00 1,913410 OC 800,000 00 730,000 00 434,749 00 300,000 00 295.7 « 7 00 71,240 00 483,500 00 13,940 00 * 1 9.679.5*4 61 i The firsi of these tables is remarkable as showing the won- derful development of silver production in the last ten years, and especially in the last five or six years. The carbonate silver lodes of Leadville and its vicinity, and the silver production in other counties in 1879 brought the aggregate of silver product to $13,100,000, and will probably bring it to j^ 17,000,000 or $18,000,000 the present year. Meanwhile, the production of gold is not only not diminishing, but last year was almost double what it had previously been, and the present year will probably advance still more rapidly. Gold production has passed through three successive stages ia Colorado. From 1859 to 1869 it was obtained very largely from placer deposits; and later from hydraulic mining, which is only placer mining on a larger scale ; ' then came the era of the sulphurets of gold and iron, and the tellurides, refractory ores, but rich in gold ; now the mines of the San Juan region (the counties of Hinsdale, San Juan, Ouray, and La Plata) as well as those of the Gunnison, so far as they are gold, are mostly free-milling gold, easily extracted, and yielding large amounts to the ton of ore ; the mines of Silver Cliff and Rosita, in Custer county, so far as they yield gold, which many of them do, differ from all the other gold mines of the State, but are not specially difficult of reduction. The mining product of Colorado seems likely to be, when it shall be well developed, of nearly equal values of gold and silver ; while its mines of copper, lead, zinc, iron, and coal are of great and constantly increasing ■MM , I877-'7S.79. • «79 5 44 112,032,808 61 1 II 2,608,055 00 5 85 1,913410 OC 3 50 800,000 00 00 720,000 00 8 00 434.749 00 300,000 00 4 00 295,717 00 71,240 00 9 00 483.500 00 00 12,940 00 6 90 * •9.679.5*4 61 aauirM,^.tMti' ihowing the won- le last ten years, e carbonate silver /er production in of silver product 3 $17,000,000 or le production of; i'as almost double ear will probably IS passed through 59 to 1869 it was and later from on a larger scale ; ' ind iron, and the V the mines of the Juan, Ou!ray, and ;o far as they are :ted, and yielding r Silver Cliff and gold, which many > of the State, but nining product of ! ^ell developed, of ' s mines of copper, stantly increasing M/AT/XG TOPOGRAPHY. ($53 vblue. Nevada, a much older Stat6. has produced much more nilvcr thus far, but, with her rapid and scientific development, and hor wide diffusion of the precious metals (the western half of the State being a vast series of ore beds), Colorado bids fair within twenty years to pass her sister of the " snowy plume." / ■ The Gunnison region, though but little explored as yet, gives promise of immense mineral wealth, as does also the whole of the San Juan country, and, when the Ute reservation is opened to settlers under the new treaty, there will be such an abundance of mineral wealth that the old story will be revived, " that the miners are completely discouraged, because they have to dig through four feet of solid silver to get down to the gold." < Let us take another glance at the mineral wealth of the State from the topographical point of view. The only part of the State which has noL, up to the present time, given indications of deposits of the precious metals, is the region lying east of the meridian of 105® west from Greenwich, and extending eastward to the eastern boundary of the State on the lozd meridian. This embraces the large grazing and, to some extent, farming counties of Weld, Arapahoe, Elbert, Bent and Las Animas, as well as parts of Huerfano, Pueblo, El Paso and Douglas, and small fractions of Fremont and Larimer. It is about three- sevenths of the State, and is a part of the great plateau or plain which extends with a very gradual slope to the Missouri river, and includes the whole of Kansas and Nebraska. There are not as yet any manifestations of mineral wealth in Costilla county, which includes the great San Luis Park, and is largely inhabited by Mexicans, nor very much in Conejos, both counties being largely inhabited by Mexicans. But the whole region west of the 105th parallel, except the two counties named, is « congeries of mountains, all or nearly all of which are rich In golci silver, copper and lead. - .v»«,, . r,Tr-.„ *,». ^r .,vtv. \t^.,-,^A-...A fK,"A belt," says Mr. Fo6sett, "showing but slight interruptkmst has been traced from the North Park and the northern part of Boulder county, south through Gilpin and Clear Creek, thence southwesterly through Summit, Park, Lake Chaffee, and into Gunnison county. It approaches the point where the great % % ''^IS&viiUs«-^fc*flWAi«»«wa'»*^'^" J 5- r t ( 5S^ OUk WBSTSMJV EMNME. Sawatdh (Saguache) or main range divides into the Sangre de Christo on the southeast, and the San Juan Mountains on the southwest. The belt appears at intervals in each of these moun- tain systems or their outlying spurs and valleys down to the New Mexico boundary, and across it. ' "In the San Juan Mountains, which form the Continental Divide in the south, it is rich in silver veins, extending all through the counties of Hinsdale, San Juan and Ouray. Gold is also found there, as well as in Rio Grande county. The gold and silver bearing deposits of the Sierra Mojada and of the hills and valleys skirting the Sangre de Christo range are fast bring- ing Custer county into notoriety. " The Sawatrh (Saguache) range extends from the point of union of the more southerly mountain systems northward to the Mount of the Holy Cross and the headwaters of the Arkansas, and IS but another name for a portion of the main Rocky Moun- tain divide. It forms the dividing line between Gunnison county and Chaffee and Lake counties, and also separates Summit from the latter. Rich mineral discoveries have been and are still being made on both its eastern and western slopes, silver being the predominating metal. .olrHu'l ,oni5h->ufl u> '^^r.^ ^'/i lf>v/ •9 « East of this, and of the upper Arkansas valley, is the Park range of mountains, separating the latter from South Park, and uniting with the main range at Mount Lincoln. This, with its fiiot-hills, is enormously productive. On the western slope are tltte world-renowned carbonate deposits and veins of Leadville, immeasurably rich in silver and lead, and the gold veins and aHuvial deposits of California Gulch. On the range itself and its eastern' slopes are vast numbers of deposits and veins. Sil- ver predominates ther«, %mx. gold, copper and lead are mined. Down in the park are gold placer mines." ^-y--^ ' Northward extends the main range which, all along its cdO^i! between Summit and Crand cduntite on t!he western slope and l^rk. Clear Creek, Gilpin, and Soulder on the east, is more or less rich in silver veins. Its extending fdot-hills possess veins and alluvial deposits rich in gold. The oii^lying mountain spurs, hills and gulches are also ribbed with hidtalliferous veins, some ,(y«.-..vi/V. t^-- 'i^BJ'Vm. ..;<>f^.... the Sangre de untains on thr of these moun- yrs down to the :he Continental extending all d Ouray. Gold nty. The gold and of the hilU e are fast bring- m rti* pbffft of lorthward to the >f the Arkansas, in Rocky Moun- jiunnison county :es Summit from :n and are still 5es, silver being illey, is the Park South Park, and I. This, with its estern slope are ins of Leadville, gold veins and range itself and and veins. Sil- lead are mined. along its course stern slope and east, is more or Is possess veins mountain sptrrs, rous veins, sotne MOUNTAINS FULL OF GOLD AND SIL VKK. (J^J producing silver and copper, others silver and lead, and others gold and silver, with one or both of the baser metals. Close beside each other, on tiiis eastern slope, are the famous mining districts of Clear Creek and Gilpin. The latter has produced most of Colorado's gold, and the former gave mucii the larger part of its silver for years, up to the time when Leadville came to the front. Both counties, however, have gold and silver mines, and so has Boulder, whose telluride veins, carrying the precious metals, are something rarely encountered elsewhere. Ouray, and indeed all the San juan counties, and Gunnison, possess rich deposits of botli metals, and will henceforth take a prominent place among the gold and silver producing counties. Westward, over among the mountains and valleys of Summit, Grand, and Routt counties, are numerous argentiferous and galena veins and gold-producing gulches and placers. Some of these have been worked for years, and others are of recent dis- covery, such as those of the "Ten Mile Range." Some are in- cluded in the great Ute Reservation, and cannot be explored or wrought until the recent treaty, which will open this vast tract to the market, is fully setded. The great central mineral belt of Colorado has a width of from twenty to eighty miles, but often branches off to the right or loft, and again contracts, so that the breadth is by no means uni- form. Continued discoveries indicate that its extent is not yet ascertained. It is impossible to make anything like a close esti- jriate of the wealth that lies imbedded in these mountains, where constant developments show that only the beginning of it has yet been found. Let us then briefly pass in review the mining counties, and classify as far as we mi^y tHeir mifieital wealth. We begin with -;!: •■■r- h-'v-.V' f-vf m/;;:^ '--rv ■!'' " -r*'-! Boulder county, as the first in which gold was discovered as early as 185S. Boulder county is not Only rich in mineral wealth but possesses a large amount of fertile lands under a high state of, cultivation. Its combination of mountain, valley and plain renders it admirably adapted to farming and horticulture as well as to mining, while its mineral deposits are of great extent and "iu I ^i mmmimmmtm 666 OVM tFESTMJtJV EMriRE. W 11..' - variety. Flourishing towns and beautiful Tarnis dot its surface, and mines and mills are profitably operatt^d all over the moun- tain sections, from the sunny plains at Houldcr back to the snow- barren summit of the snowy range. On the plains are extensive coal measures, and on hill-slope and in valley are rich and pleas- ant farms. The mineral deposits of Uouldcr arc very extensive, and embrace a wonderful variety. First, there are alluvial deposits in creeks and gulches, but these are of limited extent and mosdy worked out. The gold anu silver lode veins and the coal measures are the main sources of mineral wealth. The former are located on the mountains and the latter on the nlain.s. The lode veins may be classed under three heads : silver, gold and telluride; the latter carrying both metals. They are gen- erally of the kind denominated true fissure veins, very many oii' them having well-defined walls, and seemingly unending depth. They commonly occur either in gneiss or granite rock or between the two. There are exceptions, however, in regard to forma- tion, regularity and continuity. Several thousands of locations have been recorded, and the number profitably worked is large. Here, as in California, the placer deposits were first worked, but some large gold-bearing lodes were discovered as early as 1859-60, and the quartz mills for several years turned out a great deal of bullion. After a time more difficulty was experi- enced in reducing the ores and extracting the gold than was usua^ with free gold ores in other counties. Many processes were devised of reducing these refractory ores, but none of them were very successful. In 1869 silver ores were discovered near Arapahoe peak, in and about what has since bieen known as the Caribou mine. This has proved one of the most uniformly pro- ductive silver mines in Colorado for the past ten years. Many other silver mines have been opened on the same or adjacent veins. The prospectors searching for new gold or silver lodes in 1871, 1872 and 1873 often encountered mineral of great weighi but of a peculiar appearance, which they passed over as worth-> less. In 1873 Professor J. Alden Smith and others began to test this mineral and found it to be tellurides of gold and silver, ■i« t .ipVttCC^f ^ •«. 4i*K4* A»« ■ clot its surface, over the moiin- ck to the snow- ns are extenHive rich and pleas- very exLensive, lerc are alluvial ■ limited extent lode veins and ■al wealth. The r on the nlains. ids : silver, gold They are gen ■ s, very many oii* unending depth, rock or between egard to forma- nds of locations worked is large, first worked, but ■ed as early as rs turned out a ulty was experi- z gold tlian was Many processes )ut none of them discovered near en known as the it uniformly pro- n years. Many ime or adjacent silver lodes in of great weight over as worth- >thers began to gold and silver, GOLD ASli Xtl. VKK IN GlLriN COUNTY. ||» and especially the former, and that it was renuirkalily rich In gold. The combination of tellurium with gold prevented Its yielding well in the stamp mills, and it was found necessary to smelt the ores. Hy smelting they were found ver)- profitabie^ With the exception of one mine each in Calitbmia, Mf)ntana and North Carolina, the telluridc compounds oi the precious mrtalt are only found in Boulder county. They are somewhat difficult to reduce, and only in Colorado and in Uoulder county ha'i their working been found profitable. The tellurium itself has no economic value, and many of its compounds are intensely poison- ous and fcetid. The silver mines have proved profitable. The amounts of gold and silver taken iron the mines of Boulder are: of gold about two-thirds, silver one-third, in value. There are eight mining districts, viz. . Caribou or Nederland, Boulder, Ward, Gold Hill, Central, Orodelfan, Salina and Sugar Loaf. The actual production of gold and silver in the county in 1878, was $704,123.50; that of 1879 about ;|^8cx),ooo. The coal mines of Boulder county are lignites of the tertiary period, but are of excellent quality though not coking coals. Gilpin county is the smallest county in the State, and is mainly important for its mines, though it has some good farming and grazing lands, and some which arc of very litde value. It lies directly south of Boulder, and is bounded by that county, Jef- ferson, Clear Creek and Grand. Most f its population is con- centrated in Central City, Black Hawk an i Nevadaville, while a few are gathered in Smith's Hill, Empire City and Lawson's. The remainder of the county consists of farms and scattering mining camps. The gold belt of Gilpin county is a continuation of that in Boulder, and extends into Clear Creek county south of it, crossing the county diagonally. Its greatest development and most valuable deposits are in the immediate vicinity of the almost continuous city known under the names of Black Hawk, Central City and Nevadaville, though there are some valuable gold lodes outside of this. These mines have proved very rich, though owing to the combination of iron and sulphur with the gold, there lias until within a few years been a difficulty in reducing them. The new silver belt in the county extends to the I I i iiaiik* M« WhSlMlfi^ f-MfiitM. '\1 north and northwent of RIack Hawk, acroM North Clear Crnek ami uthci hilU (i.m York (*uldi to the {)'A'^ Milt. Some uf tiic •iJvcr iuiick here rank with the iK'ot in tin* State. 1 he pruUuctiun oC Um: preciouk metaU U'^^an in (Wlpin county in 1859, and has atcaciiJy increaHcil in v;ilue, except in 1K61 and 1866, to tint pruncnt time. More than $yji,ooo,ooo of |{old and tiilvor Iwve been producf.il in ilie county in that timt;. 'I'lu: yield in 1H78 wan $3,280,871. and in 1879, $2,608,159. Of tliit ahuut nine- tcntha is |;old, ei^ht per cent, silver, and tiie remainder copper and lead. The ores are not rich, but for tlu; most part arc now easily reduced. Most of them are treated by the stamp mill processes, though a few of them arc more readily and protitaUy reduced by the smelter, tilt; urn i^/i;., .^-ImiJi ..//i jLif«Ii. l.lfs> ii , No other county in the State has ^ivcn so uniform and ample returns in gold mining as Gilpin, and recent developments, both in gold and silver lodeti, give good reason to believe that its past production will very 80on be doubled and perhaps quad- rupled. The richest gold lock's on Quartz Hill and elsewhere are being consolidated, and contrary to usual experience are found to yitild more largely the deeper they go. At a thousand feet depth the ore is very rich. ThciC arr now in the county over 1,000 stamps and all are kept busy. Th(; mines arc splen- didly equipped, have a large capital, and the universal practice luivi is, to have large reserves of ore constantly on the dump, so as to avoid stripping the miae at any time of ore. In 1878 and A 879, new discoveries of silver ore were made of exceptional richness, yielding %t the rate of several thoKsand dollars to the ton. ao 1; »».i yifintoj niqlii ) k> ll'xJ bloj oilT .ftnai/i) vninin; i\yPear Cr0«k icouuty includes the region drained by South Gear creek, south and southwest of Gilpin, and bounded by that county on tlxe north, Jefferson county on the east. Park on tlv; south, and Summit and Grand on the west. The western part of the county is covered with lofty mountains rising to a height of I i/xw to 14,000 feet. There are twelve or fifteen of thes«: summits, spurs of the Colorado Front Range, and the streams whigh descend from their snowiclad heights cut deep cafions and long: narrow valleys and ravines, which are ribbed with veins MMMMH .st*-x' til Clear Crrck Sonif uf Ui« 1 he prtKluction >K59, and has i 1866. to tli<^ Aiui silver lutve yii.Ul in 1S78 lit ahuut ninc- naindcr copper St part arc now the Ntamp mill and profitably orm and ample .lopmenis, both believe tluit its perhaps quad- and elncwhere experience are At a thouHand V in the county nines are splcn- liversal practice :>n the dump, so i. In 1878 and I of exceptional land dollars to by South Clear mnded by that it. Park on tht^ he western part injf to a height fifteen of thes*; nd the streams It deep canons bbeU with veins s/irMM m an AH ckmmk county. Mp of ailvrr. In thrnr valleys m()%t of thr inliabitint* of the county httv* their dwcllin^-plut rs. C li'4r C retk county, until thn recent womlrrful dis(()v«ri(*!i at l.radviile, was conhidcrrd die licHt known and licnt (loveU)(K;d mlver district in CoUirudo. Mining for ^old commenced there in 1KJ9, and the firiit silver discovtry was madi' late in 1H64 on McClcllan Mountain. At first tlic Hil- ver ores could not be re Uieed in the county, and it was not till 1K6H that smelting was carried on to any ^rvi^< exti:nt in the county. Since 1H71 the annual prmluct has avera^^ed f 2,cxx).ooo, reachiny^ 1^2,306,578 in 1S77 ; $2.51 1,106 in 187H, and falling '>(f to $1,913,410 in 1H79. About nine-tenths of this was silver and tl>e remainder gold, lead, and copper, die value of the two base metals nearly equalling that of die ^Kl. There is a probability of an increase in the gold production in the future, as the I'Veo land, I lukill and some other lodes, carrying gold, silver and cop- per in nearly equal quantities, have now come into the posses- sion of an energetic and wealthy California company which is driving them forward to their utmost limit of production. Many of the silver mines, especially those on Sherman, Republican, Democrat and Brown Mountains, arc yielding very large quan- tities of silver ores which arc easily reduced. Tht-re are eight extensive reduction mills and works in the county, six of them in Georgetown. ( Lake County and LiadvilU. — I^ke county is not new as a gold- producing region. In i860 Gilpin county miners had penetrated there and found rich gold placers in a ravine which they i^med California Gulch. So abundant was the yield of gold and so easily and rapidly was it washed out that claims were staked out in a continuous line for the whole length of the gulch, about 33,000 feet or six miles. At one point the hills which bordered the ravine partially broke away, and the trade of the mining vil* lage, which soon had about 5,000 inhabitants, partly concentrated at this point, which was called Old Oro. This is partly on the site of the Leadville of to-day. Another centre of trade was two and a half miles farther up the gulch and is still known as Oro. The water supply was limited, and the site was so ele- vated, over 10,000 feet above the sea, that little could be done MM i«»KS«arwir8i»,-^Vi»' i*i I I \ \ 5^ OVA tfMMIMI/^ MMfiMg, in placer mininf; from the micldlt* of OctotMr to May or June. The {(reaier ynxn of the inincrit went to Diiivcr or to tlu- SiatcN on thr approach ol winter, and »ta)u«t till tiur next Huiiinicr, iiiott uf them nquantlcrioK their gninn before their return. Hut the placer* were very rich. Some claim* yieidcti over A thouHand doilarn a day, ami one firm wax Haid to have taken out $\oofioo in xixty days. Careful CMtintaten )(ivc |; i ,cxx),(xx) nn the yield of tite first «ummrr, and |i4,ooo,ocx} as the production of the Hix yearn ending; with December, 1S65. SubHctpient to that date the production wuk li^ht — |iicx),ooo or so for a year or two— dwindling to %to,oao in 1H69, and to flao,cxx> in 1876. Meantime placer and lode mines had lieen duv(;loped in other partH of the county, and some gold lodm were discovered near Old Oro. At Ctranitc, seventeen inilen away, and now the county-seat of Chaffee county, somr ^'old was discovered, and at Homestake, thirty miles nortli, on the Tennessee fork of the Arkansas river, mines were opened, which were at first rich it lead but poor in silver. In all up to 1873 the mines and placers of Lake county had yielded about $6,400,000, almost entirely Ifold. After that time, for three years tKo yield was li^ht. a part of it silver, and up to the close or 76 only amounted to $343,200. I. Some time in 1874 Messrs. VV. H. Stevens and A. B. Wood, practical men and experienced miners, had bought up a con- siderable portion of the California Gulch placer claims, which had been carelessly and imperfectly worked, and commenced building a twelve-mile ditch from the headwaters of the Arkansas, to re-work them by the hydraulic process, i his required con- siderable time, and the ditches and hydraulic apparatus were not ready till 1878. But Messrs. Stevens and Wood were too shrewd to let any chances of bettering themselves pass. The placer miners had from the beginning complained of the great weight of the boulders they were obliged to move over and over in the creek, but it had never occurred to them that these boulders might owe their weight to their metallic constituents. Messrs. Stevens and Wood ascertained that these boulders con* ouned a large amount of carbonate of lead carrying silver, and ' i to May or June. or to ilu- SiatcN xt HutnnK:r, inott turn. yielded over a Imvr taken out V |l I ,cKX),(xx) an the production SuhHe<|uent to or so for a year ao.cxx) in 1876. v(!lo|)cd in other discovered near y, and now the incovered, and at s»ec fork of the re at first rich it nines and placers 3, almost entirely 1 waH li^ht, a part nly amounted to and A. B. Wood, )ought up a con- cer claimH, which and commenced s of the Arkansas, his reciuired con- : apparatus were 1 Wood were too elves pass. The incd of the great move over and them that these allic constituents, ese boulders con* rrying silver, and Iff A aiOMi Of iAAPy/LLi(. ^1 very quietly secured government titles to nlni! rlaimii, earh com- prising i,S(X) iect l>y 3(X), or in all alxiut hx) uitch, truNsing Califontu (iulih and extemling high up 011 the liilU. The names of the princi|>al loraiiomt made by them \«Wla*»JI«aM k'«*''-^^ltU4«».JA>t^t. . Mk. I I I >i r wm ■m ^j2 ^^ff WESTERN EMPIRE. vicinity were equally prolific. The town had grown to bq morr than a mere mining camp by January, 1878, and its produ4:tion for the previous year was $555,cxx>. In April, 1878, George W. Fryer began to sink a shaft on the hill east of Stray Horse Gulch, now known as Fryer's Hill. His shaft struck at first low grade carbonates, and he gave his mine the name of New Discovery. A month later August Rische and George T. Hook, two pros- pectors without money, persuaded Mr. H. A. W. Tabor to fur- nish them what are called in Colorado " the grub stakes; " /. «., the necessary money outfit on the chance of a third interest in whatever they might discover. Ih this case the "grub stakes" amounted to $17. They struck ore very near the surface, sold their first wagon load for between $200 and $300, and found it growing richer as they went down. They named the mine the Little Pittsburgh. In September of the same year, Tabor and Rische bought out Hook, paying him $98,000 for his one-third in- terest in the mine. This mine was ncyw consolidated with d,coo eadville is a ear- in placers nor in I CHAFFER ASn PARK COUJVTIES. •Mm» fissure veins, but in broad strata of ore between strata of rocik^ which have received the name of " contact lodes." >i • m!' The "Eagte River country" and the "Ten Mil« District," north and northwest of LeadviUe from fifteen to twenty-five nuies, are also engaging the attention of miners as exceptionally rich in the carbonates. They may prove formidable ri>vals lo Leadville. The completion of railroad oommunkatton with Leadville by two routes, will gvve that wonderful city a stiU more tapid develofmaent < ' O": " iii>.iiiii<>iri ii'i to -iloiJw H There are, oi course, seasons of depression in all these mining interests. The Corastook Lode in Nevada, after years of un- rivalled prosperity, has coaie to a ttm» when the yield of its mines does not pay expenses, and the Little Pittsburgh and Amie have had a somewhat similar, though fortunately a less protracted, experience of the same kind ; but the prosperous days will return, and the we^th, hoarded up for geologic a^es in these mountains, will be put ax the service of man. <> ! !<:' ) ' CItuffee 'tountyt a new county set ofT from Lake, and includ- ing the southern part of that county, has some mining impor- tance and will have more. Granite is its coi.nty-seat. The Ar- fkansas river traverses it from north to south. The Park range Ibrms its eastern wall, and the Sawatch or Saguache its western tOundary, and from the latter the bold and lofty peaks. La Plata, Mount Harvard, Mount Yale^ Mount Princeton, Mount Anterb, and Itlount Skavano stand forth as sentinels of the main range. Both ranges are silver'-bearing, and the county, which in 1879 |>rodoced $7i.,DODof the precious metals, may be relied upon to do much better in 1^0. Park>couniy^ enclosfng-asit diocis the great South Park, with lan area of neartiy r2^aoo square miles, ean^ jnore appropriately as a grafi^g than a mining dounty ; but a county which in twenty years has lamislhed more lium $i6,5ocmk)0 of gold tind silver prodociB "has 4sof|u^ claim ^o be r^rded as a mining region also. The South Park is between 9,000 ami .10,000 feet above the sea; 'but the Mosqaitn vange, iwhioh connects lihe Colorado Front range with the Paric or Main ran^e, has several .summits in its .main line and spunt iwhich are between 4,000 and 5/000 feft 4S 1 1 it'': WMW«itin>n»«fffliLii« it OUJt WESTHRAf EMPIRE. igher. Mount Lincoln, Mount Evans, and Mount Rosalie, three of these peaks, are only a few feet lower than Blanca Peak, the ^ .11^ of the Colorado Mountains, their highest summits measur- ing 14.297» 141330, and 14,340 feet respectively; while at the south and louthwest of the Park, but still in this county, the Bufialo Peaks, Thirty-nine Mile Mount, and Black Mpuntain rear their lofty heads. The climate her^ is cool but pleasant in summer, while the winters are long and severe. '>iuvi)fi >.} The whole of this mountain region is rich in gold and silver. The mineral belt is about thirty-Fve miles long and fourteen wide. The gold mines are mostiy high up (above the timber line on Mount Lincoln and Mount Bross), and are very produc- tive. There are very many of these mines near the summit of Mount Lincoln, one of them (the Present Help mine) being 14,200 feet above the sea, and said to be the highest mine in North America. The Phillips mine, in the Buckskin district, is the great gold mine of this section. It was discovered in 1 862, and in four or five years yielded over $300,000. Then the ore began to be largely mixed with pyrites, and the miners not understanding how to work it abandoned it for a time, but it is now worked again with great success. There are some placers in the county which have yielded largely, and are ^gain doing well under the hydraulic process. Nearly all the silver mines and some of the gold mines of Park county are, like those in Leadville and its vicinity, contact lodes or level deposits and not fissure veins. Since 1862 Park county has yielded $6,559,601 in gold and sil- ver, ^bout equal quantities of each. There are more than fifty silver mines actively employed and the number is increasing. The production averages about 1^500,000 a year. With the advent of the railways and the Leadville branch of die Denver and Rio Grande, the county is well supplied with railway com- munication^ and its mining products will be lai^ely increased. Fair Play and Alma — the latter far up the slope of Mount Lin- coln-»^re its principal towns. u F^imont county is a region containing much arable land and fine orchards of fruit. So far as we! are a^ivare, there have not yet been any discovjsries ofr gold or silver within its boundariisa ; r* MKit:a£&t::ails.;a:i-. nt Rosalie, three ilanca Peak, the ummits measur- y; while at the this county, the 31ack Mpuntain but pleasant in gold and silver. ig and fourteen bove the timber are very produc- ir the summit of elp mine) beitl^ highest mine in kin district, is the sdin 1 862, and in the ore began to ot understanding t is now worked ers in the county g well under the and some of the Leadville and its lot fissure veins. I in gold and sil- : more than fifty >er is increasing. year. With the :h of die Denver rith railway com- argely increased. >e of Mount Lin- arabh! larid and !, there have not n its boundaries; FRFMO.WT AND CUSTER COUNTIES. 6^$ but it is rich in bituminous coal of excellent quality, in iron, marble, gypsum, lime, alum, and petroleum, and has the most remarkable fossils and the greatest natural wonders in the whole western country. ' I iii[i'-iiif; • 'M.rtiM •, .• i. , ,,.,| Here are those gigantic skeletons of extinct animals dis- covered by Professors March and Cope ; in this county also are the Grand caAon of the Arkansas, Temple and Grape Creek caAons, Oil Creek cafton, and the Oil Springs, and numerous mineral and medicinal springs. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa F6 Railway bisects the county. Cafion City is its prin- cipal town. >''> 'u :»,fn i-nr .•■I'.Hf n'*rf,r ><( ^(.r[ •■; i.'f' Custer county has for its western boundary the summits of the Sangre de Christo Range, which is in this part of Colorado the main range of the Rocky Mountains. In the eastern part of the county is the Wet Mountain range, running parallel to the Sangre de Christo, and between them is the Wet Mountain valley, a beautiful meadow-like stretch, surrounded by dome-like hills on one side, covered with Verdure, and on the other with sombre but graceful pines. The county has much arable and grazing land, but it has been found within the last five or eight years that it possessed very remarkable and varied mineral deposits. The Senator gold lode at Rosita, now the capital of the county, was discovered in 1872 by Messrs. Irwin, Robinson, and Pringl:, but 'was hot much worked before 1874. The site of Rosita {SpamsA, "Little Rose"), in the Wet Mountain valley, is very beautiful, and 'ts mines have been very productive. In 1874 the Pocahontas, Humboldt, and other lodes began to produce silver, and have since yielded some 1^750,000. In 18^7 and 1878 cait\e new developments. Mr. E. C. Bas- sick, then working at a tunnel at Tyndall Hill, noticed some I blossom rock on his way which had a peculiar appearance. He had it iissayed,' and finally took some of the material to the re- ' duction works, and soon found that he had a mine of cMorodized gold and stiver of great vdilue. This Mias new in Colorado, 'though it had been found in California, and was subsequently discovered in Utah^ Within, twelve months after the first ship- ment $425,608 was received for ore shipped, and large amours mm J ^fff«'«S»«liM«*««»«tl !»*»»"«».. " remained on the dufmp. In August, 1878, anrother ditcovtvy ^as made about seven mllen west of Rosita, on the eastern slope of Wet Mountain valley, at Silver Cliff: a long, sloping mountain rising from the plain, terminates abruptly at its farther end, which Vas ktidwn as the CM A miner, named Edwards, broke off a pi^ce of the dift'and had it assayed. It yielded ^2j silyer to the ton. Thts would not pay. Some four mionths later he re*- turned thither With a fellow- workman and broke bfi* anotAier ^iece whidi assayed $1,700 to the ton. They began wor^ and found it profitable. S6on others came in ; it was <9iscbvet-ed that there had been volcanic action there, and that in the lava by the 'dt^reldpimeka ai^d tixpibra- 'tibhis ^at htt/eib^eti made i^poh (l!4ft miites and' tprospedt bdles. t^e W^t M«i(ie 6rfe^, ^hftih fldws thrdu^ it ; ^ latter, tdirch 5» the further sdi^h, bi^iligf a liitle IbfChdr ut> upbn the fo6t4iiHs than the ibkm^i*. the ilHittide df SJlKwr QM )/a 7,960 fbet, and that of IRd^iIU 8rt^ !^Mt abexte the ^a. No valuable bodiea df ore •ther discovery e eastern slope yping mountain ts farther end, idwards, br6ke ilded f,37 silrer ths later hfe r6- ke 6K anotlier egan wor^ and (9isctovet-ed that the lava (here Om |io,ooo to ifr, Plata Verde, was enormous. ilg[amation fnro- maia ihioife, artd lands df oapital- diers at 'equally Whito, ithb ae ^ $s the fiii^her ^t^hiHs than t!he ^et, smd that of le bodies of «ore iHNES AT ROSiTA AND SILVBM CLIFF. (^j have been found south (that is, on the valley side) of a liae con- necting these two camps. As the valley is approached, what miners call ' the wash,' that is, the deposit of sand, gravel, broken rock and soil that^has been brought down from the neighboring hills, becomes deeper, and the ' bed rock ' or ' rock im place,' which lies beneath, is more difficult to reach. The soutliero or southwestern boundary of the mineral belt may b^ said, there- fore, to lie along the edge of the foot-hills and about two mile% above the creek. The northern or northwestern boui>dary is a line drawn from the Bull-Domingo to the Ba^sick mine, which are respectively two and a half miles north of Silver Cliff and Rosita. A rectangle, therefore, of which the BulUDomingo and Basstck mines, Silver Cliff and Rosita form the four corners, ex- tending in its longest direction northwest and southeast, being seven miles long and two and a half wide, includes within it^ boundaries all the best mines of this rt^gion. " The geological formation of this rich mineral belt is peculiar and very interesting. Resting upon and against the granite o( the Wet Mountain Range and its higher foot-hills, and extending down into the valley beyond the southern line of the belt, lies am enormous deposit of porphyry or trachyte, a volcanic rock, which* according to Professor Newberry, who visited the district last autumn,, yi^sk poure^ out and cqn^li(^te4 during t^ tertiary period' ^ i'-^" ^.,3, in'^.jt'A, ii^' i.i i'.^ttv , •«<\. .t i fTi wifi M.,'jii'i^ II ,.\r\ . I jii " How great the extent Qf this deposit from northwest to southr east is, I do not know, but its width is at least five miles and it» length is probably fifteen or twenty. Extending into the trachyte formation from the southwest and following its general direction is a tongue-shaped mass of granite about three-lburths of a mil« wide and at least sev^n or eight miles long. When the trachyte was poured out, this granite apparently formed a ridge which ros« above the level of the flluid nuss of the surrounding volcanic rock, and therefore was not covered by it. That it does not now stand higher than the surrounding country does not disprove this theory, because there are everywhere to be fonnd evidences of terrible convulsions since the trachyte was deposited which l^\e com- pletely changed the fswe of this entire region. The mines hc^r* MUM ,\. \ OUR WESTERN EMr/RR. c- are found both in the granite, and also in the trachyte. Winding through the porphyry in a serpentine course, there is also a stream of obsidian, as it is called here, or volcanic glass, mixed with trachyte and quartz boulders. This stream, where it has been examioed, varies from a few feet to many rods in width, and in crevices of the boulders which form the mass of it were found last week, on the Hecla claim, some very rich specimens of horn silver. '"^ jikmu. yiu* i^lU'i >yy>% Mil JO r>j^»j » 'ill ;.;iniii. ui t'l .-^ m . " The natural color of the trachyte is a yeflbwish-white. When it contains silver it is also generally stained with black oxide of manganese and red oxide of iron. This rock in many places seems to me to have been subjected to the action of water be- tween the time it was thrown out by volcanic action and the period when it was broken up and impregnated with mineral solutions. I am led to this conclusion by the fact that in several mines and prospect holes which I have visited, I have found por- tions of the rock as distinctly stratified as any clay slate I ever saw. The layers of rock came apart one from another, in the hand, and presented smooth faces of stratification. I have never seen this foct mentioned in any report I have read about the mines of this region, and it may not be important, though it cer- tainly is interesting. !♦*»>' <*iiw ',y>t;Kii/yVi*io*:mm>T'\ »a <(iut;.!U) ». "At Silver Cliff and north of here, especially, the trachyte rock has been shaken up and fractured in all directions, and in many places the crevices have been filled with iron and manganese, which had become oxidized, and with chloride of silver. This is the free milling ore which is found in the Racine Boy and Silver Gliff mines, owned by the Silver Cliff Company, in the Plata Verde, and in all the mines that lie directly north of this town and adjoining it. I shall write detailed descriptions of several of the more Important of them in letters that are to follow. Generally the chloride of silver is so widely distributed through the rock and is so small in quantity that it cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor even with a powerful magnifying glass. That it is there, however, is conclusively proved by assays. Captain Turner, of OaIve<>ton, Texas, an old California miner, who has spent several months here superintending the development of a mine for a ytff. Winding s also a stream ss, mixed with re it has been i width, and in It were found icimens of horn -white. When >lack oxide of in many places n of water be- action and the d with mineral that in several lave found por- ay slate I ever another, in the I have never read about the t, though it cer- ^e trachyte rock IS, and in many md manganese, silver. This is Boy and Silver ly, in the Plata of this town and >f several of the low. Generally rough the rock with the naked That it is there, tain Turner, of as spent several >f a mine for a TRACHYTE ORES OF CUSTER COUNTY. 6^9 Gnlv(;ston company, told me the other day that he had caused assays to be made of at least one hundred samples of the trachyte rock found in what is known here as the 'chloride belt,' and never failed to fitui that it contained some silver. He selected some of the most barren-looking pieces of rock he could 6nd, material that no miner would think of saving, and which showed no metallic stain of any kind, and even this was found to carry from two ounces upward of silver, to a ton. / " Where the rock is stained with oxide of iron and manganese, it is invariably rich in silver, which can frequently be seen upon the surface of a fracture in the form of a green scale, which on being rubbed with a knife-blade shows a metallic lustre. Occa- sionally the mass of chloride of silver is so great that it appears in little globules of horn silver, and I found in the workings of the Racine Boy mine an accretion of this horn silver, in a cavity two or three inches long and half an inch wide, that, if collected together in one mass, would be as large as a lady's thimble. This mass, if broken off from the rock to which it is attached and assayed by itself, would 'run,' as the miners say, more than twenty thousand ounces of silver to a ton, and a ton of it at the current rates for silver bars would be worth about ^23,000. Such specimens are very frequently found in the Racine Boy and other mines on the chloride belt. While the rich ore is discovered in large masses surrounded by leaner or less valuable rock, there is nowhere in the chloride belt anything that looks like a vein. The rock just covers the entire face of the country, over an area two miles long and half a mile wide, and the whole mass of if. is ore ; that is, all of it contains at least a small quantity of silver. The ore in only a small portion of it has yet been proved to be rich enough to make the mining and reduction of it profitable, but this portion covers a great many mines which I believe will become very valuable properties, iruni ro v:<:-.jv} > ^ jrliwtiti litj**'. ' " The theory of the geologists, and the one generally accepted by the miners here, is that the trachyte, after it became solidified, was shaken and broken up by some great convulsion, and that simultaneously or afterward, silver, iron, manganese and the other ihetals of which traces are found in the rock were disseminated ■I, OVk WESTERN MMF/ltM. tfirough th^ cf^lcea either in water solutionA or volatilized— in the form of gases. These solutions or ^a.scs are supposed to have comr up through cracks in the earth's crust. Such a de- posit is called in the oKl world * stockwork,' and Professur New- berry, in writing recently of ' The Origin and Classitication of Ore Deposits,' mentions this as one of the two most important examples of this kind of deposit that have come under his obser- vation. The other is the gold deposit in Bingham caAon, Utah. None of the oldest miners ever saw before any ore that looked like this at Silver Cliff, and this explains their failure to discover its value until recently. The same is true of the quartzite gold ore In Bingham caAon. The miners worked for years there get- ting out silver-lead ores, but (hrcw aside the gold ore as waste, not dreaming of its value. vi».; r khi^.j* ^>w.uRii\'^ hum itt " But the mineral belt which I have described and bounded in the earlier part of this letter containv other classes of mines. At Rosita (this beautiful name meanf, ' Little Rose ') in tlve Poca- hontas-Humboldt lode, the trachyte, instead of being shattered and impregnated, so that the entii^ mass of rock may be mined out and reduced, has been rent asunder, and a true fissure formed in it which has been filled with gray copper, galena, zinc blende, iron and copper pyrites and heavy spar — all carrying /sulphide of silver. These form a narrow pay streak from one to eighteen inches wide, and the remainder is Blled with a gangue rock, generally of a trachytic formation. This vein is a re- markably persistent one — that is, it extends for a long distance through the hills and across the gulches, and is inclosed by walls that are as clearly defined as those of a room. Other smaller veins of the same character have been found in the country north of Rosita, and on some of them valuable mines have been located and developed. " Still another class of mines in the same mineral belt remains to be mentioned. These are what Professor Newberry has called the ' mechanically-filled ' veins, and they include the Basr- sick and the Bult-Domii^^. The former is supposed to be a tm^ fissure vein in the trachyte rock, the cavity of which, after the rocks were rent asunder, was filled with well-rounded pebbles and . iiri^vlrrv- THE UAKnXCMAimr.K MIS ISC, DtSTKh'T. Oil volatilized— in V. supposed to Such a dc' 'rofcHsor Ncw- assitication of neat important nder his obsor- n caAon, Utah. re that looked Lire to discover quartzite gold ^rcars there gct- 1 ore as waste, nd bounded in 1 of mines. At ') in tlic Poca- being shattered may be mined a true fissure »er, galena, zinc r — all carrying trealc from one d with a gangue I vein is a re- \ long distance iclosed by walls Other smaller in the country ines have been kwiat^m.-sw*^ Jtatf- ral belt remains Newberry has iclude the Ba»- >posed to be a which, after the led pebbles, and boulders, generally Himilar in constitution to the country rock. The interstices in this mass have been rille The production of the Custer county mines from 1874 to Janu- ary, 1 880. was $2,1 1 2,530, of which ^{720,000 was the production of 1879. There are extensive iron deposits on Grape creek neap the borders of Custer and Fr6mont counties. The ores are nnagnetic and contain sixty-five per cent, of pure iron and a con- siderable percentage of platinum, which causes difficulty in smelt- ing, but renders the product much more valuat^. f, .^,-MmM\c^i, Tfie Scm Juan G^ftw/ry.— »This general name fof Southwestern Colorado "includes," says Mr. Frank Fossett,* "the moun- tainous counties of Hinsdale, Rio Grande, San Juan, La Plata. Conejos, and Ouray; and San Luis Park, with the counties of Saguache and Costilla, are often classed under the same head. I II II I i — . - ■- — T " ■ -g ■ T " • — I ■ I -r • • ^ ■ ■ II ■ .1 ^ » » Colorado: iu Gold and Silver Mines, etc., New York, 1879. i Ma ovM wtsratts' Mjurntii, kc.^ r'' Here it an ar»A 6i AMnt? 1 5,000 HqiiAfr mtt^fi, or more tei r^iory than '"• inrludeci in any one of tho Stntes of New Jrrsry, Nrw HampHhire, or Vermont, with Delaware thrown in. West of San LuiH Park is ont* maat of mountains thrown together in the moit chaotic con fiiMion. ' "' >>i'''f -i -t'l , ^i '' ' ' • • J "These mountainH contain thounands of silver veins, many of them of huge size and some of j^rrat richness. There are also jfold lodes and placers. The Kocky Moimtain ran^^e extends to the westward in this region. The silver b«'lt is from twenty to forty miles wide, and perhaps eighty miles long in an nir line. The rugged and almost impassable character of the moimtains and their vast extent, and the heavy snows and long winters, have acted as serious drawt}acks to growth and development. .There is probably more country standing' on edge in this section riian anywhere else beneath the sun. Until recently no work was prosecuted in the winter seasons, except on a very few mines and on tunnels. It took years to build roads to the most important points — trails or foot-paths being the only thing pre- viously afforded. The approach of the railway and the comple- tion of many smelting workb are bringing the San Juan country forward." '>'•' '"' 411 ;.;i»ni mjo 'fu rK* .Ji iiv« «i» , H'Im nij' ^^■l . A Southern adventurer named Baker penetrated into this region In 1858 prospecting for gold. He had found some indi- cations of it, and had commenced operations, when, in i860, he became involved in difficulty with the Navajo Indians, and he had some bloody conflicts with them. Several of his followers were killed, but he held on until he heard of the civil war in the spring of 1 861, when he returned East and joined the Confed- erate army. A bold and desperate man, he took part in several severe battles, but at length, at the close of the conflict, with two associates, one of them named White, he returned to South- western Colorado, and, after several sharp fights with his old enemies, the Navajos, persuaded his comrades to go with him on a perilous and foolhardy expedition to descend the unknown Colorado of the West. Just as they were ready to launch their boat on those unknown waters Baker was shot by an Indian and died soon after, but enjoined upon his comrades the prosecution wmm- THE MAH yVAN COUNTRY. «fl more tnntory w Jrrsry, New in. Went of together in th<* vrins, many of Thcrr are also n^^e extends to Voin twrnty to in an air-line. the mountains lon^' winters, tievflopmcnt. in this section cently no work on a very few ids to the most only thing pre- id the comple- n Juan country rated into this und Mome indi- len, in i860, he ndians, and he »f his followers civil war in the :d the Con fed- part in several nflict, with two ned to South' s with his old o go with him [ the unknown \o launch their an Indian and le prosecution of the voya)^e. They set out and their journey has becomr hii- torical. The f)artnrr of White was lost in rtinning one of tho cataracts, and White, lashed to his raft, was discovered liy In* dians, unconscious and more dead than alive, a short dintanro abfiQ»ve Callville, near where the river cmergtrs from the Grand canon. After his e)i(-a|>e from this perilous voyage it in HaiyH ak)»K th« San Juan rivtr and tribiitarieR have already burn rrlvrrrtl tu in fiurt firm of thi* volume. Ihn coal mcasurcH arc (lc!»crving of cipccial mrntiun, on account of their quality anU ciiormouM xiic. 1 lie arta of tual land i» c^ttnmtod at over wfture miles, an Kccted by the I'inoM, I'ioritK Aaima», La I'bta, and Mancos rivcns which (low soutiiwurd into thu Sui Juun. The ihickm-tia of thr vein ih reported at from ten to fifty and HJxty feet between (kiur and roof. There are two difttinct lieds of cOiil, »c|ittrait-d only hy four fec-t of iron Mhaie. In tuitne plai:c mm 'ti'T'^mt nfcfii fi.- ** The richest gold district of Southern Colorado is tluit of South Mountain in the Summit Range, twenty six miles south of Del Norte and nearly 1 2,000 feet above sea-level. The great draw- backs are a evere climate, heavy snows, and ilu- altitude — a divkle of 13,000 feet must be crossed to reach Summit. The summers aro short and the roads are almost impassable from snow or mud during most of the yoar. But die gold is there, and that has built a town and attracted miners, capitalists, and stamp mills. ''These mines are true fissure veins and prove to be very rich. There are now several stamp mills, and one of the minos, the Little Annie, has yielded about $350,000 in six years. - »< '^i^^/^ "Nmsda/e county is the most easterly of the important silver districts of San Juan. Its metropoUs is Lake City, dating from iian rivtr and I Brnt of ihi» cIaI mrntiun, ic iixv» of loal cut or inter* and Mum OS il)c ihickni-iMi y ftHi iMiwern oat, sc'iHtratcil c two beds ure t feat in tlikk* c it of a scim- ty than any in DC rouniy are pyrites tcllu* anil partly of »eat, in located and cntcrit the IK diittricta» but caring portion :r $400,000 to ls tluit of South Houtli of Del ie great draw- lie altitude — a Summit. The passable from gold is there, capitaliiits, and o be very rich, the mines, the irs. vi fji^tftHii' iportant sSvef y, dating from HISW4t.M COVNTV St H Kit MI/^MM, ff} 1I74-5. loratrd at the jimptlon of Hrn<<*n ert'f < with thr t.ako Fork of the (tunntHon. lltTf arr two Hrnrltinj; works in opera- tion— -Crooke A Co. an«l thr (>mi«it>g at were the numerotiK »v*iMigM^-i»^UA;o^tttH*i«fc»J*K*«B'— *^; C""- U8 :<:i.,. OUR WESTERN £MJ*IRZ. \\ \ . possibly by w£iy of Guniiison and Grand river. Heretofore it has cost $25 a ton to pau:k the ore on burros from the mines to Sil- verton, or to a wagon road, and as much more to get it to •Denver or Pueblo. The unusual value of the mineral is all that enabled the miners to dispose of their products under suCh disadvantages. > «i ■ .o u) :>/i The county is full of mineral veins of gold, and mineral chan- nels or lodes from ten to twenty feet wide, and of every known and unknown combination of the precious metals, with other . metals and elements, abound in almost every part of the county. The Saa Miguel river has also immense placer deposits, which are now worked by hydraulic raining on a large scale. As a mining county, only the eastern portion of Ouray has ibeen much developed, but everywhere the prospector has been J Intwarded for his toil. The whole rqgion^, watered by the sources of the Uncortipahgre, the Upper San Miguel, the Rio del Codo, And the headwaters of the Dolores, is full of lodes of great rich- .fiess Und of a most peculiar character. They are believed to be .true fissure veins, and net contact lodes like those of Lake < county; but many of the lodes are very wide, from three to forty : iecit, And contain pay streaks ruoiung side by side, and only sep- arated by clay or thin slate partitions, in whidh gold and silver in various and imusuxl forms are found, separate yet in the same lode. Sometimes several of these wide and multiform 1 lodes run side by side. Hie " Bsgole Mineral Farm," now owned .tby the Norfolk and Ouray Reduction Works, is one of these singular mineral veins, but they are abundant in all the eastern ■part of the councy. Mr>. Frank Possect ihus ^describes the :ie|;ole Mineral Farm: ?*rll 1** no^tc^q u1aJ«!T*iUi0rt !>d3.^9i«i1v| ixixf' The Begole ' Mineral Farm ' iis lint «f die wonders of this Ipart of the State, h is near tiie itow» of Ouiiaiy, wide, ^and was at first '^f^oaed to be a hoiiixontal 'deposit of 8Hv«r4)Q&Hng ore, but •iuibseqiiient developmenits prove it to 'Contain fouir mineral chan- ,iieis or k)des, from teH to twenty fedt wide. One «>f these lodes *Otth^ U7I640 ieet above the MS. m i> . i.f these lo*des SAN HtlGVRt DtSTRICT. ^ has a streak of bright, fine galena widi heafvy spar — the former carrying over loo ounces ot silver, and forty per cent, of lead, and another streak of thirty-ounce galena with much aocimony. Another lode has a very rich gray copper vein in a gangue of quartzite, and often milling from $400 to $7cx> a ton. A third lode carries sulphurets, and in places chlorides. Thifl property was discovered and located in 1875 by Augustus iJegole, an old Arizona miner, and John Eckles. They had worked it in the summer seasons up to the fall of 1878, when they sold it for* j;75,oco to the Norfolk and Ouray Reduction Company, who had built works at Ourtay." There are numerous other mines of perhaps greater promise than this in the immediate vicinity of Ouray. One of them — tlie Grand View mine — yields from $100 to $150 to the ton in gold, and from j^io to $ao in silver. The Mount SnefHes District, west of Ouray, has no superior among the silver regions of Southwestern Colorado. It has many hundreds of lodes now actively worked, and most of them are very rich ; some — ^like the Chief Deposit, the Yankee Boy, etc.— producing ore that mills fr'^m 300 to 500 ounces of silver, and one or two, more than that to the ton. Most of the Mount Sneffles veins carry large amounts of gray copper as well as galena, while ruby silver atia silver glance often occur. Some of the ores of this, as well as the San Miguel district^ have heavy galena and zinc ores, which carry silver to the extent of $300 to> the ton. • ' uj. n: The San Miguel district is developing a body of ore* even richer and more promising than those of the Mount SneflSes dis- trict. The lodes here are in pay streaks of alternate gold and sil 'er, or sometimes of both combined, and in all possible forms. '•> O'ff the Upper San Miguel, Turkey Creek and Howard's Fork, there are many hundred claims already recorded, and moot of them are worked with profit despite the difficulties and enormous expense of transportation. In the summer of 1880 two or three smelters and concentration works were set up in this region. " Ingham Basin," near Columbia, one of the new towns of the Upper San Miguel, is remarkable alike for its mineral wealth juid its natiuntl wonders^ The pkioer deposits of the San Miguel 44 ■ - (SpO O^^ WESTERN HAJPiKt. river are pronounced by California experts the richest that ha\ <: ever been found on this continent, and they are now preparing to work them with the largest and best hydraulic appliances. An eminent French mining engineer, M. Cuemeyngs, after a careful examination of the chief mining districts of Colorado, has just decided to purchase for his principals, a Parisian banking- house, the Pandora mine, near San Miguel Park, on the upper San Miguel river, pronouncing it the richest and most favorably situated mine he had seen. Another mining engineer, Mr. H. M. Pearce, says of the San Miguel Park region : " This is the very heart of the mineral wealth of the Rocky Mountains." The Dolores country, of which Rico, the chief town, is not yi ■ ■'\\^ .V'\" With the possible exception of the great county of Gunnison, whose mineral wealth is as yet but slightly developed, Ouray county gives the promise of a greater out-put of the precious metals in the near future than any other county, of the State ; Lake county may overshadow it for a time from the great con,- ;oehtration of capital in and around Leadville, but when the con- ^]^ct< lodes of L«adville begin to diminish their yield, the Ouray iiriines, true fissure veins, will be at their best and with a certainty !of permanency; while the rich placer deposits will yield for yi^rp richest that ha\ ': re now preparing ic appliances. lemeyngs, after a of Colorado, has Parisian banking- irk, on the upper d most favorably engineer, Mr. T. Dn: "This is the Mountains." -,.1 f town, is not yet )uray county, and it terminus of the :stined to be the -1 88 1, rivalling in Rico has about md his associates, n some of its rich ;v. .1 Western Ouray, lere is also reason prove arable and zing. The ruins lundreds of years na, Utah and New igent, agricultural unty of Gunnison, developed, Ouray ut of the precious jnty, of the State ; )m the great con,- but when the con- ir yield, the Ouray nd with a certainty will yield for yf^:^^ ■Mfln GUNNtSON COUNTY. te| to come their millions of free gold. With railway communica- tion, and a possibility of large agricultural production and pas- toral wealth on the western plateaux, the county has a magnifi- cent future before it. • • Gunnison county is the latest of the mining regions of the State to be explored, and may prove to be the wealthiest. The county is very large, having an area of over 10,000 square miles. Summit county forms its northern boundary, Lake, Chaffee and Saguache bound it on the east, Saguache, Hinsdale and Ouray on the south, and Utah on the west. It is traversed by the Grand river and its numerous affluents, two of which, the Gunni- son and the Rio Dolores, are themselves large and important rivers. The Gunnison has more than a hundred tributaries, some of them important rivers, and the Dolores has a considera- ble number, of which the San Miguel is the largest. In the northeastern part of the county, the Roaring Fork of the Grand river, with a score of affluents having its sources in the Sawatch (Saguache) Range, winds its way among the interminable group of peaks which go to n\ake up the mass known as the Elk Moun- tains. Each of these tributaries of the Grand river, large and small, has, like the parent stream, its caflon, sometimes very dark and deep, through which it finds its way to join the waters of the larger river. The Grand caAon of the Gunnison rivals some of the most remarkable caftons of the Rio Colorado of the West. The first discoveries of silver were made in this county in 1872, though there had probably been surface-diggings there in i860 or 1 861. The discoverers, in 1872, were two brothers, George and Lewis Waite, who had drifted over the mountains from Fair Play in Park county, prospecting for minerals. They wandered into the Elk Mountain region, and there found a vein of silver that cropped to the surface above the bed of a small creek. They carried some of the ore to Denver, then the near- est point where a satisfactory assay could be procured, and found that it contained both silver and gold in paying quantities. With very little means they set about constructing a tunnel through' Whopper Mountain, the location of their mine. Two or three times they were obliged to leave their mine for several months, u.tu' ^ and go to Fairplay and work as miners in order to procure th« means (or obtaining supplies for the cruelly cold winters in the mountains, but they toiled on faithfully for seven years, when the reward came. In 1878 and 1879 the overflow from Leadville began to come into the Elk Mountain region, and while the brothers had secured for themselves three very excellent lodes, called the Whopper. Index, and Teller, very many new claims 'were entered in their immediate vicinity on the affluents of Roaring Fork ; others on East river, a branch of thtt Gunni- s«)n ; Cooper creek, and others still on the Crested Buttes, and on Slate creek. It was computed that over 18,000 persons visited tliese mines in the summer of 1879, and 50,000 or more in the spring and early summer of 1880. To reach the head- waters of the Gunnison from Leadville, fifty miles away, it was necessary to cross a lofty range of mountains where the passes were filled with gigantic snow-banks. In one place an immense deposit of snow was tunnelled and cut through in order to reach the land of promise ahead of those who would come with the summer. More than two thousand claims were recorded in 1879. The mines are all high up on the mountains, and the winter is long and severe. There are only about five and a half months in which work can be done in the open air ; but in the tunnels work is carried on through the winter. The ore is mosdy silver, with a moderate amount of gold. It is galena, ruby silver, horn silver, gray copper and native silver, and ittnges from 100 to 500 or even 1,000 ounces of silver, and from one to six ounces of gold to the ton. There are now several smelters in the mining region, where numerous mining towns have sprung uji within a year. Gothic City has about 2,000 inhabi- tants; Gunnison, the county-seat, perhaps as many, while , Crested Buttes, Irwin, and some other settlements are rapidly growing. There is a possibility of a ratlway — an extension of die Colorado Central — to Gunnison, within a year. The mines thus far located are about six miles east of the bounds of the Ute Reservadon. If that reservation reverts to the United States under the recent trieaty, t^ whole course of the Gunni' son river will be prospected> and probacy valuable mines dis- .riMfM/r COUNTY. 693 n to procure th« d winters in tho years, when the from Leadville and while the excellent lodes, nany new claims the affluents h of the Gunni- lited Ikittes, and 1 8,000 persons 50,000 or more reach the head* iles away, it was krhere the passes lace an immense n order to reach d come with the ere recorded \t» mntains, and the It five and a half 1 air ; but in the er. The ore 19 Id. It is galena, ative silver, and r silver, and from are now several lining towns have •ut 2,000 inhabi- as many, while lents are rapidly an extension of ear. The mines e bounds of the 3 to the United »e of the Gunni' uable mines dis- covered. Gunnison cm nty produced jfijocooo, mostly silver, in 1879, the first year of i;s development. Summit county has an area of about 5,000 square miles. It extends from the crest of the Snowy ran^e westward to Utah, and lies entirely on the Pacific slope of the mountains. Clear Creek and Park counti<.'s hound it on the east. Grand and Routt on the north, and Lake and (junnison on the south. It embraces a large amount of country adapted to farming and pastoral pur- poses, and is rich in silver lodes and gold placers. The yield of the latter has been very great, and that of the lode veins will evidently be immense in the near future. In the western por- tion are coal measures of excellent quality. Its scenery is grand and magnificent. Mountain ranges bor- der and intersect it in almost all directions, and among them are noble rivers, and hundreds of sparkling streams and dashing waterfaHs. Vast forests of pine and spruce extend up the moun- tain sides, and here and there are broad valleys, green as emerald and watered by the purest streams. The first silver lode opened in Colorado was the Coaley, in Summit county. Its discovery came about in this way : Some gulch miners from the Blue river or Georgia gulch were hunt- ing for deer in i86r, and getting out of bullets manufactured a few from the outcroppings of what they called a lead vein. A year or two later they were in Nevada, and found that the silver- bearing galena ores of that section very much resembled the material which had supplied them with bullets in the Colorado Mountains. They wrote to an old friend in Empire and advised him to go over and locate the lode. After some delay he did so, but never made a fortune from it. Yet it led to a great silver excitentent and to the development of the Georgetown silver district. ''" ^'" "'*••'■' '"'^ •'*^"'"'' *'' •'•"^' .■'^".' "'^ '■■'•' • '• ' That great natural barrier, the Snowy- range, has acted as a sei4ous drawback to Summit county's progress and advance- ment. The heavy snows blockaded the entire region from the outside world in the winter season, and the difficulty of crossing mountains from 1 2,000 to 1 3,000 feet high caused freighting and travelling to be slow and very expensive. Matters have assumed ■^t — pp 6^4 OUK M^AsrajtAT MMPiKF.. a diflcrent shape during the past few months. New wa^'on roads have boon built at much lower elevations and on better gradrs, furnishing connection with Georgetown and Leadviile. Kail- ways are also projected and surveyed to both of these points. An extension of the Colorado Central Railroad is to be com- pleted to Breckenridgc and Leadviile this year. The leading towns of Summit are Kokomo, Carbonateviile, and .Summit City in the Ten Mile section— all founded within eighteen months — Montezuma and .Saints John in the Snake river region, and Breckenridge in the Dlue river placer country. The total mineral production of Summit county from 1861 to January, 1880, was |>7,336,9i3, of which $6,360,912 was gold. $820,000 silver, $130,000 lead. In the early years of Colorado mining, the tributaries of the Blue river in this county were among the most productive in placer gold of any in the Terri- tory. The Georgia, French, and Humbug gulches, the Blue and Gold Run, the Illinois, McNulty, and other placers yielded large amounts ; for several successive sea.Hons a million a season was taken out The yield continued to be large for several years, and has been continued to the "^resent time; and the great enterprises in hydraulic mining, inaugurated in 1878 by the Fuller Placer Company, and by L. S. Ballou, are on a more gigantic scale than any others east of California. The first named company have constructed a flume or flumes thirty miles in length, bringing the water from a lake on the eastern slope of the " Great Continental Divide," which was over 1 2,000 feet above the .sea, through a pass in the divide 1 1,810 feet above the sea, and, after using it in their hydraulic mining, suffering its waters to fall into a tributary of the Grand river and thus And their way into the Pacific. The product of these placers, in 1879, was over $100,000, and, in 1880, will reach at least $500,000. It is estimated that from $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 will be realized from these placers. They can only be worked for five and a-half months in the year on account of the great elevation. There are several important mining districts, old and new, on the eastern border of .Summit countj-, in the Blue river valley, that are attracting much attention. Of these the gold placers cw wa^'on rodJs >n better gradrt, .cadvillc. Rail- of theiic points, id is to be com- r. The leading nd Summit City hteen nionthti — ver region, and I I. ity from 1861 to 10,9 1 a was gold, ars of Colorado his county were iny in the Terri- iilches, the Blue placers yielded million a season arge for several t time; and the cited in 1878 by u, are on a more »rnia. The first imes thirty milts ie eastern slope 3ver I2,cx30 feet 10 feet above the ng, sufiering its er and thus find placers, in 1879, ast $500,000. It > will be realized sd for five and it elevation. ,„! s, old and new, ilue river valley, he gold placers SUMMIT COUNTY, (^^ of alluvial deponits of the Blue and .Swan rivrrs and their tribu- taries arc the oldost. Kxtending north from tlx -^c among the moimtams is a belt of veins carrying silver and lead. The Snake river region contains both argentiferous galena and nulphurct, and copper-bearing veins. There are some very rich veins in the vicinity of Montezuma, Saints John, IVru, (ieneva, and Mall Valley — all located on the main range or some of its spurs. Near the headwaters of the Blue, carbonates have lately been found. The Snake river mining region comprises Peru and Monte- zuma districts, and lies on the western slope of the Rocky Moun tains. Its elevation is from 9,000 to 1 3,000 feet above sea-levt 1, and its distance from (leorgetown and Ten Mile is from twelve to twenty miles. Ciray's Peak and other mountains of great height overlook and partly enclose it, and with its magnificent forests and grassy vales presents a landscape grand and pictur- esque in the extreme. Snake river enters the Blue from the east at nearly the same point where Ten Mile comes in from the south. East of the Montezuma section are the Geneva district mines, located on the crest of the Continental Divide, and on the line of Clear Creek and Summit. The great excitement, however, at the present time is over the Ten Mile district. This locality has become famous during the past seventeen or eighteen months. Rich galena veins have been opened in the mountains west of Ten Mile river, and sev- eral thousand men have assembled there. The indications are good for one of the leading silver districts of the State. Further west valuable mineral discoveries are reported in the Eagle river region, but these were made this season, and of course sufficient time has not yet elapsed for their development. The ,fame of Ten Mile has brought in people enough to prospect the county very extensively, and there is no doubt but that its min- eral wealth is of the first order, f" ''fM 1 • 1. >; > I .1 n a summer. Its total yield from i860 is estimated by old miners at nearly 1360,000. Further down Ten Mile are tho FoUett placer dig- This region had been prospected b) sevf^ral different parties, but Wi high de ore was found in quantity. In the summer of 1878, George B. Robinson, a leading Leadville mercli.int, out- (Mted an old prospector named Charles Jones, uul the .'^cventy- cight. Smuggler, and other mines of the lioblnson group were found, and subsequently the Wheel of Fot Mine and Cirand Union. Then people began to move over that way, and to stake off daims sometimes on top of the snow in mid-wniter. Ltiadviile and Ten Mile have afforded a rich hurvest for surveyors. ' ' • 'In this elevated region snow falls deep and often, and there is usually five or six feet of it on the ground from January to late in April, but nothing could stop the fever-heat of excitement that set in with the year 1879. Men kept coming in over routes that were terrible to think of; trees were felled, cabins built, tents pitched on top of the snow, and prospecting carried on, irrespectiv* of tlie difficulties in the way. The lack of surface mdications were made up for by a superabundance of faith. The miner would seek for unclaimed ground, clear away the sftow from a chosen locality, and then commenee to Hiok in nnf miM 4m» dtokomv yintMM, 697 « to 1,500 fret orth in divided )ife has several revk was called > lix)^, but it is w/v.'i. horderinjr main ciivid'* on Phis is foiir- rs How towards le Fagle river tl near itB nource It ^avf Its main •kcd by Colonel 7,000 a Bummer. miners at nearly llett placer dig- lifferwit parties, In tlu; summer e mercli.uit, out- uul the S(.'venty- ison ^roup were id Grand Union, nd to stake off inter. Leadville jrveyors, ten, and there is 1 January to late it of excitement ig in over routes ed, cabins built, tin^ carried on, lack of surface ndance of faith. clear away the t:nee 10 Htok in tearch of depoKir or vein. Thii Laj(Ar(.k>UB style of (>rosprciin(( wa.it ucc.i»ional' fiUccrHsful, and a k'W {(ood tiirikc were re- ported on Shee^j, Mlk imd Jack MounLiins, all oi wlucli j^rtAtly advrtijicJ the fame ol Trn Mile, i'own site«i were utakf d oH for a dinttinvjc of nix miles dov n the valley and the dull roar of the jiiner's blast or the eclm of the woodman's a.^c cuuld be heard all day long umonjif the ^tatcfv forehts ol pint The enibryo cities of Kokomo, Summit, or Ten Mile, iiid C arbonateville presi nt'd a ulrai yr medley r)f loj( cabins, tents, and primitive habitationK, and the puces of town lots compiired in altitude with the places in whiich they wer^' located. There were Iron) thirty to fifty arrivals daily all ihrough tlu; spring, when the melting snows made the imperfect roads almost mi- passable. With the opening oi the sumn\cr of 1879 Kokomo claimed a population of i,5tx>, and had an orgam/ed city govern- ment, a bank, hotels, stores, saloons, saw-milK, and the tele- graph, where ther;j was not a single settler a few numths before. A newspaper and several smelters have been sent there, and are already in camp. There arc over 3,500 people in the entire district. Smelting works and a home market for the mining product was the great necessity, and this has now been supplied. The Robinson consolidated mines, which embrace twelve or more distinct claims, all on the same incline vein, are th<: great mines of this section, and are yielding immense quantities of •liver. The whole mourtain side seems to be interlaced with these rich veins. The formation of this part of the mountain is an indefinite amount of red .andstone, about four feet of shale, thirty feet or less of micaceous sandstone, lime, mineral, crystal lime, and sandstone formation of unknown thickness. In places where this structure maintained the usual depth, the ore is forty or fifty feet below the surface. On Sheep Mountain, overlooking the valleys of Ten Mile creek and Eagle river, vast deposits of silver ore, mostly car- bonates, and probably, like those of Leadville, "contact lodes," have been discovered and worked. Some of these mi-^es yield 200 ounces of silver or more to the ton. The Eagle river starts from the vicinity of Tennessee Pass, u pi 6ifH CUM l¥MSTMIH^ EMHUM. wcil of the hrail of I'm Mile, and (1«)wh northwesterly between the Gore and a more wrntcrly rani^e of mDiintainn into the (irand. It \% the newcHt miiui)|; distrit t of thr almost i.ncxplored regiont of VV fstern Colonulo. The inouiuain» that cocIdhu it are said to contain many silver veins, %o\\\%i of th< in antwiying from one to eleven hundrcil ounces. Many prospectors went in there, in the summer of 1870, and in a Ixrautiiul park th»fr «ttT r'* nir,ifiK;(n 'iTf;n)inT; ^',-ii iti.:a' Routt county is the northwes»';rn division of the State. It Is composed of mountain range", i.id spurs, divided by rivers, and bordering vallf^ys well adapted to grazing, and sometimes to farming. There are extensive placer lands on the headwaters of the Snake and IClk rivers, which are operated by several com- panies and individuals. The principal of these is the Interna- tional Company of Chicago, near Hantz's Peak, which has been / !?«trrly b<*twern itaioH intu th« «>Ht uncx|)lurcd iliut cntloHu it ilicin ukHaying JtHturs wfiit ill irk ilj«' embryo icatlw.ilcrH of )sf cuHttrn face orin ol A croftM. It of the cross oo feet long, llut l)<'yon feet of iron pipe, and another with 500 feet. A bed-rock tliime has been run. In drifting and washing, a dike of porphyry and 1 70 feet of slate have been passetl through. There arc over 1,000 acres of gravel land ; and from forty to sixty men were employed, and over f 60,000 of gold produced in the year 1S79. A branch of the Colorado Central has been projected to enter the county from Middle Park ami extend through Steamboat Springs anil I layden to Windsor, at the junction of Fortification creek and Yampah, or Hear river, the largest tributary of Green river. Steamboat Springs, and, in the southwest part of the county, that extraordinary instance of nature's architecture, the "City of the (iods," are wonders well worth visiting. Part of Routt county is included in the Ute Reservation. The Green river, one of the constituents of the Colorado of the West, and its two great tributaries, the Yamftah, or Bear river, and the White river, with their afHuents, drain the county, and ex- hibit canons of great depth. It is believed that the coal meas- ures so largely developed in Gunnison and Summit coundes arc found in Routt county also ; but the county is at present almost wholly unexplored, so far as its mineral wealth is concerned. Jefferson, Huerfano, and Arapahoe counties have considerable deposits of coal, but arc classed among the farming and grazing ties. • ' ' ■' ' '^ " '. ',' ' . I . With the exception of Las Anintas county, which has in its western section large beds of excellent coking coal in the vicin- ity of Trinidad, none of the other counties of the State, beside those named above, arc known to possess important mineral deposits. The remainder, as well as some of those which con- tain the precious metals, are either farming or grazing counties. 709 OVR WESTMItN EMVIRE. W^ V, The arable lands of Colorado comprise at least 1 5*000 square miles of its territoiry, while the grazin^^ lands are at least lour, and possibly five times that quantity. All or nearly all the ara- ble lands require irrigatior, but when irrigated they yield enor- mous crops, and the deposits from the canals maintain and iii»-rease the fertility of the lands, while the water dissolves the alkaline and other ingredients of the soil, and insures large crops every year. The first cost of these canals and ditches from the mountains is considerable, but it is in most cases borne by one or more communities of farmers, and the expenditure is followed by such large and abundant returns that it is not seriously felt. Of late incorporated companies have been constructing these canals and renting die water, and in some cases have purchased large tracts of land, which they sell in farms of 80 to 1 60 acres •with the water-right at from ten to fifteen dollars per acre. The largest of these companies is the Weld and Larimer Canal Company, an English corporation. It has a canal, as we have elsewhere said, fifty-four miles in length and capable of irrigating 40,000 to 50,000 acres. The Greeley Canal is thirty-four miles long, and waters a region almost as large. There are many of these canals also in the southern part of the State. ^ "It is," says Mr. Frank Fossett, "a well-established fact that heavier and more reliable crops can be obtained by tlie aid of artificial irrigatbn, taking one year after another, than where the uncertain natural rainfall is depended on. . . . The prosperous, well-to-do farmers along the South Platte, the Cache-la-Poudre, Saint Vrain, Boulder, Ralston, and Clear creeks, the Fountaine, Cucharas. and the Arkansas and Las Animas or Purgatoire rivers, are all illustrative of the truth of this statement. Rich waiving fields oi grain now greet the eye where once were bar- ren, uninhabitable wastes, and vegetables of such prodigious size, and in such immense quantities, are raised as would astonish those unaccustomed to the crops grown on Colorado soil. Inarming has often been enormously remunerative, and few that have followed it steadily have failed to accumulate money or property. Many men have well-stocked farms of great extent and value, the result of a few years' industry and effort. We '!;!: \h.\ ( - ' .' -UBS&& ^^^% ie \ THE FARMING COUNTULS. ast 1 5,000 square are at least lour, 1 early all the ara- they yield enor- als maintain and Iter dissolves the isures large crops ditches from the ses borne by one iditure is followed not seriously felt. onstructing these :s have purchased f 80 to 1 60 acres dollars per acre. id Larimer Canal canal, as we have pable of irrigating i thirty-four miles lere are many of ate. ablished fact that led by the aid of er, than where the , The prosperous, Cache-la-Poudre, ks, the Fountaine, jas or Purgatoire statement. Rich 'e once were bar- ch prodigious size, is would astonish n Colorado soil, tive, and few that muiate money or IS of great extent ' and effort. We 701 can hardly distinguish critically between the farming and the grazing counties, since many of the latter, under the influence of irrigation, are largely productive of grains and root crops— but in general it may be said that Larimer, Weld, Arapahoe, Douglas, Boulder, Jefferson, El Paso, Pueblo, Las Animas, Saguache and Costilla, as well as Conejos, Rio Grande and La Plata have large quantities of arable land, and some of the western counties are probably not deficient in this respect. Some of these counties have also a reputation as grazing or sheep-growing counties — El Paso and Las Animas in particular being noted for their sheep farms and catde ranches, and WeW and Arapahoe having some reputation in the same line. The grazing and sheep-raising counties, par excellence, are Bent, Weld, Elbert, Arapahoe, El Paso, Las Animas, Pueblo, Douglas, Huerfano, and Saguache. "The annual farm products of Colorado are steadily increas- ing in quantity and value. Correct data of a detailed character have been difficult to gain, and reports from various sources are often conflicting. The farmers are not always willing to have the full extent of the wheat crop known, lest prices fall to a lower figure than might otherwise be obtained. Consequently, it is sometimes difficult to get correct estimates. Millers and speculators always figure out a much larger crop than the farmers are willing to acknowledge, The former are the buyers, and work for low prices, while the latter are the sellers, and, of course, want as much money for their products as it is possible to get ■■■^" /i>m ,^qf.i-i:j..M,? .rbtriVA ri.t;-f/v> :>'!' ;' .-f! ;'.■'; * 'The farming product of 1877 was fkr ahead of that of any preceding year. The season was a remarkably favorable one, and the acreage of land sown or planted was much greater than ever before. The result was that a large portion of the farmers, who had previously suffered losses from grasshoppers and from other causes, came out with a handsome cash balance in their favor, as did those who had newly embarked in the business. The good fortune attending the season of 1877 caused an increase of tillfcd land in 1878 of at least twenty-five per cent. In some sections the acreage in wheat was one-third greater, and I MNJVNMMHMMiwi »'C tera t£ rft . i Kg>C'tat^^»«WK''Triy '^n« \.\\\ rft;*.,i. 1,310.000 bush. |i, 310,000 Co™ • ,:^ll•,■^..''^ • • '.IT,;.?.,?, '..a 300,000 ",^,,1 ; 310,000 Oats 250,000 " I 135,000 Barley 150,000 ' *' ' . 80,000 Rye . \ l^^'.'' .* 'iJ'";''V' . ■'■.^ ooo a 111 UtiS Hiohq }» iiorj iis-^dw .■ueU io in UA-i'%dl -Hli ^i.The year 1879 was one of Igirger production as well as of much more e' tended acreage. In every agricultural product named above there was a marked advance ; while the vast influx of settlers, capitalists, speculators and tourists furnished a ready market fc all that the farmers of the State could produce, and at prices which were satisfactory to the producer. While the returns of the census which, perhaps, may not prove very accu- rate, are not yet at hand, there are sufficient data to make it cer- tain that the product of the nine items named above exceeded in 1879 5(i6,500,ooo, and would have found a ready market had they^ reached three times that sum. ,,■ The average yield of wheat has been from twenty to twenty- five; bushels. Possibly twenty-two bushels come nearer ihe truth, taking one year with another. There are many farms and belts of land that yield thirty, forty, and occasionally fifty bushels to the a^re. This, of coui^e, is (ar above average returns of the State. Colorado flour is the fipest in. the world. Quantities of .-_r- _.:,s . liuU'^.-»;L;vt»: s not as boun- the aggregate State, the return jnsiderably less, frequent rains ust.' In South- lo, for 1878, ex- iJ ti' ■ (ll •(■, (' ' • I J i| • -Uf I $1,310,000 310,000 135,000 80,000 30,000 350,000 800,000 350,000 350,000 ush. •')'' *3.5'5.ooo n as well as of cultural product le the vast influx rnished a ready Id produce, and cer. While the rove very accu- i to make it cer- ove exceeded in market had they^ i^enty to twenty- me nearer me many farms and illy fifty bushels e returns of the Quantities of WHEAT, ETC,, BY IRRIGATION. 703 it are shipped to Illinois and other States. Oats, rye, barley and other cereals do as well proportionally as wheat. Potatoes return all the way from icx) to 500, and, rarely, 700 and 800 bushels to the acre. The average runs from 100 to 200. Vege- tables of nearly all descriptions grow to prodigious size both on mountain and plain. The comparatively inexpensive system of irrigation constandy replenishes the soil. The water is let into the ditches and on to the land in June, when the streams are full I of mineral and vegetable matter borne down from the mountains. The water goes down into the ground and leaves the mineral and vegetable substances on the surface, adding to the soil. The ground continues productive after years of cultivation, because the irrigation brings in new material. Corn does not thrive as well in the northern counties as small grains, owing to the chilly night atmosphere, yet the yield is considerable and steadily get- ting larger. South of the " Divide " it does much better and large crops are raised — sometimes seventy-five or eighty bushels to the acre. Large quantities of hay are cut and cured in the parks and in most of the larger plains and mountain valleys. The good prices prevailing in the mining camps make this an important article to the farmer and stock-owner. For a long time fruit culture in Colorado was deemed imprac- ticable. The experiments and experiences of the past few years show that fruit of various kinds can be raised successfully, and in some of the southern coundes profitably and extensively. There are thrifty orchards of apple and peach trees at and near Cafton City. North of the " Divide" much more difficulty has been experienced ; but apple trees are made to grow and bear fruit when protected from the winds by other trees. Several very fair crops of apples have been obtained in Jefferson, Boulder, Larimer and other counties, t rvii-.ji vnijar/ii. ' .ms .h t. ,, ! The dairy has become an interest of no litde importance within the past few years. Owing to the nutritious character of Colo- rado grasses, the milk, butter and cheese are of unrivaled ex- cellence. Large quantities of these articles are sold in the numerous towns and camps. Several cheese manufactories have recenrij^ been established in El Paso, Boulder and Larimer cown- ' r.v»i J»irM^ »(»»a*> ■^■ asfliai :;;.* lYtaJK'.Kw.i I -04 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, ties. There, and in Arapahoe and Jefferson, more tha») else- where, are remarkably large numbers of superior cattle, niany of them of the best blooded stock, and valued at very high ngures. Some of the finest cows and bulls of eastern localities have been purchased and impcried by these enterprising farmers of the far-away Colorado border. There are finely-stocked dairy-farms in other sections beside the counties enumerated, including Douglas, Fremont, Lake and Saguache, but those named first take the lead. At the State and county fairs the displays of Durham, Alderney, Hereford, Shorthorns, Jersey and Swiss cat- tle, and of stock crossed therewith, are very fine. There is a remarkably large amount of money invested in horse-flesh in Colorado, and the average quality of stock is very high in some quarters. The liveries and private stables (espe- cially the latter) of such cities as Denver, Leadville and Colorado Springs are of a very high order. On the farms are large num- bers of horses, some of them splendid draft, work or saddle animals. Good blood is as manifest there as among the fast tro:ters of die towns. Colorado can make no such showing in amount of farming products as the Mississippi valley States, where farming is the main Industry; but in the yield per acre, or in quality of wheat and beef cattle, and extent of stock-farms, she far surpasses them. With little care or trouble these Colorado uplands and river bottoms turn out nearly or quite double what an equal area gives in Illinois or Iowa, and far more than is known in Minnesota or Kansas. t.; Wages of farm bands usually range from $15 to $20 per month, with board, for the entire y^ar or season, or about the same as female domestic servants receive. Laborers hired especially for harvesting receive from two to three dolhrs per * day and board. T'.iere is qu»le a difference in the prices received for farming prodi cts, according to locality. No country has a better market, and one beauty of this is, that it is right at hcHne. Kay ij "sually from |20 to J530 per ton in the mountain mining camps, and about half that sum on the farms of the plains and parks. By the cental, or hundred pounds, potatoes ranged dur- st^ •«* : :.ft. PROFITAfiLK WHEAT GROWING. 705 lore thai) dse- cattle, nianyof ry high rigures. ities have been farmers of the ied dairy-farms ated, including )se named first he displays of and Swiss cat- iVl'i ley invested in of stock is very e stables (espe- e and Colorado are large num- vork or saddle among the fast lunt of farming farming is the quality of wheat surpasses them, lands and river squal area gives in Minnesota or Si 5 to |20 per m, or about the Laborers hired iree dolhrs per ; prices received o country has a s right at home, lountain mining ' the plains and DCS ranged dur- ing the past year or two from $1.50 to 11175 : corn from $1.50 to $1.75; wheat, $\ to $1.70, or from seventy cents to $1 per bushel; flour, $2.20 to $3 per hundred ; oats, $1.75 to $2.50, Before the railways reached Colorado there were occasional scarcities of articles of food. A single potato crop of a moun- tain farm near Central cleared for its owner $17,000 one year when potatoes did not do well on the plains. Many years ago receipts were often very large, from the sale of crops on such large ranches or estates as those of Colonel Craig and others. A leading farmer near Denver, who, from his penchant for potato culture, has been called the Potato King, usually raises from 40,000 to 60,000 bushels annually from 200 to 300 acres of land, and has received for his crops all the way from $40,000 to $70,000. He plants those varieties that are found to do best, and, as in most parts of the State, many grow to prodigious size. The highest reported yields of any extensive potato crops run from 500 to 800 bushels per acre. These are exceptional cases; but 200 and 300 bushels to the acre are common returns. Magnificent crops of the finest quality of wheat ever grown are usually harvested in the fertile and beautiful valleys of the Boulder creek, and of Ralston, St. Vrain, Poudre, Clear, Bear, and Saguache creeks, and in parts of the Las Animas, and Ar- kansas and Platte valleys. The profits of a farm in those locali- ties are dftert many thousands of dollars annually. Some far- rtiers have hundreds of acres in wheat, and harvest from 5,000 to 1 5,000 bushel's per annum. From three to six times as much land is usually scH«m in wheat as in oats or corn. The most approved sowing, planting, attd harvesting machinery are used, and steam threshing-machines aire mbved from one place tb another, as theif services are required. These machines handle from 40,000 to 96,«dOo btrshcils each iri the more populous dis- tricts. In July, 1877, over $75,000 vrorth of farming mschinery was sold in Boulder county alone. , ;.. ,> ,t,u,!!/; Greeley colorty hits oVer 35,000 alcfcs of land lift'def ditch, lAbst of it ih a high Stale of dultivation. Some fifty or sixty square miles of territory Were made available for agriculture by the recent completion of a section of twenty miles of the Larimer 45 ■ jl*(W!'J4<.M*"n>'^t'*»»'-==V."-»"*.Vtfj« - 706 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. and Weld Canal. The total ' ngth will be fifty-four miles, ami a tract of country thirty-six n les long, and from throe to ten miles wide, will be irrigated. iii< canal starts from the Cache- la-Poudre river, at the Colorado Central Railway crossing, and continues eastward until the Denver Pacific is crossed. A part of this land was pre-empted, and some i» being sold at from $^ to $io per acre. i ./ .. . i , n .,/t i. . Western Colorado is beginning to be settled up by miners and farmers. For many years the great Sierra Madre acted as a barrier to immigration and advancement ; but population is moving in that direction at last. Beside the wonderful mining discoveries of that region, the farming and pastoral resources are considerable. There are fine parks and numberless valleys enclosing the streams. These are extremely fertile, and will prove very serviceable and valuable now tliat a demand has arisen for their products. The Gunni.son river alone has from 50,000 to 100,000 acres of farming land available for irrigation thai bj lower ' :\an San Luis Park, and which yielded 20,000 tons of hay last season. We have devotee' considerable space in Parts 1. and II. to the advantages and disadvantages of stock-raising and sheep-farm- ing in Colorado. Both pursuits are carried on with greater suc- cess and in a more thoroughly satisfactory way in that State than in any other. It is not necessary for us to recapitulate what we have said there; but we give below the statements of a thor- oughly intelligent English gentleman, Hon. J. W. Barclay, M. P., himself interested at home in the cattle business, and who has spent many months in the last four years in Colorado, returning thence to England in November, 1879. Mr. Barclay has no motive for over-coloring his account of stock-raising in the State, and his views will be interesting to our readers as those of a competent foreign observer. ., j ^ , ^ ,. „ , . . ,_ Mr. Barclay says; " But although a great future undoubtedly awaits the farming interest in Colorado, the present profit is greatest for the stock- keepers. There is, indeed, probably no part of the world where a young man with a few thousands can employ himself more <*• MR. BARCLAY ON UTOCK RA/S/\G. 70| ^-foiir miles, ami om throe to ten from the Cache- vay crossing, and crossed. A part I sold at from $3 . • ■ . ■ t ed up by miners a Madre acted as )ut po|)ulation is vonderfiil mining astoral resources umburless valleys r fertile, and will X a demand has \r alone has from ible for irrigation elded 20,000 tons ts 1. and II. to the ; and sheep-farm- I with greater suc- in that State than rapitulate what we ;ments of a thor- \N. Barclay, MR. ness, and who has olorado, returning r. Barclay has no aising in the State, lers as those of a li .fi':\- ni ,. J >}■ j iwaits the farming itest for the stock- )f the world where )loy himself more agreeably or profitably than in rearing cattle on the plains of Colorado or Wyoming, or in the Parks of the Rocky Mountain ranges. A couple of thousand dollars, expended on houses and the erection of corrals in the ntighborhood of a permanent stream, will form a basis of operations, and he can graze his flocks of sheep or herds of cattle on the public lands around without rent. The outlay is for the food and wages of his * cow- boys ; ' and after providing for that expense, he may devote the whole remainder of his capital to the purchase of graded heifers and good shorthorn bulls, (jraded heifers may be got across the mountains in Montana, California, or in Oregon, at a cost of $15 each. Shorthorn bulls, fairly bred, and suitable for tho country, can be purchased at from f,$o to $100. Sheep of satis* factory quality are driven, or rather cat their way, from Califor- nia, and can occasionally be bought in Colorado or Wyoming at %^. When crossed with a better class of sheep they soon im- prove, and yield fleeces of five to six pounds. ' ' " If the stockman has the faculty to select good men — and such are to be had out in the West — he need not make himself a prisoner in his ranch, but may treat himself to a month's hunting in the mountains, or even to a trip to England, without imperil- ing his interests. How long the present system will last, of pas- turing on the public lands, is uncertain. Last summer a Com- mission of Congress was engaged on an inquiry into the best system to be adopted with regard to the public lands, and aif idea is entertained that the government will sell land suitable for grazing, but too dry for cultivation, in lots of eight square miles, about 4,000 acres, at a low figure. Should this policy be adopted, the ranches will be fenced in, and a much higher type of cattle can then be advantageously introduced than would pay when, as at present, the cattle of different owners roam together on the plains. The profits of the present system are enormous, not- withstanding the low price of catde. A three-year-old steer, weighing alive about 1,200 pounds, fetches only $20. The in- tr^Af* of the stock, after deducting deaths, is about eighty per cent, on the number of the cows, if the cattle are fairly wei attended lo. The attention required is not much. To cut th^ - 1 III II iiii >rtii " ■■r-- .Ji OVK WaSTJtXif RMPtHE. grasa with a mowings-machine in some of the meadows, and to •AVQ the hay for the <;mer)^ency of a snow-storm severe cnou}(l) to debar the cattle from their food, is all that is necessary. Hut even that sli^^ht precaution is, 1 fear, rather the exception than llie rule in the Colorado ranches, ' '•'The ease with which meat may be grown out in the West was forcibly impressed on my attention by an incident 1 observed in the North Hark. The North Park is a great undulating plain within the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of 7,000 or 8,000 fcet The drove 1 saw consisted of 3,000 cattle, of a size and quality that would have attracted favorable notice in any of ou/ markets at home. They had been feeding on very nutritious grass in the Park all summer, and were expected to weigh 1,400 pounds. They were born on the Pacific slope, and were fieedtng 'here, as a resting-point in their journey from California east- wards. They were part of a lot sold to Chicago dealers at 1*37.50 a head, and were going to Illinois to he fattened for the English oiarket, and would reach Liverpool, ready for the butcher, early in 1880. Thus cattle that first see the light on the shores of the l^acific arc driven slowly, at the rate of about ten miles a day, as ftir as the centre of America, and after grazing there for a year, are rarried by railway to the maize-growing .States, whence, after a stay of a few months, they make their final journey to Liver- pool. These are facts that lead to reflection. Only ten years agOi cattle from the Last(;rn and Middle States were taken west- ward across the mountains to California, but the tables are now turned. Cattle-breeding has developed so rapidly in the Pacific States, as not merely tx> supply the demand there, but to pour ks surplus of tlie improved Ajneriran cattle back to the East, and thus to supplant the inferior lexas brwttd, which. in a few years tiiay be expected to disapfiear altogether. It is computed that during the present year 50^000 cattle havn made the journey (eastwards across the plains. " Looking at the capacity- for devdopment shown by facts lik« these, it is idle to imagine that the supply of American cattle will l)0Qome exhausted within any time that can be mentioned in the y)roximate future. These plains, covering thousands of square adowH, and tn evcrc enouj(!i •cessary. Hul :xception than t in the West cnt I observed tdidatin^ plain 7,000 or 8,000 of a size and in any of 011/ very nutritious to weigh 1,400 (I were feuding California cast- alors at 1*37.50 or the F)nglish : butcher, early c shores of the miles a day, as icr(! for a year, s, whence, after urncy to Liver- Only ten years ere taken west- tables are now ly in the Pacific re, but to pour o the East, and .in a few years computed that le the journey vn by facts like rtcan cattle will entioned in the inds c^ square RXI'OKTATION OF urode-'CATrfK. miles, are specially adapted for rearing cattle. Hut thfre is one direction in which a government, even moderately ac- quainted with the interests of lieef-producers, might confer a benefit upon the farming interest. We cannot compete with the American stock-keeper in the earlier stages of meat |)rodurtion, but in the last stage of all — the fattening for the market, which is at present done in Illinois and other maize-growing States — the farmer in this country has facilities which would enable him to distance his American competitor. The cattle 1 saw were to be transported by rail to Illinois at a cost of $6.25 or $7.50 per head; for other ^35 a head those cattle could be landej at Liverpool. The store cattle sold in Colorado for ^^37.50. These would be sold at a profit to all concerned in Liverpool at ^•j^ a head, and when fattened, could be sold readily, even m these bad times, for ;jlioo a head. But this profit of $25 a. head is forced into the pockets of Illinois farmers by the wisdom of our government, which prohibits the importation of store catde for the farmer, and admits only fat cattle for the butcher. Such conduct from the * farmers' friends ' is not kindly.* " Those who say that there is disease among American cattle^ and that what the farmer wants above all things is protecliotn ftrom disease, betray a want of acquaintance with the facts of the case. The real opposition comes from a few bret;ders of cattNt who have the ear of the government, and who object to any stord •Mr. Barclay's argument that the Briiish graziers ihould import American "store collie,'* in»(c-i^(l or nllowiiig the butciier* to import Amcric«n Tat tattle, is adnuroble from his stan<)poiiii. It is, iiiilci--i|, their only hope of making; an/ profit, from their agricultural proarley, rye, millet, Egyptian rice corn, sorghum seed, and the fattening root cro^ can be raised in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, Montana or Dakota at half the cost of then* ^ihluctioit in Illinoit, and containing a larger measure ef carbonined or fattening food !• th4 laMhel ; and with the present .'aoiKties for shipment, they will be able to place their finest beevi* ( ml there are no better anywhere) in Liverpool, at a net cost to them of not over I40 or I4S ,^ Head, while they will command on landing from I90 to |ilo per head. The Montana cattle,- \\t')A t«id, fatten almost too well on the nutritious bunch grass alone. *' ', ^10 OiyJt WKSTKKN RMPiMM. cattle bdnjj imported, whether in health or disrane ; but the ^nmX body of farmrr^ want cheap store (,utlrofit on a tTKKlcratc investment. Good Itdtter always commands it gcnnl price in Colorado-^lront twenty- five to forty.five cents a poiirul, and the supply \% never e<|ual to tlu* demand. Mr, H Straiten, the leadincj dairy farmer of the Cache la Poudre valley, Larimer county, makes the following staK-nR-nt ^4 the profits of ilairy -farming, as the result of his own observotiiwn ; " Wc will suppose eij.'hty acres to have been tilled as a grain farm; the dairyman will put in forty acres to a mixed crop nf corn, potatoes, oats, and barley for general crop, and seed down the remaining forty to Alfalfa. This will take 8o<> lbs. of seed, which, at 14 rents per lb , will cofit |^i 13. As the fust blossoms appear on the AlfalCi, the crop must be cut, which ordinarily will just aU)ut pay for rotting ; the si . ')iul cutting, (juiie late in the fall, wdl, under favorable circumstances, v 'it one ton per acre. This forty tons of Alialfa, with the straw . fodder raised on the forty acres set apart for the general 'top, with the addition of such grain feed as the cows retjuire, will be sufficient to keep a twenty-cow dairy in full feed until the first cutting of the Alfalfa the second year. We will svipposc the farmer has made ^us se- lection of twenty good butter cows, about the first of October, and made the necessary preparations to keep them in comforta- ble quarters, putting the cows at one e on full feed ; we will figure what the result will be. f wenty cows fid as above will produce two hundred pounds eacn of gilt-edge butter, which properly HAarketed in Denver and the mining cnr ips, will net 35 cents per pound; and 4,000 lbs. of butter at 35 c< nts equals ^^1,400. Twenty calves properly raised and fed, will, at one year old, bring $250; chickens raised on the surplus milk and refuse grain will net $200 more, which makes a total of $1,850, or an average of $92.50 per cow. The first cost of cows will be about $35 each. By making a good selection of native cows, then grading up with some good butter-making breed, the farmer will in a few years have a fine herd of dairy cows, worth at the lowest figure $50 per head." We have devoted considerable space already in Parts I. and iJ>U ;l» OVU WSi.\TKKS t.MriKg, II. to $k«

Ht largely cii^a^ed in Hhecp- farmin)( are \\\ I 'a ho, Las Animas, Huerfano, Conejos, I'luhlo, I'ilhert, hent, Arapahor, Larimer, and Weld. The hheep in ilw •o-called Mexican counties, Conejos, Las Anima'., and Huerfano, are mosttly Mexican HJieep, thou}{h a few of tlient Iwwc lx:en im- proved hy crossing with a superior breed ; but in th> other coun- ties thry are almost entirely of improved breeds. The Mexican sheep yields but three or four pounils of wool, while it costs ns much to keep and care for it as the improved Merino or Cots- wold grade, which yields from six to twelve poutuls. As ^ockI Merino wwil is worth on an average twenty-five cents per pound or more, this difference in yield makes a great difference in tiu: value of the sheep. In 1879. Colorado is said to have marketed 7,000,000 pounds of wool, worth $1,400,000; reared over 1,000,000 lambs, worth at the lowest estimate $150 each, or $1,500,000, and sent to market or consumed at home 300,000 sheep worth $2.50 each, or $500,000 more. In 1880, she will sell 10,000,000 pounds of wool, worth $3,500,000 ; rear 3,000,000 lambs, worth $3,000,000 ; and sell or consume 300,000 sheep, for which she will receive $900,000, an aggregate of $6,400,000. : ,m. ) ■ '» ' "Thus far," says Mr. Frank I-'ossett, "the business of sheep- raising in Colorado has been very profitable. A flock of i.Soo ewes, CO ting $4,500, were placed on a ranchc in Southern Col- orado. In eight years, 1,600 sheep were killed for mutton and consumed on the ranchc, and 7,740 were sold for $29,680. There are 14,800 head on hand, worth $3 per head, $44,400. The clips of wool paid for the shepherds' hire and all 9^rrent expenses. The result shows a net profit over the original in< vestment of $69,520, equal to 193 per cent, per annum for eight years in succession. Per contra, out of a flock of 1,300 very fine M^l ifilh other SutcH ; CHS of {\\v. kiiccp- du haii not turn. ' fruin j,5(X>,ocic. ■|) in without any w^ StatcH of the nj;aj;«;d in nhpfp- Conejos, Piuhio, \\u h\\VV.\) in the i\ and i lucrlano, m I ;we Ixitin im- I) th< othrr coun- ». The Mexican , while it coHtH an Merino or Cots- III mis. As ^ood cents per pound difference in tlu: '.cxxj.ooo pounds XX) lambs, worth 300, and sent to rorth $2.50 each, 0,000 pountis of orth j; 3. 000,000 ; she will receive isiness of shcep- A flock of r.Xoo in Southern Col- 1 for mutton and )ld for $29,680. :r head, $44,400. and all (^rrent the original in- annum for ei>;ht )f 1,200 very fine % IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST .'UIN STRBET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)872-4503 A^ CIHM/iCMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian institute for Historical l\«icroreproduction8 / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques u.. SHEEP FARMING IN COLORADO. ^|| selected ewes, worth $4 per head, 8cx; died during a storm of two days in March, 1878. The 400 that survived raised in the summer of that year more than that number of lambs. " Many of the sheep men have two ranges for their herds — one for summer aud the other for winter. The herder usually col- lects the sheep at night on a side hill, and sleeps by them. They lie quietly unless disturbed by wolves, who are the most trouble- some in stormy weather. Shepherd dogs are very useful in the protection and herding of sheep, and are born and raised, and die with them. Lambs are weaned about the first of October. Sheep will travel about three miles out on to the range and back to water or the herding grounds each day. Those coming to Colorado to engage in the sheep business should engage on a sheep ranche, and stay there long enough to understand all aboi:t the methods of conducting the business. In selecting or taking up land for sheep-growing, plenty of range or room, with hay land and a water supply, are requisites for successful opera- tions. Good sheep should be purchased to begin with, as they are the cheapest in the long run, and close attention must be given to the business in order to make money and build up a fortune. " While Is^rge numbers of the sheep of Colorado are of American breeds, hosts of them are native Mexican sheep. Still larger numbers are of mixed blood, obtained by crossing the long- legged, gaunt, coarse, light-wool Mexicans with Merino rams. The Cotswold has not been crossed so successfully with the full- blood Mexican, but makes fine stock when crossed with the three-quarter Merino. This brings siz;: to the sheep, weight to tJie fleeqe, and length of staple. Since Colorado has been found to be the ^heep-growing State of the West, large herds have beei> driven into her borders from other sections. California has beep a heavy contributor, on account of the small expenses and large profits attei^dipg sheep-raising here 2& compared \vith the Pacifiq s^ope. Thirty thousand sheep were drive^i in frpm tl»t St^te in the spring of 1879." (ji xhJh^j • The number of horses, asses and mules in the St^te is lafge in prpportion to the population, and is rapidly increasing in two k;;, jri^ OUR WESTLKN EMriRE. directions: the number of wealthy mine-owners has greatly multiplied within two or three years, and these men all crave the best horses to be procured for money, and have already brought into the State very many choice animals ; the mines and the rail- roads, as well as the immense freighting business, require a large and constantly increasing suppiy of horses and mules larger and heavier than either the broncho or mustang. To meet this lattir demand, and to some extent the former also, such great corpora- tions as the Colorado Catde Company, of the Hermofiillo ICstau*, have undertaken the rearing of many thousands of horses and mules, and find the enterprise largely profitable, even more so than cattle-breeding. ;'>i • '. It is impossible to estimate with any Vi^ry close approximation to accuracy, the present value of the live-stock interest of Colo rado. So rapid is its growth ; so sudden the transition from a " waste, howling wilderness " to a compact and populous State ; from the sage brush, the alkaline plains, and the frightful preci- pices and cafions, to the fields green with future harvests and dotted all over with thousands of cattle, sheep, horses and mules, that figures which frighten us by their enormous amount prove strangely and ridiculously inadequate to express the enormous strides which every material interest is making in this land of wonders. It is known that the increased valuation of the live-stock interest in 1878 (not the total value, that was many times more) over the previous year was ^6,200,ocx>. It is known also that the increase of the same interest in 1879 more than doubled these figures. In 1880, from the various causes we have specified, they must have doubled again, and, possibly, much more than doubled. When we add to this the receipts, gains and profits of the farming industry for the same three years, which mounted in that time from $4,ooo,ocx) to more than 5^13,000,000, we have an aggregate which for so young a State is astounding. Railroads. — No State west of the Missouri river is so thor- oughly interlaced with railways now completed, or soon to be completed, as Colorado. '-"' • • •■ '^ j " i ■ uxijuu wj At the northeast the Union Pacific enters the corner of the THE RAILWAYS OP COLORADO. rs has greatly en all crave the 1 ready brought es and the rail- require a large ules larger and meet this lan< r 1 great corpora- nioyillo I-lstaio, of horses and even more so approximation iterest of Colo insition from a opulous State ; frightful preci- e harvests and rses and mules, amount prove the enormous in this land of the live-stock ny times more) ivn also that the doubled these have specified, uch more than ins and profits which mounted 0,000, we have riding, 'i '*^ii»^ /er is so thor- or soon to be corner of the 7i5 State at Julesburg, on the North Platte, but soon passes north into Wyoming ; at Cheyenne, Wyoming, it controls the Colorado Central, which extends from Cheyenne through Larimer, Boulder, and Jefferson counties to Golden, and thence over another line to Denver ; this road has also its extensions in progress through Western Boulder, Grand (traversing the Middle Park) and Routt counties, to Steamboat Springs, and Hayden to Windsor, on Fortification creek, as well as through Gilpin county to Black Hawk, and through Clear Creek county to Georgetown, and is now building a further extension through Summit county to Leadville. The Union Pacific also controls the Denver Pacific, wliich extends through Weld and Arapahoe counties to Denver. Under the same general control is the Kansas Pacific, and the newly reorganized Missouri Pacific, which, starting from Kansas City, Missouri, crosses Kansas from east to west, and passes through Bent, Elbert and Arapahoe counties to Denver. The Denver, South Park and Pacific, which, starting from Denver, had its western terminus in 1878 at Webster, in Hall's Valley, pushed on, in 1879, to Breckenridge and Leadville, reaching the latter city early in 1880, and following the west side of the Arkansas river valley, crossed the main divide (the Saguache range) at Cottonwood Pass, reached Gunnison in August, and is now pushing on for Lake City (Hinsdale county), 125 miles distant, which it will probably enter by January, 1881. From Buena Vista, in Chaffee county, to Leadville, its train:* and those of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway run over the same track. i : .K- '■ • , . J.:. ... J From Denver, the Denver and Rio Grande goes southward to El Moro, extending a branch along the Arkansas river to its source, reaching Leadville; also westward from Cuchuras, in Huerfano county, as hereafter described, across Costilla to Ala- mosa, whence one branch goes to Del Norte in Rio Grande, and another through Conejos to Anemas City, in Plata county. But the great railroad of Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico is the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. This railway, starting from Kansas City and Atchison, crosses the State of m ;« ^|6 OLNt WBSrtkN KUPmE. Kansas on the line uf the valley of the Arkansas riv:^r, which it follows in Colorado, ihrougii Bent and Pueblo, where it connects witli tile Denver aiul Kio Grande, en route lor Leadville, and at La Junta, in Uent county, sending an arm southwestward and southward through Las Animas county, past the great coal fields and mines of Trinidad, reached Las Vegas, and crossing the main chain of die RucKy Mounuins, paused for a litUe at Santa Fe, and is continuing its southern route down the valley of thti Rio Grande to Mcbilla, New Mexico, and LI Paso, Texas, and stretciiing thence across Chihuahua and Sonora — Mexican States — will make its southern terminus at Guaymas, on the Californian Gulf Uy its connection with die St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, and the Atlantic and Pacific, to all whose privileges it has fallen heir, it proposes also to strike westward from Santa P'e along the route of the Fla'c river, one of the affluents of the Rio Colorado of the West, cross Arizona, bridge the Grand Carbon of the Colorado with a single span of 400 feet, 1,600 feet above die water, and make a western terminus at San Diego or Los Angeles. Neither the Union Pacific, tlic Northern, the Southern or the Texas Pacific has conceived a grander scheme for crossing the continent, or prosecuted it with such unfaltering energy and such audacity of enterprise and engineering skill. Its crossing of the Raton Mountains in Southern Colorado; its passage carved along die perpendicular precipices of the Grand Cafton of the Arkansas, and its other engineering feats, have excited the ad- miration of the greatest engineers in the world. In Colorado it has made a close alliance with its former rival, the Denver and Rio Grande, and the two having divided Southern Colorado and New Mexico between them, the latter has extended a line through Huerfano, crossing the Sangre de Christo range at Veta Pass, at the height of 9,339 feet, through Costilla county and the San Luis Park, to Alamosa, whence one branch traverses Coaejos and La Plata counties, and is now completed to the Las Anima.s river,, with an eventual terminus, perhaps, on the San Juan liver; the other, branch folliows the Rio Grandie on the line be- tween Kio Grande and Saguache counties, to the famous mineral f"*! EDUCATION IN CO top ADO. 7^7 riv;:r, which it ure it connuctN aclvillc, and at )westward and ;rcat coal fields d crossing the I little at Santa f valley of th»; ISO, Texas, and jora — Mexican aymas, on the Louis and San :, to all whose trike westward .er, one of the (\rizona, bridge jan of 400 feet, erminus at San Quthern or the )r crossing the nergy and such crossing of the lassage carved Caflon of the excited the ad- In Colorado he Denver and 1 Colorado and i a line through it Veta Pass, at y and the San es Coaejos and e Las Animas the San Juan on the line be- kmous mineral sprinj^s of Wagon-Wheel dap, and then turns westward thronjTh Hinsilale and San jiian coimties to Silverton, where it is to meet an extension of the Las Animas branch to and through Oxiray, and up the valleys of the Uncompahgre and Cinnnison rivers to the Grant! rivur, and thrnce into Utah. Another important branrh of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe east of the Ciroat Divide is now in process of construction from Cafton City into Custer county to Rosita and .Silver Cliff, the region of the new chloride mines. Within three years, and possibly less, there will be no county in the State untra\ersed by some of the lines of the Colo rado Central, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa V6, the Denver and Rio Grande, or some of the roads with which these are affiliated, and the State will have more than 2,000 miles of railway. In January, 1880, there were 1,326 miles in operation. There are now more than 1,450 miles. The wagon foads, sometimes built at great expense, are foi* the most part, excellent and safe. The ascents and descents are sometimes frightful, but the* drivers are cool, courageous, and thoroughly skillfi.l men, and accidents are very rare. These remarkable facilities for travel and transportation, so speedily created, have aided greatly in the development of the State, and have helped to place it at once on an equality with much older States in commerce and in all the appliances of the highest civilization. California, at the end of twenty years after her admission into the Union, even with her wonderful growth, had not the facilities already possessed by Colorado in the fourth year since her reception by Congress. Education. — Colorado has an excellent public school system, modeled after the best systems of the Western States, and its public school law of 1876, amended slightly by later legislatures, is enforced with an enterprise and ability characteristic of every- thing undertaken by the State. It is fast accumulating a mag- nificent school fund, and its citizens pay no taxes so willingly as those for educational purposes. Its scattered population, espe- cially in the grazing districts, has i^endered the maintenance of public schools difficult in some of the counties; but wherever towns, villages, farming and mining districts and camps have 1; : i^(i«r-4>JiiK^lk< been established, there are good schools orj^^ini/td without delay. Denver is noted for its public schools, which are of the hiji;hest character. Leadville, the same month (July, 1877) that it assumed its corporate character, thoujjh then a small mining camp, established a public school, and has since multiplied its schools as rapidly as they were needed. Greeley, Evans. Longmont, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Carton City, Rosita, Silver Cliff, and all the rest, have made haste to establish schools. There is a State University at Boulder endowed with lands by the government and supported by the State. It has a prepara- tory ami a normal school department, and is about organ-zing its full course of university study. There is a college at Col- orado Springs which has four courses of instruction — prepara- tory, normal, collegiate, and mining and metallurgy. The terms for tuition are only $25 a year, so that it is practically free. At Colorado Springs there is also a State Deaf Mute Institution, not yet, we believe, fully organized. There is a State Agricul- tural College at Fort Collins in aclive operation, and Farmers' Institutes are held in connection with it every winter. ' ' "''' Aside from these there are several private or denominational institutions of collegiate character already founded, and others Ml prospect. The education of the young in Colorado will be amply provided for. Churches and Religious Denominations. — When we consider that Colorado is but four years old as a State, and that many of its larger towns and cities have not been in existence more than' three or four years, we shall find that the religious progress of the State has been very commendable. The Roman Catholics have a large diocese, a considerable number of their adherents being Mexicans, of whom there are many in the southern coun-' ties, and many also of other nationalities in the central and northern counties. There is also a Protestant Episcopal diocese' with a smaller number of adherents, but very active and efficient.' The Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians,' Lutherans, German Reformed, and many of the minor sects are' also represented iii the Sta^;e by numerous congregations. "^^ *rPoptdaiion.-^ln 1870 Colorado had but 39,864 inhabitant^;- )r^^nni/t!(l wltliout lols. whkli arc of e month (July, r, though then a ol, and has since nrecled. Grcf'Icy, 'arton City, Rosita, establish schools, wed with lanils by It has a prcpara- aboiit ory;an'zing a colleije at Col- truction — prepara- lnrgy. The terms radically free. At Mute Institution, is a State Agricul- tion, and Farmers' winter. or denominational )unded, and others 1 Colorado will be r •' A^hen we consider , and that many of xistence more than igious progress of Roman Catholics of their adherents he southern coun- 1 the central ahd Episcopal diocese' ctive and efficient.' ts, Presbyterians, lie minor sects are igregations. "^ 9*864 inhabitant^ fOrVt.ATfOy, COUNTIES AND CtTIKS OF COLORADO, 7«y about what Denver and Leadville each have to-duy. Wlu n admitted to the Union, in 1876, it was consid«;rfd doubtful whfther she had more tli;in 75,cxx>. 'I'o tlay she iiati, int hiding tribal Indians (2,530), 197,179. Counties. — The State has thirty-one counties, viz. : County. h r R HiliWr . . . ChitffM CUur Cruslt.. ijuiivju*... ,. , Cu'ilillt Cutiiir D III |U« ElWri Kl I'ano I'rimuni Olt^ii Oriiiid Uiinnlvm. , , Hinti'nl" ... Hiitrfi no .. . I flt.T.UJI . , . \*V« \jk Plau.... (.urimtr. ... \»s Animat . Ouray. . . . . Park Pi'chlii .. . Km) Grand*. K Hill '^ui|ii(ich«,. . , Sun Juan ... S'lmmii Wtid Coumy S4«l. r>«Rv«r ,,, \as Animw Hoiilikr (iruiiiu Cicur^viown ('t>nr)«i« Sun l.ui* KiMiU ('.»ik Kock ... Kiuwa Coloruilu Kpring* (Jannn Cciiinil Hill Sulphur Spring* i.iiiiiiiHtin I,jliu (!ity W..l-.anburi| . . . (;oliL-n I.euilvill7A,74( an • .»W.17* 'w J."V7.J»« oi '.9J'.9V' 1' t44,j4« «) JI9, 71 If (011.054 ^ 911, 7IJ ()t 9? • M.447 00 >>VI > tit 9) 79«,»39 ao 3,f,,v Ofjoa • ,8i«l,UIHI I Kt,(«iO I ,rjaii,f]no ■ ,')0rl,C^JO 1,6110,000 3ii,'«n,aiu 6 o,oao 3,..IU(l,rXX> ■ ,t)nn,(iao 7^o,noo i,5uo,uoo 7,000,(100 1,000,000 IOO,(XIO 1,000,000 850,000 1 ,400,000 7,000,000 fta4,4)o,ooo Aroo, P'lpitUiiun, > SqiMri iniln .879 «.loo Vf**> 9ii''o 1,'»»| Ti' |J,1IU1 l,«4o V" 1,1 «JO 6,IJUU 1.61] 4,'»" llll-O 5,oi« /'» 3,(HIO 6,010 «,joa t,«.'R 9,uoii i.itii 4.!"i H« 7.ioo 4,t78 * 500 1 1 ,IIUi> 1,5011 i,5>» 4,<«o • ,jl4 5, 000 79» 7.J"" 4UO IJ.O0O <.o95 I,5ca 1,1 J} »>uo 9,000 1,3 1» J. 500 5,0011 300 33" 3.0110 7.6 3iOOo o,uou «,>89 to.494 7.J'« 190,300 Pnpllki|l««, JUIM, ills, !«,«4J ■ .654 9 74« 6,V" 7.'4'* 5.615 8,' 8 J 14^6 1,7 9 7,y.» 4«7 • •17 \,vn 4.1 '4 A. Km »j8»4 1. 1 10 4.f9» *.9<'4 7,070 3.'/7u 7.''5 ■iV44 140 ■ .97] I,..fl7 5i4!9 5646 194 .«49 Cities and Toivns, — The following are the principal cities and towns of Colorado with their population, so far as can be ascer- tained, in 1870, 1875, 1879, and 1880: ' •' Cilic* and Towns. Denver I^iadviile* v'cnlral, ) niack Hawk,V VcvjiHavill*. ) Piiirhlo & South Pueblo. C lorado Springs Cfcorvetown Koiilder Trinidad Golden Cireelev UkeClty Population, .07.. 1I7J. 1879. 1880. 4.759 none l7,orx> none 38,000 11,000 3J.«Jo 14,810 4,401 5,000 6,500 7,100 666 non* 5,000 1,500 tfioa 5,000 6.500 6,000 Boa 3i' 4.000 1,800 5,000 3.»oo 5.400 4,000 563 1,000 3iOoo 3,100 '1' 480 none 1,000 1,000 400 1,500 1,5CX3 1,100 3,100 i,8o3 1,800 Citlas and Towns Canon City Del Norte 'i 4,ooij none none 1,100 5,000 none mine 1,500 3,oc«, none 50U l.uoo i,5(x. none none t,ooo l,l(XI none none 500 1,50.. 150 700 900 I ,7CX) ' none none 500 I.oroj none none 150 «,5" 1 none none 800 I,oo(; *Thi!i is within the cily limits iilone. Its siihurhs, which belong in the miner's phra.se, tu the same mining camp, contain 17,000 or 18,000 more. i-.i^. ' ' .I ' ii J-i* Of course, in such a hctorojjrnrous assemblage of all creeds and nationalitit!», tlu-re arc many who \\v.\rr ait«;n(l public wor- ship, and who arc pe-rhaps open scofftjrs at all religion — skeptics and inlidt'ls, either of the more intj-llectnal and prolessedly scien- tihc sort, or of the coarse brutal class, th«* American representa- tives of the Communists, Nihilists ami Socialists of continental Kurop<'. The Mornmns, too, have been planting their missions in Southwest and Southern Colorado, in the hope of at least winning a sufficient number of adherents to secure the vote of the representatives of Cc^lorado in Congress in favor of the admission of Utah, as a Mormon State, into the Union. ' But it is a very gratifying fact that none of our newer States have come into the Union with a better or more deserved repu- tation for good order, safety of person and property, and morality in its highest and be .t sense. From its central position, its rapid yet healthy development, its extensive and constantly increasing facilities of railway com- munication, its immense and as yet only partially developed mineral wealth, its productive farming and grazing lands, and its intense enterprise, we may safely predict that Colorado is des- tined to be the leading State of the Rocky Mountain region, and not improbably the leader in wealth and power of the new " Western Empire." Two decades of such growth and progress as that of the last four years will place it among the grandest of American States ; the peer of New York in population and in wealth, and exerting an influence over all the sisterhood of States west of the Mississippi which will justify its claim to be the Empire State of the West. ' < . , ■',(■': ; •' ■■ I, I ; % : 1 , . -J, . f ■I ft. uyx: ! ,;;•». "«"» I'l \>; \i .1- .■■ .■» t^,' ! .;'^iV t.i'.M I ' '1., ' :s F t^ . t i • 'I I ■fV. • ' 'i ■i Hi: 'f- ;c of nil creeds ind public wor- ijiion — Hkeptics oleHseclly scien- can reprtstnta- of continental ; their missions )p(! of at least ire the vote of n favor of the Jnion. ' r newer States deserved repu- ty, and morality y development, )f railway com- [ally developed g lands, and its olorado is des- ain region, and er of the new ;h and progress :he grandest of pulation and in sisterhood of its claim to be ■m 5 *■ I i I I »r »./ 'I 1 t • '.; ,; ,.; .. :'■(• m - -«-»—^—i»»»^w> ■»!■■< i m mr* ..d «|IJ « |i I I ^1 I vf "•i^i^^ (i iJMJii j|i ■ »^ III JH l^ii*LH|j|ii »i«m«^^>^«^i|ij ii|jj^iij|i|if u III ' t t • t ' I, .■ ^ ■ umi u 'l - i M « ' . » .JiJ i i | I g | | ' I ' *. '•>ft' ■■'%'i M44'-'[ ^.jTi ■"^■s5*'rVV><-'*^»vJ IJ' ,..,*..- m BOUNDARIES OF DAKOTA. f^x CHAPTER V. ■ ,1.. •; ..iii .! DAKOTA. ROUNOARIGS, ArKA AND ToPOGRAPHV OK DAKOTA — FiRST SktIUP.MENTS — 0«« ' OANiZATiON — Rivers — Lakes — Dakota Divided into Koi'r Sections: Northern, Centra!,, Southeastern and Black Him.s — CuAp.ArrHRiSTics OF EACH — The Bad Lands— Fossils there — Governor Howard's De- scription OF THESK sections— Governor Howard's Address — His Report to the Skcretarv of the Interior — Biographicai. Notice of Governor Howard — The Survevor-Generak's Rf.port — Northern Dakota — The Description of it bv Hon. James B. Power— Charles Carleton Coffin's DEiiCRiPTioN intheChicauo Tribune — Thk Correspondent of the Chicago Journal — Other Testimony — Bishop Peck, Messrs. Reed and Pell — Cen- tral Dakota — The Account of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Commission — Southeastern Dakota — Rev. Edward Ellis's Letter — Hon. • W. H. H. Beadle's Description — His Competency as a Witness — Meteor- ' OLOCY of Southeastern Dakota — The Black Hills — Mr. Zimri L. White's Description of this Region — Climate and Meteorology of the Black •i Hills— GoLD-MiNiNO there— Four Classes of Mines— Cheapness of , Mining and Milling — Altitudes in the Black Hills — Population or Towns — Farming, Grazing and Market-gardening in the Black Hills ' — Social Life and Morals there — Railroads in Dakota — Population OF the Territory and its Character — The Future of Dakota. Dakota Territory as now constituted lies between the parallels of 42° 30' and 49° north latitude, and between the meridians of 96" 20' and 104 west longitude from Greenwich. There is also a small tract of about 2,000 square mites, lying between Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, of an irregular and partially triangular form, which was overlooked when Wyoming was organized, which be- longs to Dakota, though no jurisdiction is exercised over it by the Territory, and it is at least 450 miles from its nearest bound- ary. This little tract is traversed by the Utah and Northern Railway, and includes a small slice of the Yellowstone Park. Dakota is bounded on the north by the Northwest British Terri- tory and Manitobsi, east by Minnesota and Iowa, south by Nebraska and the Missouri river, and west by Wyoming and Montana. Its area i& 1^56,932 square miles, or 96,596,480 a^res. 46 'i ' al^^ .M i '1 rt« OUH WdiHTLkN JLAI^lkit, It is about 450 miles in length from north to south, and 350 miles from east to west. The first settlements in the Territory were made in the south- cast in 1859 in Yankton and vicinity, but were very few and scattering. It was first organized as a Territory in 1 861, con- taining tnen a vast territory, which has since been reduced by the organization of other Territories till, in i868, it was reduced to its present area. The Missouri river traverses the Territory from Fort Buford in the northwest to Sioux City in the south- east, and is navigable for the whole distance. Its largest afflu- ent, the Yellowstone, enters it opposite Fort Buford, just as it enters the Territory. The Missouri receives eleven or twelve large tributaries on the south side, and about the same num- ber on the north side, within the limits of the Territory. The Red river of the North rises in Lake Traverse (latitude 46"), and flowing due north forms the eastern boundary of the Territory for more than 200 miles to the boundaries of Manitoba, and eaters Lake Winnipeg in the northern part of that province. The Red river has two large afiluents, the Pembina and tht Sheyenne, and several smaller ones. The Souris or Mouse river, a tributary of the Assiniboine, one of the Canadian rivers, drains the northwestern part of tjie Territory. The Minnesota river, a tributary of the Mississippi, has its source in Big Stone lake, and several of its affluents rise in Southeastern Dakota. Of the tributaries of the Missouri in Dakota, the principal on the north side are the Big Sioux, and the Dakota or James. The latter is nearly 400 miles in length, a river of considerable vol- ume, but is not navigable in any part of its course. On the south side of the Missouri, the principal affluents are : the Niobrara, which forms the boundary between Nebraska and Dakota for a considerable distance, and its tributary, the Keyapaha; the White river, the B^ Cheyenne, with its north and south forks (the for- mer bearing also the name of La Belle Fourche), the Owl river, the Grand river, and the north and south forks of the Cannonball fiver, the Heart river, the Big Knife rivwr and the Little Missouri tChe wJMle Territory is well watef«d.!o.'-.'i{/. •>df iurc f.^ir-Kic^*/! .^■^kata has very many lakea^ some of them, like Lakes Mimw- I ■M south, and 350 de in the south- e very few and ry in 1861, con :en reduced by t was reduced to s the Territory y in the sou th- is largest afflu- u ford, just as it even or twelve the same nuin- Territory. The atitude46°),and af the Territory Manitoba, and F that province. ;mbina and tht )uris or Mouse Canadian rivers, The Minnesota ce in Big Stone tern Daicota. the principal on or James. The onsiderable vol- On the south : the Niobrara, d Dakota for a >aha; the Wiiite 1 forks (the for- , the Owl river, the CannonbaD Little Missouri : Lakes Mtnne- r:i COy/iAWOJf iiOWAKD'S kHfOKT OF 1878. m Waukan, Traverse, Big Stone, James, Kampeska, etc, of large size, and all of remarkable beauty. Dakota was formerly divided into two or three distinct sec- tions, and since the cession of the reservations of the Sioux and other Indian tribes a fourth has been added. Northeastern, or perhaps more properly Northern Dakota, extends across the State hfty miles or more on either side of the Northern Pacific Railway, from the Red River valley to the bounds of Montana. It is, for the most part, a very fine wheat region. The soil is rich, deep and easily tilled, and yiekls large crops of the cereals, and of potatoes and other root crops. Central Dakota, the new division, includes much of the former Sioux reservation. This is also good land for the cereals, for Indian corn, the root crops, and some portions of it for grazing. The third Section, South- east Dakota, is almost wholly farming land, and along the river valleys and the plains, which extend back from them, there is no better land anywhere on the continent The so-called Bad Lands {mauvaises terres) of Southern Dakota are of much less extent than has generally been supposed. They are entirely in this section, and there are but 75,000 acres (about three townships in all) of them. There is said to be another small tract in the northwest, but not much is known of them. The adjacent lands, though not so good for farming, are yet superior for grazing ; and the Bad Lands themselves yield at least an ample crop of fossils.* The late Hon. William A. Howard, Governor of Dakota and previously Governor of Michigan, in his report to the Secretary of the Interior, under date of December i6th, 1878, thus de- scribed three of these sections : "The Territory of Dakota is very large, being nearly 400 miles square, or more than four times as large as the State of Ohio. The settle;Tients are principally confined to three distinct; localities as remote from each other as possible, and of very difficult and expensive communication with each other. ' 1 1 1 1 I ■■ I I 1 1 - 1 I ■ ' ' I ' ■ ■ I ' *In these Bad LAnds kav« ^en diKovered some of the mest remarkable fossils yet found in America. The ii^o1« regioa is the cemetery of the extinct monsters of the crataceous ami earlitrgeOlogicagM. >f;.t-..i >',, „ ,.i,., ;■ ' ., ^..j., .,.,.. -^ ■' •« I % A^i£ii^|{ig^;g^a«^.^)^ 1^ii^'^iis/>^i^t^k:a^'- 724 OVR WESTERS EMPIRE. " The settkments of Southeastern Dakota, in which is located the present capital, extend from Northeastern Nebraska mainly in a northern direction up the Big Sioux, the Vermilion, and the James rivers. These settlements are extending north along the border of Northwestern Iowa and Southwestern Minnesota as far as I^ke Kampeska, and as far west as the James river. Although the population is sparse at present it is rapidly filling up. Southeastern Dakota has a population at the present time of not less than 50,ocx), and probably 60,000. «, orn n') i'>l ■ ti "Northern Dakota is settled, or rather settling, along the west bank of the Red river of the North, from Richland county, opposite Breckinridge, down to Pembina, on the line of the British possessions, crossing the Northern Pacific Railroad at Fargo, and extending west along the line of that road to Bis- marck. Population, perhaps 40,000. t .1 .wrM''-, -'- ( i..J, ( I t- 1. > "The other settlement is in the Black Hills, occupied mainly by a mining population, and containing a population at the present time of 10,000 at least, and probably 1 2,000. " I suppose it is about 350 miles in a straight line from Yank- ton to Deadwood. But the only feasible way of getting there involves travel of at least 900 miles, and an expense greater than the journey from Yankton to Washington, and requiring more time to perform it. The distance from Yankton to Pem- bina as the 'crow flies' is at least 400 miles, and requires more time and expense than a visit to the capital of the nation. l.r^^ul " The three sections are not only remote from each other fahd of difficult access, but their interests are separate and no6 identical. t w, " In a commercial point of view, Saint Paul and Duluth are the objective points of Northern Dakota, while Chicago and Milwaukee will naturally drain Soutlieastern Dakota. Mean- while the vast wealdi of the Black Hills will swing to the right or left as it may best force itself outj or as railroad enterprise shall open a more direct way over which it may move. The great Indian reservation west of the Missouri river contains 56,600 s^uar^ mil^s, about the sizp^of ajl Mjchlgao^ inf:luding both peninsulas. Of course this will prevent settlement, and > L )ich is located )raBka mainly eriuition, and [^ north along rn Minnesota James river, rapidly filling present time g, along the hland county, i line of the c Railroad ut : road to His- >i j;li',l*.' i I. 1.' :itpied mainly ilation at the o. le from Yank- getting there jense greater i and requiring' ikton to Pern- < requires more nation. ^ ach other und rate and nut; id Duluth are • Chicago and ikota. Mean.'! g to the right > >ad enterprise! r move. The' > river contains yao^ injcludlng, :ttkment, and ' GENERAL PROGRESS OF DAKOTA. ^'5 tend to turn the business of the Black Hills to the south or north of itself." . , At this time the treaty with the Sioux, which resulted in their relinquishing the greater part of their n-servation in Central Dakota, had not been consummated, and tiiat reservation was necessarily a barrier to any ready or easy communication with the black Hills through Dakota. Governor Howard added : ' "The resources of this Territory are both agricultural and mineral, and of vast extent, only partially developed as yet ; but enough has been done to demonstrate the fact that Dakota, con- sidering her vast extent of territory, has agricultural resources scarcely second to those of any State in the Union. Dakota has on the east side of the Missouri river at least 60,000 square miles of land fit for the plow. It is believed that at least 1 5,000,000 bushels of wheat will be produced next year."* * In an address delivered by Governor Howard at Yankton, before the Confp'egational Aiio- cifttion, November ut, 1879, he said, among other things; " In 1858, when it was proposed to admit Minnesota to the Union ai a State, it was strongly opposed on the ground that such a region could never sustain the permanent population of a Slate. It was said that when the fur trade was exhausted and some pine lumber cut, in a few years, the region would be abandoned as it could not sustain animal life, especially that of mnn- kind. But look now, after only twenty years, at the great Stale of Minnesota with its thirty or forty millions of bushels of wheat, and filling up to its utmost borders with a thrifty population. Here now is Dakota Territory, nearly 400 miles square, ahd it has more acres of arable land than any State in the Union except possibly Texas, It is more than three times as large as New Vo;'k and about four times the area of Ohio. It has met the same objections as Minnesota, and is now overcoming them in the same way. Lines of railroad are rapidfy building across our rich plains, and new communities are forming on every hand. I was told that on that part of our eastern border between Eden and Big Stone lake there was for some time last summer an aver.ige of 300 teams and wagons per day entering Dakota. The same is true of Northern Dakota, where the marvellous growth of country and towns is a constant surprise. The Gover- nor alluded to Fargo and its growth and to that of Grand Forks as about equal to it. He then touched upon the population, wealth and development of the Black Hills. He was there just after the fire at Deadwood, and spoke with eloquence and high respect for the sterling manhood and self-reliance of the people under that misfortune. He noted special instances of manly traits shown, of the fair play exhibited in respect to disputed titles where so much de|>en(leit»'i4(rH»AA«^<^)A>J*i'^Qrih'>iCi:M«tibiU«^ i.-mtiii^"' 7a6 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, • Hon. Henry Espersen, United State* Surveyor-General of Dakota, in his report to the United States Land Office, in No- vcmbcr, 1879, thus states the conditions of soil, climate, agricul- ture and minerals of the»Territory : • 1 ' > " The soil of tlip.t portion of Dakota lying east of the Missouri river is {generally a rich clay or sandy loam, very little rating below second-class. In the valleys of the Missouri, Big Sioux, Dakota, Vermilion, Cheyenne, Red river, and other streams, the soil is exceptionally rich, producing large crops of grain and grass. In this region diere are no extensive areas of marsh or sand. The country is fairly watered by the streams named and their tributaries, and by numerous lakes in the northern and eastern portions. I have yet to hear of the point in the Terri- tory where water cannot be had at a reasonable depth by dig- ging. West of the Missouri rivpr the character of the soil is not so fully determined, most of that section having been included in Indian reservations, but as far as known it is generally good. The district west of the Missouri river, prominendy shown upon early maps as the ' bad lands,' might be compressed into a few townships. It may be said, in fact, that the proportion of waste land in the Territory, owing to the absence of swamps, mountain ranges, overflowed and sandy tracts, is less than in any other State or Territory in the Union. In the valleys and foot-hills of the Black Hills the soil is rich and producdve, and the rainfall abundant the past season. It is expected that, in an agricultural way, that region will be self-sustaining without irrigation. ...v^ , ■ . "Owing to the dryness of the atmosphere and general even- ness of temperature, the climate of Dakota is very salubrious, and well adapted to agricultural pursuits. The average tem- perature of Southern Dakota may be compared to that of South- ern Illinois, Northern Indiana, and Ohio. In the northern por- tions the winters are somewhat more severe. In the southern hnped they would do so. Not only this church but all evangelical churches. He spoke of the iraportance of occupying strategic points, of doing this early and keeping up the communica* lions like an army in its campaign. He alluded also to education and the munificent provision made by the United Slates for our future schools, declaring that if properly handled it would ultimately produce |a5,ooo,ooo. He called for suth a public sentiment as would paralyze any xwrilegious hand that should wrongly touch that fund." THE SUKVKYOR.GRNERAVS ACCOUNT, 7V yor-General of Office, in No- dimatp, agricul- of the Missouri jry little rating juri, Big Sioux, »er streams, the s of grain and as of marsh or iros named and e northern and It in the Terri- ; depth by dig- )f the suil is not teen included in generally good, tly shown upon ised into a few ortion of waste amps, mountain n in any other ind foot-hills of ind the rainfall an agricultural rigation. <>, - I general even- i^ery salubrious, B average tem- > that of South- northern por- n the southern hes. He spoke of the ng up the communica- te munificent provision >erly handled it would AS would paralyze any jPttrt early froHtl arc very rare and the wrathcr very fine down to the first of November. Little snow falls in the winter, and sleighs are almost unknown. "The agricultural products of the Territory include the whcle range of those common to the Northern States. Small grains and vegetables grow in the greatest perfection. Northern Da- kota, particularly the Red river valley, is destined to become one of the greatest wheat-producing regions in the country. No sys- tematic effort has yet been made in pomology, but, from what has been done, there is no doubt that when the varieties best suited to the soil and climate are settled upon, fruit-growing will become a pro6table occupation. At present, next to grain, stock-raising is the most growing industry. The excellent grasses and mild climate have given this occupation a great impetus, and within the past two years large sums have been invested in young stock. , m " Deputy surveyors employed this season, west of Bismarck and near the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, report coal croppings at various points near the Sweet Brier river, and between that and the Big Heart river. One vein in that vicinity is being worked to a limited extent, but the coal taken out so far, from near the surface, is of a somewhat inferior quality. Bitu- minous coal has also been found in the Black Hills» but the vein has not been sufficiently developed to determine its economic value. .1'// 'i:;..'.- «.' 'PV. ^-i.'ilri ,: }■ .•^■.r.l , ' " No metals have been found in any quandty outside of the Black Hills. In that district gold, silver, lead, and mica have been found in quantiues of commercial value. A fine bed of the latter is now being worked. "Of the gold and silver product, it can only be said in the limits of this report that it is steadily increaung. Daily more capital and refined methods are employed in the various mines now open, and new discoveries are constantly being made. The ease with which the auriferous ores are worked makes profitable the mining of very low-grade ores. There is said, by persons competent to judge, to be enough gold and silver ore 'in sight* in the Black Hills to employ the present mining facilities for iJm next ten years." ['A F ,«rfi*i«».: : *jAtti&*tv<«a*iia^^ B ^28 ^^If H'KSrF.Xy F.MFIKK. " In his annual report to the Secretary of the Interior, bearing date September 13, 1879, Governor Moward u»ed the following language : •' "The mineral product of the Black Hills must be at least three millions of dollars for the year, and is rapidly increasing. A large number of stamps, for crushing the ore, and machinery of every kind, have been added, and it is believed the product of gold will be more than doubled the coming year. The mines are proving rich, and the systematic working of them is proving remunerative. The rapid development of the agricultural re- sources of the Black Hills and the large immigration going in and producing food in the vicinity of the mines, must lessen thr cost of living and stimulate production and insure the reward of all classes of labor. " Immigration this year has been large, far greater than in any former year, and this large increase extends to all parts of tht settled portion of the Territory — perhaps about the same per- centage of increase in each of the three divisions. Southeastern Dakota has had a very large increase of population. I am toM by persons in whom I have confidence that as many as thrtM* hundred teams, immigrant wagons, have passed into the south- eastern part of the Territory daily through the summer. Quite as large a percentage has come into Northern Dakota. The same may be said of the increase in' the Black Hills. In the ab- sence of census returns it is impossible to state with accuracy our present population. The swelling tide of immigration spread over so vast a territory, much of it in unorganized counties, makes satisfactory estimates difiRcult if not impossible. Well- informed persons have estimated our population at 160,000, others at 170,000, and some as high as 180,000. At the present time I think it is at least 1 50,000, probably more than that. The immigration to the Black Hills has been large and of a very satisfactory character. They claim to have, and I think with good reason, from 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. .(t{« fitivv ?>kx:> "Railroad facilities are being largely increased in Dakota. We have of completed railroad in the Territory about 400 miles ; this will be increased before January next to over 500 ] RDVCATION /A' DAKOTA. fVi nterior, bearing td the followinjiji; list be at least )i(lly incrcasin^r. and machinery k'cd the product ar. The mines them is provinj; agricultural rt!- jration poing in must lessen the re the reward of I I. M. I' I,' < ;ater than in any all parts of tht t the same per- Southeastern Ltion. I am toM s many as thrcM- into the sourh- summer, Quito n Dakota. Th«; -{ills. In the ab- te with accuracy migration spread ranized counties, ipossible. Well- Ltion at 160,000, At the present ; than that. The e and of a very ind I think with ased in Dakota, itory about 400 ext to over 500 miles. 5><'vcral strong corporationH are pushing their trunk lines into this Territory at various places, as well to carry the products of our rich soil as ultimately to reach thtr lilack Hills. " It is but a short time siiu c vast herd«i of buffalo roamed un- disturbed over llK.'se prairies ; now farms stocked with t.aitl<' and sheep everywhere abound. It is not long since we were taught in our Ivastcrn homes, and in our schools, and learned from our geographies the story of the Bad Lands, the ' Cjreat American Desert,' and were left \m believe that Dakota for barrenness was only ecjiialled by the I )esert of Sahara, and whose chilling blasts were c(iiial to the cold of (Ircenland; but since it has been demonstrated that t)akota has a soil exceedingly rich, has more arable and less waste land in proportion to its size than any State or Territory in the whole Union, and since millions of bushels of grain are already waiting transportation to the mar- kets of the world, capital, proverbially timid, is stretching out its arms and with hooks of steel is drawing to itself the carrying trade of an empire. "The interest our people take in education and the moral im- provements is steadily increasing. Schools are increased in number and improved in character ; churches are multiplied ; greater respect for law than formerly is apparent. If we con- sider the richness and extent of our school lands, it will be found that Congress has provided for us a school fund that, when de- veloped, will be equal to that of any State in the Union. If no sacrilegious hand shall be permitted to squander any portion of this rich inheritance, Dakota will have a population second to no State for intelligence and virtue." * It is due to this growing and enterprising young Territory, so soon to become a State, and possibly to be carved into two or more, that we should go somewhat more into detail in regard to the topography, soil and productions of these different sections of Dakota, and through the kindness of the late Governor How- ard and the officers of the Territory, as well as personal friends • It wa5 a great misrortune to Dakota Territory, that in the time of her most rapid growth and development, the should have lut by detth the firm guiding hand of btr wise, ihougbtful, genercus and eloquent Govemqr. ;.^ r;';, •; j .,«;5ap<'r, prrpariil for the writer by lion. James II. Power, of St. Paul, Minne»ota, now the accom- plished and thoroughly informed Land Commissioner of the Northern Pacific Railway. Mr. Power's opportunities of being fully informed in regard to Northern Dakota have been excep- tional, and he has given our readers the full benefit of his re* searches. ' , I "NOKTIIKKN DAKOTA. • " The development of Northern Dakota in the past few years has been perfectly marvellous, and the vast plains which were once considered sterile and worthless have become populated with thousands of successful husbandmen who«e labors on the soil, which is discovered to be as fertile as any in the world, add millions of dollars to the common wealth of the nation. "The building of the Northern Pacific Railroad is, without doubt, the greatest project of the character ever undertaken, and it is, as a well-known writer recently said, ' of all the pro- jected railroads to the western ocean, the one which must be of the greatest value and importance to the American people. It is the one which will open to settlement by far the most exten- sive, most fertile and in every way most desirable regions.' " The practical history of Northern Dakota dates by the logic of events, from the advent of the railroad within its boundaries, as before that time the great plains had been almost unknown to man. Single trails extended !n direct lines to the immense northern regions from whose forests came vast stores of valuable skins, and occasionally trappers and hunters made expeditions along the wooded streams which, with difficulty, find courses through the level land. " Thousands of b'lfifalo roamed at will, finding rich nourishment in the succulent grasses, and deer, elk and wolves aided in swelling the wild population of the region, and furnished game £or the tribes of Indians who made frequent hunting sallies from the north and south. Explorers returned with discouraging to lay before f farh M'ction rthrrn Dakota, tlu? writer by )w the nccom- tsionrr of the niiies of being /e been cxcc|>« inefit of his re- past few years ins which were nm»! populated ; labors on the the world, add ation. oad is, without er undertaken, of all the pro- lich must be of can people. It the most exten- 2 regions.' tcs by the logic its boundaries, (most unknown to the immense sres of valuable ide expeditions y, find courses ch nourishment trolves aided in furnished game ing sallies from h discouraging MM. J. M. H>WKM W NVKtirKltN DAKOTA. •t| Stories of the utter u»ele»Nness of the iMiil and the unfitnms of the region for human luibiiation, so tiiat it waH looked uiKin as % great l>arren desert. " The building of a railroad through such a wanle was pro- nouncetl absurd, and the proj«ct of spending millions of dollars in laying a track through so extended an unproductive region, although a rich country might Ix: reached farther west, was scotfi:d at, as the wildest extravagance. • " It was known that the immediate valley of the Red river was fertile, for, fully twenty-five years before, fine crops hud been raiHeil at a trading-poHt of the Hudson Hay Company, located twenty niilts north, or down river, from the point at which the railroad now crosses. "Several land companies had been formed about 1856, for the purpose of bringing the lanils of the valley into market, but the panic of 1857 demoralized them. Of course but few of the original settlers remain on the land about the old trading-post, but one, who is now postmaster at Georgetown, twenty miles north of I'^argo, has, for twenty-two years, cropped land plowed by the company, and he avers that it is still too rich. "The railroad had done a great work in developing Northern Minntrsota, but, when the operation of building was coi*imenced in Dakota, much hesitation was displayed about undertaking the cultivation of die prairies beyond the Red River valley. Some far-seeing men, however, were satisfied that the soil was admir- ably adapted for wheat-raising, and, in 1875, the first cxi>eriment of importance was commenced. George W. Cass, Esq., of Boston, and B. P. Cheney, Esq., of Pittsburgh, both directors in the railroad company and heavy capitalists, decided, for the benefit of the road and themselves, to test the capacity of the land, and, with that end in view, bought 7,680 acres of railroad lands and 3,560 acres of government lands, and caused two sections or 1,280 acres to be broken and prepared for wheat. They selected land about twenty miles west of Fargo, near the present station of Casselton. Their experiment was thoroughly successful, their first harvest yielding an average of twenty-eight bushels of the finest wheat per acre. The intrinsic value of the soil having 1 . .-t>iX^d««iMI>:aMMM'><»iM<'-' A ■I a J I ;ja .»•» OVM WBSTKKS' g.W/M/C, .M'. been thuft provrd, ih« uiurc of Norclirrn hakoia m\% a««urrtl, and, 4» lh»? brilliuni rmuU of Uw iri«l Iwtame known, immigra- tion to the j{oltlfr» wheat ^'anle-ni commnu t-il in rurnrat. TheiM! gentlcm'rn liave continiirtl and cxinnded llmir op»Tjiti«»nn nincc, and U»i!» year from «,45H .uren thty have* lurvrst»..15* buHltcls uf wheat, i S.Ho; biuheU ot uatn, and 0,049 buHhcU of barley. "ThcHC fertile land* extend northwanl to the JMMindary line anil Houthward beyond the line n( the land jjrant to the railroacl, which rcnchen, with its indemnity limit, fifty miU-s. '1 he HotI in in many rc»pcctH peculiar. l*ir»l in a rich, black, clayey loam, vary- ing; front filiecn to thirty-six inches in depth. possenHiii^; huIk Htance ami compactness, and, at tiu* same time, a t.i \vn« aMurMl, nowii, immi^'ra- '•.ii'n**;if. IhriM: >|»«r.»ti<>nn »incc, ivcHt.tl 140,35a /)4- I «l«jrrcT ol mfl- iffi'mu varij'ticH, I n(*iitrali/('H the il>-Hoil s. NmhrU 10 ihf iicr«». For Inith of tluM! ^'rain« th»*rr in nlwnyn a sure markrt. Irom 300 to OcHJ bu->hrlH of potatorn f) an ut re reward tlic larmrr, and other root cropn ^tow r(|iially well, while all arc of drliuoua tiavor and of cnormouA hIm. ; i.i > ,. " In Apeakin}; of the value* of crops, the prirrn j^ivrn hrre arc thosf paid irtwiir'diatt'ly after harveMt, and ui t oiirNc they advance with thi; neason, " Wiu-at this yrar (1S70) has vnrirci in price fr.im ci){hty-five to nin«'ly live crnts prr hiishi-l, ami, of thr »*ntir»' crop harvcslrd in Northern Dakota, but little has |;raded No, 3, while No. 3, No. 4, and Rfjr( ted are unknown j;ra-'^.»^'i~Vi/:^ . ■^iiAfiiiUjM' i>yif»ri'l'-» ....-».... .^ J. ..ar^- .■■.- M<»..4Wl*-- 734 OVn WESTERN EMPIKE. ■" "In 1870 the portion of Dakota of which we write could not boast of a single permanent resident. In 1877 the population was 8,700, with a cultivated area of 67,900 acres. In 1878, popu- lation 14,560; cultivated area 90,950 acres, 7 1,740 acres in wheat and 80,340 acres of new breaking. In 1879 we find a population r^ 31,500: 179,020 acres under cultivation, 142,500 acres in wheat, and 1 1 4,000 acres of new breaking. " The following are the most important statistics of the counties tributary to the Northern Pacific Railroad : '' ' /' -- Popuhlloii, population. Aera cnlil- Acm In Acre* nawly Couimm. I«7o. .ia,. vatcd. wh«w. broken. Cass, D. T. . . . None. is, 000 lOJ.OOO 90,000 1 50,000 T«iH, "... 6,000 32,950 18,000 15,000 Richland," . . . 3.3»-'' S'.Soo 25.500 18,000 { Barnes, "... 3,00c 13,000 7.500 14,000 i Stutsman," . . . 600 3.770 1,500 10,000 1 Kidder, "... 100 1,500 2,500 ' Burleigh, " ... 6,500 4.300 4.500 1 3».5oo 179,020 142.500 114,000 '• The raising of wheat has not yet been commenced in Kidder and Burleigh counties, as the demand for oats northwest of Bis- marck has been very great, and tliey have been grown at a fine profit. Next year, however, a large area will be devoted to wheat, ap sn extensive flouring-mill, which has just been com- pleted at Biamarck, will consume upwards of 300,000 bushels. " The important towns at present on the line of the railroad are Fargo, at the railroad crossing on the Red river, and Bismarck, 1^ the Missouri river. Both are organized cities, and are quite oietropolitan in character. "h " Fargo contains a population of 3,500, has excellent church and school buildings, county buiildings, and many fine brick and Wooden buainteiss blocks, and handsomie residences. Excellent brick are aianufawtured within the city limits. iv v.k .-^ c^^ " Bismarck has a population of at least 2,5CKi^ 'and is almost equally favoned with Fargo in the number and substantial ex* oellenGe of its buildings. V t ^' Many other places are i^idly developing, amon^r th r being .^njjgixy ^fu?kf nf.rnuil '{tj/:* oi IjiUiud 'jfio UkhJij ^itmMm m -t nmm mmmim write could not the population In 1878, popu- o acres in wheat ind a population 42,500 acres in :Rof the counties Acm in Acm iMwIy wham. broken. 90,000 50,000 18,000 15,000 aS.Soo 18,000 7.500 14,000 1,500 10,000 2,500 4.500 1 143,500 114,000 enced in Kidder orthwest of Bis- grown at a fine be devoted to just been com- 3,ooo bushels. r the railroad are ', and Bismarck, :s, and are quite client church and fine brick and ices. Excellent 3, and is almost substantial ex> I?. i'^'Al •Ilium} £, ong th n being MR. 7. B. POWhR'S Tt.S1iM0NY. 735 Casselton, twenty-two miles west of Fargo. From here a branch of the railroad is being extended northward. This town has already 500 inhabitants, and over ^20,000 has been expended this fall (1879) in buildings. " Valley City, the county-seat of Barnes county, on the Shey- enne river, has a population of 600 and is growing rapidly. Next spring (1880) at least jj^7 5.000 will be expended there in the erection of county buildings, brick block.: for bank and stores, a hotel, and other edifices. "Jamestown, county-seat of Stutsman county, on the James river, gives promise of a most vigorous advance in 188 j. It has now about 400 inhabitants, a good county-house, a school-house and a fine hotel. Among the contemplated improvements are a bank and store buildings, a flouring-mill and a large elevator. The James, or Dakota river, is a very long stream, and it is claimed to be navigable, commencing at a point some miles below the town.* " Besides the Red and Missouri rivers, the James and Sheyenne flow through Northern Dakota, and with their numberless ford- ing creeks supply the best possible drainage to the vast arable territory. These streams are well wooded in many places, the principal growth being oak, elm, ash, soft maple, box-elder and Cottonwood. Their waters are pure and palatable, and, on the prairies, excellent water is found by digging from twelve to twenty-five feet. " It has been urged that these great northwestern prairies were uninhabitable, on account of the scarcity of fuel. A wise Provi- dence has provided for this want, howevei', as from the bound- less forests of Northern Minnesota wood can be obtained in any quantity at a low price, while the inexhaustible coal mines now being opened just beyond the Missouri river, will afford a limit- less supply of excellent soft coal. Near the river the coal is a .soft and inferior lignite, but it hardens and improves further west, there being, undoubtedly, in the Yellowstone valley, some of the finest bituminous coal ever discovered. , , ,.^ * lit aavigableness is Teijr doabtAil, and at moat only for a very short time. frfjnori' Mil li! 7> tI 10 % -««fc-:ia**k«Siil/i I.n^J •>! ,)(ij -v.Au id " .-i. Unimry. . . February . . March .... April..... May June «iy August... . September. October . . . I'aMraHATV'HB. Humidity. { St. Paul, Minn, Breckenr'ge Minn. Bivmarck, t). T. Fort Biiford U. T. Si .!fi L«l. 44''54' Ui. ifi'vi Lai. 46>)o' Lat.^go Max. Min. Max. Min. Max Mill. Max. Min. 0, «> 0, pr. ct pr. cl 49 -2b 3« -21 40 -29 45 -'7 84.7 77-4 .IS -22 52 -2 44 -26 44 -35 «S.5 81.6 68 61 '9 68 -21 70 -22 76.3 70.6 81 '.1 74 25 75 II 81 24 71.0 61.8 86 35 7« 29 76 7P 55 3? 65.2 £ 9»S 44 «9 4? 9« 36 89 3» 75-2 92 54 90 44 95 4» 95 44 71' 63.6 92 48 90 4' 90 4' 98 41 711.2 54.4 % 36 92 ?l 81 as 95 20 ^:i 47' 17 70 .1. , 88 10 95 II 64.4 RAIMrALL. 3 in. .11 1. 12 •97 •45 7.18 1.76 932 2.78 2.26 2.56 & \ III. I III. •05I .IS .40I .82 .2SI •58 I. P.! .i.Oo 54-2 .$-67 i.hi,, 4.97 3^78 4-27 2.04 2.69 2.36 •79 .07 1.27 t I in. .02 •59 •03 ^•75 S.56 335 '% .00 »5S ''*'We ai^d, ko lar ^s'St. t^siut and Disrriai^k sii-e' cdnderft'ed, the following comparispn of raipfall in the two places for 1875, 1876 and 1877. We have not the particulars of days for 1 83^8, but the results ar^ about the same. " '•':n>')5'liior.r,„ ^v^ :,r.,ftj ;i^» "The following tiible, for the years 1875, '^7^ and 1877, sHoWs' the number of^ys in each month tbrpugh the growing ^season in which there was rain, and the amount of rainfall in each month, RAItfFALL AT BISMARCK AND ST. PAUL. the sca-level ; ver, 1 ,609 feet, these plains — tion gained a longer exists, IS year, 10 the argest amount 'lay, June, July I, while during rom the state- in the extreme the precipita- ;st fall being in he smallest in ppended table, s offset by the >f disagreeable m ■'■' ...,!, .,.,.!» Rainfall. 1 t 1 1 t \ S Of) oa n h in. ill. 1 in. in. .11 •05I -IS .02 1. 13 .40! .S2 •S9 •97' .^Si •»« •03 .45 1.'".! ii concerned, the for 1875. 1876 ; for 183^8, but M 1877, shoW^' rowing ^season in each month, at Bismarck and St. Paul. The data, having been compil»^d from the records of the United States Signal Service Office, can be relied upon as correct in every particular : 1875. Bismarck. St. I'AUL. Month. // No. of (lays in which thore Wbj rain. Depth of rainfall in inchet and looths. No. uf (layit in which there wnK rain. Depth of rainfall in inchei and iooth«. March April . May . June . July . August Septeinbei 14 9 t6 14 8 TO 7 a. 06 4.aa 340 5.0a ^%3 a. 89 1.85 >3 «3 »3 17 6 17 16 a. 19 a.a7 3.01 4 33 .8a 8.74 a. 16 T eta Is. . 1 76 ao.97 95 a3S7 1876. March .... April May ..... , June July Ai^st .... September . . . Totals . . 14 8 9 3 10 16 10 3-30 a. 77 5 74 i.a4 1. 48 6-55 5.61 14 14 itt 14 II 14 14 I 43 a. 83 3»S a.oa 2-73 5.a8 a.99 70 36.09 93 19.83 , „ . . . .-., ,\ m -.-. .. V..-. 1877. March .... ao 0.77 15 *-57 April ..... «3 i.3» 10 1.93 May a7 4. IS 13 5-43 June 90 7.60 »3 713 Juir iO 3.53 10 0.5a August .... »9 0-35 II 2.83 September . . . Totals . . 6 O.II II a.56 "S 16.83 83 21.96 jj^,, St. Paul, Minw., ) .,. Oct. 3d, 1877. I J. O. BARNES, Sergt. Signal Service, U. S. A. " The climate is similar to that of the New England States* except that the atmosphere is always clear and dry, having none 47 I •1; "I % W I I N ■ ,3 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, . . of that penetrating saline moisture so deleterious to health. The average annual temperature may be placed at about 42®, and the statistics of several years place the maximum mean at 68° 5', and the minimum mean at 4° 3'. The table given will afford opportunity for comparison. The snowfall is less than in the eastern and northern portions of the Middle States, and the thermometer rarely falls to zero. " The Red river is navigable from Fargo to Winnipeg, even at low water, the government having during the past season caused all of the shallow portions to be dredged. The opera- tions are to be continued next year, and the river will be greatly improved for navigation. Duriivg this winter (1879- -So), when the ice is strong enough, the overhanging trees will be removed from the upper portion of the river, and the stream rendered navigable for flat boats from or near Breckenridge. As there is a large amount of wheat which seeks an outlet at Fargo, this im- provement will prove of great benefit. It can be safely estimated that not less than one and one-half million bushels of wheat will be moved on the river next year. "A large amount of goods is transported by steamers from Fargo to Winnipeg. " The Missouri river is a very important factor in the transpor- tation business of this country, and navigation by it and its tribu- taries extends over 1,500 miles into the northwestern regions. By this river immense freights are carried to Bismarck, and it is not unusual to find from fifteen to twenty staunch steamers at the levee there. The principal articles of merchandise brought down are wool, skins, ores and cattle, while immense quantities of provisions and goods of all descriptions find their way to the many military posts and settlements ia the still undeveloped regions. ' '■"■■' ^i"'- . ■.' ■■ - ; r • „..,^^.^*i:i7Li'j;*'V . " The country thus far spoken of in this article has been only that on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad and within the limit of its land grant. Down the Red river, between Fargo and , Winnipeg, in the rich valley, the country is filled with settlers, and two important towns. Grand Forks and Pembina, in counties bearing the same names, are tl^riving river settlements, with a crious to health, ed at about 42^ ixitnum mean at table given will ivt'all is less than iddle States, and t Winnipeg, even the past season fed. The opera- cr will be greatly (1879. .80), when will be removed stream rendered dge. As there is at Fargo, this im- e safely estimated lels of wheat will jy steamers from 3r in the transpor- jy it and its tribu- liwestern regions, ismarck, and it is :h steamers at the iise brought down use quantities of their way to the still undeveloped :le has beeh only Ld and within the :tween Fargo and , lied with settlers, nbina, in counties ;tdements, with a '• -. J...... ^_ JVOA'TI/EA'JV PACIFli. /'. R. WEST OF THE MISSOURI. 739 large trade from the surrounding country. There is undoubtedly a population of 10,000 in Grand F'orks and Pembina c(> unties. "BEYOND THE MISSOURI KIVKK. " Great interest is being displayed in regard to the character of the country which the railroad is now penetrating, and hence a little space will be devoted to it — as far as the Yellowstone river, to which point the road will probably be completed in the autumn of 1880. " For 1 38 miles the road runs through the valleys of the Heart, Sweet Brier, Beaver, Foot, Curlew and Upper Heart rivers, a'.l small streams and somewhat wooded. The valley of the Curlew is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful in the world. All of the lands in the river bottoms are exceedingly rich. Back from the valleys, both north and south, rich, rolling prairies stretch away, a lofty butte occasionally rising from the plain. There is clear water in every direction, running streams and pure flowing springs. "Coal in paying veins is found within forty miles of the river, and extends westward as far as surveys have been perfected. A valuable quality of stone for building purposes is found in the bluffs and buttes. " The next thirteen miles of road passes through bad lands, or ' Pyramid Park,' a most wonderful formation. The pyramids are in every conceivable form and are composed of different varie- ties of clay, argillaceous limestones, friable sandstones and lignite, lying in successive strata. The Little Missouri river flows through Pyramid Park at about the centre, and in high water is over 1 50 yards wide. The water is excellent. Considerable timber is found on its banks, and the government has just built a canton- ment in a fine ash grove, near where the railroad crosses the river. " For forty-five miles west of the Little Missouri, the railroad traverses a beautiful prairie plateau — the soil and general char- acter of which resembles the Red River valley district. Many small running streams flow through this fertile region. •<•>. 0, ,1 "After passing through six miles of broken country, being the \ I if % .iititiiajt^- *»ibKTver, the correspondent of the Chicago Tribune. In August, 1879, he wrote as folio 's to the Chicago Tribune: " K^n RiVKR Valley, August 4. — In Dakota, 700 miles northwest of Cbici^o, in the valley of the Red river of the North, during the present week there is a harvest scene, the counterpart of which cannot be (bund on the Cace ei the earth. It is a scene where science, invention, capital, and system have reduced the cost of wheat-culture to its minimum. Nor is there seem- ingly any place on the face of the earth where it can be duplicated : for there is no other loca- tion where the soil, climate, location, 4rith other conditions, combine as in that region. " Having been one of a party of journalists to visit that section during the past week, I shall speak of what we have seen. " There are larger fields of wheat in Califomia than in Dakota, but California sows its wheat in the fall, while (he cereals of Dakota are all sown in the spring. California has no rainfall in summer, but is dependent wholly upon the rainy season in winf|r. In Dakota the summer rain> fall is sufficient for the production of crops in perfection. But of this more by-and-by. •* A few words of history are needed at the outset. In 1870 and 1871, at the time the construe- tion of the Northern Pacific Railroad was begun, the newspapers contained descriptions 6f the country along its line, which were generally discredited and ridiculed. The country was sar- castically called 'Jay Cooke's Paradise.* The map issued by him represented the isothermal of Chicago as bending northward to the British boundary, and that of St. Paul as reaching far away to ^he Upp^r Saskatchewan. The country was declared to be the future wheat-field of the continent. Proctor Knott ridiculed the idea in Congress. After Mr. Cooke's failure, ip Sep- temlier, .873, and the collapse of the Northern Pacific, those who had given such glowing dvijf ipiMii)i| «f th««»yi^iy VQip hfiliMjp (•Aoorn oad ndic«IC(-«Che writer of this aitidt being )ne rivers, the :ek for eleven int not yet de- n the ext/eme, :r8, who for a ig wheat, oats, tuce, peas, and xcels this, the ipted to such s in regard to ^nd Commis- colored. Mr. iCy is rather to of the region exaggeration, observers who n by his pen-name of hicago Tritune. In 'hicm;o, in the valley icene, the counterpart re science, invention. Nor it there Meni- [here is no other locn- that region, he put week, I shall Ifornia sows its wheat mia has no rainfall in (Ola the summer rain- : by-and-by. :he time the construe- :d descriptions 6( the The country was sar- ted the isothermal of Paul as reaching far ure wheat-field of the oke's failure, ifi Sep- given such glowing ' of thia aidcl* being Of Central Dakota, which lies between the parnllels of 43* 50' and 46^ and extends from the eastern boundary of the uii« of the number. The January number of the Aforik Amtrutim KtfHtw tor January cimtoinH n crushing article by Ucuerat William H. Il.ifcn, wliu had Urvn ilulimieil at Fori itufuril, iil ihr liuicliim (if the Vellowstune and Miitiiouri, and who, of course, Itiirw all uliuul Ihe couniryt ami, iicing a graduate of West Folnt, his testimony could not \m guinMiul. lie admitted that the Knl Kiver valley was fertile, but beyond (hn the cuuiilry was in ihc main wuiihless. 1 <]uot<:: " ■ doing west from the Ked river to the Juuic* there is Mune fair land, Imt much thai is worthless; and thence to the Missouri, litllo or no avaiUbIc land, excr|>t narrow valleys of the small streams. (I'aje II.) ••• Ueyond the Ked river the country is not susceptible of cultivation. (Page a5 ) " ' The country, with the exception hitherto mentioned, is practically worthless.' " " I'his was a crushing statement. The men and women who had invested in the bonds of the Northern Pacific were informed that not only the bonds were worthless, but the lands abo. (ieneral Haien fortified his statements by copious citations from the reports of other army offi- cers, graduates of West Point, and the accumulated evidence sent the bonds of the Northern Pacific down to f lO. " But, while General Hazen was writing that crushing article, Mr. J. ll. Power, Land Com- missioner of the company, was turning the sods on a quarter-section atiout ten miles west of the Ked river — the company being determined to let the world know that the Ked Kiver valley, at least, was not a worthless region. That breaking was done in June, 1874, and sown to wheat in 1875, producing a good crop. " Oliver Dalrymple, of Cottage Grove, near St. Paul, had made • fortune in raising wheat ; but, through unfortunate investments, had seen it slip away. In March, 1875, he pnoapccted (he country west of the Red river, and made up his mind that Nature had given to that locality— the statements of army officers to the contrary notwithstanding — superior conditions for (he pro- duction of all small grains. " Meanwhile, two Directors of the Northern Pacific — the Hon. G. W. Cass, of Pittsburgh, and B. P. Cheney, of Boston — believing that the lands were valuable, had changed their hondi into lands, and had purchased the intervening government sections with Indian scrip— thini giving them compact farms of large area. Mr. Dalrymple, having made an arrangement with them, turned his first furrow in June, 1875, plowing 1,380 acres, harvesting his first crop in 1876. Next yc.r '.e increased the acreage, and has gone on till he has this year ao.ooo acres in crnpe, i8,(xx> being wheat, and the remainder oats and barley, used on the farm. He has broken 5,000 acres additional for next year. "This does not all lie in one body; but a portion^the Grandin farm, owned by the Gr.-indin brothers, of Tidioute, Pa. — lies in Trail county, thirty miles north. The territory contained in the Cass, Cheney, and Grandin tracts is 75,000 acres, of which Mr. Dalrymple, liy the fulfilment of his part of the contract, will own one-half, or 37,500 acres, all earned since June, 1874. " I do not propose to give the statistics of Mr. Dalrymple's system of farming ; for your read- •■ ers doubtless are familiar with them. Suffice it to say, that his wheat crop this year will ng^'i'e- gate between 400,000 and 500,000 bushels; that the cost of production is about thirty-five ceniw per bushel; and that the net profit will l>e from forty to forty-five cents per bushel. Hu cku mates the average yield at from twenty-three to twenty-five bushels per acre. The net profits i>ii the crop this year will not be less than |f 180,000! Talk about Leadvillel Here is a iKinaiti^a which win be profitable next year, and the next, and the next. " Here let me say that Mr. Dalrymple is too good a former to exhaust his lands. He does not burn the manure of hisstalls, but piles it in the field, and, when it is well rotted, will rt;(um it to the soil ; and propose! to keep his land in heart by plowing in clover and letting it lie fallow. i! f _ WMoiU:!***-'./' ■MtSiiTf- 74« OVM WRSTEKX RMfiRR. Territory to the Missouri river, there is not so much to be said, simply because it ii not as yet much developed, most of it "B«huUt iha leaiMl )utt think of • *•• of whtkl contilning Iwtniy iquarc mlt«v-ij,oc» •crei — rich, ripe, goUUn — the wind* ripnling over it. A* fur m the eye can «ee there is the Mnie golden rueiet hue. Far away on the horUon you hehoUl an army twtiijiiig along In grand proceanlon. Riding on to meet it, yuu tee a major-general un hortelMuk — (he luperlntendenl, two brigadier! on honeback — repalren. No iwords fl.ish In the lunlight, but their weapon* are monkey-wrtnchet and hammer*. No bra** hand, no drumlxral or ahrill n»le of (he nfe; but the army move* on— a tolld phalanx of twenty-four Nelfblnding reapem — to the muiiic ul a* own machinery. At one sweep, in a twinkling, a twoth of 19J fret ha* been cut and bound — the reapers to«»lng the bundle* almost disdainfully Into the air— «ach binder doing the work of six men. In all there are 115 self-binding rea|ter* at work. During the harve*t about 400 men art employed, and during threshing 600— their wage* being %t a dny with Iward. " It U ••timalcd that this combination of capital, with a rigid system, adds about %\ |)cr acre to Mr. Dalrympie's profit over those who farm in a small way. " In the month of March, 1875, when the article of General Ilazen was having ii* full force, Mr. Dalrymple was walking over these lands, and saying to himself, as he beheld the quality of the soil, • Intrinsically, these lands are worth %t% per acre.' He believed it, and has demon- strated that they are worth far more than that ; that, at that figure, they will pay fur themselvva in three years. "The acres owned by Mr. Dalrymple are not one whit belter than the aver.ige through th« entire length and breadth of 'his valley, which is 400 miles lung and 70 wide, and which is fast filling with hardy settlers. Not only the lands of the valley, but the entire section between the Red river and the Missouri— a territory containing 80,000 square miles, in Northern Dakota alone, saying nothing of Montana and Manitoba — is adapted to the cultivation of wheat, oata and barley, at will be shown in another letter. " The reason why whent can be produced more cheaply and to greater profit here than anjr* where else, it due to several causes : " I. The soil is admirably adapted to its production. " a. The climatic conditions. General Hazen showed that the rainfall over all this section for the year was very much less than on the Atlantic coast ; but he did not inform the public that nearly all the rainfall it in the months of May, June and July— just when it is needed ; that there it very little in August ; that the days are hot and the nights cool \ that, coniequently, rust, blight, mildew, sprouting of grain in the shock, nre almost unknown. " 3. The nearness of this section to the markets of the world. It is 350 miles from the ReU river to Lake Superior. The tariff ado|)ted by the Northern Tacific is fifteen cents per bushel from any point east of the Missouri river. It costs from twenty to thirty cents to transport a bushel from Bismarck to New York. This low tariff, and the cheapness of water-carriage, give the farmer at present pricet about ninety cenu per bushel, leaving him a clear profit of about forty cents. " It it a wonder that a great tide of immigration is setting in this direction ; that the railroad . trains are crowded with new-comers; that hotels are running over; that the Land Office at Fargo is crowded with applicants for pre-emption and homestead claims ? There are millionf of acres, just as fertile as those under cultivation, awaiting the ever-increasing multitude." , "Carlkton." ^ The correspondent of the Chicago yomrnal, who has a high reputation for fairness nnd ju(1icia4 accuracy in his statements, writing at about the same lime from Bismarck, thus describes North- ^' em Dakota: ' "Tk* Hill country. The wheat-growing region Is not, however, limited to the Red RSvei '' 1 THE CIllCAQO JOVKNAL'S CdtHBiPONDhNT, 743 o much to be >pr(J, most of it •i|uar« mile*— ij,oao e can ie« Ihcra U the rt. ,iin|{ Rlonit in Kr^nd I — ihr «uperintenit«nl, itit their weapon* are io(c uf the fife i tmt the o the munic o( it* nwit cut and bound — thf liiinK ''<' woric uf *ik ve«t about 400 men art )ard. idda about 1 1 |>cr acre having iin full force, e beheld the qunlity of ed it, and ha* demon- ill pay fur themiclvv* e avernge through (he wide, and which i» fa»t re lection between the I, in Northern Dakota tivation of wheal, oats - profit here than Mijr- ill over all thix tection not inform the public vhen it ii needed ; (hat hat, coniequentiy, ru*t, 50 milen from the ReU fifteen centK per bushel r(y cents to transport a of water-carriage, give • clear profit of about ;tion ; thnt the milroad lat the Land Office at ? There are millioiu »ing multitude." " Carleton «.)« or fairness nnd judicial , thus describes North- ted to the Red Kivei havinjf brrn until Jamiary, 1880, covered by Indian rrscrvations, the title to which was not fully clearrd. It is now oprn to valley, though in th««» rich bottom land* It reaches |)rrhn|Hi lit Krentetl d-'vtlopmenl, and wheal- l{r»wtng hail ihuK far been more exteiitlvely and sucotsfully carried oniluiv than eUrwhere. Caoaing Itrvonil ihio valley in I)akota Territory, we reach a hl|{li, rolling counliy, which fur- nt«hr( a •Inking conlraM to the level region we have left. Thi« rolling country riirnds fr'nn ihe Ked Klver valley pro|>cr to the MiMouri river, a distance of more than 150 miles i and yet so diversified is it by a constantly changing formation and an infinite variety of land»ca|M thai the viewer is in a constant stale of kurprlae and delight. Many pretty lakes n«e Ihe speculations •: ••> the climatology of this region — % topic which has probably not yet been quite mastered i>y any of those who have attempted to dlacusa it — Ihe practical fact has been established that the .-egion along the line of the Northern Pacific road will not only prons««g»e»fit«»--. 744 0UK ITAJTVr^VV RMrtKR. Mtttlement, and its 30,000,000 ocrrti of arabln lands are noC encumbered by land ^rantM to railroads or wa^^on roads. The ■vtr*g« ytiM ihU year it ^UlkI by iha mu»h«l* to lh« aert, Tk« whral wilt Im worth aliuut nlnaiy lanti (lar bu»hai at any |Hi«iit u|ii>n tha railruati, aa Iha rata cil tfan<|Hiri^iioii i< uniform alun|{ th<* wbola Una. Mui h of iha whaat gu«» to Duluih, whara It la worth alMtui iha aama «• at Chkagai tha whaal frumthU MCtiun btlnK aaiwcially in damaml, on •coMiil of U« tin* i|iiality, for graiUiig up Nu. * whaal. A graiU daal U tha wheat goaa to .St. I'aul an>l Minn >|k)Ii» fur mAiiafiu:tura Into flour. Wiih lh« cun>|>l*tlon of ih« large mill* baing trcctail lit Minne«|toll» ihU year, that ally alona will manufactura 10,000 barraU of Hoar par (lay, or j,noo,ooo Itarrali |>ar year. Sach U the "Mirprlting (l«valo|>a»ant uf Ihia naw ami aa yat almoal unUiiowit wheat cuunlry, arul auah ara tha facililiaa fur dlapuaing of ita prutlucla. Tha IramcnM mill* at Miiincii|M>lik are Iha aurollary uf iha vait whaatlialUa of tha naw Northwaai, ■nH Iha two agancia* iiu|>plemcnt and ralnforca each other. "A ptculiarity of whaat-growing In Ihia region li tha large tcala upoa which it ia fraqaanllf conduclad. Capitallnl* have gone into It aa aytlematioally a* into manufacturing ; and farming operalion« here aMunic proportion* aInuNt inrradibla to thua* fantiliar only wiih *he mcihiMli of •ha older and more *el(led St(te«. On tha fnrm of Mr. Dalrympla — who la well called ih« • boaa granger* of tha region— naar Faigo, in tha Kad River valley, i» a wheat-field of ao.ooo acre*, tha yield of which thi* year ia a«|ieclad to be »omathing like 500,000 buaheli. On ihi» gigantic form, which ia managed aa tyKtamaticaJly aa a railroail, 400 man are employrd in harvetling, and 500 lo 600 in Ihreihiiig. They u»e 150 pairs of hortp* and mule*, 200 gang plow*, 115 lelf- binding reaperi, and ao »team-lhrakben. Tha man, anlnutta and machinery are organiied into iteparalc dlvi»ioii*, with a *U|)erintendent for each. Nothing could b« grander ihan n tlKhl of the*a iromcnae wheat-fialds, ilratching away farther than lk« eye can rcmth, tn one unbroken Ijplden tea, while a lung proocsiion of reaping machinea, in tekt/o.), lUta a baltery of artillery, itiiivea tiaadily agitlnM the thick tat rank* of grain. Each machine it drawn by ihrca mulea or horac*. and betldrt (be driver* a lupcrintcndenl of each g»ng ridea along on hornelMick, like (he eaptnin of a battery. There are alto machinitU, mounted, nnd carrying with them Uxilt for re- pairing any break or diaarrangemcnt of the machinery. When a machine faiU to work, one of (lie»# repalrera It benide it in«(aiiily, ditmouniing and examining the machinery, and unleia (he break it aerioui, having it in running order again before an unfamiliar obterver could reallte what had taken place. Tbui everything goaa on orderly and eflftictively. Travelling together, these 115 macbinet would cut a Mwatb one-fiAh of a mile In width; and they wontd lay low Iwwnlyi milet of thia mighty twath in a^ tingle day. " The profita of farming on thia eateiuive tcale can bt very cloaely eitlmaled. Mr. Dalrym- ple find* that, for the first crop, the coat of preparing the ground, seed-sowing and harvmdng. wear and (tar of machinery, and intereit on machinery and land, amounts to || i per acre j and for lubtequent crop*. tE per acre. A crop yMdt, in wheat or oata, frani |l8 to $io |)er acie. which gives a vary handsome profit. It ia not unutual for the firtt cmp to pay all expentei and leave enough to cover the ooat of tha land. While whcnt-growing can be thui advan(ai;eoualy carried on upon a large tcale, it can douUleat be followed successfully and profitably in a more moderate way 5 but a small amount of oapiul is nfaaolutely essential. Betides ihe purchase of the land, the settler must be able 10 piU up buildings buy the' necessary machinery, seed, e(c., and alto mutt have the means of living for a year or more, until hit first crop It harvested. For thota who can do this, the low price at which lands can be obtained ofTert a desirable opportu- nity for iovcalment to the capiuUst or to then who s«ek new homea in this gixmlng and fertile ■->.- 1 lands are not >n roadn. The vtnly to Iwanljr mtwi •iilii* |trutlttcl far Iha Illy ((Mt cutinly, Da- iwl* to ib« »Mn. TIm ilUiMtl, M ih« rata ol to Diiluih, wh«r« It U wcUlljr In damanrf, on lh« wheal gu«« lo Ml. i lh« Urge mill* lialng > b«rtcl» iif (lour p«r f Ihit new and m )r«{ uf lU pruduvla. Th« f lh« n«w Nurthwaii, which II I* frtqutnllf iCturiiigt and rarming y with )he meihixli of la wrilcallrti the • bcwa (i«IU itt ao.ooo acre*, i«l*. On ihU gigantie tyed In harvetiing, and gang plow*, 115 leir. •ry arc urganliad Into inder than n light of ■wh, In one unbroken' a battery of artillery, iwn hy three mule* or on horMlwck, like the wllh them looli for re- I fklU to work, one of liincry, ami unleta the Dbxcrver could reallte Travelling together, td they would lay low in»aled. Mr. Dalrym- twing and harvesting, • to |l I per acre ; and fi8 to fao |)er aae, ) pay all expenaei and e ihui odvanlageouily id profilahiy In a more !»ide» the ptirchnae of 'machinery, need, etc., rop U harvested. For r a desirable oppoitu- >U growing and fcitila LIBtlMAl LASDI^Wt, 74S quality of lhe»c laniU in iiaid to he. {generally not infrrior to thunc of the R«*d River valU'y. 'V\u'y yitld irnnurnnt! cropn of wheat, oats, barley, corn and potatocn. Thf land Ih mostly prnirie, though the bordern of th«; Htreamt urv ht-avily wimhI««I. I ht^rc is coal ntrar the MisHUuri and of very fair (piuliiy. '\hr. rr\^\on in well watered. The landn are inoHtly an ytt unMirveyed, but can be procured undttr Soldiers' and Siiilors' tluinestead Law by soldiers or their familieM, under the (ieneral HomcHtead Act, the 'I'imber'Culture Act or by preemption. The very liberal timber-culture law of the government, pro- tecting forest tree culture on the western prairies, is supplemented by a law of Dakota, which provides that for every five acres of timl)er in cultivation, forty acres, with all the improvem<;nts thereon, not exceeding $ifioo in value, shall be exempt from taxation for a period of ten years from the time of planting. Another law of the Territory provides that no land shall be deemed increased in value for assessment purposes by reason of such timber culture, no matter how much its real value may be enhanced thereby; so tlut any industrious man, 00 matter how poor, can come here, and in eight years be the owner of 240 or 320 acres of bnd, with an abundant supply of timber just where he wants it, and be entirely exempt from taxation the entire time, unless he should put more than $4,000 wortli of improvements upon his land during that time. The Chicago and Nortiiwestern Railway, which is building railways in Central Dakota, though it has no land grants there, We might add almost Imlennilely to this icstlmony, from unprejudiced olmvrvers. Kt. Rev. U. W. reck, one of the fiialiopa of ib« MetbodiM E|iic}pil Church, «fiting in Ovtober, 1879, of this region, saya i " Imagine a vast plain, somewhat undulating, and yourself in the midst of it, and splendid farms and immensely larger unbroken farming Innds extcmllng to the horiton in all directions ; and then think two thousand miles on beyond — nearly every acrc'Sandy loam, vegetable mould or alluvial deposits from two to six ''•set deep [deeper than that, liishop,] the greater proportion of the whole richer and finer than t.ra gardens of the Bast — and yuu will begin lo have some idea of this northern Northwest." Rev. H. J. Van Dyke, Jr., Newport, R. I., contributed lo /farmer's Atagatmi for January, 1880, an account of his visit there in September, 1879, and confirms the testimony of the others lit the foilast Aogrt*. Mcttr*. Rtcd'aiul Ml, menibmra of Parliament, sent as commissioners to ascertain the causes uf England's agricultural depression,, and the adrantagea o^red to ag/icul- tural emigrants from Great Britain by Manitoba and British America, returned home with a high estimate of the su]>eriurity of Dakota lands and fanning, to that of Manitoba. is 1* i i II, t f^ OUM WKXTKHN KMtflfK. has Itnucd a pnmphlnt rnrmirn^ini; immif^ratinn to that rrj^ion for thr Hakr of hrin^in^ hiisinrsi to its linrt, which it proponm to extend to tht! HUi k IlilU. Some of itN ntAtrmcnt)! are intercHting, and, on thr Iwst of tp^itimony, truthful. '\'\\vy nay; " It nhoulil Ik: understood, by the pr«)!ipcctlvc nettlcr, that the land?* of thin rrntral fx*U consiiit almont cxcUinively of prairie, there being no tim!)«*r, save fringes along thr water courHc*. The Western farmer does not need to be told of the ease with which a prairie farm < an be brought under cultivation ; but the farmer from the mort; Tlastfrn States may be tnformetl, that all that it I* necessary to do to bring the prairie under cultivation, is to plow under the prairie grasses in the same way as he plowi the meadow at home ; and at once he has a fiehl that is fit for the reception of any kind of seed, thus getting the lanil intf) as good shape for farming purposes as he could do if it had hcvv, covered with timber (as all of the Kastcrn States have been), after he had expended twenty to forty years' labor in getting rid of the timber and the always-following stumps. " To give the Kastern farmer some idea of the cost of making a productive farm in Central Dakota, we quote fmm a very readable article, recently published in the Atlantic Moftthly, from the pen of one of the oldest settlers in the ' New Northwest.' ' The Territory appeals more directly to the man who desires a farm of 1 60 or 320 acres, than to him who aims to emulate the Grandins, Dalrymples and Casses of the more northern part of the Territory, who have their ten, twenty, or even forty thousand acres in a farm.' As uur estimate gives the cost of producing one acre of wheat, with hired labor, we will first say, that good men a** plenty at all seasons of the year, at the following wages: '•om Ni /ember ist to April ist, $15 per month; from April ist to Ma; 1st, $18 ; from May ist to August ist, $16; from August 1st to August 15th, %2 per day ; from August 15th to September 15th, $1.50 per day; from September 15th to November ist, $18 per month. * •■'^' ' .•••■' •• - '■■ ^^ "The following is a careful estimate of the cost of raising wheat, furnishing everything: ^ , , ,.^ ■>' 'h t . .)i»--i«l»f/ ' >'■! /'," f**-' ' " \ to that rrjjion i( h it propone* it.urtmnt!* ore rh»7 «ay : sftilrr, that the vrly of prairie, wat^-r roiirset. f th*:. •ty- 1,1 • '• -r •• COST OP HAtllffC WHK4T. j^ Plowing t^ %nr% prr day, |te p«r month wtgw, 77 ctnt* \»x ilajr. | «• a, IVr A< r«* \\ Iniereti on icain |J75, hurncw %%%, plow |SO— ■|4S0. H«r acrt . . oa • Wr4r 4n(l iMr, 15 ptr ctnt. on uiilAl. IVriur* n • lUunl man |)rr il«y, 10 < rnl« ; Irnni 45 i-«n(«. fVr iirrt •# Sublr nirn'* litUtr itnil lK)ari| IVr arrv to (>(>»l(l(' iiini, w«iir iinti tear mmX int«mt on (MR) and horncM for on« ytar int Imtetl. ) SowiiiK .15 di rc« |)cr diiy, wft„> '. ||ao fwr month, 77 rentt per rUy. IVr u( re ot ■ Hoard, man 10 icnta, learn 43 lenu |)cr ddy. I'er orre 019 Wrar ami tear on ireder, 135, 13 |»rr cent. Per orrt oj 9 IntvrcHt at 10 per c ent. I'er a« re 01 iliirve«iini( (wire or turd bindrr) for wire or cord. Per acre ... 30 13 ac:rr» per day, wagen |io |)cr month, 77 i:entii |)cr day. Per acre . 03 1 nuard of m.in t^ 1 rnti, team 30 icntH |)cr day. Per lu re .... 03 Intcrent on re4|>cr, IJ30, lU 10 per cent., 130 acres (jcr nuu:hint. Per acre 16 W(':tr and trur on rrajter, 1130, at 13 {wr rent., $61.30, 130 acrcn |)cr nuihinr. Per m re 41 6 SluM king man, 77 cciua |>er day, 10 acre* per day, and iNMird at 13 cent*. Per acre 10 a 'rhrc*liiiiK, as men at |a [wrr d.ny, 40 .vrc«. Per acre i a.', Ikmrd, 15 men at aj < entN \kx day, 40 a< tch. Per acre iij 6 interest uiul wear and tear un thrcnhcr and engine. Per acre ... 10 Marketing man, 77 centi ; board ao cents; board of team, 43 centa; 4 a( reH. Per acre \* % Freight, 13 ccntM |)er bushel. Per ao Imrthels a 60 InciilentaU, including interest and wear and tear on |)ermancnt in- vestment. Per acre a 00 . . Total cost |)cr acre J|8 69 6 " This estimate makes the cost of an acre of wheat, yielding twenty bushels, placed in Chicago, with an allowance of te.i per cent, interest on the whole investment for land, improvements, machinery, tools, and stock, and also of twenty-five per cent, for wear and tear of tools, machinery, and stock, to be 1(^8.70, not including seed. Allowing %\ for the seed will make the cost of one acre of wheat, yielding twenty bushels, laid down in Chicago, and paying an ordinary interest, or profit, of ten per cent, on the entire investment, $9.70, or forty-eight cents a bushel. With wheat at eighty-five cents a bushel in Chicago, this would give \ .'H> i«^.W>*.i «iw mi 11, ..-W' ,><«i<«'«w.i.- uOuiMM»iM»'"'«..^-w MiiJ*A^*'y^'i0^> «;«..^£■■..i^^-. -.^ OUR WESTEMK RMrTRE. an aduitional profit of thirty-seven cents a bushel, ox ff 40 per aci^. " *From this calculation, the profit of a greater or less yield can readily be computed, die cost of raisinjj remaining the same." la regard to climate they give the following table, the result of the obacrvations, we believe, of United States officers at Fort Sully:* Ruin anrt Snow. TcnipeimiUM. inehn. Wet Prevailing Month f. days. winda. Maximum. Minimum. Rain. Snow, January 53° — 16' IJ^ 1% 3 N. VV. February 55° —ioYt? H SH '% N. VV. March . . 69» -4° 5^ 4H 7 W. N. W April . , 77° 8° VA »'A S. E. May . . 89° 39° 4K 4^ S. June . . 97° 69° 4H 6 S. S. W. July . . ^^zV^ 7a° 1% 8 S. VV. August r . 1 93^ (>%" 67/i 7 s. Septembe 41* 3}i $!4 s. October . 84° 19° aH H nyi N. VV. November . | 67° 29° Ya ^ 3 N. VV. Decembei Tota • . 49° I . —18^ • •• sV^ 5 N. VV. 47-75 24 695 T^ .1 • •. -ii \ •^1. • ^\ i» - • 1 .1 it ts in Illinois, Northern Indiana, Ohio, New York, or any part of New England. The Chicago and Northwestern Railway has two lines pene- trating Central Dakota — one from Tracy, Minnesota, northwest to Watertown, and to be extended westward to the James or Dakota river; the other from Tracy westward to Hiuron, and to be extended to the Missouri river the present season, and eventually to the Black Hills ; it is hardly probable that any other railway (except possibly a branch of the Northern Pacific to the Black Hills) will for some years to come traverse this part of the Territory, and their rates for freight and transportation of emigrant movables and crops are therefore of interest. We '*'It is not' st&tfcd' whether this table* was for a single year or an average of several years. It was prtbAbly thKiiannei,, as >the rainfall isievce^iunaiUy^lhi^e for tUe lalitadb. U*A'"~^- lel, or $7 40 per 5r less yield can ig the same." table, the result officers at Fort Wet Prevailing ■" ' (lay>. wlndt. ^ N. W. 2V2 N. W. 7 W. N. W ^% S. E. aM S. 6 S. S. W. 8 S. W. 7 S. S. N. W. .1 N. W. 5 N. VV. 695 ess severe than Drk, or any part two lines pene- 2sota, northwest o the James or ) Huron, and to nt season, and e that any other rn Pacific to the rse this part of -ansportation of interest. We :rage of several yeais. latitudiB. / COST OF EMIGRANT FREIGHT. m^ therefore give them the benefit of the following declamtiori of their terms and reasons for them : FREIGHT RATES. EntlrirtM*. Mrvtble^ p«f CA\. luo Ibt. Chicago to Volga, Dak., l4r,.oo $1.2$ " " Tracy, Minn ^5^00 i.io " " Marshall," »^,oo i.io " These special rates are open to all, whether setctr-rs on com- pany's land or not. " The term emigrant movables applies to all hoinehold goods, farm machinery, wagons, live-stock, trees and shrubbery, prop- erly included in the outfit of intending settlers, but does not include general merchandise, lumber, provisions, or grain (unless intended for seed, or for feeding animals in transit). When a car contains live-stock (whether horses, mules, or cattle), one man zvill be passed free to take care of it. Those who live along the lines of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, and desire to reach the Free Land District of Central Dakota, should apply to the nearest agent of the Northwestern Railway, who, if he is not already supplied with rates to Tracy, Marshall, and Volga, will, on application, be furnished them, as it is the intention of this company to do all that it possibly can, by the most favorable rates, to have this fertile belt made as accessible to its patrons as are any other lands in the West. As these lands are owned entirely by the United States, and are not, in any manner or form, controlled by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, or by any other railway or corporation, no person or corporation, except the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, will be in any way interested in their setdement ; and the only interest that the Chicago and Northwestern Railway has, or will have in tht; set- tlement of these lands, is merely that accruing out of the fact that after they are settled, it will reap some benefit from the shipments of the products of the farms along the line to Chicago or Milwaukee, which, as will be seen, He almost at their doors. It may not be necessary to suggest to the prospective settler ot 'these lands, that the earlier settlers in this tract will have a great advantage over those who come later, as the first will, for many SI" •i ,«<>>W*'>«tJs^jiJ«»iWuiua;;(*jfc.ti'«U3«»Vi.i»a%iW8«tfBS)^^ -><■•'• *"" 'i**ii>-'n.-«-**W«»'-='-<>>'W«'^' I ■ — taA *"* ! : L * l ^ tt fcM*■ \[ \ ;5o Cf/^ WESTERN EMPIRE. years, have to provide for the recent comer, who thus will fur- nish a home market for many of the products that will be grown in the next five years. Besides, as will be noticed by our map, these lands lie directly in the course of the traveller to the min- ing camps of the Black Hills, which, being, in no sense of the word, an agricultural district, will always have to be provided by the nearest farming lands, not only with provisions, but also with horses, mules,' live-stock of all sorts, and forage for them, thus offering another and very valuable market for those who occupy this Free La^d district. A third market for the products of these lands will, for many years to come, be found along the Missouri river; and as the Chicago and Northwestern Railway will very certainly reach the Missouri river during the year 1880, there is no doubt that steamboat lines will be established from the point where the road reaches the river to all points on the upper Missouri, Yellowstone, Big Horn, and other navigable streams in the far Northwest. " The passenger rates announceo arc : from Chicago to Mar- shall, Minn., round trip, $21.85, single trip, $13.65 ; from Chicago to Volga, Dak., round trip, $24, single trip, $15. At Marshall, round trip tickets can be purchased for any points on either of the company's roads in Central Dakota at two cents a mile each way." We come next to Southeastern Dakota, the section which has been longest settled, or rather the longest known to the public, for, with the exception of Yankton, Sioux City, and Sioux Falls, there are very few towns in this section that have been settled more than half a dozen years. The region is well waterec and the soil is of the very best. The railways r ..\' built or build ing in this section make it very accessible, and ^'):.<. [' Missouri, Bi Sioux^ and White rivers add to the means of travc.s' g it. The railways are from Sioux City to Yankton, Sioux Ciiy to Siou> Falls, and from the latter town to Fire-Steel on the James river already completed, and soon to be finished to Brule City, on the Missouri. The Rev. Edward Ellis, who has explored all part: of Dakota within the last two years, writing to New York, ii Afjay. 1880, says: .^^j .^^ ^.^w >iw»tr i'»tv*< •.(-Miii jjvo s.i^rfr.iUi.,. SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA. 751 who thus will fur- that will be grown Dticed by our map, raveller to the min- in no sense of the J to be provided by isions, but also with age for them, thus r those who occupy Dr the products of >e found along the rthwestern Railway iring the year i88o» be established from to all points on the nd other navigable 3m Chicago to Mar- :3.65 ; from Chicago $15. At Marshall, ny points on either at two cents a mile !, the section which ngest known to the ioux City, and Sioux tion that have been egion is well watered IS I >■' tuiltor build- no ' i.- ''iissouri, Big f travt .s' g it The Sioux City to Sioux on the James river, :o Brule City, on the is explored all parts ng to New York, in "The most desirable part of the Territory for a permanent home is the southeastern — first of all, because of its climate. It is milder and more seasonable, better adapted for fruit and all kinds of garden sauce. The water supply is also more alxindant. Nearly all the rivers of Dakota converge in the southeast cor- ner. The geographical position of .Southeastern Dakota will always maintain a decided advantage over the more northern positions. There is any amount of government land that can be secured now, near the lines of these new railroads which are opening up this section. Counties where desirable land can be found are Kingsbury, in the vicinity of Lake Thompson ; Miner, Bramble, and Davidson, in the valleys of the Vermilicn and the James ; also McCook, Turner, and Lake, but these last-named counties are n>ore thoroughly settled. Brule county, on the Missouri, is reported to be one of the finest counties in the Ter- ritory, and the railroad running through the centre of it makes it a desirable point for location." The following communication, prepared for the writer by Hon. W. H. H. Beadle, for several years United States Surveyor- General of Dakota Territory, and now Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Territory, and Private Secretary (until his death) for the late Governor Howard, gives much information not easily attainable concerning the whole Territory, but is specially full in regard to the southeastern portion. Mr. Beadle is probably more thoroughly familiar with the whole Territory than any other man living, and is not, and has not been, con- nected with any railroad company or colonisation scheme which might warp his judgment I'^t- ir,-. ^ >{?5 .'n^/.it 11 .1 " Dakota Territory contains 1 50,000 square miles or 96,000,000 acres, which is nearly all prairie. Southern Dakota will contain 78,000 square miles.* There are erroneous impressions con- cerning it which are sorhetimes favorable, generally unfavorable. To understand it properly, its general p'^ ^ical features are of _. 1 _f * It was a favorite idea of Governor Howard, toward the close of his life, that the Territory should be divided into Northern and Southern Dakota ; the two divisions, or future . tates, having • nearly equal area. The sonthem half would include the Black Hills, which would soon b« reached by railroad linos A^oa the East, tyj mU' i'>i'Y:>Miw n«iji 'Iuhiw ■ .-i i [i tI •■% ■ -.*..iit^«JiWtri- ;53 OUJt IVESTEKN EMPIRE. the first importance. In the first place but a very small part of it is mountainous, and this part is the Black Hills, which arc hlTlK, rather than mountains. Dakota does not lie among or upon the Rocky Mountains. If one will begin in New Mexico and follow along the Rocky Mountains, it will be found that they run nearly due north, through New Mexico, Colorado and into Wyoming, where they turn decidedly westward and then northwestward, leaving outlying lower ranges, spurs and hills to the north and northeast as far as the Black Hills. The traveler upon the Union Pacific Railroad observes this. He ascends along the Platte and the Lodge Pole to or a little beyond Cheyenne, and finds himscir upon the elevated mountain plateaux; and thence westward he follows a mountain divide, from which the country is generally lower toward the Yellowstone and Missouri, and also southward toward the Bear, Grand and Green rivers, of the Colorado. He commences to descend into the Utah basin, and the mountain range goes north-northwest through Idaho and Montana (including part of Western Wyoming). ' "' * . "Ascending the Missouri river from Omaha, the course is nearly north, to the southeast corner of Dakota, where it bends decidedly west for over icxd miles, and then north and northwest for 3CX) miles, where it turns westward and heads far toward the Pacific ocean, in the Rocky Mountains, the Yellowstone coming hijiL-, WJa in from the west-southwest. ' ^ '^f^' ''• .li" These features, in physical geography, materially affect the character of the surface, soil, climate and agricultural products of Dakota. For instance, one would naturally expect that the heavy bend toward the west of the Missouri river would bear with it westward, the extent of fertile lands, etc., which are found in Eastern Nebraska. Then, too, the elevation above the sea at Yankton is only about i,ioo feet, but from this on the ascent ' is more and more rapid. it «»/&r3f i««»*'. !3tyrrt ariw *« s^mnm " The general elevation of the plains about the foot-hills around the Black Hills is from 2,500 to 3,000 feet, and this is the highest part of the Territory. ^^ , " No mountains lie to the north or northwest ** The Continental valleys of the MisMssippi (and Missouri) pass k*.:.; '•*.'— ;^-.'. .■'.■',*■ 1 M/i. BF.ADI.R ON SOUTHEAST DAKOTA. 7Si ry small part of I, which are hifls, ong or upon the exico and follow they run nearly into Wyoming, northwestward, I the north and veler upon the «nds along the I Cheyenne, and lUx; and thence lich the country id Missouri, and Jen rivers, of the Utah basin, and 3ugh Idaho and I, the course is , where it bends h and northwest s far toward the owstone coming irially affect the ultural products expect that the iver would bear which are found above the sea at s on the ascent foot-hills around lis is the highest J Missouri) pass on to those of the Red river of the North, the Saskatchewan and the McKenzie — to the Arctic ocean. These streams, or their tributaries, interlock in Minnesota and Dakota, and from St. Paul to the Missouri river westward or a little north of that, is the line of greatest elevation east of the Missouri river in Dakota, being 1,500 feet at highest points. It is a general plain or prairie, with few hills even, except the so-called ' co- teaus,' which are nine-tenths rich agricultural or grazing lands, and are not mountains at all ; merely regions of land more ele- vated than the intervening great valleys. '* Most people understand what is meant by the ' Great Plains ' of Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, etc. They lie in an almost per- fect inclined plain from the foot of the mountains eastward to the Missouri river, and, down this incline, the rivers are cut like grooves. The general surface is quite uniform. Take this ex- ample to understand Southern Dakota. It is composed of two such inclined plains upon a smaller plan. All that east of the Missouri river and up to about the forty-sixth parallel is a general inclined plane, sloping to the south, down and across which flow the Big Sioux, the Vermilion and the Dakota (or James) rivers, and the Missouri itself. The northern border is about 400 feet higher than the southern. That part of the south half of Dakota lying west of the Missouri is another //a«^ inclined to the east — properly a part of the ' Great Plains ' of the west extended up there. Its highest part is about 4,000 feet (mountains) and average lower part about 1,400 feet Down across it flow the Keya Paha and Niobrara (near it in Nebraska), the White, Chey- enne, Moreau, Grand and Cannon Ball rivers. This region in- clines more sharply, the streams are more swift, and the country is a little more though than further south. The so-called Bad Lands occupy a small part only — not ovier 75,000 acres — ^which is not good grazing lands. We will now briefly refer again to each one of these regions. " The western part has, especially in its southeastern quarter, and along the Missouri river, a fine body of agricultural lands, suited to wheat, rye, barley, oats and corn. As one passes west it becomes more suited to grazing, and is covered with a rich 48 i Hiik'-m .;d^ilMi#ciMM(<*''MS<«i.a-<«^.Aui£i..«biaMfi^^ 714 OUK WESTERN KMP/XE. growth of the best grasses~i-especially those which, curing upon the ground, alTord winter grazing. This lias been amply irxrA for many years by the herd* kept by, and for feeding, the Indians. When we reach the valleys of the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche, the agricultural character again decidedly im- proves, and tlie plains between these streams and the Ulau:k Hills are being rapidly occupied as farms, Sitock-ranches, vegeta- ble gardens, dairy farms, etc., as seems most profitable, to supply the people in the Hills with food. The valley of the belle Fourche and its larger tributaries, is very delightful and fertile, one of the loveliest summer views in the West, wide, snvooth and beautiful. The French criled it ' La Belle Fourche ' — the beautiful branch — /. e., of the Cheyenne. The Hills themselves are a real wonder-land. I have travelled through them and been in the principal mine&. The examination changed my opinion. I Iqok upon them as surpassingly rich in gold. They are peculiar — different from other gold regions. The same rule of expectation does not apply. They disappoint every one — but favorably. They are in gold somewhat as Leadville, Colorado, is in silver. Within five years everybody will recognize this, and within ten years that region will: be a constant winder in its gold product. I do not own a cent of interest there, directly or indi- rectly. Railroads will be lh«re in two years or less, and then machinery, supplies and all conveniences will be cheaper, so that the mines can b^ opened and worked extensively, and ic will be- come motie than ever a wonder-tland, because it is koown, and not because it is not knowa. " Southeastern Dakota has an area of 35,000 square miles, nearly «very square foot of which is rich. It is generally well watered, has a deep dark prairie loam aotl, mixed in plaoes wiith a very small pef cent, of sandy loam. It nearly all slopes slightly to the soudu ^d ffeceix^e& the spring rains and »inshine, making its seasons early and its soil warm to germinate the spring seed. Its great crops arc wheat and corn, me^ being divided as to which i^ the more profkaitle oi the twp. Its third great interest is oattle-va^singi These three, represe|»t, ^bout equally the re- sources, of the farmers. lKs^\m go farther north, wheat domi- ich, curing upon [been amply trifld for feedini^, the Cheyenne and in decidedly im- s and the Black ranch(;8, vegeta- taWe, to supply ley of the Belle htful and fertile, 9t, wide, smooth e Fourche ' — tl»e Hills themselves rough them and ion changed my I in gold. They The same rule It every one — but adville, Colorado, ecogniaq this, and krander in its gold , directly or indi- or less, and then 8 cheaper, so that iy, and it will b^ is kftown, and noc uare miles, nearly, Uly well watered, laces mth a very )es slightly to thq hine, making its thQ spring seed, ig divided as to Vd great interest eqMally the re- SOUTtiBASTEK^V DAKOTA. 755 nates, as the country is n<;wer, and this crop can be more quickly turned. Farther south, corn equals wlieat in importance, and in some counties stock-raising is chief. Take Yankton, Clay and Union counties, and during the laK't year they have sold about 2,000 head of cattle each, mainly ready for beef or to be fed tem- porarily in Iowa. They have sold aibout 3,000 head of hogs ea^h, and about one and a-half millioA bushels of wheat. These are the three oldest counties. ( 1 , , r , mj li , i / . " Southeastern Dakota has twenty-thj^ee organized counties, a population of 90,000 people, with 430 miles of railroad in opera- tion — perhaps 460 nearly so. It will have 700 miles by Novem- ber I, 1880. It has an excellent advance in schools, churches and all social organizations. Its population is consolidated and continuous, and it is law-abiding and enterprising. Its villages and towns are marked by newspapers^ chui^ch edifices and school-houses. ^'^^'^ '« "•'' '^' !' '• •(-iuMif...> , , , , .,, ; ,. " The climate is warmer than would be expetted. Its summer is long, and corn matures and fully ripens every year. In win- ter there are Occasional stormy days, which ahe sometimes severe ; but usually the winters are fair, sunny and dfy. The United States Signal Service reports will show temperature for a series of years at Yankton and Fort Sully — fciir tests, except that Sully is on the west edge of the best agricultural landa " Did you ever observe the disappointments that meet people >vho go by rail to California, Nevada and Utah in the hope of a cuf'e for lung and other diseases } I have seen them come back suffering greatly. The trouble is, the too great and too sudden change from the more damp sea-coast and lake climates, to that vel-y dry air. But the men of '49, the early overland immigrants and travellers to Califomiai were Celebrated for robust health. The!^ jO'irney improved and cured weak lungs, bronchial, catarrhal, and like diseases. Why P They went slowly from one Xb the other. They travelled by- horses or with oxen across Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota, Wyoimng, etc. They took a long period of out^door summer life in' thiS' intermediate region. The same treatment will produce the same results now. The region of tiie MissoluH vall^ in' Dakota is the best in the worid for* such 'Ii«rfv,vJf'i/jl»"..-i:ia^,.i!,;#.,;^;,,B.i^v!-<:w i/,?;-.-,. n ?.M , f^lt-.S*. ,- i AK.rtC.'TfVlJWWfai' m >■ ^|0 ouK trasrajty amp/ax, summer travel and iiojourn, and should be taken before the transfer even to Colorado, though that is better tlian Calirornia at first. I do not extend this idea. Its statement will be under- stood, as the history of the early days gave the best proof of its value." '"! .n! ti. • ..Itu . \,, !■...! fv^rt We add, on the opposite page, the meteorology of the two su- tions of the Signal Service Bureau in Southeastern Dakota, and as Fort Sully station was changed to Dead wood in Dccemljcr, 1877, we have completed the year from the Dcadwood report, the lati- tude being nearly the same, though the altitude of Deadw^od is considerably higher. We give a later meteorological report from Deadwood and Lead City farther on. ,(,< <[ /.(''^< ,« •>.,.. We come next to the smallest, but, in some respects, the most important section of Dakota, the mineral region known as " The Black Hills." Let Mr. Zimri L. White, the accomplished and judicious correspondent of the New York Tributu, who visited and explored the Hills in the summer of 1879, describe for us the topography and history of the region. We may say in pass- ing, that the Black Hills extend westward into Wyoming Terri tory, and are between the 43d and 45th parallels of latitude and the 103d and 105th meridians of longitude, l^nj^i,^. ^ ;i£;^, bvji« ;j "The Black Hills, or Cheyenne Mountains, are a detached spur of the Rockies lying between the two forks of the Cheyenne river (one of the largest tributaries of the Missouri), whose con- fluence is near their eastern boundary. The North Cheyenne, or Belle Fourche, flowing from a point in Wyoming Territory west of and nearly opposite the centre of the Hills, bears off to the northeast and then to the southeast, forming a sort of an ox- bow, while the South Cheyenne separates the Hills from the Southern plains. The area thus embraced is about 5,000 square miles, and may be divided into three parts — rugged mountains containing mineral veins and deposits, grass-covered foot-hills and prairies, capable of s^upporting enormous herds of cattle, and fertile valleys which, with or without irrigation, will produce all the grain, hay, potatoes and other vegetables that the future population of Ae Black Hills can consume. \[, a u\:miit.'}-\i -jm^ .:.'.<' The mountains proper, as distinguished from the foot-htus, MMTSOMOLOGY. 717 en before the lian California will be under- :Kt proof of its of the two sta* Dakota, and as )cceml>cr, 1877, report, the lati- Doadw'>od in ological report ipects, the most known as " The complished and un€, who visited describe for us nay say in pass- Vyoming Terri of latitude and are a detached of the Cheyenne uri), whose con- forth Cheyenne, ^ming Territory [ills, bears off to a sort of an ox- '■ Hills from the )ut 5,000 square gged mountains >vered foot-hills rds of cattle, and will produce all that the future m the foot-hills, Foft wKUft Otftdwood. % t^ a 5 I « a JT 85 !g X 5 » 8 = i. I u f £ w :: i^ t t; S4 *« III t* V> i %t tt >? ^ V v "f wt vn MaalMUM Mlnltmim Tamyarsiur*. Mmii s< ifl f« '^ r r T T T T 'A Y' Y a !3S3a0 0> O ^ ^ S ZH }i ^ as '^ ?! CA ?5 M Vt ." M < 5" ^ W pj - - • f« f« M M • - J ' ^ ^ ¥* v/l 25 2 1^ »3 ^ ^ J i^ V> v> 1^ • * * • 6 ^ « a! P> ' Barain«lric(l fmcun. Hualdlty. •I f MMtlnium Timp«fB(ura. Mlnimuai T«mpc»iur«. Mmh Ttmpcnwn. Kaio&U. Barnmetrlcil PrMMM. HumMlly. ili ;j I IF ^ r 1 i 5 c/> ! f ') I ,f.r '«k«»i«:M,. .. . «he streams and prairies and lower slopes of the foot-hills between the water-courses. The former generally need ho artificial irri- gation, but the latter require more water than the rains furnish and that is available in sufficient quantity in the brooks and creeks. The agricultural lands are of marvellous richness. "The Black Hills were in the heart of the .Sioux country until February, 1877, and were so jealously gutirded by the Indians that whiti people who visited them did so at the peHI of their lives. The Indians did not live in the Hills. They had a super- stition that the Great Spirit never intended these mountains for the habitation of man. The terrific thimder storms which are frequent here, perhaps had something to do with this belief. They said that the Great Spirit had covered the Hllh with trees to furnish the Indians with tepee poles, and filled the foot-hills with antelope and deer to supply him with food when the buffalo were scarce ; and they frequently made excursions here, but never remained long. From one end of the Hills to the other, I am told, there are nowhere to be found the evidences of a long encampment of Indians. The Sioux have known of the existence of gold in the Black Hills for many years. A third of a century ago, it is said, they showed to Father De Smet, the Roman Catho- lic missionary, who spent his life amongst them, and in whom they had the most iitipiieit confidende, large nuggets which they had picked up in the gulches. He warned them not to show these nuggets to white men, as it would arouse thtW cupidity and cause the Indians to be driven out of the country. Never- theless, rumors of the mineral wealth of the Hills did get abroad, and evidences have been found that a few adventurers came hero I .-> »!■'..•» « '—>tttif MvawaWMMjahkMUMiUlkiiMSMI IT fc ^ OVM WBSTMMS HUH UK, in tcAixh of gold many year* ago, and actually began to work the placers. They werr probably all maHHacrcd by the Iruliatit.* " Several government cxpetlitiuns were made into ilu- litack HilU before that of Ciencral Ciixter, in the summer of 1874, and tite refiori of each showed the prcHcncc of gold and oilu-r inin* erals. I'he first of these was that of Captain lU)nncvillc, in 1H34. General Harney came in here in 1855, and the highest peak in the Hills was named in hin honor. Other expeditions led by Warren visited the Hills in i856-'57, by Dr. Huyden in 1858-59, and by General Sully in 1864. The dates of these visits 1 give on the authority of a resident of this city, as I have access to no records by which I can verify them. I have said that the rxplor* ations of each of these {Mrtics proved the presence of gold in these mountains ; but no excitement was caused by their reports, because no one supposed that the precious metal existed here in sufficient quantities for profitable working, (jencrnl Custer's expedition in 1874 is still remembered by most newspaper readers. The practical miners who accompanied him reported excellent ' prospects,' that is, that in washing out the gravel of the streams in pans they obtained go' ^ sufficient quantities to make it pay for working. The rep< .1 these miners were received with incredulity in the ICast ; and, during the winter of i874-'75, the question was widely discussed whether there was gold in the Black Hills or not " So great was the public interest in the discoveries reported by those who accompanied General Custer that, in the summer of 1875, the Interior Department sent out an on tlie country, filfiory of tome of Ihme naMMtd operslioM in but braving the hostility of the Indians and o:h«r dangers, they began to settle along the strcamtt in the iiilli in the summer of 1875, and tu wash out the gold dust. The government iorlMdu all persoHH to enter this country, and the President, I l)elieve, itiHiieil a proclamation wanting people against invading th*: ter- ritory that had lM:cn set a|>art for the Indians. Hut it is im|K>s- •Ible tc keep an oKl placer-miner out of gulches where there are ' pay streaks ; ' he will go through fire ti.id water to reach new diggings. Hundreds of men came in here in spite of the pcK* lamation and in spite of the orders to military commanders to arrest people found on the road or in the Hills. 'I'he soldiers even came to the Black Hills, and going up and down the gulches, gathered up the miners, confiscated their provisions, and took them to I'ort Laramie or tu the military posts on the Upper Missouri. Uut the adventurers came in here faster than the soldiers cuuld take them oui, and most of those arrested, even, as soon as they were released, as they all were when a military station was reached, came directly back if tliey had money enough - > procure provisions. The government, having told the peopl through its exploring expeditions that there was gold in the Black Hills, could not keep them out without 8'. .. »» u.' 1 j»/i"n' i. "The men who came to the Hills In 1875 and the following winter settled principally in the .southern part, on Spring and French creeks. Custer City was the most important town, and Rockcrvillc also became the centre of rich placer diggings. The mines In that region were all in the gulches, and during the first year considerable quantities of gold dust were taken out. I have not visited that region, but I have been told by a gentleman whose experience and scientific attainments cause one to have great confidence in him, that there are on Spring and French creeks the largest placer deposits in the world. He saw a man dig up a wagon-load of the gravel and haul it to a small creek where he washed out $46 worth of gold from it. This deposit, this gendeman says, he has examined for a distance of fifteen .! w , ^,r^ , ..;^.:. .L^ J„w-.A£:.-.. ,.....i ■■ ^.« .. ,i,-,A.ir tJ»^*» '■«• w ; I I 11 It pr62 OVX WESTEKK SMP/KE. ^ miles in length and twelve miles in width. It is not all as rich, by any means, as the wagon-load of which he spoke. Gold always runs in streaks, but the extent of it is very great. It is not now available for the want of water. '• When the discoveries of gold in Deadwood and Whitewood gulches, on the site ot this city, and above and below it, were made, the first workings were very rich, and the fame of them soon attracted the people here froru all parts of the Hills. Cus- ter City was almost deserted, and for a year or so Deadwood was one o^ the liveliest mining camps in the country. But, although the placer-mines in these two gulches and their tribu" taries paid well for a time, the prosperity they brought was only temporary, and, if quart2 mines had not been discovered and opened, Deadwood would now be a deserted Village. Out of fifty placer claims,, a dozen or so are now being worked, chiefly by Chinamen who pay to the owneis fitiy cents a day royalty for each man who works. By carefully washing over the tail- ings and the gravel wbved to be valuable, have yet been discovered outskle of fbe great belt abovfe t^s town. One or two minds which promise well are salid to have been opened in the Rockfonl District^ about twenty-fhF« miles south of here. I shall visit that re^'it and probably write a ktter fiiom there. A new mine has atoo been discovered neat Custer mtm n xMNmmmwm w i n .. r> not all as rich, He spoke. Gold ery great. It is and Whitewood d below it, were le fame of them the Hills. Cus- ►r so Dead wood country. But, and their tribu- irought was only discovered and tillage. Out of * worked, chiefly ts a day royalty g over the tail- was • lean,' these ay, and with that lis above Dead- it none o( them ley • prospected * of gold to a ton ihat grade would tempts to reduce one of them can California capi^ (gan to take out mines whith by e Vctluable, have ibwne this town, d to have been -fiv« miles south y write a litter r6d rteaf Custer CLIMAn OF TttE BLACK MILLS. ^j City, from which some astonishingly rich ore has been taken. The reduction of about 800 pounds of that ore, and the obtain- ing from it of gold at the rate of ^5147 a ton, has caused con- siderable excitement in Deadwood. '• In closing this general description of the Black Hills, I ..tay say thr»f the country looks as though it had been setded ten years instead of three. In the mines it is difficult to realize the pos- sibility of accomplishing as much as has been done in two years. The farms that are cultivated have already lost their appearance of newness, if they ever had it. Good roads have been built in every direction over and around the Hills, and travel is as safe upon them as upon a New England or New York turnpike. Two years ago (in 1877) camping equipage was a necessity for the traveller, now there are comfortable wayside inns every twenty-five miles, and frequently at shorter intervals. The game that abounded in the hills has disappeared, and civiliza- tion has already gained the mastery. " The climate of the Black Hills is, on the whole, delightful. The elevation is sufficient (from 4,000 to 6,000 feet) to make the air pleasant without being too much rarefied for health or com- fort. The midday sun is sometimes hot, but on no one of the •past ten days (in the middle of July) has the heat been oppres- iive, and the nig^its are delightfully cool. I have slept xinder blankets every night since I came to Deadwood, and one or two tivenings I found a light overcoat comfortable when going out upon the street. The winters here are rather long, the latitude being a^ut that of St. Paul. Minnesota; but the towns are all situated in the caAons and surrounded by high mountains, which shield them from the cold winds and temper the rigor of the climate. During the last three years the summers have been long enough to ripen all kinds of grain and vegetables. During the first year after the settiement of Deadwood ther?^ was con- siderable sickness here^ the prevailing disease being mountain . (over. This was probably caused by digging up the gulches, the! banks of which in many places were covered with a rank growth of vegetation. There is now probacy no more heakhflil place in the United States than thii city, and I know of few more com- fortable ones in summer, if the climate alone is considered." "■ r;AaiiM^ia^aij*iiiiifaMii^itS!tiiU!tvsxm!mermiSB^ it*.t.jLi*^-.m'*^----'»'i-*f'- i''-^«fc.-~«;'«i— MiVi>^.'.i..-to'.»aJgt.tJi.ifc>.Ti. "' -. > A:f.>.. J .V .— .»-M. I... ^ . >, Ot/Jf WESTER ft ENPIRB, •> Sergeant J. O'Dowd, of the United States Signal Service at Deadwood, furnishes the following summary of the meteorology of that city for the year ending June 30th, 1 879. The observations fiom July I St to December, 1878, were taken at Lead City, two miles from Dea,4wood,. apd at several hundred feet higher altitude* July August September . • t. • October . . S' * . November . ' . . - . December .... 1879. January February March April iivj June Totals for year . . 1 67.14 65.85 49- > 5 39.58 36.73 18.36 31. 76 84.45 34.80 45.50 5380 61.30 43.19 jf 63. »5 63.80 63.16 60.50 63.67 73.47 65.85 68.80 63.00 53.00 63.30 5740 63.01 93 85 86 7a 66 54 56 53 7» 7» 81 93 93 41 46 37 6 3 -35 —34 —13 —5 30 «9 37 -»5 S. S. S. N.W. S. N. S.W. S.W. S.W. N.E. N.E. S. I' 5.77 3.61 3. 06 I.81 0.75 363 0.58 0.73 0.51 7.69 5.03 4.67 ■9 J 16 9 8 »3 3 II 3 5 9 8 »3 18 35.83 116 It will be observed that the heaviest rainfall, 23.16 inches of the 35.83, of the year was in the months of April, May, June and July — the months in which the crops would be most benefited. ' The mines of the Black Hills yield both gold and silver, though the silver deposits were not discovered till some time after active mining for gold had made the region widely known. The gold mines may be included in four classes: i. Placers. 2. Quartz veins between slate walls. 3. Quartz veins between porphyry walls. 4. Cement deposits. oji.ii i^.cl ■hIi '.(ihu^ inii 41 The placers in the Black Hills are of great extent, and some of them have yielded very large sums. Elsewhere in this work we have described the methods of placer mining, the use of the pan, the rocker^ the Tom, the sluice and the hydraulic pipe, flume and sluice, and, as placer mining is much the same in the Blade Hills as* elsewhere, it h not necessary for us to repeat what we have said of these processes. Two points, however, 'l!>tm)bl«(too>i uflolfi -^/cmtb orb it ,T%'nmiy< ni f'yno aidrj-jui jnal Service at he meteorology he observations Lead City, two higher altitude' a Jt h — i' ^0 5-77 16 3.61 9 3.06 8 V. 1.81 »3 ©•7S 3 363 II V. 0.58 3 V. 0.73 5 V. 0-5I 9 5^ 7.69 8 E. S-03 »3 4.67 18 3583 116 3.16 inches of* , May, June and lost benefited, id silver, though time after active )wn. The gold ers. 2. Quartz ween porphyry ctent, and some ere in this work :, the use of the hydraulic pipe, he same in the >r us to repeat >oints, however, DJiy GULCHES IN THE BLACK HILLS. 765 may be noticed : i st. That dry placers or gulches — that is, beds of clay or gravel containing a considerable amount of free gold, but at such a distance from water having sufficient head to wash the gold, and consequently requiring that the dirt should be brought to the water, or the water to the placer at considerable cost — are not usually considered very profitable to work unless the amount of gold is large, in the Black Hills these dry placers or gulches have proved so rich that the dirt has been brought from some of them by wagon loads to the water, and where they were more extensive, it has been found profitable to construct ditches or flumes of several miles' length, to bring a mountain stream to supply the pipes for hydraulic mining. These placers seem to be distributed all over the hills. The first were discov- ered near the southern border, on Spring and French creeks, near the present sites of Custer City and Rockerville. Others still more profitable have been discovered near Deadwood; and nearly all the gulches between the two points, a distance of fifty or sixty miles, yield rich pay-dirt, and most of them are profit- ably worked. These placers are so rich, and there are so many of them yet undeveloped, that placer mining will probably be conducted with profit here for many years to come. But second, it is the natural law of placers, that after a period of time, which may be longer or shorter according to their extent antl depth, and the thoroughness with which they are explored, they are worked out and become worthless. To the penniless miner they offer the chance of acquiring a fortune ; but no man should buy into a placer mine, with the impression that he has a per- manent property. It is good so long as it lasts, and how long that may be it is hard to say. A placer claim in the Black Hills extends 300 feet along the gulch, and from rim to rim. ' i^'^Ko "The second class of gold mines found in the Black Hills- quartz in slatfc, or between slate walls — is represented by the great ' belt ' above Deadwood, on which the mammoth mines of the Hills are situated. The country rock, that is the rock of whidi the mountains are formed, is micaceous slate which has been thrown up at an angle of about 50**. Between the walls of this slate is a vein of brown quartz containing free gold in ■\ ] \ \ i \ .'■«^u.w^*iiid)WMJMrKMDp:3vn#JeJ^^nc^.''%&Pf^^ ;^V .>»«Uim ' > i» « ^ jS6 OUR WESTERtf EMPIRE. small quantities, and separated from the country rock on each side by a layer of chloritic slate often containing more ^old than the quartz itself. The vein is of enormous width — from 40 to 1 50 feet — but is frequently divided by ' horses ' of slate, or large bodies of that substance extending into or across the vein. The rock in these ' horses ' is sometimes rich enough to work, but generally is quite barren. m > , " There are two theories of the formation of these veiAs'; and while there seems to be sufficient ore in all the large mines for present purposes, the future of these properties may depend in great degree upon which of these theories proves to be the cor- rect one. The first is that advanced by Professor Jenney, the young geologist who was sent to explore the Black Hills in 1875 for the Interior Department, and who is now a resident of Dead- wood. He holds that these ledges of gold-bearing rock are true fissure veins — ' interlaminated fissures,' he calls them, tJiat is, fissures opened between the layers of the slate rock, and not across the line of stratification. The auriferous quartz, he says, has been formed by the water solutions which have come up from below. He accounts for the ' horses ' of slate in the vein' by likening the cleaving of the rock to the splitting of a piece of oak wood. When a wedge is driven into it, particles of the wood cling from side to side across the opening made by the wedge. So, he thinks, when the rock was opened, bodies of slate extended across from one wall to the other, and remained in that position when the aqueous solution from below came up, surrounded them, and deposited the gold-bearing quartz. He' explains the fact that the slate walls and horses contain gold by' saying that the slate, which haid minute spaces between its lay ers,' soaked up the mineral-bearing fluid, which in some cases re-' placed the partkles of slate. As a rule, the impregnation of the slate becomes less as the distance from the wall of the vein increasesi Believing the veins to be true fissures, Professor Jenney supposes that they extend into the earth for an indefinite' distance, and probably grow richer in their lower portions. Pro>- feasor Jenney beKeves that after these veins were formed the' ocfsan covered wihat ave now the Black Hills, and tiiat by'itb* K —-^smt y rock on each more gold than th — from 40 to •f slate, or large the vein. The j[h to work, but hese veins ; and arge mines for may depend in 18 to be the cor- ssor Jenney, the ck Hills in 1875 jsident of Dead- ng rock are true s them, diat is, « rock, and not quartz, he says, have come up- slate in the vein' itting of a piece I, partieles of the mg made by thef »ened, bodies of »r, and remained I below came up, Ing quartz. He* contain gold by> itween its layers,' some cases re-' >regnation of the Mrall of the vein> isufcs, Professor' for an indefinite' P portions. Pro-' irere forrned the^ and that by itb> DIVEXSX THEORIES ABOUT THE LODES. ^^ action it tore down the surface, scattering fragments of the vein all over the country. Evidences of marine action are easily to be found in the vicinity of the mines. " The other theory held by several geologists of much learn- ing and experience is that the vein matter was precipitated from an aqueous solution that covered it. Their explanation and argument is this : The foot-wall of these veins is slatt;, a forma- tion which everybody knows is of aqueous origin. The vein of quartz is deposited on this slate parallel with its line of stratifica« tion, just as one layer of rock is deposited on another. Above the vein we also find slate, and above that, where it has not been carried away by the action of the elements, a cement formation also of aqueous origin. These facts point conclusively to a hori- zontal deposit of the vein matter on a slate bed. The precipi- tant was probably oxide of iron, and it is therefore very natural that those ores containing the largest proportion of oxide of iron should be the richest in gold, as they are. After all these de- posits had been made, the hills were gradually thrown up in their present forms under water. "If the true fissure vein theory is correct (and it is the one most generally accepted by the most experienced miners), then there is reason to believe that the ore extends far into the bowels of the earth. And even if the theory of an aqueous deposit or precipitation is accepted, the fields over which these deposits took place may have been so great that when turned up upon their edges they may be practically inexhaustible. These quartz veins between slate strata seem to be, in many respects, the analogues of the ' contact lodes ' of: silver in Col- orado, and may have had a similar origin. )J '>(kiI> ynrr 7/ 'uU jik} "The I quartz veins between porphyry walls have not been sufiliciently developed to i^ake it sat« to give an opinion in' regard to them. Some of the best mines of this class are situ- ated in Strawberry gulch, about seven miles east of Deadwood, and in some of them considerable bodies of ore have been found. In another year, when a few mills shall have been erected near them for the purpose of working their ores> and development ha& been pushed further, more will be knoAMn of their value. It' ] A K < .yW'iatayaft.-jiMfcj* ^■.:*.'f*.i<.»<-tf«»i'-*wt/j*i»r. is an interesting fact that they have already attracted the atten- tion of the rich California miners and capitalists who have de- veloped the great ' belt ' above Dcadwood, and that it is possible that they may purchase one of the most promising of them and see what it contains. >ii 1 < " In many of the placer mines, a little below the bed of the stream but considerably above bed rock, a layer of hard cement, consisting of sand, gravel, and boulders, and carrying free gold held together in one hard, conglomerate mass by oxide of iron, has been found. This substance has been a great obstacle to gulch miners on some claims. They had no means of crushing it to free the gold, and to remove it in order to get at the aurif- erous gravel beneath was very expensive. On the hill-tops, which have withstood best the action of the elements, similar cement deposits have also been found, varying from one and a-half to twelve and eighteen feet in thickness. Some of these are very rich in gold and others very lean. A number of mines have been opened on the cement beds and are now working successfully, while others have already worked out their pay ore. The rock is reduced in the same manner as quartz, by stamping and amalgamating. A cement deposit may be very valuable as long as it lasts, and may bring to its owners large profits, but its value depends entirely upon its extent and character. Like a placer (and it is, in fact, nothing but a solidified placer), it will some day be worked out and become worthless. Attempts have been made to sell these cement beds and the mines opened on them as true fissure veins, which diey are not. Very possibly the ore ' prospects ' ?nd ' mills ' as high as it is represented ; but the wrong done to the proposed purchaser consists in giving the impression that it is a true fissure vein, when it is in reality only a solidified (^cer and may and probably will soon become exhausted." I • ;-•''» ^^ >»'?}rr< »•" d ""^'t V> >.fffo^ .fn'"!i '^"« !>■"" ; The gold mines, aside from the placers and cement deposits, in the Blark Hills, have been agaiA classified by t]|e mining men as those on the Bonanza Belt in the neighborhood of Deadwood, and those not on the belt. The mines on the belt which have attained the greatest reputation are the Father De Smet, the I V ■acted the atten- ts who have dc- that it is possible ing of them and V the bed of the of hard cement, arrying free gold by oxide of iron, reat obstacle to eans of crushing ) get at the aurif- On the hill'tops, elements, similar ig from one and Some of these number of mines are now working out their pay ore. artz, by stamping : very valuable as ■ge profits, but its laracter. Like a ed placer), it will . Attempts have mines opened on t. Very possibly t is represented; consists in giving len it is in reality will soon become cement deposits, r t]|e mining men •od of Deadwood, belt which have er De Smet, the LOty GKADK GOLD OX AS PROFITABLE HERE. j^ Deadwood, the Golden Terra, the Highland, the Homcstake, the Grant and the Old Abe mines. The Roderick I.)hu and thi- Pierce are also believed to be on continuations of this belt. The belt is about two mile» in Icngtli and fruni looto 200 feet in width. The mines not on the belt, in the vicinity of Deadwood, are the Caledonia, which comprises four claims, and covers in all territory 1,500 feet long and 1,100 in width, though in two parcels. Several deposit mines are also included in diis class, and u num> ber of smaller mines. There are also new mines of gre.it promise at Rockford, about twenty-five miles east of Deadwood, and at Custer City and Rockerville, in the southern part of the Black HillS^x^-'t .,..,•! rl ..... The silver mining thus far has been mostly at Galena, on Bear Butte creek, about twelve miles east of Deadwood. There are other silver deposits, but these are the most promising. The ores ar6 chiefly sulphurets and chlorides, mixed with quartz, oxide of iron and manganese, antimony and arsenic. There are some riqh carbonates, but they do not appear in very large quan- tities ; there are also some specimens of horn silver and a little free silver. The ores average from 30 to 1 50 ounces of silver to a ton, the low-grade ores being most abundant. The immense cost of transportation ($40 a ton) has prevented the mining ot low grade ores, and a small smelter, working imperfectly, has charged $75 per ton for reduction. These difficulties will soon cease, as railroads, and larger and better smelters come in. A large proportion of the gold veins produce an ore which elsewhere would be regarded as of low grade ; many of them running at from $g or ; in 1879 as about $4,500,000, and in 1880 as probably $6,000,000. The Black Hills form the most elevated portion of Dakota, indeed the only portion which rises above 2,000 feet, or generally above 1,500 to 1,800 feet. ' {' •• The following table gives the altitude of the principal summits and towns of this region, though some of the points named arc in the Wyoming portion cf the Hills: . Inyan Kara Peak 6,500 Bare Butte 4,800 • Floral Valley, 6,1 )6 Crook's Monument .... 7,60 Terry's Peak 7,aoo Custer's Peak 6,750 Devil's Tower 5,100 Rapid City 3,175 Crook City 3,725 Rochford (estimated) . . . 4*500 Harney's Peak 7>44o Belle Fourche . . . ... . 3,734 Castle Creek Valley . . . . 6,136 Dodge's Peak ....;. 7,300 Warren's Peak 6,900 Crow Peaks 6,200 Deadwood 4,4>5 Rockerville 4*125 Pactola (estimated) * . . . 4,000 Custer City " 4*200 The present population of the cities and settlements of the Black Hills is hardly less than 30,000, and may exceed that. A year and a half since (in January or February, 1879), it was esti- mated at 18,000, and was probably divided very much as follows Deadwood 6,000 Golden Gate Lead City Rockerville Rochford Sturgis City Sheridan Tigerville . . i i * . Central City . • • '> » <>ayviik , 700 2,500 600 600 300 200 200 9,000 &)o Rapid City . . . . » • 500 Crook City . . . . .' '.' 500 Custer City Spearfish City Hill City Galena Pactola, Hayward and other settlements . t • % , 't 400 250 aoo 250 ■,500 ) .NiM Total 18,000 depth increases. fg to f 15 per ton han ores of much , less t-asily milled ;s lo be marketed L' Black Hills mines XD.ooo, and in 1880 K)rtion of Dakota, X) feet, or generally e principal summits : points named are BLACK HILLS MOTH AUItlCULTVIiAL AS'U MIS'ING. 771 The Ulack I lilU region is priuiarily, then, a mining region ; one which has been very largely taken poHHession of by capital- JHis, and its mining operations con'luctcd on a Hcale which has been hardly equalled elsewhere in the West ; its stamp-mills aggregating more than 1,500 stamps, and these generally of the largest and most powerful character, and its gold production larger than in the same number of 'nines elsewhere. This char- acter of the region will be likely to continue and increase, for years to come, but it would be a great mistake to suppose, as some have supposed, that the Black Mills must be dependent wholly or mainly upon other regions for its supplies of food, clothing or manufactures. The valleys and foot-hills, as well as much of the hill country itself, are covered to a great depth with an exceedingly rich soil, and its production of grains, root cropti and market garden vegetables and fruits will be ample ere long for the supply of the 50,000 or 75,000 people who will gather there. Those portions of the Hills and adjacent country which are not suited to mining or farming are admirably adapted to ^ uing, and even portions of the much berated " Bad Lands " ur.: covered with rich and nutritious grasses. It is just the region for dairy-farming, and the mining towns will furnish a ready and profitable market for the milk, butter and cheese which can be produced. Sheep-farming will also prove profit- able here, though perhaps the Cotswolds, Leicesters, Southdowns and Lincolns would pay better than the smaller wool sheep ; for tlie market for mutton will be close at hand, and the combing wools will bring as good prices as the felting wools, though for other purposes. We see no reason why this may not become the region for the production of the best quality of mutton. The fine water-powers in the vicinity, and the coal mines which are readily accessible, as well as the large deposits of copper, lead and iron which are awaiting development, must ere long make it an important manufacturing region, and in a few years we may expect to see the immense quantities of mining and agricultural machinery which are needed, as well as all the mani- fold manufactures of wool and iron which are needed there, pro- duced on the spot instead of being, as now, brought from Chi- t 7^ OUH WKarUKff HMftHM. cAfifo, the capital of a trcet«ii» r^.^\on, acro«i Roo or 1,000 miles ol prairindition of all parts of the Territory is ^^really hijjh«rr than that of mo«t new scttlementN. Mr. White writes of the towns of the Black Hills: " Dead wood is a remarkably quiet, orderly, law-abiding^' town. This ift the more remarkable when it is remembered ihat at the time it was first settled this was an Indian reservation, over which the Territorial authorities had no jurisdiction. "The people who came here organized a temporary govern- ment of dieir own, the only sanction of which was comr^on con- sent, but its laws were recotnu^ed and obeyed for about a year and a half. When the treaty with the Sioux was completed in February, 1877, opening the hills to settlement, the government that had been improvised was dissolved, but the Territorial officers did not arrive here until forty days later, and in the meantime there was not even the semblance of a government, and yet order was preserved. "There are public gambling-houses in Deadwood, but they are not numerous, nor do they thrust themselves upon the atten- tion of the stranger by open doors or bands of music. The gambling is almost without exception conducted in back and second-story rooms, and the proprietors of the houses are not apparently having a prosperous time of it. There is one variety , theatre here, and although I have not attended one of its per- formances, its programme contains nothing that seems to be objectionable as variety shows go. Its performances close at a seasonable hour. There is also one dance-house on Main street. Of drinking-saloons there are of course an abundancei"""'-'"'*^ 1)1'' On the other hand, Deadwood is a city of home«. Small but tflistofuUy built cottages are springing up by scores on all the ■I KAIL no ADS tS DAKOTA. 77 i or tjooo miles niH institutions ;li onJrr. Not (uk tiills have the wh()(e Icr- 1(1 excellent in- eiu coadjutors. ^^reatly hijjher • writes of the narkably quiet, markable when led this was an ihorittes had no ()orary govern- is comr-on Con- or about a yeai IS completed in the government the Territorial kter, and in the f a government, ^, and diffuuit of aarsH, n«) onr nrt'il heniutc to make his home h« rr thmuj^'h f«ar that Iw will not fmd good society. Kvn the ptople who art- sci-king their fortuneH in the remote gulches are by no means l)arl>arians. Many of them are well educated, and are res|)ecl«'d in the dis' tanl homes they have Uh, although ihey may now have to rough it and put up with miiny ['rivations. .Straws show which way the winil blows, and here is one : I dined the otiur day with a miner who thinks he Itas made a ' great strike.' i le lives in a log-l\ouse, milt ^ out of town, but in one corner of the room, which serven as parlor and dining-room, stood a piano on which was u largi; pile of popular music, and I saw ort the tabhr the latest nuntbtrs of some of the popular magazines and illustrated journals." We have spoken of the means of railroad communication in different sections of the Territory. These arc constantly increas- ing in numbers and nuleage till the Territory promises soon to be traversed by them in nearly all directions. The following list, prepared by Hon. Henry Kspersen, United States Surveyor- General for Dakota, gives their condition in November, 1879, and we havo added the facts so far as they can be ascertained of tlieir present condition: There is a very complete system of railways, built or building, into or through the Territory. The Northern Pacific Railroad, extending from Farj^'o, on the eastern boundary, to the Little Missouri, 351 miles, and to be extended to the Yellowstone by January i, 1881. The Winona and Saint Peter's Railroad (Chicago and North- west* 11), now running to Watertown, near Lake Kampeska, and located west to Dakota river. The Dakota Southern Railroad, from Sioux City, Iowa, to Yankton, and projected northward up the vallpy of the Dakota river, completed to Bruld, on the James. The Milwaukee and Saint Faal Railroad, with some eighty miles .> KUMMlf^nKt/ I l«l||W>"MXimil-4>V-i^c-*WMI'g"W^ 774 OVK WKSTKHS KMHIHt. Iniih of n linr from Canton to thf MiMoiiri river; completed In 1M80 to the Ntinnouri. ' • ,,; • . AlfW) A line- ii|M>n which work U now in proprenji from Fcfrn to Yartktr)n. The Sioux FalU and PrmMna Railroad, up the Mijj Sioux Rivrr valley, of which nonir* nrvfrity tnilen arc in operation. Thr Dakota Central Railroad, locatrti from (larey to the Dakota river, upon which work is now progressing; completed to Huron, on Dakota river. ■■ .. . .- The Worthinj^ton and Sioux FalU Railroad (Saint Paul and Sioux City), of which about forty miles are built, h«)vin)( Yank- ton for its objective point ; jind The Southern Minnesota Railroad, building from Flandreau to Sioux I'alls. I'he total length of road now in operation in the Territory is almost i.aoo miles. ;** ' "« "" "'' ' "»'•• .'"«^ im '».; •/ • j Jhdian Tribts and Reservatimx, — The Indian reservations in Dakota, in January, 18H0, still comprised alxjut 43,000,000 acres, al)OUt seven-sixteenths of the entire area of the Territory. Phis vast area is cut up into several reservations in different parts of the Territory. As it is largely in excess of the needs of the Indians, arrangements are making by the government to purchase considerable portions of it, and to distribute the remainder in severalty to the Indians, giving them also the interest of ' le purchase-money of the lands which the govern- ment buys from them, as annuities. There were on these reservations in January, 1880, 26,530 Indians of all ages. Of these 25,237 were Sioux or Dakotas, of twenty-one different bands or sub-tribes; 1,393 (the Indians at the Fort Berthold Agency) were the remnant of other tribes formerly hostile to the Sioux, and were divided as follows: Arickarces, 720; Gros Ventres, 448 ; Mandans, 225. Since the severe punishment of Sitting Bull and his band for their massacre of General Custer and his troops, and their escape into British America, the remaining bands of. Sioux have been peaceful and friendly to the whites. They are, for the most part, making decided progress in civilization. With the almost complete destruction of the rorvt-ATiOH Of Dakota, ;;$ ' ; romplctpt! In H I ruin liUen to ihr lijjr Sioux opr ration. (larey to the linjj ; complrtn! (Saint Paul and t, hiiving Yank* from FlandreMu the Territory ifi reservations it> p.ooo.ooo acres, the Territory, tions in different ess of the needs e jjovernmpnt to ' distribute the ' 1 thrm also the lich the govern- werc on these 3f all ajres. Of ' ity-one different e Fort Berthold ' rmerly hostile to * irees, 720; Gros e punishment of ' 'General Custer ' ih America, the id friendly to the decided progress * :stniction of the tuifbln. they have very geiirrally ahandonrd the chase, except a rtuxleratc amount uf hunting and trapping of tht* fur bearing aniinaU, and with each year an incrraiting niinibrr of tlum are turning thrir attention to the raising of cattle and horHen. to drawing freight, and to the nimpler form*i of agrii ulturc. Very inuny of thnn liave built for thcmftrlvcs comforubU* log-rabins in tilt* place uf the tepeti* or lodges of %V.\x\% in wliidt they for- merly ilwclt. Of the Sioux 10,1 6a, or more than two-fiftlu, have asNunted and constantly wear citizens' dreM. Of tlu: I'ort licrthold Indians, only one twentieth have ilone this, but thf niinv ber ift increasing every year. Keligiou* instruction as wi.'ll as secular education it imparted to the Indians at each of the ten agencies, and the more promising Indian children are now in < on- siderablc numbers sent I'last to receive higher instruction, and on their return become not only teachers but leaders of their people in their progress towaH civilii^ation. The present population of the Territory, including 26,148 tribal Indians, is f 64,338: of which Northern Dakota has about ^6,ixx>, Central Dakota io,ocxd, Southeastern Dakota 74,(xx), HIack llills i6,cxx>. The inhabitants of Northern Dakota are very largely of European birth, though there is a sufficient American element, mainly from New Kngland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, to maintain American institutions. The Mennonites, Russians who have been associated with them in Russia, and who have come here for the religious and civil lib<.-rty they can- not enjoy there, Norwegians and Swedes, and some (jermans; the Catholic colonies from Belgium, France, and Ireland, which have come over under the direction of the Catholic Immigration Societies — these make up the bulk of the settlers of the northern section. Considerable numbers liave come from Manitoba, dis- satisfied with the homestead laws there and with the lack of enterprise and push in that colony. The inhabitants of this section arc not, for the most part, of the poorer class of emi- grants. One company of Russians recently brought with them $490,000 ; and the Mennonites are usually men of property. In several cases they have bought large blocks of land, sometimes 100,000 to 300,000 acres, and settle on them so as to have entire communities of their own faith. : s ^^6 ^^^ USSTEKJ^ EMPIRE, In Central Dakota the emigration is largely European, Nor- wegian, Swedish, and German, with a considerable admixture of American families. In Southeastern Dakota the American fami- lies predominate, though there are here also Mennonite, Bel- gian, German, and Irish colonies. The farming lands of this region are more generally in small holdings, and the class of immigra.-y that time. The est, will probably ssibly lead ; but it id accessible both ulation of Dakota, has more of the I of the States or ies, of which there 'e founded in part he case with the 1 10,000 to 20,000 which are rapidly employment to an an immigrants are len with them, and hen not Catholics, ;d toward religion, though some of them are very earnest in their Christian zeal. But the large numbers of immigrants from the Kastcrn States were mostly from Christian homes, and they iiianifcst their remembrance of their early associations by rearing schools and churches at once in these new villages, even while they them- sdves may be living in a dug-out or a sod-house. All of the Protestant denominations seem to be very fairly represented, and all manifest much zeal in organizing churches and gathering congregations. The irreligious element is stronger in the Clack Hills than elsewhere in the Territory, but from Mr. White's testimony already quoted, it seems that there is less .^-^hbath- breakinf and open, unblushing vice there, than in m .:i ruling districts. Taking it all in all, there is not at the present time i lietter region for the farmer or stock-raiser than Dakota, and those who prefer a mining region can be as well accommodc ;nd in the Black Hills as in any part of the West, especially if they do not propose to engage personally in mining. Other States and Territories may boast of greater natural wonders and more grand and delightful scenery, though, in both these particulars, Dakota has much to produce emotions of sur- prise, awe, and delight ; but what gives this Territory its peculiar charm is its thorough adaptation for quiet and beautiful homes. The sun shines on no fairer land, and on none where so many circumstances combine to make a residence so home-like and delightful. , • , ; I .'.■.]■.'.■>'-' ■'>,'■ r\ . J.' ■ ■. I I i -('i .7 '. 1 <•: f :'i' ::'•/■•.',• • "" >7r! ' i/-'i •,■' ,.■.!' . ■ ' ' . • ■ ' (.. ' /i-;.iiii! I . Jlj'l:.! i.': ill. I I .•;' '. ';w;-. j ; , J ■ 'iUlill :■ i -1 .'. ' >■'.>;•■ ;,'. ,', / ,•' ..i;( I, ■ ' » }/V: ' • .. i.i/li, h.,.' it','- I'l'"//;.!: .- ' V '■.'!(;■>] ,1. .>'.: fij ; ; I-;!, h' . ' :!. 1. >;/.'.'-.. ;.'.i.! ■.!;•.. -■'■■ , . . ■ .^ . 0:1 j'jii^!' ,i J.' ■!.','!> I > I* ' ii;-;., ,;•' ••- l^.'.'i;..' ■ .- • 1 ' t.:-i[.u I.-.J. :,,■'! .■■■ ./i!:.; ; ' ll-i/. -M ;:n( .■ :• . , '■ ^ • :y iin • [iu:,] ■>i\ ,1., ; n-:- ■■■: '.''H' ■'>■ .1: hi.u-; .!•-:'! :•- ' ;.. i ■ -v /■[;>'/ M').. i->fi • .r-.r J, V M.> I , ■. ,-., n ,••■ ■ ! ■';:,-.;' .: 1: ■'•' •• I i / ,-S*t«(?»5P«W»»TWi5Ssr!lCW«csr-rr!r'3^ 77« OVM WESrXRU RMPIRB. 'tr.,.;- Ml p!.;': ■^- CHAPTER VI. IHAHQ TERRITORY. Topography — Boundarifs — Length and Breadth — Arka — ij\-nrvvt and Longitude — Distribution of Area — Arable Lands— Grazing Lands — Timber Lands— Mining Lands— Desert Lands— Mountains— Lakes- Rivers— Climate— Meteorology or Boise City— Geology and Miner- alogy—The Precious Metals— Other Metals and Minerals— Mineral Springs— Natural Wonders — Sulphur Lake and Deposits — Salt Springs — Soil and Vegetable Productions— Forest Trees— Zoology— Mines and Mining— Production of Gold and Silver since 1862— Present Falling off— Great Mineral Wealth— Stock-Raising— Sheep-Farming — The Culture of Arable Lands— Obstacles to the Progress of Growth or Idaho — The Lack of Railroads and of Wagon-roads — The Lack or Capital — Mormon Influence the Greatest Obstacle of all. Idaho Territory is one of the central or interior Territories of the northern tier, in form much like a huge chair. Its northern and very narrow boundary (at the top of the onair) is British America, while the seat of the chair is bounded on the north by Montana. The Bitter Root Mountains, one of the principal ranges -of the Rocky Mountains, form the eastern boundary between Idaho and Montana, and between it and Wyoming the boundar)' follows the in th meridian west from Greenwich. On the south, following the 42d parallel, it is bounded by Utah and Nevada ; on the west it is bounded by Oregon and Washington Territory, the line being the 1 1 7th meridian to the mouth of the Boise river, thence along the Snake river for 350 miles to Lewis- ton, and thence northward along the 1 1 7th meridian to British America. The southwest corner of Yellowstone Park is within the bounds of Idaho. The Territory lies between the 42d and 49th parallels of north latitude, and between the 1 1 ith and 1 1 7th meridians of longitude west from Greenwich. It is about 410 miles long from north to south, and a little less than 300 miles wide at its widest portion. Its area as stated at the Land Office is 86,294 square miles, or 55,228,160 acres. There are very diverse estimates of the proportions of this area in arable, graz- ■~1W| •*'■'" ft — Latttudk and rRAZiNu Lands — NTAiNS — Lakes — OGY AND Miner- 'lERALS — Mineral Ts — Salt Springs •Zoology — Mines K 1862 — Present — Sheep-Farming k;ress of Growth DS — The Lack of F ALL. "ior Territories r. Its northern nair) is British )n the north by f the principal tern boundary I Wyoming the reenwich. On d by Utah and id Washington e mouth of the miles to Lewis- idian to British Park is within en the 42d and nth and 117th X is about 410 than 300 miles :he Land Office rhere are very in arable, graz- ■ i^ii^i^iiw'fv^m^vfp,'^^ ->k!a««'iS-t' fTfyrtyU 6r »nt/^t\- "h /S8f r, , i i L' | iH .1 1 ^ I iinVll ii iLiliW . iit%ij: [ l^ i|^ag^|j^i w' . 'f "ftfliljl ■ i i^iitnii lr , 1 , ,0 f <' t f ■ o,a>^ AKAtr.K t.AHDS IN WAHO. in ingf, timber and mining lands, and desert or worthless lands. Governor Brayman, v/ith a somewhat imperfect acquaintance with the Territory, of which only on^-ci^'hth has yet been sur- veyed, makes the following estimate which those more familiar with the Territory regard as absurd: "An approximate estimate of the quality of these lands will afford, suitable for cultivation in their natural state, 15,000,000 acres; capable of reclamation by irrigation, 1 2,000,000 acres ; grazing lands, 5,000,000 acres ; timber lands, 10,000,000 acres; mining tracts, 8.000,000 acres; the 4,228,160 acres of desert are destitute of timber and min- erals, and beyond the reach of irrigation. Large portions of the mining tracts bear timber also." The Surveyor-General, Hon. W. P. Chandler, with a some- what wider knowledge, writes at about the same time to the Land Ofifice : "Anv estimate of the number of acres of the vari- ous classes of land in this Territory, so broken in its surface and varied in its climate and altitude, can be only approximate. Of its total area of 55,228,160 acres, I believe 1 2,000,000 acres to be agricultural either in its natural state or as it may be reclaimed by irrigation with the available water now flowing in the streams; 25,000,000 acres pasture lands; 10,000,000 acres timber lands; and the remainder, 8,228,160 acres, may be considered worthless, consisting of inaccessible mountain peaks and lava beds." The surveyor-general would probably include the supposed 8,000,000 acres, or thereabout, of mining-lands in the 25,000,000 grazing and the 10,000,000 acres of timber lands. This last estimate is undoubtedly nearer the truth than the governor's, but in the amount of grazing lands which require always some water, it would seem to be somewhat excessive. A Territory whose average rainfall does not exceed twelve inches, and more than three-fourths of that in the winter and spring, leaving the entire summer and autumn parched and rainless, cannot well have more than one-fourth of its area arable land without irriga- tion. There are undoubtedly fertile valleys in Idahai wherewith, and in some years, without irrigation, large crops can be raised, but these are the exception, not the rule. The Territory might become a moderately good grazing country, if its neighbors, .,lK^'l**B«js^^!«^*^«i«5«(lI^»:^wi?»'aM■;'■■»' '*it\ *'-*.*j *.w.a.b.^>"'U^-'' ii'v.-.-! -'>v Jm - jai:«M:yw'ienHM>«Ma«i»'«*iJ»rfciw>-— *:^MUMuct«>Ctea4.i .^.a^^afc . Montana, Wyomir>}y, Oregon and WaHhir>g(on, were nol $/> much better adapted to grazing. . It is primarily a mining country, and when tin; railroads now projected or in progress have given it access to a market at pvasonabU: rates it may, if the Mormons and Indians will refrain from killing the immigrants, yield a large amount of the precious metals, and raise enough grain and root crops, beef and mutton to supply its own inhabitants, but there will be little of either to export, at least for some years to come. Topography, Mountains, Lakts, Rivers, etc, — Idaho is a moun- tainous Territory, more so, perhaps, than any other of the States or Territories of "Our Western Kmpire," although there are no summits as lofty as those in Colorado, California, Oregon, Wash> ingtoji or Arizona. The altitudes range from 3,000 feet above the sea in the Snake River valley to nearly 10,000 feet at the summit of some of its loftiest peaks. Its general average of elevatbn is above 4,000 feet. On its northeast border from Lake Pend d'Oreille and Clark's fork of the Columbia river down to the Lewis or Snake river at the Wyoming boundary, the Bitter Root Mountains, one of the main ranges, though not the highest range, of the Rocky Mountains, separate it from Montana ; almost parallel with these is an irregular range trend- ing in general from northwest to southeast, known as the Salmon River Mountains, one of tlie ouUying ranges of the Rocky Moun- tains. These traverse the central portion of the State. On the west, near the eastern bank of the Snake river, from the Weiser to the Salmon river, is a range of hills 5,000 or 6,000 feet in height. The southern part of the Territory, south of the Snake river, is aa elevated plateau, and in the southwest an alkaline desert. There are many valleys between these ranges of mountains and these elevated plateaux, some of them of considerable breadth and fertility ; others broad but barren ; others still narrow and fertile, and j^thers yet mere rocky defiles and cafions. There are about twenty lakes of considerable size, and a great number of small lakes or ponds in the Territory. The largest are Lakes Pead d'Oreille, Coeur d'Alene and Kaniksu in the north, the Pay- re not u> much !? railroads now o a market at lans will refrain of the precious ■ef and mutton tie of either to aho is a moun- t:r of the States ijh there are no Oregon, Wash- 000 feet above XX) feet at the ral average of St border from Columbia river ning boundary, jes, though not ;parate it from ar range trend- 1 as the Salmon e Rocky Moun- State. On the •om the Weiser •r 6,ocKD feet in li of the Snake est an alkaline 5 of mountains Jerable breadth till narrow and afions. There i great number gest are Lakes north, the Pay- r//A SMIA'ff K/yKK Af/ti ITS TRtHrTAK IRi. •(, ettc and Weiser lakes in the centre, Rocky, Uar. Market, Dc I^ey and Jackson's lakes in the cast, and Hear lake in the Houthcast. The whole of Idaho, except a very small tract m the southeast, b«aTr<-w-s;^i' •^Ma MMMita •kb. — I h j%2 OUM WESrtMN UMIUHIH. enters a deep, rocky caHon, throu^rh which it passes for seventy- five miles. In this caAun are t rveral very lar^c falU. ov\*i of them tht: celebrated Shushune (alls, I'xctriiin^ Niagara in hti);ht (bal meagre. The Signal Service Department has l.ut une station in the Tctritor)', tlwt at ftois^ City, and their dtrhci< ncy has not b N. W., N., N. E., W., S. E.. E. 39.975 N. W.. N. E.. S.. N. E. 39.866 , S., Calm, N., N. E„ W., N. W. The Signal Service Report for 1878-9 varie* but very little from the above. The maximum temperature of the year waa 103°, and ihe minimum 5°, the range, 98°, varying only one degree from the previous year, while the mean was 53.7°. The rainfall was for th'- autumn of 1878 1. 10 inches; for the winter of 1878-9, 5.37 inches; for the apring of 1879, 4,38 Inches, and for the summer •<( 1879, 1.46 inches, makinK 13.31 inches in all, or .74 of an inch more than the previous year. It is noticeable that 9.75 inches of lhis6 City is ccn- ind it (;ive» but til ., of th«; more Iniany of the ayri- S table and the ed by the Signal 'RHITORY. Jeytl a,877 f«««- Direction of Wind* m ihi [tirr orfrtqudwy. N. E., N.S. W. I. K., S., N,. N. W. ittim, N. W.. N.. N. £. S.. Calm, W., N. ».. Calm, N. E., N. aim, W., N., ;,. W. S , C»\m, W,. N. E.. E.. S., W.. Oilm, Calm, W., N. E., E. lin, N. W., N., S. W., K. N., N. E.. W., S. E., E. W.. N K., S., N. E. n, N., N. E., W., N. W. I s •bove. The maximum ', ♦trying only one degree for thf- autumn of 1878 1879, 4.ji$ inches, and for r an inch more than the r-fifths, tell in the wmler GBOlOiiV AND UlN' KALoQY. ^g] Gtology and At -rtUogy. — The jfcology of the Territory has been only [>artially iuvetti^atcd. The mountains, lik*- thr Rocky Mounta'nM ^"nerally, arc at th'ir ujmmitH and on thrir went* rn h1o|)ch, granitic or feldnpathic, wi.ii, perhaps, me nutani(»tphir rockn on their nidcs. The valU.yH are on lh«ir siiirlacc alluvial or diluvial — th*- result of the con.ntani wtar an«l erosu/n of the tteep mountain slopcu. Oftcncr p«'rhap<» than in (»ther Statei and Terntories, this d^^bris tnjin the nn untains is a very«fine dust — eipecially in the valleys of the Salinon and Snake rivers. The jjold washed out of the veins or Uh1«s in the nvnii tains hit^ b>een jjround by attrition to the tin* st Hour, so fine thai although all the sand and the Doil along those river v;»lle;ys for many inilen contain large quantities of it, it could not be separated by washing, and was only to be secured by running it very slowly over electro-plated silver plates, tovered with mercury. In the centre of the southern half of the IVrritory there is an extensive volcanic plateau, inaccessible and unexplored, destitute of soil or vegetation. Tlif* Hear river region, in Southeastern Idaho, as well as that bordering on the Yellowstone Park, is vol- canic in its character. Amon^T its minerals gold has l^'cn found in the fine impalpable powder already mentioned, in large grains and nuggets, and in gold veins and lodes along nearly the whole course of the Snake and Salmon rivers, in the .Sawtooth or Sal- mon river range of mountain > at almost all points, and at many points on the western slope of the Bitter Root mountains. On the east fork of Salmon river and about the sources, and indeed in nearly the whole length of Wood river and at the s >uthern termination of tlie Sawtooth range, siher is very plentitul, and silver mining would be conducted with great success were the facilities of transportation of the rich ores less ditticult.* Copper is found in very rich ores — sixty-hvc to seventy per cent,, and also native copper of great purity in Bear Lake county, and in the *Thii> Wood river region, • diitrict about eighty milei long and forty niile!i wido it juHt now the xcene of great excitement from the diicovery ol a number of rich lilver lodct on Inlh (idea of Wood river. It is declared by some to be a second Leadville, and hundreds and per- hapt thousands are flockinfT thither from Utnh, Nevada, California and some from Northern Colorado Whether they will come to stay remains to be seen. .. Wi m t'\».»' a!i-»»u^r^>M, ■ »j-.'» ^r,,mm^*t^ml^'*^^ ■ .m - i<- < ^g^ Ol'Jt WMSrMMN KMnMM. Snake rivrr rop{)rr mining; dittrirt. It m aUo i omhincd w>idt »iU vcr in thr Sawtooth ranj^r aixl thr VVtMut rivrr tiiKtrict. I.rad in the form ofiralrna or sulphurrt and curlNMmtc of trail \% found in all thr ^ilvcr mint'*, and an ore yielding ulK>iit iMrventy- ei^[ht prr crnt. of purr li'ay thin veins of clay, will a^^^'rr^rate 200 feet in thickncHS. The Utah and Northern Kailroail«'H north of Uois^; City. Antimony, arxnir and surphur are found \i\ considerable quantities, the lattei* eKpecially in the volrnnir districta. In Bear Lake county, nea.* the Bear river, there is a nulphur lake very heavily encrusted with sulphur, and a mountain ei^dity-livc per cent, of which is pun: sulphur. The "Soda Springs," now becoming a |>opular renort from Salt l^ike City, are in the same vicinity, near the Hear river and the Utah and Northern Railroad. Mr. Robert E. Strahorn, who has nxently explored this won- derful region which gives so many evidences of volcanic action, past and present, thus writes of it in the Nttv H'esi Illuitraitd of December, 1879: (lu. -1 i7;i i-'iMJii;. '-i , > t \.'% ■^v\ " Soda Springs, a hamlet of probably one hundred souts, is located within a stone's throw of Bear river, near the latter's ' big bend' in Sonthe;istern Idzho, and thirty-five miles east of Oneida Station, Utah and Northern ailway. It takes its name from a < group of notcwurtlty springs in the vicinity, and thrives mainly upon the latter's last-increasing popularity, t s\<~s rxfifi-* tviiftn "One spring is graced with a lively steam vent which finds ' Its way upward through a massive boulder. Fremont named it ' Steamboat Spring,' on account of its measured pufT which resem- bles that of an engine. The waters of this spring are utilized in a comfortable bath-house near by, A group of four of the other [) combined with ii|. r ilJHtrii t, I carlNtnatr cifleacl liuj{ aUxit iK-'vcniy llrar rivrr. Iron in in >fr«i4t quantitirH ic«" |uir|K)Hr«i nliin^r |fork anil on Irvin vein nrvrnty feet iraU'd hy thii) vrins The Utah and Jon open this j;rcui ii vury j;ol the village — in fact, everywhere in the vicinity — and i» an pleanant us a lK:veM);c, as it \\a^ been found exhilarating and NtrenKlhenint; M..A tonic. Invalids with some of the nioHt deep-set and liMithsome blooti diseaMen claim to have loimil a perfect cure in these (outitains. A mile distant are other and not less interestin); Hprin^s, the waters of which are so tht>ron any object immersed in them. '••V. do V.' thus luimorously writes of the j^reat Hooper Sprin{( : ' 1 looper Spring, one milc! from the main town, is not »urpahsed in the world. i'JKht or ten spring's all bubble up within a radius of ten or twelve feet, and all unite in one and flow off into Soda creek, in a stream nix feet wide and four feet deep. This is the most |)owerful sprin); in the world. Its water is very highly charj^ed. It is surprising how much people drink. Five pints is the usual draught ; ten will blow a man up ; and then, if you can find his mouth, twenty more will reunite du fragments, free him from disease and set him on his foet, regen erated and born again. The water from Uus spring is botUcd and sold. It will when known become famous the world over. No mincFftl water I ever drank has such a delicious taste ; none causes such an>appetite. The men that drink it can't do with- out it; children cry for it; old people renew their yQUth at this .fountain.' nt'\--.' /iui '•i/m?*. .1 /■> tl I • ) "The Octagon Spring has received some attention from Cap- tain Moopcr, who has a handsome summer villa near by, and in summer wo find scores of visitors seateci under the rustic shade, drinking, the liftt'saving fluid from <;arly morn until late at night. We meet here the lame,iithc halt, and even some that are nearly blind, all tcstifyiqg. to the wonderful benefits they derive from these ^waters. Thei mineral constituents of these springs rqnder them the best 4>f alteratives, and very efficacious in scrofulous and glandular difficulties, and for all diseases of the skin. They K\ui.UaUlkt^K^^kik^iM*ii*\^ < i«<^k,*t<.v«- ,rjr. fps :„,,...:. :.iii'i5i'!tj»'*:."'s' 786 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. are also an excellent diuretic, and contain enough iron to mak them of value as a tonic. One quart of the water from th • Octagon Spring ' contains : „ ','1 , . (• Onlnt. ^ Sulphate of magnesia . ........... la. 10 Sulphate of lime j.i, ' Carbonate of lime ,.86 !; Carbonate of magnesia ,,32 I ^, Chloride of calcium i ,, Chloride of magnesium na ' Chloride of soduim j.j^ ' ' ' Vegetable matter g* ; " There is sufficient carbonic acid gas to give the whole 1 power over disease. As a beverage these waters resemble ii tapfe the famed Saratoga. A few minutes' walk away is a beau tiful spring called the Ninety Per Cent. It is all soda save tei per cent. The water is delicious. It contains no iron. " Four miles southeast of Soda Springs is Swan lake, one o: thr loveliest natural gems in the Wasatch chain. It reclines in ai oval basin, whose rim is ten feet above the surrounding coimtry The shores are densely covered with trees, shrubs, and the luxu riant undergrowth native to that country. The outlet is a serie of small moss-covered basins, symmetrically arranged, the clea water overflowing the banks, trickling in>u the nearest emeralc tub, then successively into others, until it forms a sparkling stream and dances away to a confluence with the Bear river ii the valley below. •, .n<:.i ;:.i.j-v,o hlo. f^i-i-A ■ , 4 J;,.i,.; . .?*.,., 'The rim is apparently formed by petrifaction, and extend! down as far as the eye can penetrate the clear crystal water Timber and bodies of trees ojated with a calcareous substancj can be seen in the depths, but no bottom has yet been reachec in the centre, and it is supposed that it is fed by subterranear springs fix>m the base of the mountain. "Adjacent to this fit abode for water nymphs is the singulai sulphur lake, out of whose centre liquid sulphur incessantly boih and coats the shores v/ith thick deposits, looking as though ii might be a direct out-cropping of Plutonian regions. Near b) MiMiwiWiwgiPTiii^^ iiii J . enough iron to make the water from the - Onina. la.to a.ia . 3-86 • 3-29 '•33 i.ia 2.24 •85 to give the whole a 5 waters resemble in walk away is a beau- It is all soda save ten tins no iron. , / . /' is Swan lake, one of lain. It reclines in an surrounding country, shrubs, and the luxu- The outlet is a series y arranged, the clear ^ the nearest emerald it forms a sparkling ith the Bear river in ■ i .( ■.;' I. ifaction, and extends clear crystal water. :alcareous substance as yet been reached fed by subterranean nphs is the singular hur incessantly boils 3oking as though it regions. Near by r//£ ICE CAVES OF IDAHO. 787 Is a mountain, eighty-five per cent, of which is pure sulphur. Mr. Williams is now hauling several tons of it to Oneida Station for shipment to Mr. G. Y. Wallace, of Salt Lake, who will experi- ment with it to ascertain whether it will pay to make it an article of commerce. The great sulphur deposit extends from the base of the mountain to an unknown depth, width and breadth. Re- move the top crust anywhere near where it crops out and you find almost pure sulphur. The bed must be of immense area. You can load a wagon with your hands without pick or shovel as quickly as you could fill it with corn. You can take up a rock and touch a match to it and it will burn up, leaving a black sub- stance which probably represents the impurity. A piece that weighs a pound will leave a lump of this about as large as a pea. " Four TTiiles from the village is the great ice cave, which a recent visitor describes as follows : ♦ This cave is situated very close to the roadside, on a level stretch of prairie about midway between the two crossings of the Bear river. We commenced the descent just as the heavens were reverberating with deep- rolling thunder and the rain pouring down in a perfectly reckless manner, thereby making us feel that it was an opportune time to shelter ourselves beneath the arching rocky cavern. Follow- ing our guide, we descended a rocky stairway some twenty feet to a level grassy rotunda some hundreds of feet in circumference, walled in by solid lava rocks. From this we descended still fur- ther over a rugged, rocky pathwr", about twenty feet, when we found ourselves on the congealetl floor of the immense ice cave, where ice can be found all the year round. While our guide was lighting our tallow dips, we surveyed the rocky walls which surrounded us. The roof, some ten feet above our heads, was filled with little niches or pockets, which had been utilized by cave swallows, while the side walls were as perpendicular and solid as though hewn by the hand of man out of solid rock. Coursing our way over the ice, which was apparently firm and solid foi" a distance of about loo yards, we came to a huge pile of lava rock which had rolled from the roof and almost choked /up the passage-way. Our guide bade us follow him, and we soon found ourselves once again in a clear open way, wide and / 1 '.S^iAfe-W-Wililll « W '.ttXfkiSxi a iHK^H^K,* SBMXimivSii'A .AW>i-f VT fe* il',T*'j: - -■ ,¥i ^w.'as'iu ,^i.,...iiri3.,^'7iigv^i^nai^:i& rt--'«H~' >.it'r»it..,i j^iXjU •^.i^.tiiliUlC^^^^ «^ OUX WESTERN EMPIRE. high enough to drive a six-horse stage-coach comfortably. This amooth tunnd we follow for probably lOO yards, when we again ■descend a rocky stairway, some ten feet or more, and stand upon isfrhat apparently was once the bed of a large river, with a per- fectly solid sandy floor. The roof and side walls are here found -to be covered with minute stalactites which, reflecting the light lof our candles, lend a weird aspect to the surroundings. We .now proceed onwatid several hundred feet through this perfecdy isymmetrical tunnel tathe end, or what appears to be the end.' "About two miles to the northwest of (the ice cave is'a slum- ■bering volcano, out of iwhich came part of the immense bodies lof lava that cover this i plain for miles around. The rim of the .crater is almost circular, and stands up about 200 feet above the /level of the plateau below. In the cooling process, the heart of vthe crater settled down iibout icx) feet below the rim, leaving a vperfect representation to the student of nature of an immense [extinct volcano. We have been able, during our short sojourn ■in this wonderland, to olearly trrce nearly- fifty immense extinct '^volcanoes, which appear, from the apparent ^ge of the lava beds, . to; have been flowin g about the same time. • /*r1riasifrlt. 1:1;.^ aw. ■>;-7r" The ^ititadets)f -Soda Springs is 5738 feiet. The warmth of summeristem^elred by ;the cooltieasQf the mights. fBJankets are not tincomfootafele. ever in th'=: -warmest liiigllMs of Awguet. The atmosphere is di?y,FHke all nwwttitartliiows i?egiohs,-and is therefore very favorable to consumptives ^it th the fevorite iresort of Brtgham Young, and is still liihe regular stlmm^ring place! of numerous Sah Lake > City; merdliants,!<^ho!haVeHbmlti appropriate residences. 'rm "Salt is also one of the Idaho minerals. The Sailt Springs V.W fortably. This when we again and stand upon ver, with a per- are here found ecting the light oundings. We h this, perfectly o be the end.' cave is'a slum- tnjTiense bodies The rim of the D feet above the ;ss, the heart of e rim, leaving a of an immense ir short sojourn mmense extinct 5f the lava beds, lountains can be Bear, deer, elk. ducks arei espe- ight Mile creek, ter which can be )k in almost an)- pound trout as The warmth of s. fBtenkets are f Awgu^t. The and is therefore with pulmonary 3righam Young, erous Salt Lake lences. ie iSftlt Springs THE ONEIDA SALT rKODUCTlON. -j^^ wl>ich have been utilized since 1866, are in Oneida county, near< tli« Wyoming border, about fifty miles northeast of the Soda Springs, on the Old Lander emigrant road leading from Soulh*^ Pass to Oregon. The road passes directly along the Hat below the spring, where, before being concentrated in pipes, the water had spread out and, evaporating in the sun, formed largp masses of salt crystals which attracted the attention of passerB^hy and led to the discovery of the spring Hewing from the hillside above. It is clear and sparkling as the purest spring water, and never v/ould be suspected of containing mineral. Tlie valley, in which it is situated is known now as Salt Spring valley, and is about ten present owner), and partner, in June, 1866, and works have since, been in constant operation, every year witnessing an increase in.-, the demand, until almost the entire stream flowing from the spring has been utilized. The salt is made by boiling the water in large galvanized iron pans, into which it is led by wooden pipes leading direct from the spring, thus insuring perfect clean-* liness, and a uniformly white, clean and . beautiful product. The water is kept constandy running into tjie boilers, andiis kept ati a boiling heat all the time. The salt is shoveled 1 out. once in. every thirty minutes, and after draining twenty-five hours is thence thrown into the drying-hour.o, there to remain until, sacked and prepared for shipping. 7 he most scrupulous cleanr liness is observed in every operation, and when the immense, banks of salt lie piled up in the drying-house, they resemble huge i snow-banks more than anything one could imagine. It.takes^ from two to four months for salt made inthis manner to dry.and ripe^i, and for this reason it becomes necessary to keep on hand* a large supply, so that at any time a thousand tons of the purest] and whitest salt in the world may be seen- here in these far west- ' Oneida salt works.' "Following is an analysis of. the Oneida salt, made by Dn. Kggot^ the well-known analytical chemist, of Baltiaiore. It .shows; a Wgher percentage of- pure salt than the celebrated Onondagai ^w.ffii«sol,* 'Turk's Island ' or 'Saginaw' salt approach it in purity, or are as white, clear or soluble in liquids : Chloride of sodium (pu:e salt) 97.79 Sulph. soda 1.54 Chloride of calcium .67 Sulph. magnesia Trace . ^ Total 100.00 "Tn 1866 only 15,000 pounds of salt were here manufactured; but the demand in Idaho, Utah and Montana has so steadily in- creased that the product has averaged about 600,000 pounds per annum up to 1877. In 1878 it ran up to 1,500,000 pounds, and in 1879 to nearly 2,000,000 pounds, much of the production of the last two years having been consumed in Montana smelting works. It is sacked in 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 pound bags, and is laid down at points 200 miles distant by wagon transportation at from three to four cents per pound." ,1 ; n ,< Soil and Vegetable Productions. — ^We have already stated our conviction that the amount of arable land in Idaho did not greatly exceed one-fifth of its surface, even including those lands ca- pable of successful irrigation. Of course in a Territory of which not one-seventh, including mining lands, has been surveyed, such a conviction must rest partly on general principles. Our reasons are these : The Rocky Mountains, which form the east- ern boundary of the Territory, present only their western face to it ; and in the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada and other high mountain ranges on this continent having a general di- rection from north to south, the western face or slope is precip- itous, and has very little arable land, though portions of the mountain below the snow-line may be covered with timber. But it is precisely these rjrecipitoub mountain sides which are oftenest the places of deposit of the precious metals. In Idaho we have not only the western face of the Rocky Mountains, but the long and bold spur of that range known as the Salmon River and Sawtooth Mountains, the latter name being given as characteristic of tlieir precipitous faces. There is j^so a rocky wall overlooking the yal- -Vhiil THE BARREN LANDS OF IDAHO. 791 sr ' Live 'fwol/ urity, or »re as 97.79 »S4 .67 Trace 100.00 manufactured; so steadily in- 000 pounds per XX) pounds, and production of >ntana smelting nd bags, and is ansportation at ;ady stated our » did not greatly those lands ca- rritory of which )een surveyed, •rinciples. Our form the east- western face to /ada and other I a general di- slope is precip- •ortions of the th timber. But ich are oftenest iho we have not Jt the long and r and Sawtooth :teristic of their ooking the val- ley of the Snake river for a long stretch of its course, and the deep, dark cafion through which it flows for seventy-five miles in tlu: lava lands. There are furthermore the alkaline lands, a desert and dreary waste, the lofty mesas and plains, not irrigable, and unfit even for grazing without it, and the hillsides and foothills facing the east, which, though affording good pasture grounds in many instances for herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, are not adapted to cultivation. In short, it is only the river valley and bottom land, and not all of these, which can properly be called arable lands, and with an average rainfall of only twelve inches, more than three-fourths of it between November and April, even these must often, perhaps not always, be irrigated. The soil, when irrigated, is generally fertile ; perhaps not so rich as that of Montana, or California, or the Willamette valley, but it yields for a first crop from twenty-five to forty bushels of wheat, fifty bushels or thereabouts of barley, and fifty-five of oats. Corn does not do well, except in the river bottoms, the season being too short for it. Fruits are said to be raised with gieat success, especially in Northern Idaho. The forest trees of Idaho are mainly those of the Pacific slope, but rather of Oregon and Washington, than of California. The various species of pine, including the pifton or nut pine, the P. potiderosa or yellow pine, and several other species of fir, spruce, tamarack and cypress, the red cedar, though not the "Redwood," the white cedar, the juniper, and some of the hardwood trees, as the oak of three or four species, chinquapin, hickory, etc., etc., are the principal frees of its forests; At full age, the pines, firs and cedars attain a height of about 1 50 feet. Like the Pacific States generally, it has very little sod, though the bunch grass is found on most of the grazing lands, and is so nutritious that cat- tle fatten upon it very readily. Wild flowers abound in the valleys, and many of them are of remarkable beauty. Lands upon which are found in luxuriant growth the bunch grass, larkspur and the wild sunflower of the Pacific coast, are well adapted to the growth of cereals, and these are the most com- mon products of the plateaux of Northern Idaho. Wild fruits abound in Northern and Central Idaho, especially the wild - ■j^'iity*^H»1jiKaK?itrkt.^ii&^'^ti>tfrAvtmit^^mt^^ ^ \i-*ft^'w.'¥;^!^f.' ts. II f-f fuVl'fetiii.ir.l iil'imil.,^lt>M.^ BK- y^\ OUR WESTERN EMPIRB. berries and >f«fld cherries, thou^ tlir wild cherry of thr Pacific coast is a shnib, and not a tree Its fruit is, I'.owrvtr, more edible and pleasant than that of the East. Zo5iOj*j>.--^'t\\fi wild animals of the Territory are, in ji^eneralj those of Oregon and California. The grizzly bear is seldom seen, but hAs'bein found in the Territory. The black and cin- namon beAr arc common ; the piima, cougar, panther or moun* ta^in lionl (the beaut is known by all four names) is troublesome, e^.pecially in the grazing lands ; the gray wolf and the western coyote, all the fur-bearing animals, the martin, fisher, lynx, pos- sibly the ocelot, the otter, mink, musk rat and beaver, as well as the smaller rodents ; the marmot or gopl>er, sewellel and other species of mole are abundant. Moose {Aiccs Americanus) are found occasionally in Northern Idaho. Naturalists insist thai' the moose and true elk are identical ; but the animal generally known as the elk or Wapiti {Cenms Canadensis) diff^-rs materially from the moose and is fhe largtrst of the deer family in An>erica; it roam ;^ over the whole Territory ; two other species of deer are' distinguished by the hunters; the bighorn or Rocky Mountain sheep is found in considerable numbers on the mountains andin the lofty valleys, and occasionally the Rocky Mountain goat or goat antelope is seen. The antelope of the fi^ains is rare, if seen at all, west of the mountains, and the buffalo is not now, we believe, seen in thife Territory, though said formerly to have bf-on found here in vast herds. Of birds, there are considerable numbcrs,i the raplores or birds of prey predominating, though the grouse,i pheasant and ptarmigan families are abi ndant. Song-birds are not as abundant as in more southern climes. There are a few- reptiles attd s^rpefnts. The rivers and lakes abound with fishi- .Salmon trout, brook and lake trout and many other species of^ edible fishi' among which tHe Red fish, found only in four lakes iriJ the world; of' which tWD are in Idaho, is the special boast of the^ people of the TerHtory, are abundant in the lakes and streams of ' the Terwtdry; ■ ■ >«'* mn .la 'mifm:in\m.A)\m. tm^^ ^uu& tM<|«m*.i ■i Mines and Miifik^-.-^this product of the mines of^ Idaho fro*n thfe first attempt at' itiining there to the present time, a period of about tvWentyi yeai^, is somewhat more than $70,000,000. More 7 of th<; Pacific !;f>w<'verioa; -'cies of deer are Wky Mountain lountains and' in ountftin goat or 9 is rare, if seen now, we believe, have bf en found erable numbers, )ugh the grouse,- Song-birds are There are a few bound with fish; )ther species of ' in four lakes iri- :ial' boast of the and streams of s of' Idaho fr6*n" me, a period of 300,000. More GOID AND sn.VEK mKiNG IN IDAHO. M| than three-fourthH of this ha:s been from plrcer mining, and has been, of course, gold. Tlie placers yielded, from i866 to 1870 or 1872, from $7,t)Ob,ooo to )J^io,ooo,ooo per annum. In 1868 and 1869 thert! had been signs of the exhaustion or unprofitable working of the placers, and att^tion began to be turned to (lurirtz and lode mining. It should be said that the success of the placer nf»ining[ on the Snake river was greatly impeded by the fineness of the gold dust ; it was, in the miner's language; flour gold, and pan, rocker and "Tom" could not separate it' from the finely powdered clay in which it was found. A htindred- pounds of pay dirt might contain, and often did, two or thretf pounds of gold or even more ; but the old process of washing would hardly gain a quarter of an ounce. Of late new and better processes have enabled the miners at some points to secure the greater part of this gold previously wasted; The gradual ftiilure'of the placers stimulated the prospecting for lod^s of gold and silver, and from 1867 to thfe present time the discoveries^ of Valuable mine's Have been very ff-equent, and some of them of veins wHich yiel^efd rematkable quantities of gold and silver. Owyhee county, which had, in 1869, ten mines actively at work, and thirty or forty mining claims, and which WAs producing from $1,000,000 to |i, 400,000 per annum, is now apparently almost deserted, very little having been done there since 1876, in consequence of the bad management and frauds of the officers of the largest mines and the failure of the Bank of Califbrnia; while the greater attractions of the Salmon river gold fields, the Snake river gold fields, the gold and silver mines of the Sawtooth range and the Wood river district, the Yellow Jacket district, Yankee Fork, East Fork, Bay Horse, Custer City, ChalHs, Silver Star and other districts and mines have com- pletely^ overshadowed them, A few minfcs are still worked in a small way in Owyhee county ; a larger number in Alturas county,, though not very profitably ; most of these are silver and will be moCf* profitable when trarifeportation is cheapi^r. Bois^ county has many mines, both of gold and silver, in course of develop* ment, the mines' of the south' part of the county being gold. While those of the northern part are both gold and' silver. The Swake - ««u ji— tfCfictr'mraa»v;irf^uTr.p.;^>' '^ it^^-^rttv- ,' i.-';//*(>ti:j*,(i«j- ■^■i M 794 OUR Wl-:S7t:KJ\r A/V/VA'A. river jjoKl fields lu-Iong to placer mininf;;. Lemhi county, in which is the Yank«!c lork mininjf district, and the remarkable Charles Dickens, Challis antl Custer Mountain lodes, gives prom- ise of j^reat productiveness for the next few years. In Idaho county, Northern Idaho, there are a larj^'e number of gold and silver-bearing veins, but no roads to bring in the machinery, no mills to work the ore, and nothing but pack-mules to carry the ore some hundreds of miles to poitUs where it can be reduced. It requires ore of very high grade to pay sutli heavy expenses. Ada county, in which the capital, Bois^; City, is situated, has many excellent silver lodes, but very poor facilities for reducing them cheaply. The production of gold and silver in 1878 was estimated at jj*!, 878,000, and for 1879 at over $i,(X»,ooo. There vvould be, if there were good roads to drive cattle to market, excellent opportunities to extend the grazing interest greatly in this Territory, for some of its grazing-lands an; equal to those to be found anywhere, and a market could be found for them from Northern Idaho by the Northern Pacific, and from Central and Southern Idaho by the Utah and Northern and Union Pacific Railroads. There are perhaps 20,000 cattle sent out of the Territory yearly, but the business is not prosecuted with any energy, and amounts at the utmost to not more than $400,000 per annum. The wild animals are too numerous and fierce to make sheep-farming profitable at present. The farming crops are limited by want of a farming population, good roads and good and easily accessible markets, and small as is the population of consumers, the production of grains and root crops does not more than consume it. Indians. — There were formerly a considerable number of hostile and warlike Indians in this Territory, but by wars and outbreaks they have been reduced until there were in 1880 only 4,020 Indians in all in the Territory, viz.: 460 Bannocks, 1,040 Shoshones, 1,208 Nez Perces, 712 mixed Shoshone Bannock and Sheep-eater, 600 Pend d'Oreille and Kootenai. Their reserva- tions amount to 2,748,981 acres, or more than a square mile to an Indian. About one-fifth of them have adopted citizen's dress and are partially civilized. „ ,, , ^,.._j ttlNDRANCKS TO IDAHO'S FKOSrEKlTY, 795 hi county, in \v rnnarkahk* s, j{ives prom- rs. In Idaho of jroUl and machinery, no to carry the \ be reduced, ivy expenses, situated, has for reducing in 1878 was )0,OCX). Irive cattle to azing interest nds an; equal be found foi' :ific, and from Morthern and )00 cattle sent ot prosecuted ot more than numerous and '1 ' \. 1' ■ ng population, I, and small as rains and root :: number of by wars and : in 1880 only in nocks, 1,040 Han nock and Pheir reserva- quare mile to cUi2«n> AfSim Surrounded on all sides by Territories in which the most in- tense activity and energy prevail.s, Idahf) may be; compared to a Sea of Sargasso, whose tranquil surface is ruftled by no wind, and over which are gath«!red vast masses of sea-weed and drift-wood, the home of foul birds of prey. There is undoubtedly great mineral wealth in Idaho territory, but with the exceedingly imperfect facilities now existing or likely to exist for some time to come, for reilucing the ores, or sending the bullion to market, there can be very little imluce- ment for capitalists to enga};e in mining operations. Tlurre is hardly a good wagon road in the; Territory ; most of the trans- portation of ores, machinery, farming implements, furniture, etc., is on the backs of pack-mules. The two railroads — the Utah and Northern, which passes near the eastern boundary into Montana, and the Northern Pacific, now beiii;.; constructed across the ex- treme northern portion of the Territory — the Pend d'Oreille country — however much they may benefit other interests, are not so situated as to render any material aid to the mining interests of the Territory, or to diminish, except very slightly, the cost of transportation to reduction works and markets. If the projected Oregon division of the Utah and Northern Railroad, extending from Portneuf to Bois6 City, and thence west into Oregon, were likely to be built, it would afford prospective relief; but it was project(ul to prevent the progress and completion of the North- ern Pacific, and having failed in that, it will prove too unprofita- ble and too costly an experiment to be undertaken by so con- servative an institution as the Union Pacific Railway. There are, indeed, two projected branches of the proposed road of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company from Wallula, on the Columbia, northeastward, to reach eventually Moscow, in Northwestern Idaho, near Lake CcEur d'Alene, and southeastward to Baker City in Oregon, a continuation of which might strike the mouth of Weiser river ; but these will not be built for some years, if ever, and without connections in the Ter- ritory, would be of little or no value. Meanwhile, all the interests of the Territory are suffering and are likely to suffer. She has not only the products of her mines. ■T^W*ii«iai«»*»«lta».w«^«'ti»»^Ani*t«titf*Ji«iei***r^*JJ*-A*^^ *»*Ai.-,n-ina.rttff.; mk but might huve a\fto consulemhlc nmounts of ^mln to sell to her own pcofilf, if it couUl h< tran'*|H>rty a rapitlly in- atly incrcaHcd. tlalry-farmin^, I and pastorni t-r own boiMuU ot build wagon lunication, and ?vt?ral reasons. country, if not ippliration had prnment would* ructioO) though Lit the policy of )ast dcritlcdiy wagon roads. t has in other :imid. The In- i hostile. But Hgration which 4, has been the led purpose of f Idaho and of ^ have planted 'n and Central »er immigrants, ictation. authority is an lent men could' 18 settled much had in 1870 a has now only rmon colonists establish them* », and the Tt- ible position, is '|i|k*'ly to renuiin undevrlopftl and largely unpeopled as a t'onsc quence of Mormon gp i-d and evil intlucnre. In Huch a Tt^rri- lory W" t.at»not invite immigrants 10 setUc. CHAPTER VII. tHF. INDIAN TERRITORY. MlMlTU DRTAn-l ( oNiKKWNf THK INDIAN TK.HivirORY NOT HECI&MRY AT TM ruESENT TIME IN riu» Wok*— Whv? — A KEw Gknf.rai. I'oiwTs IN VIEW or THF Ul.rtMATE ff)SHIhll.l'^V K A niAMi.K, WMKH MAY I'EHMIT ImMIOHATION— TOPCKIHAPHV -I.ENOTI' AKR BkKA!»TH 1 ,A 1111 I»K ANC I «N{;|Tin>K— ARtA — 6o\m»Aiu»»^DivtHi(>M INTO Indian ki 'Kkvations or Nations — Areai or MOST or TiiE»E — Tkacts not vr.i Ai-uvrTKD, AN\r Indian IUhi'** not pkrma- NENTLV UX:ATEU— NUMIIEK OK INDIANS IN T«F I iiJUTOKVIN 1878— I'KIWI. \ r NUMDKR -The rivE i.eadinc 'I'ribi ,, Chfsc kees. Chu:kasa*s, Choctaws, Ckmks and Seminoi.es- Their Progress in Civilization — The Capitmj* or THEIR REtpiicnvr. Nations — Their Farm Phodults in iSyy— Their LivEST«, , Churches, Brnkvolest Imstitutions— N ewsi'apers — Poeir-OmiKs -The Smaller Triees AND Bands lesh Civilized —SunrACE <.>v the Countev— Mountains, Rivers, Lakes- -Climate -MfiEoRoujdv or Forts Gibson and Sill — Geology a.nd Mineralogy— Soil and Ve(ietatii>n— i'oREsrs — Railroads -The Chara»««;.«-9<««»<*ai»*ir«l*«M*»t- :--- ^,«i.6«..*«:''-->t5*»'*' I in I, ■ «* M J OVM WKXTKUff KM/^fUK. 798 or tirsrrlptlonn of It, liAvin{( in vi«'w thr promotion of white emi gration tluthrr, arr Mtrinly forlmldcn. Wr Hh;^ll tlwrrfore or ly <|rM rilx' it ; hrirtly give an account of its Inilian inli.ihitantt, their locations, t-ondition, property and pnuhutioiii, and their prol).il>l<- fuiiirt', anci p.ts>« on to other States and Icrrituric* to whi< h the inimi^'rant nay have free arcr»«. The Imlian Territory it Hituatcd hetwrcn the paralteU of 33* 35' and 37" north latitude, anti between the meriil'inn of 94* 2d and 103" went lon;;i(ude from (irernwich. The ^triwvr |>art of the Territory in l>ctween 94° acy and 100* went; I iit a narrow •trip thirty-five mih'H in width, and cxtendinjj from the irxjth to the ro^^d dejirrcr of lonj;itiuUr, separal«s Northwesterri Texas from Kansas ami Colorailo, ami that ntrip watered by the Cimarron and Canadian rivers, forms a part of the Indian Terri- tory. Its length from east to west alon^j the northern lK)rdcr is 470 miles, and south of latitude; 36" 30', 3 10 miles. Its breadth east of the tooth meridian averages about 3 10 miles. Its area is now stated as 69,304 square miles, or 44,154,340 acres. It is bounded on the north by Kansas and Colorado ; on the east by Missouri an J Arkansas; on the south by Texas, from which it is separated as far west as the looth meridian by the Red river; west of that meridian by the parallel of 36" 30*. Its western boundaries are Texas and New Mexico. Not quite one-thir- teenth of its surface is in forests; the remainder is prairie, deep ravines, or wider valleys, and pleasant mountain slopes. Besides a considerable portion still unassiyned, the Territory contains eighteen or twenty Indian reservations. The Chero- kcos have two tracts : one of 5,960 square miles in the north- cast, east of the 96th meridian, and bordering on Kansas and Ar- kansas. They also own a strip containing about 8,500 square miles, about fifty miles wide along the Kansas border from the Arkansas river, west to the lOoth meridian. The Choctaw res- ervation, 10,450 square miles, is in the southeast, bordering on Arkansas and Texas. The Chickasaw reservation, 6,840 scjuare miles, joins this on the west, and is separated from Texas by the Red river. The Creek reservation, 5,024 square miles, is in the eastern central part of the territory, between the Chero- I* . ■*■ mH^iwMhi m* ion of white em! ;^ll tlu'rrfnrr or ly iiititn inh.ihitantn, iitioiif, and tlu'ir ml Icrrilorics lo : parallrln of jj^ riili.»n» of 94^* jcf e grmilfr part of St ; I lit a narrow •om the Kwlh to rlhwcstern Texas watered by the the Imhan Terri- orthcrn border is liles. Its breadth ) miles. Its area ^,340 iicrcH. It is ) ; on the east by s, from which it is )y the Red river ; 30/. Its western ot quite one-thir- er is prairie, deep in slopes, ned, the Territory >ns. The Chero- liles in the north- n Kansas and Ar- lx)ut 8,500 square s border from the The Choctaw res- ;ast, bordering on ition, 6,840 scjuare d from Texas by 4 square miles, is itween the Chero- r 1 ALLOTMENTS OF TERRITORY TO DIFFERENT TRIHES. 799 kees and Choctaws. The Seminole reservation, 312.5 square miles, lies southwest of the Creeks, and north of this that of the Sacs and Foxes, 756 square miles. A tract of 900 square miles, lyin(.if west of the Seminole reservation, ii set apart for the citizen Pottawatomies and the Absentee Shawnees. West of the Cherokees' second reservation, and bounded north by Kansas, and southwest by the Arkansas river, is the Osage reservation of 2,^45 square miles; and northwest of this is the little reserva- tion of the Kaws, 156 square miles in extent. These are late comers, though not the latest, having been removed from Kansas in 1873, The Kio>vas, Comanches and Apaches occupy a tract of 5,546 square miles in the southwest, bounded on the east by the Chickasaw reservation. North of these the Arapahoes and Cheyennes have a tract of 6,205 square miles. Fragments of ten tribes, viz.: the Quapaws, the Confederated Peorias, Kaskaskias, Weas, Piankashaws and Miamies, the Ottawas, the Shawnees, the Wyandots and the Senecas, severally, have reservations, aggregating in all 297 square miles, in the north- east corner of the Territory, east of the Neosho river. There are eight affiliated bands of Wichitas, Keechies, Wacoes, Tawacanies, Caddoes, lonies, Delawares and Penetethka Comanches, who are gathered around an agency on the Washita river, west of the Creek country, but they have no reservation. The Modocs, the remnant of Captain Jack's band, and about 400 Kickapcos and Pottawatomies, were sent to the Indian Territory in 1873, and the Modocs were placed tem- porarily on the Shawnee reservation, and the latter settled on a tract on the Kansas border west of the Arkansas river. The Poncas and i.ome bands of the Sioux were sent into the Terri- tory in 1876 and 1877; some of the Arizona Indians about the same time, and some bands of Utes still later. ''•' In 1878 the Indian office reported the whole number of In- dians in the Indian Territory as 75,479. The increase by births, and the additional bands which have been sent in since that time, may have increased the total number to 78,000. These are for the most part recognized as civilized or partly civilized Indians. The greater part of them wear citizen's dress, and a fair proper- I 2> v; h y t^' ~:>.-:j^ i^Sii?)^iHj)^^S^^^®^-i^ife?^^^^ -1 8oo .OUa WRSTRI^N BMPIR^, ticn have farms or herds ot r£,ttle or sheep, and can read or write at least in their own language. This is especially true of the five leading tribes, the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks^ Chicka- saws an,d Seminolus. The}' are capable now of becoming citizens. They have churches and schools, legislatures of their o.vn, and have for many years maintained self-goverpwvent with perhaps no more failuics dian some of the States of the Union. The capital of the Cherokee natbn is Tah-le-quah ; of the Chicka- .saws, Tishemingo ; of the Choctaws, Armstrong Academy ; of the Creeks, Ok-muUkee ; of the Seminoles, We->wo-ka. , In 1878-9 these five civilized tribes cultivated 237,000 acres of land, and raised 565,400 bushels of wheat, 2,015,000 bushels of corn,/ 200,500 bushels of oats and barley, 336,700 bushels of vegetables, and 176,520 tons of hay. They own 45,500 horses, 5,500 mules, 272,000 head of cattle, 190,000 swine, and 32,400 sheep. Amor>g,;other products of Indian, labor during the same year were 8, 100,360, feet pf Iwi»l^er,»wed, 1 32,886 cords of wood cut, 200;6oo shi|)gjes made, 387,000 pounds of maple sugar made, 1 64*000 .pounds of wild rice gathered, 1 7^000 iwoollen blankets and shawls woven, 2,530 ,willo!W baskets ma<4PM3,8oo qords of hemlock' ibafk peeled, 21 i/xx) poinds of >W)0(9l' clipped for sale, and ,3^6oo barrels of fish ,SDld. These tribes ;wwe .much broken up during the late, civil, war, many of then^ Jiaving jtaken partin it, ai majority probably on, the side of theSputh, yet in) 1872 they had ^a.far recovered from itS' effects jthat,their'prQperty,,.real and ^ersa>ttal,r,was,valued,iat!v$i5,357<7/oo,-«id \& now estimated at over ,jjtao,QOQ,OQO. .The rpopul»tion of these tribes is aJ?oufi 3 5,000. ,.Iji 1 8^3,ri^ey,nMiin|tainedi 1^4 schools with j82(t€^h«8iis, aAd.4^300 i^qhplars in average attewdaoce. The nunnber Qfchwdbes istnot ,koown,nbMt. in, 1^72 /there were 7,090 Indian- rme^nbers- of the diflTerent churches. The Cherokees have 1 an SNPphani asylum with, ninety .inmr^tfls. ,The Greeks have also lan otphs^n asylum. .There ^artre thresjweqkly papers published linilhe Territoryy one .English, and Cherokee, atrTahrle-iquah, one EngH»h alid Choctaw , at .Isjew Bpgy , and, ©ne \ English , at ^ Caddo. .There i arej twcMy- j^ght;^rpo(st-offi<:Qs.jn, the ,Territqiy. ^^ytOi course,! many. -^f the smaller bands? of Indians^ reflfiecidiUy m rwid or Uy true of s^ Chlcka- iig citizens, r o.vn, and th perhaps ■nion. The le Chicka- my ; of the ,cxx> acres oo bushels bushels of 500 horses, and 32,400 ^ the same "ds of wood ugarinade, :n blankets D Gords of ed for sale, uch' broken ken part/in M872 they ty,! real and (tjmatedat ■out 35,000. 1, »Qd 4^300 'dhes is <8. ^ .^ 8; MM d M 4 00 i/t m wi un i/t vt ri. ri <4 «n ^0 Ml * us ^ wt ^e 4 t^ N «A lA ei m N Q ? a ft ^ 5 «i5, g; 8; ^ <8. S ;t K. 8. (/5 * tJ » M* ii u* M * M (ij C/j (A trt^ uf w" si ui (^ ^ ^ H * K "r en (A tii en {/} vi w vi a" 5i . w fJ S5 * S5 <« r W I] . 'I S ui 5^ r en r - CA (A tfi •ll«pll«)I 4 .a' 00 »0 'ft 4 ^ w 5- 5" ri N M ■jaimuojsg jo untinj j "IBM ■'1 \ t 1 M •A On »0 S" ft I p. s ^ t -8 1 {? m r^ "l N •XiipiumH u«aH 3 ^ t 1 O M 'uniuaduiax "i? ^ 5? % 3 s. to ^ ft ■•jniuwluiax uinui!U||^ oS* % R ;<; M M M Ok 8^ "ft ? s ■uniwsdmsx uinui|X«K • ^ 8; ■s^ 8> J? »>. s s .g" 00 £- 8. s •MiUBJtdnDX uww 0(3 1^ t^ t^ 1 << '!ll I I 00 s i I J 1 1 1 4 ^ "li 1 '^ si- 5.1 a 4" 5 ^'^ Geology and Mineral0gy.'-^T\ie geology of the Territory has not been very thoroughly explored. It seems to partake more of the chsiracteristics of Kansas than of Arkansas> and some of SOIL AND VEGETATION. 803 551 «• -g d M 4 06 ^^t ft ^ 5 00 N N aQ (S o> % 5^ S> ^ ^ ^ ^ " S5 '^ Z f i^ J' U . ^ U . iz; > c/i r - M ri t 1 t 1 M %■ ft ^ 'ft z s 00 £- 8s S! j I ; I i *Cepp«r IMS bten dhcove.ed, but not mined, at several points iti the Ttrrilory. ^^s^mmM^iMi^isms^^^^''' 80^ OUK IVESTERX EMPIRB. species, sycamore, elm, hickory, ash, yellow pine, osage orange or bois d'an, ptxan and hawtliorn. Wild grapes of erccellent flavor abound. The arable lands of the Territory are well adapted to cereal and root crops, and the yield per acre of wheat, Indian corn and oats is large. In the hilly and broken country the fruits of the temperate zone do well. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, and small fruits of good quality are largely raised. Railroads, etc. — Aside from the river navigation, there is one railway which crosses the eastern portion of the Territory from north to south, viz. : the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, extending from Sedalia, Missouri, to Denison, Texas, where it joins other Texas roads. The Atlantic and Pacific Railway, from Pacific, Missouri, also enters the Territory from the northeast, and forms a junction with the Missouri, Kansas and Texas at Vinita, in the extreme northeast of the Territory. This road, the Atlantic and Pacific, had projected a route crossing the Indian Territory from east to west along the valleys of the Cimarron and Canadian rivers, but in the strife of the different transconti- nental routes and the difficulty of obtaining the right of way through the Territory, we believe this project has been given up. . T/ie Oiaracter of the Population. — Rev. Timothy Hill, D. D., long a missionary in the Indian Territory, and thoroughly con- versant with the tribes which occupy it, thus describes them in a communication to the New York Evangelist in the summer of 1880: " The present population is about 80,000. I have conversed with a large number of men, native and long resident there, and none have placed it less than the number given, and some have placed it as high as 100,000. There can be but little doubt of 80,000. Without any claim to absolute accuracy, I place the pop- ulation as Indians and people of Indian extraction about 62,000 ; colored, 8,000; and whites, 10,000. The Indians are well classi- fied into civilized and uncivilized. In the former class come the Cherokees, Greeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Chickasaws, a remnant of Delawares, who are Cherokee citizens ; a part of the Shaw- nees, Pottawatomies, and Senecas. We shall gain in definite h m gc orange or cellent flavor I adapted to n'htrat, Indian country the aches, pears, are largely there is one erritory from xas Railway, xas, where it Railway, from he northeast, ind Texas at This road, the g the Indian he Cimarron U transconti- right of way sen given up. y Hill, D. D., )roughly con- >es them in a I summer of ^e conversed nt there, and i some have de doubt of tlace the pop- bout 62,cxx>; e well classi- iss come the s, a remnant ►f the Shaw- n in definite MEV. MR. HILL ON THE JNDIAS TEKKITOKY. 805 impression if we consider each of these tribes and classes by themselves. li ' uif 1 1 I " liasily foremost are the Cherokees. They occupy the north- east portion of the Territory (cxciipt a limited portion in the ex- treme northeast corner), with only one district or county south of the Arkansas river. The Cherokee government has a popu- lation of about i8,cxxD, but ctnly some 12,000 of them are Indians, the remainder are colored and white. These people all live in houses, some of them large and well furnished. They live com- fortably, and are slowly gaining property and increasing the com- forts of life around them. The war stripped them bare, and they are now only regaining some of their lost property. The lan- guage of the Cherokees is extremely difficult to acquire ; but a large number of them speak English, and no difficulty would be found in travelling nearly all over their country without an inter- preter. But to reach the full bloods, an interpreter will fre- quently be needed. :, " 2. The C'eeks occupy a region directly west of the Chero- kees. They are a lower type of men, less attractive in personal appearance, less keen in intellect, than the Cherokees ; but diey are more industrious than the Cherokees, and are probably making more rapid advances in civilization. The Creeks are greatly intermingled with the blacks. The Creek government has probably a population of about 13,000, of whom some 2,000 are blacks. ''ijMtffcr'a^^ AV — ■:"-rTrr ; ,.i./^>.->;,'i^",f" 8o6 OUlt H^£S7£AAr £MP/Jt£. They arc less ad- Chcrokees, but are the Cherokees, Creeks and Scminolos did. vanced in the arts of civilized life than the gaining steadily. " 5. The Chickasaws are a small tribe of the same general origin as the Choctaws, and speaking nearly the same language. They are, in some things, in advance of all the other civilized tribes, as their land is sectionized, although not yet allotted in severalty, as they cannot do that without consent of the Choc- taws. There arc many white men living among them, probably a larger number than any other tribe, many of them intermarried with the half-breeds, and thus citizens, and others living among them as renters of land, mechanics, or hired laborers, of the Indians or Indianizcd whites. i . . ^ t " 6. Besides the five civilized tribes who have a separate gov- ernment, diere are others quite as much advanced as any Indians. There is a remnant of the Delawares, who are well advanced in all the arts of life. They are more quiet and orderly than any other Indians cultivating their land. i "Added to the Delawares are the Ottawas, not long since resi- dent in Kansa-i-— a quiet people, supporting themselves by culti- vating their land. The Pottawatomies, a small tribe recently from Kansas, are partially civilized, some of them United States citizens. "All these civilized tribes live in houses, dress like other peo- ple, and many of them speak the English language well. I never saw a blanket-Indian among any of these people ; and perhaps the only peculiarity that would be noticed in the dress, is a fondness for bright colors with the women, and a disposition to place a feather or plume of some sort in the hat of the men. But a trader, who has lived among them many years, recently said to me, ' The change in the character of goods now sold is very marked. We sell fewer beads and trinkets and cheap jewelry, and we sell in the place of these a much better quality of cloth, and much more substantial goods for woman's wear. The advance in these things has been quite marked.' , -h /iMtip "The uncivilized Indians are t'le remnants of a large number of tribes gathered from wide'/ different regions, and greatly I are less ad- kees, but arc »amc g;eneral me lanjfuage. ther civilized t allotted in of the Choc- leiTi, probably intermarried living- among orers, of the ieparate gov- s any Indians. advanced in erly than any ng since resi- :lvcs by culti- tribe recently United States :e other peo- veW. I never and perhaps e dress, is a lisposition to of the men. ;ars, recently s now sold is 5 and cheap etter quality Oman's wear. * irge number and greatly ClVll.ir.ED AND VNCIVILtlKD IHDIASS. 807 (JifTering in character. I suppose them to amount to about 13,000. These remnants differ greatly in personal apfiearuncc and prospective importance. The Osagcs, Ncz Perces and Modocs are fine-louking people, fair size, well form i . . ii TAe Indian Title to this Territory. — At the first setdement of I iS'DtAff TITLE TO TEKK/TOKY. 809 (iricterious. :>oily. The hite men or ul Ixrhind a on\r in the intermarry (•t)s. From n, I nhoulrl >fM.'^^<'>''-- ovM itrKsrttty Jt.wr/MM. ownem of thenr laruU wrrr noihin^ but Indiann, nnyhow ; and thrrf torf (tcutgia, hud Irmmi anticipatiul an curly um 1801; for in thut year the United States ^o\ernment entered into a compuct with that State, cuvenantin^ lor certain (onsiderationi^ that an Hoon as it could bo done |K:HCtably and on rr.iHonablc terms, the title ot the Cherokii: Inrliunx to land within tht! limits of ( icor^'ia nhotild be extin^uiHhcd. It wuh not until thr udminiM* tration ol President Monroe (1817-1835), that die Stale of (feor^ia bfcamcr (lamorous for the fulfilment of thin covenant, and very soon thereafter the other States, Alabama, Misnis^ippi and Tenn(*aHee, though they had no ftucli compuct with the United States, added their clamor to hers, demandmf;;^, under threats of forcible duster, the prompt removal of those trilnrs from their limits. In conreciuence of their perHistencc Prositlent Monroe sent a mestui^e to Congress, we think in 1H34, in which he submitted a proposition for the removal of all (lie Indian tribes from the lands then occupied by them within the several States, and organized lerritories cast of the Mississippi, to the country west of that river, 1. #., to Louisiana Territory. At that time neither Texas nor any part of the re^^ion west of the summits of the Rocky Mountain ran^e, below latitude 43° north belonged to us. In that messa^re President Monroe said, thstt •' experience had demonstrated that in the present state of these Indian tribes it is impossible to incorporate them, in such masses, in 9ny form whatever, into our system. It has been demonstrated with equal certainty, that without a timely anticipation of, and provision against the dangers to which they are exposed, under causes which it will be difficult it not impossible to control, their degradation and extermination will be inevitable. The great object to be accomplished is the removal of these tribes to the country designated, on conditions which shall be satisfactory to themselves and honorable to the United States. This can be done by conveying to each tribe a good title to an adequate portion of land to which it may consent to remove, and providing for it there a system of internal government which shall protect t ^ PK1.4V rn thansfhhhino thr isnfAsx, III yhow; and t«» rj'Hprcl." in juHtice ly iU I Ho2 ; rrti intu a ttilcratidni, rr.iHoriahle n tilt; limits ir acliniiiis* Staler t)f covenant, MisHissippi ct with the lin^, ut)(ler tlwHc trilxit c Prcsiilont 24, in which i!ic Indiitn thr srvtiral sippi, to the •y. At that west of the le 43° north DC' said, that ate of these luch maHscu, smonstratcd tbn of, and osed, under ontrol, their The great :ribes to the tisfactory to Phis can be n adequate d providing hall protect its proiMTty from inv.tnion, and hv regular pro^^rrM of improve* ment and rivili/ation prevent that degeneracy, which han (gener- ally marked the tramiition from one to the othc!r Hiale," I'reiii* dent Monroe in this nu'SH.i^^'e overliK>k(*d two diinj^H, viz., that the lands to wlu>i'i. .m: w^.; ,,jii; uiuu \-., mis r,x > Efforts to Drive the Indians frotn their Territory. — Meanwhile, there has been a very strong pressure on the part of western adventurers, to enter upon these lands so'-^mnly pledged to the Indians, with the ultimate purpose of crowding them out. Dur- ing the last session of Congress, in May, 1 880, a bill was intro- duced and strongly urged, for the organization of the Indian Ter- hR was not erritor)', to reception 3 exchan-re ove West, the Indian 'tiled States \eirs or suc- most sol- that might iisportation jr this offer !^hickasaws, es, Miamis, Bceuf, Sacs and other inds should which were :asaws, and ere allotted of Kansas. g^rant tribes nd pledges, permanent 867 a por- some other other small iie titles to -Meanwhile, of western Iged to the out. Dur- 1 was intro- Indian Ter- EFFORTS TO DRIVE TUF. INDIANS FROM TERRITORY. g|j ritory as a regular Territory under government control, by the name of Oklahoma. Thus far, the government has successfully resisted the encroachments of white settlers and adventurers upon this Territory, except the passage of one or two railways, and these, it is said, were asked for by the Indians ; but the pres« sure is growing stronger every day, and unless the Indians agree to hold their lands in severalty or individually (under certain restrictions in regard to alienating them), it may require the whole military power of the nation to restrain these lawless adventurers from taking it by force. If the lands are allotted to the Indians in severalty, and they, as fast as they become civilized, become citizens, the surplus of their lands may be sold by the government as their guardian for their account and the amount received funded, furnishing a further annuity to each member of the tribes. There are now held by the United States Government funds invested for the Indian tribes to the amount of ;j55, 180,066.84, besides ^^84,000 abstracted by officials at the beginning of the late civil war and not yet replaced. Of this amount $1,768,175.30 is held for the Cherokees; $1,308,' 664.82 for the Chickasaws; $513,161.70 for the Choctaws; $467,501.62 for the Delav.-ares; $76,993.66 for the Creek orphans, and the remainder for other tribes, some of them those removed from Kansas in 1867. If these measures can be effected without injustice and wrong, the time may come when a part of this great Territory may be legitimately opened to white settlement, and the Indian farmers be led, by the sharp competition which will follow, to become bet- ter agriculturists and better citizens than they would under any other circumstances. But until that time shall come, and it must, in any event, be several years hence, we cannot consider the Indian Territory as either a legitimate or desirable field for immigration. *'• ^iX- -i.;i.n! ..rw.ih.;;; .;! -. \ ;. ! ; I H! ! !,.;•;' ■(() ■>:!; )"t; ri •.'. fo '-ijriii-', : ••ri; tr';', ; ' il :i ji^?'^^^y*i>J^^i^^^^S!!^>^^K!7*^^^^!i^^^^]^^r^-, -TT" 8i* .li OUR WESmHN £AtPIKE. \ r i ' ' ' ' CHAPTER VIII. ' ' ■ v r . , ; - -.■. I !■ 1 \\\.\\<{\\ «M . /OWOI. M ■ ,7 . 1 i • 1 , 1 i . , I ■ I : The Situation of Iowa — Meaning of the Name — Migration or the Pau- HOO-CHEES thither IN 169O — CONTEMPORANEOUSLY CLAIMED BY THE FRENCH ON Accx)UNT or Father Hennepin's Discxjvery — Wars of the Pau-hoo- CHBEa, OR low AS> with THE SlOUX— FRENCH TrADINC-PoSTS ON THE RiVER — Sale OF THE Province OF Louisiana TO the Spanish in 1763 — Retroces- sion TO France in 1800 — Sale to the United States in 1803 — Settle- ment OF Julian Dubuque — The Wars of the Iowas and Sioux — A New Enemy — The Sacs and Foxes Attack them, and drive them across the Missouri, about 1828 — Great Reduction in Numbers of the Iowas — White Settlement Commenced in 1831 — Death of Biju:k Hawk — The Events in Civil History of Iowa to its Organization as a State in 1846 — Topography and Extent of Iowa — Its Surface — Rivers- -Lakes- Prairie AND Timber Lands — Black Walnut Shipped to England— Geol- " ogy and Mineralogy — The Drift, Ix)ess and Alluvium — Cretaceous Rocks — Goal Measures — The ChaMACter of Iowa Coal — Comparison with European and other Coals — No Gold or Silver in the State- Lead, Iron, Copper and Zinc — Lime — Building Stone — Gypsum Clays — • Soil — Mineral Paint — Spring and Well-water— Natural Curio-jities— Climate, General Remarks — Professor Parvin's Tables — The Signal Service Statistics of the River Cities — Zoology — Soil and Agricultu- ral Productions — Iowa an Agricultural State — Statistics of its Crops . — Spring and Winter Wheat^ — STocK-RAisiNa>~DAiRV Farming — Popula- tion OF Iowa at Different Periods — Railroads and Steamboat Lines— The State Easy op Access — Public Lands — Railroad Lands — State Lands — Partially Improved Farms — Manufactures — Iowa as a Home you' Immigrants — Education — Churches — Future Prospects or the Sta^B.' •ij i ' . /,' Iowa, the name; of one of the easternmost of the central belt of States and Territories composing "Our Wesflcrn Empire," lying between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.. The name, which was that of a river within its bounds, and also of the Indian tribe which dwelt on the banks of that river, is said to mean, in the Indian tongue, " The Btautiful Land." The Indians who gave it and themselves this name were not the original in- habitants of this region, but migrated hither from the country of 1^« ;; If: i: or THE Pau- ^ THE French iHE Pau-hoo- I THE River — 3 — Retroles- 803 — Settle- oux — A New m across the the Iowas — Hawk— The ,s A State in ers- -Lakes — ;land— Geol- —Cretaceous —Comparison iHE State— psuM Clays— Curio-jIties — —The Signal to Acricultu- s of its Crops «INO — PoPirLA- iboat Lines — Lands— State A AS a Home ECTS of the n: I|r> central belt rn Empire," The name, also of the :r, is said to The Indians original in- e country of 11 I 4.. '.. THE IOWA INDIANS OR PAVIfOO C/fKES. g|j the great lakes (perhaps Michif^n) where they had borne the name of the Fau-hoo-chees, about 1690. 'I'luy incrrascd in numbers and power here till they became the mont formidable of the Indian tribcH of the Northwest except the Sioux, with whom they were constantly at war. That portion of the Slate Ivinjr on the Mississippi is supposed to have been visited by l-'athcr Hen- nepin in 1680, and it was probably in consequence of his explo- rations that the French government soon after took formal pos- session of It and erected two or three trading-posts along the river. Their occupation of the Territory was, however, of so tri- fling a character as not to excite the displeasure of the Iowa chief, Mau-hau-gaw, or his successors, Mahaska I. and II. Their power remained undiminished, though the French title to this as a part of the province of Louisiana had passed to Spain in 1763, returned to France in 1800, and been purchased as Louisiana Territory by the United States in 1803. In this long interval, two or three French families had settled in the Terri- tory. Notable among these was Julian Dubuque, who, in 1 788, settled on the banks of the Mississippi, and commenced trading and mining lead there. Eleven years later another Frenchman, Louis Honori, established himself as a trader at the head of the " rapids of the river Des Moines." But the power of the lowas was beginning to wane. They had fought off their old enemies, the Sioux, and held possession of most of the Territory, but a new enemy now came upon them. The Sacs and Foxes, Illinois tribes, finding civilization pressing hard upon them, crossed the river about 1824, and began to make encroachments upon the hunting-grounds of the Iowa& Conflicts followed, and finally, about 1828, a fierce battle was fought between the invaders and the invaded near the present village of lowaville, in Davis county, in which, after a long and terrible struggle, the lowas were vanquished and the Sacs and Foxes occupied their hunting- groutids along the Mississippi. The lowas moved sullenly westward, and finally crossed the Missouri. When the whites began to settle west of the Mississippi, in what was then the Territory of Missouri, in 1831 and 1832, the Sacs and Foxes ve^e the occupants of all the eastern and southern portions of ' a;//ol io .'Ti.tii-it I " 1) . vDU.'.ii) ,'iy/',.n >i!.t in } ■ i ii^^^U'w«vA''i^.'i^^^^'*'^'^~*'^'-' ' "■■' ■-^^**^ii»^•'-^■-^'■•-^*>-'--'■*^■'>^'"'■ ( 8i6 Ot/M WESTERN EMPIRE, the Territory, while the warlike Sioux held undisputed posscs- Hion of the northern portion, about the hradwatcrx of the i>cs Moines and the lakes. At this time the lowas, once so powerful and warlike a tribe, had been reduced, in tli' ^^^ included in the " District of Louisi- ana," and placed under the jurisdiction of the territorial gov- ernment of Indiana. 7. July 4, 1 805, it was included as a part of the " Territory of Louisiana," then organized with a separate territorial govern- ment. .'>iii/r.v/oi lu T'jr.iiiv in'<-''-;fl :fil Mvn. J/'»>i;vfii ,;.;;» 8. June 4, 181 2, it was embraced in what was then made the "Territory of Missouri." 9. June 28, 1834, '' became part of the "Territory of Michi- gan. 10. July 3, 1836, it was included as a part of the newly organ- ized " Territory of Wisconsin." . \:'^A ni .nm-^f-.t^ U^ /t^jiit/I" ! II. June 12, 1838, it was included in, and constituted a part of the newly organized " Territory of Iowa." mtcd pDHscs- •» of the i)c9 V. so powerful home beyond about 1,300 33, the power Keokuk, who as the chief ober, 1838, on )ry, aside from ise, as we have J3, by virtue of la, it was ceded same bounda- >f Louisiana to was authorized Strict of Louisi- territorial gov- ; " Territory of 'itorial govern- . Lvl.iiiVfii ,:>:\ then made the '"..•Jl>; . itoi^ of Michi- e newly organ- stituted a part MA/iA ASD AXIAAT Of JOWA. I17 1 3. December a8, 1 846, it was admitted into the Union as a State. An-a and Extent. — Iowa is about 300 miles in length, east and west, and a little over 200 miles in breadth, north and south ; having nearly the figure of a rectangular parallelogram. Its northern boundary is uie parallel of 43° 30*, separating it from the State of Minnesota. Its southern limit is nearly on the line of 40" 31' from the point where this parallel crossej tlic Des Moines river, westward. From this point to the southeast cor- ner of the State, a distance of abc'ut thirty miles, the Des Moines river forms the bour. ary line between Iowa and Missouri. The two great rivers of the North American continent form the east and west boundaries, except that portion of the western boun- dary adjoining the Territory of Dakota. The Dig Sioux river from its mouth, two miles abjve Sioux City, forms the western boundary up to the point where it intersects the parallel of 43° 30^. These limits embrace an area of 55t045 square miles ; or, 35,228,800 acres. When it is understood that all this vast ex- tent of surface, except that which is occupied by the rivers, lakes and peat-beds of the northern counties, is susceptible of the highest cultivation, some idea may be formed of the immense agricultural resources of the State. Iowa is nearly as large as England, and twice as large as Scotland ; but when we consider the relative area of surface which may be made to yield to the wants of man, those countries of the Old World will bear no comparison wl:h Iowa. Surface. — ^The surface of the State is remarkably uniform, rising to nearly the same general altitude. There are no moun- tains, and yet but litde of the surface is level or flat. The whole State presents a succession of gentle elevations and depressions, with some bold and picturesque bluffs along the principal streams. The western portion of the State is generally more elevated than the eastern, the northwestern part being the highest. Nature could not have provided a more perfect system of drainage, and at the same time leave the country so completely adapted to all the purposes of agriculture. Looking at the map of Iowa, we see two systems of streams or rivers running nearly at righi 5» I ill! !, ■ -!^. «A| OVU W$irhkN MMP/gM. 9i\^h» wive, an dividing the waters of the Mississippi and MisKouri, there are between the principAt ^tre^tms, elevations commonly called " di- vides," which e. The principal rivers which [> (lUchar^r tbrir t'M to tJu; Nouth [rtl the »oulhwcr»t, iiin al>out three- ininjr om- fourth, jrcamsj r«:nri,'h»;iUH Ucsccmls as you Low-wftt«r mark I 4^5 fcrt above t. At thr croHiv- at of I)uvcn|)ort, »»ippi. The ik-M elevation of 227 8 198 fcrt lower tion of the east- t 624 ft'tit above in the norilivyest the level of the itionctl alx)vc, as issouri, there are monly called "di- i of a smaller size ' streams have a ^0 many portionti 'J . r . 'i are divided jnto ! Mississippi, and sippi, the largest !st in the world, j and is most of ners. The only »ize are what are outh of the Des has constructed Iowa side of the itegetothecom pal rivers which Hotv through the interior of the ^tatc, ra»t of the watcr-hheil. ^rc ti)e I )en MoiiicH, Skunk, low.i, VV'apHipinicon, Ma(|U(ikela, lurk* y and Upper Iowa. One of ilu: lar^c st rivem of the State iH li,)^ Ked Cedar, which riHeH in Minnesota, and ilowing in a south' eaHterly direction, joinn itn watern with the I^wa river in LouiH4 county, oi.iy abi)ut thirty inilesi from its tifiouth, that portion below the junction retaining the name of Iowa river, although it is rrally the Hmaller stream. I'he I)es Moines is the largest interior river of the State, and riHcs in a group or chain of lakes in Minnenota, not far frotn the lowii border. It really has its sources in two principal branches, called Last and West Ues ^oines, which, after flowing about seventy miles through tlie nordiern portion of the State, converge to their junction in Ute southern part of Humboldt county. The Des Moines receives a number of large tributaries, among which arc Raccoon and Uiree rivers (NorUi, SouUi and Middle) on the west, and Uoone river on the east. Raccoon (or 'Coon) rises in the vicinity of Storm lake, in Buena Vista county, and after re- ceiving several tributaries, discharges its waters into the Des Mpin^s river, within the limits of the city of Des Moines. This stream affqrds many excellent mill privileges, some of which have been improved. The Des Moines flows from northwest to south- east, pot less than 300 miles through Iowa, and drains over 10,000 square miles qf its territory. At an early day, steamboats a^r certain seasons of the year navigated t^is river as far up as thp " Raccoon Forks," and a large grant of land was made by Con- gress to the State for the purpose of improving its navigation. Xhe la,{^4 was subsequently diverted to the constructi9n of th«' Pes ,|Moinc8 Valley Railroad. Before this diversion several dams were erected on the lower portion of the river, \yhich afford a ys^t^ afpount of hy(^raulic power to that part of the State. The next river above the Des Moipes js Skunk, whi(fh has its source in Hamilton county north of the centre of the State. If llf^verses a sputheast course, having two principal branches — tl^ir aggregate length being about 450 miles. They drain s|)}QPt 8,000 square iniles pf territory, and afford many excellent 9>ni sites. i, ,,;,, ,, r-,,., .,,, ,, ,,. .. _ , ,; , , ._,-^ I k'Vr««»if''r«»;'a:u,^,,i/'ii4<.'; ,fr',i'.?i.-.u',t-ii»^':i I \ $do 01 It HhMKKM MMrittM, The next l« Iowa rivrr, which r\%r* In wrveral liranrhe* amon^ the lakc*« hi Hancock und VVinnclwi;*} co(intir«, in thn northern part of the State. Itn great cantern branch in Reel CVilar, huvln^; itH nourcr antong th«: lak«'H in Minnrv»ta. In »i/e, kr«l lr'! The Missouri river, forrtiing a little over two-thirds of the length of the western boundary line, is navigable for large-^ized steamboats for a distance of 1,950 miles above the point (Sioux City) where it first touches the western border. It is, therefore, rz/jr MfSMovMt and Bta siovx ntvKHi, •at. in tlifi northmi C'iclar, |);ivirt({ |»', kitl ( ijlar i« at iniportancoat I'cr i.H n tributary |i, on acroiint of Iowa un and flown in a Iowa, draining, ut twiflve milen hy the Hrttlrrs. for mafhinrry. itary of the Mls« ut 3,000 (i(]uar(: ainn some 2,000 It southeast, and line of Clayton tr.iy, flows hearty northeast corner picturesque and omewhat broken, ly Into the rocki, luffs from ^00 to sh ample water- ic e^stifrrn tfir^ii- ;at " water-shed " wo-thirds of the le for large-glared the point (Sioux It is, therefore, ;) highway of no little im|)ortance to the commerce of VVrstern Iowa. During the HcuHon uf navigation last year, ovrr I'll'ty itcamcrs ascended tlu: rivrr uliovc .Sioux City, moKt of wliiih were laden with storrH for thr nunin^ rt'gion alx)vc I'urt Ucnion, VVt; will now refer tf) th>! tar^^er trilMiturics of die Missuiii, wimh drain the western portion of Iowa. f , ' • The liij{ .Sioux rivc:r fornii alMiut seventy miles of the- wf-iicm lx)undary of the Stattr, its general course Umu^; nearly from north to Houtl). It lus several small trihutarieH, draining the (ourtiew of riytnouth, Sioux, Lyoti, ONceola and O'Hrien, in Nortrwestcrii Iowa. One of the most uniKirtunt of theni: is Rock river — a be. >i« liful little stream running throu)(h the counties of L^ ^n uud Sioux. It is supported by springs, and affords a volume o( wat(!r suffu lent for pro|)e]lin^ inaciiini-ry. liij^ Sioux river waa once re^ardctd as a navigable stream, and steandM)ats of a small size have on several occasions ascended it for some distance. It is not, however, now considercil a safe stream for navigation. It empties into the Missouri about two miles above .Sioux City, and sonu} four miles l>elow the northwest corner of V'oodbury county. It drains about 1,000 stpiarc miles o*" Iowa territory. Just below Sioux City, I'loyd river empties into the Missouri. It is a small stream, but Hows through a rich and beautiful valley^ Its length is about 100 miles, and it drains nearly 1,500 square miles of territory. Several mills have been erected on this stream, and there arc other mill sites which will doubUess be improved in due time. Little Sioux river is one of the most important streams of Northwestern Iowa. It rises in the vicinity of Spirit and Okoboji lakes, near the Minnesota line, and meanders through various counties a distance of nearly 300 miles lo ils confluence with the Missouri near the northwest corner of Harrison county. With its tributaries it drains not less than 5,000 square miles. Several small mills have been erectcU on, tllty jtrcaiDi ?nd other;» doubtless will be when needed. ,...,...: .„i|-^ \v ' i \ \ Boyer river is the next stream of considerable size below the Little Sioux. It rises in Sac county and flows southwest to the Missouri in Pottawutamic county. Its entire length is about ^ '^CSuII'' '^.^•-■i.-^ii-f . nb oi/ii U^EStk/i/ir EkNRii. 11 N 150 miles, and drains not less than 2,000 square miles of terri- tory. It is a small stream, meandering through a rich and lovely Valley. The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad passes doWh this valley some sixty miles. Goiiij down the Missouri, and passing several small streams, •which have not been dignified with the name of fivers, we com^ xr> the Nishnabotna, which empties into the Missouri some twenty iiiil6s below the southwes*^ corner of our .State. It has three principal branches, With an aggregate length of 350 miles. Thene streams drain al)OUt 5,000 square miles of Southwestern IhWi. They flow through valleys of unsurpassed beauty and' fertility, and furnish good water-power at various points, though iA thti respect they are not equai to the streams in the north- Cistern portion of the State. ^^' • iiill"a<*^'^ Y^^ ir-^amuftiMpv. •'*'The Southern portion of the State is drained by several streams fliat flow into the Missouri river, in the State cf Missouri. Thft nSbst important of these are Chariton, Grand, Platte, One Hdn- drec' and Two, and the thfee NodaWays — East, West and Middle. All of these aflbrd Water- power for machihery, and present splendid valleys 6f rich ftirrning lands. We have abbve Only mentioned the streams that Have been designated as rivers, but there are many other streams of great Wiportance and valiie to different portibhs of the State, draining tihe country, furnishing mill-sites, and adding t<> the variety and Iteauty of the scenery. So adrtiirable is the naitural drainage of almost the* entire State, that the farmer who has not a stream of living wat^f on his premises is an exception fd the general '' Ijakes. — In some of the northern counties of Iowa there are itvAxiy small, but beautiful lakes, some of which we Will notice. Th^ are a part of the system of lakes extending far northward iritb Minnesota, and most of them present many interesting fea- tures which the lirnits 6f our sketch will not permit us to give in detail. The following are among ih^ rt^6ist hoted ^f thfe hkes 0/ Northern Iowa: Clear lake, in Cerro Gordo eourt'"; ; Rice lake, SSlv^f lake, and Bright's lake, in Wbrth county; Crystal like, Edgle lakef, Lake EdWdrd, and TWih lakes, iht Hancoek cbiint)!'; ii T ii Tynitt"iia' iM iw iiJ iri iiii i Ww' i A-i Aiiw ^ ^MiM - Mifc^ u *iiii» ^ u W i ra i t rtlM^^.- Ire miles of terri- a rich and lovely >ad passes down .1 small streams, rivers, we come ouri some twenty te. It ha& three :h of 350 miles, of Southwestern ssed beauty and )Us points, though ms in the north- )y several st?eanrtfS r Missouri. Tht Platte, One Hdn- W6st and Middle, lery, aftd present IS that Have been r streams of great the State, draining t6 the variety and aitural drainage of has not a stream ion ta the general )<* Io\va there are ch we will notice, ing far northward ly interesting fea- rmit us to giVe in 6d i/ihfe lakes 0/ ourt'-; RicelaJce. ity; Crystat like, Hancdck cbiiritjl'; r//e LAKES OF roUTA. I25 Owl lake, in Hurriboldt county; Lake Gertrude, Lake Cornelia, Elm lake, and Wall lake, in Wright county; Lake Caro, in Ham- ilton county; Twin lakes, in Calhoun county; Wall lake, in Sac county; Swan lake, in Emmet county; Storm lake, in Buena Vista county; and Okoboji and Spirit lakes, in Dickinsoh county. Nearly all of these are deep and clear, abounding in many excellent varieties of fish, which are caught aburrlantly by the settlers at all proper seasons of the year. The name "Wall Lake," applied to several of these bodies of water, is derived from the fact that a line or ridge of boulders extends around them, giving them somewhat the appearance, of having been walled. Most of them exhibit the same appearance in this respect to a greater or less extent. Lake Okoboji, Spirit lake, Storm lake, and Clear lake are the largest of the Northei*n Iowa lakes. All of them, except Storm lake, have fine bodies of tim- ber on their borders. Lake Okoboji is about fifteen miles long, and from a quarter of a mile to two miles wide. Spirit lake, just north of it, embrac.s about ten square miles, the northern border extending to the Minnesota line. Storrti lake is in size about three miles east and west by two north and south. Clear lake is about seven miles long by two miles wide. The dry rolling land usually extends up to the borders of these lakes, making them deligntful resorts for excursion or fishing parties, and they are now attracting attention as places of resort, on account of the beauty of their natural scenery, as well as the inducements which they afford to hunting and fishing parties. Prairie and Timber. — One of the peculiar features of the topography of the riorthWest is the predominance of prairies. It has been estimated that about nine-tenths of the surface of Iowa is prairie. The timber is generally found in heavy bodies skirting the streaiiis and lakes, but there are also many isolated groves standing^, like islahds in the sea, far out on the prairies. The eastern half of ttie State contains a larger proportioh of tlttiber than thfe westet'h. The following are the leading varie- fl6*j of timber: White, black, ahd burr oak, black walftwi, of ex- eellent quality, btit noW alitidst entirely picked out afld shipped to England, butternut, hickory, hard and soft maple, chei-ryj fttd I I I g2^ OUR WESTERN EMPtRS. and white elm, ash, linn, hackberry, birch, honey locust, cotton- wood, and quaking asp. A few sycamore trees are found in certain localities along the streams. Groves of red cedar also prevail, especially along Iowa and Cedar rivers, and a few isolated pine trees are scattered along the bluffs of some of the streams in the northern part of the State. , ili li >/, The great demand for timber for raii.oad construction, for ties, stations, bridges, and for a time for fuel, as well as for dwell- ings, telegraph poles, for agricultural and mining machinery, and mine supports, has within the last decade nearly stripped Iowa of its most valuable timber ; and the English movement for cull- ing out all her valuable black walnut trees, working them up roughly by portable saw-mills, and shipping the timber at once, is likely to deprive the country of one of its best sources of supply of this valuable wood. Nearly all kinds of timber common to Iowa have been found to grow rapidly when transplanted upon the prairies, or when propagated from the planting of seeds. Only a few years and a little expense are required for the settler to raise a grove suffi- •vient to afford him a supply of fuel. The kinds most easily propagated, and of rapid growth, are cottonwood, maple, and walnut. All our prairie soils are adapted to their growth. Tree-planting is encouraged by national and State laws, and is now actively practised, but it will be long before these trees will, f:ither in quality or quantity, supply |l^e,|o$9 of thoa^ which haye been so recklessly sacrificed. .,,1; ; ,; ! Geology and Mineralogy. — The surface geology of Iowa, like that of Nebraska and partly of Kansas, is peculiar and very interesting from its. relation to the soil cf the State. Far back in the glacial period this whole region, including Iowa, South- eastern Dakota, Nebraska, and Eastern Kansas, was less el<;- yated thai, it now is, and formed the bed of a vast lake at least 500 miles in length and nearly that in width. Thrpugh this lak^ flowed the Missouri, which had then received its greatest affluent, the Yeilow^tpne. Its other principal tributaries at that time flowed into the lake. For ages numerous streams brought into the lake the dibris of moiititain ^nd hill, and the glaciers ad(^ed ^'■ % [locust, cotton- are found in red cedar also rs. and a few |)f some of the ■ (|, ,1,, .. nstruction, for 11 as for dwell- achinery, and stripped Iowa Jement for cull- •king them up imber at once, est sources of ve been found airies, or when 2w years and a J a grove suffi- is most easily od, maple, and their growth, ite laws, and is hese trees will, ose which have y of Iowa, like jliar and very »te. Far back J Iowa, South- , was less el^- st lake at least 'pugh this lak^ eatest affluent, I at that time 5 brought into jjlaciers ad(^ed IOWA COAL. Ill their contribution from their moraines. At length there came a time of upheaval ; this vast lake was drained till it became an immense marsh of soft and plastic mud ; through this the rivers ploughed their way, ci'tting through the deposits of gravel, of silica, and of decayed vcgciation easily, and left on either side high bluffs, which, however, having no rocky bond of union, often crumbled and fell into the streams. After another long period the marsh became dry land, and its surface, composed of drift or gravel, loess or bluff deposit, a very fine and rich silicious powder, and alluvium as the result of decayed vegetation, fur- nished the finest soil in the world. But beneath this surface, which is of varying, though everywhere of considerable thick- ness, the rivers, which have plowed their way through its lowest layers, reveal other important and economically valuable strata. The cretaceous beds underlie this vast alluvial and diluvial deposit, and below them we come to the coal measures of the carboniferous era, whose existence was first discovered from their outcrop in the river bluffs. "The coal of Iowa is bituminous, and is a true coal, not a lig- nite. It covers an area of at least 20,000 square miles, and coal is successfully mined in more than thirty counties of the State. It is not of identical quality in all parts of the coal field, but that produced in Appanoose, Boone, Davis, Dallas, Hamilton, Har- din, Jefferson, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Polk, Van Buren, Wapello, Webster, and perhaps some other counties, is of excel- lent quality and easily raised. " The g'reat productive coal field of Iowa is embraced chiefly within thq valley of the Des Moines river and its tributaries, ex- tending up the valley from Lee county nearly to the north line of Webster county. Within the coal field embraced by this val- ley deep mining Ls nowhere necessary. The Des Moines and its larger tributaries have generally cut their channels down through all the coal measure sftata. " The coal of Iowa is equal in quality and value to coal of the. same class in other parts of the world. The veins which have, so iix be€jn worked are from three to eight feet irt thickness, but it is not necessary to dig from one thousand to two thousand feet ilRi \ 8ad OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. fo reach fhe coal, as miners are obliged 16 do irt i6v^t. coUritries. Rut little coal has in this State been raised from a depth greater than one hundred feet. " Professor Gustavus Hinrich, of the State University, who also officiated as State Chemist in the prosecution of the State geological survey, gives an analysis showing the comparative value of Iowa coal with that of other countries. The following is from a table prepared by him — loo i-epresenting the combus- tible: J' ! ... . KaU^ Attn LOCALITT, Brown coal, from Arbesan, Bohemia . Brown coal, from Bilin, Bohemia . . BituminooB coal, from JBenth'eu, Silesia Cannel coal, from Wigan, England Anthracite, from Pennsylvania . . . Inwa coals — average 36 40 61 94 50 64 67 49 39 6 SO 31 ID a S II 00 5 3 2 S 114 »23 i>6 113 104 110 i if 88 81 80 87 96 90 "In this table the excess of the equivalent above 100, ex- presses the amount of impurities (ashes and moisture) in the coal. The analysis shoWs that the average Iowa coals contain only ten parts of impurities for one part of combustible (carbon and bitumeii) being the purest of all the samples analyzed except the anthracite from Pennsylvania. "Twelve years ago (in 1868) the production of this coal in Iowa was reported as 241,453 tohs, or more than six million bushels. It has increased steadily sin^6 tha:t time, and iti 1^77 had reached over 1,500,000 tons, or about forty tnillion bushels. It is still increasing, and is used in Several of th6 adjacent States. "/V/i/.— -During the last thirteen or fourteen years large deposits of peat, ^xistffig rri sdvftral of the northern counties of the State, have attracted considerable attetflion. In 1^66, Dr. Whi*e, the State Geologfist, made careful observations in son'ie of those counties, including Frankftn, Wright, Cerfo Cbtda, Hancock, Winnebago, Worth ahd Ko^uth. In 1869, Hon. A. R. fulton dlso visited the cduil ties natriid, and frbfn personal observatiori )me countries, depth greater jniversity, who In of the State |e comparative iThe following fg the combus' '■>,. I 3 i6 31 lO a II oo 5 3 3 s 114 88 >a3 136 113 104 no ibove loo, ex- loisture) in the a coals contain )ustible (carbon analyzed except of this coal in hah six million e, amd in 1^77 nillion bushels, idjacent States, s large deposits es of the State, Dr. Whire, the 90v^e of those itddi, Hancock, I. A. R. f tilton lal obSertratioii rN£ PEAT BEDS. ijy r was convinced th^tthe deposits of peat were as extensive as repre- sented by the State Geologist. It is estimated that the courilies above named contain an average of at least four thousand acres each of good peat lands. The depth of the beds is from four to ten feet, and the quality is but little, if any, inferior to that of Ireland. As yet, but little use has been made of it as furl, but when it is considered that it lies wholly beyond the coal-field, in A sparsely timbered region of the State, its prospective value is regarded as very great. Dr. White estimates that 160 acres of peat, four feet deep, will supply two hundred and thirteen fami- lies wilh fuel for upwards of twenty-five years. It must not be inferred that the presence of these peat beds in that part of the .State is in any degree prejudicial to health, for such is not the case. The dry, rolling prairie land usually comes up to the very border of the peat marsh, and the winds, or breezes, which pre- vail through the summer season, do not allow water to become stagnant. Nature seems to have designed these peat deposits to supply the deficiency of other material for fuel. The penetra tion of this portion of the State by railroads and the rapid growth of timber may leave a resort to peat for fuel as a tnattef df choice, and not of necessity. It therefore remains to be s>;cii of what economic value in the future the peat beds 6f Iowa may he. Peat has also been found in Muscatine, Linn, Clinton, and other eastern and southern counties of the State, but the fertile region of Northern Iowa, least favored with other kinds of fuel, is peculiarly the peat region of the State. Neither gold nor sil- ver has been found in Iowa, except a very small percentage of th^ latter in the galena or lead ores. "Lead. — Since the year 1833, large quantities of lead havfc been mined in the vicinity of Dubuque, And the business is still carried on successfully. From four to six million pounds of ore have been smelted annually at the Dubuque mines, yielding from s'ixty-eight to severity per cent, of lead. S6 far as known, the tead depdsits of Iowa that may be profitably worked are con- fined to a belt of four or five miles in width along the Mississippi, slbove and below the city of Dubuque. ' '^y -^ "^/Ar^ Metals. — Iron, copper and zinc have been found in 8^8 OUR WSSTEKX FMriKR, limited quantities in different parts of the State— the last-named metal being chiefly associated with the lead ilcposits. **Lime. — Good material for the manufiLture of quick-line is found in abundance in nearly all parts of liic State. Even in the northwestern counties, where there are but few exposures of rock ' in place,' limestone is found among the boulders scattered over the prairies and about the lakes. So abundant is limestone, suitable for the manufacture of quick-lime, that it is needless to mention any particular locality as possessing superior advan- tages in furnishing this useful building material. At the follow- ing points parties have been engaged somewhat extensively in the manufacture of lime, to wit: Fort Dodge, Webster county; Springvale, Humboldt county ; Orford and Indiantown, Tama county; Iowa Falls, Hardin county; Mitchell, Mitchell county; and at nearly all the towns along the streams northeast of Cedar river. "Building Stone. — There is no scarcity of good building stone to be found along nearly all the streams east of the Des Moines river, and along that stream from its mouth up to the north line of Humboldt county. Some of the counties west of the Des Moines, as Cass and Madison, as well as most ot the southern counties of the State, are supplied with good building stone. Building stone of peculiarly fine quality is quarried at and near the following places: Keosauqua, Van Buren county; Mt. Pleasant, Henry county ; Fairfield, Jefferson county ; Ottumwa, Wapello county; Winterset, Madison county; Fort Dodge, Webster county; Springvale and Dakota, Humboldt county; Marshalltown, Marshall county ; Orford, Tama county; Vinton, Benton county ; Charles City, Floyd county ; Mason City, Cerro Gordo county ; Mitchell and Osage, Mitchell county ; Anamosa, Jones county; Iowa Falls, Hardin county; Hampton, Franklin county; and at nearly all points along the Mississippi river. In some places, as in Marshall and Tama counties, several spe- cies of marble are found, which are siiscept|b|e of the finest finish and are very beautiful. ; ,».,n„^ ivH t'VnrV^V'. tl^.^ n^.^^ivrt;^ ''Gypsum. — One of the finest and purest deposits of gypsum known in the world exists at Fort Dodge, in this State. It is MJltfllM l«a>MM«M«MaM..a«MMaalM last-named uick-line is Even in the xposurus of rs scattered is limestone, needless to erior advan* t the fijllow- xtensivcly in ister county; Uown, Tama :hell county; ;ast of Cedar uilding stone Des Moines he north line : of the Des the southern lilding stone, at and near county ; Mt. y; Ottumwa, Fort Dodge, oldt county; inty; Vinton, 1 City, Cerro y; Anamosa, ton, Franklin lissippi river, several spe- 9f, the .firyj;sti r r ;■ • .^ 5 of gypsum State. It is AtWEK/llS AND SOIL OF IOWA. 83^ confined to an area of about .six by three miles on both sides of the Des Moines river, and is found to be from twenty-five to thirty feet in thickness. The main deposit \a of uniform gray color, but large masses i^f almost pure white (resembling alabas- ter) have been found embedded in the main deposits. The quan- tity of this article is practically inexhaustible, and the time will certainly come when it will be a source of wealth to that part of the State. So far, it has only been used to a limited extent for paving and building purposes, if we except the fraud practised upon our Eastern cousins by those who manufactured from it that great humbug and swindle of the century, the 'Cardiff Giant! ' Plaster-of-paris manufactured from the Fort Dodge gypsum has been found equal to the best in quality. "Qays. — In nearly all parts of the State the material suitable for the manufacture of brick is found in abundance. Sand is ob- tained in the bluffs along the streams and in their beds. Potter's clay, and fire-clay suitable for fire-brick, are found in many places. An excellent article of fire-brick is made at Eldora, Hardin county, where there are also several extensive potteries in operation. Fire-clay is usually found underlying the coal- seams. There are extensive potteries in operation in the coun- ties of Lee, Van Buren, Des Moines, Wapello, Boone, Hamilton, Hardin, and perhaps others. ' «! < ^f;"- >;■ • i j- ";^ "Soil. — ^It is supposed that there is nowhere upon the globe an equs.l area of surface with so small a proportion of un tillable land as we find in Iowa. The soil is generally a drift deposit, with a deep covering 6f vegetable mould, and on the highest prairies is almost equal in fertility to the alluvial valleys of the rivers in other States. The soil in the valleys of our streams is largely alluvial, producing a rapid and luxuriant growth of all kinds of vegetation. The valleys usually vary in extent according to the size of the stream. On the Iowa side of the Missouri river, from the southwest corner of the State to Sioux City, a distance of over one hundred and fifty miles, there is a continuous belt of alluvial ' bottom,' or valley land, varying in width from five to twenty mil^s, and of surpassing fertility. This valley is bordered by a continuous line of bluffs, rising from one to two hundred ^X,^' f^', '^•'^ I feet, and presenting many picturesque outlines when seen at a d|:.tancc*. The bluffs arc composed uf a peculiar furmation, to wi)ich han been given tlie name of loess or ' bluff deposit.' It is of a yellow color, and is composed of a fme silicious mutter, with some clay and limey concretions. This deposit in many places extends eastward entirely across the counties bordering the Mis< suuri river, and is of great fertility, promoting a luxuriant growth of grain and vegetables. ^'MinefcU PaitU. — In Montgomery county a (ine vein of clay, containing a large proportion of ochre, wa^ several years ago discovered, and has been extensively used in that part of the State for painting barns and out-'houses. It is of a dark red color, and is believed to be equal in quality, if properly manufac* tured, to the mineral paints iniported from other States. The use of it was 6rst introduced by Mr. J. U. Packard, qf Red Oak, on >|kfhose land there is an extensive deposit of this material. ''Spring a>*(l WtU Water. — As before stated, the surface of Iqwa is generally drained by the rolling or undulating character of the country, and the numerous streams, large and small. This fact might lead some to suppose that it might be difficult \q pfpcure good spring or well water fpr domestic uses. Such, however, is not the case, for good pure well water is easily ob* tained all over the State, even on the highest prairies. It is j^rely necessary ^o dig more than thirty feet deep to find an f^^updance of th^t most indispensable element, good water. /Mong the streams are found many springs t^reaking QUt if;oy(\ the l;>anks, affording a constant supply of pure water. As a I'ule, 1^ i$ necessary ,tp dig deeper for well w^ter in thetjn^ber portion^ of the State, than pn the prairies. Nearly a)| the spring and iprpll Waters of the i^ty3^ers are found in deferent parts of the Stfite. *Mtirfll nHHMH picn seen at a furmution, to [Icponit.' It is [iH mutter, with many places |lering tlic Mis- curiant^Towth vein of day, :ral years ago jat part of the of a dark reef periy maniifac* • States. The d, pf Red Oak, IS material. the surface q( iiing character rge and small. It be difficult \q ic uses. Such, er is easily ob- prairies. It i$ eep to find an t, good w^ter. iking pMt f^^oji;^ ter. AsaruliC* tjn)ber portions the spring an^^i tipn pf Iiw»e. *fi here jare soni9 r to the springii l)er States. Jn they are comT a eonsiderablfi niineral u^gr.^ "ts of ^e Slfite. CUMATK or tow A. my ''i^atural Curiosities. — Aside from its waited lakes and some very beautiful waterfalls, the State does not abound in natural wonders. Ihe 'Ice Cave' at Decorali, in the northeastern part ol the State, deserves notice. It is under a bluff on the north bank of the upper Iowa river, and has this wonderful peculiarity that while in winter no ice is to be found in it, it forms in spring and summer, and thaws out again upon the advent of cold weather. Nine miles east of Decorah, on Trout river, there if an underground stream navigable for canoes, and which has been explored for a long distance. "ClintaU and Mttcorolo^iy. — The average or mean temperature, from a series of observations taken at different points and ii) different years, is found to be 48°. The temperature of the win- ters is usually somewhat lower than that of the Eastern States, but that of the otb^r seasons higher, so that all vegetation is forced forward rapidly to maturity. There is a somewhat less average amount of rain than that which falls in the States bor- dering on the Atlantic. The quantity which falls yearly in Iowa is tound to average about forty and one-lialf inches, and of snow thirty inches — equivalent to three inches of r^in, making a total of forty-three and one-half inches. There is occasionally a sea- son which greatly exceeds the average in the fall of rain, but never one marked with such extreme drought as to occasion a failure of crops. "The opinion may prevail to some extent that the climate, especially of Northern Iowa, is rigorous, and the winters long and severe. It is true that the mercury usually sinks lower thaij in the States farther south, but at the same time the atmospher^ is dry and invigorating, and the seasons not marked by the Tret quent and sudden changes which are experienced in latitudes farther south. The winters are equally as pleasant and more healthful than in the Eastern or Middle States. Pulmonary and other diseases, arising from frequent changes of temperature and miasmatic influences, are almost unknown, unless contracted elsewhere. Winter usually commences in December and endsj in March. The spring, summer, and fall months are delightful, Iowa is noted for the glory and beauty of its autumns. That I \^ \ i . «a»«fcMWMKMb«iii>lJfinite and detailed statistics of the meteorology of localities which should represent as fully as possible the differences of temperature and rainfall, etc., in different sections of the State. Our statistics are very full for the whole eastern border, and for some of the cities of the interior, but are ilefectivc for the western counties, though we know in general that as we proceed westward the average rem- peraturr on the same parallels is somewhat higher, the winters a little less severe, and the rainfall slighdy diminished as compared with those on the eastern border. The following statistics of the meteorology of Muscatine and Iowa City are by Professor Parvin, and are from the averages of thirty years : 7M4p ihevtlng Iht Avtragt, or MtHH Ttrnftrslmrt »f tkt Snuons, for tht ytan 1R31) to 1 869, imelMsivt ; alio Iki Mtan Ttrnftraturt of lA* momlkt mtartit Iktrtio, «mJ th* Extr*m*$ of Tomfofttlurt, SiAtom. TmrmATviii. MonTUt NiAIIHT SlAIONt. RDrln# 47' 44' KK aj* 37' 47' 57' April 48* SO' 70»7o' 49* SO' a3» as' August • • • . Aulamn Winter i October DecemlMr Vetr -f-t ' ' t RANGE OF TEMPERATURE. Highest 99' oo' -30*00' IJ9^ oo' August 31st. i8|4. ,, „,!,, .1 JanuMjr iSth, 1857. '•' . .>/ ^. Lowest. R«g«f.. MUrMOHOlOVY Oi WWA. 9il Icannot be de- pay afitr clay. nil*' ilw fi)re?»t» \^ to alt nature llmoHi imper- A\\l\\ hoKU its ^•xpcrienccd in ^on of life and tailed statistics Jpresent as fully rainfall, etc., in re very full for V. cities of the ties, though we \v. average rem- r, the winters a ed as compared ig statistics of re by Professor F.'i ; ■/ •■! r *r yiMM 1II39 /<, 1M9, IT SCAIONt. r t 4g» 50' ''' 49* so' 13* as' ' - ■ . ■ 4- ■ *kttfvtt*'m» ^nmg moJt /4/< / 'mtv*tftiy, /mm i'l/^, ^j* /V»/. /'. .V, /^n>4m. T*hifgi»img Ik* MtniKly and Annual Quanl'ty of Knin and Sm>i» t tJuftJ lo toattr ; flu $tv^ mum, MiHtmurt, tud Aft| 14.00 99« •;»6 57^ 6.«s Tnilf tktm>ini^ iht hinnthlf and AnnMml Quattfilfet e/ .^o^ im inrhit, /«r ihi ytan 184! lo 1169, imlfttivt, autnling to ntordt ktf4 iy Pto/. T. S, Panvin, al Mmualint t{nd lowia City. YlAM. Mmim.. l^eut . . . Urctlett. 1 6.70 .00 a4.M «73 I 393* .00 37.00 JOO 16.15 % 76 JOO 6.00 .00 4.10 4-73 JO.QO 9-2J .10 39.5a for ih« Ytan. 33'3 790 61.97 a TvT r-J^.4.J...:.>t:^ V J •i4 OUM WKHTtiltS MJHrt»M, **i I^J .**tt^*i W yi'^Wi M M ^ * I I I J f Mi! ; j^ ^ i i i ^ 5 i 5•*■- c. " ir — « ififi y. i-i ■•4 *X »* M -5 j;;* i liJMl T n 5 J : a s 3 1 ; ' fr f « * t" K vi r s » it 1 » fi- B « S. ». > » B J H ^ m tft m t, i—lXJL UliH'i MMTMOMOIOCY OP WWA. Ton, tUmtmg iMt thin 4 tkt Mar/UH mi LUmt Ffmt tmi In ^ tkt fttn lt}« «# 1M9, /h>M iHfA A 1M4, mu^r^mg H Mfr4t h*f4 tif f'r^. f, S. t»nnm, «/ Mm»> ittm, tint Itw* CHy, '; On page 834 we give the Signal Service statistics for Keokuk, Davenport, and Dubuque, which, though a little differently -_. — ^ — ^ _ — , : L : * Th« year 1863 ww ««ry coW, no< •nly in lowt, but ihrauglkmt the country, and thtre wat froct in every montlt of ihc year. It hai only once or twice in thirty yean leriou^Iy injured Iht cam crop. Wlw> iIm tprlnf ti lata Iha fall ia gtMralty lengihcnad, to that the crop ha« timf I :xm::z^^ms:z:7 ;,-JU.i ' r:'^.^ ■ " '^^- ' ^^^ ^ ; 1 J .||6 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. arranged, give substantially the same particulars in regard to these cities ; the chapter on Nebraska will give the meteorology of Omaha, which very fairly represents Western Iowa. Zoology. — The wild animals of Iowa are rather those of the Mississippi valley than of the " Plains " or the Rocky Mountains., The buffalo and the antelope, which once coursed over xXf, prairies, are not now among its wild game ; and the elk (wapiti), if he ever had his habitat in the State, has it no longer. The Virginia deer is abundant in some parts of the State, the blade-tailed or mule deer is seldom if ever seen east of the Missouri river. Bears, the black or brown species, are still found, though less numerous than formerly. The fclida — panthers, wild cats and lynxes— >4nd the mustelidte-^fishts, marttr^s. minks, skunks (espe- cially the last), and the muskrat and beaver — are sufficiently numerous to reward the hunter and trapper for his labors. The gray wolf is much less abundant than formerly, and so is the yelping prairie wolf, perhaps miscalled coyote. The common or red fox is still found in considerable numbers, especially in the northern, western and southwestern parts of the State. Marmots or gophers, woodchucks or ground-hogs, the porcupine, the raccoon, and more rarely the opossum, are among the other w3d animals of the State. Rabbits and hares, squirrels of sev- eral species, brown and black rats, half a dozen kinds of mice and moles of several species, are the other principal mammals of the State. Of birds and especially game birds Iowa has its full share. Wild geese, many species of ducks, brant and teal, a half dozen or more species of the grouse tribe, including the prairie-hen, the quail, the partridge and the ptarmigan, many spiecies of snipe, woodcock and other waders, pigeons and doves of several species. Song-birds are also in great variety, and the birds of prey, especially eagles, vultures, hawks and -owls, are sufficiently numerous. There are not so many reptiles ?^ in some *^tates, though the nupiher of serpents is cQjis|^e,rfibl^ large, and includes with many harmless species three or four I>oi8onous serpents, among wliich two species of rattlesnakes are the tttbst nurnerous. There are several species of b^j^rachiaos, t>ut liio true saurians in the State. The numerous rivers, streams ^!tJ.ati.ii. 1» l^'W'i 'H i irlj ril .Oats are of excellent quality, but the yield is very much less per acre than it should be. In 1876 it was but twenty-three and : a half bushels to the acre ; in 1878 thirty-six and a third bushels to the acre, and in 1879 thirty-six bushels. All over the State there are farms, where, with ordinarily good culture, oats, in large fields, average year after yt^ar sixty to sixty-five bushels per acre. .;r,^i-, ./^i Krir- '*■^l -ihi^o'ifii ,;^t')i/f5n!f| -^.M/no vtisiovib rxft ,, Barley should yield somewhat more than wheat especially on new lands, but the average yield, which should b- < n: 'i»irty-five to forty bushels, ranges from twenty to twenty f»v ' s'^els. > i:- Rye and buckwheat are for the most part raised o. ' e poorest lands, and seldom yield more than from nine to twelve bushels per acre, and are not therefore profitable crops to raise. Potatoes, and the root crops generally, do weN in Iowa, espe* cially on the western or Missouri slope^ the soil being admirably adapted to them, but the yield, though fair, is not so large ^s it should be. At the Agricultural College at Ames, iii the centre of the State, the yield averages about 240 bushels of potatoes to • mm)m ,i.A^.-^a>-- a more certain a higher price, lis, Nebraska or- •ely, injuring the produce a much |th the attention both com and iciently early to |l year like 1863, ige crop of corn ■five bushels per nargin of profit, in the centre of a somewhat un- I sixty-five acres, o the acre ought mh fair culture, sre was a email i-i'iN/'. fl 'U (t r.) t very much less wenty-three and d a third bushels I over the State culture, oats, in Ixty-five bushels at especially on 5 Crom thirty-five ivo ) ;»»^els. 'ri^: do, ' e poorest 3 twelve bushels ;o raise. U in Iowa, espe- being admirably ot so large ks it Bs, in the centre is of potatoes to • r//£ CJtOPS OF 1178 AND 1879. ^ the aicre ; elsewhere it is much lower. With such a soi) osithatc of Iowa, 350 bushels to the acre should be the minimum, in an> ordinarily favorable year, and of turnips, beets, carrots, eCo.j irom 600 to 750 bushels. (>j .t. i, , ',im The following table shows the acreage, yield, quantity raised' per acre, average price and total value of each of thu principal crops of Iowa in 1878 and 1879, according to the United Stales Agricultural Department: , ; . -.;. , . ,. ; . ; .. .. -; ) Crap* and uak of mmun. Th* Crap of i67<. Indian corn, but. WhtM. Rye, Oau, " Bariey, " BkwkirWt,' " Pou(o,oao 3.W.O00 !.•» 100,700 1.80 1, 9(0,000 ".307.900 4,M6,aoo |o 16 ■ » 3S •«3 ■33 •SJ .3« 3.60 y38,u4i/i>4 13 ,310,480 151,000 4.?«3.»*4 1,079,040 3,6rS,aoo 13,830 ,40t «6j,s86,3oe '111* Crep of 1879. i 191 ,too,aoo 3r.^5i««> 437.»5o 37,008,000 4,796,000 8,901, boo 1,064,600 n 40. M.a r 33. 18. 86. •54 »8 4,190,000 J,«»,ooo 37,500 1 ,038,000 318,000 ».75» 103,300 11,840,730 I fa*4 ■9' •54 ■»J % .3» 4-M 1 I >47,43»,ooo 34>4M)»>o 336,113 3,lj8,30O 106^3 *>>4S>33o I3r9'3,»«4 f ,681,884 Other crops have attained a considerable magnitude in Iowa., Among them we may name : Sorghum, which has been cultivated, to a moderate extent for fifteen or twenty years, but in 1878, 1879 3^"^ ^880 has taken a new departure. The Early Amber Sorghum, though not the most profitable variety in the amount of its yield of the saccharine juice, is yet better adapted than, most of the others to Iowa, in consequence of its early ripening, , the ripening of the seed being the condition precedent to the production of the greatest amount of crystallizable sugar, and. giving the additioqal advantage, that tl^e seed and the leaves, both; furnishing excellent food for cattle, car 'a; preserved* The, crops of 1879 and 1880 are both very |argp,an4;are Hjkel){ to in- crease very greatly in the future.,, r,Mn-'>n"f?'> -f: , f .>t^-v,'i! vH Other plants of the Zm family, such as Ijroom corn, Hungarian grass, the German and pearl millet and the dhurra and Egyptian * This includes alio hay from forage crops, Alfalfa, Hungarian grass, millet, etc - '^ ^ ?«M* «UM>J««P!*«^.« i 1^ OOK WBaVEKN EMPIRB. ric4 cor A, if these two are not« as some suppose, identical, are CQmiflg into somewhat extensive cultivation in the State, and will prove valuable additions to its forage crops, while the rice com and pearl millet yield grains which are valuable for the food df man and animals, and the broom com is always a profitable crop. i.| !ix\ v\ (j.x/w /» Miji*,v ifci"; J^iik /Xi'j tj^i*. icj**. . ju*> ■J^i'^ Iowa is well adapted td the culture of the castor-bean, and it proves a profitable crop when it is planted early and has time to ripen before the frost. This crop is one which will be more prof- itable if a sufficient number of farmers engage in its culture to furnish etuployment to an oil mill in the immediate vicinity, as they can then obtain a much better price for the beans. The pea-nut or ground-nut might be successfully cultivated, especially in Southern and Southwestern Iowa, and while the vines are ex- cellent for forage, the nuts command a good price, and if there b art oil mill near, they ttiay be ground for the oil at a good profit. But notwithstanding its extremes of temperature, Iowa has be- come famous for its fruits. The soil is well adapted to these, and great attention has been paid to the production and culture of hardy varieties which would withstand the extreme cold of some oi the winters. The efforts mide fbr thfe purpose have been Vefy SUteessfUI. Many varieties of apples and pedrS have beert impoft^dfk)m Northern Russia, Northerrt China and Japan, which, aftev acclimation, have proved the best of these fruits for sum- vtitt, autumrt and Winter use. The peach does rtot flourish quite a^ welt though some of the more hardy varieties db well. The plum aiid dherry* are very successfully cultivated. '-Hh'' '*- /♦^'';' ^Ifhe value of farm, market garden and orchard ' prdductis r^- jfertedln the State eensus For 1^75, as gathered the preceding y^ar, was 1133,440,855. The census of the firissent year will pnc>]f>ably shoiv nearly dduble ihe aniduht. feUt Iowa has beett m6st sUcfc^ssful, perhaps, ih stock-raising. Her live-stock, as enumerated at the last State (Census, in 1875, \^as as folibWs. We givd fb^ the sake of comparisdn the statis- tifcS 6^ Afe United States Dfejiaftment 6f Agriculture, January, / m :, identical, are State, and will the rice com |e for the food s a profitable |or-bean, and it nd has time to [I be more prof- its culture to ate vicinity, as e beans. The 'ated, especially e vines are ex- ce, and if there oil at a good re, Iowa has be- ed to these, and and culture of ne cold of some 30Se have been edfS have becrt ndjap^n, which, fi^uits for sum- ot flourish quite s db well. The i-d' products r€- 1 the preceding tsent year will n Stock-raising*. :ensus, in 1875, risdn the statis- ulture, JanUdf^, LiVMSTCCJe W tOWA. B4t Liva-ttock according to Cemiu of 1875. Livetlock Report of U. S. Agricultural Depart- ment, i8tio. AnimmU. MHmtNt. N«inbcr. I'rtce per Head. 152.00 66.00 24.20 23.12 2.50 6.36 Value. Horses .... Mutes and asses . Milch co#s . . . Other cattle ♦ . . Sheep .... Hogs Hogs slaughtered and sold for slaughter Iti 1875 • • • 700,617 36.820 5*8,483 ii405.58at 3.»39.973 *,$if4,4«« 778,407 44.70J 7a3.5J4 1,370,368 454.410 2,798,400 140,477,164 a.95o,33a 17.509.523 31,682,908 1,136,125 17,797,824 / Total value . • • • «"».S53.876 Iowa has maintained the front rank in the production of pork, for which its agricultural products give it great advantages. The question has come to be one of mathematics entirely. Given corn, sorghum seed, rice corn or millet at a certain price per bushel, and also given a fixed price per lOo pounds for pork, either live or dead weight, which pays best, all things considered — to sell the corn or other grain, or to fatten hogs with it ? We have seen in Part It. that in Kansas, with corn at from twenty to thirty cents a bushel according to locality, the farmers decided that there was more profit in using it to fatten hogs tlian in selling it. The Iowa farmers nearer the great markets have come to the same conclusion with corn at a somewhat higher price. But with the new (iemand for corn for glucose sugar, the price may be so much enhanced, that unless other grains can be substituted for corn for fattening purposes, such as sorghum seed, millet« rice, corn, etc^, the quantity of pork made may be seriously diminished. The present year there seems to be no diminution in the quan^^ty^ J^ut wha^ Uiere i^ay be jn t|i|e. (y tt^i;^ reipain* tp be seen. , . . :,,,;,';, .. i -, . ; ' < , ;.,i.( n r ; .''.>■•:::*■ Iowa is, we pelieve, sixth or seventh among the States and Territories of "Our Western Empire" in the number of her -T = i -,- ; \ * ttxcMp't' Working oxen (li the census of 1875. In 1880, working oxen are included. UXi ' t Thk includek 9,690 AioMlikHbrM sfcen-hdntt. ,*€Oei9l««0WIR«N«M '■ * ■«ii-JV''ri:'- V \ pL|| OUR H^ESTBRN EMP/JRE. sheep. While the cost of rearing a sheep is somewhat greater than in Western Kansas, Colorado or New Mexico, care in the selection of the best brteds and in preserving them from disease and enemies makes it a fairly profitable pursuit. On this subject, facts are worth very much more than theories. We introduce therefore without apology the carefully tabulated results of five years of sheep-farming in Crawford county, Western Iowa, by one of a number of Holstein farmers who had been accustomed to the care of sheep all their lives, and who had emigrated to Iowa, and engaged in the business there. *'' ' As these farmers all started substantially alike in the business, they have followed the same course of feeding, and the results have been about the salme. The staple of wool has been combing, delaine, medium, coarse and fine ; it has been sold in the Philadelphia market at prices ranging from eighteen to twenty- eight and a half cents per pound, netting twenty cent? per DOUnd •{''■"^"■■^ ^'-'ijr.fH'Kiuw'i 'n -.iin ■"({ (>r->rt!>i i'},i\ fUMj^^cj, In feeding, they have found the blue joint grass most excellent, knd ample for summer feed. In winter they feed corn in the stalk, cut for fodder. The ewes have sheaf oats after January ist. The grain consumed per head is about five bushels, costing efght to ten cents per bushel, in the shape in which it is fed ; as Mr. Henry Lehfeldt said : ** The sheep husk their own corn and thresh their own oats, and the sheep farmer has nothing to dol but be lazy." The theory of feeding ife, as the food is cheap, to keep the sheep at all times in the very best condition ; and to that end they are allowed all the grain they will eat. They are fed no hay. They found a little trouble In that the sheep some- times ate too freely of corn and became ov6r-heated. This they have learned to remedy. They also found it injurious to feed corn to er 35000 May, 1878, fed 135 acres of corn in stalk and oats in sheaf at ^5 per acre 635 00 Sept., 1878, cost of attendance I year 35000 May, 1879, fed 135 acrus of com ia stalk and oats in sheaf at $$ per acre 635 00 May, 1879, <^ost of attendance i year 190 00 Add for annual interest account — Sept., 1876, interest on lti,55d i year at lO percent, pet' annum . _ . , • • ...... . . ^155 00 ,; , ,1 May, 1877, interest on ^350 i year at 10 per cent, per annum 35 00 Sept., 1877, interest on 11,855 i year at 10 percent, per 1 I /, annum 185 50 ,: ,t, , May, 1878, interest on J775 i year at 10 percent, per , ,,.r' - , 1, ' | annum 77 5© Sept., 1878, interest on |3,3oo t year at 10 percent, per ' ' '" ' ' .)! yu, (IJU, annum . ';' ; -(ij.Ji^il., (j 1 . t-'v^'i-'. aao 00 » y^"-i ^y 30, 1879, interest on $1,477.50 13 months at 10 per 'i J> >.( cent, per annum 16096 ,,,),..((. May 30* 1879, interest on $3,769 9 months at |o,per cent. f per annum. . . , .i .'».,^ ,', . 307 67 Amount of interest charged . vi^-^'^i *^^[f tA • . • • • ■ $i>o4o ^3 Total cost of investment . . . *. 'J' .'' V^'i '/A >■/''') , 15,480 63 3^;>d ■■'rlj lu n<'{})iH>fn/it -rol O^-U Jci'i ;l;.'iff f. w'''r.!!r, :•■ '' '.ii', , !«-7/ '>f!f T>v<> !Ii; MTURNS. •'•,.;„:-,[, ■.,!!' .-n- >.,!■) May 30, 1876, sold 4,135 pounds wool, clip 1876, 500 fewes at 40 ' cents per pound net $835 00 m?ii&JsimmimM^'^'>wimi' J A j^ .. t '.V OVM WaSTRKN KMPIHB, V '\ » May JO, 18^7, mid S^9« pounds wool,^ clip 1877, joo eww, 5*1 , ^11 ,..,,. i 7cariing», at ao cent* , ♦,,,# vf, .i...»^ m^v,* • I«i798 40 Ktay 30, 1878, told 8,99a pounds wool cfiy 1878, S^o ewet, 533 yearling)!, at ao cents 1,798 40 May 30, 1878, told 585 fttt sheep at I7.50, sold in Man h and April , 3,937 50 May 30, 1879, sold 8,99a |)uund» wool, clip 1879, 500 fwcs, sas > yrarlings, at ao centu Ii798 4B May 30, 1879, sold 515 fat Mhccp at 17.50, sold in March and April . 3,937 50 May 30, 1879, on hand 500 ewes with lamb at I4.50 per 15 bucks for service at |ao 300 00 ' ' 535 ycArlings (shorn) at ^a . . . i>o5<> ^^ Add for anmmHntefert account— ' "* "' ' ^ '*'» * '"' ' " May 30, 1879, interest on |8a5 t year at 10 per cent, per annnm ^8a 50 ■> ' ' '' /' May 30, i87«, Interest on 18,705.90 t year at 10 per cent. per annum 370 59 May 30, 1879, Interest on J8, 71 a 301 year at 10 percent. ! ' ^ {, per annum 871 #3 "' Amount of interest credits v| 1 »> >i«> •1*1 *i »>'<»< |i>*>4 3' ",(-(' f r. J, •Ml.,;! U( (1 - Total returns from investment . . . .^,»,f,*,,f }»n>f<' #'8»894 5' Netretunit <5i'\ .' / ' . I13.413 89 A large proportion of the stock-raising in Iowa consists in the purchase of " store cattle," as the English farmers call them, from Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas, and fattening them either for exportation to England or fgr the Chicago, New York or Boston markets. The distance which the catde are to be driven is somewhat less, the grain and forage somewhat cheaper, atjd the distance to a shipping port or to market alpout, the same as from Central Ilhnois. There is alsci a gready increasing demand in Iowa for cattle for dairy farming. At the recent Natlional Dairy fairs and congres^s Iowa has taken the firft prizes for the best butter, and has attained high rank also for the production of the best cheese. The demand for these products all over the West is constantly kwCreasIng attd fhtty command higJi pirices. .^..:-^l ».3»5 ■ • I«.7J« 4« >. 5»5 • . 1,79* 40 April . 3.937 50 ». 5«5 • . i,79« 40 April . 3.937 50 35 00 >'' ' ;oo 00 )So 00 /• 1/ l3.5»3 60 18a 50 V"i ,, 1 ( »7o S9 ' .' .f \rx , f.^ ^ ^71 t3 ■;m .. W I • fi8,894 5a 113.413 89 consists in the call them, from s, and fattening Chicago, New »e cattle are to age somewhat market about owa for cattle liry fairs and »e best butter, on of the best r the West is 'S, . ; . •, ■ FOr^ULATION OJr IOWA. g^j Railrtadt and Sham NavigaUom.—Ao'MVL Ih traversed from cant to west by Bve railroad lincH, whit h, with their bnuichcs, reach nearly all the counties; theiu; arc, lx>)finninK with the northern tier of counties, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Haul, the Iowa Division of the Illinois Central, the Chicago and Northwestern, the Chicago, Rock Islanil and Pacific, and the Chicago, Burling- ton and Quincy. As all these have Chicago for their easienn terminus, so all of them, eitlicr directly or by the intervention of north and south roads, centre at Council Bluffs and Omaha, on the western bonier of the State. Six railroads cross tlk: State from north to south, many of them having branches. These are the Dubuque and Minnesota and its continuation, the Chicago, Clinton and Dubuque, the Davenport and St. Paul, the Hurling ton, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota, with which a northern branch of the Illinois Central forms a junction at Cedar Falls ; the Cen- tral Railway of Iowa, the Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Keokuk, and the St. Paul and Sioux City, which hugs the eastern bank of the Missouri. The entire number of miles of railway in opera- tion in Iowa, January i, 1880. was 4.750. Tliis was aside from sidings, double tracks, etc. , Population, — The growth of population in Iowa has been rapid, not quite equalling, perhaps, in its percentage that of some of its younger sisters, but sufificiently so foi a healthy development. During the last decade, when the tendency of the inhabitants of the States of the Mississippi valley has been to migrate to the newer west, Iowa has not only held her own, but has increased twenty~six per cent. The following table shows the population at different periods of its history. The official figures of the population in 1880 have just been made public, and they give a total footing of 1 ,624463. ,,4 , , ,^, .„, ' :j'„ii- \ . . . 386,013 • . . 5»9.o5S . . . 658,775 . . . 674*913 . . . 7*»i73* • • • 754#^9 . . . 903,040 ^^^ --J- . , . . _—,,,,-, --,- 1.194,030 Jta 1838 . . . 3a.8s9 In 1854 1840 . . . , 43. "4 1856 1844 . . . 75. » 5* »859 1846 . . . 97.588 i860 1847 . . . ts6,4jl 1863 1849 . • • . I5i»«9« »86S 1850 . . . 191,983 1867 , '!$» • ' • a?4»774 1870 1880 * tiia . . . a3o»r*3 I l:.^: ^m There are large German and Scandinavian elements in thr* population, but the majority of thr inliabitantA are of American birth. There \n one antall Indian rcHc-rvation of 693 acrti, occu- pied by a hand of the Sac and Fox Indian*. It i» on the Iowa river, in Tama county, and the Indianii number 345 ; 164 males and 181 females. They have made considrrttbU- progrcns in civilization, own and occupy permanent houses of their own, cul- tivate their lands and raise horses. They have a considerable amount of pro()erty aside from their annuities, good schools, and many of them have adopted citizens' dress. CouMtits. — There are ninety-nine organized counties in the State, the names of which follow: •' n. r/ I ... )ii|,ii >IUl I rill, I I In 1' > I'l. . i.ll|f V( Ij I.M > fll'J ^"' Pocahontaa. '" ,/ [ , Polk, 'lit. J )\>ttawatomit, |[ Poweshiek, Ringgold, Sac, flcott, ■'■'"'"'^ il Shelby, 'V'\ ill Sioux, 'i|, i^ i\ I t Story, „,/ J, J , , Tama, . , , ••1) I ~ , n;i. ( I , Taylor, '" Union, -^ "'t •,d uti Van Buren, "n In > > Wapello, .l<' prof^rciis in [f their own, cul- a considerable >o f|( 1} PocahontM, " Polk, 1? HxuwAtomict ^ Powenhiek, < , Rinugoid. Sac, ""•' Scott, .''.\'"f'»i< Shelby, '\ Sioux, .,.,,, J, „ Taylor, " ■' Union, 'ft Van Buren, u Wapello, ,^j Warren, Washington. Wayne, '"'I Webrter, '-'V* Winnebago, Winneshiek, Woodbury, ^Vorth, Wright. . . ' , • r le largest cities C/r/XS AHD LAMGK roWffS Or /OH'A. %^j and towns of the State, with the |)opulatinn of the first neven according; to the census o( \%Ao\ the otlier* according; to the census of 1875 ^' »;/ii; m: , it,. ^ De« Moinet . , DulMique , . Davenport . Burlington . Council niufh Keokuk , . Muscatine Clinton . . Sioux City , Ottumwa Mount (feasant Iowa City . Lyons . . Cedar Rapids Cedar Falls . Marshalltown ^ Waterloo . ' ' Waverley . Washington Oiikaloosji Fort Dodge . Fort Madison . I'l rJ • '\\t ■ I \ I I,, lt.4ol • *.aS4 > .8j4 I9>4S0 18,059 If,ii7 f.9«7 7,0*8 4.a9o 6,316 4.563 3.784 10,104 3.»7o 4.384 3,508 •,405 •,189 4.a63 3.537 4.305 . . , 1 Vinton ..... t,jl9 IndianoU 1)884 IVIU «,5j6 MiOregof . , . . 1,85 s CharlenCity . . . 1,169 I>c Wilt 1,754 Hamburg *.os8 Independence , . . 3,414 OMCola 1,701 Macjiiokcta . , . , 1,111 WclMtter 1,161 Atlantic i,8ji Albia t,88j Chariton >,I74 Mason City .... 1,703 Boone 1,331 Winterset 1,433 Newton ..... •,354 Lansing a, 180 Marion 3,047 Fairfield 1,343 Drcorah '.597 I . .1 t .. .1. ) .,li I. < . ..■ 'h , . Lands for SttUers. — ^Thc whole area of the State, which origi- nally belonged to the United States, has been surveyed. Of the amount — 35,228,800 acres — there have been granted to the State the School and University lands, and 3.449,730 acres selected (not all yet approved or patented) as swamp lands ; to railroad companies in the State about 3,000,000 acres, or in all somewhat more than 10,000,000 acres of lands. The greater part of the desirable government lands have been taken up either by pur- chase or pre-emption, or under the Homestead or Timbcr-Cid- ture Acts. There are, however, in the western part of the State, some lands, mostly alternate sections with the railroad land grants, still unsold. These arc generally double minimum .lan<|#,j ^»| i^ tbpy are hfsld at la.50 per acre. In the fiscal ; 'JSgi- v.w«i;afti»(«Ng» would have le organization popular in the ere well man- I rescuing the rupt eondftlbn. *0M IMMhiHANn IN IOWA. ^ahlrtl rhfm to prorur** ihHr ngHi-uhurat m«rhtn<>H for ra«h •« on«* huK (nonu'timm at emr ihirti) of thrir prrvioun crrtlit price, and th«ir farm Hupplirn in thr nantc way. ThiH roiirtc puriucd cnrrj;«'tic«lly for a nerirs of yrars. ban I'nabtrd thr Iowa farmrrt very jrrn'Tally to rrdrrm ihoir lan«l-« from mort^a^;eft, nrd though they had a succcsuion of poor or indifTcrrnt rropH, and did not till thiir farms to thr l)«*Ht advanta^*-, they havr c mer^fd into * condit'on of comparative* indrp»'nOHe to chant the praises of th« l*atrons of Huslandry or any other necret orj^anizaticm. All of these organizations have th«*ir faidts, and at times undoubtedly may exert a prejudicial inflm n»e on the intcrcsta f)f the State or nation ; but, at the time raised value of then; school-houses in 1879 was 1^9,066,145, an increase from $38,506 In 1849, thirty years before, of 241 times the amount. There were 21,152 teachers employed in these schools, yiz.: 7,573 males, 13.579 females, and the average compensation for the whole State was $3171 per month for males, and $26.40 foi- female teachers. The whole number of persons of school age of both sexes (between five and twenty-one years) in the State ■was 577,353, out of a total population of about 1,500,000; of Uiese, 431,317 were enrolled on the school registers, and the avei^e attendance was 264,702. The average cost of tuition per month was $1.49 per head. The total expenditure for school purposes annually was $5,051,478, or about $3.33 for each inhabitant of the State ; of this amount $2,937,308 was for teachers' salaries, $1,149,718 for school-houses, apparatus, etc., and $979,452 for fuel and other contingencies. The permanent school fund amounts to $3,484,411, and. is constantly increasing. The income from this, $276,218 in 1879, is distributed to the schools, but the remainder, $4,775,260, is raised by district taxa- tion a»d local funds. The teachini^ is for the most part of a Tcry high' order. ' J';*; V*' •'"•' • '"^t^ '-' =^' V *'v;'"-'- ''i-''^- '^'- ■*• i?«t^»^-. ■^ ■ - ■ ■ ■■ ■■""■' \ ' KM ,-. -.>{ -Vv-^. \ V i 4. Cfti';. ..V t \ w I ^"W^mrzz «54 •♦!. ■ // s OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. '■' -''I ' ' > ' CHAPTER IX. KANSAS. Kansas GtoeMiAMtiCALLV thk Cintral State— Its Boundaries— Latitude, Longitude, Length, Breadth and Area— Its Surface, Declination and Elevation at Various Points — Rivers— Lakes— Hills— No Mountains IN THE State — Geology and Mineralogy — The Geological Formations — The Quaternary, Tertiary, Cretaceous and Carboniferous and Lower Carboniferous Systems Represented — Fossils— Great Variety OF these— Economic Geoi/xjy- Coal — Salt— Lead and Zinc— Gypsum— Building-Stone, etc., etc. — Gas or Burning Wells— Soil and Vegeta- tion—Native Trees — Trees Planted under the Timber-Culture Acts- Flowers — Zooixkjy — Natural Curiosities and Phenomena — Climate and • Meteorology — Meteorological Statistics — Rainfall — Agricultural Productions— Tables of Productions of 1877, 1878, 1879— Live-Stock— • Valuations of Real and Personal Estate — School Statistics — No Mines or Mining excefi- Coal, Lead and Zinc— Manufactures— Popu- , LATioN — Indians — Sources from which Population is Derived — Counties, Cities and Towns — Schools and Education— Churches — Railroads — Kansas a Home for Immigrants. lUTj ' Kansas is, geographically, the central State of the American Union, and one of the largest and most enterprising of the great States of the central belt of "Our Western Empire." It is bounded on the north by Nebraska, on the east by Missouri, on the south by the Indian Territory, and on the West by Colorado. It would be a perfect parallelogram, but that the Missouri river cuts off a slice of its northeast corner, and hands it over to Mis- souri. It is situated between the 37th and the 40th degrees of north latitude, and between the meridians of 94" 35' and 102° of west longitude from Greenwich, and is 404 miles long from east to west, and 208 J^ miles wide from north to south. The latest Land Office Report makes its area 80,891 square miles, or 51,770,240 acres. ">•'• i;-^- ;•; ^^ ■- i" ^^'./z- :■' •"--'''■' ■■.- -^-xw Topography and Surface — Rivers and Lakes — Plains, Prairies and Valleys. — ^The topography of the State shows an alternation of broad, level river valleys and high rolling prairies, the whole forming a series of gentle undulating plateaus, sloping at an \ i::irmi»iime!iis^m!mSia^am--^^v^^>m<»^'mmimimi^ ii-.*ifeWVj..'>: k'''L!A;^^.-. . --.-^itfc?*'' DARIES — LatITUDK, , Declination and -s — No Mountains 3GICAL Formations arboniferous and Great Variety D Zinc— Gypsum — -Soil and Veoeta- er-Culture Acts— lENA — Climate and LL — Agricultural 8 79 — Live-Stock — OL Statistics — No NUFACTUKES — PoPU- >ERI VED — COUNTI ES, cHEs — Railroads — af the American sing of the great Empire." It is by Missouri, on est by Colorado. 2 Missouri river 5 it over to Mis- pth degrees of * 35' and 102° of s long from east nth. The latest quare miles, or -Plains, Prairies fs an alternation airies, the whole ;, sloping at an \ MNNMtl > ■m>mi»^ ■■ »r ."■- "". '-'^ .1**- ■■fi --.iT, ■>■', t*- .■ t :) ■ "'.,r,'l'*«A ■mmi, ■ ■ TOPOGRAPHY OF KASSAS. gjj average inclination of seven and a-half feet per mile from the mountains toward the Missouri river. Thus at Monotony the al- titude is 3,792 feet; at Wallace, Kansas, 3.319 feet; at Ellis, 2,135 ^'sc'; *' Abilene, 1,173 ^<^ct; at Topeka, 904 feet, and at Wyandotte, 707 feet. The elevations of correspoiuling points in the Arkansas valley and on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa F^ Railway, are a little lower in the west, but a little higher as we go east, showing a moderate declination from north to southwest, as well as a more marked one from west to east; thus, Sargent, at the west boundary of the State, is 3,129 feet; Lakin, 3,013; Kinsley, 2,200; Newton, 1,433; Burlington, 1,055, and Fort Scott, 912 feet. The principal rivers of the State are the Missouri, which washes its northeastern corner for a distance of forty or fifty miles ; the Arkansas, which leaves the State near the 97th meri- dian, after traversing the whole southern and southwestern por- tion of it ; the larger tributaries of this noble river, the North and South F'orks of the Cimmaron, Salt and Red Forks of the Arkan- sas, Chikaskia, Verdigris and Neosho rivers on the south bank, and the Pawnee and Walnut creeks on the north bank ; but most important of all for the State, the Kansas or Kaw river, one of the largest tributaries of the Missouri, with the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers, by whose union it is formed, and its numer- ous affluents, the Big Blue, the Solomon, the Saline, the Soldier, the Beaver, the Delaware, the Stranger, the Sappa, the Grass- hopper and the Wakarusa. There are also a few smaller streams in the northeast, affluents of the Missouri, like the Nemaha, etc. Tiiese streams form one of the grandest systems of water-coursefj in the whole country. Though thi: surface is rolling and attains so considerable an elevatiuu toward the western border of the State, there are no mountains, nor hardly any ranges of hills in the State ; occasion- ally the bluffs along the rivers are of considerable height above the streams, and in rare instances one or two isolated buttes, or -masses of rock, like Castle Rock, in Gove county, the Twin Buttes, in Rooks county, or the Bluff, in Clarke county, attract attention. The State is not remarkable for lakes or ponds, but ■•.v.-*,u,,i;^sa^iE^^;l^fa5@iafefe;-^,*v>^-:^iSstss^j ,;**• II liwimiit -teak. 1^6 Ot/Jt WESTiHty KMmtK. rather for their absence. There arc more in the comparatively arid western counties than in the eaHtcrn. The river valleys or river bottoms, as they are called, are very fertile, but except in the Ar« Icansas valley, are sometimes flooded by the swelling of tho streams from the multin)^ of the snow. Geology and Mineralogy. — Professor B. F. Mudge, the emi- nent State Geclogist, has described at considerable length, and with maps and sections, the geology, general and economic, of the State. The following summary gives as good an idea of itn very simple geological formations as can be obtained without a geo- logical map. As we have already said, the surface has a gradual but double descent to the east and to the south, or south-south- eUst. The streams follow the same general direction. The sur- fijice, for the most part, is a gentle rolling prairie, with few steep hills or bluffs, and the ravines are not often precipitous or deep. The soil which forms the surfacj of the whole State, in both val- \ty and high prairie, is the same fine, black rich loam, so common in the Western States. The preduir.mating limestones, by disin- tegration, aid in its fertility, but the extreme fineness of all the ingredients acts most effectively in producing its richness. On the high prairie it is from one to three feet deep ; in the bottom it is sometimes twenty feet. There are a few exceptions to this general fertility in the most western and southwestern counties, but they constitute only a small proportion of the whole. The State is so well drained that there are very few valleys with stag- nant; ponds, and there is not a peat swamp of fifty acres within Its boundaries. The lands toward the Colorado border arc often ■poken of as alkaline lands, but Professor Mudge says that they are not so. In fifteen years of exploration he had never found but two springs containing alkalies, and had never seen ten acres of land in one place which had been injured by it. Professor Mudge says that there is nowhere to be seen in the State any violent disturbance of the strata, marks of internal fire, w even any slight mctamorphic action in any of the deposits. The uplifting of this State and the adjoining ccmntry from the level of the ocean must have been slow, nniibrm and in a pef- |iehdieular direction, which has left aM the strata in a nearly kort- parativdy arid alh-ys or river cepi in the Ar. welling of tho itlge, the emi- >lc length, and conomic, of the idea of itH very vithout a guo- has a gradual •r south-south- ion. The sur- with few steep )itous or deep, tc, in both val- im, so common tones, by disin- less of all the richness. On in the bottom eptions to this stern counties, e whole. The lleys with stag- ty acres within order are often says that they i never found seen ten acres be seen in the of internal fire, the deposits, intryfrom the and in a pef- a nearly htm- GEOLOGY OF XAATSAS, gj/ zontal position. He believes, from his knowledge of western geology, that this took place after the rise of the Kocky Moun- tains, and probably did not come to a close until the Drift Period. A general vertical section of all the formations seen in Kunsas would be, in descending series, as follows : I. QUATKRNARY SVSTEM. A/luvium. The Hurface deposit all over the State, from five to fifty feel deep in the river valley*, and forming the richest toil. Bluff »r Lotii. Pound mott largely in the eautcrn part of the State, par- ticularly on the bank* of the Miuouri and for tome dintance bai k from it. It ii the same deposit seen in Iowa, MiiiMuri, and NebroHka. J)n/t. Mostly in the form of boulders found on the toin uf blufTs and high prairies along both sides of the KnnsoH river, ceginning ut the Colorado line, and a part of ten other counties in the northwest and west. The following are the names of these counties : Cheyenne, Rawlins, Deca- tur, Norton, Phillips, Smith, Jewell, Sherman, Tiiomas, Sheridan. Graham, Wallace, Greeley, Wichita, Scott, and small tracts of Gov* and Ellis. Ten of these courties are yet unorganised. The material of the Pliocene deposits consists of sandstone of various shades of gray and brown, with o<:rasionally a small admixture of lime. The total ', ' thickness of it is about 1,500 feet. When it ap|)ear8 on the surface it resemble* coarse gravel. It is seldom seen above the alluvium except where it caps the hill-tops in Wallace and Sheridan counties. Ill, Crktacicous System. This system covers an area of over 40,000 square miles, or more than half the surface of the State. It extends from the Colorado border in the west and southwest as far cast as Marshall and Morria counties, touching the Nebraska line in Jewell, Republic, Washington, and Marshall counties ; the Indian Territory in Kansas, '" Sttrrens, Seward, Meade, and Clark counties, and the Colorado line in Wallace, Hamilton, Stanton, and Kansas. JtfMkrara Group. The Niobrara occupies a belt of the country next adjoining the Pliocene, about thirty miles in width in the northern i* part of the State, but gradually widening to more than twice that ■i'^<^- MteAt in the Smoky Hill valley. It is composed of chalk and chalky ^, ^'t ) ahaleSi This la said to be the only genuine chalk in North America. It ranges from seventy-five to two hundred feet in thickness. The ahalet sometimes contain fine crystals of calc spar. The soil overlying thia group is rich and fertile and admirably adapted both for culture and graaing. , >, • ; ' aaiM."Si»*»i«tJ?'^»«'''*K***5^'^*"''''''*-'^ J •AiAii ■ ■#>! «1 . — I H •!• ;m t^; IV. ,0 OOk WaxTKRKf KM Nit a. Ftrt BtHtoH Gram/*, llttd group it rom|x)ti«il of » whitt or ytllowith limetionr, alxHit »iKty feci in ihickncM, a bliiiah hlu k or Rlnte-roloml •hale of aliout the »atn« thi< kii(iiidttnce of fowil »h«li«, and ranging from 50 tu 140 feet in thickneaa. Tlicrc are lume thin impure Iteda of lignite in the lower itraia, but nf litllc value. ''1ic Fort Itenton 04 ru- piea the central and northaaMern portionit of Iht tertiary •yatem in tlit State. !,.;»• I Dakota Grvmf. ThU grosum and chert l>eds. In the lower strata the limestones are more compact and uniform and the chert beds less numerous. This limestone contains from three to five per cent, of magnesia. The soil which overlies them is good, and the underlying limestone helps to fertilize it. Some of the oldest and best counties in the State are in these formations. Coal Measurts. The area embraced in the coal measures is about 9,000 square miles, and seventeen counties in the southeastern and eastern part of the State lie wholly or in part within its limits. All these counties are in some degree supplied with coal. How large a portion of this territory may be so situated as to give the opportunity for work- ing profitable mines cannot at present be decided. Moat of the tnin«-s which have been opened yield good and some of them largely profit- able returns. The material of the deposits of the coal measures, in which seams or veins of coal are found, are siyiilar to those of the Upper Carboniferous, but more varying. The blue clay shales and other shales are in some locations very thick and soft — sometimes 1,000 feet or noore. live landstones are firmer, and are used for flag and grindstones. Professor Mudge believes that the indications show that this part of Kansas was under the ocean, and then raised to dry land at least sixty times during the period of the coal measures. ,.,.....,., ,...* ;t 'hlte or ytllowUh I k or alAiei oforrd kracitletl with lime- and rangin|{ froin In impure Iwd* of 1 Fori llcnion o< ru- I nary •yatem in the uthwestern fwrliofi « in the Stale, and l»e nukitnum thick- >scil of sanditone. I>ei»t in the State, I, .ind very fertile. ed to pear mlture. >ni in lh« State ia ■homi/troki, I'liey cover wholly of i.early ao,ooo I'he Ktruta nre northwest in most shales, sandstone, . ^•d». In the lower orrn and the chert )m three to five per n ii good, and the the oJdeat and best sure« is about 9,000 eastern and eastern limits. All these [ow large a portion portunity for work- Moat of the niiiifs hem largely profit- coal measures, in »r to thoae of the le clay shales and d soft — botnetimes d are used for flag IV that this part of land at least sixty fOastl V OF KANSAS, «jq Vi LOWKK OR SUR-CARIIONirRRDim SvaTRM. Ktakuk lirouf 'I'he only rr|)reaenlatiun of the I^wrr (*arl)rinifrrous tn Kan«a» is (o Iw found in a small triangle in the rxtrrme souiheaat, in Cherokee tounty. Here alone in the entire State of K.utmt* there ia aome evtdctur of Icx-al dianie of the strata, whii h, however, may have taken place gradually, as there seems to tie no rviilen-gion of Mit< aoiiri, which contains sonte of the richest mines of lead and xinc in that State. Itoth metals, or rather their ores, have liecn found in ^ay- ing i{i4tintitiis in this corner of Kantas, along Short < reck, and nowhere else in the State, except in numt insignificant amounts. The thickness of the ntrntifK^d rocks of Kansas is \n all esti- mated by Professor Mu(l>;e as 5,210 feet. All these groups and formations contain more or less fossils, and some of them are very rich in them. In the li luff or Lotsi are a f<;w fresh water and land mollusks, the mastodon /^/^aMUus, the eUpluis Americanus, a gigantic ht)r»e, probably equus exceisus, and several small mammals. h\ the Pliocene there are numerous fossils, most of them silicified. Among th«*m arc bon^^s of deer, beaver, a large animal of the ox kind, two and possibly three species of the horse, one three-toed ani In the Permian and upper carboniferous groups there arc land plants and a considerable number of mollusks and corals. \n the coat measures are found fossil ferns and calamites, crtnoida ami trilobites, numerous species of fish, and especially fbttsil sharks, one with nearly 2,500 teeth in the lower jaw, and footprints of reptiles and saurians equal to the famous ones of the Conncctkrut valley. ^ ■"' " •) " Economic Gtetogy and MintrtUs. — Coal is thr first mineral In this State ii. ny points in fcri ng some- I. coking well » to the ton, ation. That ' rest, a shaft Ic to the coal ) are raised ion. in Cherokee *Jt 6,cxx),ooo ic is smelted Kan)i.-i« iMHSCMrs salt springs and nalinc dr|)ositH of Hufficient strength and purity to supply the wholr Mix^iiHippi valley if necTMsary. In the itouthwrHtern part of the .Statr, Ixlow the ijrcat b«'nr market. A more accessible region in that In the Republican and .Saline valleys, where there an.' <'Xtenslvc salt manthes, yielding a brine oi great purity. Tire magnesia in the brine just as it comes frcmi the marsh, is only from three to five-tenths of one per tent. (iypsum in loutid in many places in Kansas; in the western part of the .State, in Wallace (ouniy, in most beautiful compound crystals; in Sewanl and Mead counties, in the southwest, near the Cimmaron river, thrr<: arc beds of selenite crystals of great extent. In Marshall county, in the north, there is a heavy bed ol it underiyiiig at least four townships, It is manufactured at Blue RapiiiH. In .Saline county is another bed of nearly equal extent. It is in demand both as a fertilizer and for building purposes. Lime and hydraulic cement are produced at Leavenworth, l^wrence and Fort Scott. Kansas has a great variety of excellent building stone, limestone, "sandstone and gypsum, and all are extensively (juarried. There are numerous gas or burning wells in the eastern part of the State. There is probably a deposit of petroleum some- where in the coal measures, but borings to the depth of i,ooo feet have failed to reach it, though they have yielded a permanent supply of gas. A well at lola yields 10,000 cubic feet dally. Tliftse wells are at Wyandotte — one there yielding 48,000 cubic feet daily — at Fort Scott, Rosedalc and many other places. The illuminating power is about seven-tenths that of the best coal gas. Sen/ and Vegeiation. — From what has been said under the head of geology, the reader will naturally and correctly infer that there is very little poor land in Kansas; 1. e., land which cannot ■mKffit^tiitut^uib^iiSMhi^Jtr.^ 863 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. w \ I ■! I^i X-^V lilf ^-: by proper cultivation and irrigation be made to yield good crops. This is true. Aside from the barren salt basins and desert lands of Southwestern Kansas on both sides of the Cimmaron (if, indeed, that is wholly an exception), and some few gravelly patches in the northwest, both together not amounting to a single county, there is a smaller quantity of barren land in Kiinsas than in any btrt^e in the Union. We say this with a full knowledge that the counties west of the hundredth meridian are generally unorganized as yet, that the amount of rainfall is less than in tliC Eastern counties, and that where the land is as yet unbroken, the sage-brush and tlie bunch-grass grow, and but little else, and that except in the valleys of the streams, or when planted by man, there are very few trees, and the winds rush down from the Rocky Mountains with terrific force. We are not disposed to conceal or diminish any of these apparently untoward facts; yet we adhere to our declaration. ;^r,^<, > ^,{j This soil, beaten down by the hoofs of buffaloes for centuries, is not now their pasture-ground, and when the hard-packed roots of the bunch-grass and the sage-brush are broken up by the plow, and loosened so that air and moisture can get in, the rainfall increases, the soil drinks it in instead of letting it run away, and ^s the soil is broken up again, and planted or sown with wh<^:£it, or corn, or flax, or turned over to the blue joint grass, the moisture continues to increase, and in diree or four years the rain, which comes most largely in May, June, July, and August (four-fifths of the whole falling in those months), pushes forward large crops, while the trees which have been planted for about the same length of time, break the fierce winds, and help to increase the amount cf rain. Of five towns beyond the ninety-ninth meridian — Fort Hays, McPherson, Kinsley, Dodge City and Fort Wallace — the rainfall, which has hitherto been about twelve to fourteen inches, was as follows in the order in which they are named, in 1879: 16.26 inches; 32.05; 15.03; 15.43: 16.58. , The season of the year at which the rain comes makes an immen^ diiTerence; the growing crop has the moisture just when it needs it^ and it grows thriftily in consequence. Th'^' "^**«, Id good crops, id desert lands Cimmaron (if, few gravelly jmounting to a •arren land in this with a full th meridian are rainfall is less le land is as yet grow, and but reams, or when the winds rush force. We are lese appar<:ntly 1. es for centuries, :he hard-packed re broken up by e can get in, the of letting it run planted or sown the blue joint in three or four r, June, July, and months), pushes been planted for winds, and help ms beyond the Kinsley, Dodge herto been about e order in which iiiJi-oj; 1543; omes makes an e moisture just sequence. T)v* SOIL AND VEGETATION OF KANSAS. 863 rainfall will continue to increase, and will make this portion of the State as fruitful in its crops as any other. But if there should be a lack of rain, it is easy, with the constantly increasing elevation of the land and the rivers and streams westward, to frrigate all these lands when once broken to the plow, and then their yield will demonstrate that they are indeed the most fertile lands upon which the sun shines. Land which will yield thirty- five to forty bushels of wheat or a hundred bushels of corn, eighty bushels of oats and fifty of barley, or 250 to 300 or more bushels of potatoes to the acre, cannot be called bar :-n land, even if it requires irrigation to enable it to do this. Along the banks of the rivers of Kansas and else hev here are now many trees, those not on the river banks hav.ng been very generally planted. The practice of using the Osage orange for hedges in place of any other fence is very common and adds very greatly to the beauty of the farms as well as to the protec- tion of the crops and stock from the high winds. The trees planted under the Timber-Culture Act and under State laws have been possibly to a larger extent than was desir- able, the quickly growing trees, such as the white and yellow Cottonwood, willov/s, box elder, honey locust, ailantus, soft maple, and basswood or linden ; the State Agricultural Society have strongly urged the addition to the list of the elms, black walnut, white and other oaks, hickories, pecan, coffee bean, several spe- cies of ash, the red cedar, the sugar or hard maple, and the western catalpa {catalpa speciosa), a fine, hardy, and handsome tree. The native flowers of Kansas are very abundant and beautiful, and deck the broad prairies with a glory which must be seen to be fully appreciated. ,h ri? v'liofr tr-nii'^.^t/- .'*i 'v: , '/V ;l,.':r f Zoology. — ^The wild animals of Kansas are those of the plains, not those which >*€ peculiar to the Rocky Mountains, still less those of the western side of the Great Divide. The buffalo or bispn are not plenty anywhere in these days, but the remnants of the vast herds which formerly shook the solid earth by their steady, heavy gallop still pass at some seasons of the year )ver Southwestern Kansas and thence into the Indian Territory and .1';;>' '' ) ! ■*&i^'--' II 85^ Ol/X lyESTEKl^ KM/' /RE. Western Texas. The antelope of the plains is also found in large numbers in Western and Southwestern Kansas. We doubt if the elk is now to be found in Kansas, though some years ago he occasionally appeared in the western counties. Deer are plenty, and the smaller game, hares, rabbits, squirrels, and the rodents generally. Of beasts of prey the black and brown bear, the panther or cougar, lynx, wild cat, opossum, rac- coon, weasel, fisher, marten and skunk, are most common. The gray or black wolf is not abundant in the State, and the coyote or the prairiei wolf is found mainly in the central and western counties. GameJjirds are very abundant in the west and south- west, ducks, brant, teal, mallards, and wild geese being found in great numbers in their season on the Arkansas river as well as on the Republican and Smoky Hill. On the plains the prairie hen still exists in moderate numbers ; if it had been as plenty as formerly the " grasshoppers " or Rocky Mountain locusts Would never have reached the farm lands. Oth.^.r members of the grouse family are quite abundant, especially sage-hens, quails, and ptarmigan. Song-birds are numerous, and many of them of fine plumage. j ■ ■• •• ::,■•"■ -'^ \*';-'''r '••.;•*-■■>' The native edible fish of Kansas kre several species of pcir^, «unfish, catfish, roach, black bass, one or two species of trout, ett. Shad, salmon, salmon trout, grayling, an eastern species of black bass, etc., have been introduced through the Fish Commission, but the success of these introductions is not yet fully demons strated. The reptiles are much the same as those of Arkansas and Missouri. "■','■•■;/ • ,:''.;'!•.';.:._:, .^ :'.''-.■. ,../"''^''' . Natural CuriosiHes cmd PhinomenaX^'Ci a prairie 'State tike 'Kansas there are comparatively few of these. The most re markable are the Monument Rocks in Gov* county, the Pulpit Rock in Ellsworth county, the Rock City, and the Perforated Rock near by, in Ottawa county, the Table Rock in Lincoln county, and the masses of gypsum and selenlte in the gypsum beds. Some of the fossil bones of vertebrates in the tertiary had been so thoroughly silteified as to be converted into moss agates of great beauty. This is particularly the case In Wallace asd ^>ertdan counties. The moss agates of that region, not fossils, are very perfect. Ulfib2iSUi£»>- is also found in -n Kansas. We sas, though some western counties, rabbits, squirrels, ey the black and cat, opossum, rac- st common. The e, and the coyote ntral and western e west and soiith- se being found in is river as well as plains the prairie been as plenty as ;ain locusts Would members of the sage-hens, quails, 1 many of them of 1 »i I / ■■ ' i species of perdh, »ecies of trout, ett. n species of black Fish Commission, yet fully demons hose of Arkansas prairie "State like The most re^ county, the Pulpk id die Perforated Rock in Lincolit ite in the gypsum m the tertiary had I into moss agates e ki Wallace ar-d egion, not fossib, . .,.= V »NSAS -A DUO-OUT— 11 A^•^l■• Rl'SSlAS Vll.LAGE. KANSAS ■■:«Ksaatt)V^ss!(!i V* V> V ) ^ ■■•. <*i«a5:!&<>ff*Wt#J«s,'t>i««H* CLIMATE OF KANSAS. g^. Climate and Meieorology, — No State in the Union, certainly none in " Our Western Empire," has been so thorough in record- ing its climatic changes as Kansas. This has been due largely, indeed almost entirely, to the persistent and untiring efforts of the excellent Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, the late Hon. Alfred Gray, to whom not only the State but agricul- turists and scientists everywhere owe a debt of gratitude which can never be fully repaid. His admirable reports, prepared with so much labor and with such accuracy and completeness amid great bodily suffering and wasting disease, attest alike his philan- thropy and his devotion to his work. We may say in general that the climate of Kansas is a very desirable one. The summer months are in most parts of the State rather hot, the average mean temperature being for June about 75°, for July about 84.5", and for August about 77.5°. The extremes of the winter months are sometimes very great, though not of long continuance; the average minimum of December is about — 12% that of January about the same, while February was about ^^■^^. The mean temperature of December was about 31", of January about 24.5®, and of February 34.5°. These extremes are very great, but the air is so pure, and the extreme heat and cold are so tempered by it that the climate is a very healthy one. There are, as in all prairie States, at times, very high winds, sometimes accompanied with storms, though oftener not ; and these winds are sometimes destructive, and oftener annoying, but their general effect is puri- fying and healthful. The rainfall is increasing, and may, at some not very remote day, become excessive. A marked character- istic of it is that it is much larger in the months of May, June, July, and August than in all the rest of the year, and that the month of June has from one-third to one-half of the whole rain- fall of the year. With these general remarks we submit the meteorological tables of fifteen places in different parts of the State for 1877-1880. A'-y %; %, -K- 1(1 •% « t ' m :!■; ty 'I' 866 OVJt WESTEKX E/HriRE. \ ■M »*i#*A6iS»SM»i»4*Ww»*'*'*«*«*«*-»-^^^^ Ni 868 OUA lyMSTBKf/ R MP IKK. » ( fl- h N ^x ^n S-a 8-8 Is •Sg X a Pr. 30 «7 oo 41 .50 44 97 at .go •5° 4.0 -•.o 50 -1.0 -S.O 3-» -4.0 4:2 ».03 a. a* ■54 .90 •75 1.4a •04 1.60 HAINfAl.L Of UtAmAS, g^ SUMMARY OF RAIKFALL FOR YEAR ENDING OCTOBER. 1878. rikST, OK EASTICKN UKl.T. »tA jHniloHyr'fi, ! r.i « ram *i . . . . I^iannwotih. . ManhaMiin.... ulipviiilmc*. 1 J» *• J« "J 1 't* 14 1; IM M I.MJU I.. ' 47 ' 44 •>' '"•7 ^.JD t lt> I •! ,3 .11 J'*!' 14 !1» Is ;3 197 I OD 4.te A liJ > ta J 6; ').4t |.M ••V4 ••mI» "I »••• • 44,i n •< JV* 1 I) ) ! 4'H J.™ 4 *> I* •• 7« i t il 4« 7' 1 »J i .a t u« J 1 39 >4 41 79 hBCUNU.OK MIDDI.K UFJ.T. Omil ^■iliiia. ikUinw. .. Ml Phtnon . CffMrt,U,.,. it a»' 9i»J«'«,«4l 9(1 u>> i.ij; 9* 41' I •.'«" 97 4"'l '.J»7 i.ir' t.tt i.t| i.tf' .M I, I J* t yi a.^> i.« 170 I J7 I.]) i.oa .l9{ 1001 i.ja: a.l5' i.Ao, t.tj 1.91, i. ..,.|....|aJ4lt.o4 |.sl|f, I 55 4.«S I 11 M III jf.aA .4S|i '•91 ! ••09 ••71 •■»• •■•» 19* 419 t ••■•» IjJ* I lol 4.15 ^ lu JO I 5 « joo 1.1) 4 as? 4ll>' ja49 THIRD, OR WESTERN BELT. (■«|pl«nl Kintlsy, r*n Waiktra. iKxIgaClly.. »45 17 5I 9* Jnl ijoo 99 4» ».aa4 ««X J4 J.l«» 100 au| 9jboo 91 a.»o ui a. I] 5* 1 4 3* •13 40 .50 •75 .t4 •J .ti II. :iS .:a lo. develop her agricultural inter- ests have been crowned with the mo*t wonderful Kuccess. Her race for the supr<*macy in agricultural products has been rapid' beyond all precedent. Take wheat as an example: In 1873 she produced 2,155,000 bushels; in 187S. , ',3 15.358, leading all the States in winter wheat. In 1S79 the season was unfavorable for winter wheat, but favorable for tho spring wheat, ami the wheat crop in V nsas fell off to 20,551,000, but the crop of 1880 more than mak ,s up all deficiencies. The following official statement sh^^wg what were the agricul- tural crops of 1877, 1878, and 1879: l^inter Wheat bu. ;yc bu. pring WhMt bu. urn bu. larlay bu, P«M .. ,bu. BiKkwhcal bu. |li^h I'iM.IIIlM bu. ^wcet i'liUloe* bu. Sorghum nil. Cantor Baant Vbu Cotton .. "<«. Ka W". Hwnp tea. Tobacco R>a. Bro'im C ii\ Iba. Mulct niitl Hungarian., .tona. Timothy tona. Clover tona. Prairie Hay tona. Timothy Panture acroa. CInvrr Pa«ture acre*. Blur grasN Pasture . . .acm. Pmirie Future, under fence " Toul Number of Acrea S57,ii;.oo I i(),u;i.(:u K^t.Ue.oo I, il.iu »» 79.7040" ♦ :IJ.37 43,.>l8.oo I,7i6.i3 "0,78 J. 75 59769 »7.735 37 t .aoi . 70 71735 31,147.14 |6(,:, 19.00 35,319.90 9.79*« 4,a>''4 »i >.44r 49 91,399.31 553,7«70o S.595.304.99 Amount of Product. 10,800,399.00 J,?'^,<'54oo 3,|l0,4ia.ao ■03.497.".1"» '.•7JJ»J"» 19,708.481 nu 57,«744i 3, 119,084, ')0 <»i,43].9« 9,390,131 15 57«,3j6.oo ^i6,o93.8i 3.^77,630,5i 90,11.0,184 99 5*9,977 3» 9.050,001.77 4«>3*0']) 9,056,078.80 301 ,938 04 ' ,195 ,065, 63 578.M^ o" •0459 54 3o5,«7} 05 ».453»4 53.o»3 9" '■';4.4l4-»" • , „5»3» 335.909.89 iu7,tAa.i9 3,439,660.57 >43. S»7,03' «» 1) 6u+ 91.0^- •7.»»- 40. 3«- *J St 41.16 ia.64- iij.oo '«.3T+ 170, <«> lu V1+ 990 .» 740 «> Boo oa 9.60- i.«o- Avertga Pric* per Hutbel, Gall I.b. or T<»i. 3»- 73 + .ao- .6»- 1.00+ 30 i.oa '.a .10 .04- 4 «o+ 5.Jr+ 3.98- Averaga Value per Acre. »i«.7i- 6.7-3- '\^. 7 i< + 6.61- ti.a>- 4567+ 116 91- I7.*>+- "37+ 17.00 11.034- 55.»o 7400 J9.00 «o73+ «.93l lo.a6- 4.83 (?!., jpniinf nily an a^ri- Agricultural Hoard apriailtural Inter- rful succcbs. Her ts has bepii rapid 'nple: In 1H72 she ^58, leaclin^r all the: 'iiH unravorabU: for t^.it, and the wheat crop of 1880 more t were thr a^rricul r Acre. : (;,|| i,(, I or Ton. t Au^ I o»- 1.38- 151 i.ifr • «♦- •3H- 1.00 >"+ no aa 00 60- «o- ACIttCVlTVMAl CkoM OP ie4.WS.IS. %rWiMM. Rv* ><|>rliigWhMI. e>rii IWUy,, ,,... '••I* •■ N ii.^k«K«M. ■! Mt. Imh V"t*vm» ku -^w««i P-II4MM. i kti ^ irghum |*U Cmiiic IkiMH ,,,,,..,,,. .bu Oxiim Ik* rial .. ..' Im. tJSwc^. lU Rrwiiin < urn — . , ■ . . Ika, MilUl and llungarlan.. lona Tlini>tlhv MmU'>w iwM. Cto««f M>» FMlur* *ktt* I'ralrw t'uiurt acm Tutal . . . 444, If I on ~ > I ■• an •o.ifl II VV )" »ji 'i M.ato 1; I44.u*l •» , 4«,l»l It ';■<;« fl I ;di,4 tlMhoo «■ ^al *n 4,«j(', ,i< « •*v.ij «,r 4«4,71»K 4«»,4"»»» 4^,ijl.«» 4J«,«4S«> »4.<«l |« f4,««9.ta «M«Aji«i '|||,»,»,4M.I7 I Mm «• • iwr" *i M4.bl.«l •«•.«•• )• 4«4,7f> W «".»ii >■• «M,4)I;« >(ta,>4l.5l I If." MM UU ♦M.4MJ* Asm* w& Av*«aMW tBT mJOSi mtm. V4I1M pnrltM. ^r A«n •»4*' 1 >•< liio*- tl •» + 5* :,r» 1» IJl X !r 1U f« lic«- l»t '• k> .1 1*+ iinr- l>l«*f r llt« 11. *u ^ 1*1 nt: «f»«5 •» • t M n.4»- i«i 11 4»- 9*M» 'jt «tM 74<>.«a 10 »<•• n* Hf ««.r f »> jou 4.i»-»- 161- »!!♦ » oj t ;»: !.«*+ ll««- y^^ 4 7«t The vahie of farm products for the year 1878 is as toUows: FiaM proUucli , 949.9i4.4l4'>ii IncreuM in fitrni aninialt , , 6,401,871.30 ('riiiliictt of live Mock , IO^I),J,^<;.]J . I'rixluce ofganlvrit markaltd , >.. 347,510.31) A|iiaii«n protlucd S5>l4i >$ Horticultural products , . 1,^3,770.87 Total valuation of farm prodncit for 1878 169,677,067.31 Total valuation of all other pru^Mrty 3JI>i<>4<6H4 95 >■ III — • Grand State Total 1)00,841,753.26 Numitr of Atrti, AmouHt «m- V'«l»it »fta(k Prmitt*! «/ Primifai Croft a/ lh§ F»rm^ for 1879, Cropi. Wiaitr WhMil. Ryi S;>rliiB WImM. . ba. bu. bu. bu. , bu. )iu '. bu. :Vwh«at bu. Irlth PoUloct bu, Kw*cl folauwi bu. 8>ir|[huiii (ail. Castor BcaiM bu. Cuiioii , Iba. Fix bu. Hemp lb*. 'I'llwcco Ibl. DnHimOirn Ibt. .Millet and Hungarian. . . .tnna, Tiinoiliv Meadu\w luiu. Clover Meadow tout. I'r«lrie Meadow loni. rimuihy railure acres. > Clover Paature acm.j Blue-grsu Paature aCret Prairie Pasture acrei. Acre*. Producl I ValiM of Prudtlcl. «.»»•.«» oo 4J.67»«» 4it,l]9.cw 4J.lj«'* sn«**oo *.li7.oo 44.6 6jA> y74} ^■74 46 ,046.00 4I*.M '75 84 564 J5 4"7»9 656.57 '43 3» I -50.o« 4/' 7; 675 38 j 330 > 5 ! ;» " I 811 15 I 47»4J 7,769^9*6^ ! >«o,t»9,7eo.73 Averaga AvtraM vi»i.r Price per Average Bu ,Ib, or Tim. $ 9- Value per Acr.- per Acre. II »j- »IO«J- i»n + ■ ¥> 3: JtSf ■n- •4^ 15.70 f JO •3M- ••S + 3»i- 15 •» -&. H.jo ■ 1 10 + Jilt 7'3*- I.oo 115.00 4S J' 71 Il.»'4- 1.00 n.14- 171' 00 •09 •J30 897- 897- 1,00 910.00 .at 55.»o \t,r^ .lo o.iH 74.00 19.85 + ».8j. 4 '3- 11.69 • •5>- SST^- 8.4.- •■7*- 591- 10.34- 1.40- 3 >9f 4-47- '■^■.^'■.i.*ii)v^'Si^;;{'l»ii£j-/^ :;:;:, A"-- '■t~-i.rr ,ri \i 1 ,'lt i 1^ Ot/JI WMMTMMN EMUMM, The following utatUtion nHow thr number and inereftii« of tiv»- •tock in lite State from the cIum* of 1875 to the clo»c of 1879: LIVKkKK-K. Mmm. IMm mktmm ii»*mw» 1 1 1 1 1 J 'Mhiiftt r»Mi tft iii# •••«»t»9»»it»»*i tt" '» I'M MM »( iMrWM III 1 IMM ToMllaiM TmIWiIw 1 . fcWIMI ••# "SfA tV|4Vy^^^MM •♦*JJ ^:!^Ss:i 3t:S? r^^as *^*m IM»i«mM \SM» ►♦•fl«fc««| ••^•1 JI.1IMH.M •W.4W ir.»J».JI«4 ♦»4«4 |i.«*l •MU *W.«4I IM.UW 4.i|>.4*> nx;: |.,|i* ' %tPf^\ |i.«iMli M>m •«.»«.«?♦ UilMr Caul*. Mm». { •iHm. 1 J 1 I««,«a4 •4J.;*» < 1 i Wtlll-:::::::::::::::::::::::: 1 HCIVM* «.44i l<,4i',lti.4D ;)i.t»>.iM i,if«.a(4 4,44,fi4.4a »|.ll].4M«. •W.ll* M).n»«« tM.HM #(#i«,ti.«. Ptr ccfil of iMaraAsfl la 1 vsan ■ If. 4^ I4».»*» jll.iO* •.•9«.<>44 ■ .•A4.4*4 ru<*jiiii«A Tuuilall|» Imimm •'•.»»1.»4« T.ll*.V«4 ll.>*}J«* «•.■•• »j«".»i; ._!»•*'" •••♦••••♦° The following statistics show the amount not only of agricul- tural products but of other products of the State, valuations of real and personal estate, etc., as well as school statistics for 1879 : 'j,> «•/«•»* •'!( SUMMARY FOR THE STATE. 1I7I. Fidd product* |49.9i4.434 38 Increase in total vftlae of fa:m »niinali . . 6,401,871 30 Products 0/ live-stock io*4>5>339 3* Products of market gardens .... 147,51039 Apiarian products 55>i4i 15 Horticultural products 9,643,770 87 Total 169,677,067 3j Increase during the year l»79 160,139,780 73 8,504,684 30 ".5o7.7«3 46 307,393 48 94.789 30 488,594 88 181,033,857 05 l««.35S.789 74 Total valuation of products of 1879, $81,032,857.05; assessed valuation of property, March i, 1879, $144,930,279.69; real valu- • ., '.* i..h •' (I increaM of live- '• riosjc of 1879: *«•• MMttm. n j 1 i ||,»4f.«HM 1 M4«,*M*> 1 A4.. ■.. I1 M 1 «i.4tM««« 1 ll.lxt 1 tfi,t^t i| M,;;»i •vHm. i 1 1 iftS ».»»*«« •".!« 9(^«.l|f «• ll.tfc I.I4«,<>44 (.•^,4«4 *»"}}. 7^4 ^ «».4V'' |i.49<,t40 lot only of agricul- itate, valuations of statistics for 1879: 4 38 |6o, 119,780 73 ' 30 8,504,684 ao ".507.715 46 307, a9» 48 94.789 30 488,594 88 9 3» 9 ag ' «s >87 7 3» 181,032,857 05 "• l»«.3S5.789 74 ^857.05; assessed ,379.69 ; real valu- Uii- ■< irATHttCS OP lf4y$A9, %j^ aticMi of auMtftCii property, 1341,350,466.51 ; total valuation of ail property, fija',^; 1,187.86. Value per capita of productA of 1879, f97.8o— : real valuation per capita of aHueiuifd f)rof>erty of 1879, |la86.3i-f : valuation per capita of prmluitH of 1879, tof(cthcr with thr rral valuaticiii of aMtrsHctl property, 5^84.01 -f>. ln(:rvatc in cultivated area for year ending' Murcli 1, 1879, 1,370,493.82 ; numl)er of farm ilwcllin^n crcctcil during the year endini; March 1, 1879, 15,953; value of (arm dwellings erected durinjf year ending; March 1, 1879, |(^2,8o3,05.v Tax on each $100 of aasetsed valuation, f^.^t-^. Numlier of iirhool dintricta, 5,575 ; number of nchcK)! housen, 4.9^^4 ; value of Hchool huildin^H and ^routulH, $.V9 16,931 ; number of teacherH employed durin}; the year, 6,707; avera^^e wages paid, II37.09; total ttchool cx« )M!n»c.\ $1,590,794.30. The tables jfivcn al)Ove are instructive in many particularn. rhey show the rapidity with whiih thtr arable landM of the State -'Hi''J»S'i*i^!-jiJjntM!'-M-^ "ti I li m ! I;- §74 Ol/Jt WESTERN EMPIRE. that winter wheat is a tolerably sure crop, and its average yield is more satisfactory than the spring wheat. The culture of the castor bean, of flax, of the rice corn, and of the broom corn is larger in proportion to the whole farming crop than in any other State. That of sorghum and of the pearl millet is increasing. All of these crops under proper conditions have proved profitable, and some of them in future will be much more so. This is especially true of the castor bean, rice corn, flax, and sorghum. The new discoveries which enable the manufacturer at very moderate cost to produce a perfecdy crystallized sugar from sorghum, when cut at the time the seeds are hardening, will cause a great increase in the cultivation of some of its numerous varieties. The demand for the flax fibre for paper stock when the seed has ripened will increase the production of flax as yield- ing a double crop of seed and lint, and the recendy demonstrated fact that it is the most profitable crop to be used on land of new breaking will also increase its production. We should not lose sight in this connection of the important interest which Kansas has in the rearing of live-stock. In 1879, she had 324,766 horses and 51,981 mules reported by the asses- sors, a very fair amount for a new State ; tVs number of milch cows was 332,020, and of other cattle 654,443, making together 986,463 neat catUe, and allowing for omissions in the assessors' reports the actual number must have exceeded 1,000,000. The dairy products of the State for the year ending March i, 1879 were 1,059,640 pounds of cheese, and 14,506,494 pounds o butter, of the total value of $3,759,078.50. To this should be added a large sum for milk sold. The number of sheep was 311,862, not very large, but a ten-fold increase from 1870. the production of swine, Kansas stands eleventh in the United States, and fourth in '*Our Western Empire," only Iowa, Missouri and Texas having a larger number. In the qualitj' of the pork only Iowa surpasses her. In addition to her 1,264,494 swine at the end of 1879, which were valued at $7,586,964, there were in 1879 animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter (of which the swine formed much the largest portion) to the value of $8,665, 543. Western Kansas furnishes such abundant pasturage foi its average yield \e rice corn, and of 'hole farming crop of the pearl millet )er conditions have will be much more J, rice corn, flax, and |e the manufacturer crystallized sugar are hardening, will me of its numerous r paper stock when tion of flax as yield- .ently demonstrated ised on land of new )n of the important ive-stock. In 1879, )orted by the asses- 's number of milch [3, making together )ns in the assessors' led 1,000,000. The ling March i, 1879, 506,494 pounds of To this should be mber of sheep was ise from 1870. In veuth in the United only Iowa, Missouri, qualitj' of the pork ■ 1,264,494 swine at 5,964, there were in hter (of which the ^e value of $8,665,- dant pasturage for '■"■33»| OKCIIARD AND VINEYARD PRODUCTS. 875 cattle and sheep, and such vast crops of corn, rice corn, etc., that the raising, and especially the fattening of cattle and sheep for market, ought to be and will be one of its largest industries. The orchard and vineyard products of Kansas are remarkable for a State so recently setded. In March, 1879, there were reported, 1,867,192 apple trees in bearing, and 3,979,062 which had not yet borne their first crop ; 58,482 pear trees in bearing, and 1 54,265 not yet in bearing ; 4,784,076 peach trees in bearing, and 4,049,801 not yet in bearing ; 160,940 plum trees in bearing, and 264.968 not yet in bearing; 432,726 cherry trees in bearing, and 678,426 not yet in bearing. The climate is favoiable to fruit-gro'ving, and great care is taken to obtain choice varieties. Not so much attention has been paid to viniculture, but there were 3,419 acres of vineyards in the State in 1878, and 84,079 gallons of wine were made that year. Apiaculture, or the raising of bees, has been from the first a favorite pursuit in Kansas. In 1879 there were 31,190 stands of bees reported in the State, which had produced 370,398 pounds of honey, and 10,949 pounds of wax. Prices 0/ Necessary Merchatidise, — The question is often asked by intending emigrants : Are not the prices of everything we have to buy in these new States and Territories enormously high ? We can buy land cheaply enough, and the prices of horses, cattle and sheep are re?:».»onable, but is not this cheapness more than made up by the exorbitant price put upon everything we have to eat, drink, or wear, upon our furniture, agricultural or mining tools, lumber, etc., and is not the price of board and lodging very high ? h i n rt', .i r; We answer. No. The average prices of most articles are not higher and some of them not quite so high as those at the East. The following list of prices prepared by the late Hon. Alfred Gray, late Secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, with great care, shows the average prices in Kansas, in the autumn of 1879. They have not materially changed since. The prices of board are given as at Topeka, Lawrence and other cities of the State. In the country villages and on farms, they are materially lower. <- , ,^ •^:»Sia8i®»3iaeii5«E3.«S!U»*iK*#4SS^ 876 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. PRICES OP MERCHANDISE, ETC Prinlt. Merrimac, per yard 6c, to 8c. Cucheco 7c. tu 9c, Ordinary S<^' DRY GOODS. ' Ailaiiilc, r 7c. I)wit{lit Star 9^c, Booth MilU 8^c. ' ' ' Mutlin — Bleached. I,on»dale, per yard loc. Fruit of the Loom loc. Great Falls, Q lOc. WamsuUa i>>j|C. Broun. Indian Head, per yard 9/^^. Atlantic, A 9>jc. jfeans, eU. Salem, all wool filled, per yard. Tricot Farmers' Farmers' and mechanic!i' cassia mere Cheviot shirtings loc. to I2|^c. Ticking, l>est feather 20c. to 25c. Ticking, best straw loc. to I2^c. 45c. 15c. 30c. 2SC. y ; '< !■ Sugar, [For one doOar.) 10% pounds A. • • 'I ;.• ' 10^ poi'iit."'. (jr.inulated. -(j M'/i pouixls CofTee, "C." 15 pounds Blown. Coffee. (For erne dollar.) ^' / 4 pounds Java. .'-.I./y 5 pounds best Rio. 8 pound.' good Rio. Ten. (Per pound.) '' ' japan |0 3<;to|o8o Gunpowder tio to i 00 Imperial 50 to 80 Oolong, choice ^ ' 60 Mistellantout, Rice, per pound f o 08 Codf sh 8 Mack«rel, per kitt 70 Bacon- Shoulders, per pound 6 GROCEklES, Bacon Mams, canvassed.. . . |o 1 1 Hams, plain -^'i Sides. 8 Apples, per bushel 1 00 to I 20 Potatoes 70 to 80 Sweet potatoes .jo . Butter crackers, per pound .. . • i^t^ Coal oil, per gallon 25 Flour and Feed. XXX, per 100 pounds ^2 75 XXXX 3 2$ 75 80 60 70 2S 30 Chairs. \f indsor, set of 6 I3 50 to |6 50 Canr seal 6ootoi8oo Splint bottom A $0 Easy, each 7 50 to 20 00 Tables. Kitchen <2 50 Breakfast 3 cxj to 4 50 Extension, oak, ash and wal-> nul, per foot 1 ; ;l ;.:[- « '5 Bedsteads, etc. Cwtafie ' $3 00 Walnut 5 00 and upwards Bureaus ^ 12 00 and upwards Patent Com meal Bran Shorts Corn, per bushel, Outs Hay, per ton, loose 3 «> Hay, per ton, baled 8 00 FURNITURE. Rocking Chairs, etc. Common wood |l 00 to ^l 50 Cane seat . 2 50 to 6 00 Washstands 2 00 to Commode and drawer stands. 4 30 to Kitchen safes 4 00 to Ktiv^h 2 50 6 50 7 SO Lounges, etc. Carpet ^8 00 to jSjO 00 Wood, extension 2 25 to 4 50 Sofas IS 00 Bedroom suits 35 00 to 150 00 Parlor suits 40 00 to 100 00 PRICES OF MERCHANDISE IN KANSAS. CARPETS. «77 Hemp, per jrard |o 20 Rag 40 Ingrain, cotlon chain aj to 50 Two-ply, all wool 55 I" 9*) Thr«e-ply, »lt wool no to I 10 Tapestry |o 90 to |i 25 Hody HrUMcIs | 50 to 300 China itraw matting 18 to 35 Rattan matting 35 'o 75 Oilcloth, per square yard. ,. . 3510 75 MISCELI-ANEOU.S. Stwts, Conking, complete I17 00 to ^50 00 Heating 5 00 and upwarda Hamtsi, lie. Farm, double %ii 00 to I36 00 Carriage, double 35 00 to 71; 00 Buggy, single. 13 00 to 50 00 Saddles, men's 3 50 to 35 00 ' ' BUILDING MATERIAL Saddle*, women's Ij 00 to | 35 00 Collars 60 to 4 00 Hnlters 50 to 3 00 Horse blanket! 1 10 to 1000 Shotlng Honts. Putting on set of all-new shoes ^1 50 ReseMin^ old shoes So Common hoards, per M. . Studding and joist Fencing Flooring Siding , D stock Shingles Lath Finishing lumber 30 00 to 60 00 Doors I 35 to 3 00 Sash, glazed, per window. , 9010 a 50 |33 50 33 00 33 50 35 00 to 35 00 18 00 to 35 00 35 00 3 00 to 4 00 4 00 Blinds, ))er lineal foot lo 35 Cedar [wsts 17 to 20 Lime, per bushel 35 Plastering hair, per bushel. . 20 Brick, per M 7 00 to 8 00 Plaster Paris, per barrel. ... 3 50 Nails, per pound, by the keg. 4^ Stone, per cord, delivered. .. 3 50 to 4 00 Stone, laid in the wall, perfoot. 8 Building hardware is sold at Eastern prices, with freight added. ,,)' AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. Plows, etc. Wood beam, stirring, from 10 to 16 inches fio 00 to f 16 00 Steel beam, stirring 13 00 to 20 00 Iron beam, stirring It 00 to 1800 Prairie breakers 18 00 to 35 00 Sulky, 13 to 16 inAes 38 00 to 45 00 Riding sulkies, for plow at- tachments 3Q ;9Q to 35 00 Corn planters "' 45 00 WOODEN AND WILLOW WARE. Two-hoop buckets 1 7c, Three-hoop buckets 20c, No. I washtubs , , 50c. No. 2 washtuhs 650, No. 3 washtubs 75c, Snail willow clothes bukct 65c, Cultivators, walking or '. , riding ^19 00 to t2^ 00 Harrows, Scotch 6 00 to 8 50 Harrows, vibrating 9 50 to 10 50 Hay rakes, sulky 23 00 to 34 (X> Wagont. Farm two-horse f 60 00 to 70 00 Spring 90001012500 Buggiet. Covered (90 00 to ^275 00 Open 60 00 to ijo 00 Medium willow clothes basket . . . 75c. Large Willow clothes basket 90c. Washboards i5e. to 25c. Half-bushel market baskets 10c. Half-bushel feed baskets . 30c. Bushel baskets, stare ' 40c. iswww«f«j*sr!ras;i:oA»>9i'«!wa?«ii>K>se^^^ ■T ^ij^ ifi " '-'-^^■"'''**'-' ^ ' ■--'• '-■ ini Hi -yi>S/.V .^, v« lllf^ OUJt WESTEKJ^ EMPIRE. FRESH MEATS. Boiliiitf pieces, per pound 5'- '" ^• Rtinstini; pieces tOc. to \t%c. Steak, round lor I^in '^^yi^- Porterbou*^ I'^c. ;1 Mutlon, tU. , Chops per pound loc. to la^c. Kunst IOC. to I3)jc. U» ia>miS5»«®a»»J.*-/ssf«s».^*v.iWi«'^^^^^^ ui .A i I :i \ B9o OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. Atchison, Kas., Kansas ( ty. Mo., and Ple;ta ./Kxevjii ; ,.if;>i mu ;,i,/Cmsas City, Burlington & Santa Fi Railroad. — Northeastern terminus, Ottawa, Kas.; southwestern terminus, Burlington, Kas.; connecting at Ottawa with K. C. L. & S. R. R., and at Burlington whh M. K. & T. Rly. Kansas City, Fart Scott & Gulf Railroad. — Northern termi- nus, Kansas Cit>', Mo.; southern terminus, Joplin, Mo. LASDX ton IMMIGRANTS. 88 1 mt Hill, Mo.; west- M.; with branchrs ;nce south to EIclo- ; and from Newton ■'" ' "i' ' •'■' I us, St. Louis, Mo.; Ls City. finus, Leavenworth, Leaven worth,. Kas., Denver, Col.; with oncordia; from Sol- *om Salina south to -Eastern terminUb, F'c.cas; with branch ty, Kas. 'as Railway. — East- s, Paola, Kas. ; con- ailway, and at Paola istern tefminusi Si. •rryvale, Kas.; with o Girard, Kas. —Eastern terminus, fCas, ; connecting at oad, and at Parsons 'V" V. •" «^— Northern ter-. southern terminus, inrale southwest to 7ad. — Northeastern minus, Burlinorton, & S. R. R., and at '^brtft^fn t^rmi- Dplin, Mo. AftinufactMres. — There are no statistics of manufactures in the State since 1870 which even approximate accuracy. In 1870, with a population of 373,299, the census report, always imper- fect on manufactures, gave the following statistics: 1,477 manu- facturing establishments; 1(139,456,939 capital employed; $54,- 800,087 of annual product. In the ten years since that time, the population has increased three-fold, the assessed valuation certainly three and a half times, and the true valuation from $188,893,014 to $447,61 1,187.54. The annual product of man- ufactures in the State cannot fall short of $aoo,ooo,ooo, and may exceed that. Though there are no cities of the first or second class in the State, there are many active and growing towns and cities which are actively engaged in manufactures of all kinds. Lands for Immigrants, — With the immense influx of immigra- tion in the past four years the greater part of the government lands east of the 98th meridian have been taken up, the excep- tions being for the most part, those lands which were at too great a distance from railroads or markets, or those which were less fertile, or swampy in their character. West of this meridian, the government lands are yet to be bought of good quality, and at the usual rates, $1.35 per acre outside of railroad limits, or $2.50 inside. These lands ran also be secured under the Homestead or Timber-Culture Acts or pre-empted; and some of those west of the looth meridian under the Desert Land Act. If the lands are to be immediately cultivated we would suggest to the immigrant that he should not go beyond the frontier of set- tlement; because the rainfall, which, though increasing, is yet scantyv will not have ^» bendioial an eiifect upon the newly bro- ken lands which are i&olated, as on those where the new breaking is continuous; and if, as may be the case, irrigation is required, it is better and les9^ expensive that it should be undertaken by many farmers than by one. If the lands are intended for grazing, it makes very little difference where the selection is made, so thaf there are streams for watering the stock, and ikvt settler plants his treesr so as to aAbrd them shelter from the winds and Qoid. Bunch grass willi afford good pasturage, and as the land is brokePi blM^'^,.^?«I.f* -^-r ■.■,*«*»!.*'«-« J 88a OUK H'F.XTKKy EMPtKR. I There are school, univemity and so called swamp lands be- longfing^ to the State, to be had on favorable terms, in almost all of the counties. The railway companies all have lands to sell, along their lines, throughout the State, at prices varying from $3 oi" %\ to $'2 per acre, according to location, and on very favorable terms of credit. We have spoken of these at length elsewhere. If the immigrant has some capital he can often buy partially improved farms on better terms than to break up new land. The soil is good enough to insure good crops every year; but he should be sure of his title. Very many restless spirits, bur- dened with debt, are anxious to dispose of their farms at even less than the cost of the improvements in order to begin again un- der morr favorable circumstances, and there are many cases in which a shrewd settler with a little capital can come into posses- sion of an excellent farm with the hard labor of the early work on it done to his hand by the man of whom he buys it. i ' ' Popuiaiion. — The following table shows the population of the State at different dates since i860, and other particulars: 11 Vmt. lie PopuUlinn. Mitlo. Femalea. Purpo.« ur Tax. „"^"? . ."{fH Enr(,ll<..| In lion. 60 per cent. «35.8j7 575."J« ».I7« 4l,ntl 146,939 ait,87S ss».m 4N>M> ».I',J»7.*)5 36,ia6/xjo 9t,iaf,8Ai 128,406,510 ■ 38,fi98,8ii i44«3u>a8o II yean. 'I School. 37.4»3 *,3lo 45.441 a6,4oa >('9.74» 199,010 »".575 •83,3»« MIX The population, which ha* so rapidly increased within the last decade, counts 109,705 of foreign birth and twice that number of foreign parentage. In the beginning, there were two distinct im- migrations, one from New Fngland, New York and the Northern States, and the other from the South, struggling fiercely and bit- terly for the supremacy. The settlers from th^ North triumphed, and made it a free State. Of the in flux since 1 870 probably a fifth has been of foreign birth; Mennonites and their coreligionists from Russia, Germans, Scandinavians, French, Italians, English, Scotch, Welsh and Irish; and with these have come also large iwamp lancN bc- ms, in almost all ve lands to sell, ce» varying from ion, and on very these at length "ten buy partially ak up new land, every year; but less spirits, bur- fir farms at even o bergin again un- ire many cases in ;ome into posses- )f the early work buys it. population of the articulars: )rSchix>IAK.| p „ii 1, lc.w.a.5.Vd EnmlMIn >> yean. 3r.4»3 *,)IO 4S.44I S*;i^ "«.«• 199,010 "35,598 •♦•'!■! i77,8o« ed within the last :e that number of re two distinct im- and the Northern r fiercely and bit- North triumphed, 70 probably a fifth eir CO religionists Italians, English, come also large rorvi.ATios op tub state by counties. ggj numbers from all the Atlantic States, Canadians, Mexicans, and of late negroes, making their exodus from the Southern States to Kansas, as pr«*-eminently the land of fn^cdom. The Indian population, which in i87oamormted to over 10,- 000, occupying sev<'ral huge resrrvntions, iuis, by the action of the United States government in obtaining their lands by treaties and annuities and removing th«:m to the Indian Territory, been greatly reduced. There are now only 690 tribal Indians in Kan- sas, all of the Pottawatomie and Kickapoo tribes. The Indian reservations still include 102,026 acres, but the tide to a part ot this will soon be extinguished. Omnties. — There are 104 counties in the .State, 78 of which were organized and 26 unorganized, in March, 1880. Their names, area and population in 1H79 were as follows: CoiintiM. I. I«av«nworth . t. ShawnM. .. ■ ]. AlRhUon .. .. 4. l)uui;lu» i. C'hcrnkM BDirrbon i|.«liell9* •3. 005 11,656 •»,4»4 •«,333 11,193 11,041 11,901 11,900 ",498 lojeli Counl'iM. I 40 Chautauqua . 41. Harvey 41, Nemaha 43. Mariun 44. Allen 44 Coffey 46 Uiibome 47 Elk jfi. Ultawa 49. Jackson . . . . },i (iieenwuod . SI. Hhillips 51 Rice 53 Lincoln 54 R«*V 55. M'lrm 56 Pawnee 57 .lUworth. . . . ]8 Anilirsun. .. ^9 RuMtll . (n. Wa ihaunsee. «i Davia 6i Woodiion . . . . 6) Ruiih A4 Ellii 65 Rooki 66 Norton 67 Chate 6ft rord 69 Edwardi . ... 70. KIramaa 71. Slanord 7a. Trtgo 73. Haider 74. Prait 75. Barbour 76. Hodgeman . . 77 Dewur, 78. Graham 6,1 540 r» »54 v. 2)8 ».»55 7-" *'7 7-' 7=6 !'■' %¥> 407 504 710 900 900 900 1,080 648 710 *» 1,016 79» 1,134 864 $00 I:- "•,537 >",44<' 10,167 10,154 lQ,ll6 io,f>77 H,757 8,731 8,101 7,95* 7, sol 7.448 7.4>9 7,197 7013 6.74> 6,616 6,51 < 6,»45 6,087 6,058 s.iii 5,14" 5. "04 4.797 4.743 *,83« 1,801 >.S99 •1364 1,310 1,158 1,084 t,ui6 •.738 7SO 1,500 CountlM. I 79 Arapahoe. 8u. HuAalQ... 81. CheyeniM. 81 Clark ... 83. Comancha H4 Fouia 8) (Irani . ... U Greehy... 81 Ciova 88 Hamilton tf) Kr.mai... 1)1, Kearney . (yi [.unr ..... 91 Meade — 93 New 94 Rawlini .. OS StoM .. .. 96. Sequoyah. 97 Seward .. 96 Sheridan.. 99. ijlierman.. luo. Slanlon, . . 101. Slcvcni ... log. 'I'homat .. 103. Wallace . . 104. WichiU.. Popuhtion of State in 1879 . 57* 1,010 1,17a •.•5) 1'6 1,080 XfAo f ,o8(» 648 1,080 ««4 lyoio 1,010 744 849.97* gy^, i?t*'*'**'''' ■r^ .^Ak. 8ii4 OUk WKSTK.KS EMPHth, %: Citiei and Towns, — An already stated, none of the citicf of Klflxai have sk-x attained fo thft second rank, but many of them are growinj,' rapiilly; not s(* last ind«:ecl as the mushroom cities of the mininj; regions, which to-day may have a pcipuhition of 5,ocx) and next week not 200. In the West every nettlc- ment is a city, whether it lu^ 100 or 100,000 inhabitantn, iind most of them ^q through the farce of having a municipal organization. The followuig are all the cities which, in 1879, had over 1,000 inhabitants: I^wvenwnrth, I eiwi^nworth county. . .. 16,5 Jo To|)«ka, 8h«wne« countjr ISi45l Aichlnon, AichiMin eoumy iSi'*^ l^wrannr, UouKlat county 1,478 Wichltk, he(lt(wick county 5,3J5 Fort ScDtl, Duurlion county \\0^0 Wyancloiiv, Wy«no>inty 4i06i Ottiwn, Franklin county 3>S°7 Stiina, Saline county 3>38j I'traons Labette county 3,iJ0 Independence, Montgomery county. . . a,8a9 Newton, Iliirvey county *i539 Junction City, Davi* county S,34S Oltthe, Johnion cuuitty a,a6o Ueloit, Mitchell county >)I94 Wlnlirld, Cowley county tiioi ()Mge City, Otnge county 3,003 I'aoU, Miami county 1 ,973 Uurltngton, Coffee county Ii740 ftutchlnion, Reno county ttT^P Clay <"enter, C'Iny county 1,600 Manhattan, Uiky county,. ,, l»$U Empire City, Cberokec county ,, 1,591 Mound City, I.inn c )unty i>497 Humboldt, Allen county told, which, by judicious management, may be made to realize 55 per acre. If. this is accomplished the fund will eventually reach more than $13,000,000, the interest of vy^iich will be annually distributed to the schools. But this income, amounting in 1878 to $314,380, is only a small item in the amount annually raised for the support of public schools. In 1878 the amount raised and expended for common schools in the State was $1,261,459.14, of which $980,435,07 was paid as "^ges to the teachers, this male teachers receiving $32.99 per month. of the cities of ^ul many of them mushroom cities a population of |cst every setUc- inhabitants, and 'ing a municipal Is which, in 1879, ""n«y I,7B» '<'n^ thcne teachers in 1878, atul \W: niimbrr had incn ased 1067(^7 in 1879. The whole number of stholar'i rnroll. d was 188,884, and the average attendance about t 13,000. In th«! lattrr year there were 5,575 school distnctH, -ind 4,934 si hool houses, and the vaiue of school-biitlding'. with about 50 professors anil nearly 1,000 slulents. There are also many collegiate schools .ind seminaries, gi 'Tilly denominational, which are for the most parr 'veil sus -d. The immi^^'ran' to Kansas may feel fully assured thai lis children, if h^- ims any, will not suffer for the want of advantages of education. (Jhmhes and Reli^ous DenotmHatioH'' — In 1878, with a pop. ulation of 708,497, the aggregate membership of the nin# leading denominations was 135,713, nearly one-fifth of the entire population. Their church edifices and other church property was valued at j{2,037,5oS, Of these the Catholics had the largest membershij ,as they include as members all their Adherf*nt population), reporting 63,510 adherents to 223 organ- izations. The Methodist Episcopa' Jhurch came next, though with many more church organization., having 1,018 churches and 33.767 members. The Baptists were next, with 334 churches and 16,083 members. These were followed by the Presbyterians, with 229 churches, 8.961 members; the Congregationalists. with 1 57 churches, and 5,620 members; the Lutherans, with sHchurches and 4,560 members; the United Presbyterians, with 43 churches and 1,469 members; the Protestant Episcopal Church, with 36 parishes and 1,389 members; and the Univepinlists, with 16 congregations and 354 members. There an^ also Mennonite churches, churches of the Disciples or Campbellites, and a con- siderable number of other minor denominations. In the order .<1SlW»»ae--.t«U«ltt«:*tUis2'ir!^ ■ ,•«"•- 0UII WgSrgMN MMrtMM. of the valiuition of thrir churrh property, the difTi>rent ilrnomina- tinnn stand an follows : tho Mctluxliftt* firnt, thrn cnnNeci i\\ ely tlu; Prtrshytcriaim, the CatholicN, the Con^rr^^utionalints, thn H.i|>tiHtii, the Kpiiicof>alianH, LuthcranM, United Prcidiytcrians, %\m\ UnivernaliMts. Such, HO far as we have twcn able to prcnent them, arr the ailvanla^trs which KanH.iH offcrn to the immigrant; — a frrtilr Koil, •n agreeable though rather warm climate in itM tummrr half, with ft very wiile range of temperature brrw«'rn winter and ■ummcr; land oauily tilled, ami a ready and Hiire market for all that iH produced; a wider range of production than moHt uf the States; an intelligent, enterprising and liberty-loving po()ulation; good schools and churches, ami an abiindanc<; of both. Ihe people who have migrated to this State arc not given to long* ings to go back either to the ICastern States or Kuropc. Wo cannot close this sketch of Kansas without paying a tribute of respect and honor to one man who has passed away while this work was in progress, but who had done mon; to make Kansas what it is to-day than any hundred men in it. The Hon. Ai.i'kED Gkav, for fourteen years either Director or Secretary of the State Agricultural Society or the State Board of Agriculture, was born at ICvans, Krie county, New York, December 5, 1830, of Knglish parentage. His early education was obtained in his native village. Filial duty led him to en- deavor at the early age of fourteen to support his widowed mother by his own labor. At the age of nineteen, after the death of his mother, he commenced a course of study which culminated tix years later in his graduation from the Albany law school and his successful practice of law for two years. In 1857 he removed to Quindaro, Kansas, and soon abandoned the law for farming, a pursuit for which he had a passion. His farm, gardens and herd were the finest in the State. He was palled to fill many offices of honor and trust in the State, and was a member of its Legislature. From 1862 to 1864 ^^ served as Regimental, Brigade and Division Quartermaster in the Union army, and gave proofs of extraordinary ability in the dis- charge of his duties. In 1866 he was made a director in the jfr'-rcnl (Irnomiru liir'n coniieci ti\ ely >»'j(ati()nali»ti«, ihr ltd rrrnhylcTun*, t Irnt thrm, ar»« th«* Ml; — a fj-rtilr noil, its siitnin''r half, iwvt'fx winittr and In ic market for all \\ than most of the loving' population; (<• of both. The ><)t jfiv«;n to long- I'-uropr. without paying a has pasHcd away lad done more to indred men in it. :;ither Director or r the State Board ^unty, New York, lis early education ity led him to cn- I)ort his widowed een, after the death / which culminated my law school and id soon abandoned id a passion. His e State. He was in the State, and to 1 864 he served rtermaster in the ' ability in the dis- a director in the T^ .5? '4'BWW' )',■!' ~ I ^^^J ^J^ 'V ^^BBBHnBBjaHBBisiBWw ■> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) !.0 lu lU 12.2 I.I 11.25 12.0 U il.6 Uf _. tliDtographic Sciences Corporalion •^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716)875(^503 H tal CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Serii CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for historical Microreproductions / Instlti't canadien de microreproductions historiques wmm SKETCH OF HON. ALFRED GRAY. 887 State Agricultural Society, and continued in that position pro- moting its interests till it was merged in the State Board of Agriculture, when he became its Secretary, and selling his farm moved to Topeka. Here, though in failing health, he wai inces- sant and unremitting in his labors. He was the organizer and soul of that unsurpassed exhibit of Kansas at the Centennial. He had a genius for statistics, and everything bearing upon agri- culture was the object of his careful solicitude; no State Agricul- tural reports in the country bear any comparison to his in fulness or in perfection of detail. While wasting away with pulmonary consumption, he remained in the harness to the last. A letter to the writer, dated but three days before his death, makes no allusion to his personal condition, but is filled with important in- formation relative to the condition of his beloved Kansas. He died January 23, 1880. Happy may Kansas well be if she can replace him with a man of like ability and industry. , r .•.('?'■ ■' ' i •rl.. !• .•!■ ; ' .1 f,M. CHAPTER X. LOUISIANA. '■ nil) .■• 't;!, 1 . ■1 ( I ! ' V.' J' Louisiana not wholly within '* Our Western Empire" — Its Location — Its Extent and Area — Its Surface and Topography — Rivers. Lakes and Bayous — Geology and Mineralogy — Iron, Salt, Sulphur — Other Min- ■ ERALS — Soil and Vegetation — Forest Trees — Zoology — The Jaguar or ' American Leopard or Tip.er, Alligators and Crocodiles — Climate — : Malarial Fevers in the Delta — The Uplands Healthy but Hot — Me- teorology of New Orleans and Shreveport — Agricultural Productions — CoiTON, Sugar, Rice, and Corn — The Soil Fertile, but the Farming Poor — Live-Stock — Manufacturing and Mining Industries — Commerce ' — The great Facilities enjoyed by the State for Foreign and Coast-wise • Commerce — Railroads — FiNANCESr-PoFULATiON — History as bearing on ,; Population — Mixed Races largely prevalent — The State not largely increased by recent immigration — parishes or counties — principal ^ Towns — Education — Churches — Not specially attractive to Immi- '' GRANTS AT Present. - ' ■--;■.•. -^■';, ;.-■-- ^ -■!,^ ■■,-j a.: i .^ .....i;. \,..- • Only about two-thirds of Louisiana lie within the bounds of "Our Western Empire." Its commercial and political capital. sM^^ai®^?*^-^*' 888 6UK WKSTEKf/ EMPIRE. New Orleans, thft chief city of the Southwest, is on the eaiit ban of the Mississippi river, as are several other considerable town: Its boundaries are: On the north, Arkansas and Mississippi; o the east, Mississippi, and for the greater part of the distance th Mississippi river and Sound; south and southeast, the Gulf o Mexico; and on the west, Texas, the Sabine river being th boundary for about three-fourths of the distance. It is situate between the meridians of 89° and 94'' W. from Greenwich, am between the parallels of 28° 56' and 33° N. latitude. Its extrem length from east to west is 398 miles, and its extreme breadt from north to south 280 miles. Its area is 41,346 square milei or 26,461,440 acres. • * "^ •< •> Surface and Topography, Rivers, Lakes, Bayous, Sounds ani Gulfs. — The highest land in the Sta»;e, the hills in its northeri and northwest portions, does not exceed 240 feet in height From these uplands there is a gentle slope both towards th( Mississippi river and the Gulf. The delta of tiie Mississippi, espe cially below New Orleans, is below the level of the Mississipp at the spring floods ; and at least 8,450 miles, or one-fifth of th( area of the State, is only protected from annual submergence b; the levees. With the exception of a tract in Southeast Cali fornia, once a part of the bed of the ocean, the greater part 01 the State of Louisiana is the lowest land in "Our Western Em pire." The rivers are the Mississippi, which has a course o about 590 miles within the State, and is now, through the labot of Captain Eads, navigable not only for the largest steamers bu for all ocean steamships of the first-class, from its mouth to ani beyond the northern boundary of the State; the Red river, on of its largest tributaries, which enters the State near its north west corner and crosses it diagonally to the 31st parallel, wher it joins the Mississippi; the Washita, the largest affluent of th Red river, which cotnes into the State from Arkansas, and wit its two large branches, the Tensas and Boeuf, drains the norther parishes of the State; the Dugdemona, the Saline Bayou, an the Bistineau river and lake, all tributaries of the Red rive The Sabitte riVef, as we have already noticed, forms a part of th w^dtem boundary of the State, but k-eceives no considerable a |t, is on the eaiit bank considerable towns. and Mississippi; on rt of the distance the )utheast, the Gulf of )ine river being the Stance. It is situated from Greenwich, and latitude. Its extreme its extreme breadth 41,346 square miles, Bayous, Sounds and hills in its northern 240 feet in height, pe both towards the the Mississippi, espe- el of the Mississippi es, or one-fifth of the nual submergence by t in Southeast Cali- I, the greater part of 1 "Our Western Em- liich has a course of w, through the labors largest steamers but om its mouth to and :; the Red river, one state near its north- 31st parallel, where rgest affluent of the 1 Arkansas, and with r, drains the northern e Saline Bayou, and js of the Red river. 1, forms a part of the \ no considerable af- RIVF.RS AXn FIWOVS OF LOUISIANA. gg^ fluents on the east bank. The Calcasieu and Mermenteau are considerable rivers, both having several tributary bayous or slug- gish streams. East of the Mississippi are the Pearl river, with its tributary, Bogue Chitto, the Tangipahoa, Tick fa w and Amit6. There are, besides these, several large estuaries or bayous, which afe really secondary mouths or outlets of the Mississippi, which in flood-time convey a large portion of its waters to tiie Gulf, and at other times drain the greater part of Southern Louisiana. Among these are : Atchafalaya Bayou with its series of lakes and inlets; Vermillion Bayou, Bayou Teche which connects with it, Bayou de Large, Bayou la Fourche, and the lakes, bays and es- tuaries which discharge thoir waters into Barataria bay. In the ordinary sense of the term there are no lakes in Louisiana, all that are so called being either estuaries, bayous or expansions of rivers. Thus Lake Pontchartrain is a land-locked estuary whose waters are salt and rise and fall with the tide; Lake Maurepas is closely connected with Lake Pontchartrain, and partakes of its character; Lake Borgne is only a sound or bay; Sabine lake, Calcasieu lake, Lake Mermenteau, Grand lake. Marsh lake. Lake Charles, Grand Cheniere, Caillon, Lake Washa, and the rest are all estuaries connected with rivers or bayous. In the northern part of the State there are ten or fifteen so called lakes which are mere expansions of the Red river, or some of its tributaries. There are numerous bays and sounds along the coast, indenting the alluvial delta of the Mississippi in all its borders. Geology and Mineralogy. — Three-fifths of the State, including the Mississippi basin and delta, the Red riyer region and basin, ahd the Bluff or Loess region, which comprises nearly all of Cal- casieu, St. Landry and Lafayette parishes, and a long but narrow strip east of the Mississippi river, belong to the alluvial and diluvial formations. The Mississippi delta proper covers ovei* 1 2,000 square miles, and its deposits are from thirty to forty feet in dfepth and of wonderful ffertility. The remaining two-fifthi of the State is, fot the rtiost pAirt, tertiary, the formations in thtt riorthwest and west-northwest parts of the State being subdtvi*- sions of ^e eocene. There are occasional small outcrops of 1 % 1 » V/.f . ..jmmmmam^^^ms^ |M . . vOUR WESTERN EUPIRR. cretaceous strata in the northwest, west and central parts of the State, and in these are found Hmestone, gypsum, and salt-bearing strata. Below the alluvium and tertiary in thv; southern part of the State, there are deposits of sulphur, and at one point between the Sabine and Calcasieu rivers, the lioring of an ar- tesian well demonstrates that, beginning 428 feet below the surface, there is a deposit of sulphur 112 feet thick, which will yield from sixty to ninety-six per cent, of pure sulphur. Of other minerals and metals Louisiana has not a great variety. Brown coal (lignite) is found in the tertiary in considerable quantities and of moderately good quality. Iron (bog ore, probably) and salt are plentiful in this region, and on Petit Anse island salt has been mined to a depth of sixty feet below the level of the Gulf, fifty-eight feet of it through solid rock-salt of the purest quality. This was in great demand during the late c^mI war. In the cretaceous rocks, ochre, marl, gypsum, lead, sulphate of soda, sulphate of iron, and a very pure carbonate of lime are found. Petroleum has also been discovered, but not in sufficient quantity to pay for working. Copper and quartz crystals, agates, jasper, cornelian, sardonyx, onyx, feldspar, of fine quality, meteoric stones and numerous fossils have been found in the tertiary. Soil and Vegetation. — The alluvial and diluvial soils are of extraordinary and unsurpassed fertility. The delta lands are admirably adapted for the culture of sugar-cane, cotton, rice, wheat, barley, sweet potatoes, figs and oranges. The orange is quite as successful, and of flavor fully equal, to those grown in Florida. The Sea island or long staple cotton is grown on the islands of the delta, but on the main land the upland or short- stapled cotton is most generally cultivated. The tertiary region has not so rich a soil, but with proper culture yields good crops. Indian corn yields better there than on the alluvial soils, and cotton is successfully culUvated. A portion of the tertiary region is covered' with pine forests, which are heavy but not dense, and these lands, though healthful, are not productive. About one- fifth of tho area of the State is too swampy and marshy for cul- tivation, and mucli of it is covered with lofty cypress trees, from w^ch the Spanish moss hangs in graceful festoons. The othejr, 1 ■• SI entral parts of the in, and salt-braring tho southern part ami at one point borinyf of an ar- 28 feet below the Kt thick, which will sulphur. Of other at variety. Brown derable quantities ore, probably) and inse island sale has : level of the Gulf, the purest quality. : civil war. In the , sulphate of soda, ; of lime are found, n sufficient quantity stals, agates, jasper, ; quality, meteoric in the tertiary, iiluvial soils are of 'he delta lands are r-cane, cotton, rice, tiges. The orange 1, to those grown in ton is grown on the lie upland or short- The tertiary region ! yields good crops. i alluvial soils, and r the tertiary region but not dense, and ctive. About one- ^nd marshy for cul- cypress trees, from stpons. The other rXSJlS AND V GETATtON. 89I forest trees of the allu 'ial region are the sweet-gum, ash, black walnut, hickory, magnolia, live-oak, Spanish, water, black, chest- nut, white and post oaks, tulip-tree {liriod€Pi(iyoti),\\x\K\^w, I'lorida anise, lance-lcaved buck-thorn, four or five species of acacia, wild cherry, pomegranate, holly, arbor-vitac, tillandsia, lime, pecan, sycamore, white and red redar, and yellow pine; in the tertiary lands, sassafras, mulberry, poplar, hackberry, red elm, maple, honey-locust, black locust, dogwood, tupelo, box elder, prickly ash, persimmon, etc. Along the river banks, the inevitable Cot- tonwood, willow-basket elm, palmetto, wild cane, pawpaw, wild orange, etc., are found. Of fruit-trees, the peach, quince, plum, fig, orange, pawpaw, olive and pomegranate are cultivated with great success; the apple and pear do not thrive so well. Local to- pographers classify the lands of the State as "good uplands;" "pine hill lands," usually not very fertile; "alluvial tracts;' "Bluff or Loess regions;" "marsh lands;" "the prairie regions;" and "the pine Piats." The grazing in the uplands generally is excellent; in the Attakapas country, along the Atchafalaya and Bayou Te'jhe, the pasturage is unsurpassed in quality. Louisiana is a land of fragrant flowers, and the sweet perfume of its orange blossoms, magnolias, jessamines, oleanders, virgin's bower, its innumerable varieties of roses and its thousands of other sweet-scented semitropical and tropical flowers, which grow wild upon its rich alluvial lands, feast the senses with perpetual delight. Zoology. — The wild animals of Louisiana are for the most part the same as those of Texas, though there is a greater preponder- ance of reptiles. The jaguar or American tiger, the most for- midable of the North American Felida, is found in the cypress swamps in this State, and in Texas and Arizona. The cougar, puma, panther or American lion, is also an inhabitant of the swamps, and this wild-cat and perhaps some of the other Felida are also found. The black and brown bear are more common in the uplands; while the raccoon, skunk, opossum, otter and n^pstpf the rodent§ are abundant. . .vf|. •,. .., -. ..>ww ,. Alligators of great size and ferocity abound in all the bayous, and are destructive of cattle and sometimes of human beings. U , % ''^^%. iiifiM 893 00k WRSTkkN kMP/KR. It is believed that the crbcodiie exists in the cypress swamps here as well as in Florida. There are several species of marine turtles and land-tortoises and terrapins. The lizard tribe is largely represented; the gecko, chameleon, lizards of all kinds and sizes, as well as a great variety of batrachians, the horned ind common frog, many species of toads; and of ophidians, rat- tlesnakes, vipers, moccasins, horned snakes, and a great variety of harmless serpents are common. There are many birds of prey: among them are the bald and gray eagle, the king-vulture, the turkey-buzzard and other vultures, kites, owls, hawks, gulls, and, very numerous in the bayous and in the gidfs, bays and sounds west of the Mississippi, the pelican, which has been recognized as the pntron bird of the State, which very gen- erally bears the name of "the Pdicah State." Cranes, herons, ibises, flamingoes and other waders krc found only in this State and Texas of "Our Western Empire; " and wild geese, many species of wild ducks, brant, teal, and some swans are inhabitants of its lakes, bayous and bays in their .season. The game birds, wild turkeys, pigeons, partridges and several species of grouse are plentiful in the uplands. Birds of gay plumage, including the macaw and paroquet, and many others, and a great variety of song-birds, among which are the mocking-bird, the cedar bird,' several of the finches and tanagers, a great variety of hummin^- bii'ds, a:nd orioles are abuiidant in the forests. ^ '" '"^ Climate. — The climate of New Orleans and of the lower por- tion of the delta is somewhat malarious, and bilious and conges- tive fevers, remittent and intermittent, are prevalent. The yellow fever is seldoth entirely absent from this region in sum- mer, but becomes epidemic only about once in four or five years.' Strict sanitary supervision is maintained, but the drainage is difficult. By careful attentidn to cleanliness the city is healthier than formerly. The yellow fevter made fearful ravages in 1878, and reappeared in a milder form, in 1879: 1 880 has been generally; healthy. The cholera has at times made feirful ravages hfirtj The water is so near the surface in New Orleans and most oF* the adjacent region, that all burials are made in cells of vaults, built above Hie surface. Th'j climate of the upland region is m i c cypress swamps sptjcifs of marine he lizard tribe is zarcls of all kinds :hians, the horned of ophidians, rat- is, and a ^^reat There are many nd gray eagle, the Itures, kites, owls, s and in the gidfs, pelican, which has ;e, which very gen- Cranes, herons, only in this State wild geese, many ans are inhabitants The game birds, species of grouse 3lumage, including nd a great variety >ird, the cedar bifd, iriety of humming- i of the lower pof- bilious and conges- : prevalent. The this region in sum- four or five years. ut the drainage is he city is healthier rl ravages in 1878, has been generally arful ravages heir*, rleans and most of in cells of vaults, ! upland region is AGKICULTURAL PKOPUCnoXa. ggj healthy though warm, and that of the delta in so in winter. The table on next page, giving the meteorology of New Orleans, which represents fairly the region of the delta and of Shreveport, in the northwest of the State, which shows tliatof the upland country, will exhibit more satisfactorily the climate of the two sections than any general description. Not only from its climate, but from the habits and customs of its people, its productions, Aiar- k^ns, etc., Louisiana will be a more agreeable region for immi- grants from Southern and Southwestern Europe and from the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, than for those from more north- ern climates. The French, Spanish, and Italians, and the Swiss and South Germans will do better here than the North Germans, Scandinavians or inhabitants of Great Britain. Agricultural Productions. — The staple productions of Louis- iana are cotton, sugar, corn, together with a moderate quantity of rice and the cereals. The cotton production of 1878 was 2 1 4,483,050 pounds, from i ,348,950 acres, a yield of only an average of 159 pounds to the acre, or about one-third of a bale, a very small return for land so rich as that of Louisiana. The yield of 1879 was not quite so large, though a trifle more per acre, being 175 pounds. At the price per pound in 1878 this yielded but $13.97 per acre, including all the cost of cultivation, picking and ginning, and of course was unprofitable; the price in 1879, ten cents, gave $20.20 per acre, but even this is not profitable. There is no land in Louisiana devoted to cotton which ought not to yield at least a bale (480 pounds) to the acre, and of the delta lands th^reare npne which should yield less than two bales to the acre. The farming of Louisiana is, however, for the most part very slovenly and careless. The sugar crop in favorable years, of v;hich 1878 was a good example, does bet- ter, yielding 250,000,000 pounds, an average of 1,700 pounds to the acre (a (sMr crop is stated to be from 2.5QO to 5.000 pounds), which at the current price of that year was worth $93.50. The drawbacks on the cultivation of sugar-cane are that, it is an ex- otic and never comes to perfection here ; that the only w^y of propagation is by layers, which after a few years run out and require i|ew ^ock; that it is only about one crop in three that *, •4!r;!«fife!fjliii(si&fc M OVR WRSIEKS MMPJJtS, is I I , > [1 Ml ! Ill •iniuadutaj, ■iiniiTj dui.ij, IUIIlll|(4f|^ •Jtiivjaduiaj^ •4 I IS; .1 A I* MM mm T^mi il I.. ,•;. c/S MQ I n;;; -Jyd r '<< ltd; «) g xu Jii'Mj 5 .'I i! .' lio nin ^lit)' *" :(H>hI » • * ■ ' in i4 p!3|j)sanM«g a'B'I'H ■ > ■> • • _"?* SB _. 8 ot ^ »• ■" ■itipioinH u«aW «<7^^«f 'aintusduiai •» > »w M ?! IT M 'uni«j>dui«x eij on K h- ' in 'UIIIKjyduuj, uinunoipt 'Mniuaduia^ uinultx«|/y iiKiairs.?; ?S!"9a^s I' 7^ ^L tjiftj ^V I !;c,s^£'& J I -i 'r : mi .11 i b I u ■s I I II 5.r I AGRtCVLTVRAL tKODVCTtOSS, 8»'as estiiinat^d at $350,000,000. It h^ J^^flljj.jpfnqmxtjBcl to t|ia|{ sum in tl^P mQre recept years* ' ■ ' ' 1 • Railroads. — Qi;sidffs iU immensp traffic on the Mississippi anjc Hc^ rivers by ste^n^er, New Orleans, the commercial capital of 'iiii_i.j.' f ^iK'Mr on her Ku^ar amount ul rcliiud worth ol Hour uiul Ihimbcr and tiinlM.r, liul cigum. aiul malt lo not much exceed \i tite Sute conHittM |tly worked, a Nmal! Anse island, and a Jommcrct. both for- ports »hf in «»f rr kI id New York, Mah- lorniu. In tharativrly short rowtr;,: one fron\ New Orhatin lo HraHhcar, which connects rhere with Morgan's steamnhip line to (ialvcMton, a line from Vicksburg, MiHsitsippi, to Monror, which may at Home time ponnibly be extended to Shreveport. and one irom Shreve(M)rt west, forming a parv of the Texas Pacific line. The entire railroad lines operated in the State have a length of only 495 mile*. Financis. — The State is heavily in debt, hut h;i8 repudiated a considerable part of her debt and scaled the remaimler, re were repudiated ; and the bonds which were acknowledged were reduced forty per cent, in order to bring them to $12,136,166. A part at least of the interest on these is in default. FSypulation. — The following table gives the population at dif- ferent dates: YlAM. — — 1810 Poi ULA- no*. WiftTM. fill Cni, •MM. 34.5 363,065 364. J 10 None. 66s,o88 61,827 336,114 •74.IH7 i8. 940.»63 455^3 4«3.«9« t..i. 1— «f«< M 18^,119 ■«,..-,..... 54.144 The great increase from 1870 to 1880 has given rise to the suspicion of error in the enumeration, and it will be investigated before its final acceptance. Of this population a vt.vf large proportion are natives, not only of the United States, but of the State. This is due to the ■Atoatt»i»'»i a ft ^>«< fc Ivt^j^*ttji:« v^I*^-;.?;: J i' i I ' I 1 H, ':\ 89S OUR WESTEBN MMPIRE. circum^Unces uad«r which th« Sute was settled. Discovert by th« French in 154/1, the fir3t permanent settlement in tl Cplony or Province of Louisiana was made in 1699 by the san nation. U remained a French province and largely peopled I dv: French till 1763, when it, was secreUy ceded by France Spain, apd remained till 1800 under the control of tiiut pow( a, considera^ble mflux of Sp^i^ish settlers migrating to its ri( Uadi. In i8qo it was retro€ieded> to France, and in 1803 Wi pMrchased frpm France by the United, States for $i5,ooo,cxx), < whi^ $3,750,000 was allowed tOi be set oiif by the assumpti( of the claims of citizens of the United States against Frani g;rQwipg out of French spoliations upon American commerc This, though assumed by the government,, has never been pa tp th^ sufferers or their heirs The Province of Louisiana : tl^s purchased, comprised nqarly the whole of the present Stat of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota Te ritory, Nebraska,. ,mo' ^f Kansas* and the Indian, Territory, pa oC Cplorado, m^st,c- Wyoming, andnth/e whol^ qC Montati Idaho, Oregon, and Washington Territory. Most of that pa of; \ Lpu jsiapa lying east of the Mississippi was purchased fro Spain in 18 10, and annexed the same year to the Territory 1 Orleans, as Louisiana itself was called. It became a State April, j8i2, with its present name and boundaries. The pop latioaof Louisiaria is very largely composed of descendants French emigrants, with a considerable percentage of mix blood ; these people are usually termed Creoles, whether pure or minced blood. There are also a moderate number old French and Spanish families of pure blood, and somew exclusive manners. The remainder of the population are American stock, with some admixture of Ivishi English, Germa and Italians. The Negroes and mixed races form a large cc stituent (^bout one-half) of the population. , There have ne^ be^ any greal: accessions &'om inmoiigratioQ, and except in large towns there are not likely to be. The Ci^eQle , populati aff^i ip^^^i^ely w/edded t0j<(rf^ ideaa, aod while friendly and gc hw(3i^e4i dp flptn en.couj»g«fJmmigirationk,- llhciprJevaJence, malarial fevers and occasion,^)! ^pl^f^mics of yellpw fever de settled. Discovered nt settlement in the i in 1699 by the same ^d largely peopled by ceded by France to control of tlmt power, migrating to its rich nee, and in 1 803 was es for $i5,ooo,cxx), of off by the assumption states against France American commerce. , has never been paid yince of Louisiana as of the present States innesota. Dakota Ter- Indian Territory, part : whole qC Montana, Most of that part i was purchased from ar to the Territory of It became a State in >undaries. The popu- sed of descendants of percentage of mixed 1 Creoles, whether of moderate number of blood, and somewhat the population arc of Irish, English, Germans, ices form a large con- n. 1 Tbejre have never tioQ, and except in Uie ?he Cveoie , population bile friendly and good Tib© I f ri&valence, Atlantic States. v,r' ■<. >■■. :ri;fvr iff ■>■• "t ■'''ii''oi li' to ytyuvyw- ■ ,ili',-f f; ' '.f.<-^ • >.| (• ',;<■) •! CHAPTER XI. MINNESOTA. I'M-! ,'w ■■■■-! i --iKkk Minnesota the Centre or North America — Its Situation, Boundaries, Di*.. MENSIONS, AND ArEA — SURFACE OF THE COUNTRY — ThE ThREE SloPES — Rivers, Lakes, etc. — The Lake State — Seven Thousand Lakes— Geol- ogy AND Mineralogy — Some Gold and Silver, more Iron and Copper—' Minnesota an Agricultural Statb — Soil and Vegehation. —Rich Soil — Forests — The Bio Woods — The Prairie Lands — TkEF.-PLANTiNG in Mn; •• NESOTA — Fruits — ZoSlocy — Climate— Its Salubrity — Advance of the Annual Temperature as the Country is Settled — Peculiarities of thi! Climate — Meteorology — Navigable Rivers and Railways — More than 3000 Miles of Railroad in the State — Projected Railways — Land Grants — Agricultural Products — The Crops of 1878, 1879, *nd 1680— *i Special Crops — Gen. Le Due's Efforts to Introduce the Amber Cane — Statistics of Crops — Grazing Lands — Live- Stock— Statistics of Live- stock — Dairy Farming — Statistics of Butter and Cheese — Manufactures — Lumber and Flour, the Leading Articles — Immense Quantities of BOTH Produced — Other Manufactures — Valuation and Wealth — Popu- lation — Statistics of Increase in Thirty Years — Nationalities — The Indian Population — Education — School Fund— Public Schools — Uni- versities, Normal Schools, etc. — Counties and Cities — Valuation- Population OF Cities and Towns at different Periods — Religious De- nominations — History — Conclusion. biu: .if,-/ft*»«.s :''f' If, as is of^en said, Kansas is the central State of the United States, and Colorado the central region of " Our Western Em- pire," Minnesota may fairly claim the higher honor of being die central State of the North American Continent. Its boundary at the north is British America, Manitoba abutting upon it at the northwest; at tlie northeast, for about li^o miles, Lake Su- SVkPACE OF THE COUNTRY. 901 >rol>ationers. The |ans, Episcopalians, the Protestant de- 58.000, and an ad- lot likely to attract >m Europe or the r<•^ -iii.r •il. ■'I I) II fl ;...••••, J: ; ■ " 1'' "■■ ,-t oM i\- I I 4TION, Boundaries, Di- -The Three Slopes — lousAND Lakes— Geol- RB Iron and Copper — EiATioN. —Rich Soil — I'rer-plantino in Mir; •• iTY — Advance or the -Peculiarities of thi; Railways— More than CTED Railways — Land 1878, 1879, AND 1880 — ucE THE Amber Cank— c — Statistics of Live- Iheese — Manufactures tfMENSE Quantities of >N AND Wealth— Popu- 1— Nationalities — The Public Schools— Uni- Cities — Valuation — CRioDs — Religious De- >tate of the United Our Western Em- honor of being Jie ent. Its boundary tting upon it at the > miles, Lake Su- perior forms its boundary ; on the east it joins Wisconsin, being separated only by the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers ; on the south it is bounded by Iowa, and on the west by Dakota Ter- ritory, with which it shares the rich and fertile valley of the Red river of the North. It is just about equidistant from the capes of the peninsulas which send off their annual icebergs into the Arctic Ocean, and the narrowing neck of land which, by its vol- canoes, lights alike the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, from Newfoundland on the east and Vancouver Island on the west. It lies between the parallels of 43" 30' and 49° N. latitude, and between the meridians of 89" 29' and 97" 5' W. longitude from Greenwich. The extreme length of the State from north to south is 380 miles, while its breadth varies from 337 miles, about the 48th parallel, to 262 miles on the south line, and 183 at about 15** 30.' Its area is estimiated at the United States Land Office at 83,531 square miles, or 53,459,840 acres. From this area must be deducted 2,900,000 acres of water surface, lakes, etc. (not including that part of Lake Superior which lies within its limits), leaving 50,759,840 acres of land, including the Indian reservjttions. This is nearly equal to the combined areas of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a little more than that of .Kentucky and Tennessee. 'i '«i iiicoii.,(A.i nr . m\ ■'nuU^ .-^i/io Surface of the Country. — From its location it was inevitable that Minnesota should be the water-shed or divide for all the great streams which traverse the continent east of the Rocky Mountains. It has not, it is true, anywhere within its area, any range of mountains or verj^- high hills, but its general elevaition in the northern part of the State, except in the riveir valleys, is from 1,500 to 1,550 feet above the sea. Across this table-land, in or near the parallel of 47*40', is a low, curved line of drift hills, not much, if at all, above foo feet in height, and extending westward to the bluffs of the Red River valley, when it turns southward, and separates the waters of the affluents of the Mis- sissippi from those of the Red river of the North. In these low hills three great river and lake systems have their sources, viz.: the Mississippi river proper and its northern tributaries ; the St. Louis' Wver and its numerous branches, v^ich together form the ■ I j; jgim^s^^^m^mii'mm^- 902 OUR WESTEKf/ EMPIRE. head and fountain of those waters which, through the ^reat lakes, find their way to the St Lawren(;e, and throug;h its broad expanse to the northern Atlantic Ocean ; and the aifluents of the Red river as well as those of Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods, all of which finally discharge their waters into Hudson's Bay and into the Arctic Ocean. There is but one other point in the whole of our Western Empire, or for that matter, in the United States, where rivers flowing to such distant and diverse points have their sources so near together, and that is the point near the Yellowstone Park, where the sources of the Missouri, the Columbia, and the Colorado of the West are found within a mile or two of each othefV,,,n;3l ■ifn>ii:'.:> Mti! .ilor/rnM-hi > ff'vii There are then three distinct slopes, idifTe ring in soil, vegetation, and geological character, in the State. The northern slope, includ- ing not only the Red river vaUey,bMt the valleys a 30*, is Accessive tierrAces at UioiO is vcryigradual, to the mile. Thret- ej-aUyiroHing prairie, \Hi»g%, and belts ,of s small lakes* and ;ain$. The ramain- livide, fthe extensive the heavy tiiobered th« sources of the e Stat€, alUf it, in- as yet unorganized ing into the iRainy Lftke chain— lis drained by the affluents of the St. l^uis, the Mississippi, and the Red river of the North. The St, Louis has fourteen or fifteen tributaries, several of them streams of con- siderable size ; the Mississippi has about fifty — two of them, the .St. Croix and the Minnesota, being themst^lves large rivers ; only the affluents of the Red river on the eastern bank belong to Minnesota, but there are fourteen or more of these, of which the Red Grass, Red Lake, Sand Hill, Wild Rice, and Buffalo rivers are considerable streams. 1 . . i. m.. The Rainy Laike river forms a part of the riofthern boundary, and its affluents, the Big and Little Fork, and the Vermilion river, which flows into the same chain of lakes, are streams of moderate size. There are fifty or more creeks flowing into Lake Superior, which aid in watering and ferdlizing this northeastern slope. ti- '!M'>i''•■ '*' ■ >ii") I'tu.v >.< I Minnesota is emphatically the Lak^ State. In the surveyed area of the State there are upwards of 7,000 lakes ; their average extent is about 300 acres, but a number of them exceed 10,000 acres, and others are still larger; Lake Minnetonka covers 16,000 acres ; L^ke Winnebagoshisli, 561000 acres ; Leech Lake, 1 14,000 acres; Mille Lacs, 130,000; Red Lake, at least 350*000, and Lake of the Woods and the Rainy Lake Chain, which form part of the northern boundary, are still larger. Not content with these, Minnesota claims a considerable slice of Lake Superior as her property. Many of the smaller lakes are very deep, and all are well stocked with fish. Ordinarily their shores are dry and firm down to the water's edge, except at their outlets, and the waters are clear, cool and pure. The bottoms are generally sandy or pebbly. The water of Minnesota, whether obtained from lake, spring or well, is of excellent quality. The beautiful scenery around many of these lakes, and the cascades, rapids and falls at the oudet of others, have made them very pleasant re- sorts. Among these Minnetonka and White Bear Lakes, and the Falls of Minneopa and Minnehaha have perhaps the widest r^utation. •'^ Gtology and MtMeraiogy.-^lih^ greater part of the State is covered with a rich and fertile alluvium, or, as in the highlands, 5rl af^i*'' 9«H OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. by an older and less fertile drift, which, however, sustains a noble forest {growth. Beneath this drift there is, along the northern shore of l^ke Superior, and extending southward on both sides of the St. Croix to its junction with the Mississippi, and below that point along the eastern and western banks of that river below the southern line of the State, a broad belt of metamorphic slates and sandstones intermingled with volcanic rocks, traps and porphyries ; these are of the Silurian epoch, and many dikes of greenstone and basalt are interjected in the strata. Occasionally deposits of marl-drift and red clay are found above these rocks. This is the principal mineral region of the State. Near the southern boundary of the State, or, rather, in the southeast quarter, between the 93d and 94th meridians, is a small tract of Devonian rocks ; west and northwest of the Silurian slates and sandstones, the underlying rocks are eozoic, hornblende and argil- laceous slates, and granite, gneiss and metamorphic rocks. In the western and northwestern part of the State, between the 94th and 96th meridians, but not extending below the 46th parallel, and underlying the low hills which form the divide between the affluents of the Mississippi and those of the Red river of the North, is another belt of Silurian rocks, upper Silurian, in the northern portion, and lower Silurian, nearer the Mississippi, These are mostly limestone, and like those of the same epoch farther east are almost entirely devoid of fossils. West of these and forming the underlying strata of the Red River valley, wt find a broad belt of cretaceous rocks, mostly of the Niagara, Ga lena and Trenton limestones, with smaller outcrops of St. Petei and perhaps Potsdam sandstones. Lasdy, in the southwes corner of the State, in and ilear the valley of the Big Sioux, the eozoic rocks again approach the surface, and some of them an mineral-bearing rocks. The Lake Superior region yields, in large quantity, iron of the same character and purity as that found ir the upper peninsula of Michigan, and copper ores identical witl those of Ontonagon ; but neither have been as yet extensively worked. Gold and silver exist in moderately paying quantitie near Vermilion lake, in die northern part of St. Louis county but the region is yet so wild and inaccessible that the mines an N:^ |ver, sustains a noble along the northern ward on both sides ssissippi, and below banks of that river belt of metamorphic inic rocks, traps and and many dikes of trata. Occasionally above these rocks. e State. Near the r, in the southeast s, is a small tract of '. Silurian slates and lornblende and argil- orphic rocks. In the e, between the 94th ow the 46th parallel, divide between the ^e Red river of the pper Silurian, in the rer the Mississippi. I of the same epoch isils. West of these, led River valley, we ' of the Niagara, Ga- »utcrops of St. Peter r, in the southwest »f the Big Sioux, the i some of them are egiori yields, in large ity as that found in r ores identical with I as yet extensively ily paying quantities >f St. Louis county; e that the mines are SO/L AND kTRCETATION. ^ not now worked. Salt springs occur at various points in the State, and salt of excellent quality is maniifacturud in the Red River valley, and at Belle Plaine, on the ^!innesota river. Among the other minerals of the State are : slates (both building and writing), lime, white sand for glass-making-, building stone, peat, marl, tripoli, etc. The red pipe stone, of which the Indian^ made their pipes, is found in large quantities in the southwest, and is quarried and used for many purposes. iioil attd Vtgetation, — The three slopes named under the heading of Surface of the Country have each a different soil and vegetable growths. The northern, along the Red River valley, and the basins of the lakes and rivers which form the northern boundary of the State, is a rich alluvial deposit admirably adapted to the4growth of cereals and to grazing. The Red River valley, from sixty to seventy miles in width, though but half of it is in Minnesota, is unsurpassed in fertility, and may well become the granary of the world in the production of wheat. While it is cultivated more carelessly than it should be, and averages only about twenty-two or twenty-three bushels of wheat to the acre, it is capable of doing much better than that, and instances are not wanting on land, within twenty months from its first breaking, in which fifty, sixty, eighty, and even one hundred and two bushels of wheat to the acre have been raised, and that not on a single acre only, by any trickery, but on broad fields of sixty or eighty acres. This region has forests of oak, beech, elm and maple, though the greater part is a gently undulating prairie. The eastern slope has much broken land, and is .a better mineral than agricultural region; though the soil yields fair crops, especially of roots, much pf this slope, as well as the highlands or divides, is covered with a heavy growth of pine, spruce, and other conif- erous trees, of great value as lumber, though the soil beneath them, when cleared, is comparatively barren. This region occu- pies about twenty-one thousand square miles. The southern slope, which comprises all of the State below the highlands, is coi^posed of alternate rolling prairie and woodland, and has a vpry rich and fertile soil. About one-third of the suri'ace of Minnesota is woodland, and her citizens, have wisety taken measr it 1 I 11 \ » ,.*aC-w^i:«S(iP*;«i»as- PB5 f>f^ff tVKSTKKf/ F.m'fKt:. ures to renew the forest growth, and not suffer the land to tecon idry and sterile for the want of forests. They have plantt already nearly thirty fflillions of trees, to replace those whi( have been cut off. By this wise precaution they have secure to their State its forest supplies, without material diminution. '! the southern slope there are detached grove« and copses dfgrc beauty sprinkled everywhere among the prairies and aroui the numerous lakes, while growths of dwarfed oaks skirt tl prairies and are known as oak openings. Inhere is also a tr«i lon both side»oif the Minnesota river, over one hundretl miles .length, and of an bverag« width exceeding forty miles, comprisii an area of five thousand square miles, known as the "Big Wood; Iwbtoh is covered with a dense and magnificent groxith of har wood limber. This Is said to be the largest forest of defiduo (timber between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. In this, •well as in the smaller groves, are found almost -every species i CLIMATK OF MIN/^KSOTA. ^t-r the land to l-^mbinat!on of the Can- our nortliern frontier, I the upper portion of wimber of small lakes, ? aquatic plants of tht ?ed8, callas, and water- part of the State it is tranberry marsh, which eat perfection, and, in the lifcter grapes arte gteat quantities. Thte es, strawberries, rasp- ries and gooseberries animals and beasts of prairie regions. The and the gray wolf, as r.-artdmuskrat, skunk, d ^uirrel, and other 907 rodents are sufficiently numerous, and the coyote or prairie wolf hunt!i in packs in the open lands. Of the lar^^M-r j^'ame there arc the elk, two species of deer, and poAHtbly the moosr. 1 he; ImiC- falo iti rarely seen, and the ant'.-lopc, if ever an inhabitant ui this region, north and east of the MiHSOuri, is tto no longer. Of game birds, land and atiuatic, there is no end. Wild turkeys, pigeons, grouse of several species, and partridges, frequent the woods, and wild geese, several species of ducks, brant, teal, etc., are fotmd in their season in great numbers, around die hundreds of larger lakes. Birds of gay plumage, and those of melodious song, make the woods, lakes and rivers vocal with their sweet notes or brilliant witi. their varied and beautiful hues. The rep- tile tribes ore not so numerous as elsewhere. There are three or four poisonous, and a considerable number of innocuous ser- pents, large and small. The batracliians pour forth tlieir music in the northern marshes, but the lizard family are niissin^^. I<'ish abound in all the waters of the State, and the State I'ish Com* mission, in co-operation with the United States I^sh Commis- sion, have been stocking the larger lakes and streams with choice , species of edible fish. This work is still progressing. "• Climate. — A great d'sal has been written about the climate of Minnesota, both in its praise and dispraise. From its central situation and the curving northward of the isothermal lines, as well as from its very moderate elevation, the climate is undoubt- edly milder than that of States or countries farther east in the same latitude. The mean average temperature of the State has been given as 44.6° Fahrenheit. This is not yet true, though it may become so in a few years. Its present average annual mean, from observations made at many different points for from eight to twelve years past, does not exceed 42.9° Fah- renheit, and this is a very decided advance from the mean of eight or ten years since. As the country is settled, the annual temperature rises, and though there may be occasional severe winters like those of 1877--78, and of 1879-80, when the temper- ature sinks to —^53°. or — 60°, yet it is gradually advancing to a milder temperature. The air is very dry and bracing; the rain- fjaill is not as great as it is farther east, and probably average^ I SSS^iJbfci :jk I ii . 1 Q08 OVU WKSrHUff MMP/HS. one yi*ar with another for the whole State, nbout 37.5 inches; hut it in onr of the p»u»t— the scaKon when the growing crops most require it. The sum' mer \% hot, and everything (including wcrcdH) grows with the greatest rapidity. When the harvciit is gathered, winter comes, Homctimcs with abimdant snows, but oftener without them ; and the frost-king reigns from November to April, but the dryness of the air rend and bracing air. It is certain that many of those who come tc the State with weak lungs, when the dist^ase is not too far ad- vanced, do recover and enjoy good health. The table on page 909 prepared with great care and labor, gives all the necessary particulars for determining the climate of all parts of the State The temperature, rainfall, humidity, etc., are averages from ob- servations continued for from five to ten years, and are more satisfactory than any statement of the temperature, rainfall, etc. of a single year, which may be exceptional in its character. Railroads and SUam Navigation. — There are none of th< Western States which have made more rapid progress in railroa( construction than Minnesota, and none which possess greate facilities for travel and transportation. Lc:t us begin with th( navigable waif^rs. The Mississippi, interrupted only by thi Falls of St. Anthony, Sauk rapiis, and Little Falls, is navigabl to the foot of Pokegama Falls, distant but 236 miles from it source. As far as to the Falls of St. Anthony, about 175 mile from the point where it enters the State, it is navigable for larg steamers, at all seasons of the year, since the recent improve ments made by the United States govei'nment ; and above Min neapolis, there is navigation for smaller steamers for 400 milei except the obstructions mentioned above. On the Minnesot river, in good stages of water, boats run to Granite Falls, a dij tance of 238 miles from its mouth. That fertile Nile, called th about 375 Inchet; ia and Dakota, that October, and more I"' 15th of AuKUut— . quire it. I'hc sum. d**) f^^rowM with the «*red, wintrr comet, without them ; and pril, but the dryness «*n(lurable, and the te iH healthful, the ;nown. The climate iptives from its dry those who come to e is not too far ad- The table on page ^fs all the necessary II parts of the State. e averages from ob- years, and are more erature, rainfall, etc., n its character. •/ J re are none of the 1 progress in railroad hich possess greater t us begin with the rupted only by the e Falls, is navigable 236 miles from its >ny, about 1 75 miles 5 navigable for large the recent improve- nt; and above Min- amera for 400 miles. On the Minnesota Granite Falls, a dis- rtile Nile, called the 909 . jiimC ' 'Ti ^ Kg i af »". LJ fa^ J 9W mm tVK^TMItfi KMUMK. Rcil rivrr of thr Nt)rih, j^ivrn .^80 mllcii of navi|;;al)Ir water on thf wcntern boun«Ury of the State. Thr St. Croix furniiheHfifty-twc milcfi of navi^'abUr wat<-r on thr pattern InirJcr. Lake Sii|)i'rioi jfivfH 167 milrn of shore linr to the northcaitern iicction of the State, and the: St. Louis rivrr, the principal ntream of that svt- tion, adtU twenty-one mileH of navi^'able waters to the cxtrcmr went cml of Lake Superior. To sum up, Minnesota ban 2,79^: miles of ahnrr line of navigable wateriH— one mile of coa»t lint, to every thirty stpinre miles of s«r'"ace. Of rmilroatls there were over 3,140 miles complrtrct and in operation en the ist of September, 1880. The Northern Pacific Railroad crosses the State from Duluth to Farj^oand the North west, and its principal f«rders, the St. Paid and Pacific and tin St. Paul and Duluth, connert it with the two chii.>f cities of Min rtesota, Minneapolis and .St. I'aul, and with the more distani cities of Milwaukie and Chicago, also ; these three lines, witli • heir various branches and extensions, include al)out 975 mile* in the State, and have three lines crossing; the State from east t'^ MTcst, and two, the I )uluth road and the St. Vincent extension from north to south. The other four roads which cross the .Statt from east to west at lower points are, the Mastinp^s and Dakot; Division of the Chicago, Milwaukie and St. Paul, which aisc operates two roads running .southward to the Jute line (tht River Division and the Iowa and Minnesota Division) ; the VVi nona and St. Peter's; the Sioux City and St. Paul, with its ex tensions ; and the Southern Minnesota. These are crossed it every direction by local railways as well as by two importan lines, the Minneapolis and St. Louis, the Rochester and Norfheri Minnesota, and the St. Paul and Sioux City, and the Milwaukie Minneapolis and St. Paul, now the lowm and Minnesota Diviiiioi of the Chica^^o, Milwaukie and St. Paul Railway. All these roads, or all except a single narrow gauge road, ar run in connection with, and controlled, more or less, by one o three great railways, viz. : The Northern Pacific, the Chicago an Northwestern, and the Chicago, Milwaukie and St. Paul January, 1880, there was no town or vi'lage in the State, exccp in tl)e great unorganized counties in the north, which was mor I H4/LMtMPS Of MIHNK90TA *t\\ Jvlj^ahlr water on the jix rurnivhrH fifty two j«*r. Lake Superior [sUTH Hcition ol" the utrram of that trc- \\vxs to the cxtrrme lituu:s«)ta haH 3,796 ^«; inile of co;ui lin«j 1 « complrtPft anid in* crease of the conimrrci.il wraith of Minnesota. Thin r.tpid vclopmcnt indestinetl still lo ^^ cm. Atnonfi^ the projected roads, already in proj^rcss, is cmk* to connect St. Paul and Minneapolis with tl>e iirand Trunk road at Manitowoc, on Lake Mii-hi^an; another to connect DulutI) with th«- Sault Ste, Marie, and at that point with the Canadian Central ; while a third is already con* tracted for to tap the Ciioadian Pacific from Diiluth. The two latter will open up the vast mineral country of the north and northeast, and may make the f;uid and silver rc^don of Vermilion lake, and the copper and iron of the Lake .Superior rej^ion as famous a» any of the minini( districts of the Staters and I'errito* ries farther west. Mont of the roads in the Stati* nold land grants from the United .States Government and the (oinmend- ablc enterprise which they have displayed in making known to umigrants from other landH and .Stateti the advanta^res which Minnesota had to offer to settlers, was undoubtedly prompted in part by the desire to sell their own lands, and to develop the region through which their route passed, ho as to build up a large way traffic. It can be said, hcrwever, with truth, of most of them, chat they have readily furnished information to scttlerH ini.-- I . ^la ' OUX t^£STtXU EMPIRR. Other lands yet sown with that grain on this continent. Thi discovery, widely heralded, was immediately followed by the con struction of railways through that valley and across it, whici secured to every wheat-grower an immediate casii market for al the wheat he could raise. The great immigration to that regioi since 1877, and the immense quantity of land which has beei broken there for wheat, has had a wonderful effect in bringin[ this new State into the front rank of grain-producing States. Ye only a very small portion of the vast territory of Minnesota has up to this time, come into cultivation. Of its 53,459,840 acres or somewhat more than 50,000,000 after deducting the wate surface, not quite one-ninth is yet tilled ; and this not because th( land is worthless or difficult of tillage, but because it is so exten stve that men enough cannot be brought there to till it as rapidi; as the demand for the grain requires. In 1850, thirty years ago there were but 1,900 acres in the whole territory cultivated; ii i860 there were 435,267 ; in 1870 there were 1,853,316; in 187; there were 2,914,654; in 1879,4,090,039; in 1880, a little mon than 6,000,000. There is every reason to believe that 30,000,00 acres yet remain of lands as fertile as any that have been pur chased and broken by the plow, besides an area of abou : 5,000,000 of acres of grazing and timber lands. In all, proba bly nearly 30,000,000 acres have been disposed of, includinj the lands certified to railroads—^something like 8,500,000 acres- and the lands sold and granted to actual settlers*— over 15,000, 000 acres more— -and the swamp landst school, university, intei nal improvement and other lands held by the State — but as w have said only a little more than 6,000,000 acres of the whol have yet been brought into cultivation. And what are the crop produced on these 6,000,000 acres ? The reports of the crop of 1880 are, of course, not yet at hand. We only know that th wheat crop of ^he summer of 1880 was not less than 44^000,06 bushels, and probably reached 48,000,000 bushels. Of the crops of 1879 we have more definite, informatioi There were, it will be remembered, only 4,090,039 acres und< cultivation that year, and of this 2,769,369 acres wer«^ in whea But 1879 ^^s not,iin Minnesota^ a particularly good wheat yeai viiM j-a('"'i*->V--'--^'»'' 'V . - -a ^^*. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS. 9i3 bis continent. This followed by the con- and across it, which :e casii market for all ration to that region and which has been ill effect in bringing educing States. Yet ry of Minnesota has, •t* 53.459.840 acres, deducting the water this not because the ecause it is so exten- :re to till it as rapidly 850, thirty years ago, rritory cultivated ; in •e 1,853,316; in 1877 n 1880, a little more slieve that 30,oc»,ooo ' that have been pur- s an area of about lands. In all, proba- isposed of, including like 8,500,000 acres — sttlers— over 1 5,000,- lool, university, inter- the State — but as we o acres of the whole ndwhat are the crops reports of the crops ^e only know that tiie : less than 44^000,060 tushels. -jf. j t^yiq c^jiii definite i ihibrmation. 090,039 acres under acres were in wheat rly. good. wheat ye$Mr<; the average yield throughout the State was only 1 2.3 bushels to the acre. Of course the Red River \^ley did much better than this, the yield there being over twenty-two bi'shels to the acre; but other parts of the State fell below the twelve bushels ; yet with this really half-crop, the State reported 34,063,239 bushels of wheat; 19,518,450 bushels of oats, which yielded thirty-five bushels to the acre ; and 12,764,955 bushels of corn, which also yielded thirty-five bushels to the acre. The other principal crops were barley, sorghum (of which the Minnesota amber cane was most largely cultivated), potatoes, hay, of which a large propor- tion is what is known as " wild hay," and is derived either from the native grasses, some of which are of excellent quality, or from the nutritious wild rice which abounds in the vicinity of the lakes, and furnishes a valuable substitute for hay, much relished by cattle and sheep. There is, in the older counties, a disposi- tion to cultivate to some extent the forage grasses ; but the State has not yet made such progress in the rearing of live-stock as to make the cultivation of forage plants and grains on a large scale indispensable. The cultivation of sorghum, especially of the early amber variety, which ripens usually before frost comes, is becoming very general in the State, and mills or factories for grinding the cane and making sugar on a large scale are already numbered by the score. For the promotion of this new agricul- tural industry not only in this but in other States, the public is indebted to Hon. William G. LeDuc, the present Commissioner of Agriculture, who is himself a citizen of Minnesota. Mr. LeDuc has labored earnestly, zealously and persistently to bring about diis great change from the importing of cane sugar to the raising and producing our own sugar from the sorghum. The success which seems now to be within reach within the next five or ten years, means an increase of bur'agricultural production to the annual amount of eighty to one hundred millions of dollars, the diminishing of our importations to the same amount or even more, since the cheapening of the price of sugar will cause an in- creased consumption and the diminution of the duties to the extent of about forty millions of dollars. We have not the complete statistics of the crops of 1879 and s» yiimmiimmmx' ^^^ 9*4 OUX WESTEKy EMPIRE. l88o» but the followir^ table gives the amount and value of |xrincipal crops, with the ^eld per acre and the price : I k Whwt. 0>u Cora Bvlqr »»• Buckwkmt . .bu. .1u. ...bu. ...bu . .bu. ...bu. .. bu. ...bu. j SMghMiSyiup gal. I famie Hiy ton*. j WMtUy lorn I Wooi pounds 7atok. i«79 tg»o lUlo IIS AmouBI of crop in butbtlt, UMWi pound* or gallont. s 45.93«.5J« i7,J3«,«oo ««,3»«,So4 ;» I7«.M7 «04.»f> 33.«<3 33>3W 94.434 *j.»«o W.378 407."* 4.»03W 4«>>M< 775.8m i,MO,So6 Mta,oqo 948,1(4 •3.S IJ.5 I7«5 40.00 34.00 & 3<*.eo I (.00 17.} 9.81 10.5 ii.jS 11.00 7-7 9.90 ton 103.7 loS.i I-3S 1.4* •iC! Number nf Bcrti in >.iu|< i\t •«S3.3»5 iU.415 17»,»«* 435.314 d% •«.»4 3.3«o J.«77 ».«5* ••■OS "*M 45.«3« 3».ew 40,618 S.03J 7.3«7 143.150 I46,9>« ^S07««7 I s $ •S JO *S SO JO J« 74 J» so 4.00 .a6 •ao '■\ ) I Total value crop. |34««4.4< 43,oia,9i> 4,«34.J4 7.»»5.0' 3««^>tP 5.739.17 i«7.*7 '.4M.97 IS3!40 ao,s6 tl,oi 34 .» 41.67 "4.* Sao.ai 97»«7 9,101,98 •J4.0* 148,19 9»4.»7 ».o»o,«i 4.»«.77 4,»of.ao 340,33 «77J« "•.«3«,« Live-Stock, — Minnesota js too new a State, and has too m arable land and timber.and too nuinycdier interests calling for special attention to allow her, as yet, to become largely enga in rearing stock. By and by, when .her great northern cour become accessible as grazing lands, and when her ample*] ducti^n of hay, corn, oats, and the forage grasses and nutri^ seeds, such as millet, pearl millet, ri9e corji, ctc^ gives her ar iactUties for ity she will i^eceive immense hf^rds of cattl^e and flj of sheep to fat/jen for the foreign markets. We do pot mes be understood that the young State has not a respectable s| ing in t|>e way of live-stock, or that U is not incri^asi^g ; but I ^hat, as cpmpared with States where the rearing of cattle, si ^d swine bafi be«o made a specialty, and ,>uhere much o[ land is better adapted to grazing than tf^ (^ultivatiom, iis am may appear relatively small. It is, at fnos^ o»i4y *nother ir tion of the variety of agricuUural and;pafit;>wiipMCS*)its of i^r-Pur We&t^m, Empirf;:' ,i§jfiafiiM>l^ I'jfhfi fQU9iyiwg,t^b|e. rir ;r i^'i )UQt and value of the the price: mm ,. wrnf lai' H.I ) t Total valia «r 1 CIU^P 1 f|li crop. l.3«S ^ »34««4.«»« 4»,o".9o7 •1 •»9 ••* 7*15 ti4 3^«^.»; J,J>4 •-JM 3,3(0 ■35 :^ .4» 5.7».17« 1^7.676 ».4M.97« 84.7«5 IS3.4M ao,s6i ».»77 .63 |.«S ♦5.»3* I.JO 9,ioi,9ta 40,SiB ■30 S.033 7.3«7 •3« »31A*J M 474 5J» t^|«i» 350 .30 4,*oi,77t 477^83 K>7««7 iii,6}a,ul )tate, and has too tnuch X interests calling for her become largely engaged great northern coun;ties d when her ample* pro- <;p grasses and nutritious )rni, ctc^ gives hor ample hf^rds of cattlje^nd flocks ts. We do not mean to , ppt a respectable show- not increasing ; but only 5 rearing of «attiei sheep and Inhere muach of the p^ <;ultivatiiQK), its numbers V>st. 0«4y *notber indipa- aitt^faJ ipMcsAlit!! of which ;iie id^wm ,t»WQ>*ow8 LiyEsrocjc ano dair y farming. 91S the number and value of the live-stock of Minnesota in January, 1879, and January, 1880, according to the reports of the Agricul* tural Departments "i// >1''" I 'i' AnimnU. Nomh«r in 'Jan., 1879. I Value. Horses Mules and Aitet Milch Cowt Oxen and oUwr cattle. Sheep Swine 247,300 I6J.01 ;»iS.S8a.J7J j;,oool 790» I 553.140 19.10 5,326.990 17.38 5,462,208 a. 1 1 648,835 3.70 735.940 «r».9" 316,100' 307.5«>i l96,*oo< Totals 1,353,000 128,299,476 Number in Jan., 1880. Value. 274,1701 JW8.34 *a4.^»o,i7« 7,350 100.00 i 735,000 304,1101 2ai6 6,132,885 333,432 30.00 9,672,660 369,0001 3.50 922,500 196,000' 6. 1 1 I,I97.5rce is yet made avail- on, the capacity of the raw material and the products, it is difficult ye reasonably expected *ftn-^/v»r>r!f» t»tJj I0 fi«£|t. industry in Minnesota red product of its vast forests which ::over a re latitude 46*30'. The nd its affluents and by ibutaries^ which furnish MINNRSOT/rS LUMBER TRADE. 9<7 convenient channels for floating the logs cut upon their lanks in winter, upon the high spring waters to Minneapolis and Still- water, which are the principal depots of lumber manufacture, though lumber is manufactured extensively at Marine Mills and other points on the St. Croix, and also at Hastings, Red Wing, Winona, which receives extensive supplies of logs from the Chip- pewa river, and indeed almost all the river towns. A first-class boom was constructed in 1879 at St. Paul, and two or three large sawmills were erected in 1880. The pine forests which clothe the head waters of the three great river systems which have their sources in Minnesota are a part of the vast belt of pine which stretches across Northern Wisconsin. The immense areas of prairie country which stretch west, southwest and south of this pine zone, comprising about three-fourths of Minnesota, and all of Iowa, Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, afford an illimit- able market for this lumber, which is constantly increasing with the rapid growth of population, and its extension over the naked plains of the West The railroad system which centres at St. Paul and Minneapolis, and which extends throughout all this vast region, the vast supplies of lumber manufactured at Minneapolis, Stillwater, Menomonie, Eau Clare, Chippewa Falls, and at other points in Minnesota and Wisconsin, are distributed throughout this great prairie region, and the transportation of lumber forms a very important item in the business of these railroads. Im- mense supplies of logs are annually floated down the Mississippi from the St. Croix river and its Wisconsin tributaries, to be sawed into lumber at difterent river points, especially at St. Louis. A great proportion of the lumber supply of Western Iowa and Ne- braska has heretofore been derived from Chicago and St. Louis ; but arrangements have recently been entered into by the rail- roads connecting the Wisconsin pineries with those penetrating these prairie States whereby the cost of transportation has been' considerably reduced. They have formed an organization known as the lumber line, with its head-quarters at St, Paul, by which lumber is transported without change of cars from the seats of its manufacture in Wisconsin to the most distant western markets upon such terms as will give them the control of the lumber ■:1 •'S®S^' I I I » / ^tS OVJf tVESTEJtN EMPIRE. ' traffic over an imnense region of country In Iowa, Nebraska ar Kansas. But the chief manufacturing industrj' of Minnesota, measure by the amount of capital invested and the value of its prodtict, flour. Flour mills are distributed all over ihe State, but tl principal seat of this industry is at Minneapolis, which has in few years past witnessed an enormous development of this i terest. Minneapolis has now more than twenty saw-mills, which 1880 produced over i65,ocxd,o feet of lumber, besides the pr portionate amount of lath and shingles. Its lumber produ alone exceeded 1^4,500,000, Its flouring mills, including thn erected during the year, were twenty-seven, several among the being the largest flouring mills in the world. They all make tl so-called "New Process " flour, which can only be made in perfe tion from sprinj; wheat, the only wheat grown to any extent Minnesota. These mills have the capacity for producing I7,5( barrels of flour per day, or 5,250,000 barrels in the year of y. days — the equivalent tii 25,000,000 bushels of wheat annuall "tliere are also a great number of flour mills' — many of thcrti i the highest rank — along the numerous water-powers of the Ca non, the Zumbr^ , the Root and other streams of Southeaste Minnesota. Red Wing, Faribault, Cannon Falls, Stillwater, R ehester, Winona, and neariy every village in Houston and F more are thriving seats of flour manufacture. There are alm< ^s many run of stone employed in the mills along the Cann river or along the Root as at Minneapolis, i iiioi-:> li^ drfj v The number of saw-mills in the State is about 200, arid flouring mills not less than 450, though, of course, of vary capacity. The amount of lumber produced in the Stated can be accurately stated, but is not less than 1,000,000,000 f ■and is increasing. Most of it is pine, though the mills in Southwest of the State run on the logs from the " Big Woo* which are mostly hard woods. The flbur productiod is.i than 10,000,000 barrels, equal to 50^600,000 bushel* of wl and the Millers' Association, which'has its head-quarters tn neapoHs, by its admirable organixatioft artd management, been able to tommand not only the gi^eater part tyf the INCKEASM JN HfEAlTH ANfl TAXARI.ES. 919 Iowa, Nebraska and inncAota, m«»as\jreH lue of its product, is ihc State, but the •lis, which has in a [elopment of this in- saw-milis, which in iber, besides the pro- Its lumber product ills, including three several among them They all make the f>ly be made in perfec- 'own to any extent in for producing 17,500 els in the year of 300 Is of wheat annually, ills' — many of them of ter-powers of the Can- ^eanvs of Southeastern ti Falls, Stillwater, Ro- in Houston and Fill- ire. There are almost nills along the Cannon is about 300, arid of , of course, of varying ed ill the Statd cannot an 1,000,000,000 feet, iough the mills in the om the " Big Woods," ir prodnctiod is. more ooD bushel* of wheat, head-quarters m Min* ar»d management, has ter part of the wheat grown in Minnesota, but also most of that produced in Eastern Dakota and Norilicin loWa. Ihc llouMnariufecture in Minne- sota has an annual proihict of from thirty-five to forty millions of dollars. But though these arc the leading manufactures of Minnesota, they are by no means the only productions of manufacturing in- dustry in the State. 'There are a number of iron works ami several boiler, stove, harvester, plow and other agricultural ma- chine factories, woollen mills, cotton mills, paper mills, linseed oil mills, wood ware, furniture, fence, sash, door and blind factories, foundries, car wheel works, boot and shoe factories, clothing fac- tories, creameries, cheese factories, wagon factories, soap and glue works, broom factories, brick yards, breweries, coopers' shops, confectionery, lavge printing and book manufacturing establishments, etc., etc. The entire annual products of manu- facturing industry in the State are estimated to exceed seventy- five millions of dollars. Increase in Wealth and Taxable Valuations of the State. — The only available measure of the increase of wealth in Minnesota is that afforded by the valuations of real estate and personal prop- erty for taxation — a very unreliable one, since real estate is generally valued at much less than its market value, while per- sonal property, even that small portion of it which is visible or listed, is generally valued in the assessment list at less than one- third, frequently at one-fourth or fifth, its actual value. Besides this, vnder the laws of Minnesota, all public school-houses, acad- emies, colleges, their furniture and libraries and grounds, all churches and the lots on which they stand, all public buildings of State, county or cit)', all public hospitals or institutions of charity, all public libraries, etc., and in addition to these the per- sonal property of each person liable to taxation, to the amount of one hundred dollars, are exempt from taxation or assessment. But, though these valuations are not even approximations to the true value, they will answer very well for purposes of compari- son. The following table will show the growth of taxable prop- erty and population in Minnesota since June, 1849: .^ . , ■,«JSt!Amm*j,i!ifmsi^'- pso OUM WMSTEMN MMHRM. TtkuilM. ««49 I5M.936 185' 8o6,4j7 «86o 36,738,410 1870 87,i79,J57 1879 348,383,315 .» 1 I \. Population, — The increase ofpopulatiog in Minnesota has been exceedingly rapid from the first. In 1850, the first time when there were a sufificient number of white settlers to be enumerated, and when all the region west of the Mississippi was still occupied and held by the Indians, the number reported by the census was, by a singular coincidence, precisely that of the Indians now resi- dent in the Territory— ^,077. In five years it had increased more than ten-fold ; in ten years, almost thirty-fold ; in twenty years, seventy-five-fold ; in twenty-five years a hundred-fold ; and in thirty years, a hundred and thirty-one times. The following table gives some additional particulars of interest in regard to this population. The enumerations of 1870, 1875 and 1880 in- clude the tribal Indians resident in Minnesota: - ' ,.. ^i>ii Toul PomiU- ifan. M,Sii 171,0*3 *i9.77r 700,000* 7'7.oo5t 3.7'« 93,o<4 I »,3fli 7««» 316,076 •04.407 »8i,3Ji NMir«, 4,100 •79.009 379.97; 444.74» Colurtd I and Indian*. "s«*.7i»' 39 i«o,<97 »"7.4»9 T.799 I .04 •S U] t.io ijo 7 »4 36 » ••3» I •4-9 9-40 "31 m Is «.75« S».73» •7.»44 I5T,9»J 1 18,36 J ■6a,}il '94.7*' a If ".37« 4i,n« »1.«S« "■•'».374 M7.370 '•449 4l.lt< "4.711 »9«I*39 * iMlmatad fVom Snta ocmu* of iSh and Kumn n' rMwna. t Of which number 5,04/ were tribal Indian>. I Of which number 6,191 were tribal Indiana, I For the decade, 77 per oeni. From whenc6 a'fe the people who constitute the present p6|)u-' lation of this rapidly growing and thrifty State ? An investigation made in 1878 showed that about five-eighths were born in the United States, a trifle more than one-third being born in Minne- sota, and about twenty-nine per cent, in other States ; one-ninth, or eleven per cent., were natives of some of the German States ; fourteen per cent, or about one-seventh, were from Norway and Sweden ; three and a half per cent, were from Ireland ; about mmMm mmmtm THE ISDIAN POrULATtOS. 9tt r«iiMiiM. , 5 "4.936 Jo6.4j7 ^".410 79. as 7 |83,JI5 >ta has been time when :numerf\ted, ill occupied census was, IS now resi- increased in twenty d-fold ; and e following I regard to ™d i88o in- \i «.37» 47.370 'If >>449 4*.ied "4,7JJ •' »9«.'«J9 ere tribal Indian. It. sent popii-i I'estigation orn in the in Minne- one-ninth, an States ; orway and nd; about three per cent from the British provinces, and one and one-half per cent, from England and Wales, while three per cent, were from other countries. The Scandinavian emigrants have very generally preferred Minnesota to other States and Territories from a real or fancied similarity between its climate and their own. and, in some of the counties, Norse is the language of .1 majority of the inhabitants. There are a number of newspapers printed in the Swedish and Norwegian languages, and at one time the laws of the State were published in these languages. The Indian fbpulaiion. — In its earlier history, even after it became a State, the Indians were very troublesome neighbors. They originally claimed the whole Territory, and their title to lands east of the Mississippi was not extinguished till 1838; in 1 85 1 the Indian title to Unds between the Mississippi and the Red river of the North was extinguished, except the reservations. The southwest and part of the western portion of the State was still occupied by the Sioux, and in 1862, taking advantage of the absence of most of the able-bodied men in the civil war, these tre&cherous savages made an irruption upon the new setde- ments and murdered about i,0(X> persons, slaughtering whole families, burning and plundering villages, etc. Vengeance came swiftly upon the savages; they were pursued, defeated, con- quered and expelled from the State, and the most guilty publicly executed. The only Indians now in the State are the C liippewas, 6,198 in number, who have reservations at Leech lake. Red lake and White Earth. Their reservations compriort yet pub- •ational zeal 67.5' 7; A*"*- .945 ; school hs of school, rtal teachers, 'ages, males, ud for teach- :hocI-hous(38 :hool8, there :hoo]s in the I. This was hese graded ttt the public afforded by Jtate, at Wi- e 1859, and eceiving an lese schools for mala I37.53) had respectively eleven, seven and nine professors and teachers, and an cnrohtient of 407, J15 and 109 "rtudrnis in each. The graduates are in demand for thf public nchools of the; Slate. There is also a State- University at- Minneapolis, which includes also the Agricultural College, and has a faculty of al)out twenty professors ami teachers, and had in 1879 alxnit 250 students. It has an endowment fund from the sales of lands granted to it by Con^'resH and the Agricultural CoIU^g*' jjrant. This fund now amoiuits to about J^4 50,000, and nearly one-half the lands remain unsold, and have appreciated so mtich in value that the fund will proh.ibly amount to over a million dollars. Its buiklings are very fme and commodious, and are unencumberetl, and it has the proceeds of a Slate lax of one-tenth of a mill, which amounts to upwards of $20,000 a year. It admits both sexes, and iu teaching isof a high order. There is also an institution for the deaf, dumb and blind at Faribault, which has fine buildings and grounds, costing $1 50,000, and capable of accommodat'ng 200 pupils. There are also two or three colleges and seven or eight col- legiate schools of high order in the State under denominational control. Some of th«se are equal to any schools of their class in the country. Cowttks and Cities. — There are seventy-six counties in the State, of which seven were not organized in 1878. Several of the northern counties, as Polk, Beltrami, Cass, Itasca and St. Louis are of immense extent, and some of them have yet extensive Indian reaervations within thdr limits. The assessed valuation of the taxable real estate of these counties (a large amount escapes ttxatloh for a vanety of causes) in 1878 was $183,615,- 738. This was nominally on a valuation of sixty cents on the dollar, hvtt really not more than fifty per cent. The assessed value of personal property (probably less than one-sixth of the real value) was $46,175,304, and adding the two we have an as- sessed valuation of personal and real estate of $229,791,042 ; in 187^ this valuatiton had reached $248,283,2 15, and the real value uiwfoubtedly exceeii>li« Waiarlnwn. .. ., hull t:«nin. ... \a Hiwur OhiMna ••■ Si VInMM R»f»4 . *fiit»|»«|i t*< W llWtfl^lMlk * • •■»••••■! ((••ntlliMl .•••»ti*at»**t*' pl*'* < i II •••••#(* I* ' Mm* IaHII* •■•!»• ii«k..i« HI l^ttl*.. AiMb Nixillcl M»«*f •mtm .. Witwtha. Hiiill WMwa . I'lllmnn . B Ulnar* . . "ftwi.. nnka •llllllllll An I'rofborn. , M'nvill*. . McUoa.. C*rv«r. . . Carvar , . . , Hiaarna . . Kntwnoii , \m HiMiir. I Mctmd . Ktiuun .., •1<*T PwfMlaitaM N^laDn) hllMa. I IkO^ 1% • •••* MM :in .; I*' M* ••• n m Ml •If 4.l*« !.'»• I.l|l ••"1 • ■111 •T • w •.M» I.MI I.MI >.«■ i.itr P-iyiiialtm •■••Ml Mil** I.f1» •4^ • •.. 1,4 1* 4.144 >.*4« •ated Catholic population in these new States, which drifts away from that church, and cannot fairly be reckon J as under its control The Methodist churches come nex , wi^H iLout 34,000 members, and are succeeded in the following order by Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Epif.copalians, Mennonites, Free Will Baptists, Universalists and several minor denominations. The following table, which does not give the number of churches or church edifices, except the Catholics, gives some other particulars of interest concerning, them in 1877-78. Two years have undoubtedly wrought many •s \ n there arc 'anizations) "» tn Min- » » 2.705, to ^ration and « 114,000 ti»e State, >ulation in nd cannot t churches Jed in the byterians, ah'sts and hich does fcept the •nccrning jht many MfCl/CtOL'X DKffOMlffAriOt^ fM change*, but have hardly greatly dUturbed thrir relative propor* tiont; miHlt*nt m lln Stmt*. P n nimttiaiiwii. N»rw«t«Mi mnUh KvMgtIlMi LmhatMl C'iini(rcK«llaM' . . t •!•••• > • tM t t • I yUrUn Ci«rm«n Kvangvlli**! I.ulh«r*ii, VI I, I *K«furm«d. . . KpUco,*ll.« {p,^^,„ Kvnngelkal Amo.UuIoii Unliaiiaii ,.« , ,.,, , Unlvfrvallil KwtilanliorglM . . . Ilchrcw rrtawlll RaplUto, MfnnimiU Norwti|i«n ind DanUh Confeninu Uihvr Liilharan SocttltM *SwcdiiK Kvtngalleal I.ulharan. ,,,. *NiirwtgUn Luthtrmn AiiguMalii.. . . Y. M. C. A. oT Minn«M(«. 47.4*f Mblto ■•,000 Z I, tie I OMMb |itt>,uuo i 7W.»»S 4JO,0O0 j t,cm \ »7».*4! I 96.37$ 'fctJSti'' IJ.9M 5,000 M.aM «.i$» S,ooo M,aoo ifioo • 75.«» 10,000 6,000 S>M» »o,*«5 •04J0 9.»79 4.7W 5^ JO No.oftch'oU 70 No.ofKbo'b 100 Numltcr of A MOV I al Ion* y_ 1*71 V4 •o.5yJ«7 7.i*$oo •«/)«9.oo 6,5ft6.7i 400.00 7JO.OO «o»9«HVI 18,000.00 CoIImm ''• > RtlliloM Ordtn . •CATHOLICS. i( , .i.i. Acadtml*! (Famala). - in ''**'" Charitabia jdotltuliona. ■^M sr;.;.::::::::: irCVliA Hawllala Aiyluan yn\-> « CMkolie po|Mlalion . I It 7 ; „i llW I J 114,000 ;.l History. — Father Hennepin, a Franciscan priest, was the firav European who is known to have visited Minnesota. In 1680 he ascended the Mississippi with a party of fur traders to the Falls of St. Anthony, to which he gave the name which they still bear. Some French traders and their descendants settled around the falls, but they soon lapsed into Indian customs and modes of life. In 1 763 the country subsequently known as the Northwest Ter- It pa6 <^WP WSSTAR!f BMPIRE. ritory was ceded to Great Britain. Jn 1 766 Jon«thari Carver, a native of Connecticut, explored that part of Minnesota extending from the present southern border to the sources of the Missis- sippi. In 1 783 it was transferred to the United States as a part of the Northwest Territory. In 1805 a tract of land was pur- chased from the Indians at the mouth of the St. Croix river, in- cluaing the present site of Hastings, and another at the mouth of the Minnesota river, which includes the Falls of St. Anthony. In 1820 Fort Snelling was built, and in 1822 a smalt grist mill was erected on the present site of Minneapolis for the use of the garrison at Fort Snelliug. In 1823 the 6rst steamboat visited Minnesota. Between 1823 and 1830 a small cplony of Swiss settled near St. Paul. The Indian title to lands east of the Mis- sissippi was extinguished in 1838. In 1843 ^- settlement was commenced at Stillwater, on the St. Croix. The Act of Congress establishing the Territory of Minnesota was passed March 3, 1 849, and the Territory was organized in the following JuAe. It extended to the Missouri river, and Ihus included nearly all of Eastern Dakota. Its population was then between 4,000 and 5,000. In 185 1 the Indian tide to the lands lying between the Mississippi river and the Red river of the North, except the res- ervations, was extinguished. Immigration at once commenced, though considerably hindered by the very general impiession that the region was too cold to produce any crops. Gov- ernor Ramsey, the first Territorial Governor, now United States Secretary of War, says that when he came to Wash- ington, and brought with him some ears of corn and wheat raised in the vicinity of St, Paul, he was accused of trying to deceive, for it was said that it was impossible that anything ihould ^roW in such an Arctic climate: But tfce Territory i^rew, and in 1^37 had about 150,000 inhabitant^ ; ^nd' pn the 26th pf February in that year, Corigi-e^s parsed an enjabling act, ^^oyiding for its admiss^jon as>t State^ It w^s adit^itted into the Un,ion ^ay k^, 1858. In 18^ i^ had a poputationQ^ 172,033, tj^eral l). H, Sibley, one of its pioneer settlers, w^s its lirsjt State Governor, and was succeeded in 1860 i>y (joverrio'r Ram- sey. In 1862 occurred the Sioux massacre, to which we have Ki*. *»win»w.. -r^u- -5:- T^ ' uthari Carver, a 'esota extending « of the Missis- States as a part f land was pur- Croix river, in- r at the mouth of St. Anthony, small grist mill r the use of the iamboat visited 'plony of Swiss !ast of the Mis- settlement was Ut of Congress ssed March 3, Wiflg June. It d nearly all of een 4,000 and g between the except the res- e commenced, ral impression crops. Gov- now United me tp Wash- n and wheat »ed Oif trying that anything be Territory ^^np pn the eiijabhng a^t, itted into the ^Q^I;2,053, w^s its firs^ pernor kavn- ich we have HISTOK.KAI NOTBS. 9«7 already alluded. Nearly a thousand of the inhabitants of the State were subjected to the most cruel outrages and butchered in cold blood. It seemed at first that this would paralyze the young State, and prevent its growth for a long time. Dut it had just the contrary effect. The summary and terrible punishment inflicted on the Sioux for their atrocious crimes and their prompt ej^tmcnt from the State, encouraged immigration, and in the eiji^hteen years which have since elapsed, the State has grown with wonderful rapidity. The railroad controversy, involvii^g tlie power of the Static to limit and reduce tlie charges for freight, to which all the States pf the Northwest were in a greater or b:ss degree parl;lcipant$, was less severe or protracted io Minnesota than in some of the other States, and was amicably se^^ded. In th^ extent and fertility of her soil ; in tlie cheapnc9s of choice lands, whether purcha^d from the United States, the State or the railways ; in the accessibility of every settled county of the State to the best markets, thereby securing high prices for her products ; in h€;r abundant water and all the facilities for sue- cessful manufacturing ; in the .Q;xceUence of her educational sy^jtem and its expansion over the whole State, and in the moral and reUgious character of iit9 inhabitants,, the immigrant will find Minnesota, as a home for himself and his children, vnsurpasscd by any State or Territory in "Our Western Empire." ; .. \\,] \>>> .\\ !"^««fid-j :>ift A3?. '(•>!» . i 1 J I ■ li:irbf.mr6V>1 oirti bdbtv CHAPTER XII. ^^>^^^ ^ ijsirbfiftrr'i .^>. (ToiJifx^ rx^T' .y-:£i.>riir'»'5 n III 111 ^'.!i>rjToij KfHoimr'B SmutioM, BatmiMites kkd EkTEWt dV'£.Ai^^e ani!> ij&^kH- j^TUJOK— FaCSQF -J^E CoVJJTRV^MoVMTAiNS AN® HlLWr-^VALLEYS — RiTBRt J AND t.AK!$S— GeQLOQY ANP MllfPMLOCV— ECONOMIC ^jtlNfRALS — LEADrt^ ' ' Zinc — Copper — Iron— Coai^ — Baryta— Cabinet Minerals — Buii,ding ''■' MAtERIAtS— MiNBRAL SpRINGS— ZoOLOGY — CliMATE — METEOROLOGY — SOIL lErklNO VEOBtATibM — ^AoRici/LtORAL Products — Tables op Crops, 1873 mn ^»f*79r^NotBS OK Tia Crotc^Live-Stocic-^Tablbs, i«79, t88o— AdaptA- ( l( JttSiHiMnii if ii' :- ^8 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. Mining Products — Railkoads — Pouilation — Notes on Populatiok — t Counties and Cities— Table or Cities — St. Louis — Kansas City — Lands roR Immigrants — Immigration in the Past— Why it has largely passed ' by Missouri — The State now a Desirahle One for Immirkants — Educa- ' TiONAL Advantages — Public Schools — Normal Schoois — Universities- Colleges and Phokessional Schools — Special Institutions — Religious y Denominations and Churches — Historical Dates. Missouri is one of the central belt of the States of "Our Western Empire," having the Mississippi for its eastern bound- ary, and the Missouri in part for its western. It extends (includ- ing a small tract lying between the Mississippi and the St. Francis rivers) from the parallel of 36** to that of 40" 30' north latitude, and from the meridian of 89** 2' to that of 95® 44' west longitude from Greenwich. Its greatest length from north to south is about 309 miles; its greatest breadth from east to west 318 miles, and its average breadth about 244 miles. It is bounded on the north by Iowa, the parallel of 40** 30' forming the divic'i ng !■ ' from the Missouri river to the Des Moines, and thence duwi. tne channel of that river to the Mississippi ; on the east it is bounded by the Mississippi river, which separates it from Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee ; south by Arkansas, on the line of 36'' from the Mis- sissippi to the St Francis river and from the St. Francis to thie meridian of 94" 38', the parallel of 36" 30' ; on the west by the Indian Territory, Kansas and Nebraska, following the meridiart of 94** 38', from the Arkansas line to the mouth of the Kansas rivec and from that point to the parallel of 40** 30^, the channel of the Missouri river. Its area is 65,370 square miles, or 41,- 836,931 acres, the whole of which has been surveyed. Face of the Country, — ^The Stat(i vi divided into two unequal portions by the Missouri river, which crosses it from wei.' >.<> east, and also forms its northwestern boundary. The portion 80utl> of the Missouri, which forms about two-thirds of the terri- tory of the State, has a very varied surface. In the southeast, the regrion lying between the Mississippi and the St. Francis rivers, as far north as near the parallel of Cape Girardeau, is very low and swampy and subject to frequent overflow by the Mississippi and its tributaries. This comprises all the land lying ofi^postte to Tennessee, Kentucky, and most of Alexander county, ^) le port! an the tern- southeast, t. Francis irdeau, is w by the ind lying r county, FACS QF THF COUNTRY. j^ Illtnois. Above ihis, n little below Cape Girardeau, the highland bluffs Qommenoe, and extend up to the mouth of the Missouri' Between St Genevieve z^nd the mouth of the Meramec these bluffs, which are solid masses of limestone, rise from 250 to 36Q jf«et above tlie river, and extend we^twa/d across the State, but arie less precipitous and fugged as i^ey approadi the Oiage river. In the south and southwestern portion of the State, thp Ocark mountain), Qr. rathfsir. >hil)». occupy a oonsuderable portion oif the country; ihey form no oontinuous or systematic ranges, but render the whole region exceedingly broken and hilly, the isolated peaks and rounded isuofunits {jnUUs they would be called farther west) sometirnQs rising from 500 to 1,000 feet above their bas^s, and then sinking into very beautiful and often very fertile valleys. Though not distinctly defined, the general course of this hilly region is slightly north of east from the southeastern border of Kansas^ where \i enters the State to the Mississip^^i riv^r. iBegiDDJng as a broad arable plateau, it slopes gently tp tike water courses o» (either side, and with fine farming lands even on its highest levels- For ome-ithird of the distance across the State it possesses no ohaiiacteristic of a mountain range, and from dience as it extends eastwardly its ridges become gradually more irregular and pracipitous. until near the centre of the range they beg^in to break up into A series of knobs and hills, whioh finally attain their higl^at eleviition at Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob, in the (eastern, portion )Of ,the State. Tlie numerous riyer botDpms formed iby the tributaries of the Osage ,and Missouri rivers lare generally fertile, but most of them are subject to over- Q^m, Farther noriih, in the ba«in of the Osage and above it, ithe land is mostly rolling iprairie with 0(t;easional forests; the imme- diaitie valley of the Missouri i« a fich aUuvial valley of great fertility, and ahoooding in forrest trees of magnificent size and oircup*fe»£nce.i>i«{ bfii? >! li.l 3^jf.»0 i»ji dJiW ivmvx filw' ,.>n^) briA :)JiiNorthof the Miaspnri ihe^ountry is generally either rolling Or level ,prairie,)$hough with considerable tracts of timber; it forms a^rt of that gr«aj(i)e4; of the preliistoric lake more than 500 miles from shore ^O'Shoret thtrough which the Missouri formerly jfl^wedi^and wMclliadUfdediJllNe grmter.paet ofJowaiand ^astom % 11 M 930 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. Nebraska, and its surface soils, for many feet in depth, are com- posed of loess or silty deposits ; the tributaries of both the Mis- sissippi and Missouri have worn deep channels through the rocks, and the valleys of erosion thus made, as well as the surface and soil of this entire region north of the Missouri, are very similar to those of Iowa. The river bottoms are exceedingly rich and productive. Rivers and Lakes. — The Mississippi river forms the entire east- ern boundary of the State, for a distance of 540 miles. The Missouri river flows along its western boundary, separating it from the States of Nebraska and Kansas, for a distance of 250 miles, and then liows eastwardly entirely across the State, until it joins the Mississippi upon the eastern boundary, twenty miles above St. Louis, a distance of 450 miles ; thus giving the State a shore line upon these two great inland arteries of commerce of upwards of 1,550 miles. The tributaries of the Mississippi on its west bank in this State are, with the exception of the Mis- souri, mosdy small and of no great importance. The St. Francis and its largest tributary, the Little river, as well as the White with its numerousbranches,forks,and its tributaries, the Black, Current, Paint and Spring rivers, all belong to Arkansas, and enter the Mis- sissippi in that State. The Meramec and its principal tributary, the Big river, is the only considerable affluent of the Mississippi in the State south of the Missouri. North of that river. Salt river is the largest affluent, but the Cuivre or Copper river. North river. South, Middle and North Fabius, Wyaconda and Fox rivers, are streams of considerable size. The Missouri receives numerous large affluents in the State. On the south side are the Lamine river, the Osage (a large and beautiful stream), with its tributa- ries, the Little Osage, Marmiton, Sac river. Grand river, Pomme de Terre, Big and Litde Niangua, Auglaize, and Marie's creek ; and Gasconade river, with its Osage, Lick and Piney Forks. On the north side there are the Nishnabatona, the Big and Little Tarkio, Nodaway, Platte, Grand (with fourteen considerable trib- utaries), Chariton (with seven or eight), Rocher Perch6, Cedar, Muddy and L'Outre creeks. In the southwest the Neosho, an >ttffluent of the Arkansas, with its tributaries, drains six or eight HI t^nim*mmmitMj riraua^c^v^- J^l^xlxz:^::: CROLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 93 » epth, are com- both the Mis- )ugh the rocks, he surface and 'e very similar ingly rich and the entire east- o miles. The separating it istance of 250 e State, until it ', twenty miles ng the State a " commerce of Mississippi on n of the Mis- "he St. Francis the White with Black, Current, entertheMis- il tributary, the ississippi in the alt rivtr is the r, North river, ^ox rivers, are ives numerous re the Lamine th its tributa- river, Pomme Vlarie's creek ; y Forks. On )ig and Little siderable trib- ^erch6, Cedar, te Neosho, an ) six or eight counties. Wherever the Great American Desert may be, it is certain that no part of it is in a State whose every county is so abundantly watered by large and small streams as Missouri. There are comparatively few lakes in the .State. In the southeast there are extensive swamps, overflowed at seasons of high water like those on the Adantic coast. In St. Charles county, between the Missouri and the Mississippi, there are a number of small lakes. In the northwestern part of the State, in Platte, Buchanan and Holt counties, there arc several lakes of considerable size. The Missouri, as well as the Mississippi, at times widens into a wide expanse of water dotted with islands. ' Geofoj^y and Mineralogy — ^The geology of Missouri may be briefly summed up as follows: i. Quaternary (alluvium, bluff, and drift or loess) deposits, found m greater or less degree all over the State, but especially deep and thick in the southeastern counties, Ripley, Butler, Dunklin, Pemiscot, New Madrid, Mississippi, Scott, Stoddard, and portions of Carter, Wayne and Bollinger, as well as through the immediate valley or bottom lands of the Missouri, to the point in the northwest at which it enters the State. There are no tertiary, cretaceous, triassic or Jurassic groups in the State, but we come belcw the quaternary immedi- ately upon — 2. The upper carboniferous, which with — 3. The lower carboniferous, covers 23,000 square miles of the State. There are in these two formations, the upper, middle and lower coal, and the Clear creek sandstone of the upper carboniferous, and six successive deposits of the lower carboniferous, com- prising an unclassified sandstone, and the St. Louis, Keokuk and Chouteau groups of limestones and sandstones, most of them rich in fossils. TTiis great coal field occupies in general the western, northwestern and northern portions of the State. Next in order, and for the most part immediately adjacent to the coal measures, are — 4. Three considerable tracts of Devonian rocks, one in the southwest, another in the northeastern part of the State, and the third a narrow belt which follows the eastern edge of the carboniferous deposits in all their devious lines, and extends southeast to the immediate vicinity of St. Louis. The only strictly Devonian rocks in the State are the Hamilton and Onondaga groups, both ittainly limestones. ':>><" 4 nofU.mf.vlKffjn I ■ **! I 'f ''"■' ^'i,.,..\ '.\il^-\s^^ .'..o; ■ 932 OUX WESTRRf/ EMPIRE. ■■■ 5. The upper and lower Silurian formations cotne next in order ; they occupy a tract almost 200 milen in width, and ex- tending from the Missouri river to the southern line of the State, and nlso qxo^ out in the immediate bottom lands of the MiAsis- sippi above the mouth of the MiBsouri. The groups of the upper Silurian found here are Oriskany sandstone, lower Helderberg or Delthyris shale, Niagara group, and Cftpe Girardeau limestone. 'Of the lower Silurian formation there «re three groups belonging to tlie Trenton period, viz. : The Cincinnati, Galena and TVcnton groups, composed mainly of shales and limestones ; and three groups of the magnesian limestone senes, consisting of mag nesian limestones, saccharoidal and other sandstones, and Pots- dam limestones, sanditones and conglomerates. 6. Below these, around the head waters of the affluents of the St. Francis and White rivers, there are frequent outcrops of eozoic or archaic rocks — greenstone, porphyry and granite. Much of the limestone of the coal measures, as well as some of the other formations, is cavernous, and there are nutnerous caves of great extent and beauty in the central and western portions of the State. Missouri has a great variety of minerals, and in those of greatest economic value is hardly surpassed by any State or Territory of " Our Western Empire." Gold has thus far been discovered only in the drift in Northern Missouri in placers over»> lying the coal measures, and therefore without hope of veins or lodes ; these plscers are, as they are situated, too lean, for profit- able working, yielding only from thirteen cents to $3.51 per ton. $Uver has been diligently sought in the lead ores which abound in the State, but they are not, to any profitt»ble extent, r&ilver- bearing. In August, i S791, argentiferous g«lena was discovered inthe eozoic rocks in Madison county, one of the eastern coun- ties of the State, about twelve miles east of Ironton,and iperhaps fifteen miles southeast of Pilot Knob. What is the fvalue of these lodes is not stated, but theyiare suiiioiently ricb to have drawn about twenty companies there, who are now at work,i and are very sanguine chat these lodes also contain gold and platinum. The iirst ^tempts to reduce the ores wer^ ^raadei by the jret amalgamation process,.»iHi not: b^r smelting* » I . .jikji;,. u^^yU\o\\0 %^ W»i-->S'- ^WV-V^vJW*, I^-ir.^SW^i'X-^ililfc*'.' METALS AKD METALLIC ORES. 933 : 5 of veins or m for profit- 1.5 1 per ton. hich abound Ktent, silver- » discovered astern coim- and iperhaps Eilue of these have drawn )rik,astem MisHouri; limonite, or brown haematite, in most of the southern counties: ^oethite, a va- riety of the brown ha:matite in Adair couuicy ; red hematite throughout the coal mea.Hu res ; r«d and yellow ochres in T.any counties; spathic ores in the coal measures and in Phelps county ; the specular oxide, in vast masses, such as the Iron mountain, Shepherd mountain, Pilot Knob, Simmon mountain, Iron ridge, the Meramec mines, in Phelps county, and num^^rous other de- posits in eight or ten other counties ; sulphurets (iron pyrites) throughout the coal measures, and sulphate of iron (copperas) in the coal measures and abandoned coal mines. Some States and Territories have perhaps an equal abundance of iron ores, but lack smelting coals to reduce them ; but Missouri has an abun- dance of excellent smelting coals and fluxes in close proximity to her beds of iron ores, '>m.i /m i.ur, ./jm)"* ih>^iim.i' .^ After iron, lead is the metal most largely produced in Mts- souri, her product of that metal being greater than that of all the rest of the United States. Our latest complete statistics of the lead produced in the State are for 1879, when the St. Louis Mer- chants' Exchange reported a production of 56,868,960 pounds. This waa a very decided falling off from the product of 1878, which was 60,348,560 pounds, and still more from that of 1877, ivluch was 63,202,340 pounds. About one-third of the whole uas exported. The consumption as well as the production of lead has Urgely increased within the past five years, and while Colorado, Montana, Utah, Nevada and California are sending into market large amounts of lead parted from silver, and New Mexico and Arizona are preparing to do the sam«, the produc- tion in Misisourit Iowa and Kansas has also increased and kept pace with them. There are two great lead fields — one in South- eastern and the other in Southwestern Missouri. It is also found in smajler quantities in many counties outside of these lead fields ; gaJeoa, or sulphuret of lead, and cenissite, or the carbon- wm" .-^jiiiSiweieaaaWBK'-' 934 OVK WMSTKMff EMPiMK. .V ate, are the principal ores, thouf;;h some deposits of the phosphate (pyromorphite) are found. Zinc in the form of bhmde is abun- dant in the same regions as the lead — in Southeastern and South- western Missouri, and the silicates and carbonates, also, while zinc bloom sometimes occurs. The production of zinc in Missouri is about one-third of that in the entire United States, and is ex- ceeded only by that of Illinois. Copper in the form of blue and green carbonates (malachite) and sulphurets, is found in large quantities in Shannon, Crawford, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison counties, and in smaller quantities in a dozen other counties For many years copper mining was successfully carried on in the State, and even now small quantities are produced ; but the yield of copper in the ores ranges only from twenty-two to twenty-six per cent, and the Lake Superior ores are so much richer, and their mines contain so much native copper as to render the busi- ness generally unprofitable. The sulphate of cadmium (greenock- ite) is associated with the zinc blende in many of the mines. Ntck( 1 and cobalt are found in paying quantities at Mine La Motte, in Madison county, and in the St. Joseph mines, and the beautiful hair-like crystals of sulphuret of nickel (Millerite) in the vicinity of St. Louis. Wolfram occurs in Madison county, and manganese and manganiferous iron in Iron and other counties. Of minerals, not ores, there is a great variety ; carbonate of lime (c \lcite), arragonite, pearl spar, fluor spar, quartz in all forms; heavy spar (sulphate of baryta), mainly used in the adul- teration of white lead ; gypsum, mainly in the form of selenite ; pickeringite, feldspar, mica, hornblende, asbestos, bitumen or min- eral tar (througnout the coal measures), fire-clay, potter's clay and kaoljn ; an excellent glass sand from the saccharoidal lime- stone ; lime of several qualities ; hydraulic lime and cement ; pol- ishing stone, saltpetre, building stones of granite, sandstones, limestones and marbles, grindstones, millstones, slates, and numer-' " ous fine varieties of colored marbles are the principal of these. ' But of all the minerals not metallic, coal is the most important in ( Missouri. The coal fields underlie an area of about a6,ooo square ^ miles in the State. The coal includes deposits belonging to the ^ upper, middle and lower coal measures, and is of various quali- ^ mm ZO'dlOCY AND CLIMATE. 93$ he phosphatr •nde iH abun- rn and South- B8, also, while 'cin Missouri e», and is ex- II of blue and und in lar^e and Madison ler counties ■ied on In the but the yield to tiventy.six 1 richer, and der the busi- n (greenock- f the mines, at Mine La nes, and the erite) in the I county, and ir counties, arbonate of uart2 in all in the adul- of selenite ; fnen or min- otter's clay ^idal lime- iment ; pol*^^ sandstones, ind numer*'* " J of these. ^ iportant in I xx) square^ r»ngtothe^ ous quali- ties, some being common bituminous, some very rich in carbon, and developing excellent renults under the coking process, while some will not coke; some is equal in (luality to tin: Liverpool (;ann< I coal. The percentage of fixed carbon vari«s from thirty to sixty per cent., the average being not far from tilly per cent Among the coal beds already worked are many which produce excellent smelting coals, though perhaps a larger number yield a coal better adapted to the use of locomotives and stationary engines. The coal mines are usually easily worked, and do not require deep shafts or expensive machinery, and coal is very cheap. There are many mineral springs in the .State, sulphurous, saline and chalybeate, but none of national reputation. I'here are also brine springs in Howard county, which yield from two to three ounces of very pure salt to the gallon. Zoology. — Having extensive forests, Missouri has an abun- dance of wild animals. They are mosdy those of the Mississippi valley and of the plains. Bears (the black and cinnamon), cou- gars or panthers, wild cats, lynxes, wolves, both the gray wolf and the coyote, foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, beavers, martens, minks, muskrats, gophers, woodchucks, and nearly all the ro- dents and burrowing animals. The buffalo and the elk have disappeared from Missouri, though they were formerly abundant there ; but there are two species of deer, antelopes rare), rabbits and hares. Wild turkeys, quails, pigeons, partridges, prairie hens (though these are not as numerous as formerly), and other grouse exist in great abundance. The birds of prey, eagles, vul- tures, hawks, owls, etc., destroy great numbers of game birds and rodents ; wild geese, ducks, brant, teal and snipe are found in their season on the rivers and in the marshes, and with them herons, swans, divers, and more rarely ibises. Snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, turtles, etc., are numerous. •* , Climate. — The climate of Missouri is generally healthy, except in the river bottoms and the marshy districts of the southeast ; but it is a climate of frequent changes and of great extremes. The months of July and August are marked by extreme heat, and there are periods of equally intense cold in January and Feb- ruary. The autumn and spring are very mild and pleasant, though with occasional days of intense cold or heat ^ ^ 1.' ova WKSr/itN AA/r/MM. i f ii % 'V i _ I 1 5 ^ i Hi K K' Jj 5 Is V J! * Vi. _X1 I. Ml, li.,.; n Jll III »»j<:< ^lU'JOl .7 <(, I Mir, I /■! k*.; 1 •L 1« » «'.*M M'jq,' owl yii. :»i.«(j j, »l . :» ji^^^iiSiiiS^^i^rif'^s 1^^ f ,,,' •J .•'."."■':'.•.•.'*.' t. •.'*:' .'.'^ ■ '.""^. : : : : ( t :.i r: ; ; : : 1 , ; t ; : : { ; ::::::::: .:::j;:j ::::: ■ii I Mil p 1 M S I 9 vB H''' v8 ■''' 9-t 1^ »B i' 8 0*3 Pllf^pp lililiiijliiiiii >th I -'l.»ll»< i ■ i t — 1« • •— *■♦■« »#-» .'Il METMOHOLOGV Of msSOVHt, 937 \ t ' f Mi t|l a — ♦J SJJJi 1^^ ,1' Id .;/ i Wc give b«lcm the following additional ilfm* in rcfurd to th« OMtcoffologjr of Ut. Luum, ukan from ihc bignal ikrvic* lUportt. MoVTN* ati. w pi i'L Per rem, 66.4 65. » 5** 55 5 63.1 • 60.8 6a. 9 *4.* n 61 7 74.0 6J.6 1 \ Mill munili \ - I ' , hmiary February March May tnctla. 19.4^1 a936' »9J53 a9.ioi a9.j66 *9 398 •937» '9503 »9-475 89 4*7 a9.s6a 19.47* Incheii. 1.69 a. 79 *.74 4^*3 a, 40 39» 4 75 34J 3»7 i.J« J-48 40.8i N. W.,S., W., N., E. N..S.,N. \V..N. K..S.E. S.,N, W,, S. K., VV., N. S. R.| N., N. W., 8., 8. W. 8.,N. W.,N.,S. K.,N. K. S,,N..S.E.,N.W.,W..N.K. 9., N, N. K., K.. H. W. S..N.,S. W.,N.W.,N.E. S., N.,S. K., K., N. W. 9.. N.. N. W., W. 8.,N.W.,W.,N.,S.E.,N.E. W.,N,W.,b.K.,N.,S.,E. S.,N.W.,N.,S.li.,W.,N.E.,E. , '^ June 1 Joir /*"/ • A«gU!it..M.... Septcinl)cr ... Ortob«;r Nuvembcr.... Decerabcr . ... Yew Accordmf to a well-ktiown authority. Dr. Engteman, of St. Louis, the mean annual temperature on a line passing across the Slate from east to west, not far from its northern border, is 50* Fahrenheit; a little south of the middle, including St. Louis, 53" Fahrenheit; at about middle, including St. Louis, summer mean 75** Fahrenheit; somewhat north of southern border, also including St. Louis, winter mean 33* Fahrenheit. The L')octor states that the climate on the whole is dry and rarely overloaded with moisture, and that it yields an unusual amount of fi»ir weather. ' Scch meteorological conditions are highly conducive to health, since they admit of and encourage acdre out-door life at all seasons. Missouri presents such a diversity Of surface that all ttitx find localides within its boundaries suitable to their peculiari- ties of constitution. The Signal Service Reports do not vary grenMy from Dr. Engleman's meteorolojjical esitrmates, but they exhibit one feature which he does not particularly notice, viz. : the great rawvge of the thermometer in the winter, spring and autumn months. The annual range is about ^3* ; the range of ^tjmMlMXrtm'aPitlMSSBI^'^ w. the ttprin)( month* avcragci Ho" : of the Hummer, about 45* ; of the autumn, alK>ut 65* ; anil oi thr winter, a little more than 7o^ The avcrajfc rainfall all over the Stutr '\% 40.5 inthrs, and con- trary to the [K)|Hilar belief in );rcater in the wentcrn than in tho eautern part of the State, bein); 46.16 at St. Joieph, and only 37.83 in the same yearn at JeMerson UarraclcH, on the MiHxiiiNippi. Soil r.fiti ygji^etation. — The Hon. Andrew McKinley, I'resiilcnt of the MisHouri State Board of Immigration, a man thorou)>;hly familiar with the soils and productive capacity of the Miaaourt lands, thus classifies and describes them : '"j " •• """"1,' ' " When the territory now embraced within the boundanet of Missouri emerged from the waters that covered it, the marls of tho bluff formation were the upper stratum beneath the soil, of all that section of the State lying north of the Osage and Mis- souri rivers, and also of the coimty of St. I .ouis and other coun- ties lying on the Mississippi river, to the southern l)oundary of the State. This formation fuirishes a deep porous, flexible and imperishable sub-soil, that absorbs moisture like a sponge and enables the soil to endure greater excesses of rain or drouth than any other. It rests u|)on the ridges ar -ver bluffs and descends along their slopes to the lowest val Reposing on this surface is a great variety of soils, each in its kind of unsur- passed fertility and productiveness. From time to time animal remains and decayed vegetable matter, in vast profusion, but in just proportions, were added, until the soil formation became complete, and now exhibits all of the essentials for the fullest nourishment of the vegetable kingdom. In the process of the formation of the upper soil, a rank vegetation of grasses, plants and trees sprang up, which was suppressed in the dryer portions by fires that overrun the country. Along the streams, and where there was a scarcity of vegetation, the fires failed to destroy the young trees, which grew apace until strong enough to resist, and then they began to encroach upon the prairies; this they con- tinued to do until more than one-half of the State was appropri- ated by our magnificent forests. " The margins of the rivers first received the most extensive deposits of soil matter from flopd^i wbk^ carried (JIqwa the.w.^Aitb Naa MOtL AND yMOMTATiOlf. >Ollt 45" ; of >rc than 70*. I'H. and con* than in tho )h, ami only MiiiMiHNippi. y. Prrsich'ni ihoroujjhiy ic Missouri )un(Jarie« of the marlR of the soil, of re and Mis. other coun- K)undary of Mcxible and sponge and \ or drouth r bluffs and ieposinff on id of unsur- time animal ision, but in :ion became • the fullest xess of the isses, plants rer portions \, and where destroy the } resist, and s they con- is approprU t extensive \ the wealth of the vast rrgionn they drained, and. upon the HulMiilcncc of the wutrfH, deposited it un the lower levels. Luch llood furniHhml itM nrw Nupply, adding to the height of thr lK)ttom lanart, auflicicntly «;l«*vatc«l to l)r above dan|{er of overllow. No rivers of the world can bouHl oi more cxtenitive bottom luniK tlian can the Missouri and Missinsippi. and none have soils will) ingredients richer* better combined, or more productive. *'I'or practical purposes, the best claHsification of the Hoils of Missouri is that adopted by Trofessor Swallow, whicli, after de- Hnin^' thent in general as forest, prairie anti alluvial lands, indi- cates their great variety by the kind of timber which is most abundant on them, or, where timber is wanting, by the grasses and plants of the prairie, i'ollowing this classification those known as llackbcrry iMtids are first in fertility and productive* ncss. Upon these lands also grow eln.. wild cherry, honey locust, hickory, white, black, burr and chestnut oaks, black and white walnut, mulberry, linden, ash, poplar, catalpa, sassafras and maple. The prairie soil of atxjut the same quality, if not iden* tical, are known as Croi^ ^'oot Lands, so called from a species of weed found upon them, and these two soils generally join each other where the timber and prairie land meet Both rest upon a bed of fine silicious marls, and even under most exhaustive tillage will prove perpetually fertile. They cover more Uiaa 7,000,000 acres of land. On this soil white oaks have been found twenty-nine feet in circumference and one hundred feet high; linden twenty three feet in circumference and quite as lofty; the burr oak and sycamore grow still larger. Prairio grasses, on the Crow Foot Lands, grow very rank and tall, and by the old settlers were said to entirely conceal herds of cattlo from the view. These lands alone are capable of sustaining a population greater than that now occupying the State of Mis< souri. "The Eim Lands, whose name is derived from the American elm, which here grows magnificently, are scarcely inferior to the hackberry lands, and possess very nearly the same growth of Other timber. The soil has about the same properties, except ,»».,■ .■-,(B> i~~,-,i .livrn^ «M0 OUR WB3TEfil^ EMRtnR. BES ■;{. V. tliat the sand is finer and the clay more abundant, llic same quality of soil appears in the prairie known as the Resin Weed Lands. '^" "" "' " Next in order are Hickory Lands, with a growth of white and shellbark hickory, black, scaHet and laurel oaks, sugar maple, persimmon and the haw, red-bud and crab apple, trees of smaller growth. In some portions of the State the tulip tree, beech and black gum grow on lands of the same quality. Large areas of prairie in the northeast and southwest have soils of nearly the same quality called Mulatto Soils. There is also a soil lying upon the red clays of Southern Missouri similar to the above. These hickory lands and those described as assimilating to them, are highly esteemed by the farmers for the culture of corn, wheat and other cereals. They are admirably adapted to the culti- vation of fruits, and their blue grass pasti'-es ''re equal to any in the State. Their area may be fairly estimated at 6,000,000 acres. ^ "The Magnesian Limestone Soils extend from Callaway county south to the Arkansas line, and from Jtflfer&on west to Polk county, an area of about 10,000,000 acres. These soils are dark, ^rm, light and Tery productive. They produce black and white #alhut, black g;um, white and wahoo elms, sugar maple, honey locust, mulberry, chestnut, post laurel, black, scarlet and Spanish oaks, persimmon, blue ash and many trees of smaller growth. They cover all the couritry underfaid by the magnesian lime- ^totle series, but are ittconvfenient for Ordinary dllage when they occupy thfc hillsides or narrow valleys. Among the most fertilfc Sbfl* in the State, the>' f»roduce finfe t^rops of almost all the staples, sktid thrifty and productive fruit trees and grape vines evince their extraordinary adaptation and fitness to the; culture of the grape and other fruits. Large, bold springs of limpid, pure and codl waters gush frbm : eVery hiMsidfe atid flow away in bright streams, giving beauty and attraction to the magnificent forests of tftte'drti, the oak, tlie murberry and the buckeye, which often adorn theii* l!)ortters. The mining rtgfons embraced in this division of th^ soils are thus sbppHed' With vast agriciiltural wealth and a fittg^ihihfftg, l>asttoritl and agr*rcultti rat papulation may here be 0/fA', BLACK JACK AND PfXE LANDS. ^« ITie same : Resin IVecH \ of white and sugar maple, ies of smaller se, beech and irge areas of of nearly the a soil lying the above, ting to them, >f corn, wheat to the culti- equal to any at 6,000,000 la way county wrest to Polk oils are dark, ck and white maple, honey and Spanish iWtr growth. Tiesian lime- je when they 2 most fertile 11 the staples, vines evince ulttire of th6 Md, pure and ay in bright ^nt forests of 1 often adorn s division of realth and a nay here be brought together in relations scarcely to be found in any other country in the world. Blue grass and other succulent and nutri- tious grasses grow luxuriantly, evon on the ridges and hillsides of the upla'id forests, in almost every portion of Southern Mis- souri. The alfnlfa grass {medicago safiva), so highly prized in California, has been introduced into this part of Missouri, and proves a valuable addition to the forage grasses, yielding eight tons of the best of hay at four cuttings, withstanding summer droughts, and furnishing excellent pasture in October and No- vember. "On the ridges, where the lighter materials of the soil have been washed away, or were originally wanting, While Oak Lands are to be found, the oaks accompanied by shellbark and blacfk hickory, and trees and shrubs of smaller growdi. While the sur- face soil is not so rich as the hickory lands, the sub-soil is quite as good, and the land may be greatly improved by turning the sub-soil to the surface. These produce superior wheat, good corn and a ver^ fine quality of tobacco. On these lands fmtts are abundant and a sure crop. They embrace about 1,500,000 acretJ. xii J'jH oiIj ,,'/;> ni I b->')> ?u w.ui J.lfMVTI 4 ■< ficnc/ ■>m; "Post Oak Lands have about the same growth as the white oalc lands, and produce good crops of the staples of the country, and yield the best tobacco in the West. Fruits of all kinds excel dn this soil. These lands require deep culture. "The Black Jack Za»a& occupy the high flint ridges undefldtd with hornitone and sandstone, and «mder these conditions are considered the poorest in the State, Except for pastures aird vineyards. Tihe presence, however, of black jack on other lands (^oes not indicate thin or poor lands. ''-'■ ' ' Jiiji . j ..n!''i- "Pine Lands Skve extensive, embracing^ "j^ut «,<6i:^,tto6^ JttifHk The {Mne is the long leaf variety, grows to great size, and is mar- ketable. It is accompankdi iby heaivy growths of oak, which takes file country as successorMto the pine* This soil is sandy, is adapted to small grains &nd> grasses, and carries liertiliaers well. >i,)VThe bottom lands of tihe southeast are now being rapidly re- duced to cultivatk»n: by the common effort of the lumberman and _ Bcsttler. A morit intensive isysttem of '• ^al^tifk dtaitiaig^ is ridw UMH '■i,si-^ss»iir*rHBmiie>i».aif-:.-aaiA' 942 OUX WESrEKAT EMPIRE. authorized by the State, and efTective measures are determined upon. They are of the Hackberry variety of soils, and bear the heavi( .t of timber. The strength of soils is such as to produce great crops with regularity, proved in many fields by more than fifty years of cultivation without rotation of crops." ti i' iiuo^- J;, Agricultural Products. — In 1870 somewhat more than one- half the area of the State — 21,707,220 acres — was included in farn>$, of which, however, only 9,130,615 acres were under culti- vation ; within the last decade, the amount of improved lands has greatly increased. The culture of the grape and the production pf wine has been largely developed, and the vineyards of Mis- souri are favorably known. The State possesses some advan- tages for the production of excellent wines, which are not sur- passed by those of any other State in the Union, and not equalled by any except California. Two classes of grapes — those which produce the best wines— the /EsHvcUis or summer grapes, and the Ripara or river grapes, attain their greatest perfection on her soil ; and many of the best varieties of these are either native Missouri grapes or seedlings from them. Of the ^stivalis class the " Norton's Virginia " and its seedlings, the Hermann and the White Hermann, the Cynthiana, a grape of wonderful ex- cellence, and the Neosho, a native grape, produce the finest red wines, Burgundies, sherries, clarets and white wines, in the world. Of the river grapes, the Taylor, and especially its seedlings, the l^mous Elvira, the, Amber, the Pearl and others, are of the great- • .^st value for the production of the choicest hocks, still wines and f^9|iampagnes. Most of these, also, are very fine table-grapes. A ^pide field is open |o. the State and to immigrants from wine- growing countries for the production of pure wines of the highest qualities. There are six native varieties of grapes, and ^hey are ^11, so far as known, proof against the phylloxera, that deadly enemy of the grape-vine. Among other special crops are ;,forghum, now largely cultivated, both for sugar and syrup ; flax i>and hemp, both for fiibre and seed ; cotton and sweet potatoes in the southern counties, hof^i and the larger fruits. Apiaculture jj^, al^o very pppular in some portions of the State, and large %jmantities of hon^yftnd beeswaot are exported; The following tm CROPS AND STOCK- XMtSIXG iN MISSOURI. 943 •e determined , and bear the as to produce by more than ir ore than one- is included in re under culti- >ved lands has he production 'yards of Mis- » some advan- i are not sur- d not equalled i — those which if grapes, and rfection on her ; either native '^stivalis class Hermann and wonderful ex- : the finest red. s, in the world, seedlings, the e of the great- still wines and ale-grapes. A ts from wine- wines of the )f grapes, and hylloxera, that Bcial crops are id syrup ; flax et potatoes in Apiaculture ate, and large The following tables show the production of agricultural staples in the years 1878 and 1879, and also the amount of live-stock, which is a large and rapidly increasing interest in Missouri ; . f n . Qopt, 1878. Indian corn, bu. Wheat, bu Rye, bu OatH, bu Buckwheat, bu. . Poiatocf , bu . . . . Tobacco, pound. Hay, ton Totals . Quantity prO' ducedini878. 93,062,400 30,196,000 732.000 19,584.000 46400 5,415.000 33,023,000 1,620,000 Avera({e yield pel' acre. 36.3 II. 30.6 16. 75- 770. 1.63 No. of acre* in each crop. 3,553,000 1,836,000 48,800 640,000 3,900 73,200 29,900 1,000,000 7,181,800 huK iSiInd' V«lueof or ton. i "«'• ""P- $ .36 .67 •41 .18 •5* ■38 •OS 6.43 124,196,224 •J.53>.Jio 300,120 3.5aS.>20 24,128 2,057,700 1,151,150 10,416,600 'J5 5,202,363 Crops, 1879. Indian corn, bu. . Wheat, bu Rye, bu Oats, bu Buckwheat, bn. . Potatoes, bu Totracco, pounds . Hay, tons Totals . Quantity pro- duced in 1879. 153,446400 18,984.340- 688,080 15,077,680 46.864 6,570,200 31,411,390 1,012,500 Average 1 yield per' acre. I No. nf acres in each crop. I'rice 40 '4 '7 25 ao 91 663 1.06 3,836,160 1,356.016 40.47s 603,107 a,87i 72,300 32.59s 955.200 bushel, pound or ton. I.OI .61 .26 ■63 .48 .06 9-43 Pi-'j! Value of e.ich crop. '$38,361,600 19.174,082 419.729 3.807." "4 29.524 3.153.696 1,284,684 9.547,875 6,898,634 1175.778,304 Missouri is remarkably adapted for grazing and stock-raising generally, and has within her own borders markets so accessible and of such boundless, capacity that she can increase her live- stock to any extent without fear of glutting the market. In swine husbandry she is very close to her northern neighbor, Iowa, and no other State, except Illinois, equals these two in the number and quality of its swine. In the number of its sheep it ranks below Texas, California, Oregon, New Mexico and Colo- rado, but with more enterprise it might easily pass thq last three, as it has ranges for sheep equal to any in the world. Her jaeeves, v;hether shipped to Europe pr to the New York markets, have an excellent reputation, and she is a formidable competitor with Iowa for the excellence as well as the abundance of her dairy products.. .^ y'ffv^fi|(>ti Iwij'ft't^iyfff'KpfJ''' : **;»■«.«* >r«/r|.^ Alhn ii.)fTn'4'T Barley, tKough not named among the crops in above tables, is mmmmkmmmt .4 i.ja«l*a(»"Si4' :^,ti!^0' •tT. ■ t0^ AAujV/ANt OV^ WBSrSH// EMFHt^..^\i.y\.i y raised to the amount of a million bushels or more annually. The y average yield is about twenty-eight bushels to the acre, and the price in 1 879 was 8ixty 38.4S5.3a'» 2,644,656 io,533.97«* .;iioi,8l7.75:* Manufactures. — Missouri possesses greater advantages for extensive and successful manufacturing than any other State of ** Our Western Empire " and she has improved them in part. In 1870 Missouri ranked as the fifth State in the Union in the annual product of her manufactures, and St. Louis in 1876 was the third manufacturing city in the Union. Within the last de- cade the State, outside of St. Louis, has nearly tripled, and the city of St. Louis has more than doubled the amount oflt^ manu- 'factures. Great manufacturing centres have sprung up In difTer- ent sections df the State; St. Joseph, Kansas City, Hannibkl, St. Charles, Springli«ild> Palmy iti, 'Union, Jatlcson, CofumWa; Lex- ^ington, Mobedy; Sedalia, Bbonville and Rolh, are zL\\ manufcic- turihg centres bf considerable importances Aboiit three-foUrths ; of the manufactures of Missouri are produced !n St. Louis, whicih - reported in 1879 manufactured articles of the valiieof $275,606,- 660. For the >yHole State the products of manufactures the ^hie year were ^^tihiated in round huhibers at $335,obo,od^. -The prihcipal Hhdi^ df manufacture were approximately as fdllbw^s: , Flouring mills, 1^40,000,000 ; carpenters and builders. Sao.odiioitt; ;, J ,iijyiclij} t>v<.)tlfa (II Hqou :)ilJ jjnonu; Uuini^n Juii dyuuru ,'^:">hxia, :'$'■ at '^ •am WMH Mnm MANUFACTVtES AND MWl^TC PRODUCTS. 945 nually. The acre, and the production of e, and seldom >g a very im- :s show the lein ,i\V' I fti.lj.fil onri. Jan., iMa TottI raUfl. 10,953,600 io,ii4,5ari 38.4SS.30'' 2.644,6s«i 'o,S33.97« ,*ioi^l7,75«( antag«s for her State of tern in part, ^nion in the in 1876 was the last de- led, and the of Its nianu- up In diffibr- [annibil.St. imbia; Lex- II manufaic- iree-founhs -ouls, Whidh f $2 75,606,- actures the 35.opo,odp. ^asfoBbWs: 20,q66i9«-5S 22.86 4*3 24.36 24.60 34.«6 21.00 14.91 18.70 DECREASE. 4.50 INCREASE. 8.30 ,-« \^ .-V The lead industry of St. Louis amounts annually to over $5,ooo,cxx). This includes pig lead, white lead, shot, pipe and sheet lead. >-*' 9. Iron. With ample facilities for making, at the lowest pos- sible prices, iron enough to supply the whole continent, Missouri has fallen far below her proper position in the production of iron. In 1872 the iron ore mined amounted to 509,200 tons, of which 291,200 tons were exported, am! the remainder smelted in Mis- souri. The same year 87,176! tons of pig iron were produced and shipped to St. Louis. In 1879 the iron product of St. Louis was over $12,000,000. ■'^'3. In 1872 11,582,440 pounds of zinc ore were raised and shipped to St. Louis. Of this 10,000,000 pounds were smelted for zinc, yielding 1,727,450 pounds, and the remainder was used for the manufacture of white oxide of zinc. The same year 10,- 437,420 pounds of barytes were shipped to St. Louis. In 1879 Kansas City alone shipped 15,931,793 pounds of zinc; 32,371,059 pounds of lead, and 55,709,497 pounds of ore. 4. Copper is not now produced except incidentally in connec- tion with other metals. Nickel is shipped to St. Louis from several mines to a large and annually increasing amount. .5* The output of coal in the State was, in round numbers, 900,000 tons in 1877, and 1.000,000 tons in 1878. In 1879 the amount was 36,978,150 bushels, or about i,iop,poo tons. The products of the quarries consist of building-stone of many kinds, granite, sandstones, limestones, marbles, white, black and colored, slate of all kinds, millstones^ grindstones, polishing stone, hydraulic lime, glass sand from the saccharoidal sandstone, etc. The amount of quarry products is known to be very large, but we have ho statistics of it. Railroads. -^Thit State is traversed by 3,627 miles of railway. The greater part of the railroad lines are great trunk routes, connected with tlie Union Pacific, the Northern Papihc;, the At- chison, Topeka and Santa F6, or som.e of the routes to Texas and the Gulf. Of thoap traversjog Northern and Western Missouri, the Chicago rnilwaty kings have obtained and hold possession, greariy to the grief of St. Louis, which is, nevertheless, a great Nin MtWB aMM niially to over shot, pipe and he lowest pos- inent, Missouri luction of iron, tons, of which lelted in Mis- 'ere produced ct of St. Louis e raised and were smelted ider was used ame year lo,- u«s. In 1879 CJ 32.371.059 ly in connec- Louis from lount. nd numbers, In 1879 the tons. ;,i, one of many e, black and s, polishing 1 sandstone, : very large, of railway, ■unk routes, iftc, the At- > Texas and n Missouri, possession, ss, a great POPULATION OF MISSOURt. 947 railroad centre, having nineteen trunk lines radiating from it. The Chicago roads include the Chicago and Northwestern, the Chicago and Rock Island, Chicago and Alton, the Wal^ash, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The principal roads going westward or southward from St. Louis are the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern, the Mis- souri Pacific, made up of several lines, the St. Louis and San Francisco, the St. Louis, Keokuk and Northwestern, and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern. Hannibal, Louisiana, Quincy, Illinois, St. Joseph and Kansas City are also points at which several important railways originate. There are also a few merely local railways. Of the 1 1 5 counties in the State, it is stated that only seventeen are without railroads. The actual cost of road and equipment ibr the roads within the State has been about jl 160,000,000. Of course, their stock and debts rep- resent a still larger sum. Recently combinations have been formed with great railway companies holding possession of trunk lines, by which much of the railroad property of the State will become more profitable. Populatimi, — With the exception of Louisiana, Missouri is the oldest State of " Our Western Empire," having organized as a State in 1820, and having been admitted into the Union in 1821. The following table exhibits its population at various dates of its history, their condition of race, color, birth, etc. : f I POPUUriON OF MISSOURI. 1 ao,8i & i ".3to 3«.544 74."8 »03,095 «4o.4S5 .1»3.7o» 683,044 1,183,011 ■ ,168.80411 ,137^141 fiii ,3 }57.83» 03*,*o| »»«,34T 9>4S5 }o,o4J 8«,ja7 180,807 334,313 I j59.««» I4««? «7.*» 55.9* 333,888| 593,004: 1,063,4891 i.*>j,ij6l_..^ •■«>«3i5«.«43.»3« 5«9 «.574 a,6i8 .3 58,340 , 87.4a' 3,57»i "4.9?" tl8/>7l[ 3,011 io,*aa 35,091 5». ',433 s •3 604,533 7*.59» nont none 1,031,471' >6o,54i 1,499,038. »3 ,007 «.937.564!»««i»4«> •3» i.oa 3.15 5.«7 10.44 18.C9 •6.34 36-34 ■a (2 ■§1 I 8' "PS " e 5" I ^^ 3*9.43 1 10.94 >73«8. 77-751 a73.«57 »38.a48 a6i,i57 7330 440.397 »49.»49 »9".778 45-6a,577.o<>3 35^,9981408,306 38. I I I m There are several things worthy of notice in this table. One ' K'«*«»»**•*Ji»".***^"■'^"*^■''^ " 348 OUK WSSTKKf/ MMr/ftK. is, the marked disproportion at each census between males and females. This is very singular in a State as old as Missouri. Another is that Missouri, having been a slave State until 1863, there should have been so small a proportion of the African race there, never much exceeding ten per cent, of the entire popula- tion, and that after tfieir emancipation their number actually de- creased. A third is that while the State is so great a thoroughfare for immigrants and offers such inducements to them, so small a proportion of its inhabitants should be of foreign birth, never more than thirteen per cent., and that the actual number is decreasing. Counties and Cities. — There are 115 counties in the State, which had in 1870 a true valuation of $1,284,923,897. Their present true valuation would prokably exceed $2,000,000,000, The following table gives the principal towns and cities of the State, with their population in 1870 and as far as reported in 1880. St. Louis is considerably the largest city in "Our Western Empire," although somewhat less populous than its enterprising inhabitants hoped. Kansas City has gro.vn very rapidlyi, and is now the second city in the State. . • t, ariis. 'J' ; '■4 - ■ ■ -i \rt I n, ^ i St. Louis Kansas City St. Joseph Hannibal St. Charles Sprinsfield Sedalia Lexington Chillicothe Cape Girardeau.... Louisiana Macon i o CO r- 310,864 3?.«6o 19.565 10,1*5 5.5 70 S.555 4,560 4.373 3.978 3.585 3.639 3.678 1^ .s 35o.5»» 55.813 3».484 11,074 OTIIS. Booneville Independence . Jefferson City. Warrensburg... Canton , Columbia Palmyra PIea8»nt Hill. . RoUa iMexico Iron Mount..., Moberly .2 <* BjOO 3.506 3.»84 4.420 «.945 a.363 2,336 a.615 a.554 i,|54 a. So 3 a,oiS «»Si4 £• 6,000 St. Louis is a city of great enterprise, largely engaged in manufactures and in the sale of mining products, dairy products, meats aiyi provistons, mitring, agricultural and railroad machiaery, LANDS FOK IMMWRANTS. 949 males and \ Missouri, until 1863, \frican race ire popiila- actually de- loroujjhfare so small a never more decreasing, the State, ^97. Their ),0OO,0OO. cities of the reported in ur Western tnterp rising >idly, and is .'11. .J .11 d d r« •S eS « ^S ■4 "S M D U Oh 06 84 20 45 63 36 «5 54 54 03 18 14 6,000 engaged in y products, machinery, locomotives, cars, wa^^ons, Concord coachtn, hollow-warr, ami gtrn (.'rally articles of steel and iron. Its schools and some of its institiitionH of higher learning are models in their way, and it has a vlt;servedly high reputation for morality and business probity and honor. Its growth during.;: tl.e past decade has bt-cn some- what retarded by various cauHes, but it is now increasing with great rapidity. It is the point of departun; for the great volume of travel and immigration to the VVi'stern and Southwestern States and Terri- tories, and with its rapidly growing daughter, Kansas City, on the western border, and .St. Joseph on the northwestern, manages to secure for Missouri by far the largest part of the passenger and freight traffic of the Great West. Kansas City, as we have elsewhere said, has concentrated within its own bounds all the principal lines traversing the West, Northwest and Southwest. Its growth has been very rapid, rising from 32,361 in 1870 to 56,946 in 1880, and its schools, churches, public buildings and general improvement have kept pace with its growth in population. Much the same can be said of St. Joseph, Hannibal and Sedalia. They are all railroad centres of considerable importance, and are having a rapid growth. Lands for Immigrants. — Immigrants coming to the State of Missouri, who desire to buy and improve lands, will have their choice of the following, namely : I. There are 1,000,000 acres yet belonging to the United States, subject to sale and homestead entry. These lands lie principally south of the Missouri river, in counties heavily tim- bered, well watered, and are among the best fruit and pasture lands in the United States. It is desirable that these lands should be taken as homesteads by the poorer classes, who will improve them, and add to the taxable wealth of the State. These lands can be purchased at $1.25 per acre where they are not within ten miles of a land-grant railway, and at $2.50 or upwards where they are inside of that limit. They are also subject to entry under the homestead law, which will make the cost of a good farm of 160 acres from $25 to $28, the title being perfect- ible after five years of residence and improvement. The Timber- i>f(Wivww«rt*wl(****^ 950 OUK WMSTKHU KMr.MM. Culture and Dciert Land Acts do not apply to public lands in MiHSouri. a. There art; yet larjjr iKxiirH of swamp lanf churches, ned by non- anxious to are anxious *e farms to y and other their land ty is mort- save their f*ral million the State, ch may be range and m. mote from social sur- vious; yet >f Kansas, them less diflference tfUV tMMIOHArWN HAS SOT BRUN LARGRH. 95 » in ihc past liavc been , The Missouri lands have been much lets thoroughly advertised; the Stale has not kept itself bcion* the public to HO great an extent, and lias, indeed, seemed wholly in- differcint to accdssions by imntig ration ; the State debt was nome- whal larj^r, and with the counts and city debts made taxation heavier; tlie lands, though fairly fertile, were badly cultivated, ami K'^^*- to the new-comers an imftression of dieir barrenntss and worthlessness, which facts did not justify; the farming' in many parts of the State was very slovenly and inetficient. On as j^ood lands as those of Missouri, the average yield of wheat should never be as low as eleven bushels to the acre ; of corn, twenty-six bushels to the acre, or ol potatoes seventy-five bushels to the acre; yet these were the rcp*)ricd Uvcra^'esof 1878. The efforts of the Slate Agricultural Society have produced some improv(!ments in these crops, but llicy are, even now, much below what they ought to be. The educational advantages in the country were much inferior to those of the neighboring States of lovva and Kansas, whereas they ought to have been much belter than in those States. There wan, moreover, hanging about tl>e State the old taint of slavery. The slaves had been emamipaied ten, fifteen, sixteen years bcfDie ; but the thriftless, indolent, icck- less, and sometimes ruffianly spirit engendered by it, still re* mained in some decree, and this spirit repelled immigration, k is now more than hall a generation since slavery was abolished, and most of these untoward obstacles have now disappeared. To-day Missouri is as good a State for the immigrant as any in the Great West, and belter than some. Its climate, soil, markets and advantages are unsurpassed, and cordiality toward the stranger is no longer wanting, though perhaps not yet so warmly manifested as in some of the newer States ; but this will come in time. Educationa, Idvantages. — The public schools of Missouri are in an anomalous condition. In the cities the schools are of a high order, and will compare favorably with those in any State or city in die Union. In St. Louis within the last decade, owing to an enormous estimate of more t^an 100,000 more inhabitants than the city contained, the school population was supposed to be jfarMrtt*** w» OVM WMSTMHff MMr/ttg. much lurffpr than it rtully wan, ami thn rity •uprHntrndrnt and othrr (officer* were UiHtrriMi(*d brcauM* the kchdlarn enrolled witi? bill two-HcventliN, and tht! actual attnndiincc 1cm than (uu -tifth of the suppovcd achoul population. 1 hc:y undcrittand tlu» l)cttcr now. ••"• '•J '*>' (" ' . ' " V '' "" '• ' •'•• • ' The country arhtViU were, to a larjjc degree, without system or order, and wre a» much l>elow thoac of the nei^hlM)rini; Statcn in all good qualities at those of the citica were beyond the tiame cIasm of school* elsewhere. There are not quite 300 schuots of very high cluiracKr in the State, most of thetn in the dtiei; the remainder, numlierin^ nearly 8,aoo, are of very indif- ferent quality. In 1875, out of 7.224 H:hool-houHet in the State, 2,164 were huilt of logs; 4,636 were frame buildings, and only 424 brick or stone. The school fund is partly available, and partly at present unavailable. About $3,o(K>,ooo arc available, and $7,3CX>,oao unavailable now, but will eventually become so. The low condition. of the country schools is due in part to the indifference of \ considerable portion of the people to education ; in part to the apathy of the legislature, and m part to the vague- ness and incompleteness of the school law. The supe intendent is deserving of great credit for his perseverance and efficiency under circumstances of great difficulty, but his efforts have not been so thoroughly sustained by the legislature as they should have been. The following a r'; the school statistics of the State for 1878, the last year who ,e report is published: School population, 688,248 ; school enrolment, 448,033; number of ungraded school districts, 8,142 ; number of graded school districts, 279 ; number of school-houses, 8,092 ; estimated value of school-houses, {^8,32 1,- 599 ; average school year in months in graded school districts, 9 ; in all the districts, 5 months ; total number of teachers employed, 11,268 ; total wages of teachers, 12,320,430.20; average wages of teachers per month, males, $36.36 ; females, $28.09 : average wages of teachers per month in graded schools, males, $87.81 \ females, $40. 73. • W4 '^smm: p* vavv, \ F fti .i • m\% \* ,'^^: \ik Km :^^ '/^•Revenue. — ^From interest on State permanent fund, $174,- 030.15; from one-fourth the State revenue collections, $363,- iWH MDW^rioN Iff mxsovm. 9SS iirmlcnt and nri)II«-il wttrn lan oiif.Jifth lii thiN l)rttL*r hout Ayntem ncij{hlK)rin(if Ix^yond the quitr 300 thctn in the >f very indif- in the Sute, j;s, and only vailahlr, and re available, betonx: so. part to the o education ; a the va^ue- 3t intcndcnt rJtl <;ffi< iciicy •t» iiave not they should •1 1 le for 1878, population, •ailed school 79 ; number «es,]({8,32i,. districts, 9 ; s employed, rage wages 9 ; average It-'s, $87.81; Jnd, $174,. ons, $363,- 376.32 ; from county and township permanent fun**'39 ! townnhip, or sixteenth secti>Kitni ivt --li .-'•.• -k.-jj \ Historical Dates. — First settlements in Missouri at or near St. L,ouis and Cape Girardeau, by the French, probably in 1720; at St. Genevieve about 1755. In 1775 St. Louis was a fur depot and trading station, with 800 inhabitants. In 1 803 France ceded ail this territory to the United States. In 1805 St. Louis was made the capital of the new Territory of Louisiana. In 18 10 there were 1,500 inhabitants within the present limits of Missouri. In 181 2 the name of the Territory was changed to Missouri Ter- ritory, In 1820 the people prepared and adopted a State Con- stitution. It was admitted into the Union as a State August 10, 1 82 1, after a bitter and violent controversy in Congress as to its admission as a slave State, by an act known as the Missouri Compromise, which permitted slavery there, but prohibited it in all territory north of 36° 30' north latitude. This act was virtu- ally repealed in 1854. The people took part in the Kansas difficulties of 1854-59, ^"^ were very much divided in the civil war. Several severe battles were fought in the State. A new Constitution was adopted in 1865, and still another in 1875. ■ ji.i 1, >■ i'i^t J! ■ / •'^.■' ■ f-- ^'■'"\: • -" ■"-■ - ■ ., ,-i-. N-- ;- . .- ••- r' -. '.. '■■- ■ ' ■■-■ ■"•■■■- ,'i :■■■-. ^ r. . '': ' B»NMB TOPOGRAPHY OF MONTANA. 955 Louis, is esti- Methodists or • of churches, i^resbvterians, IS, Lutherans, alists. United (both minor led German, alem Church, ' in the State ihes is about irgymen and It or near St. ' in 1720; at J a fur depot France ceded >t. Louis was la. In 1 8 10 iof Missouri, fissourr Ter- a State Con- J August 10, ress as to its he Missouri >hibited it in ct was virtu- the Kansas in the civil ite. A new n 1875. W'^ r5;;/rM 'A >nT . ';i ,v. . -nK : I'll 1 '\^\'\ .-ii; il T CHAPTER Xin. ('/> \ > < MONTANA. Situation — Boundaries— Extent — Mountains — Timber — Lakes — Rivers- Geology AND MlNERAKOUY — GoLD IN ExTENSIVl. PlACEKS AND I.ODES — Silver — Copper — Lead— Iron— Other Minerals — Soil and Vkuetation — Arable Lands — Grazing Lands — Timber Lands — Mining Lands — Desert Land3->-Zo6logv — Climate— Blizzards — The "Chinook" Wind — Meteorology of Fort Keogh — Fort Benton — Helena — Virginia City — Mining — Enormous Yield of the Placers — Gold Lodes— Silver Lodes — The Stemple District — Last Chance Gulch, now Helena — Phillips- burg — Wickes — Butte— Peculiarities of the Butte Mines— Other Mines — Trapper District — Mining thus far almost Exclusively in Western Montana — Probabilities of Mines in Southern and Southeastern Mon- tana — Agricultural Productions — Testimony of Z. L. White — of Rob- ert E. Strahorn — of Thomson P. McElrath — Enormous Crops, of Excel- lent Quality — Stock-Raising — Sheep-Farming — Breeding Horses and Mules — Gov. Potts' Experience— Manufactures — Objects of Interest. — ^The Madison River — The Upper Yellowstone Valley — The Struggle of the Waters to Force a Passage Through — Other Wonders — Rail- roads — Best Routes for Immigrants at Present — Indian Reservations AND their Population — Population of Montana Counties and Assess- ment — Principal Towns qf Montana — Pp.ices of Articles of General Use — Average Wages — Education — Religious Denominations — Con- clusion. ..-u\ 'o '^l-K \ ,1 1 i«i niii"ts:t.f :"iWj.Al <;.•;' '!. t-f Montana Territory is a central Territory of the northern belt of States of "Our Western Empire." About four-fifths of its area lies east of the Main Divide of the Rocky Mountains. Be- tween this Main Divide and the Bitter Root Mountains, which are a second range of the Rocky Mountains, and form the boundary between Montana and Idaho, is a broad, elevated valley, through which flows Clarke's fork of the Columbia river. East of the Mai<)\ Divide there are several isolated mesas or pla- teaus, such as the Snake's H ad, Beque d'Otard, Bear's Paw, Little Rocky Mountains, the Snow Mountains and Bull Moun- tains farther south. In the southeast there are several short ranges extending" northward from Wyoming, and part of them apparently connected with the Black Hills. These are, begin- wmm- r-'i^imiuitimfmssim 'MM 956 Ot/A WESTERN SMPfk^. ning with the west, a short spur from the Big Horn range, the Wolf Mountains, Tongue River Mountains, and the Powder River range, which consists of four or 6ve chains of hills of no great elevation, on both sides of the Powder river and its tributaries, and Cabin creek, all affluents of the Yellowstone. The valleys 6f the Missouri and its three constituent streams, the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin, of the Yellowstone and its numerous tributaries, of Clarke's fork, the Milk river, Maria's river, Flathead, Musselshell and other rivers, affluents of the Missouri or the Yellowstone, are fertile and level or rolling lands, somewhat ele- vated, but not cold or bleak. The timber of Montana is peculiar, there being very little hard wood ; if deciduous, the trees are almost wholly willow, poplar, linden and cottonwood ; the only exception being on Tongue river, near the southern boundary, where there are large bodies of oak ; if evergreens, pine, spruce, fir, cedar and balsam. The native grass is mainly the bunch grass, which grows to the height of four or five feet, and is the most nutritious of all the native grar ses of this region foi cattle, fatten- ing them more thoroughly than torn or barley. Flowers are abundant in their season in all the valleys. Montana is bounded on the north by British Columbia; on the «ist by Dakota ; on the south by Wyoming and Idaho ; on the west by Idaho, from which it is separated by the Bitter Root Mountains. It lies between the parallels of 44" 6' (its southwest- ern corner only extending below 45°) and 49° north latitude ; and between 104° and 116*' west longitude from Greenwich, Its greatest length from east to west along the 48th parallel is over 700 miles ; and its greatest breadth near the 1 1 3th meridian is about 340 miles. Its area is 143,776 square miles, or 93,01 6,640 acres. ■ ^;^>^''^H^:^>f'''fiWi■*i!«tam5M''=^*^^itfii^ Mountains, Lakes, Rivers, «/lc.-— Montana is appropriately named, for mountain ranges, spurs, isolated peaks and hills con- stitute a large portion of its surface. Yet between, around and among these mountains are a great number of as lovely valleys as the sun ever shone upon. The mountains, unlike those of Idaho, are not, with a few exceptions, bare, with steep and inac* cessiUe sides, but rounded summits, oovered cither with gms^ MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS OF MONTANA. 957 n range, the 'owder River of no great s tributaries, The valleys he Madison, s numerous er, Flathead, ►ouri or the mewhat ele- i is peculiar, le trees are )d ; the only n boundary, pine, spruce, bunch grass, is the most lattle, fatten- Flowers are ibia ; on the iho; on the Bitter Root 5 southwest- th latitude ; enwich. Its allel is over meridian is • 92,01 6,640 >prapriately id hi]l& coa- iround and vely valkys ce those oit p and inac' with gniS9 or timber to the very top. They are admirably adapted to grazing, and of all the lands of "Our Western Empire," Montana is likely to be most completely the grazier's paradise. The sum- mits are hone of them so lofty as some of those in Idaho or Colorado, none of them reaching ii.ooo feet. There are three peaks in the Yellowstone Park which are credited, not all of them correctly, to Montana. Of these Electric Peak is 10,992 feet; Mount Washburn, 10,388 feet, and Mount Doane, 10,118 feet. Aside from these there are but six peaks above 9,000 feet in height. These are: Emigrant Peak, 10,629; Ward's Peak, 10,- 371 ; Mount Delano, 10,200; Mount Blackmore, 10,134; Old Baldy, 9,711, aAd Badger's Peak, 9,000 feet There are four passes over the Rocky Mountains within the limits of the Terri- tory : Cadott's pass, between the 47th and 48th parallels, 6,044 feet high ; Deer Lodg< : pass, between the same parallels, 6,200 feet ; Lewis and Clarke's pass, 6,323 feet, and Flathead pass, in the north of the Territory, 5,459 feet. The general elevation of the Territory is from 2,500 to 3,000 feet. Montana is not, like Minnesota, a land abounding in lakes. There are not more than ten or twelve in the Territory ; of these Flathead lake is the largest, and Grizzly Bear bke, a triangular lake in the western part, neariy north of Helena, the most pecu- liar in form. Montana i$ certainly well supplied with rivers^ though portions of it may need irrigation. The Missouri, inchidti^ its head waters, has a course of more than 1,200 miles in this Territory; the Yellowstone^ its laifgesi; affluent, about 850 ; Maria's river, Milk river, Breast or Teton river. Rolling branch and Park river are the principal tributaries of the Missouri on its north bank ; on its south bank it receives Red Water,. Elk Prairie and Big Dry I eeks, and the large and important Musselshell river, the Judith h» f^r and many smaller streams, besides the three fiarks, Jefifer- spi., Madison and Gallatin, which unite to form the Missouri. The Yellowstone, rising in Yellowstone lake in the National Park, has numerous affluents* especially on its south bank; among these are Clarke's fork, Pryor river, the Big Horn or Wind river, Rosebnd creeW Tongue river^ the Powder river with ite numerous isaasaiKasiteSa'?'; t V g^S ' • ^ oi/x utestek!/ empire. branches, and Cabin creek. In the valley, between the Rocky and Bitter Root Mountains, the Clarke's fork of the Columbia river has a course of about 300 miles, and the Lewis fork or Snake river, another affluent of the Columbia, has its source in Yellowstone National Park, and perhaps within the bounds of Montana. The Kootenai, probably still another tributary of the Columbia, has its head waters in Northwestern Montana. Clarke's fork has two or three affluents of considerable size, the most important of which are the Missoula and the Flathead river ; the latter passes through Flathead lake. Nearly all these rivers furnish abundant water-power. w--^- .-...'. ;. Geology and Mineralogy. — Th^ votcanfc ictk>A in the past, and the repeated epochs of upheaval, have made the geology of Mon- tana somewhat involved, but some simple explanations will give the reader a tolerable understanding of it. In the early geologic ages, the eastern half of Montana seems to have been a shallow sea, and its deposits were of chalk and the chalky limestones of the cretaceous period. These cretaceous deposits were suc- ceeded farther west by the rocks of the Wealden and Jurassic periods — limestones, sandstones and shales, and during their deposition, as well as that of the cretaceous rocks farther east, there was a great abundance of the lower. forms of animal life of gigantic size, mollusks and radiate animals, and sortie fish. The ammonites, conchifers, gasteropods, terebratulae and other radiates and mollusks found in these rocks are among the largest of these fossils ever discovered. Fossil plants are also plentiful, and, in the Wiealden, fossil insects, reptiles and fish abound; at the western limit of these beds there are narrow belts of Silurian rocks. Over all the Rocky Mountain region, in the Bitter Root range and the valley between, as well as in occa- sional patches east of the mountains, especially in the isolated mountains and buttes of Central Montana, we have evidence of ilepeated and violent convulsions of nature, and the ejection of vast quantities of lava and of molten azoic and metamorphib rock^ through the superimposed strata. There were at one time ^merous iLotive vdlcanoes in this region. The repeated up- bf^vala and their^ time .of activky was probal^y mainly during the GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 959 I the Rocky e Columbia wis fork or its source in bounds of •utary of the la. Clarke's e, the most d river ; the :hese rivers ^e past, and gy of Mon- ns will give rly geologic n a shallow lestones of were suo- id Jurassic iring their rther east, animal life sortie fish, and other tmong the s are also 5 and fish irrow belts ion, in the s in occa- ' e isolated 'idence of jection of tamorphifc : one time eated up- luring the tertiary period, though a later upheaval occurred in the post- tertiary or quaternary period, perhaps almost within historic times. As a result of this action, the whole of the Rocky Moun- tain summits and those of the Bitter Root Mountains, Hear Paw, Great and Little Belt, Crazy, Judith, Snowy and Highwood Mountains, are composed of eozoic rocks, granite, porphyry, trap, etc., and contain many veins and lodes of gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc, and possibly platinum and quicksilver. The course of these veins, as well as the regular position of the stratified rocks, is greatly disturbed and deranged by the frequent dikes of porphyry, trap and obsidian which have intruded upon the others when in a state of fusion. Bordering these igneous rocks we find belts of Silurian rocks, and beyond these the Jurassic and Wealden beds, often overlaid by either tertiary or post-tertiary deposits, and these by allu- vium. Farther south, in the Yellowstone Park, we find abundant evidence that volcanic action, though feebler now than formerly, has not yet ceased. After the volcanic action of which we have spoken, Montana must have presented the appearance of a series of large fresh water lakes whose shores were the summits of the present mountain ranges. From these mountain slopes came extensive glaciers, as the elevation was greater than now after many ages of denuding action and the intense cold of that time favored the formation of these glaciers, which carried down in the glacial deposits large quantities of gold and silver, and thus formed those immensely rich placers which have yielded such vast quantities of gold. While the glaciers, by their denudatory action, reduced the mountains and cut them into the most fan- tastic shapes, there must have been also a gradual subsidence of these elevated plains, and this subsidence rendered the climate milder, and thus the ice of the glaciers, melting the moraines or debris, were deposited alonjg^ their course. Th6 boulders scat- tered by these glaciers are found all over the western half of Montana, and to a considerable extent in the southeast also. Eastern and Northeastern Montana, having been originally the bed of a lake, have not undergone so marty changes, and the super- ficial geology is later; the tertiary and post-tertiary deposits are w«ii«^ -"' -IB V g6o O^if ftVSTEJty KMPtRB. the surface rocks of this region, though there are occasional out- crops of the cretaceous rocks. It is a disputed point whether the lignite or brown coal of the region lying west of the Little Missouri river and extending almost to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Black Hills nearly to the British line, belongs to the tertiary or to the cretaceous epoch, but the opinion of the most eminent geologists is in favor of its being a tertiary deposit. It is a very good coal, and is coming into demand largely not only for the Northern Pacific Railway, which traverses it for hun- dreds of miles, but for domestic purposes, for which purpose it is far better than the cottonwood and linden firewood, and is less than half the price of wood. The mineral wealth of Montana is very great. The whole re gion lying west pf the Big Horn, Musselshell and Milk rivers, comprising fully tliree-fifths of the Territory, is full of gold and silver. The placers and gold lodes of this region lying west of the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, comprising not more than one-fourth of the Territory, have yielded in gold since 1863 about $140,000,000 in goM and $10^000,000 or more in silver. Eastern Montana, except perhaps in the southeast, is better adapted to agriculture and grazing, though thia, a» we have said, includes extensive beds of coal. Of other minerals, copper, lead and zinc are found extensively, the last two generally in connec- tion with silver. There are immense beds of iron ores. Petro- leum has been discovered at »(veral points. The silver ores of Montana beloi^ to the refractory class, and the principal obstacle io the way of a. much grenter annua} yield from the rich silver mines of Montana has been due to d»is very refractoriness. The ores averaged perhaps sixty-five to Bfeyenty-five ounces of silvc/, and from twenty to forty-five per cent. oC lead to the ton, but in the various processes necessary f0r their r«duetii6n-^processes which could ooJij^ be conducted at OmaJiai Newark, N. }^ or Freiberg, Germany, and the enormous expiefi«e of th^ trans- portation to a railroad, the nearest being about 3od miles distaht, and the freight very heavy» while the reducing processes were also expensive— ^there was a necessary expenditureof fifom $108 to 1^14 per ton, and ihe rettiros dkl not oome in under from fibur >ccasional out- point whether t of the Little ly Mountains, le, belongs to opinion of the Ttiary deposit, id largely not ses it for hun- ch purpose it od, and is less rhe Who!^ re I Milk rivers, 1 of gold and lying west of lot more than d since 1863 ore in silver, ast, is better we have said, I, copper, lead ily in connec- ores. Petro- silver ores of cipal obstacle le rich silver •riness. The ices of silvc/, be ton, but In n-^processes tdc, N. }^ or theit trans- miles dtstaht, )cesses were fi^om^ioSto ler fipom four SO/l. AND ViCETATION. 961 to r.ix months from the time of shipment of the ore. Under these circumstances the mining compa.iics lost money on all ores which did not yield at least 140 ouncos of silver to the ton, and even on 150 ounces they only made a mere pittance. Several attempts were made to establish reduction works at some point in the Territory, but owing to the immense cost of their transportation and bad management afterwards, they all proved failures. The last effort was made in 1879 at Wickes, and has proved succes«»- ful, and as the Utah and Northern Railroad now traverses this part of the Territory, and the Northern Pacific will soon be there, the days of costly transportation and high cost reduction have come to an end. Soil and Vegetation. — In the western, central and southern portions of the Territory, the land along the valleys adjacent to the streams is rich and well adapted to agriculture, large crops of grain, vegetables, etc., being produced with litde or no irriga- tion. The soil of the table lands is generally good, only re- quiring irrigation, for which abundant water can be had, to pro- duce largely; while the foot hills are covered with an abundant, growth of nutritious grasses extending to the timber line. In the northern and eastern portions of the Territory are vast tracts of so-called Bad Lands ; but these have a much worse name than they deserve, many portions of them being covered with grasses more or less abundant, and affording grazing to large herds of buffalo, antelope, etc., and where there are stock farms near, to cattle also. The Territory is well timbered throughout, though, as we have already said, the soft woods, whether evergreen or deciduous, predominate largely. There are some small groves of ash, and large bodies of oak have lately been discovered on the head waters of Tongue river, near the southern boundary. The forests in the immediate vicinity of the settlements have suf- fered somewhat from the wanton depredations of settlers, who often destroy half a dozen small trees in obtaining one of requi- site size for their purposes ; but even in those sections, where the hillsides have been stripped entirely bare, there is a sturdy and flourishing second growth. The loss from forest fires is far jfreater than from any other source, but as the country becomes 61 ^^mi^ism^. f V 1'A iM^mmis.^AiiL.^ p62 f*^^ trXSrEJTJV JtMP/Jt/l. more settled, and the Indians, who arc most careless with fire, are kept upon their reservations, these will become less frc<|iicnt. Until the present year (1880), there bein^i^ no railroad for the transportation of ^rain out of the Territory, anil the steam- boat navigation interrupted by falls and rapids, there was no ex- port demand for Montana grain. This is all changed now ; the Northern Pacific enters the Territory from the east, and is already near Powder river, while the Utah and Northern is already at Helena, and will probably go further, and the Pend d'Oreille Division of the North Pacific, which communicates direcdy with the Pacific through the Columbia river, will soon be stretching down the valley of Clarke's Fork. With these three outlets the agricultural lands of Montana will be rapidly taken up, and there is no better land for agricultural crops in the world. The yield per acre of grain, vegetables, etc., with irrigation where it is needed, and without it where it is not, is very large, and the quality is of the best. Montana wheat especially is unexcelled; careful analysis has demonstrated that it contains a larger amount of both the flesh and fat producing constituents than any other, and the weight is from sixty-four to sixty-nine pouu Js to the bushel (the standard being sixty), and the average yield from thirty to forty bushels. The Territory will not only be self-sustaining in respect to its cereals, but will have for many years to come a large supply for exportation. ti;f>ia/i^ af*l ittvmMJi Zoology. — ^i'he larger game animals are abundant in Montana. This is one of the few remaining haunts of the buffalo, which is now found in considerable numbers both north of the Missouri and south of the Yellowstone. The moose is seen, though not in large numbers, in the mountain gorges. The elk roam in large herds on the mountain slopes and in the valleys, as do the two species of deer. The Big Horn or Rocky Mountain sheep and the antelope are at home all over the Territory. Bears, badgers, gray wolves, panthers, beaver, otter, marten and mink, are found in the forests and streams in great numbers, and are largely captured for their pelts. In the mountain streams are an abundance of salmon trout, brook trout and grayling ; and in their season the rivers and lakes are alive with wild gee^, lOUl.OGY AND Ct.tM.4TK Of MONTANA. gfij » with fire, are less rrc(|iient. ilroaci for the 111 the Htcam- re was no ex- jjed now ; the and is already is already at •end dOreille s direcdy with be stretching 'ee outlets the up, and there d. The yield n where it is ind the quality elled; careful er amount of any other, and to the bushel from thirty to -sustaining in > come a large t in Montana, ffalo, which is the Missouri n, though not : elk roam in eys, as do the Quntain sheep itory. Bears, en and mink, ibers, and are 1 streams are jrayling ; and Lh vtrild gee^, brant, ducks of numerous species, and teal. The birds of prey are less numerous than farther south, though there are two species of eagle and many hawks and owls. Song birds are abundant. ClhnaU. — "In a general way," says Mr. Thomson P. McElrath. in his excellent little volume on the Yellowstone valley, just pub- lished, " the climate of Montana may be compared to that of the western sections of the Middle States. The summers are very warm, but, as a rule, the winters are far from being rigorous. The mean annual temperature of the valleys of Montana is 48", which is higher than that of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michi- gan, Wisconsin or Iowa, and only a litde lower than that of Ne- braska, Illinois and Ohio. Owing to the purity and dryness of the atmosphere, the heat, which is in the ascendency during five months of the year, is seldom oppressive. There is a reduced tendency to perspire, and out-door exercise with the mercury at 100° is not nearly so uncomfortable as it is in the Kast under considerably lower conditions of caloric. A brief rainy season sets in annually, in April or May, lasting with considerably more persistency than in corresponding latitudes on the Missouri river, until the middle of July, under the refreshing influence of which vegetation receives a wonderful impulse. The same amount of rain distributed through the whole year would be of little value to the agriculturist. During the rest of the year rain seldom falls in large quantities." ♦ vv ^r ;• , ' ^i ^-^ ■>; / -k; .si' •y»(-i ^ The average mean temperature of Helena, Montana, which is 1,000 feet higher than many of the valleys, is 44.5 degrees; that of six stations in Minnesota for the same time 41.6 degrees; the amount of rain and melted snow at Helena, 22.36 inches; in Minnesota, 27,89 inches. The average temperature of the winter months at Helena is 23.7 degrees ; of Minnesota, 21.3 degrees. * In the firtt pnrt of this volume we animadverted with 5ome leverity upon some papers pub- lished in the North American Rniew and the New York Tribune, by Colonel (now Brigadier. General) }Iazen, U. S. A., in relation to the climate, rainfall and fertility of Montana. These papers have brought upon Cieneral (Colonel) Hazen a large but just measure of opprobrium, because he wrote without any thorough acquaintance with the actual climate and character of the region he was denouncing, and because many of his statements in regard to it have been effec- lually disproved. His recent appointment aa Chief Signal Service Officer may convince him of his errors. mmmmm *3,K*!'«»W.t-**»'*>!<**l.«l'' ^ . OUH WKSTKRS KMrtHK. The mran annual trmixratiirr of Maine and Nrw Hampshire for six yrar« (from iS66 to 187^1 was 43.7 d^prreji ; of Vrrmoni. 43.2 degrefs; that of \\\v vallfyn of Montana, 48 drprfrn; yet half of Main*' and nearly thr wir l»'of Vrrniont and Nt w Hamp- shire are Ixlow the 45th paralUI. whi liusj: r»'rs ; yrt New Hamp- ilana's ! oiith IVisconsin for i( hij^arj. 45.: (1 N'W York, ka. 48.6 dc- ppn a month r south. Ihe ifall is three- It that Hcaiton r than would e atmosphere "It as it is in most winters rnrrird off by fo^li flcrlare sleighin;j on lly in March, t iinbrokcnly :>rt period of rms are liable I the sudden the chilling ' equalling in es which pre- Iddlc of Au- ter witnessed the so-called n the Pnrific [ocky Moun- uddenly that Hometimen a foot d< pih > snow will cvaftoratr and di^appr^ar undrr itH inlhunic in ilic coiirjwj %A a sin^U- day. Tlii?* 1^ the rcali/.ition ol ilt*^ "J.ifmn current" thcorv ■ i^nd while it prevails, it fully justiticH that idea. Ortc writer K.kyii: "I Imve known a fool of snow on the level to fall during the nij;ht and every par^h of it to be melted l>efore noon of the next lia) . and there are open Hpellh in mid-winlrr, oU w lasting t^any dayH, when the trapper i . comloilabh* without .1 coat ovt:r bis woollen nhirt." (ieneral Miks and oth»;rs at I'ort Kcogii testify to similar facft. Tin: winter of 1879-80 was exceptionally oKI and protracted. I'roin the end of November to the middle of March there was almost continuous sleighing in the lower longue river region, though the snow was not ileep and thf mercury, ranging in the vicinity of zero for several vv^eks, reached on one occasion, and probably only momentarily, on the night ^ji December 24. 1879, as Iowa j)oiiu as — 57' . The Indians .ibout I-ort Keo^h declaretl emphatically that they had never known the cold weather before to be so intense and so long continued. Notwithstanding the remarkably low temperature which prevailed for so long a period, no extraordinary discomfort was experit;nced beyond a few frozen fingers and toes on the part of trav«llers and soldiers unavoidably exposed on the bleak prairie roads, and not a single instance has been announced of cattle perishing lioin cold on thrir snow-cov- ered pastures. The " Chinook wind ' did not seem to manifest itself as efficiently as usual during th;if winter season. There was no^ much snow, however, in the valley twenty miles above Miles City; and eighty miles up the Tongue river the cold was not nearly .so severe as that above recorded. Subjoined is a condensed summary never before published of the meteorological observations made at the Unites* States sii^nal station at Fort Keogh since the occupation of the valley by white residents. I he observations were begun ift the middle of January, 1879. The table shows ilie highest and lowest temperature recorded durmg each month, the average daily temperature, the range of temper- ature in each month, and the total rainfall. ^ OVM HTASrMA.y i(.Wr/MM. 1 RMrKRA run. MONTN, I 1879. {aniury (from ijlh). cbriiAry Mail h.. Auril May June , ... July I AiigUKt..,.. JMepi«mt)«r 'Ckiobtr Novemtwr DtftemlMsr HighcH. IrfiwMt January.,, ! Febrtiiiry , March I SAO. • S» 76 7* «S 94 100 5i 90 94 4» 50 54 7« t II 15 •3 30 40 50 40 SJ la — 18 -«9 — M Annual raiiRr, 146 ilcgrcai. , Total rainfall and melted iinow in 1879, ••.75 inches. Me*n i«m|i«r- •tMft. • lUnge. Tulsl rain- tell, InilMM. i • J« •5 .*6 *S 6; .69 40 101 .iH 60 SJ a, to 66 55 •75 74 54 5 »J »J SO 5:2: »J J! 7' •44 5« 1^ a 47 4» V. .11 1 5< • •• M 3» tti n »7 ... ,6 5« 75 inches. Tne^gures in the fifth column form a more effective refutation of the " barren land " theory than any arjjuinent that could be framed in words alone. But the collateral facts speak yet more emphatically than the figures ! In further illustration of the climate, we add the weather report from Fort Benton, Montana, which lies on or near the forty- eighth parallel : ,> » , i if. „• ^ J Weather Report at Fort Btnton from January i, itftjojufy f, 1879. :«Ej,;!ll''.'«'yH>r».j?j;is lai I fJii. of fnir day* I No. or cloudy day* Mean temperature of ytar. . Sprink' Samncr , Autumn Wfiiwr Average annual fait of rain or melted mow 1873. 60 37. as 11° 48» 6i» In. 17.00 •«73- 391 as* In. 13,73 l«74- •JI 4a».$ 'f 6«» Id, 33.76 43''-5 17' a: t 31.84 1876. 386 3o".7S 14*^ It: 130.64 1877. 3?* 4i'.00 34* 5o» 58" "• In. 13.73 Ffnt «ix monthi 1878. 1879. «9S 110 169 70 48«'.c» 37* ai« 15: 58- t Inchc«. 30.40 31.60 T«)»«l rata. rt' t^ll, liuhM. 5 .16 1 ,69 1 t 10 5 > 75 » S »3 > s 1 n 44 i I 47 1 II 1 5< 1 1 3« \ «7 » 5« ve refutation lat could be ak yet more r 'ather report ir the forty. I'fK h (I f u'jf fyl, 187 9. ■' ll^l ril ifVI moniht 1878 1879. •95 110 169 70 iV^.w ) 37» ai« 23: 58- r Inchn. 0.40 31.60 1 MATMOMOt.OQiVAl TMBIMS, ^ Thi» shown an avrrn){e of 373 f^ii (lay* for emch year. VV«' iiUo ){ivr (ruin th«? .Siirvryor-(*fnrrar^ ofihcc in Helena the iolliuuying record of temperature tuid weather in 1878-9: MhhJ */ Ttmf-tHttm^ 4i thltm*, V«w/ii«<«, ^*m Jmh% i'7ii ^ 7*"*'> ii79i/«'AH^, AiAm* •1/ /4/ tJH^t */ ikt Smt^-ty** li*n4r*l fur M»mi,t»». MoiiUi. , kity, 1II7II AnKHol, 1H78 H«|itrnili«r, 187I, , (KloUr, 1H7N.,., Novrnilirr, lM7t. . Drcrnilirr, l87t. . Iiitiimrv, 1K79. , , , I r«iiru«r)f, I •79,,,, ' M>irih,iK79 I April, 1R79 M«y. i«79 Juiia, 1879, Fur the yctr. 1 1 i * J • • • fS $0 74 l« 8? 5« JO 70 > 545^ 70 la 46H 14 Of «a 4i« ij 5' •7K 9 li — u T «J —II ''> 71 I JHH 14 70 »7 4«» 16 H^ JO 4) 59 H 14 1* ^ — II 44.6 aaa a 10 la 5 «5 5 4 4 •J li S I I la t S 3J Wc add also the — Mtttotvlogy of Virginia City, AfoHtana, 1878. Vntr.... Jiniiiiry. . . Trbnuiry. , March .... Mky. ','..',', Jmm Auiiuti . lUfwmtrr October . . Nuv«inb«r Dtccmbcr l\ 1 -•» 4t.t — ♦ •J.I !• "1 11 ■9 3vt 15 *7» 4« Si 5; 9 J«» II IJ« -•J *ri n u 4S 5u JO £ ii MoKTUm, O.UI l.lj u.it > lA il« o fa a.ji par ctnl. M" «»1 6.. 5*» "2 a' J«9 4S4 341 »7 J40 7».o lAllollg I •9.r'J •9.»»* •V.7«« •9.771 •9.714 •9.777 »«.7*» WiMI Prvvalllna Wiod* in in* Onitr uflhalr tm\tnnty. DiraflUin Cila, «. K., W.,».W.,N.I. Calm, S. f...*. W , N H. LVtIn. t. W.,t. V.W. ft. I'.., I aim, H. W.. W. W.ll, B..t. W, K.olai, Calm,l. k.,N. K., W..I.W. Lalm,«,B.. W, N.W.. N.a, Calm,!. R., W.,S., N. R. CaJm.ll. K„K. R., I!,. W. Calm. I. ■.. W.. N. I. Calm, W., N. W.. II. W, Calm, a R , W. W„ calm. 8. W„ N. W. Mining. — It is matter of history that in 1852, a Scotch half- breed from the Red River country, returning from California, ..,.iy-*«,^ ■ q68 our western empire. found gold on Gold creek, in Deer Lodge county. This was, of course, a placer, though apparently not a very rich one. Others who had heard of this find, ir 1856 prospected Benetsee creek, in the same vicinity, and found some gold, as did another party whocamf thither in 1858 ; but being without provisions or tools, and the Indians being hostile, they soon abandoned the country. In i860, Henry Thomas, better known as "Gold Tom," sunk a shaft down to. the bed rock on Benetsee creek, a depth of thirty feet; but owing to his poverty and disadvantages for work, having but little food and but few tools, he only made about ;iii .50 •a day. From i860 to 1863, the Stuart brothers, James, Granville and Thomas, a Mr. Anderson, M. Bozeman, S. T. Hauser, F. Louthan and others, were the principal pioneers in gold discov- eries in what is now known as Southwestern Montana. The earlier discoveries were all of placers, some of them exceedingly rich. Alder gulch, on which Virginia City is situated, was prob- ably the richest placer ever discovered in any part of the world. At first the product was from jjiioo to j52oo a day for each man, and in the first five years after its discovery Alder gulch and its tributaries yielded on ^n average jJ8,ooo,ooo a year. The total product from this single placer up to the end of 1876 was $70,- 000,000. Latterly it has fallen off to ji6oo,ooo or $800,000 a year. Silver Creek gulch, about twelve miles from Helena, and Last Chance gulch, upon which the town of Helena itself is situ- ated, have also proved very rich placers, the two yielding about JJi 6,000,000 since their discovery. Mining is still continued in these and other placers, and the advent of railroads into the re- gion has caused machinery and timber to be brought there at so much less expense, and tlie gold produce sent to market at so much cheaper rates, that hydraulic mining on a most extensive scale is to be resorted to in all the best placers. The total product of gold from placer mining in the Territory has been variously estimated at from $120,000,000 to $140,000,000. It is difficult to determine the exact amount, as the returns of the placers and the quartz veins or lodes have not in all cases been kept separate. It is probably not less than $1 25,000,000. Quartz mining for gold began in Montana almost simultane- m^ '^;MJ1l4a#»f«.. QUARTZ MINING IN MONTANA. 969 This was, of one. Others netsee creek, nother party lions or tools, the country, oin," sunk a ioth of thirty es for work, i about #1.50 les, Granville '. Hauser, F. gold discov- )ntana. The exceedingly :d, was prob- )f the world, or each man, gulch and its '. The total 76 was j^7o,- ' jj58oo,r>oo a Helena, and itself is situ- siding about continued in • into the re- : there at so larket at so 'St extensive otal product :n variously t is difificult placers and pt separate, s[i»ultan,er ously with that of the placers. The first lode located was discov- ered near Bannock, in Beaverhead county, in 1862, and the mine was called the Dakota. Mr. Warner, in his " History and Di- rectory of Montana," says th?t the decomposed quartz found near the surface of this vein was taken down the hill on which it was situated, to the creek, on pack animals, and the gold was there washed out. In the spring of 1863 a small water-mill for crushing this quartz was completed. The stamps were made of old wagon-wheel tires welded together and had wooden stems. Other mills were subsequently erected, and gold in small quan- tities has been taken from this and other mines in the vicinity, almost ever since. Gold quartz ledges were discovered in the vi- cinity of many other placer mines, and the ores have been worked on a small scale in diiferent parts of the Territory, A few of the lodes have produced large quantities of bullion. The chief ob- stacles to the development of the gold quartz mines of Montana have been lack of capital, bad management due to want of expe- rienced superintendents, and the enormous cost of machinery. When freights from Chicago or St. Louis were never lower than five cents, and frequently as high as ten, twelve or fifteen cents a pound, it cost two or three times as much to bring machinery into Montana as was paid for it at the place where it was manufac- tured, and a man not only had to have a good mine but consid- erable ready capital in order to be able to develop it and bring it into a paying condition. Some of the n^ost promising gold mining enterprises in this Territory have also failed on account of ignorance or extravagance in their management, and these failures have deterred capitalists, who at best were timid about investing the!.' money in a country so difificult of access, from becoming interested even in the good properties. /The principal mines of gold in quartz lodes are almost as numerous as the placers. After the Dakota, which still yields a fair amount, are the Union lode and others in Lewis and Clarke county, which have yielded about 13,000,000 ; the Atlantic Cable lode, in Deer Lodge county, a very rich mine ; while there are mines which have paid well for a number of years at Unionville and the Park, four miles fro.m Helena, at Silver Star, Summit; \'-~ ttVtfWJC.'KvipVlfrftl^:*-*'^?*.'^'--'^ ^' or \. OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. Alder, Meadow Creek, Iron Rod, Bannock, Radersburg, Pony, Boulder and Highland. But the richest quartz gold mines in Montana are those of the Stemple District, fifteen to twenty miles northwest of Helena. The famous Penobscot and other extensions of the Snow Drift lode are probably the most valuable gold quartz mines in the world. Mr. Nathan S. Vestel first de- veloped the Penobscot mine, which is on the summit of the main range of the Rocky Mountains. His first efforts in 1877 did not meet with much encouragement, and late in the year he found himself ^^7,000 in debt and in doubt where he could obtain the means of payment. But the three shafts he had sunk on the Penobscot claim began to show good results, and the first clean- ups from a little five stamp mill, which had been brought there, gave him $20,000, with which he paid his debts and had $13,000 over. ri»e yield now increased rapidly, some of the ore yielding $1,000 in gold to the ton, and ^he average being more than $100 to the ton aside from the waste, which was considerable, as it was in very fine particles. In the summer of 1878 he sold the mine to Mr. William B. Frue, of Detroit, on terms from which he re- alized $350,000. It has pt /ed a very profitable investment, yielding about $23,000 a month. Mr. Vestel immediately com- menced developing ^n Aher mine, 900 feet below the Penobscot, which is yielding about $12,000 a month. It is called the Bel- mont. Othe'- mine, of this district and vicinity are the Blue Bird, Whip-poor-v'ill, Black Hawk, Viola, Grey Eagle, Emma Miller, Mount Pleasant, Green Northern Light, Piegan, Humbug and Long Tom. These are all paying largely. The gold quartz mines have yielded since 1864 over $20,000,000; of the $162,- 000,000 of the precious metals sent to market to the end of 1879, about $145,000,000 are gold and the remainder silver. The silver ores of Montana arc mostly refractory, and have proved difiicult of reduction, and in the past would only pay when they were very rich. Now the machinery, and concen- trating, stamping, smelting, wasting, chlorodizing, amalgamating and leaching works are all in the Territory and easily accessible by railway, and the silver oresv which are, many of them, very rich, ^^.^i^^^f^^t pliQ^its to tli« miflt^-owneors aad ore reducers* 'tMimii isiiis burg, Pony, U mines in n to twenty )t and other )ost valuable stel first de- of the main 877 did not ir he found obtain the unk on the I first dean- ought there, liad $i3,cxjo ore yielding e than jjioo ale, as it was >ld the mine hich he re- investment, Jiately com- : Penobiicotf ed the Bel- re the Blue gle, Emma n, Humbug gold quartz the $162,- ndof 1879, ', and have i only pay id concen- , algamating cessible by . very richj ' reducers. SILVER MtNiNG IN MONTANA. A«f The most important of these works are those of the Alta Mon- tana Company, which owns several mines also, at Wickes, about twenty-five or thirty miles southwest of Helena, and about mid- way between the Utah and Northern Railroad and the Rocky Mountain Division of the Northern Pacific. When these works were first established they proved a failure, but they have now been taken up by an enterprising company from the East, with large capital, and are achieving a grand success. The Colorado and Boulder Districts have a large number of silver mines, with very rich lodes, many of which will contribute to the supply of ores to be reduced at Wickes. Another extensive silver lode, the earliest one discovered in Montana, is in the district of Phil- lipsburg, in Deer Lodge county, nearly 100 miles west-southwest of Helena, in the elevated valley between the main Rocky Moun- tain chain — the "Great Divide" — and the Bitter Root Moun- tains. This is on the surveyed route of the Rocky Mountain Division of the Northern Pacific. The Speckled Trout, the Algonquin and the Hope mine are the largest and most pfomisin mines in this district. These have yielded somewhat largely argentiferous galena, with considerable sulphur and other com- binations. The yield is from seventy-five to ninety ounces of silver to the ton. Owing to heavy expenses, these mines have not proved very profitable till recently. But the most remark- able of all the mining districts is Butte and its vicinity, also in Deer Lodge county, but east of the Great Di/ide. The silver ores were first discovered in 1864 (or perhaps earlier), but the working of them could not be made profitable on account of their refractory nature and the great cost of transportation. They again attracted attention in 1874-5, and Butte City has a popu- lation of about 3,500, and in its immediate vicinity are twenty or more mines, all yielding well. The ores are of different kinds, and require different processes for their reduction. There is a silver-gold belt, with no copper, but some galena and oxide and carbonate of manganese. Above the water-line this is free mill- ing, and can be reduced with a moderate amount of labor. Below the water-line it is baser, and requires chldrodization and roasting for its reduction. The silver predominates, btit there is a small "of ...,a*.«i'few.'- •!«i«aaM*««*J«»«»» ="'>«'='•■' "■** ''"ip g^9 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. amount of gold mixed with it. The yield ranges from twenty-five to one hundred and eighty ounces of silver to the ton. One mile east of this is a belt of copper ore of great richness, but containing some arsenic. The yield is about 400 pounds to the ton. In a contrary direction, a mile and a half west of the ai'ver-gold belt, just beyond the Butte, is an extensive lode of chloride of silver, on which several mines have been opened, but though apparently very rich, it has not yet been largely developed. There are now extensive reverberatory furnaces for smelting these ores, and when reduced to a matte carrying from 600 to 900 ounces of silver to the ton, they are sent to Denver to be parted. Most of the mines are what are known as surface minec ; that is, they do not penetrate below the water-line. Indeed, it was found that the ores rapidly depreciated in quality as they approached this lin6. ' The owners of the Alice mine, one of the best of the sur- face mines, had the courage, against the opinion of all the other miners, to go below the water-line, and, following the vein, to ascertain whether it would not improve as they reached deeper levels. Th^y have expended $600,000 on this experiment, all of which, however, had been made out of the mine, and at 300 feet depth found the ore much better, and at 400 and 500 feet they were richer than at the surface. Encouraged by this they have proceeded to strike the vein at a depth of 800 feet. The silver deposits at Butte are believed to be more extensive than any yet discovered in Montana. The production of silver and gold at this camp to September, 1880, had been somewhat more than $4,000,000, and is likely to be largely increased. Glendale and the Trapper district, situated in and around the Trapper Creek CaBon, in Beaverhead county, but on the eastern side of the "Great Divide," has come into notice within the last four years, and is regarded by Mr. Z, L. White as one of the two successful silver camps of the Territory, Butte being the other. The mines which lave proved most profitable are on White Lion Mountain, about 9,000 feet above the sea. The ore is found in a «:de belt of dolomite or soft white limestone, lying between two limestone strata of a much harder texture. The I?u)k .of die or§ ioihe^.rolosgjsdecoTOPQaed, earthy, and easily mm B^iiltnillilfffllliii'- VKORAHLE EKTliNSlON OF hfrNING DISTRICT'^. twenty-five One mile t containing ton. In a ?r-goI(J belt, of silver, on apparently ire are now ores, and ounces of ted. Most that is, they s found that oached this of the sur- .11 the other the vein, to :hed deeper ►eriment, all and at 300 nd 500 feet jy this they I feet. The snsive than silver and :what more around the the eastern tin the last one of the being the ble are on . The ore itone, lying ture. The and easily 973 mined with pick and spade. It consistsof silver, copi..jr, sulphur, lead, arsenic, antimony, aluminum and silica, with 0( isionally a little undecomposed galena. It yields on an average irom eighty to one hundred and twenty ounces of silver to a ton. There are several copper mines in the Territor^ one large deposit of copper ores being at Copperopolis, on the liead waters of the Musselshell river. There is also a beginning of iron mining in the Territory. Coal mining is becoming u profitable pursuit along the Missouri and Yellowstone Divisions of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The mining products of Montana in 1879 were about $10,000,000 — an amount which will soon be doubled. It is worthy of notice that all the vein and lode mining, whether of gold or silver, has been confined to the southwestern section of Montana, a region lying west of a line drawn southward from the junction of the Dearborn river and the Missouri, and striking the Yellowstone at or near Fort Ellis, thence along the Yellow- stone to the Yellowstone National Park. It comprises both slopes of the "Great Divide," extends across the valleys beyond, and includes the eastern slope of the Bitter Root Mountains. That this is not the only part of the Territory which contains gold deposits appears from the fact that rich placers have been found in Missoula county, northwest 175 miles or more from Helena, and east and northeast of the Missouri river as far as the slopes of the Bear's Paw Mountains, northeast of Fort Ben- ton ; and where there are placers the gold and silver InHes are not far off. We may look confidently for further discoveries of both gold and silver in the detached and isolated mountains of the Territory, and very possibly extensive gold lodes in the Powder river range, in the southeast of the Territory, that range having strong geological affinities with the Black Hills. There have been some gold and silver lodes of rich promise recently discovered on Clarke's fork of the Yellowstone, about the middle of the Crow Indian reservation, and negotiations are now in progress with the Crows to cede this part of their reservation. AgricultMral Productiom. — Writers on Montana have gener- ally estimated its arable lands at 15,000,000, or at the utmost ,'/«/a)®S«a'8«»«Wl«i»4fi«)lul8i*«W*5»^:'^'^-'"« " r:.-^.^;^ 974 OUR WKHTF.KN E At PIKE. '■' I ■ 16,000,000 acres ; but the recent report jf the Surveyor- General of the Territory, and of the missionaries add travellers who have been up the valley of the Yellowstone and through Eastern Mon- tana indicate that there are millions of acres which, with moder- ate irrigation, for which the facilities are abundant, will yield immense crops, and in fact a part are already yielding crops which astonish all beholders. Of the agricultural productions of the valleys and benches of Western Montana, the affluents of Clarke's 'brk of Columbia river, of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin, and of the Yellowstone and the upper Missouri, we will let Mr. Zimri L. White, the cautious and able correspondent of the Nc'ia York Tribune, tell us : "The agricultural lands of Montana are the valleys. The main range of the Rocky Mountains extends through the Terri- tory generally in a northerly and southerly direction, and from this there are spurs and auxiliary ranges extending in all direc- tions and covering nea.ly the whole face of the country except in the north aa.l east, where there are extensive elevated plains. Between these ranges flow hundreds of beautiful clear-water streams, some large and som - small, and bordering these rivers and creeks are fine rich valleys from one to ten or twenty miles in width. The soil in the valleys is an alluvial deposit, and the land generally has a gende and regular slope from the bed of the stream to the foot of the bench which separates the valley from the foot-hills. So true is this slope that in almost every in- stance water taken out in a ditch parallel with the stream can be made to flow over every foot of land below it. The benches, of which there are sometimes several and soiuetimes only one, are simply continuations ot the valley at a higher elevation. They frequently look like great terraces rising one above the other, and where the quantity of water in the stream and the fall are sufficient to make irrigation possible, the bench lands are found to be equally productive with the valleys proper. Behind the benches rise the foothills, with their rounded, grass-clad tops, now extended for miles and forming the divide between two streams, and again seeming to support a rocky, precipitous ridge that rises beyond ■^1 T- yor-General rs who liave astern Mon- with moder- t, will yield Iding crops eductions of affluents of adison and ouri, we will pondent of dleys. The h the Terri- n, and from in all dirfQ. in try except ated plains. clear-water these rivers wenty miles ►sit, and the the bed of the valk-y )st every in- eam can be benches, of ily one, are tion. They ; other, and re sufficient D be equally bes rise the :tended for and again ies beyond THE FERTILE VALLEYS OP MONTANA. mj " Very few of these valleys aic as yet settled. The Bitter Root Valley, in the west, where the farmers have become rich by the sale of their products to the jjovernmcnt for use at the military post at Missoula, the Gallatin in the east, Prickly Pear, in which Helena is situated. Deer Lodge and Jefferson Valleys, have the oldest ranches, and until lately the largest breadth of land under cultivation. "Within the last year or two the immigration to the Yellowstone Valley and its tributaries has been very great. This is about 650 miles long, and the average width of the valley which can be irrigated is about ten miles. It has only recently been safe for white people to go there, but the vigor with which the Northern Pacific Railroad has pu«hed westward during the past summer (this line will extend through the Yellowstone Valley for almost its entire length) has attracted many settlers, and I am told that there are already about 400 families there. I saw it reported early in the summer that General Sheridan told a Chicago re- porter th.it he saw on one boat in his late trip up the Yellow- stone twenty-seven threshing-machines bound for the very country in which General Custer lost his life in 1876, and which three years ago was one of the most remote and inaccessible sections of the country. So rapid has been the agricultural development of the Territory that Mr, R. H. Mason, the Sur- veyor-General of Montana, estimates that the acreage under cukivation this year is twice as great ar. it was in 1878, a part of the increase being due to the enlargement of the older farms, and a I'art to the opening of new farms. " In all the older settled portions of the Territory the ranchmen are, almost without exception, remarkably prosperous. I have not visited the best agricultural sections of the country, nor shall I be able to do so. The area of the Territory of Montana is three times as great as that of the State of New York, and there is not as yet (in 1879) a single mile of railroad within its limits. Travel here is therefore very slow, and it would require more than one whole summer to see even the most important points. I did, however, ride through the Jefferson, Boulder and Deer Lodge Valleys, and spent an entire day in visiting a few repre- .AW». \ A.lfiM/A'<; IN MONTANA, 077 i I can speak it twcnty-fivt: t from thirty 1 uncommon if tlie farmer This is ten considered a sippi Valley, quality. An Agricultural :. more nitro- leat, and that have before aised by Mr. weigh sixty- ops of wheat )st fabulous, t uncommon on offered a son, and the Pear Valley, e committee tontana, and • in the Gal- a forty-acre 102 bushels not entitled wheat, both 'lena, and I irty bushels i almost as illey." id Beyond," ifferent val- "As consi(ldffe Valley . (inllatin Valley. . . . Ree»e Creek Valley. Ruby Valley Field In acre*. 160 40 4 too 8 6 SO II 400 Crop and Yleld- buiheli. Wheat, OalM, OttM, Wheal OatR, OatR, Wheat, Oal». Wheat. \ oau. ; Okit, Oatt, Wheat. Wheat, 7.000 • a.ooo. 410. 6.000. 600. 620. 1,150- 3.S'». 1,200. 1,200. 4,982. 2,200. 10,000. Av, per Value of acre — buthel*. 4,1!^ crop. >'<,400 50 1.200 I02>i 246 60 7,aoo 75 360 'OJ'.I .l6a $0 i,.}»o 70 a,ia> 45 1.250 100 720 j 57 a,9«9 451 ifiAP 50 11.000 Mr. White continues: • - "Oats and barley grow ss well as wheat. The avefSge yield of oats to the acre is considerably greater than that of wheat, and the weight \n\r b isIh! is iiuiili .ihovc the standard. Mr. Reeves gave me a sample of oats from his farm which he said would average to weight forty-six pounds to a bushel. General Brisbin says that Mr. Burt(]n raised a field of oats which averaged loi bushels to an acre, and a field of barley on which there were 1 13 bushels to an acre. "This is the bright side of the picture. On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that a considerable portion of the grain crop in certain portions of Montana is frequently destroyed by grasshoppers, and that there is reason to fear that for some years to come, and until the agricultural population of the Territory becomes much greater than now, these insect pests will make the business of grain-raising here somewhat hazardous. That the scourge of locusts has not been as serious as it might have been, nor as destructive as it would naturally have been expected to 6a ratiu" vM*:.*iiS<*«*»«<**WfA-^'V.v«rfeffliKa«^ ij/3 Ot'M tVKXTii/lAf fi,VJ'//(A. b**, is shown by the prosfu-rous condition of all th<* farmers who have been eslabUnheil for a lew years. Those in th'* neijfhbor- homi of the military posts, cspocully, have grown rich with wontlcrfiil rapidity. General Brisbin tohl me that the jjovern- m«nt has paid as much as 1(14,000 to one farmer in a sinji;lc year for grain and hay raisttl by himself, and thai ihe income of a farmer in the neighborhood of Fort lUli;* from the portion of his crops sold to the Uniteil States is freriuently as much as 53,000. Corn has not been very successfully cultivated in Montana, ex- cept in the warmer regions west of the main range of the Rocky Mountains. Th** liav nit in the Territory is wild, and costs the farmer who cuts it from $1.50 to fi.oo a ton. * "The soil of Montana seems to be especially fitted for the production of large crops o( garrUn vegetables. The best market gard'^n I ever saw, if abundant yield is a criterion, is that of Mr. Dorrington, in the Prickly Pear Valley. He sold #2,000 worth of strawberries, and his root crops, such as turnips, onions, beets, parsnips, etc., seemed literally to fill the ground. He expected to take ten tons of onions from a small patch of ground, and wouUI receive five cents a pound for them in Helena. The fol- lowing table, compiled by General Brisbin, shows what the pro- duct of the gardens cultivated by troops at Fort Kllis was in 1877: V F ad Cav. G " H " L " G7th Inf. Totals, 2 5 6 5 3 26}4 'A< 1,100 55° 1,200 700 3*3 3.865 is 90 60 130 50 6 336 i IS 3 S Mm 60 60 35 150 40 345 J5 id no 60 35 40 as 17a 1^ SO «5 40 105 *> .5* I 10 ao as ao 75 O u ECU 3,6oq a,5oo 3.300 3,300 800 12,500 m ,'Tf7KlT~ "The value of the several articles, if bought at the fort, would have been: Potatoes, $3,865 ; onions, 15^2,352 ; turnips, jjiSs ; car- rots, $206.40 ; beets, $315; parsnips, $225 ; salsify, $9.40 ; cab- farmers who tlw ntii^hbor- twn rich with t thr govern- a sin)j;lt: year : iiuonte of a portion of hiH ich as f3,cxx). Montana, ex- of th(t' Rocky and costs the fitrt'tl for the t! best market is that of Mr. |l2,cx3o worth onions, beets, Hr (expected Impound, and na. The fol- What the pro- t HMis was in Bushels Sakify. Heads of Cabbage . 3.600 a, 500 3.300 2,300 800 3 3 12,500 le fort, would ips, $85 ; car- '. $9-40; cab- LU rnviTCRowrNQ. ^ l>ai;e, Jti35. Total, $;, J 8 a. 80, Thr garden cropn at Fort Ellis in other years have been fully one-third greater for tlie same amount of ground. ' The tnrst farmers arf tiirning their ati^ntion larj^'Hy to fruit culture. This fr>r many yearn to come will >e the most profitable i>\ crops, cspeciaMy when it is not loo far from a Iol.iI market. Wrifiug in 1879. Mr, Whit*' said: " Very little fruit has yt^t bi:en raised (/. #., has come to the bearin^ stage) in Montana. "It has always been supposed that the part of the '! crritory east of thf' I h vide was too cold in winter for even the .hardier kinds of fruit, and very few varieti<;s hav hnn planted. In the west, in the Bitter Rodi Valley, orchan's ^ilanttd a few years aj^o are just beginninj^ to bear, and the rapidity wit' which the Irf-es have grown and the manner in which they have winr'^red liave led to the belief that fruit-raising may yet become one >! the- im- portant industries of that section. The fruit crop th,s year is not sufficiently large to affect the price, but the rapid extension of the Utah and \ordiern Raiiroad lias had a very marked effect upon it 1 bought nic grapes, peaches and prars in Helena for fifty cents a pound, which two years ago would have cost %\, "As a rule the farms of Montana have to be irrigated, and in most oi the valleys there is an abundance of water for this pur- pose. The cout of constructing good • anals for the irrigation of 160 acres of land is, of course, consid' ible. but when once com- pleti'J the expense of keeping them in order is very small, while the ability of the farmer to regulate absolutely tl ( amr)unt of tnoisture wliich his crop shall have, more than compensates for all the extra labor and expeVise which irrigation maker, necessary. " While some of the valleys near the mining centres of the Ter- ritory have been pretty well settled up, none of them can be said to be full, while in other parts of the Territory the land is almost untouched. Finely improved farms near markets are now worth $20 or $25 an acre; others a little more remote and not as well improved, sell for from $5 to ;jii 5 an acre, and there are hundreds of thousands of acres which can be obtained simply by settling upon • thrm unilcr i\\v lIorncHtcad Uw, or prr-rmptrd and purctiAHcil for 1 1. 3 5 an acrr." Mr. R. v.. Strahorn jjtvrs thr followfnjj stftt^mrnt of thr pro- ductions of Montana in 1878. Thr crop* of 1879 wrrn of nrarly double thin amount, and thosic of 1880 lar{{cr yet. In 1878 hr HAyH: "The diffcrrnt valleys of Montana, with their mere nprinklinii^' of farmern, produced alK)ut 4fX),ocKi husheU of wheat, 6or-,ooo of oats, 50,000 of barley, 1 3,000 of corn,' 500.000 busheU of vejfe- tables, and 65,000 tonH of hay, the total value of a^ricultui I pro- ducts being not less than 53,000,000. A reatly market has always been afforded by the non-prrxhicinjj population in the mines and cities, and by the numerous military posts. Ihe con stant increase in the magnitude of mining and other operations in all parts of the Territory justifies the belief that any consider- able surplus of produce cannot be raised in Montana for years to come, and until that time prices must remain from fifty to one hundred per cent, higher than in the 'States.' The following were ruling prices paiil farmroducts in Montana and in Ohio, and the yield in the East with the yield in Montana. The contrast is very instructive: », vm 1 n r; ,' i^ b (n v 1' .^ -t: !.; .;,.. 'f ii t H <-i> ) II, .1, ,_'•'■.]• '•■'.j-j!'': >i ■■ir^t fit'' "1 :»('!• ';?) •iliU: ■A' J nru'. •]' ,sA If'.. ' -'u-(ii[inii -^A^j^ I purctuiMcU fur nl of thr pro- w«rt* of ni'arly t. In 1H78 \\r crtr Kprinklini,; ^at, 6oc,cxxD of shnlfi of vfjff. ricultui 1 pro- y market has Illation in the Us. The ton- ler operations any consitUir- •a for years to •m fifty to one riie folio win j^r rent Montana ids ; oats, two Jii4 per ton ; ns, six cents ; ve cents per I'en to twenty ots, three and each ; spring : the prices of md the yield itrast is very •)!• :# \T ^. ^ ^ IMAGE EVALUATION VEST TARGET (MT-3) ut tti 12.2 'I »t U£ 120 mWMM u It ■Ultt iy& Photographic Sciences Corporation '^^o // /. ^ L25 1 1.4 III 1.6 -< 6" ► 23 #/EST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 i llTi ijiilWIWwMjIw. iM ^ iHM 4 I t i ' CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadiin Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Inetitut Canadian de microreproductions historiquas rRODUcrioNs of Montana. Kind or Pvoduce. Bacon, per pound Bark"), " Butter, " ! Beets, " Beans, " Cabbage, " Carrots, " Cauliflower," Corn, " Cheese, " Chickens, per dozen Eggs " Flour, percwt Green corn, per dozen.... Hay, per ton Hogs, fter cwt Oats, per pound Onions, " Parsnips, " Potatoes, " Peas, " Rye, " Squash, " Turkeys, live, jjer pound. Turnijjs, per pound Wheat, " £ 19 bu 24 bu 34 bu i^ton 35 bu 37 bu 6,565 lbs 37 bu i^ ton 23 bu 2o3 bu 45 bu 385 bu 75 bu 25 bu 12 bu 200 bu 40 bu 35 bu i9,ooolbs 150 bu II bu 225 bu 30 bu " I (irmly believe," he adds, " that no laud under the sun offers such a favorable field for diversified rural industry as Montana. Take here, in connection with grain- raising, the production of poultry, eggs, butter, pork, vegetiibles, and similar items now almost unnoticed as ' not worth bothering about,' and the indus- trious and frugal farmer and housewife, managing as of necessity do those in the thickly settled States, should soon make them- selves independent. It is often almost impossible in winter to secure fresh eggs at seventy-five cents per dozen in Montana cities, and during the winter of 1878-79, 1 have seen ninety cents freely offered in Helena. Butter ranges from forty to sixty cents I S.J. m if ^2 OUR WESrUK'X KAirtRh. the entire wintor, and it was frequently impossible to secure a good article. The Montaninn who desires to celebrate Christmas in the time-honored way — turki:yand all — will make a sad inroad in his bank account; as for s])ring chicken — at from fifty cents to f I each — they might be of recent origin, but unfortunately that class is never numerous enough to go round." Dairy Farming and Stock- Raising. — Mr. R. E. Strahorn, after several years' residence in Montana, says, in regard to dairy farms : " Climate, pasturage, water and an unequalled market for dairy products, all combine to render dairying here one of the most lucrativt: and satisfactory pursuits. Cows cost nothing for their keep, and the product of butter or cheese is clear gain, as the increase in stock will pay all expenses. I am personally acquainted with several Montana dairymen who commenced four or five years ago with rented cows and not a dollar of capital. They are to-day the possessors of fine herds, good ranches, and worth from $5,ckx) to jj^i 0,000 each — all made by good honest labor in the corral and milk-house. Dairy cows cost about 530 per head, or they can be rented by giving the owner the increase and one-fourth of the butter or cheese manufactured. Of course, dairying is generally carried on only during the seven or eight montiis of spring, summer and early autumn, as few provide even so much as hay for cold weather, and when winter comes the cows have ^about enough to do to keep in good flesh. The number of cows milked in Montana in 1878 was placed at 10,000, and the product of butter and cheese in that year at 1.000,000 pounds. Butter sold at from thirty-five to fifty cents per pound, and cheese at from fourteen to twenty cents." Mr. Thomson P. McElrath, a resident of the Yellowstone Valley, says that "in the winter of 1879-80 butter sold throughout the valley at from forty to fifty cents a pound, and home-made was not to be had even at those prices. Fresh milk brought ten cents a quart. The raising of poultry will also for a long time to come be a paying field for enterprise. Winter eggs are scarce at a dollar a dozen. Chickens for eating are correspondingly expensive, and the thanksgiving turkey, brought from Minnesota in a frozen state, is a very ineffective and costly reminder of that I to secure a ate Christmas : a sad inroad 1 fifty cents to rtunately that trahorn, after jard to dairy ed market for re one of the St nothing for clear gain, as m personally timenced four lar of capital. ranches, and good honest St about 530 r the increase I. Of course, ven or eight few provide winter comes d flesh. The ced at 10,000, at 1.000,000 ts per pound, rstone Valley, roughout the ne-made was brought ten a long time gs are scarce respondingly m Minnesota linder of th^t SroCA'iiA/S/Na IN MONVASA. gg, home luxury by the time it is thawed out and ready for roasting." For stock-raising Montana has unrivalled facilities. " It is," says Mr. Z. L. White, "the best grazing country in the world. I know thai this is a bold assertion to make, but after seeing some- tliing, during the past summer, of the best cattle-ranges of Kansas, Nebraska,Colorado, Dakota, Wyoming and Utah, which States and Territories furnish so large a proportion of the beef consumed in this country, and talking with stockmen, army officers and others whose acquaintance with the West is far more extensive than my own, and whose experience gives to their opinion great weight, I am certain that it is not an exaggeration. There may be por- tions of South America where cattle, sheep and horses can be raised at less expense than in Montana, but there certainly is no part of the United States where the same grade of animals, ready for market, cost the ranchman less money, while the price which they command is many times greater than in any of the Spanish American Republics, and but very little below that obtained in the lebs remote States and Territories this side of the Missouri river." ^ ■ ■■■, '-:.■ •.;• ,■- .■ ■;' ' ■'■■ In the classification of the area of 93,000,000 acres of Montana to the different purposes for which it could be utilized, after the assignment of 15.000,000 or 16,000,000 o*" acres to cultivation for farm purposes, an estimate, as we have already said, far below the fact, it has been customary to allot 38,000,000 acres to grazing lands, 14,000,000 acres to timber, and from 22,000,000 to 25,000,000 of acres to mountain, inaccessible, and desert or bad lands. Both the grazing and timber lands have been much underestimated. There are " bad lands," that is, lands of creta- ceous rocks and soil, which, when eroded by the mountain torrents, have been cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes, and the clay strata exposed ; but a large part of these " bad lands " furnish some of the sweetest and best pasturage to be found anywhere, and under the influence of irrigation, for which there are ample facilities, they will yield enormous crops. There are volcanic "bad lands" in the southwest, around the head waters of the Jefferson, Madi- son and Gallatin rivers, and the Firehole river and basin. Part \ I V,1I i 1 ^^^^i&^MMi^i^^MsMsiifMtMmiiv«^i^«>^»S*w»>«^S^M^ wonderfully liehcr for their provision for is no summer In the winter is called, Viridi fJtJIX PASTURACB, ^ their hoofs through the snow to the bunches of sweet hay be- neath, and in ordinary s. asons rattle come out in the spring in cxcrli'.'nt condition. Old cattle-owners say that a herd which is fed occasionally, on tht; occurrence of a heavy storm, will not wintrr as well as one that is not f<:d. The cattle once receiving hay are likely to remain in the neighborhood of the ranch even after the feed there has become short, and if driven away will return thither. As it is iinp»-acticabh.' to feed them all the time, they become lean, while if they remained out on the range where they could ' rusUe ' and graze steadily, they would keep in good condition. The grass is stifif on the stalk, and on the hillsides it is rarely entirely covered with snow. The loss from exposure is said to be not more than one or two per cent. It is nevertheless worth while to note that in Western Montana several of the most careful and most successful stockmen are beginning to put up hay as a precaution against severe cold and deep snows. Tlvey claim that the cost of the hay, cut with machines in the natural meadows along the river bottoms, is only from fifty cents to %\ a ton, and that in the long run, by being prepared to feed their cattk a little in the winter if it is found necessary, they can sav^ more than enough animals that would otherwise perish, to pay for the trouble and expense. Judging from the unusually severe winter of 1879-80, which lasted from November to the middle of March, during which time much of the central Yellowstone coun- try was covered with snow, while the mercury ranged from a few degrees above zero to fifty odd degrees below that point, it may be advisable to adopt a similar course in Eastern Montana. The expense would not be greater than that above e itimated. It is true, that notwithstanding the protracted severity of the season referred to, no complaints have been heard on the part of the ranchmen in the valley in regard to losing catUe by reason of the cold and exposure. This, however, is partially attributable to the paucity of the herds in the valley. Had the stock been as numerous as it probably will be two or three years hence, the risk would have been very greatly enhanced. Sheep, of course, require more careful handling than cattle, and must be pro- vided with constant means for shelter, as well as with feed in winter. t '-.IMiS^^^^mXS^'i'im^^&M-^ 9l8 OL!i H'A.lfAA'X KStPtRK, " The customary way of inanajiin|r a band of cattle in Montana is ninujly to braiul thcin and turn them out upon tlu; prairie. Somt! stock-owners givr no more attention to their cattle iituil the next sprinjr, when they 'round thcni up' and brand the calves, select those they intend to sell, and turn the remaintlcr out again. Under thi-: careless management, which no prudint man would be likely to willingly imitaKj, they are certain to lose some stJiers, which sti'ay away or are stolen. Others, more careful of their interests, employ herders, one man for every 1,500 or 2,000 head of cattle, whose duty it is to ride about the outskirts of the range, follow any trails leading away, and drive the cattle back, and seek through neighboring herds, if there are any, for cattle that may have mistaken their companionship. At the spring round up, a few extra men have to be employed for sev- eral weeks. In starting a new herd, cows, bulls and yearlings are bought. The older cattle of ordinary grade are all American, the long-horned Texan stock being excluded, and cost from 515 to $25 a head. Calves under one year old running with the herd are not counted. Yearlings may be obtained for from ^^5 to $7 each. "The average cost of raising a steer, not counting interest or capital invested, is from sixty cents to jii a year, fo that a four year old steer raised from a calf and ready for market costs about $4. He is worth on the ranch about $20, and if driven to the Missouri river at Fort Benton, or the railroad in Wyoming, fully $2$. A herd consisting of yeariings, cows and bulls, will have no steers ready for the market in less than two or three years. Taking into account the loss of interest on capital invested before returns are received, besides all expenses and ordinary losses, the average profit of stock-raising in Montana during the last few years has been at least thirty per cent, per annum. Some well-informed catde-men estimate it at forty or forty-five per cent. Mr. Z. L. White, from whose correspondence several of the above-mentioned points respecting stock-raising in West- ern Montana have been taken, refers in the following passage to the profits of the business : • No one can spend a week in any part of Montana without hearing some of the most marvellous ttle in Montana •on tlu' prairie. leir cattle until and brand the the remaintlcr lich no pruiknt certain to lost: rs, more careful every 1,500 or It the outskirts tlrive the cattio re arc any, for nship. At the ployed for suv- d ycarlinjjs arc : all American, I cost from ^^15 nning with the :d for from ^^5 ling interest or 5-0 that a four ket costs about driven to the Wyoming, fully bulls, will have )r three years, nvested before krdinary losses, la during the t per annum, ty or forty-five ndence several lising in West- ing passage to I week in any }st marvellous CATTLB HANCHItS rN MOUTAf^A. ^ rrpnrfi nhout thr [irofits that have been realiz'''''nt«'r that) in rithcr of those men- tioned. A new phin for tiividiii^ the profits ol thin IniNinrjiH Ix*' tween lapitalintH and m.ma^crH has lattly hern sii^gcHtcd, and will proUdJy Ik* rxperimt-ntrd upon thi"< year. I hr tnana^^cr in to tak«' the Iwrd purthascd with tlw luoiwy his partner fiirnish«'>^ the latit'r retaining' thr title to the anitnals, fintimatecl to have route to market t Custer ; thence II Fetterman, to !heyenne. This water, and the drive avcrapng }stly shipped to :ific Railroad to r will completely f the long drive all parts of the ination in, at the I in the journey, ,n ever traverse )r foreign export the route by the great lake>t, via Ditluth, the eaKttrn terminui of t'tr Northern Pacific Railroad, will be av.iihd «»!. die tattle traffic hy that route having alreaily a«i>«unuU con>idtrr.4ble dimi-nHioiiH, which are dcntined to a great expaiiHion in the n* ar future. The gnat market at Chicago will Ijr no lenn b<:n« htcd by the opining of thin n<"W a-ul direct line. "Sk*epRtmhi^. — A» already stated, the management of sheep is diflicrent in many essential respects from that of cattle. A band of sheep containing i.txio head and upward, in good con- dition and free from distsise, are procurable in Wi stern Montana for from I3 to $3.25 per head. I hey must be herded summer and winter in separate bands of not more than a.rxxj or j,ooo each, must be conalled every tight and guarded against the- depredations of dogs and wiltl animals. I lay imisi be proviiled to feed them while the grouml is covered wi'.li snow, and sheds must be erected to protect them from severe vtorms. They must, moreover, be raised by themselves. Catth- and sheep cannot live together on the same range. The latter not only eat down the grass so closely that nothing is left for the cattle, but tlu-y also leave an odor which is very offensive to die others for at least two seasons afterward. Hut, notwithstamling that the cost of IT' naging sheep in greater than that of hanilPng cattle, the returns from sheep raising are quicker and larger. While a herd of yo mg cattle begin to yield an income only at the e pira- tion of three years, sheep yield a crop of wool the first : ...nmer after they are driven upon a range, and the increase of the band is much greater than that of cattle, being from seventy-five to one hundred per tent, each year. The wool is of good quality, free from buns, and brings a good price on the ranch, agents of I-'astern houses being always on hand eager to buy it. Many thousand sheep were driven into Montana in 1879 ^^^^ Cali- fornia, Oregon and Washington Territory, and every band that arrived was promptly purchased by men eager to increase their (locks or to start new ones. These data relate, of course, to the western portions of the Territory, only one experiment in sheep- raising having as yet been undertaken in the Yellowstone Valley. Its results show conclusively enough that at least equal success ^"^t^^•;^-l»^■..^7■^^.'■"■T^^"'•'■^*'i'^■•™«'*-it^- """ *> 993 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. in that field of enterprise is attainable in Eastern as la Western Montana. ' ''■■■' " "In the fall of 1876, while the valley was still occupied by the hostile Sioux under Sitting Bull, a man named Uurgess drove a herd of 1 ,4cx) sheep, a cross of the Merino and Cotswold breeds, from California into Western Montana. He arrived at Miles City about the end of September, having consumed two seasons in the trip, and located on the east bank of the Tongue river, on the site of the present Miles City. In the following fall the flock was purchased by Mr. George M. Miles, the present owner, who moved it to a new range on the Tongue river about three miles farther up, with the intention of entering systematically into sheep- raising, the purpose of the original owner having been to take the flock to the Black Hills to be sold for mutton. After a second season Mr Miles removed again to a new range on the Yellowstone river, abo'it fourteen miles above the mouth of the Tongue, near which t tlock yet remains. At the time of his purchase there were 1,001 sheep in the flock, Mr. Burgess having killed off a number for mutton. None died that season from dis- ease, and very few were killed by Indians. Durit or their first winter in the valley they had no hay fed to them. A little was fed to them during the heavy snows of 1877, and in the winter of 1878 they received almost none at all. During the first year there was little increase in the flock, and the second was not much better, the range being a poor one, and the lambs coming too late. Since then they have increased satisfactorily, the lambs being healthy and strong. The increase in number has proven sufficient to pay the whole cost of care, leaving the crop of wool as net profit. During the first year the clipping averaged from seven to eight pounds per head. The crop was sent to Phila- delphia, where it realized good prices. In the second year the clip averaged seven pounds. The clipping of 1879 was shipped in July. It amounted to about one and a half tons in weight, and netted thirty-two cents per pound at the Eastern market. The herd's increase during the year waS about eighty per cent. The wool is now consigned regularly to the Boston market, where it ranks with the best Territorial wool, and brings the highest SUCCESS .W SHEEP-FARMING. 993 as in Western LC 11 pied by the urgess drove a •tswold breeds, ■ived at Miles id two seasons >ngue river, on g fall the flock :nt owner, who ut three miles :matically into aving been to tton. After a range on the mouth of the le time of his urgess having ason from dis- iiqr their first A little was in the winter the first year :ond was not lambs coming 'ily, the lambs r has proven crop of wool veraged from ient to Phila- :>nd year the I was shipped ns in weight, stern market, hty per cent, larket, where 1 the highest prices. The cost of shipment from the range above Miles City to Boston is $1.75 per one hundred pounds. It should be added that :iheep can be readily purchased in California for from $1.50 to $2.50 per head. It costs little to drive them into the valley in two seasons, as the crop of wool almost defrays the expenses. The range on which they are placed in the Yellowstone Valley at present costs literally nothing, and the sheep are in steady demand in the local market at from %i to *^5 per head. "The profits of sheep-raising are generally estimated at a higher figure than those of cattle-raising. The lowest calculation is based upon a net profit of from twenty^five to thirty-five per cent, on the whole investment Occasionally larger returns re- ward the fortunate stockman, which are sometimes worthy of noting, although they must be regarded in the light of exceptional occurrences, the same as the wonderful yields of gold once in a while recorded respecting bonanza mines. Every miner, how- ever, hopes constandy to stumble upon a bonanza, and in similar manner every stock-raiser is entitled to hope to achieve as brilliant success as others in his line, even though he will be contented with much less. In illustration of thor / possibilities connected with sheep-raising in Montana, Mr. White cites the experience of Judge Davenport, of the Sun River Valley. In July, 1875, he purchased 1,000 ewes, which cost him in the neighborhood of $3,000. 'These he put in charge of a young man, who was to take them o»i a range, care for them, pay all the expenses of the band, and to receive as his share one-half of thfe wool* produced, and one-half of the increased flock. At the end of four years a settlement was to be made, and Judge Davenport was then to receive back 1,000 of the best ewes which the band contained. The settlement was made last July. In the meantime Judge Davenport had received for his share of the proceeds of the wool $6,500, and for his share of the increase $8,oc>a The profits of his investment of $3,000 for four years were, tlierefore, $14,500, or $3,625 or 121 8 per cent, a year. During the same year other men made only fifty or sixty per cent, on their sheep, and some who» from inexperi- ence or \aA fortune, met with heavy losses, perhaps not more than twenty-five percent ; but I have never heard of a single instance 63 ' I 1 •^Si(»a**%svteilS*tfSaas«a*aisi»<«5^, ." V 994 OVK WESTERN EMPIRE. in which there hus been an absolute loss in a period of, say, three or four years. One man, driving a large band of sheep from the south a year or two ago, was caught by the winter in an unfavor- able place, and lost one-half or two'thirds of his flock, but at the end of three years, when he came to balance his books, he found that the remnant of his flock had done so well that his profits had been about tw^nty-flve percent, ayeafpn hisi origiq^l iavest- nient.'"* ■ ■ '-"'■■ -:>.••-,. r-. ,-:••■ '.j-n-;: !.; .r ' .:' ; ,n !,::. ,'; ' . On this subject of sheep-farming, Mr. Strahorn gives the follow- ing items of the eight months' experience of his Excellency, Hon. B. F. Potts, Governor of Montana : " Some time ago he purchased a ranch on the Dearborn river, fifty miles north of Helena. \,^.%K October he bought and placed upon it 4,000 sheep, at a, cost averaging $j per head. He subsequeiitly sold 400. Of the re- mainder 2,700 were ewes, During the months of April and May these gave birth to 2,900 lambs. Two hundred were lost by ex- posure in the severe snow-storm that visited the Territory that spring, to compensate, it would seem, for a veiy mild winter, but the number of twins equalled the loss, and the net produot»as appears from the r.bove statement, was 100 per cent, of the ewes. It is estimated that when a lamb is drppped it is worth j^2, and when three months old it is worth %i. The profit on the increase may, therefore, be put in round numbers at $5,000, The Governor has just completed his shearing. He sheared 3,600 sheep, and the avfirage clip was six pounds per head, The wool is worth twenty-sbc cents in the Eastern market, and the cost of transpor- tation will scarcely exceed four cents* The proceeds of this clip , >. * The increasing 8ignifi«wnce of the Bheep-raiting industry ia atteited to h/ the following par- agraph in the Philadelphia Northwtst of February, i8So. The concluding sentence of the extract mutt be regarded as prophetic rather than stiieily accurate : " From as far west of the end of tke ironed track of the Nprthern Ptacific, in the Yellowstone Valley, as Boceman, which is in the Rocky MounUins, and from the Musselshell Valley und the Judith Basin to the north, inquiries are already addressed to the General Manager of ttie road for through rate* to New York on ii^e sheep, (beased nutton, canned mutton and salted pelts. These rates are asked for on refrigerator cars, single and douUe deck <;ars, and for all rail to New York and part rail and part lake from Duluth. There is an element of romance in fMs sudden ciriKsationofa region where, three years ago, Sittitag Bull's young men would have «t«^p all the abvqt va^ sctlped ail the »be(>hei;d« that venturei pn Hidr hunting-groqnds. 9ut .the change is made. Thf Y|eUowst<)n^ Valley is poesested by sheoberds and herdsmen,** "snift'ifeiiH .il.i HORSE-FARMING FN MONTANA. lod of, say, three f sheep from the IX in an unfavor- flock, but at the bpoks, he found sit his profits had origiqj^l iavest- 995 • f!" iir gives the follow- Excellency, Hon. go he purchased 3f Helena, li^ast sheep, at a, cost 400. Of the re- f April and May were lost by ex- e Territory that ild winter, but the xluct, as appears the ewes. It is -feb j^2, and when he increase may. The Governor 3,600 sheep, and le wool is worth cost of transpor- :eeds of this clip to 'fyf the following por- cluding sentence of the cific, in the Yellowstone MusHchhell Valley i^nd General Manager of the miiied mutton and sdted le deck ^ars, and ipx fdl n element of romance in I yonng men would have r hunting-groqnds. 9ut b and herdsmen/* •vill therefore be about $4,750. A return of nearly $10,000 in I'iss than one year, on an investment of $I2,qoo, is certainly a most seductive showing." ,, 1, , : ,, . ,. The production of a better class of horses, and also of hogs, is beginning to receive oome attention. Horses are even more hardy than cattle or sheep; they have the advantage of being able to paw away the deepest snows that may cover their pas- turage,and they never fail to take good care of themselves in the worst storms. The correspondent just quoted offers these prac- tical suggestions on this business : " What are wanted here are good draufe'ht hor?es, and die market for such would be limitless, at paying prices. Suppose a man, probably in connection with some other business, such as sheep-raising or raising grain, to buy fifty brood-mares (half-breed), which he can procure at $30' each, and one draught stallion, costing $1 ,000. He will thus have > invested $2,500. He need be at no expense for feeding or stabling, except in the case of the stallion, and at very little ex- pense for herding, if he gives the business hia personal attention. The average of colts is eighty per cent, of the mares, so that at the end of the first year he would have forty colts, worth $20 each, making $800, a return of over thirty per cent, on his invest- ment. Carry this computation forward, supposing him to sell off his geldings when they were four years old to pay expenses and to buy additional stallions, retaining the mare colts for breeders, and it wjU be seen that in five years he will have a band worth at least $10,000. Mr. Storey placed 200 mares on his ranch in the valley of the Yellowstone only a few years ago, and now has a herd of 1,200, worth an average of $75 each, besides having sold more than enough to pay all expenses." There arc about 50,000 horses in Montana, a large proportion of which are the regular " broncho " or mustang stock. However, there are several large bands of thoroughbreds, and fine breeding animals are by no means rarc;^,- „^.,Hi lo ^it.:) ' ...vnHii nr»Ti f :.;/:,;.■ ^.r ;[,::. In the absence of an abundance of corn, or a climate suitable for producing it extensively, a few farmers have been experiment- ing with peas as a substitute upon which to fatten hogs. Pork, ^^^^^Y'ayti'aT^ri^ commodity sn all the northern c6untry,and qq6 our li^ESTF.RN EMPIRE commands very high prices. Mr. A. F. Nichols, of Gallatin county, sells from 12,000 to 20,000 pounds of pork annually, which has been produced on peas, and Bass Brothers, of Bitter Root Valley, market of bacon alone as high as 2 1 ,000 pounds per year. These gentlemen are of the opinion that peas make the best food for hogs, and they can produce more pork from an acre of peas than can be made from the same area in corn in Illinois. Pork in different forms sells at from twelve to twenty cents per pound in Montana towns, and hundreds of tons are still Imported from distant States to supply the demand. Hogs for breeding purposes are very scarce at from $12 to %io eadhi' "':''""' " ' Manufactures.— ^otsXsxssl is too new a Territory and has too small a population to have any very extensive manufacturing es- tablishments. There are stamping, smelting and other reduction mills at Helena, Bozeman, Wickes, Butte City, Virginia City and other p6tnts in the Territory ; saw-mills and flouring-mills at sev- eral of the larger towns, and the usual run of small manufactories in most of these places. Probably twelve or fifteen million dollars would cover the products of all the manufacturing establishments yet in existence.'' '"'<'* '""^ wii)>*rn in Illinois. nty cents per still imported for breeding and has too ufacturing es- :her reduction jinia City and j-mills at sev- tnanufactories nillion dollars stablishments !.i; !.. .-1. : — ifbwstohe Na- t>ut as nearly 'longs to Wy- srritory. But I the attention ver, as well as and the valley the valley of lison and the waterfells are arrow bounds •, and they can I the Madison to 900 fe6t of rapids and . Not far off imbers in die season. The geyser formation extends over all this region, and among the most remarkable examples of it arc the Deer i^odge Mineral Springs, eighteen miles north of Deer Lodge, some of which are really geysers, while others have formed cones of their deposits thirty feet in height and fifty feet in diameter at the base, from the apex of which flows a large warm spring. This is sur- rounded by forty other springs, ranging in temperature from 1 1 5" to 150**. The caAon:* and falls on the Upper Missouri are very beautiful and grand. We can only name " The Gate of the Mountains " and the "Great Falls," eighteen miles north of Helena, "Atlantic Caflon," " The Bear's Tooth," " The Mysterious Thunder," supposed to be caused by hidden geysers in the moun- tains, "The Devil's Slide" and "The Devils Watch-Tower ; " and in ute northwest, the Flathead Lake Region with its Twin Cascades. Railroads.— ^^ to January, 1880, there were no railroads in op- eration in Montana, but since that time the Utahand Northern Kail- road has been opened to Helena, with the intention of an extension westward or northwestward ; and the Northern Pacific Railway has entered the Territory from the cast, and will reach the junction of Powder river with the Yellowstone by January, 1881, and Miles City and Fort Kcogh by the early spring. The western or Pend d'Oreille Division of the same road will probably also enter the Territory by next spring, and make some progress southward in the valley of Clarke's fork of the Columbia river. The surveyed route of the Northern Pacific will traverse Western, Southwestern and Southern Central Montana, throwing out a branch to the National Yellowstone Park, following the Clarke's fork of Co- lumbia and the Yellowstone river from its source nearly to its junction with the Missouri river, leaving it at Glendive, opposite the mouth of Cabin creek. Both these roads are likely to do a large and profitable business from the beginning, and one which will be increased almost indefinitely. At present immigrants wishing to reach Virginia City, Helena, Butte City, or any of the places in the Clarke's Fork Valley, will find it for their advantage to take the Utah and Northern Railroad; and those who Would pro- cure or who have procured homes in the yalley of the Yellowstone, ' I ''7>i£%lS\i!vwit£»gB«^' ' gpa OVX WESTEXI/ EMPIRB. the Northern Pacific, which will soon be running to Miles City. The only other available route is that up the Missouri river by steam- ers, and for several hundred miles up the Yellowstone. This journey should be made after April and before August. Very soon there will be access to the Territory from the west by way of the Pcnd d'Oreille and Qarke's Fork Divisions of the Northern PaciHc. I* 'lu'i.i >ii)ii •• III 'j'liuom r'HMi «M'' t'»tiiM /i">l,('i Ii ilMii Indian Reservations and Popu/alion.-^Tht: Territory was re- garded as the best place to which to banish the Blackfeet, Crows, Assihiboines, Gros Ventres and Yankton nais, afler the terror in- spired among the settlers by the terrible massacres in Minnesota in 1 863->3, had made their longer stay in a new and rapidly grow- ing State intolerable and impossible, and so they were removed to immense reservations north of the Missouri river and south of the Yellowstone, in 1867 and 1868, in the expectation that there they Would be able to remain without molestation. Litde did the Indian Ofifice tlien dream that within ten or twelve years this very region would be found to be the garden spot of American agriculture, and that mines of fabulous wealth would be discovered among the mountains which then seemed to be so forbidding. But so it was ; and when, a year or two later, the Flatheads, Pend d'Oreilles and Kootenais were in need of a home, one was as- signed to them also within the limits of Montana. The United States government was lavish in its gifts of land to these tribes — 34,1 56,800 acres, or ^V, of the whole area of the Territory, was made over to them, including nearly all the land north of, and more than one-half of the region south of the Yellowstone, ex- tending to the Wyoming border. The land north of the Mis- souri, though some of it unfit for cultivation, is for the most part good grazing land, and the mountain slopes and river bottoms contain gold lodes and extensive placers ; but the region south of the Yellowstone is the garden of the Territory for productive- ness, and contains also extensive lodes of silver and gold, espe- cially on Clarke's fork of the Yellowstone, Rosebud creek, and the Upper Yellowstone itself. At and around the five agen- cies on these reservations, viz.: the Blackfeet Agency, Crow Agency, Flathead Agency, Fort Peck Agency, and Fort Belknap rv^ lilesCity. The river by steam- )W!»tone. This /Vugust. Very le west by way >f the Northern rritory was re- ackfeet, Crows, r the terror in- 8 in Minnesota d rapidly grow- were removed :r and south of ition that there >n. Little did 'elve years this >t of American 1 be discovered so forbidding. ^latheads, Pend le, one was as- The United to these tribes Territory, was north of, and ellowstone, ex- th of the Mis- the most part river bottoms region south or productive* nd gold, espe- lud creek, and he five agen- \gency. Crow Fort Belknap INDIAN RRSEkVATlONS. 999 Agency, there are congregated 21,670 Indians, of whom 3,470 are Crow Indians, occupying the reservation south of the Yellow- stone ; 16,843 HIackfcct, Assinaboines and other Sioux bands, and 1,338 Flatheads and other Pacific tribes. Of the whole number only 1,531. about seven per cent, can be called civilized, bo far as the assumption of citizen's dress is concerned, and but 475 male Indians were engaged in civilized pursuits. The ahr.urdity of giving such a vast tract to these vagrant and barbarous tribes will be appreciated if we notice that they are allowed over 1,700 acres to every Indian, man, woman or child. Now that the buffalo is so rapidly disappearing that it has already ceased in nearly all parts of the continent to be the dependence of the Indian tribes for game and for its peltries, it is well worth while to inquire whether some occupation cannot be devised for the Indian which shall enable him to do something towards earning his own liveli- hood without occupying, or, rather, withholding from occupation by others, a Territory as large as the State of Illinois. We would not have the Indiaji wronged, but the lands of the earth are too precious to be held by those who cannot and will not cultivate or use th^m for human subsistence, and will not allow others to do so. Population of Montana. — In 1870 the population of the Terri- tory was 39,895, of ^yhom 18,306 were whites, 183 colored, 1,949 Chinese, and 19,457 Indians, of whom all but 157 were members of the different tribes. Estimates were made at various times between 1870 and 1880, and with a tolerably near approximation to truth; thus, in 1876, the white population was estimated at 23,000; in 1877, at 28,000; and in 1878, at 35,000, including the Chinese and the colored people. In 1880 the supervisor of the census reports the population (except Indians) as 39,157. and adding the number of Indians, according to the report of the In- dian Office for 1880^21,670— -we have a total of 60,827, the white population having more than doubled, and the Indians having increased 2,2 1 3. The corrected census returns for 1880 show that of the population not tribal Indians 28,180 were males, 10,977 females, 27,642 natives, 11,515 foreigners, 35,648 whites, 202 colored, 1,750 Indians and half-breeds, and 1,737 Chinese. The following table shows the assessment of Montana Terri- I', • l! til^iitfOmil^titt^Stfii^^iBiiySiSiSSSS- ,100O CUJt WMSTEKM MMPtMM. lory by counties for the yearu 1878-791 with their respective iacrease of taxable property : > * iir.tluil IK '' ' *'' ^n ifcirtM'''' VtfUWHIVIf licaverheod 'i ■'» Chuteau . . . Custer . » . TtawKon . V ', Deer Lodg« u jw' JclTcreon . •> » C'l.illutin . . . J^wis and Clarke Madison . . . Meagher . . . MiMoula . . . TouU , 1 1 1 ; 1 1 M ' ) PopuUlion iSiio. t,7ia 3,058 . a, 510 , 180 8,876 •,464 3.643 6,5ai 3,9»6 a.744 «.533 » ■ .- 39i«57 1879. 11,089,59600 i.«79.«75 00 350,000 00 3,700,000 eo «43.6H3 95 1,586,340 00 3,oa8,3ao 00 1 1874.543 00 1,187,408 00 735.507 00 / .1 1878. 1977,990 00 596,7ta 00 3a9,a3i 01 •,341, a68 0* 7»5»663 15 1.386,340 00 3,899,810 00 1,790,46a 00 867,909 00 647,189 00 IncrMM. 151,606 00 583. "53 00 30,768 98 '«.*358.73> 00 48,oao 80 aoo,ooo 00 138,510 00 84,081 00 319,409 00 88,318 CO .|»S.5«5,a7a 95 MhHfM^ «7, $*»^^h^9^ jf _ , 't ' 'i 'llie county of Dawson, organized we tHslleve In 1880, Is re- ported in the above table with Choteau county, of which it has been hitherto the eastern part ; but the coming of the Northern Pacific into the Territory has called a considerable population into this region, and it will probably next year report an increased population and assessment.^ "'" Y" i«-"- 'U t-i fcu. , wv, ^u. '•'f^The principal towns 0/ Montana are : Helena, the capital of the Territory, and of Lewis and Clarke county also ; a town which originated in a placer mine, and was at first known by the not very euphonious name of " Last Chance Gulch." The town is not beautiful. Its location forbids that, but it has some good buildings, several churches and a population of more than 5,000. Virginia City is in the southern part of the Territory, on the Yel- lowstone, a little north of the YeUowstone National Park. It is also near the famous Alder Gulch. It has a population of nearly 0,000. Butte City, forty or fifty miles south of Helena, is a pretty town, with some smelting works and a population of about 3,000. Bozeman is a flourishing townr at the head of the Gallatin Valley, and is on the projected route of the Northern Pacific. It has about 1,500 inhabitants. Other towns, which are rapidly grow- ing, are: Bannock, Phillipsburg, Deer Lodge, Radersburg, Vestel, Missoula, Benton, and on the YelldWstone, Miles City and Glen- dive. By way of enlightening our readers as to the cost of living in Montana, we give the following price current of articles of Nii. their respective i.tlUil /;,,') ■■ M ' i InerMM. > CO 151,60600 58.1. '5.1 00 1 oo 1 oa ao,768 98 )oo i.JS«.73» 00 J «5 48,010 Ho > oo 300,000 00 ) oo 128,510 00 1 oo 84,081 00 )00 319,409 00 ) oo 88,318 00 ^ 17, |a,88l,,Sp8 78 I in 1880, Is rc- of which it has of the Northern population into irt an increased ! , [ . he capital of the ) ; a town which own by the not " The town is has some good nore than 5,000. :ory, on the Yel- >nal Park. It is ulation of nearly slena, is a pretty 1 of about 3,000. Gallatin Valley, Pacific. It has ■e rapidly grow- iersburg, Vestel, 5 City and Glen- the cost of living It of articles of fJf/CES CVHKENT-^AVBHAQg WAGRS. lODt jrcncral use, furnished by a merchant of Miles City in April, 1880. The Yellowstone Division of the Northern I'acitic will probably reach Miles City in March or April, 1881, and a few articles may the-n be lower. The Yellowstone is, however, navigable for steamboats for several months of the year. Flour, per cwt |4 'S to I5 50 Oats, per cwt 5 00 . . Corn, per cwt s o® Hd. u PotatocM, per cwt. 3 eo . , 1 Butter, choice, per lb 50 EggH, per do«. 75 Corn meal, per cwt 4 00 Bacon, per owt 1000 Breakfast Bacon, per cwt. Ham, per cwt Lard, per lb Beef, per lb Mutton, per lb. ... Onions, per lb. ... ... Sii^ar, per lb. .... Coflee, per lb Beans, per lb Salt, per lb Coal Oil, per gal. . . . ,. Whiskey, per gal. ....,, 3 00 to 800 Beer, per case 7 00 ,,/(, Tobacco, per lb. .... iImi; j i.-^iMi 90 to i as ^,^., Lumber, per M. »ii,f :,fi, f,, v ,« . , » . .45001010000 .,., '. V Shingles, per M 11 00 10 00 i( 33 00 .. |V ■S 00 ' 1 1. ao 8 10 /I 8 ■; 13 to 16 as to 85 8 8 tr 60 ( "White Lead, per cwt. 5 50 Nails, per cwt. ; ', ■',' , .' ' . "; ' ... . la 50 fron, per lb. -.h'- ;iii • > i 111 ■ /•m ;i.^v)l,'V/./'^.t^ii ,i'v' Employment. Bakers, per month and board.. blacksmiths, per day . . . ^Bookkeepers, per month . . ^firioklayers, per day .... fButchers, p^ r month and board Brickmakers, . " . " Carp«|nters, per day a5 00 ^6500 a SO 450 7000 I85 00 350 6 50 3400 50 00 ao 00 5000 «5o 450 - ^■M»*MtA^ii&0ili^U»ti^Vfi-jM&^^- \. 1003 OVM IVgSntJty KAfP/Mg, /I Pint Cook, per month ami board Second (!o<)k, " , Cooki In fainUin. '< , M «* If ClMMibcrmaids, ' ' Clerk*, |K;r inonrtt ..... DrcsHtnakcrn, |kt month . , . Dairymen, \h:t month and lM)iird Knginacnt in milli, [icr day . . Farm hundn, [icr month and IxMtd Harneiw-makera, per day . . lIuHtlerit, per month and buard laundrcMseii, " •' ■ IdburcrH, " " Lumlwrmen, '* '* Machinists, per day .... Miners, '• .... Millers, [KT month and board Millwrights, per day . . . Painters, [wr day .... Printers, per week .... Ptaatereni, jwr day .... Stchool teachers, pei month . Sorvants, per month and board Shepherds, " "• Stone m-osons, per day . , , Teamsters, per month and board Waiters •« «« j'> r Education. — Our latest statistics of education are from Gover- nor Potts' report to the Secretary of the Interior in October, 1878. There has been considerable progress since that time. Graded schools had been established at Helena, Virginia City, Bozeman, Butte and Deer Lodge, and large, well-ventilated brick school- houses had been erected for them. The other educational sta- tistics were as follows: "*"**'« '"** '«*■* '**' •^' '^'t" " '' "* |6o 00 |llOO# 30 00 3500 II 00 3500 1000 30 00 50 00 90 00 as 00 70 00 as 00 a 00 15 00 45 00 "• 350 48*50 a 00 15 00 450 45 00 ta 00 3500 15 00 a8 00 3500 SSoo »7S 'i "■'•450 a as as 00 •SO a as 15 00 350 65 00 ' I-'" 450 " '"lijoo »5o 3000 '5 50 80 00 II 00 3500 300 4Q 00 18 00 45 00 1600 5500 Number of school-houses . .. .. .f- i i !k;: . , . 8b Value of school-houses . 167,700 Whole school census (between ages 4 and ai years) givpi 4,705 Number of scholars enrolled in schools ., .„>, i-k ^-^V^ 8,9*7 Number of teachers employed . . . ^, <' » ♦ 4" . 104 Salaries of teachers employed |36,aoo Salaries of superintendents |4,Soo I ^•'^SSjS^^aafert^iftrrn'wwM^ -■■l'-^-f-^"-'tMJifi"-irrrii'r['i'^iifii'tia-rtrlillr^riiriW--li1fiTr[|- i I*' "'I • «ooo hi • 35 oo !' "'I 40 00 I .!'. '"I 6 00 IN ,'''^ 4500 I" I . l 5500 ire from Gover- n October, 1878. t time. Graded City, Bozeman, ad brick school- educational sta< MKltGtOUH DKHOMtNATiOSS. NuTi1b4rofKra(leti And high »ch(ioU ,...•••'" 6 NumUrr uf privtitc m hooli . . » 10 Uiie tollcKiaic iiiKiitute in pruccM of erection «l Uc«r I .(Ktge, estimated (0«t 115,000 Amount uiiounty ux cullci led f47iJ>J 1003 Rtlig;iout DtnominiitioHi, iitilkw NlMlUr 'il iiiiir pialtiihit valiM. Otliar iliiirili priipany , M«nib«nht|i ., >.•,••>«• •••• Smutty utiiHiU. ....»•.. t • t«« II It tf I* (NHf' n and iMdhan .•••»>••. mttoi Si'hoUrii i>f nil Ulna •••,•• •••• Hanaviib-iii )'ull>i;Hoiw . . i»..iur« (•■fllMtty) Numlwr iif mlnlamn 1 ■ • ,3! Ill |i;iMa !fil,aiM 1 1 !i •'•.««" ••t I « •lium 1 I I f| $ 1.1 1 I •-••it; IT' l.Wt il The ah6ve table also dates from 1878, and probably most of the items would be doubled in the autumn of 1880 by the influx of population and the efforts of home missionaries. We know that the Con{j;rcgationalists, the Lutherans and the Baptists have now organizations, and we think church edifices, and probably some other denominations alsOi The state of morals is probably not worse than in other new territories, and perhaps bette- than some ; but there is less regard for the Sabbath than there should be, and infidel clubs abound, while the usual concomitants of new settlements, gambling and drinking saloons and brothels, are very numerous. This is particularly the case in most of the new set- dements, the mining camp at Wickes being, however, an honor- able and conspicuous exception. After a time these mining towns acquire a better and more creditable population, and the rougher class go on to newer settle- ments, where the same scenes are re-enacted. The only remedy for this state of things is that moral, and especially Christian people, who settle in these new towns and camps, should maintain their religious character, and put down, by vigorous and decided action. Sabbath-breaking, gambling and drinking, and though the struggle may be severe at first, they will find it not only pleasant but gready advantageous to the permanent prosperity li ^A»maMi^t^Mmi>!^a»i#;~ jfomSEI^SSim' CUM WMarMMDf KMriMM. of thoir srttlrments. Mr. Wickc« hat br«n Nurtm^fol in dnin(* this at hi!! tar^"' tamp, and i> now reaping the reward of hit iirm* ncit for the right, «•" . • CHAPTFR XIV. NEBRASKA. A*KA AKD ExT«MT— BnuwDAiifwi — TonrAHATivf Arra— Ir^ RivRRiNR nmrMr>- AhiKK— SiiRrAt.K or iiir. Codntmv -S»:nnk in whkm ii ih a i'MAiHir.->-IrH (iRADUAL Kl.rVAriON Tl) THK BanR Of THE KiKKV MorNTAINH— TmK NR- RRAHILA " lUl) I.AN(*H" — Tlir RlVRHM or NmiKAilKA — TlIK MlHMHINI ANtI NioHKARA— ThK NoRIII AND SoUTII ri.ArT». ANI» IHKIH Arri.l'r.N IH -Tiir Iahiv anu rrst Furnx— Thk Rrpuiu.i(;AN Kivkm— <;knrrai. I>inr( rioN or TMKHK KlVr.HH— GKOUMIV ANr> MiNKHAI.UOV — TMR Im}V.»H OR 1)RI» I— AlXU- viAi, Dr.iHHiiH — Tmr CiHrAt PKRiiisroRu: Lake— Tkrtiary Forma iion— CARiioNtKKRturs Strata — 'hu Coai, Measurks— I.kjnite in the Tkhiiart —Not mocm Kconomic Valur n> the Coaiji or Nkiira!ika— -The Peat Hed^ or TKR St'ATR — Soil. AND VrqetatioNx-Fertimty or the IxiEM— TRErt or THE State— /.HiUKiv — O-imate and MsTEOHouKiv— Tahi.n— Aoric'VL- tural I'rouuctions — (jRopsor 1877, 1878 and 1879 — Wild and C!ui;riVATED Fruith— Mr. E. a. Curlev un the Wild Fruith— (jHAZiNti—'IuE Live- stock OK the State— MANurAcruKiNfj [NDirsTRV—RAiLPOADH— Population —Rapid Guowth ok the State — Indianh — Finamcial Condition— Educa- tion — ^Landh rf)R Immigrants — Government, School, Univemitv and Railroad Lamdh^Auvick to Immiokanth — Prices — Covntieh, Citirs and TowNH — Rrli(;iouh Denominations— UisToRtcAL Data — Nebraska as a Home roR Immiuran rs. NKRitASKA. one of the States of the ceniral belt of "Our West- ern Emph-e," lying between the parallels of 40" and 43" north latitude, and between 95* tcf and 104"* of west lonj;itiid(.' from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by Dakota ; on the east by the Missouri river, which separates it from Iowa and Mis- souri ; on the south by Kansas and Colorado, and on the west by Colorado and Wyoming. Its area, according to the United States.^Land Office, is 75,995 square miles, or 48,636,800 acres. Its greatest length from east to west is ..12 miles, and its breadth I c«iftj1 in doinjj rani of hin firm- RivRRiNR RtniNn- IH A l'HAiHI»l~~|rx NtAiNM— Ink Nk- MK MlNMHIMI AND Ani urNiM -Tiir lAi. OiNRi rioN iir OK Dkin —Aixu- ^KY Fi)kMAIU)N— IN THE TkhTIAHT —TMr. I'rAT Urdu UiKM—'YutfA or TaUIH— AliMICVL- \) ANU CrtriVA twj ttmi—'lut LivE- lAUs — Population (NtiiTiON— Educa- Univrrsity and NTIRS, CiTIB* AND -NlliKAilKA Al A ll.ll"! . [I'tt -(«!». of"Our West- and 43«» north onjjitiidt.' from a ; on the east 3wa and Mis- on the west by o tlie United 636,800 acres, nd its breadth aVM^ACU OP TMK COVSTHY, 100) fron< north to south 20H milrt. It in Xxx^vx than all Nrw Eng- Und and Nrw Jrniry, and a« lar)*^ as Ohio and IntUana tog«thrr. 'I*hf NtiHsouri river not only forms its entire eastern boundary, but in (onjunct'on with the Niobrara, onr of its larger tributaries, and dir Kcya I'aha, an nOhicnt of that stream, ^ive• a riverine Ixxiixlary to nearly one half of its northern lK»rdrr. Surf me of thi l\mntty-^(irnHu(tl /)rsffHt pvtH ITrst to East»^ Rivtis, lilnffi, HiUs, V'«Ueyi. — The State is called pntirie. So it is, in the sense of the word which means meadow : but not in that secondary sense which implies a land of uniform flatness. In r»'al truth, Nebraska is a part of the lowest eastern grass- clothed slope of the Rocky Mountains. The rye alone will makft no observer aware of this fact. Nevertheless, from the eastern t«) the wrMt«!rn iKumdary of Nebraska, thrre is a ^adual and un- interru()t«Hl rise of the land of alxitit seven feet to the mile in ICastern Nebraska, and fmm that to ten feet in the west; and thtis it is that while the land on the eastern Imundary is o;o feet above sea-level, on the western lx>undary it is about 5,000. The surface form of the State is, of course, made Ly the rivers. The eastern front of the country shows Iwld, wooded bluffs to the Missouri, their outlines being cut and scarpcnl into fantastic and picturesque forms by the washing water. West of th*? Missouri bluffs, except on the table lands, there is no flat, but a land of many changing forms — now bro ioo6 OUR WMSTEXA' EMPIRE. i Now and again a river flows full to the bank, from which the bottom—from a mile to four or more miles wide — spreads out on cither hand ; but generally the streams ru-« in deep beds, the higli, steep banks and the narrow first bench being thickly clothed with timber. The general ascending lay of the; land is broken from west to east by threq main drainage channels. On the northern boundary of the State are the Niobrara and the Missouri rivers, of which latter ihe Niobrara is an afifluent. ,; The Niobrara has m^n/ tributaries, some of them of consider- able site ; and several of them, as their names imply, have many rapids and waterfalls.* The Platte, a winding, shallow, spreading stream^ has the sources of both of its main streams, the North and South forks of the Platte, far up the main range or Great Divide of the Rocky Mountains in Central Colorado ; the North fork also traversing a great extent of territory in Wyoming; both forks cross Nebraska from west to east to their point of junction at North Platte. Before the , divisipn, the Platte river receives two large tributaries, the Loup Fqrk river, which, with its three branches, North, Middle and South, traverses a large territory, and the Elkhorn, tvhich drains Northeastern Nebraska. On the south bank, neither the Platte nor the North Platte re- ceive any considerable streams. The South Platte receives on its nc^t tit bank Lodge Pole creek, in the valley of which the Union Pacific road is constructed for 1 50 miles. From fifty to eighty miles south of the PJatte, the Republican river, the largest tributary of the Kaw or Kansas river, having its sources in Eastern Colorado, traverses the southern and southwestern counties of the State, receiving three large affluents. Medicine Lake creek. White Man's fork and Rock creek, on its northern bank, and an infini- tude of ^nali streams on both banks. Other smaller but consid- erable tribut?iries ipf the; Kansas drain the southeast of the State. The general direction and flow of all these rivers is to the south- east. In their gradual descent from the lofty plateau at the west of the State, the rivers and streams, in seeking the lowest level. -:\*Em fiti <3f»r/-"lhe water Aat J«ps "-,M«, CkaAua, or Rapid creek, Antelope cieek, the Rapid river, are a few of the names of these affluents. . J . /I r. f TTu .' y . Vj I ■ '■.'■'' ■ \% .')! lit.! !l ! TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF NEBRASKA. 1007 :, from which the idc — spreads out in deep beds, the :h being thickly ay of th(; land is fe ciiannels. On Niobrara and the an affluent, them of consider- imply, have many hallow, spreading •eams, the North range or Great »rado ; the North ry in Wyoming ; to their point of the Platte river river, which, with raverses a large astern Nebraska. North Platte re- latte receives on \ which the Union fty to eighty miles •gest tributary of astern Colorado, :ies of the State, te creek, White ik, and an infint- laller but consid- east of the State, s is to the south- ateau at the west the lowest level, d creek, Antelope creek, have cut their way through the soft and easily eroded deposits, and have worn away their banks to such a degree as to give the appearance of high bluffs along their banks, when in reality no such bluffs exist ; but the stream has eroded for itself a channel at a lower level than that of the sunouriding country. Such is the topography of Nebraska in barest outline ; ai.l, with the map before him, the reader can fill in the details. He can imagine the great plain ascending to higher altitudes as the mountains are approached ; the rivers, west to east, making three great valleys, and two elevated divides separating the valleys ; and, finally, the smaller streams exhibiting the land as broken into an almost infinite number of gently undulating hills and valleys — with great table lands on the summits — the trend of which is souUieast. Geology and Mineralogy. — The geological structure of the State is very simple. In the southeast a triangular tract, extend- ing west as far as where the Little Blue river crosses the southern boundary of the State, and having the apex of the triangle at the point where the forty-sf cond parallel of latitude intersects the Missouri river, is distinctly identified with the upper carboniferous formation. It is covered to a depth of from thirty to ninety feet by ^ yellowish marl (the loess or surface deposit described by Professor Hayden), but the rocks below belong to the coal measures. There are thin strata of coal of good quality, but rai^ging in thickness from five to twenty-two inches-r-not suffi- ciently thick to pay for expensive mining, while clays, limestones and ^ndstones belonging to the carboniferous era make up the remaining thickness of the coal measures, which aggregate 120 feet or more. The geologists believe this deposit to be the west- ern; rim or margin of the great coal basin of Missouri and Iowa, and think that on this border or rim the coal has been subjected to such pressure that it will be found too thin for profitable mining. West of these coal measures is a narrow belt of Permian rocks, and to tliis succeed the cretaceous deposits, having a breadth of sevepty or eighty miles. West of this the whole $ur- i^c.^ rocks and soil of the State belong to the tertiary period. In 'l^e south^eslttho tertiary formation has large deposits of lignite .9fiP«9?HRn^ quality, which will probably supply a large 'portion " I ,:mtif^m«giii^s^^^ ! 1006 t ;.vr. OUR WSSTERN BUPIRS. I: t. of the demand of the State for coal. Of the loess or yeflowish marl which forms the superficial deposit over the greater part of the State, we may remaric, that this deposit, which is quaternary rather than tertiary, is supposed to be the sediment deposited by the great lakes, one of them in Nebraska and Iowa beittg esti- mated as 500 miles long, and from fiAy to two hundred miles wide, which covered this whole region after the dose of the last glacial period. Into and through the greatest of these lakes the Mis- souri, then, as now, the muddiest of rivers, poured its vast flood of yellow waters. As the land gradually rose, this immense lake drained off its surplus water through the Missouri river, became a vast marsh, and eventually, as the rivers cut deeper and deeper through this loess deposit, the land became dry and solid. Of this loess, Professor Aughey, the State Geologist, says: " The loess deposit is in some respects one of the most remark- able in the world. Its value for agricultural purposes is not ex- ceeded anywhere. It prevails over at least three-fourths of the surface of Nebraska. It ranges in thickness from five to one hundred and fifty feet. Some sections of it in Dakota county measure over 200 feet. At North Platte, 300 miles west of Omaha, and on the south side of the river, some of the sections that I measured ranged in thickness from 1 25 to 150 feet. From Crete, on the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, west to Kearney, on the Union Pacific Railroad, its thiiikness for ninety miles ranges from forty to ninety feet. South of Kearney, and for a great distance west, along the Union Pacific Railroad, as fdr as to the Republican, there is a great expanse of territory, covered by a great thickness of this deposit. I measured many sections in wells over this region, and seldom found it less than forty, and often more than sixty feet in thickness. Along the Republican. I traced the formation almost to the western line of the State, its thickness ranging from thirty to seventy feet. One section north of Kearney, on Wood river, showed a tldckness of fifty feet. The same variation in thickness is found in the counties bordering on the Missouri. One peculiarity of this deposit is that it is almost perfisc^y homogeneous throughout^ and of alitiost uoifbinv cdloi; -^r*..^'.' 'J'l^rs,^,.. THE LOESS DEPOSIT. 1009 ss or yellowish greater part of I1 is quaternary nent deposited [owa beittg esti- Ired miles wide, the last glacial lakes the Mis- d its vast flood !, this immense Missouri river, rers cut deeper ecame dry and tate Geologist, ; most remark- oses is not ex- :-fourths of the tm five to one Dakota county miles west of of the sections 50 feet. From lilroad, west to ness for ninety ■ Kearney, and Railroad, as fir rritory, covered many sections than forty, and lie Republican, of the State, its e section north fifty feet. The :s bordering oii hat it is almost however thick the deposit or far apart the specimens have been taken. I have compared many specimens taken 300 miles apart, and from the top and bottom of the deposiio, and no difference could be detected by the eye or by ciiemical analysis. " The physical properties of the loess deposits are also remark- able. In the interior, away from Missouri, hundreds of miles of these loess deposits are almost level or gently rolling. Not un- frequendy a region will be reached where, for a few miles, the country is bluffy or hilly, and then as much almost entirely level, with intermediate forms. The bluffs that border the flood-plains of the Missouri, the Lower Platte and some other streams, arc sometimes gently rounded off They often assume fantastic forms, as if carved by some curious generations of the past. But now they retain their forms so unchanged from year to year, affected neither by rain nor frost, that they must have been molded into their present oudines under circumstances of climate and level very different from that which now prevails. For all purposes of architecture this soil, even for the most massive structures, is perfectly secure. On no other deposits, except the solid rocks, are there such excellent roads. From twelve to twenty-four hours after the heaviest rains, the roads are perfectly dry, and often appear, after being travelled a few days, like a vast floor formed from cement, and by the highest art of man. Yet the soil is very easily worked, yielding readily to the spade or the plow. Excavation is remarkably easy, and no pick or mat< tock is thought of for such purposes. It might be expected that such a soil would readily yield to atmospheric influences, but such is not the case. Wells in this deposit are frequendy walled up only io a point above the water-line ; and on the remainder the spade-marks' will be visible for years. These peculiarities of the loess deposits are chiefly owing to the fact that the carbonate of lime has entered into slight chemical combination with the finely comminuted silica. There is always more or less carbonic acid in the atmosphere which is brought down by the rains, and this dissolves the carbonate of lime, which then readily unites with the silica, but only to a slight extent, and not enough to destroy its porosity. ^ Though much of the silica isjnicroscopically minute^ lOIO OVJt WESrEXN EMPIUJi. it has largely preserved its angular structure, and this of course aids the slight chemical union that takes place between it and the carbonate of lime. Had thore been more lime and iron in this deposit and had it been subjected to a greater and longer pressure from superincumbent waters, instead of a slightly chem- ically compacted soil, it would have resulted in a sandstone •formation incapable of cultivation. There is not enough clayey matter present to prevent the water from percolating through it as perfectly as through sand, though a great deal more slowly. This same peculiarity causes ponds and stagnant water to be rare within the limits of this deposit." i 'ii»''" » -"'' <* ■Ai "If we pass for a moment southward into the valleys of t^ Hiobrara and Loup fiork, we shall find a fauna closely allied, yet QOtirely distinct from the one on White river, and plainly inter'- J this of course Lween it and the ind iron in this tcr and longer a slightly chein- in a sandstone i enough clayey ating through it al more slowly, water to be rare ■Al. ion of the " Bad less is not a sur- y are called on ise-moving sand tiills with consid- tily with tufts of idles or some of oft tertiary lime- :>lance of ruined ered with spark- uands " occupies, lit 20,000 square e are many little kaline, and some in fossils of the are geologically Earth river in ils of the Dakota )f the Nebraska rdly any animals aVorite hunting- Marsh. Of the -jii,<|K<:yf«?li. ■•')>'<■'■' le valleys of the :losely allied, yet nd plainly inter" FOSSILS OF NKBKASA'A. 101 1 mediate between that of the latter and of the present period ; one appears to have lived during the middle or miocene tertiary pe- riod, and the other at a later liiiie in what is called the pliocene 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, also a smaller one. The only' animals akin to the camels, at the present time in the western' hemisphere, are the llama and its allies in South America. 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. There wa* still another animal allied to the horse, about the size of a New- foundland dog, which was provided with three hoofs to each foot',' though the lateral hoofs were rudimental. Although no horses were known to exist on this continent prior to its discovery by Europeans, yet Dr. Leidy has shown that before the age of man' this was emphatically the country of horses. Dr. Leidy has re--' ported twenty-seven species of the horse family which are' known to have lived on this continent prior to the advent of mart' — about three times as many as are now found living throughout the world. " Among the carnivorae were several foxes and wolves, one' of which was larger than any now living ; three species of hyae- nodon — animals whose teeth indicate that they were of remark"' ably rapacious habits; also five animals of the cat tribe were^ found, one about the size of a small panther, and another as^ large as the largest wolf. Several of the skulls of the tiger-HkeJ animals exhibited the marks of terrible conflicts with the cotem-' porary hyaenodons. "Among the rodents were a porcupine, small beaver, rabbity mouse, etc. " The pachyderms, or thick-skinned animals, were quite numer- ous and of great interest, from the fact that none of them are living on this continent at the present time, and yet here we find the remains of several animals allied to the domestic hog, ox\t about the size of this animal, another as large as the AfHcati ■1— •^SUWI****""*'*:'--' ,»*l«*>J-»tev*»«^*i"«-'«K!-*; 1013 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. I IX hippopotamus, and a third not much larger than the domestic cat. ,. .,, ., .-., , ,...,, .,, .!:,, . , "Five species of the rhinoceros roamed through these marshes, ranging from a small, hornless species, about the size of our black bear, to the largest, which was about the size of the existing unicorn of India. No animals of the kind now inhabit the western hemisphere. . ' •'Among the thick-skinned animals were the remains of a mas- todon and a large elephant, distinct from any others heretofore discovered in any part of the world. Dr. Leidy says that ' it is remarkable that among the remains of mammals and turtles there are none of crocodiles. Where were these creatures when the shores of the ancient Dakotan and Nebraskan waters teemed with such an abundant provision of savory ruminating hogs ? ' During the tertiary period Nebraska and Dakota were the homes of a race of animals more closely allied to those inhabiting Asia and Africa now, and from their character we may suppose that during that period the climate was considerably warmer than it is at present. The inference is also drawn that our world, which is usually called the new, is in reality the old world, older than the eastern hen'isphere. " Ever since the commencement of creation, constant changes of form have been going on in our earth. Oceans and moun- tains have disappeared, and others have taken their place. Entire groups of animal and vegetable life have passed away, and new forms have come into existence through a series of years which no finite mind can number. To enable the mind to realize the physical condition of our planet during all these past ages is the highest end to be attained by the study of geological facts. It has been well said by an eloquent historian that he who calls the past back again into being enjoys a bliss like that of creating. " We may attempt to form some idea of the physical geography of this region at the time when these animals wandered over the country, and to speculate as to the manner in which their remains have been so beautifully preserved for our examination. We may suppose |that here was a large fresh-water lake during the middle te^rtiary period; that it began near the southeastern side TIIK FOSaiL MAMMALS OF NKI^RASKA, 1013 an the domestic \i these marshes, size of our black of the existing labit the western cmains of a mas- thers heretofore \j says that ' it is and turtles there :atures when the II waters teemed minating hogs?' a were the homes e inhabiting Asia nay suppose that y warmer than it our world, which ivorld, older than constant changes :eans and moun- eir place. Entire d away, and new es of years which nd to realize the e past ages is the ological facts. It t he who calls the lat of creating, lystcal geography randered over the hich their remains xamination. We lake during the southeastern side of the Black Mills, not large at first nor deep, hut as a marsh or mud-wallow for the gigantic pachyderms that lived at the time; that as time passed on it became dinper and expanded its limits until it covered the vast area which its sediments indicate. Wc cannot attempt to point out in detail all the changes through which we may suppose, from the facts given us, this lake has passed, during the thousands of years that elapsed from its be- ginning to its extinction, time long enough for two distinct faunae to have commenced their existence and passed away in succes- sion, not a single species passing from one into the other. Even that small fraction of geological time seems infinite to a finite mind. We believe that the great range of mountains that now lies to the west of this basin was not as lofty as now ; that doubt- less the treeless plains were covered with forests or grassy meadows, upon which the vast herds of gregarious ruminants cropped their food. Into this great lake on every side poured many little streams from broad valleys, fine ranging ground for the numerous varieties of creatures that existed at that time. Large numbers of fierce carnivorous beasts mingled with the multitudes of gregarious ruminants, constantly devouring them as food. As many of the bones, either through death by vio- lence or natural causes, were left in the valleys, they would be swept down by the first high waters into the lake, and enveloped in the 5 diments at the bottom. As the gregarious ruminants came down to the little streams, or by the shores of the lake to quench their thirst, they would be pdunced upon by the flesh- loving hysenodon, drepanodon or dinichthys. It was probably near this place also that these animals would meet in fierce conflicts, the evidences of which remain to the present time in the cavities which the .skulls reveal ; one of these, of a huge cat, shows on either side the holes through the bony covering which had parti- ally healed before the animal perished ; and the cavities seem to correspond in form and position with the teeth of the largest hyaenodon. ' ■ ■ "The remains of those animals which, from their very natur^ could not have existed in great numbers, are not abundant in the fossil state, while those of the ruminants occur in the . ,«*«li«uii«!Uiii««fci&*«b'«"J%^<.^ J IOI4 OUK ITESTSUff KMPIMM. \ greatest abundance, and arc widely diffused in the sediments, not only geographically, but vertically. The chances for the remains of a species seem to depend upon the number of individuals that existed. The remains of ruminants already obtained com prise* at least nine-tenths of the entire collection, while of «)n«! species portions of at least seven hundred individuals have been discovered. There is another interesting feature in regard to these remarkable fossils, and that is the beauty and perfection of their preservation ; the bones are so clean and white and the teeth so perfect, that when exposed upon the surface they pre- sent the appearance of having bleached only for a season. They eould not have been transported from a great distance, neither could the waters have been swift and turbulent, for the bones seldom show any signs of having been water-worn, and the nice, sharp points and angles are as perfect as in life." Minera/s.— The mineral wealth of the State consists largely of tile two coal bees which we have described — the true coal in the southeast, which possesses but little economic value, and the lig- nite, which will probably be found profitable. Peat exists in im- mense beds in Central and Western Nebraska, and in the opinion of Mr. E. A. Curley, a competent judge in these matters,* in the best form and condition to be made available for fuel. At some time in the not distant future, these peat beds may prove more valuable than the thin seams of coal in the coal measures. Lime, sandstone, limestone, and marble for ornamental purposes, gyp- sum, and especially salt, afe the other principal minerals. There tre many salt basins in the central and western parts of the State. The most extensive is in Lancaster county, in a district of twelve ky twenty-five miles, surrounding Lincoln, the capital of the State. The spring waters, contain twenty-nine per cent, of salt, and the salt is manufactured by the solat evaporation process. The salt is said to be the purest in the world, having 98 ft per cent, of pure chloride of sodium. The sandstones, limestones, and marble or magnesian limestone, are all of excellent quality lor building and ornamental purposes. jllB! ' I"- ' J nes, limestones, excellent quality >rU- It; 5ioil and VtgttatioH. — The K6il of the uplands is largely com* posefl of loess, and thiU of thtr river valleys of alluvium. I'he two deposits arc similar in chemical elements, and they form A very rich and durable soil, exceedingly valuable iur agricultural purposes, ranging in thirknesH from five to one hundred and fifty and even two hundred fert. Careful analyses of the soil show that in the loess over eighty per cent, of the formation is fmcrly comminuted silica : so fme that its true character can only be de- tected under a microscope. About ten per cent, of its substance is made up of carbonates and phosphates of lime. There are some small amounts of alkaline matter, iron and alumina ; the result being a soil that can never be exhausted until every h*ll and valley which composes it is entirj;ly worn away. Its finely comminuted silica gives it natural drainage in the highest degree. When torreiiis of rain come, the water soon percolates the soil, which, in its lowest depths, retains it like a huge sponge. When droughty periods intervene, the moisture rises from below by capillary attraction, supplying nearly alt the needs of vegetation in the dryest seasons. The richer surface soil overlies the sub-soil, and is from eighteen inches to three and four, and even six feet thick. It is organically the same as the sub-soil, but enriched with organic matter, the growth and decay of innumerable cen- turies — a garden soil, easily cultivated, and making the arable farm as a garden. -• 'v Iv, . <. 1 ■ The prairie, clothed only by natural processes, presents its own testimony to the riches of the State, its whole expanse is cov- ered with grasses, there being not fewer than 1 50 species, and the most abundant, making the best pasture, showing green at the end of April, and affording feed until November. The blue joint grows everywhere except on low bottoms. Under ordinary conditions its growth is two and a half to four feet ; and on culti- vated grounds it is foUnd from seven to ten feet high. Wild oats gfow on the uplands, mhced with blue-joint. This grass is relished by cattle and is abundant. The bufblo grass, low in habit, is now found in the western half of the State. It disappears before Cultivation, but it is nature's provision of food fof grain-eadng animals during winter, on the prairie, inasmuch as it retains it* ,.itiiMi/iiXmiiUivK-<»*y*0^*'^ ioi6 OlfM WKSTKKff RMrtKK. nutriment all the year round. Among other feed pransrn are ■ever.ll varieties of hunrh-f;;raiiii; and in the low lands n native blur-prasH and the iipan^rlctop, which latter makefi exr»'ll«nt hay. The NebraMka prairie i^ not bare of treen — in fart, thr native trees furnish a larpe list. The river bluffs are clothrd with them, and the bankn of the ntreams. There are two kinds of buckeye, two of maple, the box elder, two of locunt, four of ash, four of elm, four of hickory, eleven of oak, twelve of willow (eijjht s[>ecie!i bcinp; shnibi), three of birch, three of poplar, hark- berry, iron wood, one sycamore, blark walnut, two «prure firn, yellow pine, white cedar and red cedar. The nhrubs inchuL' common juniper, linden, pawpaw, prickly ash, five sumacs, shrub trefoil, two species of red root, spindle-tree, buckdiorn. six spe- cies of plum, six currants and gooseberries, five dogwoods, butter bush, buffalo berry, red and white mulberry, hazelnut and beaked hazelnut. Cedars are found on the islands of the Platte, and along the Loups and the Niobrara there is a goodly quantity of pine. But the point is here : this list of trees is proof that trees flourish on the prairie; and that as much timber as is needed for all uses can be raised on the farm. During the Indian period, when prairie fires annually swept over the country, the timber was confined to the banks of the streams; but since the era of civilization and cultivation has com- menced, the prairie fires are checked, and groves and forests have become possible on the prairie. Zoiilofj. — Buffaloes are still found, though not plentiful, in the southwestern and northwestern parts of the State. The elk {Cervus Canadensis) is the noblest game animal of the plains; it sometimes weighs from 700 to 800 pounds, and its antlers are magnificent. Us range is In the west from the south to the north, feeding on the high prairies, and frequenting also the ravines. The antelope {Antilocapra Americana), in plentiful herds and fleet as the winds, is found everywhere west of Plum creek ; and the white or long-tailed deer {Cervus Leuatrus),znd the black-tailed {Cervus MacroHs) are denizens of the same region— the white- tailed being found over the whole State. In the far west and among the ravines, the big-horn sheep {Ovis Montana) will now ' \ - i^«ii> t\ pransrn «rr Ancin n native rxrrllmt hay. 'art, till* native ; clothrd with two kinds of St, four of ash, Avn of willow f poplar, hack- fo Hpnirc Urn, thnilnt inclu(L' sumacs, shriih thorn, six spr- gwoods, butter ut and hf-aked h<' I'lattr. and i\y quantity of roof that trees s is needed for .'(•> rn< Ml i i»ni. mnually swept * banks of the ation has com- es and forests jlentiful, in the ate. The elk of the plains; its anders are h to the north, io the ravines, lerds and fleet reek ; and the he black -tailed on — the white- far west and /ana) will now tObt.OGY OF NKBKAniCA. 1017 and ftfi^in fall to the rifle. The time for huntin); is from the first of October to the end of Drrrmber, the law protectinjf the ani- mals ilurinj; the rrmaimirr of the year. The jack rabbit or prairie hare {Lfporida CamprttHs) is common. He is a strong and floet animal, and is ^rood ^Mmr for coursinj;, and only to be run down by th«! stronj^jcst and (Irrtrst grryhounds. Thr little jjray rabbit is also common, and affords evxccllrnt shooting ; and away in the west, thr sagr rabbit. In the timber, the black bear and two species of lynx arr foimd — rarely in thr settled parts of the State, and more commonly on the frontier : and also in the same localities, th(; lar^r whitr and pray wolf The coyot<*, or prairie wolf, is also worth hunting;, tho animal havinjj all thr cun- ning of the fox and morr than the wit of the prairie foxes, of which there arr thrr<' sprrirs, thr red fox, the prairie fox and the kit fox. Some of thr streams are still populous with bravrrs, minks and muskrats. Thr game birds of Nebraska arr plrntiful; and in the season afford sport in abundance. The wild turkey is the noblest of thrm all. Civilization drives it away; but in the wilder parts of thr .Statr, the bird is common enough, and where the woods are thickening in the river counties, its reappearance is beginning to be noted. The prairie chickens — the grouse of the prairie — are everywhere ; and away out on the frontier, the large sage hen. Quail are plentiful and readily shot ; and there are several plovers which are worth the powder and shot of the sportsman. In early spring and late fall, large flocks of wild geese cross the State, resting during the journey on the rivers, creeks and ponds. Mallards, teal, and many other species of wild duck, are plentiful during the same seasons. Of cranes there are four or five species — the sand-hill crane, the largest, being ac- counted an excellent table-bird. There are numerous hawks, and the bald-headed eajr'e is frequently seen in the sparsely set- tled districts. The streams are well stocked with the common kinds of fish, and in the northwest there is an abundance of trout in the streams. xjv>'j mm j" 1"ji( .' • ' ■• • ■•• ■_ Climate and Meteorology. — Nebraska has a very temperate and healthful climate. The gradually increasing elevation from east to west secures good drainage everywhere, and though the winds f f"itable. In the " Bad Lands," the summer's sun beats down with terrible intensity, the heat reach* ing 1 1 3** Fahrenheit in the shade ; and die winter's cold is, in its way, equally intense. • .,: u. > t. : ' Agticultural thoductions. — Although Nebraska is essentially an agricultural State, and has a large amount of good and fertile land, a larger proportion, perhaps, than most of the States adja- cent to her, we have to complain that she has not made the most of her advantages, and in her accounts of her soil and produc- tions has dealt altogether too much in glittering generalities, to the exclusion of those statistics of actual crops which alone can dete:.irne the actual capabilities of her soil and lands for new coi'v Tj who desii'e to cultivate them. We fear that there has been much slovenly farming on her rich and fertile lands ; for, so far as the scanty statistics enable us to determine, the average yield of the cereals lias been much lower than it should have been on lands as admirably adapted to cereal culture as those of the loess beds, and that that yiekl per acre is diminishing instead of increasing. The numbers and -■».• MKrXOKOLOGY OP NgUHASKA, •019 ^ arr healthful, rainfall in MifHi % for tlu* cropN. and 'IVrritoric* tally low. The ircczeii greatly in trm|><'rnttirr 3° ; tli.it ol the 71" to 74^ and thirteen ycari {H.J5 inchrx, of Dtobcr iHt, and 1 1st. Farther rare exceptions Tictcorolo^'y of ! yearn, though raiiifull of the inhabited, and id Lands," the th»; heat reach* '% cold in, in its a is essentially ood and fertile ie States adja- made the most 1 and produc- jlfeneralities, to lich alone can ands for new rming on her atistics enable las been mud) irably adapted bat that yiehi numbers and 8 V I I \ I r X I \ r f \ \ r f f r r i & 1 «E [ is 1 1 1 • « • Ntah«iT««r WYmt. ] \ J 1 • Lmw. i •• 41 4 , MWH 1 1 1 ■■Li. BMifc e 1 t # 1 • ll«hMiT>iiif •/Hyrtuff. R 1 \ T i • U««l. t 1 t ■ $"" ■ r * . Mm*. f 1 9 9 • aMp. J 1 • % • MliliMiTmp nffiumiMi « i t « • t.>IWMl. 1 " i • I i • »l<«l * i ft a • Ran(*. % 1 1 1 • lllgtMat Ttmp. vf Auiumn. B • •« M • |LowwI. 1 f t * . Mnh. a I # % • Umm- t « n • LoMM. 4r V 1 , M«aii. J a y • RM«i. 1 - _-- i 1 4' Av«r»(i Annual Rainfall Rainfall of Spring. 1 If fl ... a • i r r i Ralnhll of Summer. r i 1 — r,— i RainbUofAuiuma t 5 • RalnfenofWinMr. E f? MMaAttauai Humidity. I ■ 1 . • 1' Maan Andoal Pnaaufaof BafMMtar. I p- "■"■^■•-■-#%!*rs^^jfc-U.fciJ-.'r..- i.fei. loao OUR HTESrERA/ EMPIRE. quality of the live-stock are increasing, and give evidence that the grazing lands which are now rapidly filling up, will prove profitable to the stock-raiser. With greater care in her cultiva- tion, the average crop of wheat on her excellent wheat lands should be not less than twenty-five bushels to the acre instead of 1 3. 1 bushels, as it was in 1878, or fifteen bushels, as it was in 1877. She has done better in corn, and as this crop is likely to be in demand for the fattening of her own live-stock, she will have strong inducements to do better yet. The quantity of land taxed or reported for taxation was, in 1879, a little more than 14,000,000 acres, or more than one-fourth of the entire area of the State, and it was valued for the purposes of assessment at only $3 per acre. This included, of cc urse, a large amount of grazing land, and the assessment was high enough for this class of land. The land under cultivation in 1879 probably exceeds slightly 4,000,000 acres, or about one-twelfth of the area of the State. The large amount taken up for farms in the last two or three years has not yet become subject to taxation. The tables on page 102 1 show the amount of the principal crops and their value in 1877, 1878 and 1879, so far as these can be ascertained, and also the numbers and value of the live-stock in the State for the same years. There are, of course, other crops which are of considerable im- portance besides these, of which we regret that we have not full statistics ; among these we may name sorghum, which is a crop of constantly increasing magnitude, and for which the soil and climate is peculiarly adapted ; broom corn, which is largely culti- vated in some sections; flax, cultivated mainly for the seed, though the lint, even without bleaching, makes an excellent paper stock. The cultivation of the flax is increasing in the newer sections, as it has been found the best crop to put in after the new breaking. Alfalfa, the millets and the rice corn, or dhourra, are coming into favor, while the castor bean aod othyer oiUproduiping plants pay well. -"'^'^'^^^k ^.:.ty^^rc%.:, '..:'% l 4 /^# Nebraska is probably destined to occupy a prominent place among the fruit-producing States. Its wild fruits are of excep- tional excellence, especially its plums, strawberries, blackberries, \ CHOPS OF NEBHASJCA. evidence that up, will prove in her cultiva- t wheat lands le acre instead Is, as it was in op is likely to stock, she will jantity of land lie more than jntire area of :issessment at je amount of I for this class bably exceeds le area of the le last two or The tables •ops and their e ascertained, the State for - s ■> 'J isiderable im- have not full hich is a crop the soil and largely culti- : seed, though : paper stock. ;r sections, as lew breaking. ; coming into g plants pay minent place ire of excep- blackberries, \ ^ % 2 S 'r ^ i ^ ^ & A t S i li & 3;. -i5"5«;s"3: I ^ 5 > 3 "r ^ g i^ t X m ff * ? « 5 ^ I U O J 9 S a 2 =£ * ^ ^ ,» X u M ^ ■9 ^ ? O W •o 8 - J. 3 "a a; 8 I a J & ^ 'g: 'r i <>i'^ii!.ii^ti3.8> I Bfi-a. n Pric* per buthal, pound, etc. ! 1^1 li Price per buihel, pound, etc. » S* o M a •* ^ 2 ^ S ^ » « ^ 1 I ! 1 1 I 1 ^ ^ 1 ^ "fil ^ ? '§ 1 I 5 a> t I ^ "M % s ^ f i -^ I I 'i § I f I? II i r J 1031 1 i > '^imiiBiit^&cfmamif.tM'^^iiHmimm)''- an-iH^SSi: 1023 OUR WESTEHJV EMfi/RE. raspberries, buflalo berries, etc., and its wild grapes.* For a new State it has also made great progress in the cultivation of apples, pears, peaches, cherries, plums, quinces and the other fruits of a temperate climate. In cultivated grapos it has not yet made great progress. At the Centennial Exhibition the State had a collection of 1 63 varieties of apples, many of them of great ex- cellence.and a considerable number of pears. Both fruits received the 6rst premium. But a large portion of Nebraska is and must continue to be, for many years to come, better adapted to grazing than to farming, and while it can hardly at the same cost maintain as large flocks and herds as Texas, Colorado, Wyoming or Montana, there is no question that stock-raising does and will prove very profitable, if rightly managed, in Nebraska. The amount of live-stock in these grazing States and Territories increases so rapidly every year that it is \ -y difificult to keep pace with them, but although we cannot procure the statistics of the year 1880 as yet, a comparison of the live-stock of the State for 1877, 1878 and 1879 may give some idea of the rapidity of increase; for our statistics for 1877 and 1878 are compiled from the State Auditor's reports, and those of 1879 from the United States Agricultural report, the State report for tliat year not being yet published. : \ \ n' Animal*. Honei . Mules and atics Milch cowi Oxen and other cattle. Sheep Swine ToUli of values. 1877. 1.1 »",7«5 10,003 93.700 aiB.ioo 82,858 3»8.7«4 67.68 36.90 31.30 8 I »7.638,55, 983,"» 3,536, I 3t 5,073,6«j '.848,83«, 1878. 13 » 57.619 i«,48« I 37,6m 376/558 •35.777 6^7,630 18,389,804 «7.34 87.45 34.37 •945 3.30 3-03 > 1879. #10,614,063 ».44«.3*« 3.096,853 7.3«4.3»8 373,387 1.841,838 »4.58o,7i9i |-3 180,- i i45>sBo 458,147 163,530 7o«.7S«f u j8 35.10 Hi I I #19,396,570 1,560,650 3,777,380 ".499.490 479.434 3,733.790 3».336.»M • Mr. E. A. Curley, the accomplished correspondent of the London "FieU," published, in 1875, ft valuable work, largely illustrated, entitled, " Nebraska, its Advantages, Resources and Drawbacks." In this work he has given engravings of many of these wild fruits, and particn- lariy of the plums, strawberriea, grape* and bv^hlo berrie*. In wme of these fruits he think* Nebraska surpasses any Westers State. % |h| I 1 I ^ % ^<^aft::t:.SS!C MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY. I.* For a new ation of apples, ther fruits of a not yet made e State had a m of great ex- , fruits received St continue to grazing than to >st maintain as Wyoming or does and will ebraska. The nd Territories fificult to keep be statistics of :k of the State the rapidity of compiled from [)m the United tliat year not '-■s-m^ '■' ^ 47 as.ic. ",«9.490 '.5»o Hi 479.434 >>7$» ».7»».790 3».336.aM FieU," published, in tages. Resources and d ihiiti, and particn- liese fruits he thinkf TO23 As these are very low average prices, and the increase in the amount of stock in 1880 has been great beyond all former precedent, it h probable that a fair and just estimate of tho value of the live-stock of the Stare at the end of 1880 would not be less than $50,000,000. Manufacturing /w/^wj/^^.— Nebraska has not engaged in manufacturing so largely as her extraordinary facilities warrant her in doing. With abundant water-power, and coal sufficient to produce all the steam-power she needs, and abundant material for manufactures of all kinds, as well as the best possible facilities of transportation, she should become a large manufactur- ing State; but at present her almost sole dependence is upon hf r agriculture. Omaha, Lincoln, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth, and other towns have some manufacturing establishments of importance. Omaha in particular has extensive smelting and refining works, and receives and reduces large quantities of the refractory ores from Montana, Idaho, Utah, and some from Colorado. Flour and feed, iron ware, railroad cars, carriages and wagons, boots and shoes, furniture, ready-made clothing, hats, distilled and fermented liquors are the leading articles of manufacture. In 1875, the annual products of manufacture in the State were estimated at $15,500,000. They now probably exceed $3,0,000,000. ^ ...hi .i / h,- . , hijl ■.Railroads. — ^The railroad system of Nebraska traverses all piarts of the State where there are inhabitants or products awaiting a market. South of the Platte river most of the roads are connected with the Burlingtoa and Missouri Railroad in Nebraska, The main line of this railroad commences at PlattsiTiouth, on the Missouri rivcr (where at this time a bridge is being constructed which will connect the Buriington and Mis- souri, in Nebraska, with the Chicago, Burlinptnn and Quincy in Iowa), with a branch from Omaha which jc.i*s the main line at Oreapolis. four miles west of Plattsmouth. The line then followrs the course of the Platte river to the mouth of Salt creek, whence it proceeds over Salt Creek Valley through Lancaster county to Lincoln, the State capital ; and thence westward over the prairie through Lancdster, Saline, Fillmore, Clay, Adams and Kearney 1 -»ii«£*»»!«S!s«iasa 1034 OUR WESTRXN EMPIRE. counties to a junction witli the Union Pacific road at Kearney, in Buffalo county. The Beatrice branch of the Burlington and Missouri road starts from Crete, in Saline county, and runs south along the valley of the Big Blue to Beatrice, in Gage county; and the same company, under the name of the Republican Valley Company, has built a line from Mastings, in Adams county, south over the prairie to the Republican Valley, and thence west along the valley to Naponee, on the west line of Franklin county, which road is now being pushed forward as rapidly as possible westward to Denver, in Colorado, and a contract for IOC miles west of Naponee has recently been made. It is also proposed to continue this line eastward from the point where it strikes the Republican Valley south of hiastings, to Beatrice, in Gage county. The Nebraska Railroad has at present its initial point in Nemaha City, in Nemaha county, and runs north on the west bank of the Missouri river through Brownville, in Nemaha county, to Nebraska City, in Otoe county ; thence westward through Otoe and Lancaster counties to Lincoln; and thence through Seward, York, Hamilton and Merrick counties to Central City, where it connects with the Union Pacific, and tlie track is now Surveyed north twenty miles to Fullerton, the centre and tounty-seat of Nance county. The Atchison and Nebraska Railroad starts at Atchison, in Kansas, and runs through Richardson, Pawnee, Johnson, Gage and Lancaster counties to Lincoln ; and from the capital city this company is now building a road, under the name of the Lincoln and North- western Railroad, through Lancaster, Saline, and Butler counties to Columbus, in Platte county, where it connects with the Union Pacific. The Omaha and Republican Valley Railroad, a branch from the Union Pacific, runs dirough Douglas, Saunders, Butler, and Polk counties to Osceola, the county-seat of the last-nan)ed county, and a branch is now building from Valparaiso, in Saunders county, to Lincoln. The St. Joseph and Denver Rail- road, which starts at St Joseph in Missouri, runs westward through the north tier of counties in Kansas, and enters Nebraska in Jefifersoa county, passing through Thayer, Nuckolls, Adams and Hall couhties to a junction with the Union Pacific at tt; RAILROADS IN NEBRASKA, 1035 I at Kearney, in Burlington and and runs south I Gage county; he Republican ngs, in Adams an Valley, and le west line of 'ward as rapidly d a contract for ade. It is also point where it I to Beatrice, in 'esent its initial IS north on the ille, in Nemaha :nce westward Lincoln ; and errick counties Union Pacific, :s to Fullerton, The Atchison nsas, and runs tnd Lancaster his company is )In and North- sutler counties vith the Union road, a branch inders, Butler, he last-named V^alparaiso, in Denver Rail- uns westward }, and enters lyer, Nuckolls, nion Pacific at Grand Island ; and the company is now building a branch from Marysville, in Kansas, along the valley of the Big Blue river to Beatrice, in Gage county. North of the Platte river the Union Pacific is the main line of railroad ; and, starting from Omaha, its track is along the Platte valley to the western line of the State, a distance of 475 miles ; and this company is now building a branch road from Jackson, in Platte county, northward through Platte and Madison counties, to Norfolk, in the last-named county, with a branch running to Albion, in Boone county. The Union Pacific is further building a branch from Grand Island to St. Paul, the county-seat of Howard county. The Omaha and Northwestern Railroad runs northwest through Douglas, Washington and Burt counties, the present terminus being at Oakland, in Burt county. The Sioux City and Pacific Railroad runs from Missouri Valley in Iowa, westward across the Missouri river through Washington county to Frfemont, in Dodge county, where it connects with die Union Pacific; and the Elkhorn Valley Railroad runs from Fremont up the valley of the Elkhorn river, through Dodge, Cuming, Stanton and Madison counties to Oakdale, in Antelope county, with a branch running from the main line to Norfolk, in Madison county, and Pierce, the county-seat of Pierce county. The Covington, Columbus and Black Hills Railroad runs from Covington, which is im- mediately opposite Sioux City, in Iowa, through Dakota county, to Ponca, the county-seat of Dixon county ; and, the road having been sold in 1879 to the Sioux City and St Paul Railroad, it is to be run &rther west through the northern counties of Nebraska. At the beginning of 1880 there were about 1,650 miles of railroad in operation in Nebraska. Population. — The growth of population in Nebraska has been very rapid, although such extraordinary effortshave not been made to attract population thither as in some of the new States adjacent. Having no mines or mineral wealth it has attracted for the most part the farming class, and its advantages have not been made as widely knd\4rn as those of States having a large mining or manufacturing interest. The following table, prepared with great care, exhibits a steady and healthy growth which will con^pare 6s iiiiiiiii meijsaaswii I I 1036 OVJt WESTERN EMPIRE, very favorably with that of any of the States or Territories belonging to "Our Western Empire:" ■/, •(■(,,. i I 1 } lUo 4^4 ><.<4i ■99,311* I I i«,j >.431 it,oai 7",4»5 5>.5«« iai,757 113,000 \ •l,«9« M,II7 449>I<>S I* 7*9 1 6^ii 6.J«V S>*7} 4.7«o 4i}50 •>»4 4.e4a ••.490 35J,04» 6,351 10.38 30.74*, •;>3»o so* }'39 S.c8 6.01 1 3i«.4J 993 77.t6 \l 1,671 j 9,o«3 4<.3»S I 35.677 7».99' 9*,i6i "4.730 l*3,4ii IM.M9 i5 9.907 39,080 136,780 J8.'IS9 Indians. — There are in the State four Indian Agencies, viz. : I. The Great Nemaha Agency, of the Iowa and the Sac and Fox Indians of the Missouri, having 251 Indians of these tribes, with a reservation of 24,014 acres, most of it arable, and partly situated in Kansas. These Indians are about to be removed to the Indian Territory. 2. The Omaha and Winnebago Agency, including 1,429 Winnebagoes, 1,120 Omahas, and 36 Poncas — also liable to removal. Their reservation comprises 253,069 acres, of which 240,000 acres are arable lands.- 3. The Otoe Agency, including 438 Otoesand Missouris,Jand occupying a reservation of 44,093 acres, a part of it in Kansas, of which 40,000 acres are arable. 4. The Santee Agency, including 764 Santee Sioux and 103 Poncas in Nebraska, and 304 Santee Sioux in Flandreau, Dakota. The reservation, which is partly in Dakota, consists of 1 1 5,076 acres, of which 39,400 are arable lands. There are in all 4,350 tribal Indians, and their reserved lands amount to 436,252 acres, of which 341,400 acres are arable lands, and 1 1,645 acres, or one- thirtieth of the whole, are actually cultivated by somebody, though 580 acres are occupied by intruders. About 9,620 acres are cultivated by Indians. The ^xa^ra'di/ condition of Nebraska is good. The State has ;no debt except to its own school fund, on which the interest is ■ifr •liKlndiDi; Trilwl Indiani. f Tribal ImUmm not Indudwl. } ai6 of thcu now in Indian Tcnitory. v.- tes or Territories ! I.«7I >.3»S •,i6i 4.73" 3.4" 9.M3 35.67» IM,M9 i is 9.907 39.o*> 136,780 je."9 in Agencies, viz. : ! the Sac and Fox lese tribes, with a nd partly situated )ved to the Indian \gency, including :as — also liable to 9 acres, of which \gency, including irvation of 44,093 res are arable. 4. X and 103 Poncas lu, Dakota. The of 1 1 5,076 acres, in all 4,350 tribal (.36,252 acres, of 545 acres, or one- d by somebody, Vbout 9,620 acres I. The State has ch the interest is now In Indian Tenitory, EDUCATIONAL STATiSTICS. ,qj. paid promptly, and though taxation is low and the valuation (aside from many exemptions) is only about ^y^ per cent, on the true value, yet the taxes bring in sufficient revenue to leave a considerable annual surplus. The assessed valuation on which taxes are paid (aside from exemptions) was, in 1878, the last auditor's report published, about $83,000,000. The true valua- tion, including property now exempt, is not les- than ^1340,- 000,000. Education.— 0( the State school fund about $2,5oo,cxxd are now available. The total amount of this fund will eventually be about $19,000,000 or $20,000,000. The receipts of the tempo- rary school fund for the two years ending November 30, 1878, amounted to $529,176. The following statistics from the State Superintendent of Public Schools give many particulars of in- terest in regard to the public schools for the year ending April 7,1879: ;,• ,. I Number of diiitricts 9,856 ■ ' ' J,,;' Number of school-houses 2,480 r ii Children between the rges of five and twenty-one (23,411 Average number of children in each district . . io '■■ Average number of days taught by each teacher . #7 " Average number of days of school in each district liy ^ ''I Number of districts in which schools are graded . ' ' ite ' ' ' ,,, Number of teachers employed in all graded schools ' ttt I Number of districts having six months or more . ; ,, , '■'. scliool i,*4a ) Number of districts that had no school .... 1*1 •' ' Average square feet of blackboard surface . . . ii ' Number of houses with no bla( khoard .... 269 ' , I Number of houses furnished with patent desks and \ ••- «*'* 1,574 . ! Number of new school-houses built during year . jqi Number of teachers' institutes held 1 ,t. "■ Aggregate attendance upon institutes . . . . ' a,344 "' ! Number of districts flimishing free text-books . . ' 1*7 ' STATISTICS OF PUPILS AND TEACHERS. Children between the ages of five and twenty-one, '' males 64,179 ' ?fU> Children between the agesof five and twenty-one, " - '•' . ;;;/f females S9,«3a ' <' . Total "3,411 /«JSffvwinJFiaM>«6iiiiu#ii>»i««K«!#' f I toil OUR WRSTEKM RMPIRK, Children cnrnllcd in the nchook 73i9S^ Ntimlicr of quuliPicd tearhera rmplnyed, male* . . it6o7 Numljcr of qtiulificd temhent employed, females . aiaai Aggregate numU'r of dayi taught by male* . . 135,339 Aggregate number of dayii taught by female* . 1 73,669 Total 999,001 Average wngcs [ler month, males I33 a 5 Average wagcfi per month, femaleii *9 S5 STATISTICS or SCHOOL PROPERTY. Value of school-houses |i|693,35j 18 Value of school sites 175,48360 Value of books and apparatus 54,81649 . „ ' Total value of all school property 1,853,665 37 Average number of mills levied for school purposes 13 Amount apportioned by county superintendents . 334,605 65 Money in hands of county treasurers April 7, 1879 160,301 34 Aside from these public schools, there are high schools of ex- cellent character at Oinaha and other large towns in the State; a normal school at Peru with nearly -xfio pupils ; a prosperous State university at Lincoln, the capital of the State, endowed with 1 30,cxx) acres of land, and to which the State makes an appro priation of about $25,000 annually; an institute for the deaf and dumb at Omaha, and for the blind at Nebraska City. There are also colleges under denominational control ; Doane College at Crete, Saline county; The Bishop Talbott or Nebraska College, at Nebraska City ; Creighton College, at Omaha, and a Methodist Episcopal College recently opened at York, in York county. Lands for Immigrants. — There are millions of acres of govern- ment lands yet unsold in Nebraska, which may be obtained either by purchase, pre-emption or under the Homestead, Timber-Cul- ture or Desert Land Acts ; but these are mosdy in the more western port'on of the State, and largely beyond the junction of the North and South forks of the Platte river. As we have shown, the rainfall is not so abundant as farther east, and the land must be thoroughly broken before it will yield good crops, but eventu- ally, either with or without irrigation, these lands will be some of the most valuable in the State. It is best for the immigrant ( !K J", f ............ ti.iO ' LANDS FOR IMMIGBANTS. 1029 73.95* 1,607 t.aai ;.33» J.669 999,001 ' ' |J3 as I .' ^ •9S5 |i.6aa,3S5 «8 «75.4«3 6o 54,8j6 49 1,859,665 97 »3 994,605 65 t6o,9oi 94 jh schools of ex- ns in the State; a prosperous State e, endowed with nakes an appro for the deaf and City. I control ; Doane bott or Nebraska at Omaha, and a at York, in York ' acres of govern - )e obtained either ead, Timber-Cul- tsdy in the more i the junction of s we have shown, id the land must rops, but eventu- ds will be some or the immigrant who purposes to culdvate his lands, and not to devote them to grarinj;, not to go beyond the frontier line of progress in the pitrciiasr: of these lands, as the expense of irrigation and of tree- planting for a single farm is very heavy ; but where a town or colony engage in it together, the expense is much lighter. This frontier line is moving west at the rale of about ten or fifteen miles a year. There are very desirable lands, to the amount of about 2,500,000 acres, held by the State for school and university purposes. ■ They are situated in every county of the State, and information in regard to them may be obtained by writing to F'. M. Davis, State Commissioner of Public Lands and Buildings, at Lincoln, Nebraska. The minimum price at which these lands are sold is %"; per acre, on twenty years' time, at six per cent, interest; and leases are on appraised values. During the years 1877 and 1878 the lands soldAvere 26,819 acres, and leased 100,- 918; and the sales and leases during 1879 and 1880 doubled upon these figures. For detailed information about the Union Pacific Railroad Com- pany's lands, written or personal application should be made to the Land Commissioner, U. P. R. R., Omaha, Nebraska. This company owns 3,000,000 acres of fertile lands in Central and Western Nebraska, which are sold for cash, '>r on a credit often years, at six per cent, interest, with gradual p. ments of principal and interest. The prices range from $2 to $10 per acre, on ten years' credit, " according to quality, location, timber and nearness to market ; " and a deduction of ten per cent, from credit prices is made to cash purchasers. For detailed information about the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad lands, address or apply to the Land Commis- sioner, B. & M. R. R,, Lincoln, Nebraska. This company has remaining of its land grant of more than 2,000,000 acres, about 1,000,000 acres south of the Platte river, in the rich southeastern section, and in the northeastern section north of the Platte. The northeastern lands, of which there are about 650,000 acres, range from %\ to $6 per acre, on ten years' time, with discount from these prices on six years' and two years' credit, and for cash. The balance of the Burlington and Missouri lands in Southeastern ,■mml^l^lli^m milStmi\ •'-'•^'^|^'i^^■^»^»'■'^^-^~''^^^'^^^ J f I I I0)0 ova WKXTKMM KMHItM. Nebraska an- »oIcI at from $3 to $10, on ten years' credit, with dis- counts off for cash or shorter time of credit. . The foUowinjr instnictions ami advice toemtp;rants to Nebraska arc of great importance, ami should be carefully read ;»nd fol lowed : Persons with families should not lome West entirely destitute of means to brave the hardships of pioneer life. Many have done * so and have succeeded, and in a few years have been numbered among the most influential and well-to-do citizens of the State ; but it more frequently leads to disappointment, homesickness and discontent. A capital of $200 or $300, after the land is secured, with which to commence operations, would be of very great ad- vantage. An expenditure of $50 will complete a cabin in which a family can be comfortably sheltered. A neat one-story frame house, with from two to four rooms, can be built at a cost of from Jtaoo to $600. Good stabling for stock can be constructed with but little expense, by the use of a few posts and poles covered with straw or hay. Settlers coming West, and having a long distance to travel, should dispose of their farming implements and heavy or bulky furniture. Bedsteads, tables, chairs, mattresses, crockery, stoves, etc., etc., stock, teams, wagons, tools of all kinds, and farming implements, better adapted to this country than those left behind, can be purchased here at reasonable rates, frequently at less than would be the cost of transportation. Clothing, bedding, table linen, books, pictures, and other small articles, may be brought with advantage. It is also well to bring choice, graded stock, such as horses, catde, sheep, swine, poultry, etc. Prices at the West, as in the older States, are regulated by the supply and demand. As a general rule, groceries, dry goods and articles of domestic use that can be dispensed with, are dearer, and the common necessaries — meats, flour, grain, pota- toes, etc. — are cheaper than in the Eastern States. The following may be taken as average prices, April 1, 1879, and there has been very litde variation since : yji'i .;»iiq )^')f(' rnrcMs of NKKOfVL Aurtc/Ks. 1051 \ credit, with dit* ♦ ints to Nebraska ly read and fot ?ntirc"ly destitute Many have done been numben-d n» of the State ; omesicknesH and land is secured, very great ad- a cabin in which one-story frame It a cost of from :onstructed with i poles covered tance to travel, heavy or bulky crockery, stoves, is, and farming liose left behind, ndy at less than , bedding, table nay be brought e, graded stock. regulated by the rics, dry goods snsed with, are ur, grain, pota- The following , and there has Work Mitit, ptr yrk* t75 Qo lo III} oo ||iir««» «liil muUa, iwr (Mil luu UU li> JJO Ao lltUIng hiint< «ir«i[iin« 7000IU lUlIu- , •liiultit Ml joou lu too oo 9000 lasoo 40 ou LIVI ITOCB. VcurnnK* |iooo In ||) 00 Iwti yciir ttlil* ,. touoiii jouo I lir«« ytaroldt aj 00 l« ('•>w» ,,. ioooiu ('•llv«« 5 00 III Sheep. •join I lug«, p«r pound oj to tW«r c*lil«, p«r puuiid. ... oj (u 4000 $000 lu 00 400 04 * i r Ji !>..'Ul .['X.l.V ,fu,lrt«->«i| iHlmalched. p«» M SMtni, |Mr M > 1 . t » . > Iwooio 14 UO lu 15 do lu Kiou III 16 00 to 1 a5 lu 1 as to loo lu IJBO* OilliiK, |< In.hwilfil.rMr M (Jiimmun buariU, p«r M JolM«, MMtltlng, eti-., Id f««t •nil umUr, par M Kencinf , par M... , a) OS It no 1700 It 00 »7S aoo •7i aoe ShingUn, A,,Mwcil, Shinglri, Nil 1, p«r l.allk*, Mr M perM.. M 4 (Mn«l (loun... .... llrii-k,|K:r M l.lnM, (wr barrel.. , ••! AOBICVLTURAI. IMrLRMINTa. Thretliing machliM* I500 00 lu I700 oo llnrvcdcri I50()ntu 300 uo Mower* 750010 9000 Drill* and Meden 40 00 to 80 oo Corn planlen J5 ou In 55 00 ilnnd plnnlen I 00 lu 350 Cum khcllert 8 00 lu 85 00 Corn Mock cutler* 40 00 tu 6000 Cuitivatur* ao 00 lu 3500 Cunamill* 55 00 Feeil rutier* 6 00 to 35 00 Sulky r*ke« 350010 3000 Revolving rnkei 5 00 to 8 00 liurrowi 8 00 to 10 00 Krenking plow* 30 00 tu 35 00 Stirring plows lo 00 to 30 00 (•itn;^ pliMvs 75 00 Sulky plow* 450010 5500 Header* 1750010 38000 Wind Mill* 900010 15000 Pump and bra** cylinder. . 15 oo Uoe-inch pipe, per foot. . . 30 to 30 iiiii;»KiioLD rvtNmmM. lUdilaada |8 00 to I4 oAIHMi 4Hti TOfOQKAfHY, lOJJ riy to,r»o Inhab Vtu, whiih ran^r ', Cntr, Kulo, lie- roiiit, I'alU City 1 had 514 orjjan- ionti, 379 church HnmunicantH, .ind possibly, 140,000. In the HJx years ed its population, advance in popii- H the lead in tlu* nts, hut is closely 1 Christ, the Pres- ists. After tiicse, [episcopal Church, :lical Association, part of the jjrcat iri Territory. As ill for the estab- » include; Kansas, and Montana as I years later (in icluding Dakota, II Colorado. In [67 was admitted er 100,000. On :h had its eastern *ase, but its most ^ears. From its : lands, it seems immigrants, and :nt agriculturists uccessful experi' been made herc^ CHAf»TKR XV. UVADA, It! BmmrAmi:« Towxibawiv and StrnfArR—Mntm* TAINH, I.AKKH ANIi KlVKM— Ith (J.IMAtr. ANU MBTIflKiiMXIV— OlOLOOV AMP MlNKHALUiiV — MiNEKAU— UUU> AW1> .SU.VKM— <)IM»H M»:lAI..» I'l II — MiNINi. iNtlCMlHY ^ThK COUN'IIKH (C)NIAININil MlN» -i ( ONnlllKHr.li IN hr.fAII. — 'I'lIK I'MOIIULY or TMK I'KKdoUH MkTAIH IN NlVADA HINi K TIIKIH iMHtl DlitOVKRV THKRK— Tlir, SlIIHO TllNNKI.— ItH rUMHWR AND OllJItCI — I Is I'lK^ir SUtfRM LRM THAN WA« KXCRl TI:D— lr<« I'KOIIAni.K Kl/Tl'HK 'I'KIUMril— /(NII.IMiV -AnillCUL- TVHAI, l'KOUlU'tlON«— AUAI^rATION Or ( (tNKNAIIl.K SKi.T|()NS to (}haZINCH-> KxTKNt'or Akahi.k, (iKAXiNd, 'I'imiikhku and Minkhai. I.amih— 'rARLE* of AdHICI'ITimAI. PkOIUH It ANI> I.IVK-HKV K — MaNI;»AiTI;HINi1 iNUtmi'MY — Kaii.koadh-— Valuation— Fopri.ATioN — Indian Resekvaiions —Couniim AND CiTiE»— RELitiioim Denkminationh — HmroRicAL Data— Concj.umok. Nevada, sometiiurs called the Silver State, is ilu; central .State of the seven lyin^ west of the Rocky Mountains, and may be said in a ^'rneral way to be bounded by Oregon and Idaho, Utah and Arizona, and California. Its shape is irre^uilar, and can per- haps be best defined by the ofificial statement of its boundary, made in the act of Congress settling its present boundary. This statement is as follows: "Commencing at the nordjwest corner of Utah Territory, and the southern line of Idaho, at the 37th degree of longitude west from Washington (and 1 1 4 degrees west from Greenwich), and in latitude forty-two degrees north, and running west along the southern line of Idaho and Oregon to longitude forty-three degrees west from Washington (and 1 20 degrees west from Greenwich) ; thence south, along the easttrrn line of California, to latitude thirty-nine d«!grees north, which falls in the southeastern part of Lake Tahoe; thence southeasterly to the intersection of the Colorado river, in latitude thirty-five degrees north, and opposite Fort Mojave ; thence north and east- erly up the centre of the Colorado river to the intersection of the thirty-seventh degree of longitude west from Washington (and .>- the Colorado, the Carson, the rk through the into deep de- he roof of some ' the numerous State. north to south f an altitude of »03$ about 9,000 feet. These are separated by fertile valleys, which are watered by streams flowing from the mountains and having their supply from the melting snows. These streams affo'd faci!!.ies for irrigation, without which, in most cases, the cultiva- tion of tlic soil is impossible. But a very large part of the State consists of a lofty table-land, with mountain summits rising to an altitude of about 9,000 or 9,500 feet, and broken mainly by the deep ravines or cartons, caused by the erosion of mountain torrents. The long valleys between have an elevation of from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. Lakes and Rivers.— lYie principal lakes are Tahoe, Pyramid, Walker, Carson, Washoe and Humboldt. Tahoe has an eleva- tion above the sea-level of about 6,000 feet. It is about 1,500 feet in depth. It is situated in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, fourteen miles from Carson City. The western line of the State divides it about the centre. The water is very clear and cool, and remarkable for its specific lightness. The bodies of persons drowned in Lake Tahoe never rise to the surface. It is twenty- two miles in length by fourteen in width. Pyramid lake is thirty-five miles long, and from ten to fifteen in width. Its elevation above sea-level is about 4,000 feet. It is situated in the southwestern portion of Humboldt county. It is r.urrounded by mountains, which rise to the height of about 3,000 feet. It has been sounded, and found in places 3,600 feet deep. it gets its name from a rock which rises 600 feet above the sur- face of the water in the shape of a pyramid. There is an island near the eastern side which contains about 600 acres of land, upon which ratriesnakes and wild goats abound. It has no outlet, and is fed by the Truckee river and other mountain streams. Washoe lake is situated in Washoe county. Its waters are shallow and alkaline. It covers about six square miles. It is surrounded by mountains; on the west are the Sierras, from which it is chiefly fed by numerous small streams which flow out into the valley sink, and then rise again in the lake. Walker lake is about twenty-five miles long and ten miles in width. Its area has been considerably increased of late years, so that the old stage road, formerly about five miles from its shores, atflsflp^*^^^^ •i-wS-^ 1036 OUR WESTERN EMPIRR. . .: is now under water. It is situated in Mason valley, Esmeralda county. Its elevation above sea-level is about 4,000 feet, and its waters are fresh and clear. Humboldt lake, more commonly called the Sink of Humboldt, is twenty miles in length and ten miles in width. Its waters are brackish and strongly impregnated with salt and soda. It is sit- uated near the line between Humboldt and Churchill counties, and has an altitude above sea-level of 4,100 feet. It is about the lowest point in the Great Basin. The waters from the east and west meet here. The Carson lakes are situated near the centre of Churchill county. They c*re about twenty miles apart, and spread out over a vast area of low ground, so that their dimensions vary greatly in proportion to the dryness of the season, and the amount of the snow-fall on the Sierras. In wet seasons they are connected by a slough with Humboldt lake ; and the waters, like that of the latter lake, are impure, and contain a large per cent, of alkali and salt. With the exception of the Colorado, none of the rivers of Nevada are navigable. The Colorado forms part of the southern boundary of the State. Its average width, is one-half mile. The average current at ordinary low stages, where no contraction or special (»bstruction exists, is about three and one-half miles per hour. IVhen it passes over rapids and through narrow caftons, the cur- rent is more than twice as rapid, so that it is difficult for steam- boats to stem it. The Truckee river forms an oudet for Lake Tahoe to empty its waters into Pyramid lake. Two-thirds of its entire course is in Washoe county. It affords many excellent sites for mills, but its waters are chiefly used in irrigating the fertile lands of Washoe county. During the past few years many ditches have been con- structed for irrigating purposes, and still diere is a large supply of water left. The Carson river heads in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and flows through Douglas, Ormsby and Lyon counties. Although not so large as the Walker, its waters have been made much more useful. Numerous large quartz mills have been erected ■».»ia.':*'')ttj.''i-..JS-''*i ■■*.<« LAKEH AffD RIVEKS OF NEVADA. Iley, Esmeralda XX) feet, and its k of Humboldt, Its waters are soda. It is sit- jrchill counties. It is about the m the east and re of Churchill ipread out over ns vary greatly ; amount of the ; connected by ke that of the It. of alkali and vers of Nevada thern boundary The average :tion or special liles per hour. ;aftons, the cur- cult for steam- ahoe to empty entire course is :s for mills, but nds of Washoe have been con- a large supply Mountains and ies. Although jn made much : been erected 1037 on its banks, which are run by water-power. It irrigates thou- sands of acres of fertile lands, and also furnishes the means for the transportation of thousands of cords of wood from the moun- tains to the markets. ;r - ' i The Walker river also has its source in the Sierras; it flows through Esmeralda county, and empties its waters into Walker lake. It is only used for irrigation, being situated too far away from the mines to be made available for milling purposes. The Humboldt river flows from the east. It has its source in Utah, and, after winding through a succession of mountains for a distance of about 3CX) miles, it empties its waters into Hum- boldt lake. '>:■-'- ' -V- ■ •">• ■■■•■■■■^■■' ■ ' '•• ■: ■ "'-i The Owyhee river has its source in the mountains which sui- round Independence valley. It flows north into the Snake and Columbia rivers, and finally empties its waters into the Pacific. It is the only river which rises within the borders of the State that has an outlet to the ocean. Reese river heads in the moun- tains to the southeast of lone. It flows north, and sinks before reaching the Humboldt, f '^'■■' ^<''' ;> • ! < In all of these lakes and streams are found several varieties of food fish, chiefly different specieis of trout. In all of the mountain streams and in the head waters of the rivers already described brook trout abound, while in the lakes and those streams which empty into them are found silver trout. In Lake Tahoe a very large variety of trout is found, some of which have been caught which weighed thirty pounds each. In the Owyhee river are found salmon and salmon trout. Through the efforts of the Fish Commissioner appointed at the last session of the Legislature, Carson, Walker and Humboldt lakes and the Truckee river have been stocked with Schuylkill catfish and Sacramento perch. A fish hatchery has been established in Carson, and 20o,cxx> Mc- Cloud river salmon are ready for distribution in the different lakes and streams in the State. i^'^«« -'^ -"' f' ' ? -^ In the eastern counties considerable game is found, as prairie chickens, grouse and quail. In the mountains and upland valleys are often seen mountain sheep and antelope. The otter and i)eiver are somedmes found. The grizzly bear, cougar, wild cat, & .1038 V , OVR WESTERS EMPIRE. lynx, wolf, cinnamon and black bears, coyotes, and generally the beasts of prey found in California, are also inhabitants of Ne- vada, though not as abundant as in some other States. Climate. — The climate of Nevada, owing to the diversities of surface, variations of altitude and other causes, irrespective of the differences of latitude, varies greatly in different localities. The changes of the season are very irrtgnlar, and pass into each other without notice. Generally the extremes of temperature are not great. Within the Great Basin, during the summer months, the thermometer seldom rises above 95' Fahrenheit ; nor does it often fall below zero in winter, except upon the moun- tains and in the most elevated and exposed valleys. At Carson City, where the elevation above sea-level is 4,630 feet, the annual mean temperature is about 52^ the annual maximum 68", and the annual minimum 34°. At this point heavy winds from the southwest prevail. During the year 1876 there were 316 windy days, 217 cloudy, and 49 rainy. The fall of rain and snow for the same year was 17.73 inches. The nights are always cool in summer in all parts of the State. This marked peculiarity of climate is due to the cooling effects of the many ranges of snow- covered mountains. The atmosphere is exceedingly dry. There are never any fogs. The moisture of the clouds is condensed on the mountain-tops, so that the fall of rain in the valleys is very limited. The carcasses of dead animals dry up with but little offensive putrefaction, leaving the bones and hides mummified. In the eastern portion of the State cloud-bursts are of frequent occurrence from about the first of July to the middle of Septem- ber. The climate is healthful. No country in the world is more .free from infectious diseases. Epidemics are never known. Earthquake shocks are sometimes felt, but rarely severe enough to do any damage, if- ) nl rHf^Hctf^i^ti hm-^I p^rT Vvffr.jiJff ,- MINEJiALS AND METALS OV NEVADA. 1039 id generally the labitants of Ne- >tates. u. f I ' le diversities of irrespective of 'erent localities. 1 pass into each of temperature ig the summer 5** Fahrenheit; upon the moun- ys. At Carson feet, the annual Kimum 68°, and winds from the were 316 windy \ and snow for : always cool in \ peculiarity of ranges of snow- fly dry. There s is condensed e valleys is very with but little les mummified, are of frequent Idlfc of Septem- ; world is more never known. severe eaough tns in Nevada,, ears. They are la, and Winne- nboldt county, these for the e notes of the climate of Carson City, give a tolerable idea of the climate of the State. (See page 1040.) Geology and Minemlogy. — It has been demonstrated by the geological explorations on the fortieth parallel, that the Nevada ranges of mountains belong to the same system of upheavals which took place during the Jurassic period. These immense mountain masses are composed of sedimentary strata, granite and kindred formations and volcanic rocks. The stratified beds com- prise the largest portion, and extend from the Azoic age up to the time of upheaval. The rock formations embrace nearly every species of sedimentary or eruptive products existing, from the earliest to the most recent period. In the mountains which skirt upon the Sierras, the eruptive rocks prevail; while farther east are found the metamorphic and sedimentary formations. Metal- liferous deposits and veins exist in all the mountain ranges, the most productive of which still continues to be the Comstock lode. The valleys, in general, correspond with the mountain ranges. They are sometimes short, being intersected by the low moun- tains, which in many places link together the parallel ranges, running north and south, but usually they are long and narrow. With but slight elevations, several openings are found, extending from the Humboldt river to the Colorado, the southern limit of the State. Many of the valleys are dry and unfit for cultivation; some are covered with alkali and sand, while others are scarcely less productive than the most fertile valleys of California. All have been mainly filled by the products of erosion. Minerals.— Oi the productions of Nevada, silver and gold are beyond comparison the most important. Scarcely twenty years have elapsed since this State was inhabited only by the red man, and a few Mormon settlers in Carson Valley; and yet during this time the enormous sum of $4cxd,ooo,ooo in silver and gold have been produced from the Nevada mines. More than two-tJiirds of this yield has been since the year 1871, The most productive year was 1877, the bullion shipments amounting to $51,368,917. The yield for 1878 was $35. 18 1.949. a falling off from the year previous of %\ 6,398,341 . From these figures it may be seen that these twQ years have been a period of unexampled prosperity ?i ^- K j» ■- I w s -J % ■* s 'i •■I A ''• n «*»'•• 1040 OVR WESTERS EMPIRE. /r. I JO jwpw n|« u| ipu|« JO uo)iaajm put iiipuofi 'i*iMuaiiia uiaiv •AlPinmH uwk •Il'jui'a '•JiiioiMliuax u«*|^ ■•iniuodau, l JO tHix*^ at i4 ; « Ki Vi * » > ui 7. X '. ^' l>i 1^ i >^ > > S5 (/) i/i > » I/) (/i ui id ft J ft" K 7r (S ^ c^ 1^ ? i^ 1^ 1^ Vt 3 >o Pi ^ tN »• rn W irt 3; t -8 d 6 d <4 . ft i6 i^ i 3t I R < * i * ? * '■jniwadui>x ''*»dai»x uinuijMfi Iff' a I ^IfV-J; ; ^3 ^? ^ 2II 1 <>- «; ^' ?i ft' S5 SS !«i jfl _ui_*_ if sr 8" m M if 7 9. a o «0 -4 "^ j- d - 7 ? S: 8 de e s_ ■d ij. . ? •ft >n r> « a% lA m *»,i"»Bi"Cii5!9»,5 R 8. X ft $ ^ 3; .8 ^ ^ "8 8! K a; % r c- '$:C!'aRK3.'8.*8>8:-£-£''8. lillili ■'A M/A'£Jt.4LS AND METALS OF NEVADA. 1041 vi (/< (/i X i/i S' -8 r 1 t i "I 8: \ i * i t i JP 4- R P. "« ^ ^ ^ ti -i t \ .2" « S 8 £ t i i i t Is O CO l*> CO a j i ■ » Si per are being worked in - Lander and White Piile counties. Cinnabar, occurring in brilliant red i crystals, and also in amorphbus masses, i!s found in Washoe and Nye counties. Gy*psunt, plumbago, manganese, cobalt, arsenic, ; -aUSEii-SVW i-n., j?(tmff^I?B wsSrtB*' 1043 OUJt WKSIF.K.W KAtr/KE. ma^^nesia, alum, nickel, nitrr, iron of good quality, coal in small quantities, isinglass — such arc some of the mineral products of Nevada, which will, in the future, produce some revenue to the people and State. > < ^ As was to be expected, the great falling ofT in the yield of the mines in the years 1879 and 1880 has raised the question whether they arc approaching exhaustion, or whether there is to be a still more prosperous future for them. All past analogies in silver mining, both in Europe and America, forbid the idea of their ex- haustion ; the only real question is whether means can be devised to make the mining of low grade ores profitable when they are brought. from a depth of 3,000 or 3,200 feet below the surface, where constant pumping of the very hot water from these great depths is required, ?nd the temperature of the lower levels is 156° Fahrenheit, and the mtn can only work twenty minutes and rest twenty in four-hour shifts. If these lower levels yield silver ores assaying seventy-five to one hundred ounces to the ton, the working, even under thes« disadvantageous conditions, may be fairly profitable ; but where the yield is only from fourteen to twenty-two ounces, as is too often the case, the margin is clearly too narrow to permit any considerable profit, and must in most cases result in an eventual loss. On this question of the permanency of the mineral production from the mines now opened, the able and accomplished State Mineralogist, after a historical review of all the great silver mines .bf Europe and America, exhibiting their periods of decadence and revival, concludes his essay as follows: i.t Hiie... .mn muh > "The history of all these European and Americaii mines has been the same. They were discovered early; they have had their times of depression and times of extraordinary production ; they have had their bonanzas and their barren levels; they have been abandoned at one time and energetkally worked at another, but throughout all the ages they have continued to be productive 'to the present time, and without floubt will still continue to play ian important part in the mining industries of the world in the future. One thov.sand years ago the Austrian miner descended the same shaft which the living descend to-day ; for centuries to *^t.,.. .v/.v/xa rRODLXTio.s OF cousriss. lality, coat in iimall lineral procluciH of mc revenue to the r in the yield of the le question whether here is to be a still analogies in silver he idea of their ex- ans can be devised ible when they are below the surface, ;r from these jjreat the lower levels is wenty minutes and r levels yield silver ices to the ton, the conditions, may be ' from fourteen to e margin is clearly , and must in most mineral production ccomplished State great silver mines iods of decadence nerican mines has they have had linary production ; levels ; they have ivorked at another, d to be productive 1 continue to play the world in the miner descended ; for centuries to I04S come, the huge piles of waste rock will grow higher and more rugged on the Saxon plains. Empires liave risen and fallen ; rulers have passed from history since the mines of Mrxico and South America began to be worked ; twenty centuries have nut exhausted the mineral wealth of Spain. Reasoning from these facts, it is safe to conclude diat the ir >>A Elko county had, in 1877, seven mines, and in addition an estab- lishment where the tailings of the Leopard mine were worked over, yielding in that year $24,799. The entir6 yield of these mines in 1877 was $1,075,968.86. In 1878 but two mines of the seven were worked, but three new ones had been opened, and the yield for three-quarters of the year was %g^ i ,9 1 8.94, indicati ng for the entire year a considerably larger yield from the five mines than from the whole seven the previous year, although four of the five had only been worked for sue months. The total yield of Elko county from 1871 to 1878, inclusive, was about $5,- 000,000. Esmtralda county had, in 1877. twenty-four mines and mininjj -.•A»*l«ll*ft«*«»^**»*-'»S*«1» *»*•«'■•■■'«> • f 1044 OVIt WKSTRKS KMrtKR entablishments. a part of which were merely from the sale or trannfer of mineA. Thr«,r yielded that year $1,508,491.69. more than four-fifth* being the production of a lingh* mine — the North- ern Belle. In 1878 tlie number of mincn in of)eration had been reduced to sixteen. Thr Northern Belle was still the leading mine, but its production had fallen off largely, being only 1*236,- 373 for thrcequartersof the year against 1^1.250.757 the previous ye; r. The total production of all the mines for thrc»! quarters of 1878 was $469,775. The total production of Ktmeralda county from 1871 to October ist, 1878, was about $5,400,000. r fi , > Eureka county is one of the most prominent mining countfes of the State. It had in 1877 between seventy-five and eighty mines, some of them of great extent and productiveness, among them the Eureka Consolidated, the K. K. Consolidated, the Richmond and the Richmond Consolidated. These four mines yielded, in 1877, somewhat more than $3,500,000 out of a total of $3,898,878.65 for the whole county. Of this la-ge amount the Eureka Consolidated produced about one-half. In 1878 the number of mines had been reduced to fifty-two, though including eleven or twelve new mines. The Richmond was merged in the Richmond Consolidated, and this and the Eureka Consolidated produced eight-ninths of the whole amount raised in the county. This amount for the three quarters to October i, 1878, was f 4,503,268, of which Eureka Consolidated produced $2,295,344 and Richmond Consolidated $1,722,689. The only other mine which reported a moderately large yield was the K. K. Consolidated, 'which produced $165,532. No mines reported from Eureka county till 1873, but between that year and October, 1878, the total product was, in round numbers, $1 $,700,000. ' HumboMl county has never been extensively engaged in mining. In 1877 it reported but three mines, and in 1878 but two. The Rye Patch is the largest. Th6 production ©t 1877 was $307,224, and for the three quarters of 1878, $176,403. The total pro- duction of this county from 1871 till October, 1878, was about f3,6oo»ooo. Lander county had, in 1877, eighteen or twenty mines, only one iolded in the three (piarters of 187S reported, $460,5 24, of which $1 20,605 were produced by the Raymond and Kly, and $79,000 by the Meadow Valley, while the Day, Techatticup and Alps showed much promise for tlie future. The total amount of bullion produc<'d by Lincoln county from 1871 to October, 1878, was about $18,250,000, the earlier. yean having been much more productive dian the later ones. ' LyoH county had, in 1877, ^^n or a doren mines and mills, none of them yielding a very large amount. The total for the year was $406,017. In 1878 there were nine mills and mines, most of them mills, much of the ore from the Comstock lodes being re- duced in thi county. The Sutro Tunnel has its entrance in this county. The production for the three quarters of 1878 was $471,643, of which $269,394 was reported by the Lyon Mill and Mining Company and the Woodworth Mill. The total produc- tion of Lyon county from 1871 to October, 1878, was about $4,- 255,000. '^'t ,<:,:.'!.'. u., 'I ■,•'-' •'-! n ' 1'' ' «-. > ^ > ' './ Nye county had, in 1877, twenty-two or twenty-three mines, yielding in all $842,584, of which two mines, the Q. G. and\ Bunk'T Hill and the Tybo Consolidated, yielded $642,504, or more than three-fourths. In 1878 there were but seven mines in operation, producing for the three quarters $770,088, of which the Tybo Consolidated yielded $447,780, and the Alexander Mining Company $1 14,100. The Illinois produced $80,345. The total product of the mines of Nye c* unty from 1871 to October, 1878, was $5,527,000. IV 1046 OUM WKSTKHH MM^ilfK. .1 OnttshY fflunly had no record a» a mininf; county until iRjfl, and then rathrr for its millH, whirh rcducfd or(*rted wa* $53,666, all gleaned from the (Ailin^H of one null. Stony (ounly in the jfreat mining county of Nevada, the minci of the Comntock UkIc \w\x\^ wholly within its tH)undK. I'wrtve of iheHc were in oprr.ition in 1877, the lar^^rst W\v\^ the Cali- fornia, Consolidated Vir^'inia, JuHtice. Chollar-Potoni, Uelchcr and Ophir. The product of the twelve mines in 1877 was %\i,- 06a,3S3> of which the California yielded 1118,913,843, n little more than one-half; the Consolidated Virfj^inia, 1(113,735,751, or more than one-third, and the Justice, $3,339,057. The tailings Irom these mines yielded $770,716 in tluit year. In 1878 only nine of the mines were operated, and for the three quarters of that year the production had fallen off to $17,989,636, of which $7,590,658 was from the Consolidated Virginia, and $8,343,177 irom the California, or $15,833,835 from the two — fifteen-seven- teenths of the whole. The tailin)^'s amounted to $576,109. The total production for the year was $31,395,030, and that of 1879 only $8,830,563, a material fallinfr off. The total production of Storey county in seven and three-quarter years, 1871 to October, 1878, was $186,853,849, and the total product since the discovery of the Comstock lode about $310,000,000. Washoe county, once the seat of a larj^e number of valuable •tlvrr mines, has reported no minin^r prodnds since 1874, and only $1 ''.464 in the three years, 1873, 1873 and 1874. There is, however, a prospect that its mines may a);ain be put in opera- tion, and that with new processes and prudent and successful mana)^em(!nt, it will again yield liberal returns. ^ '/ 1^ White Pine county. — This was one of the counties which was regarded as containing .some remarkable bonanzas, and in 1869 and 1870 was spoken of as likely to rival Storey county. Its yield of the precious metals at first was very fair, but for some years past has been steadily declining. From the first discovery of silver there, early in 1868, to 1880. the entire production has been, in round numbers, $9,700,000, but it wan nearly double in foiinty iintil i«7f|, "♦ Jrom cither couiw Kluct in the thre« Klranrtl from the VcvacUi. th« mines Jx>untU. I'wclve i Jx*in^ thr C'nii ir-l'otoNi, HrlchcT •n i«77 wan f_]7,. '.9»J.H43. a little •«. l^»3735.75i. or 57- The tailin{(t r. In 187H only three quartern of ?«9.636. of which ^. and ^8.242. 1 77 o— fifteen-seven • •$576,109. The »nd that of 1879 al production of '«7> to October. Jcc the discovery fiber of valuable since 1874, and If' 1874- There be put in opera- and successful nties which was Jas, and in 1869 •ey county. Itn ir, but for some 5 first discovery production ban early double iti MISISQ rM0D(Xr/ON Oif CQVSrtMS, 104; 1868, 1869. 1870 and 1871 what it hun liccn in any year iiince* In 1H77, with ncventecn minen in operation, it priKluccd only 1408,493. In 1H78, in the firKt three (|uarti:rN ol the year, eleven min'-H produced 1(1440,454, of whiih ||37 5.699 came from two mincH, the Star and the i'aymanter. Ttiere wore in Nevada at the (l(>«<- of 187H, 153 milieu in operation, and probably more titan twice that number on which work wuh MUHprnded t(-rit|N)* rarily uuil |K)H!iibly permanently. The prfHhution of ^'old and lilvcr in the State for that year was $35. 18 1,949. Tor the year 1879 it had fallen off to 1(31,997,714, and the indications are that in 1880 there has not been any material recovery. The proiluc* tion of ^'old and nilvcr in the State kince 1853 considerably ex- ceeds $430,000,000— a vaiit result to be accomplished by so small a population. The Sutro Tunnel, though its entrance is in Lyon county, was constructed to drain the mines on the Comstock lode. It is over four miles in length, and follows the ramifications of the principal mines, which 't will drr.in to the depth of about a,cx)o feet, and the deepest mines will only have to pump their surplus water from 1,000 to i,300 feet to have it drawn off by this channel. The tunnel also contains railroad tracks to facilitate the removal of ores from the mines. Its cost was about $6,000,000. The Tunnel Company own some mines on this lode. While its sue* cuss has not thus far been so great as was hoped, it must event* ually greatly enhance the value of the mining property connected with the Cumstock lode. , . m Zoiilo^y. — The wild animals of Nevada are those of California, except those which find their homes in the sea or along the shores of the Pacific. The grizzly bear is the monarch of the forest, and the black and the Mexican bear are sufificiendy numerous ; the cougar or panther, the wild cat. the gray wolf and the whole marten tribe, the lynx, skunk and raccoon are abundant. Of game animals, the elk, two species of deer, and possibly the moose, though that animal is very raire, Rocky Mountain sheep or big horn ; rabbits, squirrels, the sewellel, the gopher and other rodents are so numerous as to give annoyance. Birds of prey, song birds and game birds are plentiful. Reptiles are of the .-^^fe-jiriteffifc%»*fi|i . ->! *i If^ OUH WESTERN EAIPIRE. same genera and species as in California. Trout and salmon trout arc found in tlie larger lakes, but the smaller lakes are too alkaline for fish. Southern Nevada has few animals. Agricultural FH'oduciums. — While Nevada is essentially a mining State, and contains but a comparatively small proportion of arable land, she can, by the aid of irrigation, raise a sufficient quantity of cereals, root crops, etc., to supply her small popula- tion, and by curning attention to stock-raising soon export many thousand head of cattle. The soil of the State is generally a loam, most fertile where the underlying rock is limestone, but nearly everywhere sufH- ciently so to reward the labors of the husbandman, where water can be obtained for the purposes of irrigation. The immense stretches of barren wastes so often seen are only bO because of the want of moistening showers of rain, and streams suf^ciently numerous to supply the demands for agriculture. As a large proportion of the land is much better adapted to grazing than to tillage, much attention has been given to the raising of live-stock, and the horses, cattle, sheep and goats bred here are of excellent quality. The winter feed, consisting of bunch-grass and white sage, furnishes the best of sustenance for stock, so that, with rare exceptions, is any provision made or stores of fodder laid up for winter use. During the summer months the pasturage in the vicinity of springs, brooks and creeks on mountain sides and in the caAons supplies the feed, but when winter comes, the herds and flocks feed miles away from water in the valleys. The north- ern and eastern sections of the State are the best adapted for grazing. Many of the loftiest mountains are covered with a spe- cies of bunch-grass peculiar to those localities. The table-lands and dry valleys in many pnaces are covered with the white sage, which makes the best of winter feed for stock. When growing in tbe spring and summer, this sage is bitter and hot eaten, but when the frosts uf fall and winter come it is tender, sweet and nutritious, and better liked by stock than other kinds of feed. So extensive has the business of stock-raising become that now the supply far exceeds the wants of the population, and thousands of steera and beef catde arc yearly shipped by railroad to the marj^ets ....wfca*^^... VARIED PRODUCTS OF SOUrilRRN VALl.HYS. 1049 rout and salmon Her lakes are too imals. is essentially a small proportion raise a sufficient ler small popula- oon export many ost fertile where iverywhere suffi- lan, where water . The immense ly so because of cams sufficiently ire. As a large ) grazing thian to ing of live-stock, ! are of excellent ■grass and white io that, with rare )dder laid up for )asturage in the ain sides and in omes, the herds 2ys. The north- >est adapted for ered with a spe- The table-lands I the white sage, /^hen growing in I hot eaten, but ider, sweet and nds of feed. So ne that now the id thousands of d to the marj^et9. of Calilbrnit. The agricultural lands of the State are small in proportion to the area, though in all of the valleys where are found streams of water large tracts of land are brought under cultivation, and the crops produced are very superior in character. The best of these arable lands are found in Carson, Eagle, Mason, Wa«ihoe, Truckee, Humboldt, Reese River, Owyhee, Lamoille, Ruby, Steptoe, Spring, White River, Snake, Panaca, Pahranagat, Paradise, Muddy and Los Vegas Valleys. There are hundreds of other smaller valleys, and in many of them the soil is quite as productive, though less water is found; and there is no la'^.I ''n the State but what is benefited, for agriculture, by irrigati' u. ': the northern and central valleys all the grains, vegetabl ; ., and fruits of a temperate climate are cultivated with success. In tne southern valleys the proportion of fertile land is much less than in other sections of the State, except about springs and str* ams of water. The country is chiefly a desert. The scarcity of water is a noticeable feature, but where there is sufficient for irrigation, us in the Muddy and Las Vegas Valleys, the farmer is abundantly rewarded for his labor. Fruit trees, embracing nearly every va- riety known in both temperate and tropical climates, are culti- vated. Growing here side by side are seen the olive and the plum, orange and apple, lemon and peach, fig and apricot, pome- granate and pear, and the walnut and pepper. Grapes also grow io perfection. The vineyards produce as perfectly ripened and delicious grapes as the most favored localities in California and France. Cotton and sorghum have been cultivated quite ex- tensively; one acre of land yielding as much as a thousand pounds of the former. Melons, squashes and beans also grow abundantly, as well as corn and all the smaller grains. Some of the hardier vegetables, as potatoes, do not thrive so well. Two crops are raised yearly on the same laftd. It js first sown in small grains, as wheat, hurley, rye and oats, whicli are harvested about the first of June. It is then planted in corn, beans, pota- toes, beets, cabbage, onions, squashes, melons and all other vari- eties of garden vegetables. The mezquit bushes, which grow in some of these southern valleys, furnish a very nutritious bean, which all animals feed upon as 50on as the grasses die in the fall. :^^|^-«■iW-i:-«^i4'^^B&J^V-«.t^V>a»..^_^ . -L i-tPLi. f ■,iV.<,-.-'.--.'.^.'>j« "■■ I05O OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. 'm Stock keep as fat upon this feed during the winter months as though fed upon hay and grain. The tables on page 105 1 give the latest reports yet published of the crops and live-stock of Nevada — the returns of 1877 and 1 878. The Legislature has only biennial sessions, and the reports of the assessors and auditor are only made biennially. The amount of arable land enclosed or reported as in farms, was, in 1877, 152,- 810 acres, and in 1878, 1 58,097 acres; only one four-hundred-and- fifty-fourth part of the area of the State ; and of this small terri- tory — less than seven townships — only 75,743 acres in 1877, and 76,358, or not quite one-half, was under cultivation. It should be said, however, that there is no official record of the lands used for grazing purposes, and that a moderate portion of these is also under cultivation.* ' ^ f Manufacturing Industry. — ^The fluctuations in the population and the mining industry of Nevada make it exceedingly difficult to determine the amount of manufacturing in the State at any given period. Th<; annual product of its manufacturing establish- ments in 1870 was reported at $15,870,839. We doubt whether it is as much as that now, though at some periods during the decade the amount may have been twice as much. ' There were in 1878 fifteen grist or flouring mills reported in the State, which were said to have produced 5,000 barrels of flour (all from Washoe county, though only one mill was reported from that county, the other fourteen being situated in other counties, and the same mill ground 1,500 bushels of corn, all * The State Surveyor-General in 1879 makes the following approximate estimate of the area of available lands in Nevada. It is, of course, only an approximation, and may eventually prove to be some millions of acres out of the way : Approximate area of agricultural land 1,067,653 acres. " " " grazing land 9,708,060 acres. " " " timbered land 1^1410 acres. Mineral lands 1,261,600 acres. ;, ; ■::\ I Total of available lands now known 13,938,723 acres. ir\ j This is a little less than one-fifth of the entire area of the State ; but it must not be hnKtily concluded that four-fifths of Nevada is a desert. There is undoubtedly a larger amount of una- vailable land in the State than in any other State of " Our Western Empire ; " but there will eventually be found to be thirty or forty million acres which can be made valuable. ' -' '* printer months as s yet published of of 1877 and '878. the reports of the The amount of as, in 1877, 152,. >ur-hundred-and- f this small terri- cres in 1877, and 3n. It should be f the lands used >rtion of these is in the population eedingly difficult the State at any during establish- doubt whether it •iods during the h. nills reported in 5,000 barrels of nill was reported ituated in other hels of corn, all late eitimate of the area on, and may eventually r 1,067,653 acres. 9,708,060 acres. 1^1,410 acrea. 1,361,600 acres. > 3.938,723 wres. : it must not be h.iKtily a larger amount of una- mpire ; " but there will e valuable. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS AND LIVESTOCK. Agricultural Productions. 105 1 Kind of crop. Wheat, bushels. Barley, " . Oats, " . Rye, " . Corn, " . Buckwheat, " . Peas, " . ! Beans, " . Potatoes, " . Cabbage, tons.. Hay, '• . Hops, Betts, Turnips, Butter, pounds Cheese, " Wool, " Grape vines, number. Wine, gallons Honc/, pounds << Animals. 1877. 1878. Acres. 8,444 33.421 7.233 109 449 II 34 46 4,60a 114 90.915 Acres. 8,268 24,267 6.739 166 4.23s »3 18 43 3.575 117 9^344 1877. 1878. Bushels, tons or pounds. Bushels, tons or pounds. 104,603 546,774 181,288 3.035 10,696 »S7 505 1.032 345.900 459 105,727 150 306 313 326,015 33.900 577.216 82,959 3,010 »5.875 '30,999 544.059 98,300* 3.060* ",945 •65 445 1.03s 383.397 421.5 107,698 150 196 3o6 337.935 36,900 636,807 102,450 2,115 16,680 Live-Stock. Horses Mules Asses Milch c ws Oxen and other cattle. Bulls Sheep and lambs Angora and Cashmere goats Hogs Chickens Turkeys Geese Ducks Hives of bees Total values. 1877. 1878. Number. Number. 39,563 3^.496 3.782 7,646 »73 175 46,879 50,951 98,849 173.840 1, 068 1,032 198,911 311,173 4,346 6,698 5.537 6,080 54.170 56,830 S."7 5,040 1,532 i.S'o 3.997 4,483 1.053 1,150 1877. 1878. Value. 11,478,000.00 347,154.00 13,110.00 1,078,217.00 1,878,131.00 64,080.00 397,822.00 43,460.00 16,611.00 31,668.00 7,690.00 1,369.80 3,998.00 10,530.00 $5,307,970.80 Value. >i, 573,480.00 499,666.00 13,350.00 1,171,873.00 3,476,800.00 61,930.00 443.46300 73,678.00 19,760.00 38,410.00 7,560.00 1,35900 3.362.25 11,900.00 17,394,491 -35 • Assessor's report, evidently incomplete. ; ^ JtWsiWdOKMtWB'- a: *W'«^?;-l«£H-;i( »f<.s*Jtws«{S*wi, %a-ik.Aii' -ft;0--f quartz, almost were thirty-four 5 of ore, about }an mills worked :re operated, but er manufactures le value of the lining ditches in les, and eight of There were 407 ,491 miles, and I also six wood ds of wood were in the State was 1879 was about .1 and personal o) missing, were le previous year, .luation. Either he State could mount, and the \ State alone is entire assessed population, ;^nd ctuated remark- :, its population was far below the usual requirement, and indeed has never yet attained to it. The almost exclusive devotion of the inhabitants to mining enterprises, and the fact that many of th(.'sc were; managed by foreign companies, and the employes were very few of them citizens, has aidtd in keeping the population at a low figure. The following table gives the particulars of the population so far as they are attainable : 6.157 5»,7J4» ««.34« «.«37 3».359t 37.54«T 4«i<»"3 730 e,Hij 4j lo.iiaf I 38,059 3,J09t "4.999T 4''.'»7 4.4131 ■o,aS> S3.S74 S«U >«.»43 8,000 7,000 » 4^3 »3.*90 J6.61J ■,o£4i o.oA o»t OS* <».4» »».«4« 5>9«7 17,11 ■•03 00.06 7-JI i. \% 9.4«$ .•74 SI 5.149 J4,7«a i »i $.«99 10,936 99,780 3u.8«3f 3 '.4941 Indian Reservations, — ^The Indian reservations amount t,i->t^Vi^J%#«^?W-Sir*.i-^iKifcf^ si-' -lii^i- ■^^;^'?i !-A ■J i::n 1054 OL'Jt lyKSlf.KN SMPIXB. State. In the cities and towns, the schools are well maintained. Among the' scattered population of the newer nuninjj districts and the {^razing lands there is more difficulty. The only institution for higher education is the State University, which has not yet organized anything beyond its preparatory department. ' Religious Denominations. — In 1874 there were in Nevada, as reported, forty-four church organizations of all denominations, thirty-two church edifices, thirty-seven clergymen, priests or ministers, 1,132 communicants, 10,300 adherent population, and $301,450 of church property. Of these the Roman Catholics claimed thirteen church organizations, though but seven church edifices and six priests. They numbered all the adherents of their church as Catholic population, and reported them as 5,000. Their church edifices were the best buildings of the kind in the State, and were valued at $134,000, probably considerably less than their actual worth. The Methodists came next with eleven church organizations, ten church edifices, twelve ministers, 496 communicants, 2,500 adherent population, and church property rei)orted at $76,250. There were nine Protestant Episcopal Churches, six church edifices, nine clergymen, and 269 communicants, with $48,000 of church property. Next in order came Presbyterians, with five churches, three church edifices, three ministers, 169 members, and $21,200 of church property. The only other denominations reported were the Baptists, with three churches, three church edifices, three ministers, and $16,000 of church property ; and die Congregationalists, with one church, one church edifice, and one minister, with twelve members, and $6,000 of church property. Nevada could hardly be called a very religious commonwealth, when less tlian one- fifth of its population were even adherents to any form of religion, and only one-fiftieth were actual communicants. The condition of things is not much better now. At that date the Mormons had begun to plant their communities, and teach their doctrines in the mining districts, and now, six years later, they claim to have the control there, and we fear their claim is just. This faith, which is also an authority or empire, is the sum of all abominations, and we cannot look at its spread without HISTORICAL DATA AND COSXLUSION. 105 S : well maintained, r mining districts culty. The only ivcrsity, which has tory departni( nt. ' :rc in Nevada, as 11 denominations, ymen, priests or It population, and Roman Catholics but seven church the adherents of ed them as 5,000. ngs of the kind •ably considerably } came next with twelve ministers, ion, and church nine Protestant crgymen,and 269 '. Next in order : church edifices, church property. :he Baptists, with : ministers, and ionalists, with one ter, with twelve fada could hardly :n less than one- to any form of municants. The At that date the 3, and teach their years later, they ir their claim is mpire, is the sum s spread without horror and disgust. The prevalence of polygamy, blasphemy lust and murder in a State like Nevada, would portend its ruin wi:rc its mines a thousand-fold richer than they are. I/isfon'cal Data. — Nevada is a part of the rcj^ion acquired from M(;xico by the tr(!aty of (iuadaiupe-I lidalgo in I'tbruary, 1848. It was at first a part of California Territory, ami on the admission of that State into the Union, was made a part of Utah Territory. It was set off as the Territory of Nevada, in March, 1861, but had not then so large an area as it has now. A part of its present boundaries on the east were fixed in 1862 ; it was admitted into the Union as a State in 1864, and received some further accessions of territory in 1866. It furnished its quota of soldiers to the civil war, and sent material aid to the Sanitary Commission to the extent of $51,000. Conclusion. — Nevada does not offer a very promising field for immigration. Its great mining operations are in the hands of wealthy capitalists, and are not at the present time very promis- ing ; there are probably new lodes and new placers which may prove very rich ; but only capitalists will be able to hold or work them. Grazing, especially with herds of cattle, might prove better, but it requires a large capital, and Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, Washington Territory, and perhaps California, are so much better adapted to grazing as to leave but small induce- ments to the stock-grower to start here. Farming in some of the fertile valleys, or market gardening, would be more feasible, for, with irrigation, crops can be raised, which will find a good and ready market at home. But the lack' of any patriotic State feeling, and the prevalence of Mormonism throughout the State, nuike u ^ St^te tQ/yv^9h immigration is not desirable. I ■ i .I'-IU I "(ID ' it i. .'' • • -It . : ft • ■ 'i; i' •• ' , • .i -■ , 1 ,1 1 i.'iSiAi i/ ^4^«SSfel»P';J^'^5arfS'^rflW«tx.i»--jC-*^iia^»^ 1:*Jl^^4^>^»Wilt■^::^fii*»^*^;^;^li'i?^'ag^!.■^X'^,* .fii&WSfa'ti ■;. J tWf toi6 OUR WhiThRN MM^IMJL CHAFIER XVI. NEW MEXICO. m ToPOORAPHV — notTNDARIM CrNl.AROr.D BY THE CAnSDITN TrKATY) — EXTENT ANU AkT.A — MoUNIAINM — KlVRRH AND LaKES — (.'l.lMATK — VARIETY IN TeM- PKRATUHK— Mh. Z. I.. WHITE ON TIIK.SUMMKK C.'l.lMAlE Of THK TERRITORY— New Mf.xuo as a Health Rehorv .MKTt.oRoix)OY and Rainiam. or vari- ous ToiNTS IN THE Territory— (J EOI.OOY and Minkrai.ocy— Mineral Wealth ok the Territory — Cold and Silver — Other Metai.s and Min- BRAiJi— TuRytioisK— Hot Sprin<;«i — Coal — Biti/minous. Lr(;NiTE and True Anthracitk — C!oAt rouND in New Mexico or the imt Quality and in Inexhaustiiile Quantities — Arahlk Lands — Their Quantity and Quau'h — Native Ackkulture— Grazing Lands—New Mexico best Adapted to Sheep-earminu — Number or Sheep — Crops or 1879 — Minino Industry—- Governor Wailace on the Mining Districts — The Gold and Silveu Production— Objects or Interest — Thk CaSovs and Terrible Dark Valleys and Caves or th« Territory — The Seven CiTir-s or Cibola- EVIDENCES or VoiiCANIC AcTION— BURIED CiTlES — AbO AND ITS RuiNS- The Indian Skeleton omerwhelmkd by Volcanic Asmes— The Vast Crater — Rock Cities — The Pueblo Pot. sy — How it was and is Mad« — The Zuni Blankets — MANUrticTUREs — Railroads— Great Developmeni tiation of tlic* San Juan and Uncompahgre Mountains of Colorado, consij^ts of mail} detached mountains of lower altitude, widi passes Ir'tween thi-m of only 5,000 or 6,000 feet in height. They are ktK)wn in New Mexico as the Sierra Madre, and form the connecting link between the lofty and rugged mountains of Western Colorado and tltc equally lofty Sierra Madre of the Republic of Mexico. The various groups of these dctach'.'d mountains with ihe valleys between them fill up almost the er tire region west of the Rio Grande. Though the eastern mountains are much the highest, yet here, as in Southern Colo- rado, the western and lower mountains form the water-shed be- tween the waters flowing to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. There are a chain of hills of moderate elevation along the eastern bank of the Rio Pecos, which form the boundary on the west side of the vast Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain. Topography. — The face of the country is diversified by moun- tains, valleys, plains, and high kvel plateaux or mesas ; similarity of climate, character and resources, pertaining to a large portion of the country, excepting in the highest ranges and lowest valleys. In portions of the Territory the surface is much broken and dis- rupted by chains of moimtains, preserving a general direction of •7 .ii'ji ■•■yfte^-ii. e.-jr,';.wtTO*jBe«!".'KW" F IO5I OUK WSSTKKX KMr/A'K. north and south. Intervening, thrre .irr large areas of table landn, biHCCtril by many largr and Htnall v.ilN'yH of unHurpa^srd fertility, and suscrptibhr of the hif^^hent stale of cultivation. Thi* valleys have a mean altitude above the sea of 4,500 feet, and the mountains on f*ithcr side of the Kio d randc dri Norte and Kio Perros of 6,000 to 8,ooo feet. In the more northerly poi tionR of th<; Territory they rise to 10,000 and 1 a.oov* Ifet. Ktv, rs and Lakti. — rhcivcrsof New Mexico (ontribule to both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes. The eastern is watered and dniincd by the Canadian and its tributarif into the Mississippi, and die Rio (irandc del Norte and its tributaries into the Gulf of Mexico. The western slope is watered and ilrairied by the Colorado of the West and Rio Gila, and their tributaries, into the Gulf of California. 'I'he Rio Grande del Norte takes its rise iti the hijjh mountains, north of the boundaiy line of New Mexico, where it is feil by numerous springs a id the meltinps of the an- nual snows, and aiij^mcnted by tributaries, waterinjf and draininjj a vast area of some of the finest farming; and jrrazinjr lands on the contin W. It flows south throuj^h tl '• western division of the Territory i broad, beautiful river tnrichinfr with il^ turbid water a valkv more than 4fK> miles lonjj and ma y miles iii breadth — one of the moM wonderful for fcrlilii> and beauty in the world. The Rio Pecos, on the eastern slope of the principal mountains, has its source in the mountains near Santa Fe, waterinj; and draining, through its numerous tributaries, an immense district of country, and flowing through its eastern division into Texas, through a valley only second in importance to that of the Rio Grande del Norte, vith which it forms a junction below the southern boundary. The Canadian river flows to the east, and through its affluents waters and drains the entire northeastern part of the country. The Rio San Juan, formed by the Rio Pie- dra, Rio Los Pinos, Rio Florida, Riod Los Animas, Rio Navajo, Rio de La Plata and other smaller streams, constitutes one of the jnost beautiful rivers in the West, watering and draining all the southwestern slope of the San Juan Mountains. In the south- west the Rio Mimbres, Agate creek. Bear creek, and the San Francisco river, together with the head waters of the Rio Gila, water and drain the region. *:jejr- Tin ttEW MKXiCAN i^/ /U.4TM. I0S9 •ge areas of table ►'s of unsurpassed niltivntion. 'Ihr ^.500 f«-'«'t, and fho rl Norte and Kio thcrly j>orlioni of ct. xico contribute to M n is wat(.'rcd and to tho Mississippi, rics into the" CJulf III ilrainc'<| by the 'ibutarics, into the :e takes its rise in ; of Nrw Mexico, rltings of the an- rinjf and draininj;; jfrazin^r hinds on fi n division of the h its turbid \\atiT lilcs 111 breadth — uity in the world, ncipal mountains, Pe, waterin^r and immense district ision into Texas, that of the Rio iiclion below the } lO the east, and ire northeastern 1 by the Rio Pie- inas, Rio Navajo, titutes one of the draining all the In the south- ek, and the San oi the Rio Gila, East of these, uiivl flowing, from either side of a syntem of detached mouiitains, occupying nearly the lon^itiidinal centr*^ of the h rritory, ami extending 1 irough its » mire length from north to south, terminating in ilic Ciuuduhipi Mountain^ on the borders of Texas, are a large lUunber of small n ♦^rs and creeks, supplying a large area of t^dilv Unds and vail* ys, ui well as a )rtion of the Terraces of the Hio (Jrande and Rio Pr-eoa with pure living water, liesidrs thes**, ^Imo^t every mountain and hill i§ supplied with numerous spruigs of >>{iarkiing cold water; also, there are many good springsi founii in the low der pressions ami valleys many miles distant from the mountains. Thus, it will be set:u that the watt:r supply is far more ample than the casual observer or straojer woiilil infer from an cxan)i- nation of maps drafted years ago, or a ipposition derived from vague reports of the and climate and hgln rainfalls. Climate. — There is great diversity of climate, owing to diffrtionH of thr Tcrrritory arr vfry hot and «lry, Init of» acrinint of thr ahnrncc of m(vifituru in thr atmn-iphrrc and the cx« crrdin^ly rapid evaporation, thr apparent intrnnity o( thr heal in much rtiiiK-rd. The tr-mpiraturc in thr mountainN in alwayn arit and iiie \m to thi^ country an: nuire »asy, atxl it i>» in »(insc<|u<'nte betH'r known, it will rival or HUp«'rsrdr Ilorida, Madeira. Nitf. or the much vauntid para«liHe of Mentone as a >aMitarium. Ihr country is far distant from either oc(;an ; it IH al>HoliiteIy fr«'f from all causes of dinease." I )isiinguihh«'il irav- t'llcrsi who hav«e^ V.J.U.'urne.'Kl'^. lo6a OUX WESTERN EMPIRE. Vt |*$l^ u 7 <-• \ & i ^ 1 ^ 1 "S 1 1 • . f > 8- B ^ 5 - "o ' f 1 J ? UI w 2 •8 1-.^; Mean TiiiiipcrBtura. Maximum Temperature. ■e £. 00 y a ■* 5> y * % % It a. i i B M m u « -a J Minimum Tenpinilun. Ut U » Ul oi •• M •a u 3; •y •s a ?! UI § o RanRc of Tempcr^uire. jj r K !j: Wl Ui ta M 4> M it p Mean Humidity. ^ .8 >8 Ji .8 1- ^ ? ji ^ S' Mean Barumeter. a 5< *• •& -b a V UI %. $ £? ar UI in o Mean Temperature. Maximum Temperature. 3 % fe 1 r ;§• f 1 § \-: § -8. s jr ff 3 "S> a "8 ^ 5 I 3 in 4 iS y ^ * i o> 8 * a 3" i o Minimum Tempt: rature. is a 8 .3^ S ■8 "S S "S 5 t o Rpnge of Teiiiperature. in UI « UI y UI o Mean Temperature, Maximum Temperature. en W n III 1 n •8 5- I "S" ff f ff •8 "8 « -8. % t t i "fi oo M M u t! 6 -S, "3. M o Minimum Temperature. •a ^ s> s? ■a 8> iJ % t J? o Range of Temperature. 5" 2 ? ? ■s> en •s ^ UI a 8" ff 6i 8" Mean Temperature. III £ S <& S S" ■a & 2 «■ •8 S -§. 1 o Maximum Temperature. * « <« 4 t iii t •3 ^ S t X o Minimum Temperature. « S ^ 6 "C a 8< *- % ji S. & •3 o Range of Temperature. i So In *^ O =9 I A «^ ft fc r an wrature. W P9 O H III s- 1 1 9 «, ximum «ratuie. timum erature. ige of erature. in erature. Latitude 31° 46'. EL PASO, Longitude 106° 3a'. TEXAS. Altitude ab. 3,500 feet. (imum erature. imum erature. ge of srature. MINERAL WEALTH OF NEW AfEXICO. 1063 Geology and Mineralogy. — The surface rocks of the great pla- teau, which comprises so large a portion of the Territory, belong to the cretaceous period, except those in the southwest and west, which are a part of the plateau of the Sierra Madre, and are en- tirely oi the eozoic period. The summits of the Rocky Moun- tain system, as well as those of the Sierra Madre, are also eozoic, but the peaks are capped with metamorphic rocks, chielly porphy- ry, trap and basalt. Besides these exceptions, there are three con- siderable tracts which are volcanic, and covered with lava, which is, apparendy, only a few centuries old ; the first of these tracts is in the Zuni Mountains, between the Rio Puerco and the Rio San Jose, including Mount Taylor ; the second is east of and parallel to th • Rio Grande; it is nearly 140 miles in length; the third is near the northern boundary of the Territory, along the west bank of the Rio Grande and extending to the Rio Chama. The tract east of the Rio Grande is called Mai Pais (" bad coun- try "), and besides the lava, has a broad expanse of volcanic sand, alternating with salt marshes. The valleys of the Rio Pecos and of the Canadian river and its branches are triassic or Jurassic, and at some points are under- laid with coal at such depths as to be accessible. The valley of the Rio Grande above the thirty-fifth parallel is tertiary: below that parallel it partakes of the general character of the plateau, and is cretaceous. The foot-hills of the eastern slope of the Gua- dalupe Mountains are triassic. There are two considerable tracts of tertiary in the northeastern portion of the Territory, the larger of the two lying between the head-waters of the Cimmaron and the north fork of the Canadian rivers, and the smaller between two of the affluents of the Canadian. Mineral Wealth. — The geological formations of New Mexico form an extremely interesting study, as well on account of their peculiarides as of the vast quantities of minerals, especially the precious metals, which are contained in some of them. The syenitic rocks of the mountains which traverse the central plat- eau between the Pecos and the Rio Grande, and the carbonifer- ous limestones found on the flanks and sometimes on the ridges of these mountains, are both traversed by mineral-bearing lodes. -J "■ i*3K;CHS^V'WW:^^^S^*i-'' - i^^'. 1064 OUJf tVESrEXJV £A/J'M£. In the sandstone formation beds of lignite and bitutninous coal .from three to five feet in thickness are found, alternating with layers of iron ore of good quality and fire-clay. In the Old Pla- cer Mountains and elsewhere, mines of anthracite of a superior quality have been opened. Marls, gypsum, and other valuable earths are abundant and easy of access, but little has been done to develop the deposits. Zinc, manganese, quicksilver and some minor minerals occur. In the Placer mountains, and at several other points, especially near Pinos Altos and Fmbudo, iron is worked. Lead is found in the Pinos Altos mines, in the Organ .mountains, and at other points. Copper is even more abundant, and some of the mines yield large results. The chief deposits worked are those of the Manzano, Magollon, and Magdalena mountains. Turquoise of rar*^ beauty has been found in the Cerillos Moun- tains, about twenty miles southwest of Santa Fe, and mines of it were worked with great profit before the Indian revolt in 1680. The finest turquoise in Europe, one of the jewels of the Spanish crown, was obtained in these mountains more than two centuries ago. Hot springs and other mineral springs of great medicinal virtue, abound ir. ""^ew Mexico. Governor Wallace says that excellent hot springs have been discovered at Fernandez, in Taos county ; at Las Vegas, San Miguel county; at Ojo Caliente, in Rio Arriba county, near Jemez, in Bernalillo county; near Fort McRae, So- corro county; Fort Selden, Dona Ana county; and at Mimbres, in Grant county. Those at Jemez are probably unexcelled in the wo'-ld. At Las Vegas elaborate preparations are in progress for the care and entertainment of guests and invalids. Any and all these springs are equal in curative qualities, if not superior, to those in Arkansas. They have certainly tlie attraction of an unsurpassed climate. ■ > iiiiont:;* j. •. / ■;!'!*>•■ >'>'■ *• Hii-'iinnr- .; r >■;. In this connection mention may be made of the soda springs, of Vv'hich there are several. One, east of Isleta eighteen or twenty miles, is particularly worthy of notice as yielding seltzer quite equal to the best imported article. But the chief mineral wealth of this rich Territory is contained THE ASrUKACJTE COAL OF NEW MEXICO. bitutninous coal alternating with In the Old Pla- ite of a superior '\ other valuable e has been clone :silver and some s, and at several Fmbudo, iron is 2s, in the Organ more abundant, e chief deposits and Magdalena , 1 : I i I ' ■ : , Cerillos Moun- and mines of it I revolt in 1680. 5 of the Spanish n two centuries nedicinal virtue, s that excellent n Taos county; e, in Rio Arriba ort McRae, So- nd at Mimbres, f unexcelled in are in progress lids. Any and not superior, to :traction of an i soda springs, iteen or twenty I seltzer quite ry is contained 106s in its gold and silver mines, some of which have been worked since remote times. The earliest Spanish discoverers found such convincing proofs of the richness of the gold and silver deposits that Uiey gave to the country its present name from the resem- blance to die mineral regions ot old Mexico. Throughout the periods of the Spanish and Mexican occupancy the precious metals were worked, and even with the rude appliances and de- sultory methods of those peoples, wonderful results were obtained. Capital, abundant water power and railroad communicadon, are the dirce desiderata for the successful development of the rich mines of this country, which are believed to rival the most pro- ductive deposits known. The chief gold fields now operated are those of Colfax, Grant, Santa Fe and Bernalillo coundes, and of die Carrizo, Sierra Blanca, Patos, Jicarilla and Magdalena Moun- tains, but these are only a few of the many regions in which gold is known to exist. So far litde more than the placers have been iiouched, while the great resources of the quartz lodes still await die advent of machinery, capital, and, above all, well-directed labor. The silver mines of Finos Altos, the Cerillos, Sandia and Magdalena Mountains, formerly so producUve, have been worked in a perfunctory way, but without any organized system of pro- cedure, and the production is now small. A few words should be said in regard to the coal deposits of New Mexico. The, greater part of the coal deposits throughout "Our Western Em- pire" are bituminous, and even where they are called anthracites, they are generally only a litde harder or denser veins of the bitu- minous coal, and at most can be regarded as only semi-anthracites. Some geologists have boldly declared that there was no anthracite west of the Mississippi river, and have predicted, that nothing of the kind would ever be discovered there ; but they are certainly in error. Whether the so-called anthracites of Southwestern Colorado, of Texas, of Arizona and of Utah, will prove to be true anthracites, may be a question until we have more and more careful and thorough analyses of them ; but that there is anthracite coal in Northwest Washington Territory, and that it is abundant in New Mexico, seems to be proved beyond the possibility of a doubt. The only locality where it has thus far been found is .'lUil'. fi'ii ■jjj ,-wi«rmrrAmmtmiiUL^:r\ i;t.^ jv^.*y;5*&i*s»MweiK*'^i«;««*"i- i,* io66 OUR iVESTERN EMPIRE, amon^ the foot-hills of the Placer Mountains, aboui*; thirty miles south-southwest of Santa Fe. The formation is tertiary, but it has been subjected at various times to volcanic action, as the lava and metamorphic rocks plainlv indicate. Mr. Z. L. White examined these coal deposits very carefully in August, 1880, and though previously faithless in regard to the existence of anthra- cite anywhere in this region, became fully satisfied that it was anthracite, and of the very best quality. The mines alrtady opened are on the "Ortiz Grant," and the coals in this, of which there are twenty-seven veins, ranging from a few inches to more than six feet in thickness, are easily accessible. The coal was probably originally a lignite of excellent quality of the terdary, but by volcanic action was changed into anthracite. Mr. White fortifies his opinion by the definition of true anthracite given in the best treatises on coal, and by three analyses made by the geol- ogists of Lieutenant Wheeler's expedition in 1875, ^y R- D. Owen and E. T. Cox in 1865, and by Professor J. L. Leconte in 1868, and in a fourth column gives the analysis of the Pennsylvania anthracites from " Dana's Mineralogy." The economic impor- tance of this anthracite coal to the whole West, it being very near the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, must be our apology for devoting so much space to it. Constituents. ii 1 ANALYSES. W. Water ....'.. 2.10 • •' Gas 6.63 >< I Fixed Carbon . . . . 86,aa L>Ji ./Ash 5.05 !0 Totals 100.00 o. &c. 3-5° 4.50 87.00 5.00 100.00 Leo. Penna. Cool. a.90 3.X8 88.91 5.21 100.00 3.84 87.45 737 98.66 ' "True anthracite has a specific gravity of 1.4 td 1.7 ; it3 hard- ness is 2 to 2.5 ; and it contains 85 to 93 percent, of fixed carbon; aad volatile matcer, after drying, 3 to 6 per cent. It is amorphous, of conchoidal fracture, brittle, has a sub-metallic lustre, iron black to grayish and brownish black color, and when pulverized forms a black powder. It ignites with difificulty and at a high tempera- ture, but wheni ignited produces an intense heat. This is an exact description of the coal in the Ortiz mines." I*.- iboui': thirty miles is tertiary, but it nic action, as the Mr. Z. L. White \ugust, 1880, and stence of anthra- isfied that it was le mines already in this, of which w inches to more :. The coal was \f of the tertiary, cite. Mr. White thracite given in tiade by the geol- 5, by R. D. Owen -econte in 1868, he Pennsylvania economic impor- t being very near St be our apology o 11 o Penna. Coal. 3-84 87.45 7-37 98.66 td 1.7; its hard- of fixed carbon ; t is amorphous, ustre, iron black ►ulverized forms a high tempera- This is an exact AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS. 1067 Agricultural Productions. — There are in New Mexico from 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 acres of arable lands, or at least that much can be brought under successful cultivation, when a judi- cious system of irrigating canals and reservoirs shall have been constructed. More than three-fourths of all the waters of the Territory run to waste at present. The country is admirably supplied with hundreds of natural basins on the elevated plateaux, whe.-e the water of all or nearly all the streams could be stored by means of canals and ditches. The water supplies would com- mence accumulating during the early fall, and continue through the winter, spring and early summer rises or freshets, from the melting snow in the high mountains. In this way immense reser- voirs could be accumulated, ample for all purposes. The soil of the valleys throughout the Territory is a rich sandy loam, composed of the disintegrated matter of the older rocks and volcanic ashes. It is light and porous and of surprising fer- tility. Corn, wheat, oats and barley grow well in all parts of the Territory ; corn is a staple product. The cereals do best in the northern districts and elevated plateaux ; corn, vegetables and all kinds of fruit do best in the valleys ; corn, in the rich bottoms, along the principal streams, if well cuhivated, may be made to yield over eighty bushels per acre ; wheat on the uplands often yields over fifty bushels per acre, and in portions of the Rio Grande Valley averages twenty-five bushels under the rudest and most imperfect culture.* Farm lands in the Taos Valley and * Mr. White says of the native agriculture : " The Mexican and Indian methods of harvesting their grain are very primitive, similar, in- deed, to those of Eastern couatries in Bible times. The wheat is cut by band with a siclde, and taken, unbound, in carts to the threshing-floor. This consists of a round plat of level ground in an elevated place, fifty, one hundred, or two hundred feet in diameter, as the farm is a large or small one, the surface of which is pounded or trodden as hard as a cement floor. Around the edges of this, tall poles are set in the ground five or six feet apart, forming a circle. The un- threshed grain is piled up loosely in the centre, and, when everything is ready, a thin layer is raked down between the central pile of grain and the circle of poles, and then a flock of goats or sheep, or sometimes of burros, or ponies, is driven around over the grain until it has all been beaten out of the heads by their feet. The straw is then thrown outside of the circle of poles, and the wheat pushed up townril the centre. Another lot of the unthreshed grain is then raked down, and the operation repeated until the whole u threshed. I was forcibly reminded of the Scriptural injunction which forbade the Hebrews to muzzle the ox that trod out the grain. The winnowiiig is also done in the Biblical way. After the wheat has been separated from the straw, it is gathered up into a heap, and when a brisk breeze arises it is thrown into the air ia /fij3»-V«Mi««i®*»«<«i«»S«:Ji*!i:^«;i*A-vi»T^«'->f>'-''^.^^^^^^ to68 OUK WESTERN EMPJRE. 'J •Ml in the vicinity of Santa F» lavr been under cultivation over aoo years, and in all tliat time . nr one ounce of fertili/in)^ material ha» been used to enrich them ; yet there is no perceptible dimi- nution in crops. The valley of the Rio Grande del Norte, fur 400 miles in length, averaging five miles in breadth, can all be irrigated with the turbid water of the stream from which its name is derived. This stream, like the Nile, is the sole reliance of the farmer; the water is turbid with sediment, one-fifth of its weight at high water. At such times, each irrigation is equal, if not superior, to a coat of the richest fertilizer. El-Paso Valley has been cultivated in this way over 265 years. The valley of the Rio Grande del Norte is admirably adapted to grape culture: there is probably no part of the world where all the conditions of soil, humidity and temperature arc united to produce this delicious fruit in greater perfection. The frosts of winter are just severe enough to destroy insects without injuring •the vines, and the rains seldom fall at the season when the plant is fk vering, or when the fruit is coming into maturity, and liable to rot from exposure to moisture ; as a result, the fruit, when ripe, has a thin skin, s. arcely any pulp, and is devoid of the musky taste usual with American grapes. Grapes do well also on the lower valley of the Pecos, and in many other parts of the Territory. Mr. White says of the grape culture : "Grapes constitute one of the principal crops of the Rio Grande Valley. The commonest variety is the Muscat, from which a very good wine is made. The vineyards look like plantations f»f currant bushes, the vines the teeth of the wind, which blown away the cliaff while the wheat falls by itself on the clean floor. At a distance the flying chaff looks like steam escaping by sticcessive pufls from the ex- haust pipe of an engine. " The Mexicans and some of the Indinns are beginning to adopt modem farming implements, and in a few years iron ploughs will probably have replaced the wooden ones that li.ive been in use here for centuries, and which are exactly like those with which the Egyptians cultivated the valley of the Nile in the time of Moses. I saw one of these ploughs, but as this is not the season when the ground is broken up, I have h.id no opportunity to observe its u'*e. It consisted simply of a crooked stick, ujion the point of which an iron point was fastened by means of raw- hide thoiiijs. The Pueblo Indian carts are also curiosities. Not a scrap of iron is used in their manufacture. The wheels are discs made of hoards, with a clumsy wooden hub on the outside. The tire is of raw-hide, and the body of the cart is constructed of poles rudely framed together " iii^ ■>i»i*-*©siS^*j-**i«.»*«*l4iAi*tei8ftiH^ Itlvation over aoo niVuing matfrial perceptible diini- It: del Norte, for eadth, can all be 1 from which its the sole reliance It, one-fifth of its jation is equal, if El-Paso Valley J mirably adapted the wor/e^ where Lire arc united to I. The frosts of without injuring when the plant is rity, and liable to fruit, when ripe, id of the musky well also on the 2r parts of the IS constitute one The commonest wine is made, ushes, the vines by itself on tlic clean 'Sive puffs from the ex- m rnrming implemenlii, ones that li.ive been in e Effyptians cultivated , Init as this is not the ve its use. It consisted lened by means of raw- of iron is used in their ien hub on the outside, poles rudely framed VKGRTABLES IN ffEW MEXICO. 1069 being planted in rectangular order, and trained in the form of shrubs. The fruit is delicious, like that of California, and 1 have no doubt that the wine crop of the valley will, before many years, become one of the largest and most profitable in the Territory. Archbishop Lamy, who is a native of France, and who, during the almost third of a century of his residence here, has travelled thousands of miles every year among the Mexican and Indian population of New Mexico, told me that no part of California is better adapted for the culture of grapes and the manufacture of wine than the Rio Grande Valley. The natives tread out the juice of the grapes with their feet, as did the slaves in the great vineyards of classic times. "The orchards of the valley are remarkably thrifty and prolific, and the fruit is large and fair. I never saw apple trees that were apparently so free from disease. The bark was as bright as though the trunks of the trees had been washed in lye. The peach and plum trees are large and full of fruit. The orchards do not appear to have been planted with much regularitj', but the trees seem to have been stuck down by the side of the acequias, wherever they were certain to have plenty of water." Cabbages grow finely, often weiglii ng from thirty to sixty pounds each. Onions also grow very large, weighing from one to two pounds each ; those raised in the Raton Mountains are said to possess the finest flavor. Irish potatoes are grown in the northern districts, where they yield enormously. Sweet potatoes are raised in the Mesilla Valley, and at Fort Stanton, on the Rio Bonito and Ruidoso, in Lincoln county. Beets, radishes, turnips, parsnips and carrots grow well every- where. Beans, peas and tobacco are also grown successfully ; beans to the native population are what the potato is to the Irish. Apples do well in almost all parts of the country. Peaches, pears and apricots do well from Bernalillo down ; also on the Pecos from Anton Chico down ; melons of all kinds grow to large proportions, and of the most delicious (lavor. Not more than one-tenth of the valleys of the Rio Grande or Pecos are occupied or cultivated. The same may be said of an hundred other valleys and terraces along the large streams, and /«««•«■ I070 OVK H'KSTK/IN F.MPIKB. ft m especially so of the hij^hcr plateaux. The most extensive scttlr- mcntH arc confmccl to the valleys of the principal streains.l Those of the Rio Cirande, Pecos, and Mora contain the majority,! the balance beln^ located in the small valleys and isolatedl districts, in and near the mountains, where their pursuits arc| divided between agriculture and stock-raising. The only forage crop of the grasses that has been attt;mptcd| here is "Alfalfa," the Chilian or California clover; whcnl cultivated it yields an enormous crop. It grows well throughout! the Territory, and in the southern districts often yields three' crops per annum. In a country where there is such a profusion of nutritious grasses, as are indigenous to the mesas and mountain slopes, it is not necessiiry to cultivate forage crops, except for the sustenance of farm animals, and those in use m the towns. Thousands of tons of grama grass are cut annually to supply the demands of military posts and stage stations. ,, , .i.,.-.' , , i.,;. ,,,, ,,,, ..,„ j... m; rr i :, As a sample of what can be done in the valley of the Rio Grande, it is only necessary to refer to the beautiful Mesilla Valley ; it is seventy miles long, and embraces 280 square miles, or 179,200 acres, or 560 farms of 320 acres each. It is one of the richest and most delightful valleys in the world. There are farmers who settled in this valley only fifteen years ago, without one dollar to start with, who to-day are worth from )j^50,0Q0 to jji6o,ooo, and every dollar of it made from the products of the soil. It is the rival of any portion of California in the raising of all kinds of fruit, and as to grapes it is not sur- passed by any district in the world. In the coldest season the tliermometer never falls hmer than 1 5° above zero. Snow is scarcely ever seen. It is a district that needs only to be seen to be appreciated. ,,jrui, , .,ti> \<. ■... , t,IU i.>.»f,.i ' ,.: i!-, .. <,:, ^M.r.jy The most valuable timber in New Mexico is the pine, — its growth principally confined to the mountain districts and high rolling lands. Pitch, yellow and spruce varieties grow to a large size, and make excellent lumber. Cottonwood, walnut, locust, box-alder and sugar tree fringe the streams and cafions of the 0ipun tains. Also live oak of small siz^, and ji. peculiar species ■■-■^SfS. ,-Sa«3SS&»ve zero. Snow is only to be seen to o is the pine, — its districts and high es grow to a large od, walnut, locust, and cafions of the a peculiar species SUREI^f4MM/ys<>'*^*^i*'*'''**^''''-*'-"' lo^a OUM l¥KSmjtAf KMr/Ktt. 4 J 1% ■wti "Wlthrnit having the tbta h«forr m»», and only judpnfi: fr>m what I knowo( ih« IVrritory and of thn iir^fc shrcp owners \t\ it, 1 am salistu-il that I do /lot ovrrrsiimaie the nnmlxT in stating tht;ni .It i.5».M),oix) hr;wl of rwes. The climate is rxofTdinj^'ly temiH'rattr and salubrious; no diseases, much ics^ those aAcctin^ the skin or hoofs, hrinj; known. Shej'j) in our'rrrrllory are herded and grazed frofn one portion of the Territory to another durinj^ the same year, thus adopting what may he termed the mijrratory plan. The climate ia dry and the soil is jjravclly, producing,' the most nutritious jjras.ses and shrubs. Of the fornvr the ^rama and bunch ^^rass, of which there are wo or three diffepMU varirties, and the latter the various kinds of iagc, which make the liest and most nutritious of browsir1^^ and a larj^-M' amount of underbrush and seed jjrass in the mountains. Were it m t for the insecurity of life and property caused by the wild, marauding tribes of Indians, especially the Navajoes, but a few years would elapse l)efore New Mexico's h'lls and plains would b arkct to southern sheep were worth e cnjjaped in the he history of New of unintermitted New Mexic6 can cent, at least. A the coarse quality leep and make a all the increase of tion in saying that alia, South Africa eap wool. These Kaggerated. biit I thin the limits of New Mexico, my eep, and ^ myself kind of proper^, Sherp, ami espetiAlly ewes, are largely sold from New Mexico to otiicr States and l\:rrilorie» to lonn the bisin of ilockt there. Tlity are „ Id ui a low price, from jj^i.Sn to f3 each. 'Ihey .ire small, auii yield only Irom onr .md a half to thm; pounds of a coarse wooH, which will bring i, ,ually only from eiglii< er» to twenty-two cents a pound, liy breeding them with pure Meitno, CotswoKl, Leicester i>r Lincoln bucks, the si/e is soon increased, and the (jualiiy of the wool ■ greatly itnproved. As yet but little attention is paid in N«.*w Mexico to impro\ing the breeds, and |. nee the wool crop there, is not nearly as \aluable as it might easily be. made, i'he imnn^ aiUs who are timing into tlu: coun- try in such nuinU'rs are gi'in^r more attention to improving their stock. There is reason to believe th. i sheep-fa runin^ will soon become ii profitable and extensive industry in 'he Territory; but, like everything else which is to be made |)ro' table, the sheep- farmer must giv« it his close person.d attention. Inginning with a capital of alKJut 1(^5,000, and giving strict attention to his busi- ness, improving liis (locks as tapidly as possible the wool-grower may in ten years fuid hin»self worth from $(k>,(xx> to $75,000, and with constandy increasing profits from that time forward. Hon. Henry M. Atkinson, Surveyor-deneral of New Mexico, in his re- port dated August 27, 1879, gives the following summary of the agricultural and pastoral cofulition of the Territory. We think his estimate of the number of km^p must b<: exaggerated, or it is possibly a misprint ; but we give it as stated. The number is undoubtedly larger than has been supposJ, but this estimate makes New Mexico exceed both California and Texas in the number of its flocks: •• The crops of last year were good throughout the Territory, and a largely increased acreage was sown over that of any previ- ous year in its history ; and with the rapid influx of population, new and previously unexplored and uninhabited sections are being setded and subjected to cultivation. "The native wine product in the valley of the Rio Grande, in Uiis Territory alone, is reliably estimated at 240,000 gallons the past year, and in a few years that stream will be properly desig- nated as the Rhine of America. Large crops of corn, wheal; I'f in tlMiiO 1074 OUM WMSTAKM RMrtMR. } \ P* applifi, {irai'tttg, ftpricotN, pcari and other fruiln w«rc raiicUUrrtng the yrar. "The buMmrts of atackrainin^ In mont ftuccran fully ami pnifit* ably cn^a^^rti irt, a« no (ceding it rr((viir(Hl lUirin^' thu winter •cAiion, the! Htock HubniHtin^; rntirrly u|H)n the rich and ntitritioita {rraxHCfl HO abundant in thr Trrritory. It in catimatcd that tlirrc arc scx),ooo heail of cattlr and io»ooo,ooo thcvp in New Mexico." AtiHiMg Industry. — Wc have jjivtrn umhtr thr head of ftutittal wraith full |>articularH, ho far as known, concrri! n^ the prchencc of th<' prectoiift andtfthtrr tnrtaU in the Trrritory; but wk adil, on the authority of (iovernor Wallace anti Z. L. White, l',!ii(., a few |)articularit in regard to thr mining diAtrictn and iniiies in actual openition. Governor Wallace Hiiyn of the silver mining districts: "'rhc be«t known districtn at thin time are the Hrcmen mines, near Silver City; the Shakspeare mines, in Cirant lounty; the Sandia district, in Bernalillo county ; the Socorro district, in Socorro county; the Cerillos, twenty-two miles 80uthwerty> with whidb wrr rniifvl tit ring •Jifiilly and profii- Mfinn »'»« winter cli «n' '^ -"! tv,UsSifc»ifi ■-:'itinl('il r<']>roHrnuiti()n of the elk or ciccr, in which a {asba^c invariably cxi«:m!M front the mcuth to the heart, which latter (h oi trian^uliir form, 'llir; tcnaluiM, or earthen basins, are usril as r»i«|>tiicle« for meal, corn, water, or other substancen which constitute the food of the naliveH. One very oltl vessel is covered with represtrniations of snakes, a rare lij^iire in the ornamentation of I'lublo ware, nince tht; priests or mc'licine men no lonj;er permit the people to employ tin: sun or serpent syml)ols, but monopolize them in their incantations and stately ct-remonies. lenahas are made of all sizes, from an incli in diameter to those that will hold from twenty to thirty ^jallons. I'.ach larj^'C vessel has a concave Ijottom, likt: a cham- pagne-bottle, for steadying it on the head in carrying water from the well. The clay used in the manufacture of the Laguna pottery is of a dark slate color and exceedingly compact, oftentimes approach- ing soft rock in texture. This is taken from seams or veins in the mesa walls. The Indians soak this clay in water for two or three days, when it becomes perfectly plastic. It is then kneaded with the feet of the workmen on a large Hat stone, and all the hard lumps are taken out carefully. After the vessels are mouMed into form they are left to dry, and then covered with a ground work of white paint. Over this are painted fanciful devices in red, orange and black. The lustre of the ware is im- parted by polishing the paint, before baking, with an exceedingly smooth stone like an ordinary seashore pebble. The brown or black pigment is made from a black stone somewhat resembling hematite. This is ground fine, mixed with water, and violently agitated for some time. It is then poured from one vessel to another to remove all grit, and is applied to the surface of the vessel to be ornamented, as commcMi paint, with a stick. This paint alone would rub off, but to prevent this it is mixed with the residue of two plants ox weeds boiled together for a long^ time until it becomes of the required consistency, after 'which it is ad- lowed to cool ; it then becomes perfectly hard. The clay employed for the red coLor is of a yellowish tint, but on being hIASVFACTVnES OF .VKty MK.yfCO. lo«5 \ rommon the elk or nuntth to tciuhat, or 1, waler, or vcs. One kcs, a rare priests or tin.' sun or tatiuns and s, fron) an ty lo tliirty kr a cham- watcr from ottery is of s approach- or veins in for two or L'n kneaded pind nil the vessels are cred with a ted fanciful ware is im- exceedingly e brown or resembling id violently ne vessel to rfiice of the stick. This ed with the I long time ich it is a(l- The clay t on being baked niangc!! to a brilliant rr as to exclud*; the air, and a very hot fire cf two or three hours' tluration is prodiicrtl. During ilie process of burn- ing the vessels are closely watched, and no portion of them is permitted to l)ecome exposed to lh«' atmosphj-re. The pottery of Laguna, and in fact of nujst of the other Putrblo villa;;<'s, is almost entirely made by the wonvn, who expend much of their leisure time in moulding and decorating the ware. The particular interest which attaches to the Pueblo pottery is in the fact that these people of New M«;xico ami the Mo(|uis of Arizona are the only aboriginal tribes in the l'iiit<;d States that still practise their old arts, unchanged by the influences of civili- zation. Manufactures. — Very little is done in the way of manufactures, though the Pueblo Indians and the Mexicans are both ingenious ; and with very imperfect and rude tools will produce remarkable results. The jewelry produced from native gold and silver is of remarkably artistic designs, as is the native pottery. The scrapes and blankets made from the coarse wool of the Mexican sheep or the hair of the goat are of excellent quality, and so dense that water cannot percolate through them. The saddles, stirrups and horse fixtures generally are of excellent quality, and the better sorts have a good deal of bullion, and a rude, barbaric splendor about them. Heyond these articles there is very litde which can be called manufactures. The rude bateas, or wooden bowls, which were their substitute for the pan and the rocker of the placer miner, and the arastras, great boulders, bound lo the arms of the central capstan, with which they ground their quartz rock to powder, constituted their sole mining apparatus ;.diey had even forgotten how to construct the rude adobe smelters, which the Indians used three centuries ago. But with railroads and railroad towns all over the Territory, there will come in manu- factures, and builders, architects, machinists and engineers will be found in great numbers through the Territory. ■^•jiMih.^*^ '■'►.vcj«,v'.*(-iii;'ii ^ jt 1084 aVK WKXTKK^r KMriKK, Railroads. — Thr Trrritory, »o lonjf complrffly isolatrd, and whi« h one year ajjo had not a miln of railroad within itM Uirdrrt, it now in a fair way to have itn full shn.'c of railroad (ommiinica- tinn, not throii^di thr rntrrprite of itR citizms, l>ut hrraiiHc it ifl on thr hi^dmay to Mrxim ami Southern CaUfornia. The Atrhi- Hon, Toprka and Santa IV- Railway, whirh rntrrrd thr I'rrritory from Colorado by way of thr Raton I'.ish ahmit tlu* hrjjituiin^' of 18H0, ran its linrs southwrst to Las Vt-j^as, and thrnir firarly due west to the Rio (Irandr, throwing; out a branch to Santa !•>. and extruding its linr down thr Rio (irandr, rxpcctrd to nach Me- Hitla by January, 1881, and V\ Paso, 'I'rxan, by thr spring' of that year. Thr Soutiicrn Pacilic, rontrollr<| by the* Central Puific Railway, which had crossrd Soiifhrrn California and briil^'rd the Rio Colorado of tin; Wrst at Yuma in 1S79, travrrsrd Arizona, reaching 'liicson in thr sprinjj of iSSo. and crossinj^ Wrstrrn Now Mtrxico in thr Hiiuunrr, will unitr with tlir Atihison road nt Fort 'I"horn(!, on the Rio Cirandr. by January. 1881, and thrnce proceeding' down thr Rio (irandr to I'.l Paso wil' [)robabIy mak" itH termiiuis at Cialvrston a year later. Mranwhilr the Atchiso.' Toprka md Santa \'i\ having purchafjed ih(' charter of the At- lantic and Pacific, and conttollinj^ the St. Louis and San I'>an- cisco Railway, haven»:h anil Americans. Its population has doubled in thirty years, and to ihis orij^inal element have been added a considerable number of Irish, (ij-rmans, Mel^iann, I''rench, S[)anish and AmcricauH. The following table shov^^ the population, ho far as it has been ascertained, and such other par* ticulars as are attainable by the census enumerators : CkN»UI VlAK. iSto iSto.. 1870,. n «S.S47 107, luS 111,303 "48.750 i4i.Ma I 3i.74Jt a9,tto5t 49.091 1 44.4»5t 47.I3«»I 44.739+ K3.I5S 48,595 61.5JS <».9»4 90.J9J 134,920 1 18430 aa «S 173 330 4«7 34,000 «4.507 30.7J8 a3.5'» I J<),a6i 8fi.793l 86.354 94.370 Cunvi Vkar. a,a86 6.7*31 5.6ao 30,550 0.30 0,36 0.76 «»3 '•35 5«94 19.0a 3363 a747 \ 35,089 3».78SI 53,330 67.313 69,487 *l I a»,774 3».796 39.3" a 3».«70 39." 17 I 5i 13,698 ".37" 30,070 |1| "3.9«o »5.483 «3.33» 10,87111 13.78 1 33,443 * Inclu<1in| iribal Indian*. fScs of Indlimi no* fiv«n. { Indian office report. I £xcIu>Itc of iribnl Indi I PtMblo IndUoa, not atUwad' t» vou, riMugh nckon«d u ciitMn*. | Uvvtmor Wnlteca'i MtimaM, avldtnll] M»alv«. lian*. rldtnlly t» ■^*^wjrt> j9»(« ..A,."?5i- •( . KM 1086 OUR Wn^STERN EMPJUM, It should be said, however, that the previous enumerations have been very imperfect, because the canvassers were supposed to be unfriendly conspirators against t^e inhabitants, Indian and Mex- ican, and were purposely avoided or misinformed. We have in- cluded in these enumerations the Indian population, both Pueblos and tribal Indians, so iar as it could be ascertai'-ed, -though in 1850 and i860 the number of tlie latter could only be conjectured. Chief-Justice Prince, in an address delivered in Brooklyn in the winter of 18B0, said of this population: "There is grert interesl as to tliis population, there beingf three entirely distinct civilizations and three distinct epochs of history represented. In New Mexico are found the only remains of the aborigines of the people of America. They arc living in the same kind of houses, and to all intents and purposes existing as they did 300 years ago. Such are the Pueblo Indians. Side by side with these are the Spaniards and American civilization in its broader type esp illy. The aborigines or Pueblo Indians numbered in 1879 9,0*3 souls, all told, and occupied nineteen vil- lages. There are evidences of la.'ge Indian cities, not a single Inhabitant of which remains, and villages have b^en deserted in the life of the present generation. These aborigines call them- selves the children of Montezuma, who has gone from them, but promised to return, and left the sacred fire, which is still kept burning until he re.iuTns. Their religion is indistinct, but seems tx> be mainly a worship of the powers of nature, the sun, the clouds, the wind and the rain. Their sacrifices are of fruits and flowers, and resinous gums only. They have been throughout New Mexico nominally converted to Catholicism, but maintain their old worship in secret The men and women of this singula people are orderly, peaceable and industrious, and they make good citizens of the Territory. They are the best cultivators of the soil on the Rio Grande. The women grind the com or w^eat, and make pottery^ very asioni^ing in its symmetrical pro- portions. The cttstoms of these people have never changed,«nd they are extremely neat and citearty. The* Spanish-speaking people are generous and hospitable and moct agreeable in their lOanners. They ape a contented people, perhaps too contented. tion shave Dsecl to be and Mex- e have in- th Pueblos gh in 1850 ctured. dyn in th« lere being epochs of ly remains c living in es existing ans. Side ilization in ilo Indians ineteen vil- )t a single leserted in call them- i them, but still kept but seems le sun, the ■ fruits and throughout It maintain lis singula they make Itivators of lie com or etrical proi- ianged,<^ui4 ih-speaking ble in their I contented. TllREF DISTINCT CIVILIZATIONS IN NEW MEXICO. 1087 They have no ambition to rise, and their wants are so few that they even don't want money. You cannot buy land iVom a Mex- ican, even if he is not using it himself, because it belonged to hi'i father. Instead of being murderous or dangerous in their tendencies, they |iave a positive dislike for murder and bloodshed, except in the case of those who are located on the border. It is a remarkable fact that they have five distinct languages. In their methods of courtship and marriage the Spanish differ very much from them. The third type in Mexico is the American. The typical American life is found in the Texas frontier or the frontier of the Indian Territory. Among these are many wild and lawless men, away from the restraints of civilized life, some of them being practically outlaws. The railroads have just penetrated New Mexico, and emigrants of a better class are flocking there from all parts of the country." To the Chief-Justice's list of civiHzations should be added two more — the tribal Indians, of whom there are two distinct races—- tlie Apaches, of three or four distinct bands, the Jicarillas, Mes- caleros and Hot Spring Apaches, who occupy Southern and Southeastern New Mexico, and are, without exception, the meanest, filthiest, most treacherous, murderous and degraded of all the Indian tribes ; and the Navajoes, in the northwest of the Teirritory, a tribe of muK:k higher character, largely engaged in pastoral pursuits, owning nearly or quite a million sheep and large herds of catde. Th» tribes whose reservation is partly in New Mexico and partly in Ariaona, are possibly of kindred race with the Pueblo Indians ; they h^ve been badly treated by the whites, but are greatly superior to any of the other nomadic tribes of the West, and give good ground tp hope that they may yet be civilized! There were, in 1870, iiJSSQ Navajoes, and 1,977 Apacn6s m the rerntory..^ ^ , Counties and Principal Toitms. — There are twelve counties in the> Territory,, viz. : Taosy > haTing) ' in ^ i<^i^ i%o^ff inhabitiints ; Colfax, 4,290; Mora, 11,475; R'O Arriba, 12,000; Ber-rtaliik>» 19^- 595,; Santa .F6,. 134355 V Sdn^MjguoI, 1-6,175:; Valencia, 10,035 ; Lincoln, 4,4505 StocornDt, j6>22q ; Gran(li, ^^00; Dofia Ana, 7,430* ¥he popul^tioa nii aU these cases is ekclusvve of Indians. Of .m ."SSK®s»ii^#&Sfe*i-a*ift*-^'l*i 1088 OUR WESTERN EJUI'IRB. these counties Bernalillo, Valencia, Santa Fd and San Miguel are of the most irregular and peculiar shape, Bernalillo and Valencia having portions entirely detached and separated by other coun- ties *"roni their larger sections. The other counties are of com- paratively regular form. I . ' Of the towns Santa Fe, the capital and oldest city, has about 6,500 inhabitants ; Albuquerque, about 5,000 ; Las Vegas, Me- silla and Silver City, from 3,000 to 4.000 each ; Cimarron, Las Cruces, Mora, Placita, Fernando de Taos, Ocate, Tome and San Marcial, growing towns, each of 1,000 or more inhabitants. Edvcation is at a low ebb in New Mexico. The Territory being under the control of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, which largely outnumbers all other denominations in its adherent popu- lation, the public school education has been wholly usurped by them, and the public funds for school purposes are entirely ex- pended by them upon their own schools. Governor Lew Wal- lace, in his report to the Secretary of the Interior, September, 1879, gives the following as the latest report concerning education in the Territory : . i*'The lands set apart for public schools in New Mexico are in very liberal quantity ; nothing, however, has been done to make them available. - / wa iu. " ' "In 1 87 1 the legislature passed ^ act establishing a common school system, for the support of which there were set apart not only the poll-tax and a quarter of all other taxes, but a certain surplus in the various county treasuries. Four years afterwards eight of the twelve counties reported : .(H 1 >, I > ■ f I. • I , ,. .iii.i; " 'I 'i.:.iMiJ ',.' •Hi./ vn: i.t i'tya '> '...''.'" .':(-'' , Schools . . .. . .,< , •. « • • t..« . 138 • 1 ) Pupils in attendance .'.......... i 5,151 : '• , Teachers (male and female) , , . . 4,^ ^ Wages of teachers per month, |i6 to I40. ■;f.' :. "The amount of ac^iool moneys raised by tax in 1874 was $28,523.34. .:-'i:i ,■ :'>!^ " Education is chiefly in the Spanish language. In Grant and Colfax counties the English is the prevailing tonjgue. ■ n > mi-.i il^In addition to the above there aze twenty-six private and! Miguel are 111 Valencia other coun- are of com- r, has about Vegas, Me- narron, Las me and San )itants. ■e Territory archy, which lerent popu- usurped by I entirely ex- ir Lew Wal- , September, ng education dexico are in lone to make . -: ii. 'i- V'- ig a common set apart not but a certain rs afterwards 138 47 in 1874 was In Grant aod e. c private and HELtGION AND MORALS. 1089 parochial schools, in the greater portion of which the common and higher branches are taught. In some instances (jcrman and French, and the classics add music, have place in the course of instruction." Religion and Morals. — As we have already said, Roman Catholicism is supreme in New Mexico. In 1874 there were 198 church organizations and 170 church edifices, belonging to the Roman Catholics, many of the latter being costly buildings, against ten organizations and nine church edifices of all other denominations, and the proportion is about the same to-day. The Territory, while a Mexican State, was, of course, under exclu- sively Roman Catholic jurisdiction, and so far as the great mass of the people are concerned, especially the Mexicans and Pueblo Indians, it is so to-day. Unfortunately the Catholicism of the Territory is the Catholicism of the middle ages, and not that of the nineteenth century, aggressive, imperious, arrogant and exclusive, while it is also illiterate and with few exceptions grossly immoral. Its priests are to a lamentable extent literally the fathers of their flocks ; and illegitimacy is as common and as little regarded as it was on the continent of Europe three hun- dred or four hundred years ago. This scandal became so gross a few years since that the archbishop banished all the priests (who were of Spanish or Hispano-American birth) from the Territory, and supplied their places with priests from France and Belgium ; but it is said that the time has come for another expatriation. There is some reason to hope that a portion of the large Immigration now flowing into the Territory may be of a better class, and ihat purer morals and better educational facilities may soon prevail. • ! Historical Data. — New Mexico was first heard of in Europe in 1530 as the Kingdom of Cibola, from whence the Mexican rulers obtained their gold and precious gems. It was reached in 1540 by Coronado, but did not come fully under Spanish domination until near the close of the sixteenth century. The foreigners were well received at first, but they soon became obnoxious to the people. The religious and civil authorities were alike greedy for gold, and the gold mines were made to <59 •■.■iii^ilteAis&fvSii^iriiisti&fia^ k\ lOt/O OUX WESTERN EMPIRE. yield immense sums to the church and the nilcri^ by tiv: enslav- ing of the natives, and the practice of the most atrocious cruelties upon them. The cathedral of Santi Ft* alone received from one mine ;ji i o,cxx>,ooo. At last, exasperated beyond endurance, the long-suffering natives rose in rebellion in i68o and expelled the Spaniards, but only succeeded in keeping them out for thirteen years. During this time every mine in the country was filled up. Peace was made on condition tliat there should be no more slavery and no more mining. From that time until 1846, when the American army took possession of the Territory, the history of New Mexico is almost a blank; things went on the same from generation to generation. The governors of New Mexico were |>racticaUy independent by their isolation ; and the revolution which threw oft" the Spanish yoke from Mexico made very little difference with this remote State. In 1846 General Kearney cap- tured Santa Fe, and overran the entire Territory, which was ceded to the United States two years later under the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. The land south of the Gila was obtained in 1853 by purcliase from Mexico, and in 1854 New Mexico con- tained, besides the region within its present limits, the whole of Arizona and portions of Nevada and Colorado. So much of the country east of the Rocky Mountains as lies between the thirty- seventh and thirty-eighth parallels was annexed to Colorado in February, 1861, and, two years later, Arizona was set ot£ Sev- eral attempts have been made to secure the admission of New Mexico to the Federal Union, but so far witliout success. A bill for that purpose was presented to the Forty-third Congress in March, 1875, but faikd to become a law. Uivtil it <:an come in as a State having a republican form of government and not binder the coatfol of a religious hierarchy and »n established church, it is to be hoped that all futui^e applications will prove equally unsuccessful. But the vast tide of immigration now flowing into the Territory, and which is likely to be still larger, wiU soon effect such changes that its reception into the Union will be botli proper and desirable. Conclusion. — There is no use in counselling immigrants to avoid d^ region so rich in mineral wealth, or so w^ adapted to pastoral % OMEGON—SOi'MD^KihS, 1091 tlic enslav- U8 criuUif s d from one urunce. the xpellt'cl the for thirteen was filled b'i no more 1846, when the history same from ilexico were revolution le very little earney cap- which was le treaty of vas obtained Mexico con- :h€ whole of much of the in the thirty- Colorado in et ot£ Sev- a\on of New cess. A bill Congress in <:an come in etit and not \ established js will prove gration now e still larger, ;> the UnioQ aats to avoid d to pastoral pursuits, as New Mexico; but there is a sufficiency of these advantages to last for several years to come ; and the immigrant who delays until the Indian troubles arc fully settled, and the country, and its railways and highways, its government, school« and religious advantages are more fully developed, will be wiser than those who, in their haste to be rich, rush in now, and find, as they will, that wealth is only to be purchased by great trials, privations and sacrifices. > CHAPTER XVII. . , QBEGON. Boundaries, Arka and Extent — Face or the Country— Mountains, Rivers, Lakes — The Valleys or Oreoon — The Willamette Vaixev — Umpqua Valley — Rogue River Valley— The Numerous Valj-eys of Eastern QreiCOn — The Elevated Pi.*i?4S of Middle and Central Oregon— Mr. Tolman's Description of Eastern Oregon— Soil and Vegetation — Fer- tility OF THE Soil — The Great Wheat Valleys of Eastern Oregon — Forest Growths— Great Size of Forest Trees— Water Supply— Climate AND Rainfall or different Sections — Meteorological Tadle or Port- land, Roseburg, Umatilla, Astoria, and Corvallis— Geology and Min- eral Wealth— Fossils— Gold and Silver — Lead ^nd Copper — Iron and Coal— Excellence of the Coal — Zp6iX)GY — Oregon Fishfs— Agricul- TtniAL AND Pi^STORAL PRODUCTS — TaBLE OF CrOPS AND LiVE-STOCK— FISH- ERIES — The Salmon Trade — Timber and Lumber Production and Exports — Wheat and Flour Exports — Wool — Total Exports — MANurACTURB^i — Labor — Wages— Price of Lanp ajh>P Facilities fqih Obtaining it-^ ItAILROAPS AWP RlVE^l NAVIGATION- FINANCES— EducaTJONAL FaCIHT'ES — Higher a^id Special Epucation— Population — Table — Characteristics OF the Population — Indian Reservations and Tribal Indians — Counties AND Principal Cities and Towns — Religious Denominations — Historical Data — The Title op the United Statu to Oregon. . . > i / Oregow is one of the States of " Our Western ^jcnpire," situ- ated on tlie Pacific slope, and.ei^cept Washington Teirritpry, ^s the most northwestenly of the States and Territories C9py>ris?d wi^hio tlie limits assigned to that "Empire." It is betyv^ep tj;^ parallels lof 42' and 46" 18' nprth latitude, and betiiveen tfee meridians of 1 1 It'.i&v £«(l«5i*^.'^--^V;vii-0.-4f *■*»■' ii IQQ2 f^VIt ^VESTERf^ EMPIRK. 1 1*^" I'S ^"^ '*4" '5' ^^^^ lonjfitude from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by Washinfjton Territory, the Columbia river forming the boundary to the point where that river crosses the parallel of 46** and the boundary running thence eastward, along that parallel, to the Snake river ; on the east it is bounded by Idaho Territory, the Snake river forming the boundary to the mouth of the Owyhee, and thence a line drawn due south along the meridian of 116° 50' west longitude to the Nevada line ; on the south it is bounded by Nevada and California, the parallel of 42° forming the boundary line ; en the west its shores arc washed by the Pacific Ocean. Its greatest width from east to west is 360 miles, and from north to south 275 miles; while its coast line is about 300 miles. Its area is 95,274 square miles, or 60,975,360 acres. It is a litde larger than the two States of New York and Pennsylvania. Face of the Country. — ^The principal mountains of Oregon, those having the highest summits, are the Cascade Mountains, a continuation of the Sierra Nevada of California, which stretch across the State from north to south, at an average distance of about 1 10 miles from the coast of the Pacific. Numcous barren snow-capped peaks of volcanic origin rise from them to great heights within the limits of Oregon, of which the most elevated are Mount Hood (i 1,025 feet), Mounts Jefiferson, Thielsen, Scott, Pitt and the Three Sisters. The Cascade Range divides Oregon into two distinct sections, known as Eastern and Western Ore- gon. Of these the former contains by far the most territory, but the latter is far more advanced in settlement ; and within its natural boundaries, that is, between the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific coast, more than seven-tenths of the present population of the State are living. Another chain of mountains, the soii£!:-<^ifK'i'ii^~^t'tiiiii^':C'i^'V^ |0»^ OUK nmSTER/^ KMfflfK. Th«' prinf Ipal valVys of Wfstrrn Orfjjon an- thonr of the Wit- Iftfti'-ttfi, Ump<|ur» and Rogup rivers, each of which desrrvrn jiar- ticular mrntioh. The Willam«'tte valley is by far the largest, and in rvry re- spi'ct the most attractive. It has been appropriately nanned "the grarden of the Northwest." None of the famous valWys of the Old or New World, not even that of the Nile, or the Sacramento, ftan Joaquin or Santa Clara valleys of California, surpass it in fertility or salubrity. In beauty of scenery jts equal is not to be found anywhere. The Hon. .Schuyler Colfax, late Vice-Presi- dent of the United States, who visited it some years since, enthu- siastically pronounced it "as charming a landscape as ever painter's hand placed upon canvas." It is about 150 miles in length, from thirty to sixty miles in width, and contains within its natural boundaries — viz. : the Columbia river on the north, the Cascade Mountains on the east, the Coast Range on the w«!st, and the Callapoia Mountains on the south — about 5,000,000 acres of unusual productiveness, of Which only a part is as yet under cultivation. It is well watered throughout by the Willamette river and its tributaries. This valley was the first portion of Oregon to be settled, and will always be the Eden of the Pacific. A few years ago it contained two-thirds of the population of Or- egon, but within the past decade other portions of the State have been Wpidly settlihg up, and its population, though large and permanent, does not htAv as large a propol-tion to the whole as formerly. The Umpqua valley lies to the south of the Callapoid Moun- tains, and is watered by the Uhipqua rivet- and its tributaries. Jts eastern boundary is forhied by the Cascade Mdunt&ins, its western by the Coast Range, and its southern by the GraVe Creek Range. It contains about 2,5oo;ooo acres. To the south of the chain of mountains last n&med lies the Valley of Rogue River, whictt has the same bbUhdwries to the east and west as the two other valleys described, and is bOUhdiecl on the south by the SiskiyOu Moiihtiin, Urhich sepai'ateS It from California. Its il*ea is about 2,400,000 acres. There are sev- eral other smaller but fertile valleys, the bottom lands of the numerous small streams which fall into the Pacific. MR. TOLMAN ON NOHrNRAHTRRN ORKGCN, «y the Grave rtled lies the ciwries to the d id bounded ii'ateS It fVoin here are sev- lands of the Middle Oregon has no great agricultural vallryu, the region between the Cascade Range and ihr western spur of the BluQ Mountains being almost wholly (omposed of high rolling pla« teaiix, and the DeM Chut(!s river, as its name im[)li(-s, (lows through deep and narrow canons, with numerous lapids and cataracts. At the sourcen of the Des Chutes there is an exten- sive sage desert, hut the sage after being touchtrd with the frost is very much liked by cattle, and forms an excellent forage for them, so that the "Sage Desert" proves to be exriir|HMirt ix not »o gen- erally ^ootl on the «'lfvat«'(l platraux an went cf the Camailc MoiintainH; th courKCM. In some parts of tlxHt; iliHtrictt, artiliciul irrt^'Aiion hut to b*; ('mploycd tu nukr ilur h(nI produttiw, nnil with this stimuluH, they yitld nioiiDouH iropn. In l*'ast«'rn ( )r«'^'on, tl»r rivrr valUys an,* rit h, and in«)^t of the lami, (>v«n in thr upLuuU. is a stronjj alluvintn, produtin;; from thirty to sixty biiAhcU of wh<'at, a like proportion of other grains, ami imntrnnt: root cropit. Thcnc* lands are new, and their pro- ductivcncH!^ I>us not Ixien known until within the past five years. The CaHcadu MountaiiiH, thr Coast Kan^^c, and the* Callapoia Mountatnii, as well an a lar^'c part of the vallcyH of Western Orcjfon, are covered with nu^hty forests, affordinj^ an inex- hauHtible supply of hard and soft tirnlnir. In the valleys different kinds of ash, oak, maple, balm and alder, as well as fir, cedar, ipruce, pine and yew, grow in threat abundance. In the foot- hills Hcatterin^r oaks and 6rs, with a thick second growth in many placu!!, are found. The mountains are mostly covered with thick growths of tall hr, pine, spruce, hemlock, cedar larch ami laurel, without much undergrowth. Two kinds of cedar, '.wo of fir, and three of pine, are imligenous to Oregon. Trees attain an unusu- ally Ane development, both as regards height and symmetrical form. In the northern part of the State th<: red fir abounds, and often meanures two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet in height, with trunks nine feet In diameter, clear of branchi-s up for one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet. Out of such trees eighteen rail-cuts have been made, and five thousand to ten thousand Tcet of lumber. I^lder stalks from eighteen to thirty inches in circ »mfercnce, hazel bushes from one to five inches in diameter, ftn: of common occurrence. Lumber is cut from elder saw-logs moAsuring tweniy to thiity inches in diameter. In the forests soudi of tlte Umpqua the yellow pine is found, as also an ■ibundanoe of sugar pine, the wood of which is in great demand. onacoN r^trvMM f,4iiM. I«09 afforU the 14 y. cereali. not »u ^en« II* Caniiiile »n^ waUir- i^atiun hut I will) tiiii do it of the m irij; Irom ithcr ^rainv, tl their pro- l tivr yi .irs. (■ Calla[)()ia of VVrstern \g un inex- eys different 15 fir, cedar, In the foot- Wth in many ■d with thick 1 and laurel, iTO uf fir, and in an unusu- symmetrical ibounds, and fifty feet in branches up Out of such usand to ten ;cn to thirty ive inches in It from elder L^ter. In the d, as also an eat demand. For f«>mm«*rclA) ami initit<«(Hal |Mir(»oh thi* Inter Niimmcr timl autumn. Onr •.\ct*' of thin nitturni paitun- will frrd y sh; lan»U are found in Nfiddli* and MaM^rrn and e«|>ecially Southcastrrn Orr^^on. 'rh'-rc an- a [^r^M variety of natlv** ;;raHH» sof thr most nutritioun chara^ttT In this vast puMturr jrroun«l, which compriMS ahout thirty-thr«M' niillion a* r;h r«'putation on the i'ai ific coast. IViitit SMf>f>/y. — VV«stern Oregon, with its immense annual rainfall, its streams \rA from the* snow on the '.ascatU Moun- tain«i, and the moist breezes swept in from the Pacific, is in no want of water. Lakes, |>onds, and fine sprin^'R abound. In Middle ()rej.jon, on the elevati'd plains, there \% sometimes a scarcity, and occasionally irrijjation is necessary, but the facilities for this are so amj)le, the cost of irrijjation is so moderate, and the h "lults produced by it so vast and profitable, that irri^'ation is not .1 drawback to the cultivation of these lands. In Kastern Oretjrtfi the rainfall, though less copious than in the western portion of the State, is sufficiently so for all practical purposes, and the l>(>autiful valleys there do not suffer from drouj^'ht. ^//>w Middle Oregon has a more equable climate and a moderate rainfall, but on its elevated plateaux both the cold and the heat are felt all the more keenly, that there is no kindly forest to .shelter and protect the traveller from the hot rays of the sun, or the biting cold of the winter winds. Rheumatic and pulmonary diseases are excessively rare in all parts of Oregon. There are in some of the lowlands near rivers and lakes in Southern Oregon occasional sporadic cases of a mild intermittent fever, but they are never severe enough to be serious, and they yield rapidly to treatment. Some of the small towns on the Pacific, like Astoria, Port Orford and Umpqua City, have a much greater rainfall than the towns of the Willamette valley. In these towns, in the past, the annual rainfall has reached sixty- four, sixty-six, or sixty-seven inches, but the Coast Range robs the weeping clouds of the skies of the coast of a part of their superabundant moisture. According to the census of 1870, the death-rate in Oregon iw lower than in any other State or Territory in the Union, except- ing Idaho, being only .69 per cent, of the population : while in California it is 1.16; in Vermont, 1.07; Massachusetts, 1.77; Indiana, 1.05; Illinois, 1.33; Kansas, 1.25; and Missouri, 1.63. The equable temperature, the absence of high, cold winds and sudden atmospheric changes, render people less subject to bronchial, rheumatic and inflammatory complaints than in other parts of the country, where the extremes of heat and cold are ■IH CLIMATES OF OR EG OK. IIOI same as at der-storms disastrous ly so. ily smaiUr ower tcm- rcspects to gh in gen- climate is )t interfere s of wheat a moderate id the heat ly forest to the sun, or f rare in all near rivers es of a mild ) be serious, small towns City, have a lette valley, ached sixty- Range robs )art of their n Oregon ii". lion, except- n : while in isetta, 1.77 ; souri, 1.63. d winds and subject to lian in other nd cold are greater, and the changes of temperature more sudden and violent. We give on page 1102 the meteorology of Portland, Oregon, representing the northwest region of the State ; of Roseburg, rep- resenting the southwest, and of Umatilla, on the Columbia, in the northeast. We have no reports f n m the southeast, but only know from the correspondence of those who have lived there, that the climate has very much the same characteristics as that of Eastern Oregon generally. We give also the average tem- perature and rainfall of Astoria and Corvallis, representing the extreme northwest, at the mouth of the Columbia, and Western Central Oregon in the Willamette valley. PorUand,?i\ ^ragG temperature of five years: Spring, 51° 9'; summer, 65" 3'; autumn, 52" 8'; winter, 40° i . Annual rainfall for five years: 43.41; 53.12; 43.69; 41-45; 4770- Astoria, latitude, 46° 17'; longitude, 123° 50'. Mean tempera- ture for ten years: Spring, 51° 16'; summer, 61° 36'; autumn, 53° 55'; winter, 42" 43'; year, 52" 13'. Annual rainfall, 60 to 67 inches. Corvallis, latitude, 44° 35'; longitude, 123° 08'. Mean temper- ature for ten years: Spring, 52° 17'; summer, 67° 13'; autumn, 53** 41'; winter, 39" 27'; year, 53°. Annual rainfall, 38.47 to 42.08 inches. Geology and Mineralogy. — Much of the area of Oregon has been subjected to volcanic action on a grand scale, and in Eastern Oregon this has been comparatively recent (though probably not within the historic period), and on the most stupendous scale. The Coast Range and the Blue Mountains and their spurs are both eozoic; the intermediate Cascade Range is volcanic in its surface rocks, with indications that these metamorphic rocks were originally limestones and sandstones. The volcanic action in Eastern Oregon was so violent as to leave deep fissures or cafions where the rocks were rent. Some of these caAons are 1 ,500 feet deep, and on their perpendicular walls there is a record of the order of the geologic strata rarely accessible elsewhere. Near the bottom of the fissure are the cretaceous beds, abound- ing in marine shells, preserved in perfect form, but often filled "*^m -^^mmm^^BuM. :->u,av(v • Ji 1 103 OVR WESTERN f.MPJHE' ■;j| p » I 9 b 9 211 t4 hi it ^' !« w *■ " I in w ,« ui "_ 3 I *' i w' » J fl E ' <* J J Si O ^ ^ lA (/> i » I ? 8' s «^ y ih #h IS rh •IJ • ^ » > r uti ^ 1/i ifl <« ifi je_ !» »' »' »' »' »' In In fn ft **»•*' "• '="1 ji 1, ?= ?rii2- ^"^ j S4 5 i -uiiiM |«nuvv fiuf J|i|>uow 'un)U9dui»x uinuijuji^ !>, S ? "R B. "ft e M ri d o* J5 ft ♦ 9» oi r I" r " « s a "ft <» » t tA ift m «n •i i * % i 4 u 'uniuaduii.i, 'ajnicj.idiusj. r« ts M r^ 00 2 M ? 8 T 1 § m lA <*t ♦ S -ft £ jr « » j; ^ .ff c ^ i .12 in 'J3I3IVQMH •XjipimnH "WW iiu U|«M |«nuuv iXi 'uniuiduiax ainisiadyiaj, lUni«!U|H ^ g~TTTT )n **>?*> fo *T> ft » ^ r 5 f ? «• ft !i, ?-, ?n ft ft ft << .S .Id 4P i % ^ ^ £ e R P «. .i 5» ■2 "^ 8" *i m to li ♦ 00 's.miaiad 1113,1, uinuijxci^ 'aimu3duia_t, I m!3|v \n *n 4n tn m U1 »ft tA m lA ° « -ft ? r* ♦ $ % $ 3- * % w ♦ % tft m in 1/) tn w» m Jj. % ¥ ft -8 t 1? s A ft ^ r* ^ tA m m *n tn (A m m " -» <* s 8 ii « £ "ft « 8 R r« * s> ^ s 1 M O k u ^ li 2 ^ 2 I -J4I31UCUI!(I •^piuinii •ir»j piM»A|mUO^ •S M fo f* In tn M S I ? "8 "S -8 ft i't ^i ^i ff> wi ft fO R g, K. ? .8 -8 R ^ ft g- ft ^ ft ft Li ^ ^ il "R (0 in (> ■i f. a g. 2> .8 "5 JO 3SU«}{ -ainiurrfuiax uinui{ui|\[ 'siniusdniaj, iunui!xe|y' ' 'unifiadivax UWff Of* O* ft "ft •? W f* *! ft K 5- 5- S "^ -ft 7 n .ft ? m ro m _M m y m ,TO Y ,t- A- i^ R- <8 Si in ^ IN ^ ,8 R -t: 4 i R 99 Q 00 ft » ■» 9. i ' it i, I ^ 09 • M « o tA V t 9 St N 1 m •i "» «o rr « « in m n d d m lA !? % ■ ^ 5, 1 r •0 •» 1 9 |4 ♦i. - 1 IP ^ 9 St i, % 8 f 1:1 ii ii: GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY OF OREGON. 1103 with I halccdony or calcareous spar ; next above, the lower ter- tiary strata, with leaf impressions of great trees — of palms, yews and giant ferns, as well as of the oak leaf and acorn ; with tJiese are associated fossils of two species of rhinoceros, four of the oredon, a connecting link between the camel and tapir, and sev- eral genera of the tapir and peccary families ; and with them the orokippus. Upon these lower tertiary strata supervenes the period of volcanic action, with a vast overflow of lava, mud and ashes. The region thus rent is heaved elsewhere into isolated cone-like hills, or ridged with secondary rocks, thrown up dike- fashion, their strata contorted into sharp angles or broken into chasms filled with earth or lava. Here are mountains of amyg- daloid, heaps of volcanic conglomerate, and cliffs of columnar basalt walling in the water-courses. In the region of the upper Dos Chutes and John Day rivers, the volcanic action is less marked, and here the cretaceous formation approaches the sur- face. The whole of the Cascade Range in the State givca evi- dence of volcanic action, and this extends westward into the Wil- lamette valley. The bed of the Willamette river near its mouth lis partially basaltic, with perpendicular walls ; south of Oregon City it traverses a district of volcanic debris, and black trap is frequently exposed on its banks. Southward of this occur thin strata of limestone, widi fossil bivalvular shells, granite in situ, and again basalt. The prevalent rock of the Willamette valley is trap, wliile at the head of the valley a light-colored clayey sand- stone, possibly tertiary, is found. The fossil teeth and tusks of elepha'&<*-'V,. '--.*-: ii 1104 OUR Wr.STFR.V EMPIRE. many millions of the precious metal. In Baker county, espe- cially in the vicinity of Baker City, jjold mining is carried on very actively at this time, and with pood results. On the ocean beach, near Coos bay, placer mines are worked to a considerable extent. Rich gold quartz lodes have been discovered and partially worked in the southern part of the Cascade Moi'ntains; but their dis- tance from railroads, and the want of machinery for working them, has, until now, prevented their development on a scale commensurate with their richness. Were the same amount of capital, enterprise and trained skill brought to bear upon the gold mines of Oregon, that is now again increasing the gold product of California at a rapid rate, after years of decline, the former State would not be far behind the latter in the production of precious metals. The yearly gold product of Oregon repre- sents now a value of nearly $i,5oo,cxx). Lead and copper have been found in large quantities in Jack- son, Josephine and Douglas counties, on Cow creek, a tributary of the Umpqua, and also on the Santiam river. The mines on the latter river are successfully worked. < Large deposits of rich iron ore exist in nearly every part of the State. The most i^iportant of these is situated near Oswego, on the Willamette, about six miles south of Portland. The ore from it yields about fifty-four per cent, of pure iron. Other ex- tensive deposits exist in the counties of Columbia, Tillamook, Marion, Clackamas, Jackson and Coos. A large bed of ore has been found at St. Helen's, on the Columbia. ' . ;. That essential element in the development of mineral resources, coal, abounds in Oregon no less than iron. Beds of great thick- ness exist on Coos bay, in Coos county, on the northern Umpqua, and in Douglas county. Beds, as yet but partially explored, have been found on Yaquina bay, at Port Orford, near St Helen's, oi Pass creek, and on the line of the Oregon and California Rail- road, and at different other points in Clackamas, Clatsop and Tillamook counties. But only a few of these coa! .^ines are regularly worked. The Coos bay mines keep a fleet of schooners busy carrying coal to San Francisco, where it is highly esteemed, and brings about |^i i a ton. With the exception of that obtained ■f '4M»-M«.rl*WUNM>Pf schooners y esteemed, bat obtained from the Queen Charlotte Islands, it is the best coal produced on the Pacific coast. What, with the abundance of coal and the immense beds of iron ore, the day cannoi be far distant when Oregon will have a well-developed iron industry. There are also quarries of limestone, brown stone and marble in the State. Of the present outlook for gold and silver mining in the State, the Surveyor-General, Hon. James C. Tolman, says in his report of August, 1879: " The mining interests of Oregon are assuming an importance and permanent assurance of profit not heretofore exhibited. Gravel mining is being extensively prosecuted in some district? with the aid of the most approved and extensive machinery, although the past year only has been witness to their general in- troduction. A new era has undoubtedly dawned upon that in- dustry in this State. The existence in Southern and Middle Eastern Oregon of immense deposits of auriferous gravel has long been l^nown; but prospectors and men seeking only shallow surface diggings in connection with water do not generally have the capital and enterprise necessary to prosecute hydraulic mining of the modern kinds. Within the pasf two or thre-? years capital has been attracted to these deposits, wherein in two counties of Sourhern Oregon alone I am credibly informed that many hun- dreds of thousands of dollars have been expended in opening up claims — in the constructing of ditches and arrangement of ma- chinery principally. Much labor and time, as well as money, is required to develop and put in paying order any of these claims, and although numbers of them are now in working order, few or none of them have yet been sufficiendy tested to develop their real worth. A full ' clean up ' is the only fair test of value, even after months of labor and many thousands of dollars of expen- diture. ' ' '" " This must be ranked mainly as an agricultural State, though mining is, and will indefinitely continue to be, a large factor in the sum of our productions, both in gravel and quartz mining. Our people have never been subjected to the emotional risks 70 '^^m^mmmimMmimim^^ ^j.'.}^«v'&'- iio6 OUR tVKSTF.A'JV EMP/RE. occasioned by stock Ixiartls and wild cat speciilatioiiH which have swtpt other tr-'ninj^ regions, and are thus more tUsposcd towei{fh the chances of profit in an> enterprise offerinjj inducements. Hence our mining interests have lagged, only to hkt placed upon a profitable basis when undertaken at all. " The quartz mining of this district has also attracted a re- newed share of attention. Heretofore, with but few exceptions, this class of mining has been lightly employed, and has yieldtd but small returns, for precisely the reasons which have been offered in regard to the small effort expended in placers. Some wonderfully rich deposits were discovered many years ago, and were worked with immense profit. Notable among them were the Gold Hill and Steamboat or Fowler lands, in Jackson and Josephine counties respectively. From tliese, by the ordinary processes then in use, several hundred thousands of dollars were taken from the surface rock alone in the space of a few months. In one instance, from the Gold Hill ledge, one gendeman secured a trifle over i,6oo pounds of surface rock, from which he took $30,0(X). When these surface deposits were exhausted (nearly twenty years ago) by crushing in ' arastras ' and other almost equally primitive methods, and the serious and expensive work of sinking si. ifts, driving tunnels, etc., began, those mines were abandoned and have lain idle till diis day, with the exception of an effort now being made to resume work on the Steamboat. "In Eastern Oregon quartz mining has been steadily followed, in a small way, by gentlemen of limited means, for a number of years, yielding fair returns where effort merited reward. Several small mills are now in operation there, and prospecting is pushed with consideraWe vigor. I have no data as to average yield, but am assured that it has been uniformly satisfactory. The general outlook, however, is better now in regard to mining than it has been before for many years. In the course of time I believe this State, to the extent of its mining area, will rank with the most favored mining localities of the coiist Given the mines, and we certainly possess facilities unsurpassed by any region — cheap fuel and labor, abundance of water and plenty of all kinds of pro- visions, aU easily obtained." TObLOCY AND I.IVP. STOCK. s which have )St'cl to wt'ijrh iiKlucemcnts. {placed upon tractecl a re- w exceptions, has vicldtil :h have been actrs. Some ears ago, and ig them were Jackson and the ordinary f dollars were a few months, eman secured vhich he took lusted (nearly other almost tpensive work se mines were the exception he Steamboat, tadily followed, r a number of vard. Several :ting is pushed irage yield, but . The general ng than it has e I believe this with the most mines, and we on — cheap fuel kinds of pro- r ( .' li.l > I 107 Zoiilogy. — The beasts of prt-y an; identical with those of Cali- fornia ; the griz/ly bear, black and rinnanion bears, the roiigar, or pantlur, and several of the sinalleryc'////r/'. \\\v. catamount, lynx and ocelot, the fisher, otter, marten, mink and beaver, st;veral species of fox, the gray wolf, possibly the rac( oon ; and of game animals, elk, deer of two species, antt.'lop*', bighorn, or Rocky Mountain sheep, rabbits and hares, including the jackass rabbit, and two or three hares found only on the Pacific coast ; all the rodents of the coast ; and of game birds, wild swans, wild geese and ducks of many species, phcasonts, sage hens and other grouse, quail and snipe of extraordinary si/e, and a great variety of song birds and birds of prey. The waters of Oregon abound in fish of great delicacy and economic value. There are six or seven species of salmon native to the coast ; and the Eastern salmon and lake salmon have been introduced. The salmon forms an important item in the products of the State. Trout of great size and excellence are found in the streams ; sturgeon, tom cod, flounders and other edible fish are abundant. The shad and black and sea bass have been introduced. Most of the edible shell fish are found in great abundance on the coast. The following table shotos the estimated number and value of live-stock in January, 1879, and January, 1880 .• 1879. Ahimaui. Hortc* MuIm and assc* Mileh cowii Oxen and other cattle Shui'p Swine ToiaU. Numtnr. io9,7cx] 113, 4CO ■88,300 ,160,6 >U Ml, 900 Av. Prin. ' Value. 50.05 <5.49c.4S5 '291 ■ 8.s< •78.185 9,086,144 U.15 1.387,845 '57 1,839,149 3«9 70T,66i •i I>9i579,669 I iSto. AmMAU. Numbtr. Av. Price. Value. Heirvct 117,400 Mule« and iMcn 3.A00 M.lcli cows 191,399 Uxcn and other cattle. 901,500* Sheep 1,365,054 i^ine u'o.s57 »6>« 5> 3" 19.10 14.60 165 3-45 <7,9 11,889 184,680 9,318.587 9,941,900 9,"87,339 788,3111 Total* ;, ,|i5.$3>>M> The real increase in the grain crops and in cattle and sheep is considerably greater than our tables would indicate. Fisheries. — The canning and pickling of salmon mainly at the mouth of the Columbia river is becoming an immense industry. It had not attained any great proportions until 1872, in which year M * Probably much below the actual number. ':^i^^&'m^g^:^M4iiii^''^if-'---i^'£>^- iioS OUK WRSTKHN EMPIRE. i. :| ...I o 00 I it ^ s 6 i t \ D s (Ml Ml 'punud '(n^mq uA aafi,! diM} I^MM U| Mja* JO 0||( ■MM imi ml dMaAV fl \W\ 5 1^ I \^\A I ^ I I '■Ol JO 'punod '|M|tnq jsd MfJ^ dai3 l(3«4 Ul MJ3* fi '0||( ■MM j*4 p|*|X •twMy a uo) JO 'punod 'pqmq J*d K>|Jd 'dO'3 l(3«* U| ■ai3« JO 'Ofl ■•I3* jad p|»|< •!«•*¥ a I » < « ' a 6 I « FIT t "as-'* 8 »««*»•? I J 5. X 9. I « • « r s t i % \ % % * \ \ \ !^ 8 i i!^ 7 S <; « lO J ^ I i T/VBKK .4Xn OTHI tf PKOlU'Cr/OXS 1109 1 Hi i i70,0fX) salmon, wrijjhinjj jjoo.cxx) pounds, and wlun lannrtl valiH'd at f4p,cxx), wrrrcaniwd and fX|K)rti-d,;md i62.50«)|»ic kli-d fisb valiM'd at f\ 1 7,ofxx In 1S7 ^ thr <'xj)(»rt val>u' of th«* caimfd salmon was f,()^q,ooo\ in 1H74, fi,5cxMXK); in 1S75 it was nearly f 2, 000.000; in 1876, ]fl2,2i S'^'x^ : i" '877. fa, 300,000; in 1878,52,920,000; In 1879 over 5V2oo.o; and it is Iwlirvccl that it will n-ach 54.000.000 in 18S0. Hut for thr larj^c salmon trade in Pujrit sound, and in Alaska, it would \\a\v attained even lar^jer [)roportions. The Timber and Tumber Trade. — The ma}j;nificent forests of Orej^on supply an immense amount of timber and lumhrr for San I'Vancisco and other California ports, and also for the Mexi- can and South American markets. For ship-building', mine- timberinjTf and house-building, as well as for the choicest furni- ture, the Oregon woods arc the best in the world. Over 100,- 000,000 ft:ct of lumber and timber were exported in 1875, and the amount has greatly increased since that time. In 1877 the value of the exported lumber was set down as 5510.000. It has greatly increased since, and the home demand, with the rapid increase of immigration, is larger than of the foreign. Wheat and Flour. — The exports of wheat in 1880 will probably exceed 59>ooo>ooo> *^c larger part being from the Upper Columbia and the rich valleys of Eastern Oregon. In 1877-78, seventy-»ix large vessels were loaded with wheat from Portland, of which seventy-four sailed direct for Gnat Britain. Oregon flour has a very high reputation, and was exported in 1877 to the amount of 52,500,000. Wool is also largely exported, and about 1,500,000 pounds manufactured in the State. The wool clip of 1878 was over 6,000,000 pounds, and that of 1879 nearly 7,500,000 pounds. The total exports of the State in 1877 were 516,086,897, and were increasing at the rate of four or five million dollars a year. Manufactures. — The leading manufactures of the State are lumber, flour, of which we have already spoken ; woollen goods, especially fancy cassimeres and blankets, which bear the highest reputation, and bring the best prices of any in the market; dressed .i^CfeSawweajK mo OUM WKSTKUff KMtfJfK. o (lax liiK'ii ^(xhIh, and linMctnl oil, leather, and rspecially liarnrn«i leather uf cxi'vllcnt quality, iron lurnaccv ami foundritrH, and ntanufactoricH ol irun and tintu:d ^'ooiis, wuodcn ware, a^riiid- tiir.d iiiiplenu'nts, Initter, dried and canninl Iruit, and irtiit juicrs ul remarkable extellence, ttirniturc .iiul paper. In 1H70 the manufactureil pruduciH ut the year were valued at $6,877,387. In i88u they will exceed ;^70,ocx},ooo. Labor, Wa^i'i, — Cuinniun laborerH earn %i\ mechanic^ %\^ t %^\ farm-hands, from 535 to 1(^30 a month, and found. Farm- laborers, and (;s[>ecially tcmalc servants, are in )^ood dcm.iml, The latter earn as hi^h wa^es as in California. I'ersons with some mean.s aiul a knowledge of farming or a mechanical trade can easily establish themselves, and, with frugality and industry, act^uirc a competency in a few years. RiUing Prices. — I'or the past three years wheat in bulk in Portland has ru)){ed from 80 cents to $1.25 per bushel ; oats, 50 cents; potatoes, 50 cents to 75 cents; apples, 50 cents; corn, %\\ riax, %2\ onions, $1.50; j^^od average farm-horses, $100 each ; oxen, %\ 25 per yoke ; good average milch cows, $25 ; sheep, ;f^3 per head ; wool, common-graded, 35 cents per pound ; beef on foot, 5 to 6 cents ; fresh pork, 7 cents. Price of Lcuui. — In the valley of the Willamette good brush and timber lands can be purchased for %7.lQ> per acre and up- wards, according; to soil and locality. All the prairie lands are, however, taken up, but can be bought at from %'6 to $50 an acre. Along the foot-hills, and near them, small tracts or farms can be purchased, with ample outside pasturage for extensive stock- farms. The Oregon and California Railroad Company, and the Northern Pacific Railway, have large grants of land from the United States Government, which they sell on very liberal condi- tions at the low prices of $1.25 to $7 per acre. The purchaser can pay cash, in which case he will be allowed a discount of ten per cent, on the purchase price, or can have ten years' time in which to make up the same by small annual payments, with interest at seven per cent, per annum. In this case the pur- chaser pays down one-tenth of the price. One year from the sale he pays seven per cent, interest on the remaining nine- KAII ROADH ASD Ktl'KK NAVtVAriON. nil .illy harn(*M ii)«lri(?M, uiul .irr, a^ritui- Iruit juiccH n 1870 the f6,877.387. innicH, %}, to tul. I'arm- Oil iIcid.ukI, Vrsons wiili anical tratjr nd industry, : in bulk in u:l : oats, 50 cents ; corn, lorscs, fioo ', $25 ; shefj), )oiind; beet good brusli acre and up- ric lands are, %^o an acre, farms can be nsive stock- any, and the nd from the liberal condi- le purchaser count of ten cars' time in /ments, with :ase the pur- ar from the aining nine- tenthfi of the prinrip.d. At thr rnti of thr nrrond yrar he payn onr tenth of the f>riii( ipal atul one yrar's int« rent on the re nuindf'r ; ami thr same at thr end of each smuHsivr yrar until all han been pai ii:i: \ i i-'i. \\ IIIJ OVM WHaTRKN BMriKK. } \ them ; no that thr railway in the only hupr for chrnp transport** tion from thtr Upper Columhiu. Ihc Northrrn Pacific will rvcntuully conHtruct a railway down thr north luink of the Coliimhia, and extend it to Portlaml, which in not on the Colundiia, but on the Willatnrttc, one of its largest trihiitarir*. Thr VViilanu-ttr i>« navi^Mhlr partly hy xLt kwatcr navigation for 13K miloH from itn nuxith. Hut thr VVillamctte vaiU-y in already trttverned by two railroadn, and is likely rre lonj{ to be ^'ridironed by one and possibly two more. The Orrj^on ami California Railroad, stariinj; from I*!ast Portland, extends Hotithward through the WillametH" an«l Umptiua valleyn to Kosebiir^', a distance of aoo miles. Its eventual terminus is to b** Keddin)^, in (.'alifornia, where it will connect with the Northern California Railway. The ()r<*j(on Central, startinj; from Portland, extends in a horseshoe curve to I iillsboro, and thence south to junction City, whence one branch g"*^'* 'o I'UIendale, across the Coast Ranj^e, and another to Luckiamute, with a probable future terminus at Harrisbiir^r, on the Orejjon ami California roail. 'Ihc Ore^'onian Railway Com- pany (limited), a Scottish company, has undertaken to construct two narrow jjauj^je railways, close to the mountains on either side of the Willamette valley, one to cross the Coast Ilanj^e and reach Yaquima Buy, an' 103,388 7>.379 I 13,087 .';3,i7o 86,929 108,324 163,087 207 128 346 4938 10,960 «,934l 3.330 3*4lo 9.508 ia,o8i 47.34» 79.3'3 >44.3»7 b. Ji; 1,913, 5,i»3 (»4.6 11,6001 73.3 30.6 30,440 78 .oj 163 1,511 4.4»7 I-- ^ n ,-sa o 4,533 4,923 16,988 15,707 29,400 123,959 44,o6i| 61,133 -I 5.6iT| iS,8o4' 38,6161 Oregon has been called the " New England of the Pacific Coast," and has probably a larger proportion of New England people in its population than any other of the Western States. Its people are thrifty, intelligent and moral. They have reared the church and the school-house in their villages, even while their own dwellings were of logs or sods, and have shown their New England origin by their early attention to higher institutions of learning. No one of the States of the far West has, in propor- tion to its population, so many colleges and collegiate schools ■Tribal Indians added, f A part of these Indians are in Washington Territory. % For decade. ' ■*«v^i»oT.-i— '.^^%*'-*^;?«M««-Mi*'*'ift'>i*>'Al*t,**^'."* ~-..'.=Mfe>.«K4^ ^. .....1/-I-* INDIAN RESERVATIONS AND TRIBAL INDIANS, 1115 opal Church wed with the rtment; Mc e; Philomath ted Brethren ege, at Mon- tion. These in the pre- their classes, St. Helen's hurch. ation of deaf 400 white in- Wpshington ivtli since that 11' 16,988 »9,ioo 44.06' Ot.lXJ •s » ^1 !l 5^ '52- 4.9»3 '5.7"? »3.959 ■lis!,}' a8,6i6i of the Pacific New England estern States. J have reared en while their i\'n their New institutions of las, in propor- egiate schools . X For decade. of high character, or imparts to the students so thorough training. Eastern Oregon, which is now receiving avast number of emi- grants in its rich and fertiit; valleys, will have a larger proportion of people of foreign birth, as well as a greater number from the Mississippi valley and the Middle States ; but the .State is a de- sirable one for the better class of emigrants, not only from its advantages of soil and climate, and its mining and pastoral facili- ties, but for its educational and religious advantages, and the high character of its inhabitants. Indian Resenkitions and Tnbal Indians. — The 5,818 tribal Indians credited by the Indian Commissioner to Oregon, though some of them more properly belong to Washington Territory^ are of twenty different bands. Those belonging to the Grande Ronde, Klamath, Malheur and Siletz Agencies, and most of those connected with the Warm Springs Agency, about three-fourths of the whole, have adopted citizens' dress, and are becoming quite civilized. They till about 8,000 acres of land of their reserva- tions, and a few have had lands allotted to them in severalty. Their reservations include 3,853,800 acres, but less than 200,000 acres of this is tillable. Counties and Principal Cities and Towns. — There are twenty- three counties in the State, whose population in 1880, and assessed valuation in 1879, ^^^ ^^ follows: Counties. Baker Benton Clackamas Clatsop Columbia Coos Curry Douglas Grant Jackson Josephine Lake Lane Population, 1880. 4.615 6,403 9,260 7,322 ' 2,042 4.834 i,2o8 9.596 4.303 8.»54 a.485 2,804 9,411 Ass'd Valuation, 1879. ^874,516 00 1,722,115 00 1,908,580 00 1,159,361 00 287,837 00 894,113 00 243.733 00 2,133,118 00 1,102,327 00 1,466,992 00 278,290 00 830,591 00 3,301,368 00 w H ■■•'■Vm«!i,gmiii%--Vmii^i^m»>f-'''i^-:J-^*-.--^--'-- n iii6 COUNTIIU. Linn Marion Multnomali Polk Tillamuuk Umatilla . Union Wasco Washington Yam Hill . Total . For 1878 . ouK h'esterx e Mr irk. Pot>uln(ion, iKSo. 12,675 14.516 35,204 6,601 970 9,607 6,650 11,130 7,083 7.945 174,767 Ah«'cI Valuation, 1879. ,<;,490,854 00 T, 923,358 00 "0,633,190 00 •.599.423 00 83,903 00 1,533,988 00 1,117,099 00 3,363,570 00 3,069,190 00 3,465,358 00 $46,370,673 00 46,340,334 00 This valuation was about fifty cents on the dollar of the true valuation. In 1880 the true valuation, including property not taxed, is not less than $100,000,000. The largest city in the State is Portland, on the Willamette, 112 miles by river from the Pacific Ore?* It is a place of con- siderable and increasing business and of great wealth. Its popu- lation in 1880 was 20,549. Salem, the capital, is also on the Willamette, and on the Oregon and California Railroad. It is a pretty town of about 5,000 inhabitants. Oregon City, Albany, Harrisburg and Eugene City, all on the Willamette, have over 3,000 inhabitants each. Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia; Roseburg, the present terminus of the Oregon and California Railroad ; Jacksonville, in the southwestern part of the State ; Corvallis, Junction City, both in the Willamette valley; Dallas, at the second rapids of the Columbia ; East Portland, Port Orford and Empire City, on the coast; and St. Helen's, ?n the northwest, on the Columbia river, are towns of 2,000 or ' • e inhabitants. These are all in Western Oregon. In E^&i 1. Oregon, La Grande, Baker City, Umatilla, Sparta, Pendleton a. f' Milton are the principal towns. ' ' Religious Denominations. — In 1875 there were in Oregon 351 church organizations and 242 church edifices of all denominations ; 320 clergymen, priests or ministers; 14,324 members or com- municants; 71,630 adherent population, and church property valued at $652,950. This with a population estimated at 1 1 2,000, '- :^l^i^^.-«*-'iik*Mii^iih^A:/*a*:i^-'^ ii*«3iJiir<*-i:-'i t:v«'!«''*&;- .A*';--. ■- A-i»u!!tvA*M'«*'t^*^.'',:>f-'^^'i<^<^^*fi'^ ■■ nluation, 79. 54 oo S8 oo 90 00 \»i 00 >02 00 ;88 00 )99 00 70 00 90 00 58 00 73 00 3*4 00 of the true roperty not Willamette, lace of con- Its popu- also on the 3ad. It is a 'ity, Albany, ;, have over e Columbia; d California " the State ; Y ; Dallas, at Port Orford e northwest, 'nhabitants. Oregon, La Milton are Oregon 351 ominations ; irs or com- :h property 1 at 1 1 2,cx)0, XELraroLs deaomixa twa's. 1117 exclusive of Indians, is certainly a very creditable showing. The Methodists were considerably the most numerous denomination, the Methodist i'piscopal Church having i 21 church organizations, 63 church edifices, 140 ministers, 5,871 members, 20,1 70 adherent population, and $139,500 of church property, while the minor Methodist denominations (Evangelical Association and United Brethren in Christ) had 42 churches, 23 church edifices, 19 minis- ters, 1,028 members, 4,200 adherent population, and jji22,ooo of church property. The Baptists came next, the regular Baptists having 59 churches, 54 church edifices, 47 ministers, 2,052 mem- bers, 8,000 adherent population, and $51,300 of church property, and the Christian Connection, Baptists in their practice, had 4'' churches, 29 church edifices, 36 ministers, 1,867 members. 7,900 adherent population, and $42,500 of church property; the Pres- byterians had 28 churches, 26 church edifices, 25 ministers, 1 ,599 members, 7,000 adherent population, and $64, 1 50 of church property. Next in order came the Catholics with 17 churches, 15 church edifices, 18 priests, 15,000 adherent population, and $124,500 of church property. Then followed the Protestant Episcopal Church with 16 parishes, 14 church edifices, 15 priests, 607 communicants, 2,800 adherents, and $74,300 of church prop- erty, while the Congregationalists were nearly equal to them in numbers. There were five minor sects represented, of whom only the Lutherans have increased very much within the past five years. Of the leading denominations there has been a very decided increase, most marked among the Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Congregationalists. Historical Data. — Spain seems to have had the first title — that of maritime discovery — to Oregon and Washington Territory, having visited and mapped the coast nearly to the fifty-fifth degree of north latitude, in 1592 by the Greek pilot, De Fuca, in 1640 by Admiral Fonte, and subseqi < ay by other explorers. This title, with whatever validity it possessed, was expressly con- veyed to the United States by Spain by the treaty of Florida, concluded in 1819. The title of the United States to Oregon and Washington Territory by no means, however, rested on this alone. Other valid claims were the following : the discovery and explo-^ \ • -US*e ^n'f-t^.tii^J^. .'^ii^+&f3ti^JSiv*i;^s-w..i*^^^^^ iiS OrX IVF.STERN EMPIRE. ration of Columbia riv«'r by Captain Robert Gray, commanding the sliip " Columbia," in i 792, who gave the name of liis ship to the river; his previous exploration of the coast in connection with Captain Kendrick, in the "Washington " and the "Columbia," and his discovery and naming of Gray's Harbor, and exploration of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, more fully detailed in the chapter on Washington Territory ; the purchase of Louisiana and all that belonged to it from the French in 1803, this including the Spanish tide so far as they had received it from the French in 1 762 ;* the exploration of Columbia river from Its sources to its mouth by Captains Lewis and Clarke, by order of our government in 1804, 1805, and its continued occupation by American citizens from iSio, as a result of the knowledge of its resources gained from the report of Lewis and Clarke. In 1 8 10 the first house was built in Oregon by Captain Winship, a New Englander, but the house was carried away by a flood the following year. In 181 1, John Jacob Astor, of New York, estab- lished a trading-post at the mouth of the Columbia river, which was named "Astoria" in his honor. The venture proved disastrous, mainly in consequence of the war between the United States and Great Britain in 181 2. The British took possession of the post in 181 3 and called it Fort George. Subsequently it became the property of the Hudson Bay Company, and remained in its pos- session until 1848. The Northwest Fur Company disputed for a time the rule of the latter company on the Pacific coast, but had to succumb in a few years, and was absorbed by its rival in 1824, from which time, till 1848, the latter ruled supreme in the valleys of the Columbia and Willamette. < . ; m; i In 1824 the first fruit trees were planted in Oregon, and in * This oUim to Orc^n in coimqnenc* of the Loviiiam pvrchase wu a very vrealc one, and has been abandoned bjr Greenhow and some other American authorities. The grcnt name of Thomas Jefferson, who was President when the Louisiana treaty was negotiated, has also been cited against it ; hot the other claims were ftufficient, and Iheir justness and completeness cannot be denied. See on this subject two very able and conclusiv* papen by John J. Anderson, Ph. D., author of several works on the history of the United States, entitled " Did the Louisiaaa Piirchue estend to tkc Pacific Ocean ? " and " Our Title to Ortgon "••-Sui Prandteo and New HISTORICAL DATA. III9 ammanding his ship to icction with CoUinibia," exploration ound, more ritory ; the from the as they had f Columbia and Clarke, continued ssult of the Lewis and lin Winship, ^ a flood the V^ork, estab- :r, which was i disastrous, d States and I of the post : became the :d in its pos- disputed for lie coast, but y its rival in jreme in the :gon, and in 1831 the first regular attempts at farming were made by some of the retired servants of the Hudson Bay Company. In 1832 the first school was opened. Between 1834 and 1837 missionaries of various denominations arrived, bringing the first cattle with them. In 1838 the first printing press arrived in Oregon. In 1841 Commodore Wilkes visited the Columbia on an exploring expedition at the instance of the United States government. P'rom 1 81 6 till 1846 the American and British governments had held Oregon "by joint occupancy" under a formal treaty, but neither nation had organized any form of civil government there. In 1843 the inhabitants organized a provisional govern- ment, which continued in force till 1848. In 1846, after a long discussion, a treaty was made with Great Britain by which the whole territory south of 49° was ceded to the United States. In 1848 Oregon Territory was organized, and in 1849 received its first territorial governor. In 1859 it was received into the Union as a State. Since that time it has had some Indian troubles, but these are now all quieted, by the banishment of the Indian offenders, and the location of the Indians on reservations where they are cared lor and educated. > cry weak one, and he great name of ted, has also been npleteness caimot fohn J. Anderson, Did the Louisiaaa randseo and New : lj ■ : I . • i 1 1 , I :.i ; I ) ' ' s- ■ . ■ • i\ ; .•. ; 1 I siitstutit^'^tniientjtmv ^ ''■^^kSy^^¥K^iiakiii'»yx»'A<^'iii-^Sh^i^'^u>^^ ^i^v-i-^^, .-■^rja.-*--^ ai»stwsaskiai^^ ^^^jfeflte!m«S^1^i'«*'-»«i^*w*^ .,i^:^.'**i,.;'A iM^-.^y % ■i- V^ ■t^*.i4^'««Ut«4•0«iit&•t«lM.^-'^' '^- - •— r '"V '-*i-^3Si'*V, .-«et*^-'*^ ■ -vi- " .!»**«-i.'a*i*i'- (»iv-':-V-i"i*f'*»« roroGK.irnv of ikx>is. 111! looth mcriflian to thf <)^\\\, whcrp it r rosnc^ thr ArknnHAN bound- ary. I his rivrr si|);ir.it<:H it Iron) th*- Indian Territory. Its «'aHt«rn liinitx art! the tncridian of 94" kV, as far south as th(* thirty-Hccorul paraMfl, .XrkannaM and Louisiana bcinj;; itn actual IxxintU, and from thf thirty- second parallel the .Sahinr river anil lake or estuary to the (iulf of Mexico, and the ^ulf itself thence to th«: mouth of the Rio (irancic del Nori *. The Riodrande del Norir forms its southvv* •itern hortler, s< paratin^; it from the Kepuhlir of Mexiro. as far as to VA Paso, where it passe* into New Mexico. The 103d mericlian, passinji; throujjh the IJano listacado, lornis its west rn boundary. Its extreme Ien(>;th from southeast to northwest is somewhat more than Soo miles, and its extreme brtatlth alx>ut 750 inihs. Its area is 274,365 square miles, or 1 75,587,840 acres. This area is equal to that of the (f(;rman F'.mpire, with Molland, Hel^^ium, Switzerland and Denmark addrtd to it. It is one-third larjjer than the Republic of F'rance. It is four times larjjer than all New Mnjjiand, and nearly equal to the combined area of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. Face of the Country. — It is avast inclinetl plane, with a gradual descent from the northern and northwestern boundary to the Gulf of Mexico. The coast counties are nearly level for sixty or eighty miles inland; the surface then becomes undulating, with alternate gradual elevations and depressions, and this feature in- creast'S as we proceed toward the northwest, until it becomes hilly and fmally mountainous in some of the far western counties; the Sierra Charrotte are the most eastern of these mountain ranges, and between these and the Rio Grande, in Pecos, El Paso and Pro«idio counties, an? the Guadalupe, the Pah-cut, the Apache, the Sierra Hueco, the Sierra del Diablo, the Sierra del Muerio, the Chanatte Mountains, the Sierra Merino, the Sierra Cariso, Eagle Mountain, the Sierra IManca, and stretching along the Rio Grande for many miles the Sierra Blancha. Most of these moun- tains carry leads of silver, lead and copper. The highest of them do not attain an elevation of more than 5,ocx5 feet. In other por- tions of Texas there are hills, and occasionally a summit towering above the plain, but no mountains in the strict sense of the word. The gradual character of the ascending slope of the country is 7i 1123 ouM WKntKHff Kurt UK. % imiicatcit hy thr following clcvntionii (iHcrrtninrd l>y the c< «urvcy uiul railway Murveyt: CiDliad, 50 fret: iioimton, 65 ; (lun* zairn, 150; Jt-lfirrHon, 336; Silvrr Lake, 350; Marnhall, 377; \V«:l)bcrvillf, 394; Hrcnham, 435 ; Dalian, 481 ; San Antonio, 575 ; lort Worth, 639; AiiHlin, 650; Sherman, 734 ; lort In^;r. UraUIr county, 845 : VVeathcrford, 1,000; Sistcnlatr, in Kendall county, 1,000; Fort Clark, Kennry county, 1,000; Frcdcrickuburg, 1,614; Mason, 1,800; I'ort Concho, 1,750; I'ort McKavitt, 3,050; Fort lilisK, Fl Paso county, 3,830; Fort Davin, FrcHidio county, 4,700 feet. Riven, Pays, Esluariis and Lakes. — The State, except in the rrjjion of the Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain, in the northwrnt, is well watered. The Canadian river, the larj,'CMt tributary of the Arkansas, and the Red river, which forms a part of itn northern boundary, both have their head-waters ir> Northwestern Texas and New Mexico, but neither of them receive any very large afUlucnts in Tcxai, though tlie North, Salt, Middle and South forks of the Red ri^er are considerable streams. Beginning now at th«! east, the Sabine river, which for nearly 300 miles forms the eastern boundary of the State, is a hr^rp and for much of its route a sluggish stream, with several c lerable affluents ; and the Neches, or Nachcs, a river of ab .ne same size, runs nearly parallel with it, both discharging their waters into the Sabine lake. The affluents of these streams and of those to be men- tioned interlock with each other, and though not of large size water the country well. All tlie rivers of Texas except the Can- adian and Red river have a (general direction toward the south- east ; at first perhaps rather to the south-southeast, but each successive river makes a larger angle with the meridian. After the Naches come successively the Trinity, the Brazos, with sev- eral large affluents, the Colorado, the largest river of Central Texas, having its sources on the borders of the Staked Plain, and fed by a hundred or more tributaries, the Guadalupe and its large affluent the San Antonio, Mission river, Aransas river, the Nueces, with its tributary, the Rio Frio, the Aqua Dulce, and a dozen smaller streams; and on its southwest border the Rio 'Gcande del Norte and its great tributary, the Rio Pecos. ". ■r «^»*^ <- f -*A-. »jairi-<. ni'.'^iwr . rort'iAK luiiaioss Of thxah. IIJ3 the coAiit In, 65 ; (ion- IrHhall. 377; htonio, 575; in^'r. UraUIr Uali county, burjr, 1.614; 1,050 ; Fort i)iinty, 4,700 xrcpt in tho «• northwrst, )iitary of the its northern strrn Texan ' very large and South ijinninj^ now es forms the 1 of its route Its ; and the I runs nearly ) the Sabine to be men- )f lar^e size cpt the Can- ■d the south- st, but each dian. After OS, with sev- r of Central ^d Plain, and and its lar^e s river, the 3ulcc, and a der the Rio ecos. None of lh« Trxim river* are nnvi^nbte U\r any connidcrublc ditlance except at hi^h wattr, but by dred^in^ anti tht- (on<«iruc- tion of A Hhort canal, (ialvcHton bay and ltuff.do iMyou have been rendered navigable a» fur ait llou^ton, tifty \\\\\v% front (ialveHton. Mo-it c)f the so-called lakes in Texas arc really rstuarirs and t)ayH, and when somewhat n.irrower and without much curr<-nt, they ar-j called bayous. Of tiune lays an«l cHtuaries th'* prin- cipal are Sabine lake, at the mouth of the labine river, ('ialv«st«)n bay and its two arms, liast anil West bay, Matagorda Ixiy :vn(l I.;ivaca lay, connected with it, l.spiritii Santo and San Antonio bays, one opening; into the otlwr, with several small bays con* nected with them, Aransas and C«)pano bays. Corpus Christi an;ar-cane, sea island cotton, rice and many semi-tropical fruits and vegetables. The eastern |)ortion of the Slate, including some <;ighteen counties, is heavily timl)ered, and from here are drawn nearly all the immense supplies of pine lumber required in the prairie [)or- tions of the State. The natural resources of this section are varied. In it are vast deposits of iron ore of excellent quality and extensive beds of lignite. Large crops of cotton, corn and other grains are grown in its valleys, and its uplands are noted for the production of fruits and vegetables. It is generally well watered by streams and springs. Central and Northern Texas, though generally a rich prairie country, is by no means devoid of a sufficiency of timber for ordi- nary purposes, its numerous streams being fringed with a large 1124 OUR WESTER!^ EMPIRE. :* 1 U' growth of forest trees. It is also traversed by what is known as the upper and lower Cross Timbers — a belt of oak, elm and other timber, from one to six miles wide. Western and Southwestern Texas are the great pastoral re- gions of the State. The surface is generally a high, rolling table- land, watered by creeks and ponds, but with little timber, except along the streams and on some of the hills and mountain region-s of the western part, where forests of cedar, mountain juniper, oak, etc., exist. The luxuriant growth of rich, native grasses found in this sec- tion renders it pre-eminently a stock raising country, and as such it is unexcelled by any other portion of the continent. The pre- cious metals and other mineral deposits are known to exist in this section of the State, and it is believed their development wil' be rapid when railroads shall have been built across it. Northwestern Texas includes not only the mountainous regiort comprised in Pecos, Presidio and El Paso counties, but the un organized region known as the Territory of Bexar, and Tom Green county, and sixty-three counties north of and east of these, extending up to the parallel of 36° 30', and eastward to the me- ridian of 99° 30'. This region, ? part of which is known as the " Pan-handle of Texas," has an area of more than 90,000 square miles, and perhaps one-third of it belongs to the Llano Esiacado, or Staked Plain. It is not well watered, and portions of it are not watered at all except by wells. Its rainfall is very small, and the pasturage, though scanty, is nutritious where any water can be obtained. The mountainous portion is rich in minerals. Sil- ver, lead, copper and iron are found there, and gold probably will be. If, as is proposed, the great Staked Plain is rendered habitable by water supplied from artesian wells, this will be an , excellent country for pasturage. Flocks and herds sufificient to supply the world could be raised there. Geology and Mineralogy. — Texas has never had a State geo- logical survey; it has been once or twice attempted, but has soon failed for the want of means for its prosecution. It is said that the new constitution of the State prohibits anything of the kind — a most unwise provision, if true, as no State in the Union would .--^^if-G^i) «*»*?>:->(*««*".-».■--■■ ^V*ftWtWx'«*M-^if.n,fcii,. ...» ■— U3W-.'v.\t#^-.. •*^,^..-ii..]sd*.»^:-. ^' , .v^.. .1 V j«i.i:->.v<'t ■;iV5v.' jTi- ~^.,-af_ynsic.,^t* GEOLOUY AND MINERALOGY. II25 } known as n and other >astoral re- eling table- be r, except tain regions lin juniper, in this sec- and as such . The pre- to exist in lopment wil' it. nous regioi» but the un ir, and Tom ast of these, i to the me- novvn as the D.cxx) square \no Estacado, )ns of it are ry small, and ny water can inerals. Sil- old probably 1 is rendered is will be an i sufficient to a State geo- but has soon [t is said that of the kind — Union would be as much benefited by such a survey as Texas. From some rapid and superficial geological reconnoissances of the .State, we glean the following general view of the geology and mineralogy of the State. Mr. N. A. Taylor, a Texan geologist, has gathered together the sum of what is known in regard to it, though acknowledging that extensive districts, like that from Handera west to the Rio (Jrande, and that from San Antonio southwest to the Rio Grande, have not been explored even superficially, and that even the formations which approach the surface are entirely unknown, though they afe conjectured to be Tertiary : "The coast-belt, like that of the other j^ulf and southern Adantic States, is alluvial, though somewhat less fertile than the deposits of the Mississippi delta ; it is, however, well adapted to corn, cotton, sugar-cane and the tropical fruits. •' From the best data and my own observations, the Tertiary formations occupy all Eastern Texas as high as Red river, and all the lower portion of the State from the gulf 100 to 150 miles, and farther, into the interior. If there is any exception to this, it is in the remote southwest, which I have not visited. Of this great Territory, the Pliocene, or newer Tertiary, occupies the itide-water region, and a considerable portion of Eastern Texas above tide-water. All this region is low and level, and wonder- fully productive when well drained and well treated. The Miocene, or middle Tertiary, appears here and there in scattered patches above the Pliocene, and is quite largely developed about Huntsville. These lands are largely sandy, and usually hilly or broken. From the melting nature of the soil they are also cut up by considerable gullies and ravines. Usually productive, but cannot resist drought. Above these comes the Eocene, or oldest Tertiary, which occupies a larger space. These lands are rolling, and contain much very graceful and beautiful scenery. The waves and swells rise higher and higher as you go north and west. This formation has a very small percentage of poor land. " There are, no doubt, here and there, many intrusions on a small scale of older strata through these formations, but I know of ■■t-ol,»f-;?JSw;*''"' 1 126 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE, ■'k only one of any importance. That is at the place called Damon's Mound, in Brazoria, where several acres of valuable limestone rise many feet above the Pliocene which surrounds it. This limestone cannot be later than Eocene, and may be older. It is the only stone I have seen in the Pliocene territory of Texas, and some day it will be very valuable for quicklime. "Above the Eocene, the Cretaceous formation rises like a rampart and extends north and west a great distance — how far it is not certainly known. Many say that it goes on northward, with occasional interruptions, until it reaches the plateau of the Rocky Mountains, including the Staked Plains. This is the idea of Professor Buckley. With all deference, I believe it is not so. I believe there is very little Cretaceous after reaching the great outburst of Plutonic and Metamorphic rocks which extend through Burnet, Llano, Mason and Menard counties, and farther west to an unknown distance. After passing this primitive region, the country assumes outlines totally unlike the Cretaceous as elsewhere seen. I have no doubt, indeed I know, that it appears here and there even to El Paso, on the Rio Grande, but the general formation I believe to be Jurassic, including the Staked Plains, and have little doubt that investigation will prove it to be so. " Just north of the primitive region of Llano, etc., there is a large development of Carboniferous, extending northeast toward the Indian Territory, and embracing, as is calculated, 30,000 square miles of coal-bearing strata. It is no doubt a continua- tion of the Arkansas or Ozark system. The Permian formation here and there crosses this coal territory, and probably flanks it all round. The Permian is also undoubtedly developed largely farther north and west. Not far from Fort Concho it terminates, and here, closely connected with it, there is a narrow streak of coal strata, in which an excellent coal has been found. As in England, so in Texas, this formation, wherever found, seems to indicate unerringly the near presence of coal. I believe the Permian may be found almost anywhere near the foot of the Staked Plains. "Beyond the Pecos, in that almost unknown region below the % ■ zTS^t^Miiit^M&'tr-.JSi irM''&»iiii:*ittJ,r^*A''.-^ ^'■Uk-.Sf ki •V*'«'iv-i<.^tkli,'«V.'^'»?!iw-.. Zf~. THE MINERALS OF TEXAS. 1 1 27 ed Damon's limestone Is it. This older. It is y of Texas, rises like a ce — how far northward, ateau of the is is the idea ; it is not so. ing the great rhich extend ■5, and farther his primitive le Cretaceous enow, that it ) Grande, but ncluding the on will prove ;tc., there is a theast toward ilated, 30,000 bt a continua- lian formation robably flanks eloped largely it terminates, row streak of found. As in lund, seems to I believe the le foot of the rion below the El Paso stage route, it is difficult to say what is the ruling geological formation. All die formations, except the Tertiary, seem to have been thrown together in one vast pile of ruin, penetrated by valleys of exquisite beauty and fertility. Here wc find all manner of Plutonic eruptions, frequently capped and rtankud by Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. Perhaps basaltic rocks predominate. They certainly assume some very immense forms, sometimes rising into perpendicular cliffs many miles long and a thousand or more feet high. The Permian also appears here, filled with selenite and other forms of gypsum. This is the most interesting region in the world to the geologist. ''Minerals. — If we are filled with doubt in regard to the geo- logical formations of Texas, we are much more so in regard to the minerals that lie hidden in her strata. As regards the Ter- tiaries, they contain many valuable deposits of iron ore in East- ern Texas, some of which have been a litde worked and found to yield from forty to sixty per cent, of metajlic iron. These ores are the brown oxides or limonite. The forests are dense in this region, and charcoal is obtainable at a nominal price. Lime- stones are usually within easy distance, sufficient to supply fluxes. These ores are also abundant in Robertson, Limestone and other counties of Central Texas, but have received no attention. The Eocene also contains very large deposits of lignite, some of which, particularly that found in Limestone county, is a superior variety of that sort of coal. It would prove excellent for gas- making, but will not coke. It burns furiously in a grate, but emits an unpleasant odor in combustion, which goes through the whole house and may even be smelled at a distance outside. Some of these layers of lignite are said to be at least twelve feet thick. They are associated with brown and blue shales, and rather soft brown sand-stone. There is some gypsum in the Eocene — notably about the falls of the Brazos, in Falls county, where it is in considerable quantity. It is pure enough for manufacturing into plaster of Paris, and there is none better for fertilizing. West of Corpus Christi large deposits of salt are formed annually in the lagoons near the gulf. In the winter these basins are filled with water from the gulf, which evaporates in 1128 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. ■A 1;% summer, leaving the clean white salt. Enough of it is thus formed here every year to salt all Texas, During the war these deposits supplied a large portion of Texas with salt. "The Cretaceous contains a good deal of gypsum, and lime- stone for building or quicklime, without end. About two miles from Round Rock, on the International railroad, there is a great quantity of gypsum, quite pure. There is also a good deal of it about Mount Bonnel, near Austin. Both of these points are so convenient to transportation that it is singular that some one has not engaged in making plaster of Paris. Nearly all that article used in Texas comes from Newfoundland, and this when we have it just as good and in great abundance right at our own doors. No chalk has ever been found in the Cretaceous system of Texas, so far as I know. " The granitic and metamorphic region, running through Burnet, Llano, Mason, Menard, etc., abounds in mineral wealth. There are probably no larger and certainly no better deposits of iron ore in the world than those of Llano county ; none easier to get at. These ores are magnetic and specular, and often appear in immense masses resembling solid iron. They have been wrought to a very small extent and found to yield from seventy to eighty per cent, of iron, equal to the best in the world. With such immense masses of iron as this, Texas ought to furnish not only her own railroad iron, but also ship it to other lands. This will be done in time. At present Austin is the nearest point to a railroad, about a hundred miles off. The region is generally timbered, furnishing plenty of material for charcoal ; some coal has also been discovered in this region, and it is known to exist abundantly in Coleman and other counties not far off. There is also abundance of limestone. Soapstone, valuable for furnaces, also abounds. Some copper, silver, and even gold, have been found in this region, but not yet, I believe, in paying quantities. Its great mineral wealth is doubtless its iron. Marble of excellent quality is found in places throughout this region. Perhaps the largest deposit of it is at the Marble Falls of the Colorado, where the river for a consid. i ble distance cuts its way through walls and mountain oj soil* I marble. It is not uncommon in this If- a, ■■ -m4 . ■■■■' ■^^'^-^] ' THE MINERALS OF TEXAS. 1139 it is thus : war these and lime- two miles c is a great )d deal of it oints are so me one has that article len we have • own doors. :m of Texas, )ugh Burnet, ilth. There osits of iron easier to get en appear in een wrought nty to eighty With such nish not only Is. This will jst point to a is generally l1 ; some coal lown to exist )ff. There is ; for furnaces, Id, have been ig quantities. le of excellent Perhaps the lorado, where through walls nnion in this region to find the people living in huts or cabins surrounded witli fences built of the finest marble. The marbk* is of various shades — some pure white, some variegated with red and blue markings, and some black. This place is about sixty miles above Austin, and the marble might be brought down the river in flat- boats, but it is not. " In the same region there are numerous salines, issuing, it is said, from Silurian rocks, and some salt of a very fine quality is manufactured — enough to supply the wants of the people around there. This whole region is very picturesque, and has some of tlie loveliest scenery on the American continent. " Below this primitive region, lying out in the post-oaks to the southeast, are numerous strange boulders, which have been borne many miles from their native beds by some remarkable occur- rence which took place about the close of the Cretaceous era. Some of these lost rocks are many tons in weight. The Jurassic and Permian beds are known to contain great deposits of copper, gypsum and salt. Indeed, the largest deposit of gypsum known in the world is found in Northwest Texas along Red river, and extending a great distance into the State. The gypsum belt is a hundred or more miles in width, and of unknown thickness. The q^psum is of all sorts, from the purest alabaster and selenite to the common massive forms. There is enough of it to supply the demands of the universe for centuries. All the streams that wander through this great bed are impregnated with this mineral and salt — some to such a degree that even the animals will not drink them. The Pecos is a strange compound, and one of the arms of the Brazos is far more briny than the ocean. Yet in all this region there are springs and deep circular pits of pure water. The Permian, in Archer and several other counties, is heavily stored with copper. "In regard to the region west of the Pecos, I have this prophecy to place on record — that the day will come when it will develop great mineral wealth. We have every reason to think so. No intelligent man has ever penetrated that region without being filled with this conviction, and the more intelligent and observing he is the stronger is this conviction upon him. There is hardly ^' 1 130 OUX WESTER fir EMPIRE. a doubt that the geological formation there is but a continuation of the rich mineral-bearing system of Colorado, Nevada and Chihuahua. The rocks appear the same ; they contain silver, cop- per and lead. These rich metalliferous rocks nm in great systems, and not in isolated protrusions. Thus we find gold in the great Appalachian system of mountains, reaching out thousandsof miles; and thus we find gold and silver in the great Rocky and Andes Range, traversing the length of two continents. For this reason I have ever entertained a lively hope that much silver and gold will be found in the far isolated group of Llano, etc. The moun- tains beyond the Pecos fill every condition for the expectation of great mineral wealth. Here the systems of Colorado and the Sierra Rica, of Mexico, meet and blend. Being so rich elsewhere, why should they not be even richer where they meet and blend? I have no question that they will eventually prove so, and that those now utterly lonely mountains will be filled with great works and the busy camps of the miners. Silver will be the principal metal, though copper and lead will abound." Forests and Vegetation. — Eastern Texas, east of the Trinity river, is a region of abundant timber, and although the most densely populated portion of the State, full one-half of its surface is still covered with forests. There are two species of pine, here known as the " long straw" and "short straw" pine, both of large size and producing excellent lumber, while the long straw yields a superior quality of turpentine. There are also in Eastern Texas several species of oak, including the live-oak, so called, an evergreen oak which differs somewhat from the live-oak of Florida, and which is found all over the State ; the post-oak and blackjack ; the ash, elm, black walnut, butternut, pecan, box-elder and pride of China ; and toward the coast, the magnolia (here a stately tree), the cypress, palmetto, etc. In Northern Texas there are two immense belts of woodland, extending from the Red river southward, called the " Lower " and " Upper Cross Timbeis." They are each about forty or forty-five miles wide, and extend southward from 1 50 to 200 miles ; the first com- mences in Cooke and Grayson counties, along the Red river, and extends to McLennan county ; the second, which is smaller, -^ ■'■■»-5»*^-,.*<(MI*»^'ii»**W>w»v--\;f*^/..v,»a-**-^»*w--«^ .. ..'■»*ti'.J'jJS*^fc f".' fOUr.ST GROWTHS AV TEXAS. II3I ontlnuation SJevacIa and n silv(;r, a)p- reat systems, in the great ndsof miles; y and Andes r this reason ^er and gold The moun- expectation >rado and the ch elsewhere, 2t and blend? so, and that 1 great works the principal )f the Trinity igh the most of its surface s of pine, here , both of large g straw yields io in Eastern c, so called, an e live-oak of : post-oak and ican, box-elder gnoHa (here a )rthern Texas ding from the ' Upper Cross ve miles wide, the first com- the Red river, tich is smaller, occupies parts of Wise, Jack, Palo Piuto, Hood and Erath coun- ties. Most of the trees in these forests are post-oak and black- jack oak, and they stand so wide apart that a wagon can be driven between them in any direction. Central Texas is mainly rolling prairie ; but with plenty of timber, generally of good (juality, though sometimes cottonwood, buckeye, black gum or sweet gum, in the river and creek bottoms. There are also islands of forest trees, live-oak, cypress (which grows on the hills here), post-oak and mesquite scattered through the prairies. The coast belt has no forest trees, but frequent chai)parals, composed mainly of the different species of cactus. This region has also in spring and early summer rich and nutri- tious grasses, and a profusion of brilliant fiowering plants. Western and Northwestern Texas are scantily wooded, though even there the cypress, the live-oak (more rarely), and that won- derful tree, the mesquite, are found. The Osage orange (bois d'arc) and the pecan tree are among the other valuable forest trees of Texas, The bois d'arc grows in almost all soils ; its wood is very hard and durable, and its thorns and rapid growth make it excellent for hedges. The other shrubs and plants most common in Northwestern Texas and in the Llano Estacado are the yucca and four or five genera of the cactus, among which are the prickly pear, the melo- cactus, the mammelaria and several species of cereus. The sage brush is not so abundant, even on the Llano, as in New Mexico and Colorado. The mesquite grass, a very great favorite with catde, is the best of the pasturage grasses of this region. Zoology. — ^There are still some herds of buffalo and antelope in the northwestern part of the State, though the number is di- minishing every year. In Western Texas the mustang or wild horse of Mexico still feeds in large troops on the prairies ; the gray wolf, more ferocious and stronger than his northern con- gener, the black bear, the puma or cougar, the jaguar or Amer- ican tiger, the wild cat and the lynx, are found in the wooded and thinly inhabited districts ; while deer, peccaries, raccoons, opos- sums, foxes, hares and squirrels abound in the woods. Among the feathered tribes are found : of game birds, the wild lija OL'K H'KSrr.KS I-Mr/KE. turkey, phcasnnt, quail, snip<', curlew, many sptcifs of wild cluck!!, Iirant and teal, wild jfcesc, swans, and a ^rcat variety of birds remarkable for sweetness of sonj^' or beauty of plumaj^c; and amonj; the birds of prey, the kin^ vulture, or kin^' of the buz- zards, the common turkey bu/zard, and other vultures, cajjies, hawks, kites, pelicans, herons, kinj^-fishers, flamin^joes, cranes, etc. The streams abound in fish, of which th(! black bass and the war-mouth perch are the best edible fresh-water varieties, while the waters of the bays and ^ulf yield immense numbers of the salt-water fish common to all the Adantic antl j^ulf coasts. The oysters of Galveston bay and its vicinity are considered j,'ood by epicures. Allij^ators, turtles, etc., are abundant in the lower portion of the rivers and bayous, and on the coast are seen, thoujjfh less freciuently, the greai sea-turtles, the manaitee, octopus and the porpoise. In the mountains ami wooded districts, rattlesnakes, moccasin snakes, copperheads the red-mouthed adder and the milk adder are sufificiently numerous, and several species of the black snake (our American boa) and great numbers of harmless snakes are found almost everywhere. The gecko and other lizards, among them the chameleon, horned toads, horned frogs, salamanders, etc., abound, and the insect tribes are both numerous and formidable. The centipede, and on the lower coast a small sand scorpion, the large jumping spider, horse flies, buffalo gnats, chigoes and mosquitoes are all more or less troublesome ; but they are not found in the same localities nor at the same season of the year. The insects injurious to vegetation are less numerous and destrucdve than in any other States. Climate. — The climate of Texas is varied from semi-tropical to moderately temperate. Snow and ice are seldom seen in the central portion, and rarely, if ever, in the extreme south. In the northern part one or two snow-falls during the winter, of from one to three inches in depth, are usually expected. Occasionally a much heavier fall is had, and ice from one to two inches in thickness is sometimes made. In the northeastern and eastern sections of the State the mer- cury in summer rarely rises above loo, and as rarely descends to zero. The summers are long and the heat continuous, but • ifniTtl«[Ln(hi*'.i'"i -"ii"! tfrf ''^ 'W\ fTr-i' - '>«-tt^^^>ihf^4**= I '-riiiU=^Ki«*=^«.-i-.;-w'..%t'i^^-"'' .^*^ CLIMATE Of TEXAS. i«33 irilcl chirks, y of birds iia^'c ; anil the biiz- •es, cajjh^s, •s, cranes, ss and the titrs, while xrs of the ists. The 1 j^'ood by the lower _'en, tlK)u;j;h )iisand the ittk'snakes, er and the icies of the jf harmless and other )rned frogs, h numerous oast a small iffalo gnats, esome; but ame season is numerous i-tropical to seen in the jth. In the ter, of from Occasionally o inches in ite the mer- ly descends tinuous, but not as Intense as In many localities farther north. The winters anr generally n>iKl and for the most part pleasant. On tlu- coast, even at Brownsville, near the mouth of the Kio (jraiulc, the mer- cury rarely or never reaches 100°, and as rarely falls below 32" in winter. The entire range of the year is not over 66°. Along the whole course of the Rio (irande, and, indeed, gener- ally in Western and Northwestern Te.xas, the climate is entirely different, bearing a greater resemblance to that of Arizona and New Mexico. The summer temperature rises to 110°, 112° or 1 16°, and what is remarkable attains its great(;st intensity in May, when it remains above 100° for fifteen or twenty days together. In winter it falls to about 20° or 25°, the annual range being from 91° to 96°. The rainfall varies as much as the temperature. In Galveston it averages more than 50 inches; in Austin, 34.55 ; in Denison, about 31 inches; while west of the looth meridian it gradually diminishes from 21.21 at Brackettsville to 8.99 at Kl Paso. I'Vom the reports of twenty-five stations of the Signal Service Office in Texas, and reports from two or three others from private sources, we have selected eight points, of which we give temperature, rainfall, and, in two of them, the barometer. These eight points represent as fairly as possible the meteorology of all parts of the State. ( See pages i \ 34, 1 1 35. ) Mining and Manufacturing Industries. — There can be no question that Texas possesses a vast amount of mineral wealth, and that at some not distant day the mountain districts of Western and Northwestern Texas will be thoroughly prospected, and hundreds of mines of gold, silver and copper opened and profitably worked. The mines of coal, of rock salt and of lead, which are now just developing, will be wrought on an extensive scale, and the soapstone, marble, slate and gypsum will be largely exported. The whole State west of the meridian of San Antonio is full of mineral wealth. But at present there is a lack of the enterprise which is necessary for the development of these trea- sures. The coal mines are worked to a considerable extent, be- cause the railroads need and will have the coal, and the salt mines are worked, and the water of the saline springs evaporated, because there is an importunate and constant demand for salt for V 1134 OLK WKSTKIIX RMrtMR. B % o ft; T 1 \\\ IPTM»1| kiniiJMliuj I x«*|f if J Ml ! ? f f ? ? M o»nft«ff%ikfrBtSA#« »tltS § ^1 w 4 .. t t w •inKiadiui,!, uiniu|ii||^ ajni«4*u« X|i|iu»K( •intUMluiaj, JO vluw)! .J! *{^ ^ I ■•imuaduta,!, um|^ i t I ■4 I I 'Mni,i, uinutt««f| 8 imiiuy pu« ll'J''l»)I « X 9 n r c r 1 ( n ft g I I t 9 * ii % % I s % I •4 ^ •A HI I ■•iniuaduitj, )o •au«)f 'i « % A i ■•ini«iadui»x ooK 'i ft 1 I '»ini«iM!ui>x tanuiTU|i<] o« * 8 <• 8 ■simwKlui^X uiniii|x«|^ ot t % 8 2 ' 2 >• i,: J! i ; H • : : I M 1 1 ^ -s - ?■ A * W\j' .. «> a-«i,**;»*^ \-.'»ii«). ^w«i:>*":i.V", T-VVTt,- MEim^ROLOGV or rHXAS. H35 l> ft « « rrrr t * 1 1^ » f * * J M ** « ! r^ a ft ( 4 4 U 'I « 9 » 8. \lll • r <• 1 M ft t 1. jp t — p 8 JH * 1 Ilii I 'MniaM4«l*X J" •*•*■ <%tt«RJ'ftJ«R«.l»R wnVVVHVHMJ^ '''*W *?jiti!j?2i««JiJjtZ MII|M*4llM I, l«mii|Mi|l^ • •^«»«ri«fn xat Ainiuwlia* 1, tMnia|««||| '71 |i.tJ«Jitt.«fr % I i '•in|iiMdi«»,[, uinui|>«|^ ■Mrv«UMiui*x i>«*H Mntuaduia,!, iiiniuiiii|^ ill I M % % III !1 J! a J «. x ft ««««'9»ftPt K%«4 « I « I! « i: « f p ;" « ? 1 » 3 « < > • f ft X »> (t, # 4 a I I |«nuuv pii' ^miiixiv ■Nniwaduiax jo i>llu>)( I 4 * t ft 5) .7 J :;. X ■Mn««Mduwx amn «li (ft i * ;;[ M A J £ e u '•imiuMiitiBx "■""(■■IK • P JP 1 » 9 ft r p ft (^ t * » 'ajnit4»dui»x uinui|H|^ ^! S 8: « £ t; ;(' 8. s § 1 J Iij6 Otm WBtTKKS KMriUK. <■ daily conMitnittinn, Thr m.inkir.wturc of Hour, of luM)l»«*r, nfmu- chlnrry, furniture, carriajfcs ami wa^joni*, of cotiDn ^jimmU, of |).i(k<(l nuatM, leather and l< atlier ^uuiU, \\\\^\\. l■a^il) Ix' tenfoM what it now in Init fur a laik of enterprinr ami piinh in theHe mat- tern. The annual proiluit of mineH and manitfactorieii in the State in iS 70, according to the ninth censiiH. was f 1 1,51 7..^03. It in safr to say that at \\\v |>rr«irnt time, inchidinj; thcr, 1H79: •• The ^'reat want of Texas in manufarturinf^ industry. With the oxfvption of her llouiin^ mills, coiton-seed mills, the Nc:w Hraunfels woollen mills, and three or four foimdrics and work- ghops — all successful testimonials, howev«'r, as to what can be accomplisheil in this way — the State is altoj^ether deficit;nt in m.inufa( tures. \vX there is plenty of opportunity ami facility in the State for the establishment and successful operation of such in a variety of lines. Slate demand is ample, and the nu-ans are native here, awaitinj,' the touch of enterprise and capital. Texai, as yet, is dependent upon tin- outer world for everythinjj, from ax-helves to farm-wagons, from the hoe to the sicam-enyinc; yel the State abounds in mineral wealth, ami the timber of the country' is prftfusc in the best of varieties and boundless in extent. With the full achievement of the manufacturinjj era will come the in- dustri 1 gl^O' of Texas." Aj^ncullitml Produi lions. — In other parts of this work wc have devoted much attention to the agricultural productions of Texas, as well as to its flocks and herds, and have endeavored to show that its present products, large as they may be, are very much less than they might be, even with the land at present under cuK ture, and the present population, if there were greater enterprise and more skilful farming. We have shown, also, that she has the land and the capacity to grow all the cotton necessary for the world's consumption, and a sufficiency of grain to feetl the whole human family, as well as (locks and herds in sufficient number to furnish meat for every person on the globe; yet she is strangely ■.M^-- auhilultvual tMonvcjA of imxas. »j; |>I"T. of ma- Ix' tin loltl h (licHir nmt> •lirs in ilu! ".517.30a. In* larj;«» de- iolt(»n ^ins |H),(HXJ. V't'l i«- GaivtstoH stry. With Is, the Ni:w I and work- vliat (an be «l< liciint in rul lai ility in lion of suih V means are tal. Tcxai, ythinjf, from i-cnjijine; yel f the country xtcnt. With omc llie in- .'ork we have >ns of Texas, >rcd to show e very much It under cul- -T enterprise hat she has ssary for the :d the whole t number to is strangely apathrtir to her ^'rund <>|i|HirtiinitieN, and prcfeu to bount uf her wctlih anil pruilui liont, ami dihcournc ol ilttrn in ^littcnn^ ^l-n• i raliiicH. ruiher than to work out hur deminy by cntri^etic und nkillidly directed lubur. Meanwhile other State*, with not one* foutih of her urea or natural advaiita^eH, arc rapidly »ur|)aMHin^ her in population, wealth, and inaiitiLK turin^ and ininint; devcl* opinent. 'Ihe climate, pieuHant a^ it in, may liave ooineihin^ to do with this indisposition to vigorous and continued exf;rtion ; and tli< tormer prevateiue of slavery there may have hud its in- llui-nt e ; but until this apathetie uidoh-nce in overcome, the Slate will m.ikc far less rapid pro^n^ss than she dreaniHof making. Ihe l.tteHt complete staiisiics of a^rii ultural productH ot the State arr for 1H78 and 1H79, thone of iSHu beiii^ simply conjec- tural. There has lM;en undoubtedly a considerable increaiie in many of the crops in the last year, but nothin)^ (except the N|M*cial investi^'ation madt; by llu; ci'iisus officf will account for it. Ihe following' table gives the statistics of producli> fur 1878 and 1879: A^ri TotaU . rxninrrTs, 1879. Inili*!) cnrn, bu VVIiral, liu Rye. hu Unit, liu Piiliilixii, hu H«y, tona . Collon, |)oundf 58,396.000 7,aoo,ooo J4.«» rx) Ii7,300 497, J 10,000 36 16 ll icniijo ' U '•59 I »7S I 39,198,000 j454,20o .1».4«> 3,962,500 310,200 131.000 338,625,000 7.6 13 as 47 1.08 "75 3,346,000 45o,fx)o 3.«» 149.500 7.300 ()0,(1U0 l,So8,40O 4.744.IOO 3,346.000 454.500 2,700 131.396 1.935.000 t 7« 4i 99 97$ 8,3 TouU i 4.9'4.S96 1^; 1.03 1.15 1.00 .63 1.39 11.64 .10 135.094,340 (>,i92,ux) 3«.h«o i».J»3.'Jo 59".75» 1,340,300 40.779,420 176.866,733 I30.07 1.940 3.972.3 JO 3».40O a.45''.7So 400. 1 58 1.534,840 33,863,500 173.333,918 II jg otrn wjssTEJty empire. Of the following airticles the entire production is unknown, but as there are no large tanneries and but few woollen mills, the ex^aorts of both raw-hides and wool must cover nearly the pro- duction. This is partly true also of cotton seed-cake and oil : Wool exported, 14,568,930 pounds, valued at . . 12,913,784 Hides exported, 28,104,065 " *' . . 2,810,406 Cotton-seed rake and oil, 506,063 Of the nrxt three, probably the export is less than «se-'ialf the production ; lumber and shingles . 1,349,691 Sup .r and molaiises, 433>96o Miscellaneous products, 672,364 ,|8,686,a68 Adding to these the live-stock of the State, January, 1879, and January, 1880, we have the following as an approximate estimate of the entij:e agricultural and grazing product of the State : Janiiarv, 1879. Animals. Homes Mules, etc .... Milch caws Oxen and other CRtlle-. Sheep Swine Agricultural products^ Special cjiport'i Number. Price. Value. 918,000 ^23. 40 180,300^ 40.93 500 544, 4,Boo,ooo 4,56j,ooo 1,957,000 '453 9 >S 1.8a 3.91 .1: Total agricultural and grating products. f30,s6j,3oo| 7.»49.44* 7.9««.5»5 43 ,980, 00 J 8,3o8,oou 76,866,7i»' 8,686,358! fi 79, 100,081 Januakv, 1880. Animals. Horses Mules and atsea Milch cow* Oxen and other cattle. Sheep Swine AgricullMral products. Special exports Number. fe63.9°o 191,013 566,380 4,464,000 5.'9M*» 1,917,800 Price. 45-90 13.85 10.51 3.00 Value. >33,8ii,940 8,767.45' 7.83».978 40,916,640 11,073,593 5.753.580 73, 333 ,9. <« 8,686,358 Total agricultural and grazing products j(>85, 164,357 There is, in the vast area of Texas, much arable land, and some of it; especially in Eastern and Central Texas, is of the first qual- ity ; that of the coast counties is inclined to be satidy, but pro- duces excellent crops of tropical and semi-tropical fruits, and sugar and rice. But a very large portion of the arable lands a^e of the second or third quality, and are not thoroughly culti- vated. The average yield of cotton, Indian corn and wheat per acre is conekisive evidence either that the land is poor or the farming very slovenly. There are farms in the State, and those not on the land which is considered of the highest quality, where thecotton crop in average years is two bales (960 pounds) to the acre, in fields of many hundred acres; and others where like corn :.*miSSv*WA««»i«SiS«SffiSaH«»i!ffl**^^ THE r,RA?.Hfi3 INTEREST IN TEXAS. mknown, but |en mills, the irly the pro- le and oil : I.9U.784 1,810,406 506,063 i. 349.69* 433.960 672.364 1139. ,686, a63 ry, 1879, and jate estimate State : Price. 45.9« '3-85 10.51 3.D0 Value. ^3.811,940 8.767.451 7.832.978 40,916,640 '•,072,502 5.753.580 72,322 ,9. H 8,686,258 Ids *'85.i64,357 id, and some he first qual- dy, but pro- 1 fruits, and irable lands iughly culti- J wheat per poor or the e, and those lality, where ands) to the ire ttoe corn crop IS forty to forty-five bushels, and the wheat crop twenty-fiva to thirty bushels. These a.-e not extravagant or fancy crops ; but they prove the truth of the dd Georgia ada^e, that "it is as nvuch in the man as in the land." The State is well adapted to grazing, and even the northwest- ern region, with its small rainfall and its few streams, often dry, is a fair grazing country, if water enough can be found for the cattle and sheep. Texas has the largest amount of live-stock to be found in any one State or Territory in the Union ; but evei* in this pursuit the carelessness and shiftlessnessi of her stock- growers prevent her from making as good a showin**^ .. ■ her situation warrants. The catde of Texas are very la v^ > '»f * comparatively poor breed; long-horned, not very 'urge, and somewhat unshapely, not inclined to take on flesh rapiuly, and yet wanting in the qualities for good milkers. They bring in the market from ji5 to jj^io per head less than steers fA the .ame age in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming or Montana, and the larger stock-raisers, with few exceptions, take no pains to improve the breed. The horses, which now number more than a million, are to a very large extent mustangs and most of them wild. The mustang is, for its size, the most vicious hdrse in the worldv There are some bronchos, a cross between some of the better breeds and the Indian pony ; these are better than tijc mustangs, but are not very valuable. There are, of course, better horses than either in the State, and a few of the more wealthy stock- raisers are making efforts to introduce horses t of the first nd Brazos de foreign com- irger coasting trade. With the exception of the canal and bayou, by means of which Houston has water communication with Galveston and has become a port of entry, none of the rivers of Texas are navigable for any considerable distance. The editor of the Galveston Daily Nczos, in the issue of December 29th, 1879, described the progress of the State in railroad construction since 1865 as follows: "At the close of the war in 1865 there were but six railroads in Texas that had track laid in running order, viz. : the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad, from Harrisburg to AUeyton, eighty miles ; the Houston and Texas Central Rail- road, from Houston to Millican, eighty miles ; the Washington County Railroad (now the Austin division of the Central), from Hempstead to Brenham, thirty miles ; the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad, from Galveston to Houston, fifty miles; the Texas ana New Orleans Railroad, from Houston to Liberty, forty miles; and the Columbia and Brazos River Railroad, from Houston to Columbia, fifty miles — making a total of 330 miles of railroad in actual operation fifteen years ago. The Southern Piicific Railroad (now the Texas and Pacific) was under operation from Shreveport, La., to the Texas line, but at that period had not penetrated the State. Now there are twenty-six different lines of railroad in actual operation within the State, with a total mileage in running order of 2,556 miles, showing that since the year 1865 no less than 2,226 miles of railroad have been con- structed and placed in running order. Twenty of these roads are standard gauge and six are narrow gauge railroads. There are few States in the Union with a better record than this. It sp aks volumes for the future of the commonwealth in every direction toward progress and prosperity, and to all appearances the next few years will witness still further advances in the impor- tant work of railroad construction." During the year 1880 considerable progress has been made in railroad construction, and still more in railroad consolidation in the State. None of the Texas railroads are completed west of the ninety-ninth meridian, though the Texas Pacific is, we believe, under contract to El Paso ; while the Southern Pacific »i«^w;RWfisss-j«s, H4t OW trXSTMJtAT EhtriRE. f of California is already at or near El Paso, and is heading directly for Galveston by as nearly as possible an air-line as far as Austin, where it will probably join the Houston and Texas Central. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe is also at or near El Paso, and is supposed to have a terminus on tlve Gulf of Mexico in view, but whether over the Southern Pacific li«o or not is as yet uncer- tain. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway and the Sl Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern are now virtually under one control, and will probably form some connection with Western Texas. Several short roads and connections have been con- structed in Eastern Texas, and the first of January, 1881, wiN probably find aibout 3,000 miles of railroad in operation in the $tate, with another thousand in prospect by January, 1S83. " " -l ' Population c/ Texas. ■ YlAX OK Enumrkation t8o6 1834 1836 ms 1850, I860, 1870, 1880 1 ■ J II (i »-§• CL, «* 7.000 21,000 52.670 33.500 150,000 91,000 2H.592 "3.780 604.215 320,167 818,579 443.557 1,510,000 19,170 30,000 59,600 o8,8i»j 154,034 284,04s 420,891 395,02» 564,700 3 S.0OO 397 3551 3S3.475 55 58,161 182,566 i 3„ 17.670 403 7h' Year of Enu- meration. 1806. PP34. 4836. liJI: t»86o.. 1870., i88o. 194.433 560.793 756,168 •I 17,68 41433 62,411 £ 0.02 Q.07 0.19 0'64 0.77 0.2D 3.02 300 a!85 41.70 I«4t2 16.46 \ I 10,583 lfl.476 431,703 51 83,206 3»34*7 3*9.233 43.909 > 58.7*5 ^§5 52,666 i43.»S« ' 184.P9* I X. ..4*<4w^»«M«!SisM«3R;t*wa«i»BW ^V*i**i»i>. wl^ injf directly r as Austin, lentral. The 1 Paso, and ice in view, s yet uncer- and the Sl y under one ith Western e been con- y, 1881. win ation in the I, 1 883. & So 7 5l»^6i 51 iS2,s66 S 17.670 403 7H H and Males. r It 43.909, 1 52.666! 1*9.3*" I43.»S« ' «S8.7^5 I84.09* i rorVLATWN OF TJ-:XAS. H4J Population. — The growth of Texas has been more rapid than that of most of the Southern States, though less so than that of some of the Northern States. The preceding table gives the popu- lation of the State at different periods, and oti^er particulars. Of this population, the number of foreign birth has never been very largs;. The Germans have some colonies in New Braunfels and its vicinity, and there are a considerable number of Irish, English, French and Spanish, a few Italians and many Mexicans and half-breeds of the lower classes, and some Indians. The last two classes find employment as cow-boys, shepherds, teamsters, etc. But there has been for the past thirty years and more a steady stream of emigration into Texas from the Southern, Gulf and Atlantic States, and, since the war, from the States of tho Mississippi valley — Illinois furnishing, perhaps, the largest num- ber. The people are brave, free-hearted and hospitable, and immigrants are made welcome there; but there is need of a larger infusion of Northern thrift, enterprise and thoroughness. The habits, and perhaps some of the vices engendered by slavery, have not been entirely eradicated, but progress is made every year, and eventually this vast domain will be developed on a grand scale by the efforts of the generation now coming upon the stage. > Counties and Principal Cities and Towns. — There are 220 counties in Texas, of which, however, only 1 54 are as yet fully organized, while some of the unorganized counties are vast tracts as yet unpeopled, and some of them are designated as territo- ries rather than counties. The assessment valuation of the year 1 877-1 8 78, die last published, seems to be made on a basis of fifty per cent, of the true valuation, and per^ps on sixty per cent, of the numbers of live-stock. It is as follows : Acres of land «• 76,480,450 Miles of railroad 1,781 Numberof EteaanboBts omd other vessels .... 575 Numberofcarriages and buggies , ...... 131,920 j Number of horses and mules ....,..• 985,561 Number of cattle 3>3i3>356 Number of asses 5>37* "•'■^"^ Numbervof sheep . ^,883,378 !'! Number of Koats 329,618 Number of hogs 1,393,909 '^^'jii^K^^t«^*i4ai; ~ 1144 OUK HTESTERtf EMPIRE. The total value of all property assrssrd was f 31 8.985,765. A true valuation would be not less than ^45o,ocx3,ooo. Of the towns and cities, Galveston, the commercial capital and chief port of entry, is the largest. It has a very poor harbor, the entrance to the bay being obstructed by a bar nearly four miles across. Its population according to the census of 1880 is 22,253. It is said not to be growing, though it has a good back country, all of Central and Eastern Texas, to furnish it with trade. Houston, which has already become a great railroad centre, had in June, 1880, 18,646; and San Antonio, which is called the capital of Western Texas, has a large trade from Northwestern Texas, as well as from other sections of the State, and is rich in historic interest, had at the same date 20,561. Austin, the capital of the State, had in June, 1880, 10,960. Waco and Dallas are of about the same size as Austin, the latter having 10,358 and the former a little less than 10,000. Fort Worth has not quite 10,000 ; Sher- man, about 8,000 or 9,000; Denison, Marshall, Paris, Jefferson. Corpus Christi, Brownsville, Laredo, Brenham, Indianola, and perhaps one or two other towns, have 5,000 or more inhabitants, and there may be a dozen. New Braunfels, the chief town of the German colonists, among them, which range between 3,000 and 5,000. Education. — Public school education in Texas has not been well managed. There is, indeed, nominally, provision for a school fund, which may eventually become large, but the school lands are held at a price considerably higher than other lands of equal value, and the State and railroads have so much land to sell that the school lands are neglected. , ; / . ' 1 During the late civil war, the school fund and its income were diverted to other purposes, and though an effort has been made to increase the aniountof the fund since the war, it has not proved very successful, and the schools have been much hampered by bad legislation. The permanent school fund on September i, 1879, was stated at $3,300,581, but the income from it, which con- stituted the available school fund, was only $132,883. Three and a half months later, viz.: December 15, 1879, the State Treasurer reports the permanent school fund of the State as only .-tt'iiiyiiM^fe.'^tW>riU»«»aaMr.i . capital and harbor, the [y four miles ;o is 22,253. country, all Houston, lad in June, e capital of rn Texas, as h in historic lapital of the arc of about rl the former 0,000 ; Sher- •is, Jefferson, idianola, and e inhabitants, town of the en 3,000 and not been well for a school school lands mds of equal id to sell that income were is been made IS not proved hampered by September i, it, which con- ,883. Three rg, the State State as only .^^mMH ■^^^ ..jr"«pii^ ft'-««a 1 ET Ite Hphin^S£3i^^^^^^ 'I .. a3» ;f''" .. •,■ ; . 1. -^^i-1 ^ri2l "*ll "^^Ti^Wjiilfl H .jy ' ,: A ■»* ""> _ ^ . -- ^-^ If --— - . r ■■■' -_: \\fi4. ¥^ii%:7i^i i r 1 ^ ■'•- * ■« -mi ^ « r» « mi , ■ .< «--*■ ••.- - . r" -■ ■ 1 !, • " '' "^-^f^^ *' -«B^, \^''-" - .-,_ S^" r • ^^^I^K^^J^^^^^^^^I^I ^ COTTON TRAIN. COTTON PRESS. L'ATl I.K STAMl'EDK. VIKW OK (JALVtlSTON IIARIIOR. / :l ,.,'*fe;^j«^»a3*»*ia*issssss»'ss®s F.DUCATION IN TKXAS. II4S Jil, 154,400, and thff available school fund as 5102,409. Wc can- not explain the discrepancy. .Some money is raised for schools by taxation, Init the taxes are not promptly paid. The whole actual exjienditure for public schools does not probably exceed 5550,000 per annum. The number of children of school a^e re- ported in 1879 (ei^ht orjjani/«'d and all die unorj^Mni/ed counties not rcportinjj) was 224,720. The various reports in rej'ard to public school education are so conHictinj; as to impair conhden< e in their accuracy. That of the Uniteil States Comnvssioner of Kducation for the year 1878, from Secretary Hollingsworth, of the State Hoard* of Education, pives the following figures, which do not agree with any others: Counties reporting, 137 (there are 154 organized counties in the State) ; youth of school age (eight to fourteen), 194,353 (other reports for the same year give 168,294 and 164,294); whole enrolment ill public schools, 146,- 946; non-attendants, 23,963 (these figures again do not agree) ; whole number of illiterates of school age, 61,1 23. Whole number of organized schools, 4,633, of which 905 are for colored pupils; average time of schools in days, 88 days; 243 school-houses built within the year, at a cost of $54,267. Whole number of teachers reported, 4.330—303 less than the number of schools. Of these 2,895 were white males ; 760 white females ; 562 colored males, and 1 13 colored females. The average pay of all male teachers was 542 per month, and of all females, $33 per month. The whole income of public schools was stated to be $859,484, and the whole expenditure, $747,534. Per contra, it is stated recently that the wages of the teachers are sadly in arrears. The amount of the permanent school fund in 1878 is stated to have been $3,385,571, while a year later it was only one-third of that sum. 'Hiere is certainly room for improvement. Some of the cities, as Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, have good schools. The only normal schools are those sustained by private enterprise or by religious associations. There are five so-called universities, viz.: Baylor, Southwestern, Trinity, Waco and St. Mary's ; and four colleges : Austin, Mans- field, Marvin and Salado. Five of them admit young women on equal terms with young men as students. None of these insti- g y gw-j B^, - -4 t»t\on% have more rfian ft local reputation. Tlii^ie and the T<'xim Military Inttitute ami the Stntc Aj^ricultural and Mctliaoital Collej;»% at C\)l|fj;<' Station, in UrnzoH rounty. had toj^eihtr 1,984 fttiidtMUH in {\h' prtr|»ar?u»ry and rolU:^inte: df|>.iiiinentH. There werf .»l»o one tlu«»lojiit al, or>«* law and on<' nu-dical school, and InHtitutionH for tlu.> dtraf and diinib, anu ior th«« blind, in th<' State. I^nds for I mmi grants. ''^i\^% is \\\*t only State or Territory of "Our Weslrrn Empire" in which the IJtiiu-d Stairs ){overn- ment holds no lnnct^» Collar' i[Ktioii.iliHi». Pruieotant Kpiacopal Church leiM.. Liiiherai» ,. McthoiliM Church Sautk Mclhu(ti^l Bpi«copj| Church Mcthu'llH, ArricMi, Ziun. cte,. Mvt, PniloMiint. . . Prnbyi- run. Regular.. I'mhyi. ri;in, CumbcrUnd Koman Caiholici UniOK, >nd raliKU MCti ^- 6 _r 4^ ■» 45 <•! u1 79 3 15 •f. (64 I.*' 7 »5J J90 »9 ai 3^ 7 41 1 S ,^ B98 i'4 9« «3 57 .:i u *7 41 M 6 '\ ••7.4V. 1.(0.. 4.ll'7 41.*»> ■ 0,900 I7,c»i 6,0] I 8.45" ^t ■ «,■■«• I, 4m ia,(Mw ,}.»"• lS,(Ji)rj hi,oim 64,000 l,(iuo 30,350 42,150 103,000 5,|1K» ii,4<«> 7.*5o Sf.auu ia,4m •ij"' i7,o'x> j.«J" 90,300 6t» 4i«ft>.6oa 447. Snu *7,««« «i,(jln |68,4<>> 91, mo 75."!" >7,Aoo 41. J"" 1 3,4(4. 4.^1, rmo 4,R.. , NisitrUal Daia.-^The following memoranda of dates and events in TcKan history are from a "Chfonological Compend "«*(;- ... ttat>.,i»a>.t«Hta^i W ,njr « »t r»C '.: JMftMJIfVMl ifOJ S Mr TEXAS. IIV jl iho Toxni |Mc(haniral \t\v medical >r th<> blind, l>i Territory lies j^overn- <> (ii at (d Innds in tluH wurk a (.■ Sutc, and (Sc; \MgG of thr.se for infortnaLion cltTjfyincn, hd the adhe- ion on dicse .ible: li i m k \ B on 15 > ni'fiUi ^«ft>.fi,ua II, 4"' I6«,4<.. liBw ll.OOO ,' 7.*5o 75.'So 8f,iui J«|.l«' I3,4nn «7,«c« "•^r. 4'.}"' <*.f > »7.°°° ';I9.'"" • i-oo" 4uI/ino i|o <,B- f dates aaui ai Compend of Texa» Hisrory," pr<»|>ftr«'d for " Hujrkc's Texas Mmanttc for 1880," by U. />'. C. IJaker. I'Ucy have Lnjen carefully vtrilittl by un: " Texa^i is HUfiposcd to luv e its name from an Indiat\ v illa^e caMt'd TcKaH on th<: r^echfs river. Its uicaninj^ in the Indian "In 16.S5 a Irr-nch cavalior nantf'cf Robert dc I. a Salic, w-th A imall colony, latul< \ at MaUi;," rda Ijay and built a fortreHs, which he called in honor ol the Kinjjof lMAn<»'. St louis. Ihi^ colony waii Hoon exterminated by disrate and the hoKtility of the In- dianM ; and La Salic was killed by one ol lus own m4iltnouM foi- lowers. "Spain next attempted the ot ojpation of Texai, and in 1689 a colony was landed and a mission wa^ built n^ ar tLte H|x>t where four years previoukly l.aS.dle had landed. liii ■ utlony vsds soon brok( n up by the same causes us the former one "Hetwrenthc; years 1690 and ijaij tin! SpanisJi Roman Catlio lies (established many missions and fortresses within the Ixwdeni of Texas. Thre*,' mmnionH w( re built and occupied by monks and friars, and l>y soldiers who were Rent to defend them. "After many vicisBitude^j the Spanish missions were within a century from their establishment one after another abandoned, leaving throughout the State cruniblinj.^ ruins of massive build- ings, wiiich to this day ufficiently att'^st the self-sacrificin^i^ de- votion and labor* of tliuse Christian ambassadors from the Old World. "The fate of tlie inmates of the mission of San Salxi was one of the most deplorable recorded in history. Thi; mission was established in 1734, and for a while the Indians proved friendly. In 1752 a silver mine was discovered there, which drew to the place a number of adventurers. Trouble soon arose between these and thct savages, who in their ra^e mad( an onslauj,du on the fortress, and slew all who were there, not one escaping;. " Thus the efforts of France and Spain to effect a permanent occupatbo of Texas failed. " France formally aijandoned her claims in 1763, and in 1821 Mr.xko threw off the Spanish yoke, and Spatn thereafter ceased Il^g Of It irHSTKItff KMMim, to prrim hrr cl*im« for it. Texan thu« U;camr a province of Mrxico in iRai. At that time, clrspiti< the hlood and trcaHurr whit h had bi't-n cxpi'n«kd hy the; j{ovrrnnwtit«» of iht* old worltl to hold IVxaH, nothirt^r had t>f rn acromplisht-d. It wait prai ti< ally as ninth a wiUli*rnrHS in 1831 an wh«'n I. a Sallr srt foot upon itN short -i in 1685, the white population bcin^ only j.ouoin the whole Territory. " Itiit ihf tinu- had nc^wcomr when the An^do Atturiian turned his Htrps hithi'r, and ii^tory has yet to rerord wh«'re he has ever failed of his undertaking. The permanent colonisation of TexaK by citizens of the United .States b<>^ran in 1831. "In 1S21-23 Stephen I'". Austin, to whom justly belongs the title, I'ather of Texas, introduced a lar^'e nundxr of cqlonistH, ami furnishcil them homes. After tlevotin^ the best years of his life to the acccmplishmrnt of his darling' enterprise of chtablishinj^' permanent ami prosperc is colonies in Texan; after umler^^oinjj hardships and braving dangers such as few men have ever ex- perienced, he was stricki'n down with diserase at C'ohmd)ia, Hrazoria county, and there died, December 25th, i8j6, in the forty -fifth year of his aj;«'. I'Vom the ailvent of Austin until 1830 the American population of Texas continued rapidly to increase, and at that time nundiered about 20,000. "Then the government of Mexico became alarmedat the rapidly increasing strength and influence of the young colony, and took steps to prevent its further growth. The Dictator of Mexico, Hustameiuc, issued a decree susp«:nding all existing colony con- tracts, and forbidding under severe penalty any citizen of the United States from settling in Texas. This measure did not have the desired effect, and the tide of immigration continued to pour into the country. "In 1833 the citizens ol idxas. In the proper exercise of their rights as freemen, called a council at San F(;lipe. Of this council W. II. Wharton was president. A memorial and petition was prepared, setting forth in calm and forcible language the wants and grievances of the colonists, and praying the central power at Mexico for a separate State organization. This memorial was sent to Mexico by the hands of Stephen F. Austin. No definite L - f^TWa^ itei ie iaEii&te^.*ft«H»t^-v'»*M««*--**M^*S»«-«5«» TMK TUX AN WAM OA INDHrMNDI'NVH. 1149 •rovincr of |iii of i'c'xati •'•lonj^'s the lonistii, and H of liis life •stahlislnnjf iindcrj^'oinjf v«: <'v«r rx Columbia, Sj6, in the ) until 1830 to increase, \ the rapidly y, and took of Mexico, L'olony con- i/en of the re did not :)ntinued to ise of their this council etition was the wants tral power morial was ^o definite rrnpontp wan jjlvrn to thin prtitton, and Au«tin wan thrown int») pnM)n, where he rrr»».un«il many inonthn. IIuih in.itt'rH n*- maincd until i>>J5, when the roioniHtu liecomin^ fully saii>fiMl that prompt action could alone protect thrir intrrt%is, hdil primary mertinj^n and took slrps to necure a separate ^'ov«'rn- mt-nt S;inta Anna, the I )ictatr)r, at once nent lar^c iHMJitH of tioldiern to (|urll the revolutionary Hpirit which now >howf'd iUelf. " ( )n the jfl of Octolwr the opening battle of the Texan rcvolu* tion wan fought at ( ion/alts. "On thi' Hih clay of ()i tolwr, 1K35, a force of Trxans under Cap- tain Collinj^sworth, attacked and captured the fort at Coliad. On th»* nu)rninj,j of th«' aSth of October a d<'ta(lun«*nt of TexanH under Captains I'annin and Mowir, who were- ('n(ampc<| on the bank of the San Antonio rivrr nrar the Mission of Concrption, was surrounded ami attacktrd by a lary;e body of Mexicans. A short but decisive action followed, in which th«' Mexicans were completely routed, and lied, leaving one hundred dead upon the 6eld. " On the 3d day of November, 1835, a ^jencral connultation, con- sisting of delegates of the colonists, assembled at S.in I'elipe for the purpose of establishing a provisif)nal government. This con- sultation (fleeted Henry Smith Provisional (iov«!rnor of Texas, and ado[)t(rd a declaration setting forth that Texas no longer owed allegiance to the nominal Mt^xican Ke()ublic. "On the 36th day of November, 1835, a skirmish took place near San Antonio, called ihv. grass Jij^ht^ in which the Mexicans were driven to their entrenchments with a loss of fifty men. "On the 5th day of December, 1835, the forc<;s of the colonists in two divisions, under command of Col. J. W. Johnsjin and Col. Benj. R. Milam, made a series of determined assaults upon the city of San Antonio, which was occupied by a large force of the enemy. After a number of sanguinary battles, in which gr«at valor was displayed on both sides, the Texan forces obtained complete possession of the city on the loth of December, and General Cos, with eleven hundred soldiers surrendered. In this affair the heroic Milam was slain. This decisive conquest had the effect of exciting much enthusiasm among the colonists. 1190 CUK tmSTJtJfAT MMP/JfJg. "Santa Anna now determined to crush oot the rebellion in Texas by one decisive campaign, and in Jaaiiary, 1836, he equipped an army of 7,500 picked men, and placing himself at their head he marched into Texuij. "The fortress o( tl-te Alamo was then garrisoned by a force of 170 men, commanded by Col. W. B. Travis. They were soon surrounded by the whole Mexican army and summoned to sur- render. This being refused, a furious bombardment was com- menced, which was continued from the 25th of February until the 6th day of March, 1836. On the morning of the last named day the besiegers made a desperate assault upon the garrison. The particulars of that strugglb can never be known. Enough to say the heroic band, exhausted by incessant toil, watchfulness and privation, were at length destroyed. Of the whole number within the walls of the fort only two escaped, a, woman and a child. This victory cost Santa Anna 1,500 of his best soldier*> Close upon the heels of the dreadful massacre af the Alamo caime another equally appaUing. * " Col. J. W. Fannin, who was stationed at Goliad with a garrison of 500 mea was, on the 19th day of March, 1836, surrounded by a vastly superior force of the enemy. Notwithstanding the Texans were almost entirely destitute of supplies and ammuni* tion, a desperate batde was fought, in which after inflicting a loss of yx> men upon the enemy. Col. Fannin was compelled to sur- render, on promise of honorable treatment. The forces thwe capitulated were, in violation of the terms of surrender, marched out and inhumanly shot on the 27th day of March, 1836^ " General Sam Houston, who had been appointed Commander- iii'-Chtef of the Texan army, now fell back before die invader, in order to draw him as far as possible from his base of supplies^ as well as to recruit his little army. He continued his retreat until, on the 20th day of April, he formed his troops in line of batde on the banks of the San Jacinto river. "The Mexican Gommander eagerly followed, and on the aist day of April, 1836, was fought the memorable battle of San Jiaicinto. This decisive encounter resulted in t^e total rottt q9 the Mexicain army and the capture of Santa Anna, and secuced the independence of Texas. i.:--!i..i):i > i -'>s :.«;^iS*»JSafe^^»te«lk«i«iiS*»V%4i'«/*iii*J^^^^ I» TNK REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. 1151 ebeliion in 1836, he himself at a force of were soon led to siir- was com- iruary until ast named garrison. Enough atchfulness Die number nan and a St soldiers. the AlanM » 1 a garrison roundtd by Binding the d ammiini- icting a loss lied to sup- forces thus rr, marched Dramandev^ invaxier, in suppUosi an Etreat untH >f batde on n the aist tie of San :al rout o^ id secufed " On the 2d day of March, 1 836, a convention of ,he people of Texas al Washington, on the Brazos, adopted a declaration of independence and established a government ad interim^ by elect- ing David G. Burnet President. "The population of Texas now increased rapidly. "The first newspaper in Texas was established in San Felipe iai October, 1833, by Joseph Baker and Gail and Thomas H. Borden. "St'ptembcr, 1836. General Sam Houston and M, \\. Lamar elected first constitutional President and V^ice-President of th« Republic. "October, 1836. First Congress met at Columbia. By this body wise laws were enacted, an able judiciary established, the army otrgar.ized, and the people put in possession of their civil and political rights. "March, 1839. The Congress of the United States. acknowU edgedi the independence of Texas. "October, 1839. Seat of government established at the new city of Austin. It had previously been first at San Felipe, next at Washington, next at Harrisburg, next at Galveston, next at Velasco, next at Coluimbia, next at Houston. In 1842 a Mexican invasion into Western Texas induced General Houston to order the removal of the government ofifices to Houston, where they remained until November of that year, when the seat of govern^ ment was removed to Washingto.^. Irn i85o» and again in 1870, elections weire held by which the capital of Texas, was perma- nently fixed at Austin, where it now is. 1 "In September, 1838, M. B. Lamar and David G. Burnet were elected Piresident and Vice-President. In 1837, the independence of Texas was acknowledged by France, and in 1840 by England; Holland and Belgium^ September, 1841, General Hquston and Edward Burleson were elected President and Vice-President. September, 1844, Anson Jones was elected President, and K. L. Anderson, Vice-President. . .' "In February, 1845, Texas was annexed Co the Uniced State*. '*July, 1845, first State Convention met at Austin. . "Novemhsr, 1845, Constitution adopted. wm^m^mmsi'^ •'h 1152 OVR WESTERN EMPIRE. w |l m "From 1853 to 1856, public buildings were erected at Austin, the debt of the Republic cancelled, the Asylum founded, criminal code adopted, permanent school fund set apart, and aid given to railroads. "In 1859, General Sam Houston and Edward Clark were elected Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. "February, 1861, the ordinance of secession was passed by Texas Convention. "March i8th, 1 861, General Houston retired from office to his home in Huntsville, where he died, July, 1863. "August. 1 86 1, F. R. Lubbock and John M. Crockett were elected Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. "October, 1862, Galveston captured by Federal troops. "January, 1863, Galveston retaken by Confederate forces. "August. 1863, Pendleton Murrah and F. S. Stockdale were elected Governor ^nd Lieutenant-Governor. " In 1865, A. J. Hamilton was appointed by the President, pro- visional Governor of Texas. "June 19th, 1865, General Granger issued a general order proclaiming free )m of slaves in Texas. "February loth, 1866, first reconstruction convention assem- bled at Af -:tin, and framed constitution. "July, 1866, J. W. Throckmorton and G. W. Jones were elected Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. ' " March, 1867, Texas again under military rule. "August, 1867, E. M. Pease appointed provisional Governor. "June, 1868, second reconstruction convention met at Austin and framed constitution. "November, 1869, E. J. Davis and J. W. Flannagan were .elected Governor and Lieutenant-Governor. 1 <:«'In 1870, Senators and Representatives from Texas again admitted into Congress. > ! i ■ -; . ,> ii-'i ^ /! ; "December, 1873, Richard Coke and R. B. Hubbaid were elected Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of Texas, and they were re-elected to these positions in February, 1876. " The present State Constitution was framed by a Convention which assembled at Austin, September 6th, 1875. Governor Coke, . ^?r5s(i^iS-S^ifc'SSj»asSs8fe:Si^ ADVANTAGES OF SETTLEMENT IN TEXAS. II53 I at Austin, :d, criminal id given to oops. e forces, ckdale were esident, pro- meral order ition assem- Jones were I Governor, let at Austin inagan were Texas again ubbaiU were :as, and they having been elected United States Senator, resigned the office of (iovcrnor, and R. B. Hubbard became Governor of Texas, December ist, 1876. "November, 1878, O. M. Roberts and J. D. Sayers were elected (Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, which positions they now hold. "At the first election for President of Texas in 1836 the whole vote cast was only 5.704; in 1838 the vote was 7.247; in 1840 it was 11,531 ; in 1844 it was 12,752; in 1845 the vote for Gov- ernor was only 9,578, because many neglected to attend the polls; in 1847 it was 14,476; in 1849 it was 21,715; in 1851 it was 28,309; in 1853 it was 36,152; in 1855 it was 45.339; "i 1857 it was 56,180; in 1859 it was 64,627; in 1861 it dropped to 57,443 on account of the neglect of people to vote, while in 1863, when most of the voters were in the Confederate army, it was only 31,037. In 18B6 it rose to 60,682 ; in 1869 it was 79.373 ; in 1873 it was 128,361 ; in 1876 it was 198,137 ; in 1878 it was 236,917 ; in 1880 the vote for President was 237,337." Conclusion. — Land is so cheap in Texas, and some of it so good, the facilities for stock-raising, as well as for farming, are so desirable, the climate so mild and healthful, and the greater part of the State is now, or soon will be, so accessible by steamers and railroads, that it presents great advantages to immigrants. There should be better farming, more care in improving live- stock of all kinds ; more enterprise in engaging in manufacturing and mining, and generally less brag and bluster and more industry, thrift and hard work. The public schools should be elevated and improved, and the laws somewhat more rigidly enforced. We think immigrants from our Southern States, and from Central and Southern Europe, will be more welcome and be better pleased with the country than those from more north- ern climates ; but in many respects Texas is a very good State for immigrants. .: t ^i ■ ^-ivc. illi-. .. I Convention vernor Coke, .'; )i. ! y 1154 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. CHAPTER XIX. VTAH TERRITORY. t Utah a Peculiar Territory— It^! i^cation, Boundaries, Area and Extent — Forests and Vegetation — Altitude of its Mountains and Valleys — ZoSlogy — Geology — Mineraix)cy — Topography and General Features — The Great Salt Lake Basin— Cache, San Pete and Sevier Valleys — The Colorado Basin, East or the Wahsatlh Mountains — Climate — Meteorology or Salt Lake City and Camp Douglas — Notes on the Thm- PERATURE, Rainfall, etc., of other parts of the Territory — Advan- tages of U taii as a Sanitary Resort — Diseases for which its Climate is beneficial — Opinion of Eminent Army Surgeons on the Subject — Soil AND Agriculture — Irrigation very generally Required — Immense Crops where it is practised — Non-irrigable Lands sometimes productive with Deep Plowing — Timber — Yield of Cereal and other Products — Fruit- Culture — Stock-Farming — Sheep-Farming — EvilS of Migratory Herds — Gov. Emery's Complaints of California Flocks — Mines and Mining Products — Wide Distribution of Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper, Iron, Coal, Sulphur, Soda, Salt, and Borax — The Mines of the Precious Metals in the Salt Lake Basin very rich and easily accessible — Rail- roads — Objects of Interest — The "Temple of Music " on the Colo- rado — Temples on the Rio Virgen — The American Fork Canon — Ir is : called the " Yosemite" of Utah — The GreatSalt Lake Mineral and Hot Springs — Finances — Population-Table — The Population of Utah peculiar — Its early Setixement by the Mormons — Motives which led TO their Migration — Mormonism a Religious Oligarchy — Its Despotic Rule — Its Crimes — Polygamy its Corner-Stone — Its Defiance of the GOVERN.MENT — ItS PrOPAGANDISM — RELIGIOUS LSNOMINATIONS — EDUCATION — Moral and Social Condition — Counties and Principal Towns — His- torical Data. Utah is a peculiar Territory ; peculiar in its situation, half in the Great Salt Lake basin, and half in the equally wild and deeply grooved basin of the Colorado river; singu'ar in its geol- ogy, its min'irak, its Siit and fresh water lakes and rivers, with no outlet beyond its walls of rock; peculiar in its deposits of the precious metals and coal; peculiar in its deserts, and still more peculiar in the character, religious, political, and social, of the ■majority of its inhabitants. It is tone of the central Territories of the middle belt of States •JipfJt v.^eilfeis^ilbWitf'ft ■u^iipi ^■imi!^^^'m^fmmmi^?-ms^ /OM£SrS AND Vi:aLTAr!ON. H-SS F.A AND Extent ANi> Vai.i.eys — KAL FkATURES — VI KK Valleys — Ns — Climate — FES ON THE TnM- ITOKY — AdVAN- ns Climate is ! Subject — Soil -Immense Crops KODUCTIVE with loducts— Fruit- iGRATORY Herds ES AND MiNINO Copper, Iron, F THE Precious xessible — Rail- " ON THE Colo- nic Canon — It is KE Mineral and LATioN OF Utah TIVES WHICH led lY — Its Despotic )EFIANCE OF THE IONS — Education 'AL TowN^—His- situation, half [ually wild and liar in its geol- id rivers, with deposits of the and still more social, of the ! belt of States and Territoriesof "Our Western limpire." It is bounded wholly by mathematico-geographical lines, lying b(!twet;n the parallels of ^j° and 42° north latitude, and 109° anil 1 14° west longitude from Greenwich. Its northern boundaries are Idaho and Wyom- ing; its eastern, Wyoming and Colorado; its southern, Arizona, and its western, Nevada, it is not quite a square, a tract which extends from the 41st to the 42d parallel and from the 1 1 ith to the 114th meridian being added to it on the north to include Great Salt lake, Bear lake, etc., and to make a part of its northern boundary coterminous with that of Idaho and Nevada. It has a maximum length of 325 miles by a breadth of 300 ; area 84,476 square miles, or 54,064,640 acres. Forests and Vegelation. — On the mountains and along the water-courses are found the following trees, shrubs and vines, to wit : Cottonwood, dwarf birch, willow, quaking aspen, mountain maple, box-elder, scrub cedar, scrub oak, mountain oak, white, red, yellow and piflon pine, white spruce, balsam-fir, mountain mahogany, common elder, dwarf hawthorn, pumac, wild hop, wild rose, dwarf sunflower, and of edible berries, service berry, bull- berry, wild cherry, wild currant, etc. Most of the plants belong to the compositece, crucifera, legiiminosa, boraginacecPy or rosa- ce ce. Altihide of Mountains and Valleys. — It is intersected from north to south by the Wahsatch mountains, dividing it nearly equally between the Great Basin and the basin of the Rio Colorado. The altitude of the surface on both sides of this mountain range is about the same, the valleys 4,000 to 6,000 feet above sea- level; the mountains, 6,000 to 13,000. West of ti^e Wahsatch. the drainage is into lakes and sinks which have no cutlet, the largest of which is Great Salt lake, with an elevation of 4,260 feet, a shore line of 350 miles, and an area of 3,000 to 4,000 square miles. It receives the Bear and Weber, and many smaller streams, and, also, the discharge from Utah lake through the River Jordan. The latter is fresh water, about ten by thirty miles in extent, the receptacle of American, Provo, and Spanish rivers. There are numerous valleys, the lowest of them higher than the average summit of the Alleghanies. Following ■if: M ! :'^ ,,56 oi/K yvEsrriRx e Mr ire. arc the ascertained altitu s of representative lakes, rivers, springs, valleys, and towns, .. imely: (ircat Salt Luke. Utah Lake Sevier !,akc l.iltleSalt Lake, near Lake, Hear River, Hear River, Weber River, Wclier River, Provo River, Provo River, Snn Pitch River, San Pitch River, Sevier River, Sevier River, (-'iche Valley, Salt Lake City, Fort Douglas, Hush Valley, Paragoonah Laketown Randolph Hampton's Bridge... Kamas Ogden Ileber Provo Mt. Plea-iant Gunnison Pangniich Bridge Logan Signal Office Near Salt Uke City. Tooele County 4,260 4.500 4,600 6,220 6,000 6,440 4.540 6,300 4f30o 5.574 4.520 6,090 5. '44 6,270 4.76s 4.550 4.350 4,800 5.200 Skull Valley, Deep Creek, Nephi, Fillmore, Antelope Springs, Heaver, Fort Cameron, Wah Wall Springs, Huckhorn Springs, Desert S|>rings, Iron City, Cedar City, St. George, Diamond, Strawberry Valley, Rabbit Valley, Kanab, Pari a, Kanarra, Tooele County Tooele t'ounly Juab County Millard County. . . . Millard County, . . . Beaver County Denver County Henver County. , . .. Iron C'ounty Iron County Iron County Iron County Washington County. Tinlic Mines Wahsatch County.. Sevier County Kane County Kane County Rim of Basin 4,850 5.230 4.937 6,024 5,850 6,050 6,100 5.450 5.6<>) 5,880 6,100 S.726 2,900 6,J7o 7,7i(. 6,820 4.900 4,562 5,420 Zoolojry- — Among the animals are the coyote, gray wolf, wol- verine, mountain sheep, buffalo (now extinct in Utah), antelope, elk, moose; blat I;- tailed, white-tailed, and mule deer; grizzly, black, and cinnamon bear ; civet cat, striped squirrel, gopher, prairie-dog, beaver, porcupine, badger, skunk, wild cat, lynx, sage and jack-rabbit and cottontail. Birds : golden and bald eagle and osprey; horned, screech and burrowing owl; duck; pig- eon ; sparrow, sharp shinned and gos-hawk : woodpecker, raven, yellow-billed magpie, jay, blackbird, ground robin, song sparrow ; purple, grass and Gambell's finch ; fly-catcher, wren, water ouzel, sky lark, English snipe, wm -r yellow-legs, spotted sand piper, great blue heron, bittern, stork, swan, pelican, Peales egret, ground dove, red shafted flicker, mallard and green-winged teal, goose, ptarmigan, humming bird, mountain quail, sage cock and pine hen. Reptiles : Rattle-snake, water-snake, harlequin-snake, and lizards. The tarantula and scorpion are found, but are not common. . ■ . ■ . t 11 ;;; r / Geology. — The greater part of the rock of the interior moun- tain area is a series of conformable stratified beds,* reaching * Clarence King's Explanations 40th poralleL l\ ._-ieSiS»'t*fc^»j>;!i**s5«a«iJ!(.-;te?Aii'^^^ •V Aiffisr-^ • CkOLOGY OF UTAH. H57 kcs, rivers, uunty 4>85o mnly 5,230 "ly 4.9*7 County .... 6,034 I'ounly.,.. 5,850 ouiity 6,050 louiity 6,ico Jounty 5,450 my 5,690 unly 5,880 unty 6,100 unty 5,726 ;ton County. J.yoo lines 6,370 h County.. 7,7i<> 'ounty 6,820 aunty 4,90U ounty 4i562 Baiin 5420 •ay wolf, wol- ih), antelope, leer; grizzly, rrel, gopher, :at, lynx, sage d bald eagle ; duck; pig- aecker, raven, ong sparrow ; I, water ouzel, :1 sand piper, Peale's egret, fi-winged teal, iage cock and rlequin-snakf, d, but are not nterior moun- :ds,* reaching from the early Azoic to the late Jurassic. In the latter these beds were raised, and the Sierras, the Wahsatch, and the par- allel ranges of the Great Uasin were the conse(|uence. In this upheaval important masses of granite broke through, accompanied by quartz, porphyries, felsite rocks, anil notably sienitic granite, with some granulite andgretsen occasionally. Then, the Pacific Ocean on the west, and the ocean that filled the Mississippi Basin on the east, laid down a system of Cretaceous and Tirriiary strata. These outlying shore beds, subsequently to the Miocene, were themselves raised and folded, forming the Pacific Coast Range and the chains east of the Wahsatch ; volcanic rocks ac- companying this upheaval as granite did the former one. Still later a final series of disturbances occurred, but these last had but small connection with the region under consideration. There is a general parallelism of the mount? in chains, and all the structural features of local geology, the ranges, strike of great areas of upturned strata, larger outbursts of gigantic rocks, etc., are nearly parallel with the meridian. So the precious metals arrange themselves in parallel longitudinal zones. There is a zone of quicksilver, tin, and chromic iron on the coast ranges ; one of copper along the foot-hills of the Sierras ; one of gold farther up the Sierras, the gold veins and resultant placers ex- tending far into Alaska ; one of silver, with comparatively little base metal, along the east base of the .Sierras, stretching into Mexico ; silver mines with complicated associations through Middle Mexico, Arizona, Middle Nevada, and Central Idaho; ar- gentiferous galena through New Mexico, Utah, and Western Montana; and, still farther east, a continuous chain of gold de- posits in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The Jurassic disturbances in all probability are the dating point of a large class of lodes : a, those wholly enclosed in the granites, and b, those in metamorphic beds of the series extending from the Azoic to the Jurassic. To this period may be referred the gold veins of California, those of the Humboldt mines, and those of Wijite Pine, all of class b; and the Reese river veins, partly a, and partly b. The Colorado lodes are somewhat unique, and in general belong to the ancient type. To the Tertiary period i5« OUK WA57/?^A' KAfriKK. may be dcfmiU-'ly assigned the mineral veins traversing the early volcanic rock ; as the Comstock Lode and veins of the Owyhee District, Idaho. By far the greater number of metalliferous lodes occur in the stratified metamorphic rocks or the ancient eruptive rocks of the Jurassic upheaval ; yet very important, and, perhaps, more wonderfully productive, have been those silver lodes which li(r wholly in the recent volcanic formations. Mmcralogy. — Utah is probably the riche-st Territory in "Our Western Kmpire" in its ,'^^^ CACHE, SAS fKTE ASP SBVtElt y.il.t.iiYS, Il6l mountain havf ilvMr hhows in Mcr^^e from iiud their )ne, lor the \n\)f^ |K)Wcr 1-akc City, iuir«! banin, cs Iroin the June, 1880, ;rock. It iMt uilt up more r)^'cly hiding lotol accom- intl orderly; ints of inter- y and agree- l States, with nd the bath- rail 'listant ; other ranges \ picturesque ble by rail, it •t for tourists eastern edge s highly culti- fhere are the [^ity, Willard, •ville, Uounti- rdan, I )ewey- , Springville, \\\ and Levan. id north and lit Lake City, iber rivers, is ;enei y, and is rapitlly improving. The Salt Lake Hasii\ at large has an altitude of about 4,3(X) iv.vi alK>vf the sea, and is the paruiisc of the farmer, the horticulturist, and the ^^rown of fruit. Cut off from it by a low range, now surmounted by th«r Utaii and Nurthern Railway, toward the northeast, is Cache Vallt?y. (idcke, San PieU and Sei'ut yaiteys. — Cache X'alley is oval iii shap< , and jxrhaps ten by fifty milctH in extent, watered by Logan ami nia( ksmith lorks of lUiar river, and by the latttr itself, ind sustaining a settlement wherever a strcain breaks out of the en- closing mountains. Lo};an is the princi))al town of Cache Valley, and thence one drives f stward through Logan Carton forty or fifty milt^s to Bear Lake N'a.ky, Bear river here llowmg toward the north. I'arther o\\ w. bends to the west and southward, and down through Cache Valley, finds is way to Salt Lake. Cache and Hear Lake Valleys have a score of to sns ;ind 15.000 inhab- itants. To the southeast of Salt Lake H i^ ,and to be coimrct< 1 with it by rail through Salt Crt ck or Nephi Cafion, this season, lies San I'cte Valley, called the granary of Utah, surrounded by mountains, except on the south, where the San Pitch river breaks through into the Sevier, and sustaining eight thrivmg towns, all still m their infancy, though founded several years ago, San Tete and Cache Valleys are tine grain-growing sections, but having colder winters are not so well adaptrd to fruit-raising as the Salt Lake IJasui. Ne.xt soudi ' ird is the S< vier riv»*r, which has its source in Fish (Indian, P.i quitch) lake, near the southern bound- ary of the Territory, and runs, like Ben?" river, a long way north before it finds a way out of the mountains, and turning to the' southwest is finally lost in Sevier lake. Most of the streams in the southwest lose themselves in small lakes or sinks, that is, such as rise to the northward of the divide between the (ireat Basin and the Rio Colorado country. The Sevier River Valley is occupied, like all the other Utah valleys (and there are many in the recesses of the VVahsatch, nnd some outlying and dis( onnected with that range, although of minor importance, which have not been particularly noticed), where a stream breaks out of the adjoining mountains, by a settlement; but, like the other streams, tile full capacity of the Sevier river for irrigation has not been called into requisition. «SnWijv-'jM4MU^..> iT ii6j OVM WWnUN KMnitM. 4; The? wrstrrn thinlfif the Trrritory from md to rn«l In no nltrr natioti ol mountain, clrscrt, kink and lake, with a lew oa .o. of arable! or (;ru/in); latuU. ifrt'at Salt lakr covitrH an arm ol .>,ooo to 4,oo() v|iian! inilcn, and the dcMcrt wrnt of it a Mtill hir^itrartra. Th«: Sevier, IVcuhh and Little Salt lakes, all toj^fthrr, are hi.uiII. in compariMon. Formerly a n)i){hty river Mowed northward frmu the vicinity f>f Sevier lake to the westward of (Ircat Salt lake, the dry bed of which, nearly a niiliiu«* it tlrirtl ill itH course, ilown, and hy i\ sort of ft lake; covcr- ars a^^'o tluTt* s w(rll as l\\v ws a lUtiilcd tiinr. Rush t much inoro , to the w(!St- sin, there arc ^c to sprinj^s. Ii, prfscnt and licy j^^athcr the iinn.T. In the Douglas. 1877. MONTHS. TEMl'KRATURE. Menu. I Max. JAMuary .... February . . . Mnrch April May June J»iy .\UgUflt September.. . October November. . . December . . . For the Year 37.9 33.7 48.0 48.6 56.7 65.9 78.2 76.3 65.0 40.1 3'7 50 SS 73 70 83 90 98 96 90 80 60 S' 51.9 I 98 Min. I Rnj;. 'A 30 34 43 :3 4.1 25 'I 47 40 45 40 49 47 48 43 48 55 45 43 95 HUMIDITY. Per Ct. Rainfall Inches, 74-9 753 .87 ■3« 529 48.6 2-93 a.14 42.1 29.7 349 .80 24.1 25.' .02 .28 3'5 .90 41.0 2.41 55-4 68.1 1.02 Ml 47-4 16.35 MEAN PRESSURE. Ilnrcimetcr Inches. 30.071 30.076 29.894 29.«34 29.791 20 927 29.919 29.971 29937 29.971 30.078 30039 29.950 MONTHS. January . . . February . . March April May June July August , . September. October. . . November . December . 1878. For the Year. TEMPERATURE HUMIDITY. Mean. Max. Min. Rng. Per Ct. Rainfall Inches. 30,0 52 5 47 64.8 1.07 32.S 60 20 40 66.2 3-49 46.6 73 27 46 52.6 2.54 49.8 73 30 43 43-4 2.63 S6.2 83 34 49 39.0 2.50 69.4 93 45 48 30.7 ■^l 77-7 96 52 44 26.2 1.08 78.S 97 60 37 33-7 .81 60.S 92 38 54 370 3-'S 48.5 78 22 56 44-5 1-39 42.7 68 22 46 54.6 .63 29.7 56 8 48 59- > .11 5'-9 97 J 46 45-9 19-75 MEAN PRESSURE Barometer Inches. 30-035 29.882 29.926 29.817 29.882 29-939 29.900 29.956 29975 30.05s 30.081 30.091 29-979 We have no meteorological statistics of any points in the Ter- ritory, except Salt Lake City and Camp Douglas, which is near it, but 500 feet higher. The above tables give the tempera- •,iUi.\ ! - ! 1 n Itv isin. the cli- rizona. .1 /. MF.AN PRKSSUKE. fall Ilnrdinetcr IfS, InchcH. 87 30.071 .!« 30.076 <).\ 29.894 14 29^«34 49 29.791 80 29 927 02 29.919 2K 29.971 90 29937 4' 29.971 02 30.078 II 30.039 35 29.950 Y MKAN PRESSURE. ifall BarDiiieter hes. Inches. .07 30.035 •49 39.882 •54 29.q26 •6,? 29.817 •50 29.882 •35 29939 .08 29.900 .81 29.956 ."5 29-975 •39 3005s .63 30.081 .11 30.091 1-75 29.979 5 in the Ter- ^hich is near le tempera- CLIMATE OF VTA 11. 1165 ture, rainfall, humidity and mean barometrical presr.ure at Salt Lake, and such particulars as are at hand concerninjjf Camp Douglas. The latitude of Salt Lake City is 41° 10'; the longi- tude, 112*"; the elevation, 4,362.25 feet. The mean air pressure at Salt Lake City is 25.63 inches; water boils at 204.3°. The prevailing winds are from the north- northwest, and the most windy months are March, July, August and September. The mean velocity of the winds during the entire year is 5*^ miles an hour. On the ocean it is 18 miles; at Liverpool it is 1 3 ; at Toronto. 9 ; at Philadelphia, 1 1 . The climate of Utah, on the vhole, is not unlike that of Northwestern Texas and New Mexico, and is agreeable except for a month or so in winter, and then the temperature seldom falls to zero, or snow to a greater depth than a foot, and it soon melts away, al- though it sometimes affords a few days' sleighing. The spring- opens about the middle of March, the atmosphere becomes as clear as a diamond, deciduous trees burst at once into bloom, and then into leaf, while the bright green of the valleys follows the retiring snow-line steadily up the mountain slopes. The summer is not unpleasant in its onset, accompanied as it is by refreshing breezes and full streams from the higher melting snow banks. Springs of sweet water, fed largely from the surface, bubble forth everywhere. But as the season advances the drought increases, every stirring air, near or far, raises a cloud of alkaline dust until the atmosphere is full of it. Sometimes a shower precipitates it, but there are more dry than wet storms. The springs fail or become impregnated with mineral salts, and the streams run low or dry up. Vegetation dies in the fierce and prolonged heat and drought, if not artificially watered. Still, from the rapid radia- tion of the earth's heat, the nights are always agreeably cool, and the heat itself seems to have but slight debilitating quality. The presence or absence of the sun has a marked effect on the temperature from the great transparency of the air. Let his rays be cut off, even in July, and a fire is pleasant ; while, if they have free passage, the fires are allowed to go out even in January. October ushers in a different state of things. The atmosphere clears up again as in spring, and the landscape softens with the iv.,^S^i^*8#ft'JJ»«(^s^«i*^'«&«^ ''mMMs^^fii»-«9^^- ' Ii66 OUR ty£S7K/i/^ EMPIRE. rich browns, russets and scarlets of the tlyinjj vegetation, which reaches ii|) the mountain sides to their summits in places; but on them the gorjreous picture is soon overlaid by the first snows of appnachinj; winter. The fall is a delij^htfu) season, and is jjenerally ilrawn out nearly to the end of the year. We have been more particular in statinjj the peculiarities of the climate of Utah because it is just now, and as we think justly, recommended for its sanitary qualities in certain diseases. 'I'lie followinj^ summary of the classes and forms of disease in which it has been found most beneficial has the authority of four very eminent army surgeons — Surijeons P. Moffait, Charles Smart, E. P. Vollum and J. F. Hamilton ; and will, we believe, be found to be sustained by the experience of most of those who have gone thither for health. It is important, iiowever, that health-seekers should spend as much of every day as possible in the open air. High altitudes and areas of low barometric pressure quicken the respiration and circulation, and are tlierefore unfavorable in cases of pulmonary disease that are far advanced, and also in heart disease, and that form of chronic bronchitis associated with it. The other forms of chronic bronchitis, chronic pneumo- nia, and phthisis, are the diseases, par excellence, upon which such localities exercise a favorable influence. Consumption does not oriiLjinate here, and where the monthly fluctuation of the ther- mometer does not exceed 50°, and the mean monthly tempera- ture is at, or, within limits, above 50°, and the humidity is unde;' 50 per cent., a residence is beneficial to consumptives, if com- menced early enough. The best treatment known for consump- tion is a year of steady daily horseback riding in a mountainous country, diet of corn bread and bacon, with a moderate quantity of whiskey.* The beneikial influence of the climate on asthma is decided. It cannot exist here, except in a relieved and modi- fied condition. Bronchitis appears in a mild form during the wet and thawing periods of spring and fall, but it always yields to treatment Rheumatic fevers are scattered over the months withe at reference to season ; but very few cases become chronic. -1.. iii * The more fioUerate rthe bcuer,— L. P. B. tion, which in places ; l)y tlic first season, and jliarities of hink justly, asi's. Tlie ,se in which if four very rles Smart, e, be found ) have gone ilth-seekers 3 open air. ire quicken favorable in and also in 5 associated lie pneumo- upon which mption does , of the ther- ily tempera- lity is undei' ves, if com- or consump* nountainous ate quantity e on asthma :d and modi- iring the wet lys yields to the months ome chronic. -' , M 'I " >; < I VTAII AS A S X/TARY flKSOKT. n^j The intcrmittcnts jre imported, and the tendency In them is to longer intervals and ultimate recovery. A remittent, called " Mountain I'ever," is indigenous. It yields readily to simple treatment if attended to in time, but if not develops into a modi- fied typhoid, which is liable to prove fatal. Kxpericnce in ihc miners' hospitals at Salt I-ake City shows that the climatic con- ditions are very favorable to recovery from severe injuries. The summer heat is great, but not debilitating, and the dry pure air and cool, invigorating nights, enable patients to sustain the shock of surgical operations that could not often be safely attempted in more humid climates. Pyemia, or blood poisoning, the frequent accompaniment of severe injuries and of surgery, is of extremely rare occurrence. One has a choice of altitude, ranging from 4,300 to 7,000 feet above the sea, with access to mineral springs, hot and cold, of decidedly efficacious qualities in the cure of many ills, as experience has amply shown ; and for the whole of Salt Lake Basin, the softening and other healthful influences of at least 3,000 square miles of salt water, giving off a saline air, and affording the benefits of ocean bathing without its discomforts and dangers. The waters of the lake are so dense with the salt in solution that it is impossible to sink in it, and at the same time so pleasant that the bather can remain in the water all day with- out serious inconvenience or injury. Temperature, etc., at Camp Douglas, MONTHS. January... February. . March April May June July August September October..., November. December. 7 A. M. 3 P. M. 1 9 P. M. 28 35 29 n 34 24 33 47 39 3« 50 41 4S 55 47 61 77 65 68 85 73 65 80 69 56 74 62 41 50 45 3« ^l 41 22 SI 24 Diurnal Variation. 7 II 14 12 10 16 17 15 18 IS «s 9 Percentage of Sick 3360 31-30 3233 36.42 28.74 29.28 23.86 2538 20.00 21.97 38.68 40.50 The preceding table relates to Camp Douglas, which is on an r|s;^^W?i»s«t*?«^6H»*?*55&4Si&f*rw3ii;*;w^ Il68 OUlt IVKSTFJty RMriRE. elevation two miles east of Salt Lake City and 500 frot above it, btiing 4,862 feet above the sea. This table j^ivcs ihr iliiirnal variation of temperature at 7 a. m , a p. m. and 9 \\ m. for each month of the year, and the effect of this variation in reducing or increasing the percentage of the sick in the hospital connected with the camp. The mean temperature of June to September inclusive at 1 v m. was 79° ; at 9 \\ m. 57" ; difference 22° ; mean percentage of sick for those months, 24.63. For the other eight months the mean at a p. M. was 47* ; at 9 w m. 36° ; difference 1 1°. Mean percentage of sick for these months, 32.93. The months of greatest mean diurnal vnriadon seem to be the healthiest months. Attention is called to the mean temperature of the four warmest months, at 9 o'clock in the evening, viz., 57° ; a night temperature which ensures quiet sleep. The second of these tables shows the annual mean, maximum, minimum and range of temperature, and annual rainfall at Camp Douglas for sixteen years, 1 863-1 878. ' ■ ■ YEARS. 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 I87I 187a \ 1873 1874 187s 1876 1877 1878 Mean for 16 yean., Mean. Sa-93 53.22 50.11 5«-87 S3-7« 50.66 53-6> 51.66 5309 5o-4» 49.26 50.18 51.26 50.64 51.00 5»»9 5»-43 TEMPERATURE. Max. »03 97 100 94 95 96 97 96 104 9» 98 97 95 99 98 93 97 Min. 7 -4 6 9 o 5 7 4 8 o -3 8 9 8 5 8 Range, 96 lOI 94 85 95 9» 90 93 96 91 lOI 89 86 9» 93 85 93 RAINFALL. Inches. 7-47 14^2 «S.5« 23.20 26.14 »7.3S 22.33 to. 96 23.13 18.13 17.37 '955 31.07 18.31 14.53 17.86 18.58 n>-. n> II illiV.' ■i,r.-:jw'. iiiii..' K'^ ^;>}i.. 'T 'jiii/.J \.\\\\>'j y IKK Id A HON. \\(nj Soil and Ajp'iiHttun'. — 'rh«;rc were surveyed of public lands in Utah, down to June jotli, 1X79, anonling to thr Land Office Report, 9.341,375 acrtrs, incluilin); arable, tindirred, coal and mineral lands. It is impossible to tell from any accessible data what proportion is arable land. Perhaps an estiruate that onr- fourlh or about 2,350,000 could be cultivated by the aid of irriga- tion, would not be far out of the way. < We have in other parts of this book discussed fully the advan- tages and disadvantages of irrigation, and need not repeat here what has been already saiil elsewhere. Irrigation is almost universally required in Utah, but in different ((uantities in different localities, and it is usually done by colonies or communities uniting to divert part or the whole of a stream from its natural channel to the adjoining land, each member of the association there having his proportional right to the use of the water. But few of the standard crops of Utah ever require n)ore than two or three waterings to perfect them, some of them, especially fall wheat, seldom needing more than one. Most of the smaller streams in Utah, that could easily be diverted from their natural channels, have been already utilized ; but their full capacities a?) irrigating supplies, which can only be exhausted by means of dams, reservoirs and canals of considerable importance, have not as yet been called into requisition. Irrigation by means of artesian wells has not yet been seriously attempted in the Terri- tory, probably because the necessity for it has not been seriously felt, but the few experiments in that line made by the Union Pacific Railroad have been so successful as to encourage a resort to it hereafter. Flowing water was obtained at a depth of less than a hundred feet. From a report made to the Legislature in 1875 it appears that one-third of the land under cultivation at that time in the Territory required no irrigation (this propor- tion since that time has been largely increased, it having been discovered that, by deep plowing, lands apparently entirely barren would yield twenty-five to thirty bushels of wheat to the acre without irrigation for many successive years). Of the lands re- quiring irrigation, one-fifth only needed one or two waterings ; 74 .;:m'-'/ I J v: ■■ 1; i1! .:.^il!«ii'S^tf!4Mi*ffrfii*-fcW.te^-'4><»iA^^^^^^^^^^^ :.S«' V; •■ i '-.iV/ii-i II70 OUIt WKSTEUff MMrmR. five-irvcnths required from three to four, and about onr-cighth from four to ten. The soil of Utah is partly volcanic, and contains elements of fertility which, when moisture can be had, cause it to !>roduc(* enormous crops. Timbef. — Utah holdn an intermediate position, with njHpect to its supply of timber, In.'tween the Atlantic and prairie States. Its arable lands arc not interspersed with forests, nor yet is it without an adequate supply of timber within its own limits for building', fencinjf, mininj; and fuel. The valleyn oi* plain.s are destitute of forest growth, and in early times willow bruhh was resorted to for ivx\c\n^, adobe bricks for buildin^^, and sa^e brush for fuel. But the mountains are generally more or lesu wooiied, almost wholly with evergreens, however. The best trees furnish lumber nut technically clear, but the knots are held so fast that they are no real detriment, and the lumber is practically clear. The red pine and black balsam indigenous to the mountains make a fence post or railroad tie that will last ten years. The white pine 's not so ^ood. More than half of the forest growth of the Wahsatch is of the white or inferior variety. On the Oquirrh the trees are chiefly red pine. Scrub cedar and piHon pine arc quite common in the south and west. They arc of Itttle value for anything but posts, ties and fuel. In 1875 there were perhaps 100 saw-mills in existence, if not in operation, in the Territory. Ordinary rough building and fencing lumber ranges in price from $20 to $25 a thousand. Flooring and finishing lumber is im- ported, and costs about $45 a thousand. Wood Is obtained from the canons for fuel, and soft coal of good quality can be had for $8 to $12 a ton in all Northern Utah. When the coaj deposits of the Territory shall have been developed and made accessible by railroads, the price should be less by one-half, for there is an abundant supply and it is widely distributed. i,,,n. .c^,,, ,;,»;. Products, Yield, — Ail of the products of the same latitude, east or west, on or about the level of tide water, with the exception of Indian corn (for which the nights are too cool), are grown in Utah with great success, and the soil and climaite seem peculiarly adapted to the growth of wheat and fruit. Following are j»tatistics onr-clghth •IcmcntH of to [>riHiuce h r«!si)cct to airie StatcH. nor yot is it rn limits for I' plain.4 are w biuKh was ,1 saj{c hruhh Icsu wooded, trees furnish i HO fast that :tically clear, e mountains years. Thr est growth of I the Oquirrh fton pin«^ are )f IittJe value were perhaps he Territory, in price from imber is im- Dbtained from »n be had for coal deposits ide accessible or there is an > latitude, east the exception are grown in •em peculiarly ^ are statistics AGMtcvuvMAi fKouvcn or VtAlt. 1171 of ihc! ar 1 and yield of various crop* for the year 1875, on the authority of a Irgislative cotumiuiion : AMiclM k*t^. T«««IVi«M YMidiwrAcM Wheftt 7t,oio 1,418,783 l)n«hcU. jo bu»hcU. Barley 13,847 359.5*7 " "5 " Oatf 19.706 5''i.*49 " 30 " Rye 447 «.9«7 " »o " Corn i6,45« 3»7.»5J " •« " Buckwheat II MJ " la " I'cM i,7'-'i 3o.'»«' " »■ " Bfani H7 J."?^ " «5 " Poftttoc* 10,306 1,306,957 " 130 •« Other RooU 433 »7».7«a " «»5 " Sfcdii I as 49.5o« '*>•• 396H*- Broom Corn aoo 713 ton*. 3?) t<>n». Sugar Cane 1,43* 103,164 gain. 7a ga'*- Meadow 81,788 iij,5»9 ton*. i>4 ton*. Lucerne 3.587 13,189 ton*. 3j^ ton*. Cotton 113 31,075 lt)«. 875 '*»• Flax 5 i,J5oll>B. 150 lb*. Total acre*, 123, 300. Total value of protluct*, about 17,500,000. Of tne wheat crop of 1873, 100,000 bushels were exported. There was no surplus for export in 1874-75. Of the crops of 1876-77, 50,000 to 60,000 bushels were exported. There wus a surplus of about 270,000 bushels raised in 1878, one-half of which was shipped to England via San Francisco ; the rest remains in stock. Probably the acreage in wheat has not increased much since 1875, nor the hay crop, but dry farming has, and the growth of lucerne has doubled. Improved lands are held at from $25 to $100 an acre, according to location. They are almost all adjacent to either towns or mines, or both. There are, in different localities, comparatively large bodies of government lands unoccupied, which can be entered at the Salt Lake Land Office under the United States land laws, the same as in other States and Territories, or bought of the Pacific Railroad companies at low rates, and on easy time ; although, as a general thing, agricultural settlement and improvement in Utah will be undertaken to better advantage by colonies than by individuals. The construction of the main irrigating canals may I I iV !l|i n !!■ \ ' \ ■ij^iy^^^^**^"^"^**''^'^ ,ji^*^v*---:iite^^ii^s^>-^'''j* ''■*^'^ . ■**>!": -*■' II7J ovu wk^rnnN i).NPiHti. uftually Iw accomplinhM \^y plow and Mrapcr, each ncijnininf; Undowii'-r rontrilnitiii^ In . ([iiotn of tht* «xprn§«*, iiiul having' u perpetual ri^ht to the water at the :it>. Apples 3i9JS 3S^>'77 l»»licU. 90 uiuhck Pc«rt laH 10,560 «• 75 '• Peaches 8,687 330,535 " tao " Plum* 159 43.S''5 " 165 " Apricots 305 44ii6o " 145 " Cherries 63 4,661 " 75 " Orapes 544 3.409>>oo lbs. 6,a6o 11m. Total acres, 7,910. Value, |i,o38,6i6. No finer, thriftier trees, no fairer, better flavored fruit is pro- duced anywhere. The trees are extremely bounteous bearers, having to be propped up to enable them to sustain the weight of their enormous burdens. The fruit market in Salt Lake Cty is almost perpetually deriving its supply from California, when native fruits and berries are not in season. This applies, too, to many kinds of vegetables, cauliflower, lettuce and asparagus. The season for most fruits, berries and vegetables begins in California a month or six weeks in advance of the same in Utah, and pro- portionally lengthens it. The extreme southern part of the Territory is adapted to the production of many semi-tropical and FnUtT ASn STOCK fAKMINQ. »I7J n«l)oining having a r r<'|>airH. I Huch an tluit the scmI in the kinds of fTH of the cccHH, and \\v. hi^hf!r W. »»• ''iDrtH /otrcl to it. the yirld pubUihcd kl (.4/ Acrr. UUHhcls. IU. fruit is pro- •us bearers, the weight t Lake City brnia, when plies, too, to iragus. The n California ih, and pro- part of the* tropical and ■ome tropical fruits, htit not much has liern done in that line as yet. Cotton is grown in i Mii.tll w.iy, for unr in the* making ul doth. I''igH and almonds havi; aUo Ix • n tried a little. The climate i» not greatly different from that of .Southern California. where orangey and nuiny tropical fruits do as well as anywhere in the world. Stoik'l'iV tmfi(^. — One great resource of Utah, arid one ea ily dis'.ctimtt.d, so to sjxak, is the very extensive stock rang*;. There is in such a loiintry neieisarily a great de.il oi latjil on the fool-hill slopes anil river terraces which cannot be artificially watered, and yet is nitt cut off from water. The native grasses generally are possibly not as ['ood as the buffalo and gramma grasses of the pl.iins east of th«; Rocky Mountains, but the bunch grass, which seenv; to be imligenous to the broken and elevated r<'gions betwei rj the .Sierra Madre and lh»! .Sierra Nevada, is un- surpassed in rxtelli-nce. Througlioui this interior basin millions of acres are not absolute desert, only becau.se of the existence of this grass. It grows in bimches in apparently the most barren places. Early in the season it cures, standing, retaining all its nutriment, and being hard to cover with snow beyond the reach of stock. Its seed is pyriform, and has remarkable fattening properties. In the high, dry, bracing altitudes of the interior, cattle grow and fatten on much less than on the sca-lcvcl, and the .me degree of eith<'r heat or cold, as mark«!d by the iherinomoter, appears to affect them less. The j.,ra/ing lands of Ut«h are almost unlimited ; incUnIing the uecond ta' les of the river courses, the slopes of the foot-hills and lesser .anges not too far from water ; the shores of the sinks and hikes, and the coves and valleys of the mountains, In the Salt Lake Dasin, generally, stock winter without fodder ; farther south, they not only subsist, but thrive on the range the year round. In Cache, Bear lake, and other valleys more elevated, they require more food and shelter ; and the stock-grower will do well to prepare for occasional cold and snowy spells in all the northern parts of the Territory. There is ample hay ground for this. Under ordinary circumstances, a five-year-oId steer, worth %2^, can be turned II ■ J»«*i:a..'«*3,fi«*'i(i'*i'. 1174 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. out at a cost of 1^5. The statistics returned of stock in Utah in 1875: Stalliuns 108 Marcs . i>349 Mules 4>737 All others, not horned 4i)>3o6 Thoroughbred horned stock 510 Graded " " 3,511 All other " •' 107,468 Thoroughbred sheep r5,6ao All other sheep a8;,6o8 Gonts 304,806 Graded swine i>397 Common swine 26,540 Total value, including poultry and bees, placed at about {6,500,000. The number of blooded and graded animals has probably in- creased 200 per cent, since 1875, and that of sheep 150 per cent., while the strain of ^'ood in all sheep has been so improved that double the wool is leared from the same number. Consider- able stock is kept in adjoining Territories by residents of Utah. It is estimated by stock-growers and drivers that the Territory turns out yearly 40,000 head of stock from one 10 five years old, averaging in value $15 a head ; a total of ]$^6oo,oc>o. Sheep-Farming. — The wool clip of 1875 was returned at ^85,- 000 pounds, but it has quite doubled since. Mr. James Dunn, of the Provo WooDen Mills, estimates the clip of 1877 at i,200>- cxx) to 1,300,000 pounds; for 1878, at 1,600,000 to i, 700^x3 pounds. Other large growers and dealers concur in this esti- mate. The clip of 1879 was nearly 2,000,000 pounds, and that df 1880 over 2,500,000 pounds. Of the clip of 1878 about 1,250,- Ooo pounds was exported, and the remainder, say 400,000 pounds, was used by the Utah mills. Fleeces average about four pounds for ewes, six for wethers; part of tiie wool lunges ttrith the best California wools as to quality, while part of it is in- ferior. Utah and Moniana wools are considered better than the wools of the other Territories. Most of the Utah sheep came from New Mexico down to 1870. . Since then ewes have been brought in from California, generally fine-wpoled Spanish Mer- IT STOCk'RAfSmC A.WD SHEEP- J- ARMING. t»7S in Utah in 1 08 ».349 4,737 4i„ao6 3.5«« 107,468 15,620 187,608 )04,8o6 1,397 26,540 6,500,000. probably in- 50 per cent, iproved thai Consider- nts of Utah. lie Territory /e years old, •ned at ^85,. ames Dunn, 77 at i,20CS- to 1,700,000 in this esti- ids, and that about 1,250,- say 400,000 erage about wool tanges irt of it is in- tteir than the sheep came IS have been ipanish Mer- inos, but little mixed ; fine-wooled bucks from Ohio, and long- woolcd from Canada. The same strain of blood in sheep docs not produce quite so long a wool as in the East. It is so dry and dusty, the grtia.ie seems to absorb the alkali and mineral dust, which makes it harsli^^r and more britdo. But since the large infusion of Merino blood, which has taken place in late years, there has been a marked improvement in the quality of Utah wool, in respect of length, softness and fineness of fibre. It re- alizes to the grower, here, crude, about twenty cents a pound. Mr. Daniel Davidson, who has imported ijljo.ooo worth of bucks within a few years, has a flock of 16,000 sheep, from which he sheared 90,000 pounds of wool in 1878. Among other large owners are the Provo Manufacturing Company, with 13,000; a Mr. Mclntyre, with 9,000. Mr. Davidson thinks there are 550,000 sheep in the Territory. Castle Valley, near the corner post of Wahsatch, San Pete and Utah counties, is a great sheep range, several large flocks being kept there. They are worth about $2.25 a head as they run, do not require feeding in winter, and if properly attended to, under ordinary circumstances, will yield a profit of forty per cent, a year on the investment. They are beginning to be bought up to be driven away. A flock of 5,000, costing from ^2 to $2.50 each, including lambs, was picked up and taken to Motitana in the spring of 1878. By the time they got there the lamb;: were worth as much as the sheep, re- ducing the price in reality to about $1.50. Governor Emery says on this subject : Another serious drawback to the stock-growers of this country are immense herds of sheep, which have been driven into the Territories from California. Large flocks of fifteen, twenty and thirty thousand sheep not unfrequently make their appearance here from the West. It is not so much the grass they eat that the settlers complain of, but they poison and kill out what is known here as the bufifalo or bunch-grass, which is the only grass of any value indigenous to this soil. Where sheep range for one season there is left a burren waste upon which grass will not grow for several years after. If Congrcbs would pass some law whereby parties can acquire rights to this pasturage, it would |!i. ;.. ill IH ■■s^mWm»j'0i.Mi^'M>«SMm.m:iij'-ism0&-^Jii^ ,1^5 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. undoubtedly b<» a source of revenue to the government as well as to parties engaged in stock and wool-grov/ing. Mines and Mining Products. — With her increasing population, it is hardly probable that Utah will produce more grains, «:tc., than sufficient to supply the home demand for agricultural pro- ducts. She may export some wheat, but she will import more corn ; she may have more than a supply of some fruits and root crops, but she will import as much or more of others. She may have cattle, sheep, and possibly horses and mules to export, and as her grazing lands become developed, there may be a large traffic in live-stock, for which she has good facilities. But the chief attraction which Utah possesses for immigrants is its mineral wealth. Looking southward from one of the sum- mits of the Wahsatch Mountains, just above their junction with the Uintah Range, and the smoke of the smelters and stamp mills is seen in the clear pure air for a hundred miles, and on both sides of the Wahsatch ; while to the east and southeast the mines of copper, coal, sulphur, alum, borax, graphite and other minerals, with some gold and silver, are found in great abun- dance. 1 There is not a county in the Territory where mines have not been located, and mining districts in greater or lesser number organized. These mining districts now cover over 1,200,000 acres. They are, perhaps, most numerous in Salt Lake, Utah, Jusb, Beaver, Box Elder, Tooele, Millard, Pi-ute and Iron coun- ties, but Washington county, Weber, Davis and Summit are coming into prominence either for their silver mines, gold placers, or deposits of coal, sulphur, borax, alum, etc. We cannot under- take to name all these mines or mining districts ; but a few notes in regard to some of the most prominent of them will be interest- ing. Bingham Cafton and its chief town, Bingham City, is about thirty miles southwest of Salt Lake City, and is a rift or cafion of the Oquirrh Mountains, through which a small muddy creek flows on its way to the Jordan river, about twelve miles south of Salt Lake City. It has had strange vicissitudes. In 1859 rich gold placers were found there by General Conner's soldiers, and were extensively worked and still yield fair pay for working. In H MINES AND MINING IN UTAH. 1177 nent as well population, j^rains, «;tc., ultural pro- mport more I its antl root s. nd mules to 1, there may d facilities, r immigrants : of the sum- junction with s and stamp niles, and on southeast the te and other I great abun- nes have not esser number ver 1,200,000 t Lake, Utah, nd Iron coun- i Summit are J, gold placers, cannot under- ut a few notes /ill be interest- i City, is about I rift or cafion I muddy creek miles south of In 1859 rich 's soldiers, and r working. In 1869 extensive beds of silver lead ore were discovered and mined with decided pro6t, and some of the mines are still profitably worked; in 1876 it was discovered that the disintegrated rock which had been thrown aside from the silver mines as waste really contained from f,ig to '^2$ of gold to the ton, and was very f-asily reduced, and as this paid better than the silver, the mining for these quartz-gold ores was immediately resumed. Mean- while, however, some of the silver mines in the cafion had been written up and their productiveness eulogized, and one of these, the Old Telegraph, which was really worth perhaps from ;jt7oo,oc)0 to ji 1, 000,000, was sold after examination to a French company for ;j5j,ooo,ooo. The mine has not only never paid a dividend, but is run either at a loss or without profit, although all its re- duction works and the appointments of the mine are of the first class. It was another instance in which silver mines in Utah have been sold to European capitalists at prices far beyond their actual value. The sales of the Litde Emma, Flagstaff and McHenry, all Utah mines, are still fresh in the public memory, and have entailed an unwarranted disgrace upon mining proper- ties, especially in Utah. The Little Cottonwood Mines, which included the Emma and Flagstaff, are now developing other mining properties there; but the frauds connected with those mines have destroyed confidence in them, and the present and prospective yield is not sufficient to restore it. The Parley's Park Mines, in the vicinity of Park City, of which the Ontario Mine is the principal, have aii excellent property, though in their case the failure of the McHenry Mine to make good the repre- sentations under which it was sold, has proved a serious draw- back. The mill connected with this mine shipped East, monthl)', in 1879, from jji 35,000 to $145,000, and new mines in the vicinity are promising well. On the Oquirrh Mountains there is also the Ophir District, which has the Hidden Treasure and many other silver mines of note ; the Stockton Mines, which have already yielded largely ; and the Tintic Silver District, the mines in which carry gold, silver and copper. In Southern and Southwestern Utah, within the Great Basin and south of Sevier lake, there are many silver mines of great value, and which are ft- i;! H \ ■ lii .,a4S!ii*eKSIAifeia&rt4*s4^«;»iS?&SM5te^ i&i-^-v'fcw*-' ■■ : 4Pit&Stp^ 11^1 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. conducted on sound business principles. In this region the mines are richer as we proceed toward the southern boundary. In the Bouver l^ke District there are valuable copper mines, and a litth; to the east and southeast are silver mines in the same district, and some valuable mines in the Ohio District. A little farther south are the PVisco Silver Mines, to which point a branch of the Southern Utah Railway is running. Among these mines, the Horn Silver Mine, about ont* mile from the village of Frisco, is said to be the richest silver mine in the world. Professor J. S. Newberry, who visited it in the autumn of 1879, and examined it very carefully, estimated that there was not less than $15,000,000 worth of ore in sight, and a fair pros- pect of at least as much more when the mine was fully developed. This ore is chlorides and horn silver. The Carbonate and Rattler Mines, and the Cave Mine in the same vicinity, arc car- bonates easily reduced and very rich; the last named carries considerable gold ; as do the Picacho Mines. Around and just below Little Salt lake are the Silver Belt and the Sumner Mining Districts, and in the same vicinity immense coal beds and exten- sive deposits of iron and alum. Other coal measures are still farther south, and in the extreme southwest is the Leeds Silver Mining District, which has many rich mines ; most of these are chlorides and easily reduced. East of the Leeds District, and on and near the Rio Virgen, is the Harrisburg District, in which are a large number of excellent mines. Among these are those of Silver Reef, where sandstone beds of cretaceous or tertiary age are found impregnated with silver, either native or in chlorides. The Stormont Silver Mining Company owns several mines on Silver Reef, and is steadily producing from $40,000 to $50,000 of bullion per month, with a fair prospect of increase with larger facilities for reduction. No smelting is needed, but the reduction is effected through stamp*miils and wet amalgamation. Just at the boundary of Utah, Arizona and Nevada is the Silver Park Dis- trict, where the argentiferous deposit is an enormous but irreg- ular vein lying in the contact between porphyry and limestone. Some of the ore is very rich, and Professor Newberry says that "iiC seems to present very much the same problems as the gr6at It,. MINING EAST OF THR WAHSATCH MOUNTAINS. wro region the I boundary, r mines, and n the same )istrict. A IS, to which is running, je mile from mine in the the autumn at there was \ a fair pros- y developed, rbonate and lity, are car- imed carries md and just nner Mining is and exten- ires are still Leeds Silver of these are strict, and on , in which are are those of r tertiary age • in chlorides, ral mines on X) to 5(^50,000 « with larger the reduction ;ion. Just at ver Park Dis- 3US but irreg- rad limestone, erry says that \ as the great veins of the Shakspeare District, Ni:w Mexico, or the Ruby liill District, Nevada; that is, they are very good or good for nothing, and considerable time and money will be required to decide which is true." The eastern slope of the Wahsatch Mountains undoubtedly contains both silver and gold, though, whether it is likely to be of ores which will prove profitable for present working, is a question. The Cireat Colorado Basin, which has shown itself so rich in the precious metals in Colorado and Arizona, is probably equally rich here. But we know that copper, and iron, and coal are not only abundant but that they are of excellent quality and easily worked. The coal beds of Utah contain coal of good quality, sufficient to supply the entire region west of the Rocky Moun- tains. It in bituminous or semi-bituminous in character, and ma y of the beds. Professor Newberry says, are excellent cok- ing coals. Whether it is a lignite of the Tertiary formations, or a true coal of the Carboniferous era, does not seem to be fully setded. Possibly the deposits of the north are of a later geo- logic age than those of the south. Volcanic action, here as in New Mexico, may have wrought some changes in it. The iron is of all varieties, and is pronounced by skilful iron masters equal in quality to any in the world, and the quantity is vast beyond conception. Its close proximity to good coking coals and the excellent fluxes close at hand insure very cheap production of the best qualities of iron, and already several large furnaces are at work. Recently antimony has been discovered. The antimony mines are situated 200 miles south of Salt Lake, and on the headwaters of the ^evier river. The mineral occurs as a bedded or sedi- mentary deposit, in interrupted layers from a quarter of an inch to two feet in thickness. Its line df outcrop forms an irregular contour, which follows the windings of the cliffs. The quantity exposed varies greatly ; in some places perhaps a thousand tons could be obtained immediately. There are large deposits of sul- phur of great thickness, which are worked. Salt is produced from the Waters of Great Salt Lake and other lakes in con- siderable quantities and of excellent quality. There are large ',m^-.- :^0^^miS£;mi0Mmi»!Ssm»rit' • The Great Salt lake itself is an object of great interest. The remarkable density of its waters, which at some seasons and particularly in times of great drought, is so strong a brine as to contain two pounds of salt to the gallon of water, its islands which contain rich deposits of silver and copper and abound in game, its shores covered with salt, and the buoyancy of its waters, in which one cannot sink, all excite the wonder of the visitor. The mineral and hot springs, which abound throughout the Territory, are worthy of notice. The hot springs near Ogden are a favorite resort for tourists. >>i <; ''>'> J- ' - /r«a«r^j.w The finances of the Terntbry," says Governor Emery', in his report to the Secretary of the Interior, October a^th, 1879, **are in a most satisfactory condition. There is no indebtedness that is nqt covered by uncoUected taxes. The I'f c mam resort p, its lu;(l has y, cij,'ht milcB )Ut there aru aspens and ner an inclc- \c dcciduouR by the frost, ;ye wherever yo up and up her and very fur days and II the caflon. xlivities, they ay be in their stcrH, wagons It for months. ble as that of > main rang« Cottonwood :e against the merest. The seasons and a brine as to ;r, its islands ind abound in ' of its waters, the visitor. ! ' roughout the near Ogden lys Governor irior, October There is no taxes. The FOrVLATION OP VTAIt. ngj territorial scrip, which three or four ytars since was worth only forty cents on the dollar, to-day is worth nin5 i>7ci i)9,5tlt il.liil' 4>,Mt M.U44 llM 140.000+ M,in|i «3,l7j|i|o,uM) ■ Mo M4.6s9t|74.4rit! «».4J*, >4i.J»" JO ; 9,ji« <49 ! 'J.*'? * 7 1«3 3J.3»7 V>,7ft i i i 1.54" •4.i»J 1 J • ,7*S I I ■.>3S 4.SIO lxtecn. {including 104 negro** ami mulatlocs, 301 Chincw, 804 tadiam and half-brcadk aadaey^nHaq |'-a>t M>>*" M«l hai/'b^d*. ;i" II' ,-«t»>ipf.i~' -%:.J*>**t-.«;-'-.Hl..l*.Ai'~*«""--J ..,■.■ aT";' 1 1 8^ OUK trjtsrg/tjv mmp/mx. free rein to lu«t. Thtrir powrr was for many yrarn so ahsoliite that the scttlt'rn, who profi'sscd aiiothrr faith. wn«* lial»l«' to as^asHination and to «vpry indi^jniiy r.nd opprrssion. SiiK <• the nunrral w« alth of the 'I'rrritory was diH<:ovrr«:il, settUrs have been ()oiirinj; in, and in nome of th«* mining cantps, rspj'ci.illy in Tooele county, the "(icntiles," an tiic Mormons contem|)tnoiisly call them, ar<; in the majority. The present census nIiowh that about io7.cxx)of the 143,807 white inhabitants are Mornu»nH and the remainder " Cicntiles ; " a decided jjain since 1870, when there were not more than 1 5,000 Cientiles in the Territory. Hut the Mormons are artful and shrewd. Knowin)» that their poly^'amy and other offi'nrr'H against society and jjood order are violations of the laws of the United Slates, they are yet determined to hold on to them, and to diffuse them in other States and Territories, and with an atfgressiveness worthy of a better cause they are plant- in}^ their mission towns in Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming;, Colorado and Arizona, and have even obtained some footing; in California. In Idaho and Nevada they claim to have a majority of the inhabitants under their control. They send their missionaries to England, Wales, Scotland, Sweden, Norway and I )enmark, and by a specious and plausible presentation of some of their doctrines (those that are objectionable being kept in the back- ground), and of their country, they persuade many of the i^^norant, excitable and superstitious class to emigrate to Utah. Once here they are completely under the control of the leaders ; all that they have, and all that they can earn, belongs to the hierarchy, and if it is decided that they must go to the most unpromising desert region in Nevada, Arizona or Idaho, and aid in establishing a new town, however inconvenient or distressing it may be for them to break up their homes, there is no alternative ; they must go, or death and eternal destruction will be their portion. If it is deemed desirable to put some troublesome or inquisitive Gen- tile out of the way, the means and the men for the work are speedily found. The large influx of "Gentiles" to the mining camns and to business connected with the railroads and mines has modified their open and outspoken opposition to non-Mormon immigration; but at heart they are as much opposed to this r"! Ml al)HoUite if liahlr to Sinccr the tflirs have csprt i.illy in trnipt\iousIy nhowH that (irtnons and I, whtrn there ry. Hut the ir |M)lyj;amy violations of ined to hold I Territories, ley are plant- la, Wyotninjf, me footing in ve a majority r missionaries nd Denmark, some of their t in th(* back- f the ij^norant, h. Once here ders; all that hierarchy, and >mising desert establishing a it may be for ve ; they must portion. If it quisitlve Gen- the work are to the mining and mines has non-Mormon >posed to this MRUUiOVS DhmiMINAritiSS, ||9| Immigration at ever, and more to the Tnitcd States govi-rnmcnt than at any time in thtr pant, At the name time they are very ijoiroiiH of being adinitteil into the Tnion ah a Slate, that they may I)';{ilimi2e polygamy: and when in their Midgment the lilting time has come, they propone to v (rdc, taking with them the other Suites ami TerritorieH they have won over to their viewH. and star: a polygamous empire. They have offered their vote and sup|)C)rt to whichever of the two great parties will necure their admission into the Union ; but their practices arc so palpably in violation of the constitiiiion, that their admission is not probabit!. Ktlij;;ioiis Dtnominations. — Ihe nun Mormon inhabitants of Utah are of all religious denominations, or of none ; but they have a great abhorrence l>oth of polygamy and of religious des- potism. In 1878 there were 167 Mormon church ediliees, and four temples built and in coursi; of construction at St. George, Logan, Manti and Sale l^ke City, by the Mormons. I'Sey claimed at that time 108,907 souls as belonging to their church. Since that time they have sent out al)out io,ocx> to other States and Territories, and have received about 8,000 immigrants from abroad. Mormonism does not increase by conversions at home, but by the immigration of converts from abroad. At the same time there were thirty-five Protestant congregations, having twenty-two church edifices and twenty-eight regular pastors, sus- taining as a part of their work twenty-five mission schools, in twenty towns, with an enrolment of nearly 2,000 scholars. The nimiber of communicants was about 1,400, and of adherent pop- ulation about 8,000. Their church property amounted to about $250,000, while that of the Mormons exceeded $3,200,000. There has been some improvement in these particulars within the past two years. The number of Protestant churches now exceeds forty, the number of communicants is more than 2,500, and of adherent population about 13,000. There is also a much larger amount of church property, and an increase in the number of church edifices and schools. All the principal Protestant de- nominations have churches in tlie larger towns of the Territory, and there are Roman Catholic churches in Salt Lake City and Ogden, artd perhaps at some other points. .•• v . , ,mv. :^ yl i«t»i.'*W4Wc:.lij6a-:iO!.vT:-'jN*l'J»..*,--.'5WiV.»/>~>ail. .»»*■. ..'■/. *• Ii86 Ot'lt trKXr^KN KMriMM. Eiiufatitm — Amonjj thr Mormon* rdtirntlon \% nt a low fhK Tlu* »thtM»l poptilftiion in rrrkonrtl only hrCwrrn thr aj^»'n of nix and iiixtrrn, and of thin nranty rnrolmrni \r%% than thirty nini? percent., or only ahotit ij,cx)0 to 13.000, attended nchool. 'Hir wholr rd Ix'tter instruction than the Mormon schools. There are two or three sccomlnry nchooU, especially the Salt l^ike Academy ("Gentile"), in S(dt Lake City; the Brij^ham Young Academy, at IVovo. and two smaller institutions, one at Lojjtin, atid the other at Salt Lake City — emiowed by Young with lands. These are all Mormon. The so-cnileil Uni- versity of I>rsett:t, which is as yet only a preparatory school with a normal class, Is also Mormon. Morals d.Mi Sbtia/ Cauititian. — The moral condition of Utah Is very low. So far as the distinctive Mormon institution — polyf;^- amy— i* concerned, it could not well be worse. Lkentiousness in all It? wofst forms, is openly sustained un^ t the forms of po- lyjjamous msrtiage, and incest of the grossest character is not uncommon. Thefc Is, among the Mormon population, nothing of the fkmlly reltetion, and the Mormon youth, the boys, especially, are early taught the most atrodmis depravity. This condition of tlungs has exerted \t\ mtiny Ihstant^s nn untoward influence upon the '"Gentile" {)Opulbtbn. No man should emigitile to Utah who has not his motal principles firmly fifjfed. But to men of prinelple and charactter there i^ an opportunity df ttceompllslhing much good by engaging In Such e»itei*f)Hscs *s wIM aifd in rescuing tfiis rich and valuab;2 Tfenfltofy from the contfol of the most c'epraved and vill^oUs despotism which ever prevailed in any country, in ancient or »tw^«¥n t?nj«. Counties and Principal Tdums. — Thtitt ^€ TWenty^Af ee ^n- p a^^rn of hIx n thirty nirif school. 'Mir fhr nrhooU )i)I propcTty, rn w;iH 489 ; inonih. 'I'hr total rxprn uTr arr, as iiiuNt "Cicn- n Icaderd. are thr Mormon nU, <'sprcially <»• City ; thr •r inntituttons, -cmlowcd by »oonll<*il Uni- ry school with Ion of Utah is mtion — i»olyp- [.kcntioujine»R 5 forms of po- tmrictcr is not on, nothing of ays, especially, is condition of influence upon c to Utah who en of prinriplf kif; much good cuing tfiis rich Host c'epravcd iny country, in ity*three cotin- cotwr/Ms MA/> fMMfafAi roh'As, tit; ties In Utah. The Miicticcl valuation of th«t« 'n 1877, exclu»ive of mincH and mining improvement*, ncitht:r of which were thrn tAxtd, wa« a* follow* : t'.^mAU» F»Hml4lii'o5.|<»7 Toocit , . , . . . 4il97 1,060,190 Atimmit 4.<40 A6'<,;)6 Duvu $,oi6 Ni*,!,)! Han I'ctt ii>9S7 664,071 Wa»hiMKti»n 4,tjj 6«S>S7> J»«^ J.47J 459.*V'i Iron 4>oi.) 446,056 Morgnn 1,78.) 418,918 K«i»« 3,o«J 34J.944 Bmvot ...... 3^i8 4io,j9o MilUkd s>7'7 joo,Si6 Sevier s.ijB 9lihS»i Wahutch '>9>7 18}, 760 Rich t,a6j 168,940 I'i-ute 1,651 ii9i5ia Emery ...... 556 San Juan 104 * Uintah 799 Totals 1431907* l»>553r6oo The very large mining interests would much more than double these assessed values. Of the towns, Salt Lake City had in 1870 a population of 12,854. Its population in June, 1880, was 20,768. It is the chief seat of Mormonism, has the Tabernacle and the yet uncom- pleted Temple, and many other attractive public and private buildings. Ogden, on the Union Pacific, is a thriving town of 5,000 or 6,000 inhabitants. Pi ovo, Logan, Ephraim City, St. * Exdiuiv* of tribftl IndiuM. i m88 OUR WBSTERN EMPIRE. George, Manti, Iron City, Frisco, Tooele, Mount Pleasant, Silver Reef, etc., are towns of considerable importance. •'• ii" Historical Z> the name of Utah; but the Mormons called it "Deseret," and in 1863 formed a Constitution, and demanded admission into the Union under that name. This was refused, and there has been much controversy, and sometimes threatened violence by the Mormons, since that time. In 1857 a most atro- cious massacre of a large party of emigrants was perpetrated under Mormon direction at Mountain Meadow, in the southern part of the Territory. Some of the actors in that massacre were hung for it in 1877. Most of the mining enterprises which have brought in so considerable a non-Mormon population have been undertaken since 1869. ..of "f .1..-. <. .-O.f > p_('. Vf^ i '<-U-i ■■ i)^V.>i' ' ' .' M!h;v i> }r'?Oi?l, •> -Mil ■ a.vi'iq l-fui .-il(I<;i| :> ,-ij ji.ijtr. 'i^hn viii,r/( i' u; , Iqiirj'r. f. ii-jlq ;■.::. ;'!.fil \a.M'- V !>■<•'.•-«■[;. .'f ..■'.SfeV- '^^''^^^I'^hTS?^ '"^'^ ^^-.«..«»fr^^f-.v;- -,1^'* )»•» Pleasant, Silver ll!ii. he Ute«, a tribe The Mormons, er in 1847 and in remote from d from Mexico id California, in IS organized as VIornions called and demanded is was refused, mes threatened 57 a most atro- as perpetrated in the southern massacre were ses which have tion have been {. *l-' V U •■.•A Ill »f ■ r .•IjM.)!' . 1 i * : 1 ,.0 ".'v) oi.if),; Ic ■'j, < 'I,' ..urta!,>* K !t: — j i iMjm i i i i -Mj ii M. i ..^j ». i M t M , I tyygy 4^ ♦ * ■ vi :-■-''■ ^ / i TOPOGRAPHY OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 1189 i * CHAPTER XX. WASHINGTON TERRITORY. Situation or Washii)gton Territory — Boundaries — The Boundary LiNi AT the Northwest, and North — Irs Area — LENciTH and Breadth — Com- parative Size — Topo ial Farming Lands — Table Lands — Forest Growths — Agricultural Pro- ducts — Timber and Lumber — Soil and Productions of Eastern Wash- ington — The Yakima County — Remarkably Fat Cattle — From whence they come — The wonderful Fertility of the Soil — The Mountain Slopes and Mountain Tops as rich as the Valleys — The Immense Yield or Wheat — Thirty-five to Fifty Bushels to the Acre — Exports — Pop- ulation-Table — Indian Tribes and their Reservations— Partial Civil- ization or the Indians — Their Industry — Education — Counties and Principal Towns — Table of Population and Valuation of Counties — Chief Towns — Religious Denominations and Public Morals — Historical Data — The American Title to Washington and Oregon — The Arbitra- tion IN REGARD TO THE ISLANDS IN THE GULF OF GEORGIA — ^ThE EarLY Settlers — Indian War in 1855 — Conclusion— Washington Territory Desirable for Immigrants— The best Routes thither — The early Com- pletion OF the Northern Pacific probable. Washington Territory is, with the exception of Alaska, which is not yet organized, the extreme northwestern member of " Our Western Empire," lying between the parallels of 45* 32'' and 49° north latitude ; and between the meridians of 117" and 1 24° 28' west longitude from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north and northwest by British Columbia, the boundary line being a zig-zag one to give Great Britain the settlements and lands she claimed. Our title ran legitimately along the 49th parallel V K '. ;;ja^iiKSSS*sS&csi»awm>^^^«^.^'^^'''^'K5'*''^ T ] 1190 Ol/Jl WBHTERN EAtriKM. to the Pacific ; but to have insisted on this would have given us the greater part of Vancouver Island, on which were already im- portant British settknrjnts. The line was finally run, not with- out a long and tedious arbitration, through the centre of .he Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Canal de Haro, and the Gulf of (ieorgia as far as to the 49th parallel. From the centre of the (iulf of Georgia to the west line of Idaho, the northern boundary is along the 49th parallel. The eastern boundary is the Territory of Idaho, along the 1 17th meridian to Lewiston, where the Snake river makes a sudden bend southward, when that river becomes the eastern boundary to the Oregon line ; southward, Oregon forms its limit, the line running along the 46th parallel till it reaches the Columbia river at about the 119th meridian, when the Columbia becomes the southern boundary to the Pacific; on the west, it is washed by the waves of the Pacific as far as the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Its length from north to south ranges from 200 to 250 miles, its greatest breadth from east to west about 360 miles. It is smaller than most of the Territories, and sev- eral of the States of "Our Western Empire," having but 69,994 square miles, or 44,796, 160 acres ; yet this area is one and a half times that of New York or Pennsylvania. Topography ( nd Divisions. — ^The Territory is popularly divided into Eastern and Western Washington by the Cascade Range of mountains, which trend north- northeast from Oregon in a very disorderly fashion from the Dalles of the Columbia river to the line of British Columbia, following for most of the distance the west bank of the Columbia river, and extending in parallel ridges west-southwest to Puget sound, and eastward in several spurs north, east-northeast, and east-southeast. Almost the entire region between the 47th and the 49th parallels lying between the Columbia river and Puget sound is broken, rolling and mountainous, though the mountains are not high. \ Western Washington, the part of the Territory first settled, consist of a valley or basin, known as the Puget sound basin, and which lies between two ranges of mountains, the Cascade Mountains on the east and the Olympian or Coast Range on the west The Puget sound or archipelago, the Mediterranean of 'f SAFETY AND BEAUTY OF fUUET SOiND. II9I 'C. given US ilrcatly im- 1, not with- f .he Strait ( leorj^ia as le (iulf of loundary is e Territory the Snake er becomes rd, Oregon rallel till it idian, when Pacific; on s far as the (uth ranges ) west about es, and sev- : but 69,994 c and a half arly divided cade Range on in a very river to the distance the rallel ridges iveral spurs the entire ing between rolling and irst settled, >ound basin, he Cascade ange on the erranean of the Western Continent, as it is often called, extends from the Hritish line on the north (the (julf of Georgia penetrating sev- eral hunilred miles into British Columbia) to Olympia on the south. It includes the Straits of Juan dc Fuca, which furnish a broad channel into the Pacific, the Canal dc I laro. Washington Sound, the Gulf of Georgia, Pellingham Bay, Kokariu Strait, Admiralty Inlet; Hood's Canal, Lake Washington, several smaller passes and inlets, and Anderson's Bay, the latter items and some others going to make up the smaller Puget sound. It has a coast line in the Territory of 1,594 miles, and its area within the limits of the Territory is over 2,ocx3 square miles. More than thirty-five years ago Captain (afterwards Rear Admiral) Wilkes, who liad been engaged on a protracted voyage of ex- ploration of the Pacific coast, said of this sound: "Nothing can exceed the beauty of these waters and their safety. Not a shoal exists within the Straits of Juan dc Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, or Hood's Canal that can in any way interrupt their navigation by a 74-gun ship. I venture nothing in saying there is no country in the world that possesses waters equal to these. They cover an ar'^a of about 2,cxx:) square miles. The shores of all these inlets and bays are remarkably bold ; so much so that in many places a ship's side would strike the shore before the keel would touch the ground. The country by which these waters are surrounded is remarkably salubrious, and offers every advantage for the accommodation of a vast commercial and military marine, with convenience for docks, and a' great many sites for towns and cities, at all times well supplied with water and capable of being well provided with everything by the sur- rounding country, which is well adapted for agriculture. "The Straits of Juan de Fuca are ninety-five miles in lengtli, and have an average width of eleven miles. At the entrance (eight miles in width) no danger exists, and, '\X may be safely navi- gated throughout No part of the world affords finer inland sounds, or a greater number of harbors, than are found within the Straits of Juan de Fuca, capable of receiving the largest class of vessels and without a danger in them which is not visi- ble. From the rise and fall of the tides (eighteen feet) every .-iSi(8«Y<^'y;jS^^>:Z^liiSK^^TK-^^sf^^t!^i.ii.!^»T-'lw. J I iqa OVR WESTEKN EMPIKB. facility is offcioci for the erection of workn for a j^rcat maritime nation. The country also affords as many sites for water-power »s any other." The foothills and slopes of the mountains on both sides are almost wholly covered with immense forests of fir and cedar, nachinjjf to the very summits of the mountains. Flowinjj down from the western slope of the Cascade Range, ten rivers empty into Pugct sound, vi;:.: the Nisqually, Puyallup, Whitr, Cedar, Snoqualmie, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Duwamish, Skagit, and Nooksakh, affording many hundred miles of inland shore line for logging purposfrs, and having in their valleys an estimated area of two thousand square miies of alluvial agricultural lands. Most of these rivers are navigable for steamers of light drr.ft, generally as far up as the alluvial deposits extend. The streams descending eastward from the Olympian or Coast Range, except the Skokomish and the Dungeness, are shorter and of less importance. The mountains approach close to the western shores of the sound, limiting the area of available territory ; but their sides are covered with vast forests of valuable timber already known to the markets of the world. Between the Olympian or Coast Range and the Pacific are some arable lands, but the soil is not so rich, though well adapted to the growth of timber. There are two moderately good harbors here — Gray's Harbor, and Shoal-water bay, extensive and partially land-locked bodies of water, but in respect to depth and facility of loading and un- loading bearing no comparison to the magnificent harbors of Puget sound. The Chehalis is the principal stream flowing into Gray's Harbor ; it has numerous affluents. The Willopah and some smaller streams fall into Shoal-water bay. There are numerous small rivers flowing into the Pacific and the Straits of Juan de Fuca. The other streams of Western Washington are aflluents of the Columbia. The Cowlitz and Klikitat are the most important. All of Western Washington is well watered. Easteitt Washington includer. all that part of the Territory lying east of the Cascade Mountains, and consists of the Great Plains of the Columbia river, the Great Plateau of the Spokane, and numerous valleys or river bottoms, as of the Columbia, Snake BO LOGY Atfti UmP.KAlOGY. iigj ; maritime itcr-powcr \ sides are tnd crdar, linj^ down crs cm[)ty itr-, Cedar, kagit, and »re line for latcd area ral lands. ij,du drr.ft, he streams ige, except id of less ern shores but their cr already ympian cr jt the soil of timber. 's Harbor, Iced bodies ig and un- harbors of lowing into illopah and There are 5 Straits of lington are tat are the watered. : Territory the Great e Spokane, tibia, Snake river, Walla-Walla, Clarke's fork, the Okinakanc, Wt-natthrr or ris(|iioiisr, Lake Chclann, the (irand Coiilci'-, or Old WvA of the Coliiinbia, the Spokane, Colville and Paloust; rivrrs. This whole nr^ion is nil elevated plateau, with a riiiisoil, well adapted to the culture of the cereals, and one of tlic finest grazing countrii.s in the world. There arc many lakes in Washington, some of them of con- siderable size ; Lake Chclann is the largest, but Lakes Kahchess, Waslilngton and Whatcom arc also im[)ortant lakes. C^rated placed by , is worthy nge of the kximum not the result- as can be Lit exerts a ivth of the ids even to this period ', »879, and emperature rhe highest west 40>i*, ual average kI Western li!:;tt ( I I ! » t t I : t : { f J ! f ; i CI. I MATH OP WtaiiHN WASUISiitON, \i f.*.' t t I t t r. I , 'III*: • I I * * lO. \ttvttt^%tr% I wiriiir Vtsyttteuauvit : Cil|. M«mn. f f to tlRfw^iVAr,*^:* I |g6 OVU WKXTKKN HMflKK, Sutcn. From Jiinr, 1877, to January, 1K79, a period of nineteen montlu, cmhracin^j: all of on<: winter and half of another, there was no Nttowfall, and in January, I'Chruary and M.irth, 1K79, only lY^ indu'H, whith diHapixrarcd alntont an rapidly an it fril. The jjrtatfst rainfall is Ixtwcrn thr months of October and April, a]thou){h, during' this pericMl, it will Im: »ccn tliat the cloudy day* are very littU- in excruN of the i lear. "The climatic phenomena indicated by these observations arc readily aciounti'd for. '. "A thernud current, known as the Japan Current, having its oritfin at the e(|uator, near the one hundred and thirtieth decree of east lonjijituile, (irecnwich, flows northwardly to the Aleutian islands, wher<" it separates, one branch flowinj,' eastwardly alonjj the peninsula of Alaska, and then southwardly alon^ the coast of Itritish Columbia, Washinjfton Territory and Oregon. This thermal stream, with its concomitant heated atmospheric current, striking the northwest coast of America, operates powerfully in mitigating a climate which otherwise would be cold and rigorous in the extreme. The effect of these currents upon the western portion of this Territory is the same as the effect of the Gulf stream upon the northwest coast of Euicpe. In luct the climate and natural productions of England are essentially the same as those of Westt-in Washington. In addition to this, the prevail- ing winds in the winter are from the southwest. These warm atmospheric currents, coming from the tropical re^jions of the Pacific, laden with moisture, meeting the cooler currents from the Coast Range and Cascade Mountains, produce the winter rainfall. These southwest winds also moderate the temperature during the winter. "The prevailing winds during the summer are from the north* west, which is the cause of the dry, cool weather during that period. There is a marked difference between the climate of Western and Eastern Washington. In the latter, being that portion of the Territory lying east of the Cascade Mountains, the four seasons are plainly distinguishable. I am unable to present meteorological statistics of this portion of the Territory, and can only say that the temperature is lower in winter and higher in sou ANP yneBTATtOM OP WKSTKKN WAVUffV.TOS. 1107 th«r, there ir»h, 1H79, r an il fr is cold, and there are usually a few days in whii.h the mercury falls to /em, or Ixlow; hut with few excepiiims thr fall of Nnow is not heavy. The rainfall aver- ages from twosed of clay, sand and gravel — detritus washed from the mountains — mingkd with decayed vegetation, the rank growth of centuries. Under cultivation it is quick, light and friable, and yields astonishing crops of hay, grain, hops, fruits and vegetables. Tlu!se lands are mostly covered with vine-maple, alder, crab-apple and salal, with an occasional fir, spruce or cedar, and as a rule are confmed to narrow valleys and limited, detached areas. Being covered with this deciduous forest growth, they are not like prairie lands, where the plow can be started as soon as a claim is staked out— • but as compared with the more heavily timbered uplands, they are easily cleared— at an approximate cost of $10 to |^i 5 per acre. The wood and lumber will usually pay for the work ; and, for farming purposes, the settler will find no more desirable location west of the Cascades. u. .rl-. Between these bottoms and the mountains are large areas of r.JMglfaffa' 'jttrfftriU*-*.** -^W.'- M — *>* II^S 'OVR WESTEKff XUPZhB. table-lands, quite level or gently undulating near the rivers; broken and rugged toward the foot-hills. The soil of these up- lands is inferior to that of tlie river lands, varying from sandy- loam to clay-loam and unproductive gravel. The growths here are principally fir and cedar, with some hemlock, maple, willow, cherry, etc. South and east of the sound is a district where coaise gravel is found, with occasional granite boulders, extend- ing back from the shore from ten to thirty miles in streaks and patched, and covering perhaps half the land. In the intervals the soil is a strong, brown clay-loam of excellent quality for farming. Owing to the durability of the fir and cedar, and the difficulty and expense of removing their stumps from the ground, it will be a considerable time before the lands now covered with these fir forests will be cleared and devoted to agricukure — but fortu- nately the timber is worth far more to its owners and to the country than the best open prairie would be. Considering the great diversity of tihe soil and the wooded, broken character oif the country, West Washington is likely to be a region of smiill farms, devoted to a variety of crops, rather than to growing grain pr stock on a large seals. .-' With the above explanatieas, wheat and barley, and it is claimed can be made ks cheaply as upon corn in the Western States. '^3'^^^ ■j'^^^ ••> -f?-"'^' \, Fruits of all kinds,exo8ipt;theipeadi«nd!the^rapet are mfsed BEAV'iil DAM LAKDS AKD TtMBRR. '119$ the rivers; f these up- •om sandy- owths here pie, willow, trice where srs, extend- itreaks and ntervals the for farming, lifficulty and it will be a ith these fir —but fortu- and to the sidering the character oif rion of smftll •owing grain n connection ke soil bf the and quality, rrltory. iTife irell known to \ exception to that readies I in Washing»- r cereals «Wfe id heavy. 1ft- >ln succession he acre hewe the nights ai?e lually fattened I be made bs ipet stre Mle, crab apple, etc., which are quickly and easily citettred, at an elxpense 'ranging from five to thirty dollars per atlrie, and "Wni fhen yield, on an avert^e, from forty to sixty bushels Of ^hefeit J>eracre. The small graftrs are produced most abundantly, wi^^H a larger average yield than obtains in almost any othdr lo<%ilitfy or settion of the cOun'try, and ^ottimand the highest market prici at home. And so long as we have the large non-producing lumbering population, the fafn.jrs' market wil! Ibe at home." TimS^. — At pfeisiefftithteiteadlUg^nAiStry of Ae P&get sound region is the manufacture and shipment of t^bigr. This timber ^•«(»*;■»^i«o*ti**^■''■«•«'a'^'''«*>lS^jiSSSi•-,^^^ ^ll ,^ laoo OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. has carried its own fame to all parts of the world. In the East Indies, in Egj'pt, in the maritime States of Europe, in South Amer- ica, the Pacific Islands, China and Japan, the fir timber of Washington Territory is an article of commerce. Washington Territory, west of the Cascade Mountains, covers an area of about 20,000 square miles (exclusive of interior waters), three-fourths of which are timbered lands. The timber consists of yellow fir, cedar, pine, spruce, hemlock, oak, maple, cotton- wood, ash, dogwood, alder and some of the smaller varieties. The amount of the fir exceeds all the other varieties combined, and the cedar stands second in quantity. As the fir exceeds all other varieties in quantity, so also it does in utility, being valu- able for ship-building, house-building, fencing, spars, and indeed almost every purpose for which wood is used, i •/ ::< m / 1. ; v. The quantity of all kinds of lumber produced in the Territory, in 1875, was estimated at 250,000,000 fe t. valued at $3,000,000, and though the market for it was ttni^iw.iarily depressed, the demand is now rapidly increasing. The size of the fir trees and the number growing on given areas in good timber districts are almost incredible to those who have not visited the north Pacific coast. Trees are not uncom- mon which measure 300 feet in length, two-thirds of the distance being free from limbs. Fifty, sixty, and sometimes eighty good timber trees grow upon an acre of ground. It is not seldom that 200,000 feet of merchantable fir lumber is taken from a single acre. The rule with Washington lumbermen has been to work no tract of (fir) timber producing less than 30,000 feet per acre; , Although lumbering has been carried on alo t the shores of the sound for twenty years, vp to the present tiiifv- lo ;s have sel- dom been hauled more than a mile — to the esu^ -^ of the sound, or some convenient stream where rafts are prepa " i for towing to the mills. The main timber region of the sound and lower Columbia has not yet been invaded by the ax. Many rivers and arms of the sound extend into the very heart of this vast Forest Preserve, and by clearing the river channels of drift the spring freshets can be availed of to run Out the logs to the mills and the lumber to marketl.>-.*num«ir(?rl'!m 'y\\rV\^iU'^u^ '».it -'i rrivhrn r I ARABLE LANDS OF EASTERN tVASmVGlO.V. I20I the East ith Amer* imber of ns, covers >r waters), r consists e, cotton* varieties, combined, xceeds all leing valu- nd indeed Territory, t3,ooo,cxX), essed, the I on given those who lot uncom- he distance iighty good •eldoni that m a single en to work 2t per acre* e shores of ,s have sel- r the sound, lor towing and lower f rivers and vast Forest : the spring ,e mills and The regular correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle, writing under date of December i8, 1879, gives the following in- teresting account of the soil, situation and productions of Eastern Washington: Eastern Washington Territory is probably destined to become the richest and most renowned wheat-growing region in the world. The great body of its arable land is the southern portion, known locally as the Walla- Walla, Palouse and Yakima countries, which have an unbroken area more than 1 50 miles square, extending from the foot-hills of the Cascade Mountains 'eastward to the Idaho boundary line, and from the Oregon line northward beyond the Great Bend of the Columbia river. But Eastern Washington in its entirety is distinctively an agricultural region of great fertility ; for, in addition to its vast scope of rolling prairies and plains in the southern and middle sections, there are in its more northerly portion, and extending as far as to the British possessions, numerous rich and well-watered valleys, such as the Chemakane and Colville Valleys, the latter of long-standing fame. Eastern Washington has been described as the " valley of the Columbia river in Washington Territory, lying east of the Cas- cade Mountains." The appropriateness of this description will readily appear by an examination of the map, showing the courses of this river and its numerous tributaries. Here the climate is most^ favorable to health, the soil yields the largest average re- turn of wheat, drought is unknown, the crops never fail, and the ultimate capacity for production of cereals of the highest grade has been estimated by good judges as high as i5o,ooo,oc» bushels per annum. The Yakima country is in the southern central portion of the Territory, between the Cascade Mountains on the west and the Columbia river on the east, and embraces the northern half of Klickitat and all of Yakima counties. It is traversed by a river of the same name, which, rising in the northern central portion of the Territory, flows southeastwarc, and empties into the Columbia a short distance from Ainsworth, at the mouth of the Snake river, the present western terminus of the Pend d'Oreille division of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The fertility of tht Yakima country is declared to be not inferior to that of any othei* 76 J* 'vJS^^^ I I I 1203 9VK WMSrKRK EMPIRE. part of this great wheat-field, not even excepting the Walla-Walla valley, farther east. The projected line of the Noithern l^acific Railroad from the Columbia river at Ains worth, across the mountains to Paget sound at Tacoma, passes through the heart of this region ; and the construction of a road over it is all that is needed to fill up the country speedily with a teeming popula- tion. It is yet sparsely settled, but new-comers in their prairie- schooners are fast encroaching upon its unoccupied lands. Its climate and soil are admirably adapted for stock-raising, which is the chief occupation of its inhabitants. The food for cattle is a very rich, nutritious bunch-grass, almost as strong as grain, with \^hich the prairies and hills are covered throughout all seasons of the year ; and as the winters, with rare exceptions, are mild and dry, there is no need of housing and feeding the cattle, but they are without fear suffered to roam at will in the winter months, and grow fat on this remarkable grass. This bunch-grass is common all over that country, covering the foot- hills and plains alike, and sometinnes even reaching to the moun- tain-tops, i. I ,\'ll ._! {I '.: I .1' ■,..'«n,i -). ■/ i\x iljJW LliifMUlO * J. Ross Browne, in an official report, says, " For grazing, these table-lands and side-hills of Eastern Washington cannot be ex- celled. They are covered with a luxuriant growth of native bunch- grass, of nutritious quality. During the rains of spring it seems to attain its growth ; and through the dry season which follows, it stands to be cured into the best of hay, preserving its strength and esculent properties all winter. Stock abandon the green grass of the bottom-lands to feed upon it, and on it they keep &t the year round." The Yakima country produces the cattle for supplying the market on Puget sound and elsewhere in Western Washington, as well as in British Columbia, whither they are driven through the several pLi^ses in the mountains ; and large droves of exceptionally fat catde go annually out to the Utuon Padfic Railroad, and are transported to Chicago. Such is the great value of this region for stock-raising ; but, as theaoJt is of a charat:ter and productiveness that invite the change, the eattle-range on the lowlands must give way before the more pnofiuhk wheat-fifiki and ooafine itself higker up on the fbot- Tirr. WALt.AWALLA VALLEY. 1203 Valla-Walla Lhern Pacific across the h the heart it is all that ing popula- hcir prairie- lands. Its using, which for cattle is ig as grain, roughout all I exceptions, feeding the at will in the grass. This ng the foot- to the moun- jazing, these annot be ex- lative bunch- ring it seems rhich follows, y its strength >n the green it they keep es the cattle elsewhere in nbia, whither : mountains; nually out to to Chicago, sing ; but, as e the change, are the more ott the fbot- hills and mountain- sides. To the limited extent to which the Yakima country has gone in wheat-raising, it may safely chal- lenge the best record of Illinois, Ohio, or any of the other East- ern or Middle States ; for it has performed some wonderful feats, as well as to quality and size of grain, as to the amount of yield per acre. The railroad only is needed. Even thus early in the agricultural history of Eastern Washington, it is to be recorded that the last crop was of such dimensions as to defy the present facilities for moving it to market ; the approach of cold weather and low water in the river, finding still on hand, in the store- houses at Wallula, a large residue of 20,000 tons — the year's production, there to remain until the opening of spring. This fact is a very persuasive appeal for the building of a railroad to Puget sound. Passing eastward from the Yakima across the Columbia, we enter the already famous Walla-Walla Valley, which is bounded on the south and east by the Blue Mountains, and on the west and north by the Columbia and Snake rivers. Its area runs into millions of acres, as does that of the Palouse country to the north of Snake river, watered by the Palouse river, and extending far northward to the Spokane. The Walla- Walla and Palouse coun- tries are being rapidly setded by people from all parts of the United States. These two regions of Soutiieastem Washington do not materially differ in their general character ; so little, in- deed, that a description of the soil, products, and climate of one, may answer for all three. The soil is of an appearance likely to surprise the average wheat-grower, being, except in the bottom- lands, a very light-colored loam, containing an unusually large percentage of the alkalies and fixed acids, and covering prac- tically the whole of Eastern Washington to a depth of from one to twenty feet Near the base of the mountains k is mixed with a larger proportion of clay, which renders it somewhat darker in appearance ; but in no respect does it resemble the black soils 'of the Mississippi valley. One of the most remarkable features of this country is, that the soil on the tops of high hills yields as many bushels of wheat to the acre, as does that (^ the lowlands or praifies. This fact is sougl^t to be explained by the theory, i«SE!ii»'i9ai.i«*S!i&isai(SJaBr- .ass5G7;T!?r?EsrA':£3S5:55ssr ^VSi-i-^T^^ .■.■5r-T=5=^fi*' I 1304 OUJt It'ESrSXA FMriRR. that this soil on both hill and plain was once the bed of a system of lakes, and was greatly enriched by volcanic ashes blown from the Cascade Range, or thence carried by the streams into the; lakes, and thus widely distributed over the entire basin, including the hills in question, which are supposed to have been under water. In the WallaAValla and Palousc countries, towns arj springing up in all directions — mere trading-camps at the outset for the farmers who are crowding in round about ; and tl)e hurry and Hurry of settlement, and bustle and haste of preparation for wheat- raising, lends to some of the settlements an appearance resembling that of a mining-camp hastily pitched togeth(T, with many of the incidents common to the latter. The Palouse coun- try is traversed about through its centre by the Northern Pacific Railroad, Pend d'Oreille division, and extends from the Columbia at the mouth of the Snake, northeast to Spokane falls, about a hundred and fifty miles. To Dr. Bingham is credited the dis- covery that this was valuable agricultural land. Ahhoiigii it wa.« .subject to entry at a dollar and a quarter per acre, no one tiioughc it' worth taking, until the doctor got an idea to experiment. He planted twelve acres in alfalfa ; and, to the amazement of himself and neighbors, it grew more profusely and to a greater height than they had ever before known it to grow. Elated at this splendid success of his experiment, he at once set about procur- ing all the land he was able to buy, and is now said to be one of the most prosperous planters in the northwest. He tried wheat with a like brilliant result, securing an average yield per acre that paid for the land over and over again ; and thus suddenly the good people of that region were awakened to the astounding revelation that their vast expanse of country known as the Plains of the Columbia, and, indeed, the whole of Southeastern Wash- ington, instead of being, as it had always been regarded, an almost useless waste, had a wealth-producing capacity far exceeding that of all the gold and silver mines of California and Nevada. Im- mediately scores and hundreds of people jumped into the business of wheat-raising; and the fame thereof went abroad, starting westward and northward large numbers of farming people, some going through California and by sea, but a larger proportion YIELD OF WHEAT IS WASIIlNClOM TEKhllOKY. 1205 of a system blown from ms into thr in, including been under towns ar.: It the outset id die hurry paration for appearance >geth(;r, with alouse coun- ■thern Pacific he Columbia falls, about a iteil the dis- :liouj4h it was one thought jriment. He !nt of himself reater height elated at this fibout procur- to be one of ie tried wheat ield per acre hus suddenly le astounding as the Plains astern Wash- ied, an almost exceeding that Nevada. Im- o the business road, starting people, some er proportion arriving from surrounding Territories in their prairie-srhoontrs drawn by oxen. The experience of Dr. Hlalock near Walla- Walla illustrates what may be done in theen exporta 6o,cx» cases, ber, coal, tisli. The export •r. ' ed at present, lis depression tent in so new )n. The prin- are produced blishments for arrel factories, uction of man- ation of Wash- 1 5,8«» 7333 t.M 9,**' «.»3' 7,90-j ladtansiMiglvN. J-f/.iI t'.lC! ; tSDIAS rit/BKS. i]o^ The population of the Territory is, to a vrr>' larjje extent, com^ posed of citizens of the liastern States, with a moderate propor tion of sturdy and industrious Scandinavians and (icrmans, and some I'ln^'lish, Irish, Scotch and IJritish-Ainericans. Ittdwn Tribes and their Rrstrvaiioms. — There were, in the autumn of 1S79. 14,268 tribal Indians in VVasJiin^'ton I'erritory. They were collected on seven reservations imder as many dis- tinct agents, and belonged to forty-tliree or forty-four bands or sub-tribes, many of ihem of most unpronounceable names. All of the tribes of this region belong to the Athabascan family, and their langua;;;cs have, for tlie most part, a sharp click, which dis- tinguishes them from most of the other tribes of the West. There was a severe war with the Indians in 1855. when they had nearly double their present numbers ; but since their defeat at that time, they have been generally very quiet and friendly to the whites. In May, 1879, the non-treaty Indians in ICastern Washinj^ton were removed to a reservation on the west side of the Okinakanc river, in Stevens county. These Indians have made j^reater advances in civilization than most of those farther east. Of the 14,268, 11,763 wear citizens' dress; 1,548 families are enga<^ed in agriculture ; 3,444 male Indians are engaged in other civilized pursuits ; 980 houses are occupied by Indians, and of these houses 82 were built during »lie year ; 510 of their chil» dren, 255 of each sex, were in school i 1879. The government spends $28,783 annually for their education. Of the adult In- dians, 802 can read. They have 18 church edifices and 1 1 mis- sionaries among them. The land of all their reservations amounts to 3,933,504 acres, of which 145,662 is reported tillable, and nearly all the rest good grazing land. A fair proportion of them are good farmers. Over io,cX)0 acres are cultivated, and they raised, ^ in 1 879, 46,950 bu.shels of wheat ; 3,080 bushels of com ; 16,265 bushels of oats and barley ; 36,810 bushels of vegetables ; 3,1 7^ tons of hay ; and they own 23,313 horses and mules (very few of the latter) ; 8,1 78 catUe ; 1,182 swine, and 408 sheep. A fair per- centage of them earn from one-half to the whole of their living by civilized pursuits. •■ ' f■l^•^^^•^ Ixj,:. ^\/ll,\ ','t <:. ,..,..] /.'ti:-.Mi Education. — The Territory is awake to the advantages of public s'*«*.'t-»tmi(Wh4*n-**: :, f tX>6 OVK WMSTKHN KMI'.'HR. •chool education. I .wi nchool lands hnvr not a» yet been «ol(l in mifificirnt amounts tonflbrd anytliiof; inorr than a nudeiis for a ichool fund, hut a hrjfinninjf has lx:cn made. Wf have no offi- cial reports of a date hitrr than 1877, since which time education as well as popidation has made a [;rent advance thrre. At that time there were 12,997 children of school aj^* , of whom 5,38«i were enrolled in the public schools. There were aoa school houses and school-rooms, and the averaf^e duration of the schools in days was 130 days. There were 279 teachers employed, of whom 134 were men and 145 women. The averaj^e monthly pay of the men was ^40, and of the women %y:>. The amount received and expended for school purposcrs was about ]j^5o,oor). There were graded schools in the principal towns, a normal de- partment in Washinjjton University, covering two years' instruc- tion ; and schools of higher instruction af Walla-Wnlla, S'*attle and some other points. The University of Washington T»*rri- tory, at Seattle, is a part of the public school system, and is aideil by the Territorial Legislature. It had, in 1879, eleven instructors and professors, i30 students, and four courses of study. It has the nucleus of a library and museum, and an appropriation has been made for neces.sary apparatus. Tiie Holy Angtils' College, at Vancouver, in this Territory, is a Roman Catholic institution, having, in 1878, four professors and eighty-five students, and a library of nearly i,ocx) volumes. Counties and Principal Towns. — Olympia, the capital, has about 3,000 inhabitants; Walla-Walla, between 4,000 and 5,000; Se- atde and Steilacoom nearly as many; while Port Townsend, Vancouver, Kalama, Tacoma, and in Eastern Washington, Ains- worth, Wallula, Palouse, Spokane Falls and Colville are thriving and growing towns. Religious Denominations and Pubiic Morals. — No one of the States and Territories of "Our Western Empire" has a better moral and religious record than Washington Territory. Setded very largely by the best people from New England and the Middle States, its churches and religious institutions have more nearly kept pace with the growth and progress of the population than those of any other part of the West. In 1875, with a pop- 4, KKLIGIOVS nRSOMISAI'IONS. IMP hern told udrus for a iv<; no oflfi- v education At ihnt vhom 5,385 3()3 flchool tlur schools nployed, of I'ft monthly he amount lilt fso.ocxj. normal de- ars' instruc- alla, S'-nttlc i^ton Tt-rri- and is aided 1 instructors idy. It has priation has ;«:ls' College, c institution, dents, and a al, has about I 5,000; Se- t Townsend, ngton, Ains- arc thriving \ ,,.. / t^.- o one of the has a better )ry. Settled and and the } have more iC population , with a pop- ulation estimated at not more than 36,000, there were 94 church or^'ani/ations, 73 church cdificeH, 58 clergy uxn, priestM or minis- ters, 3,398 communicants, and 31,465 adherent population, and churth property valued at f 105,70x1. Situ*- 1S75 the popidation of the territory has more than doubled, and from the character of that incrt*asc, :uul the sacrifices it ^dories in tn.tking to establish religious institutions at the earlit^st possible moment. W(; arc warrantJ'd in l)eli«!ving that ilu: churches and religious denomi- nations have kept ()ace with the population in their growth. Of these denominations the Methodists, under two or thn:e di .linct organizations, are h<'re, as in most of the .States ami Territories of the West, the most numerous. Ihe census of 1S70 recognized only two, viz. : " Methodists" and " United brethren in Christ." It may be, there were no Southern Methodist churches then, but there were certainly Protestant anil prolably Primitive Metho- dists there, as well as some; Albrights or ICvangelical Association Methodists there then and now. Of all these, the f)resent num- ber cannot be less than 68 churches, with about 50 church edifices, about 38 ministers, 3.000 members, ami ?>x least 1 5,(XX) ailherents. 'llieir church property might safely be reckoned at ;j;6o,ooo. The Catholics were next in 1875, and m.iy be now, but at a long in- terval, with po.ssibly 32 congregations, 30 church edifices, and the same number of priests, an adherent population of about 13,000, and church property worth $35,000. The Baptists and the Chiis- tian Connection come ne.\t, with at least 35 congregations, per- haps 38 church edifices, and about the same number of ministers, a combined membership of about 1,100, and an adherent popu- lation of over 6,000, and church property worth about #18,000. After these come in their order Hpiscopalian.s, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and five or six smaller denominations, the whole having an adherent population in all of perhaps 10,000 or 12,000. It is safe to say that five-eighths of the population are nominally, at least, the adherents of some religious denomina- tion. f f^ rttri'MTioN tjSLti* ., . ... (iniCIII .,,..n..i t'Urli* ( iMVHIt . ..*».. I*. ..ti I.Un.1 »•» %)K» y\»tf H«ii Juaa > » Mi«w«iii« HnohomMl H|M.H44M, t..|. ...... ,«....».*..*• ••.f**..*.. HtoWA* •* ti .. n t* .•.*....» t.*f • .*.*..•.... ihunliiii , ..>■■...... Watktalium W*IU W«lU WlMlCOM WhllMMN VitkiiM ToMl. \u. It: ••I M %.r'> ■•■•I i.rt 1,711 ISJII ••«» •.Ml ).*4* ».«»■ I4» VALUATION ••^ r; 4/»J» MM 4,*** i,ri« J." IT r."'4 !••/•«« Ml llf.MV ■■" 141 .Am •• I41,«*l |o ' t.tll.iilu ui lly.lif ■•> •*4i/«l« •• •*."»• •• «MI,I«I am I .^)J,«f. ... •/'4«.»»| ••• f i«.m •» f4l.1»l "> 4ftH •■ l>M,Mi •"• •.♦"W.444 "" I*«,I4; on • ♦l.^'J ■• »w',;i4 ■« 4*4. 1- • •<•> l,A<7,il4 .-I I U> 4 no •/*>!, l*" "" • .•(?.••» «" lli^i* IN 11.1*4 I «.Ho* ll,«lP.««4 v» •t.nk,,lj« •• Historical Data. — The region about Pugct sound was a favorite resort of tlic Indian tribes for centuries. Hoth the hunting and fishing were such as to render th' egular supply of food easy and certain. In 1840 there we ocxj hidians who claimed Pugct sound as their hoin*-. The number in the whole Territory is now but a little more than half as many, and the greater part of these are now domiciled along the upper Columbia river. As we have already said under Oregon, the .Straits of San Juan de l'\ica were first entered by a (Ireek navigator of that name in the .Spanish service, in 1592; the coast was revisited in 1775 by Heceta, a Spanish navigator, and in 1787 and 1788 two Knglish captains, Berkeley ond Meares, successively entered the straits, and the latter revived the name of the old Creek discoverer. The priority of discovery of the coast and the straits certainly lay with the Spanish. In 1789 an American, Captain Robert Gray, in the sloop "Washington," discovered and entered several of the smaller bays and harbors along the coast, both in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca and below; and in 1790 Captain Kendrick, in 'Tribal Indiana not Inclutltd. I ^■iiiiM tmrOlUCAl DATA. nil 9 (iHii I KM*, II AlloN '.•)««,"V' •» <;!, ^Ik> on |.«I7,|«9 au i ;:: I., ..I ..; ... It .•■ «('.. i« v> J. .., 1B4 y* (Vik.,!!! ■• vas a favorite hunting' and of food easy who claimed jok* Torrilory i;rpaU'r part 3ia river. As San juan do that name in d in 1775 by two English :d the straits, :overer. The :ainly lay with t Gray, in the jveral of the he Straits of Kendrick, in the HAmr vcNHcl, (KiHiicd ihroti^li the: mttrr lcn};th of the Straits of San Juan dr Fuca. In 1791 Captiiin (jray rrturncd to tlu! coatt, and diNCuvcrcd and cxplorrd ami ^avc hit nainr to ( irayn KarlKir. It wan in tluH haww yrar aUo that \\v distovcrc-d and asLXMulcd die Coltiiiil)ia river about thirly iiuI<-h. h\ iSos Lfwin and Clarke reaihcd and explored the uuxsi from tli«r l.md niile, having cronncd the (ontintMit for diat puriMHir. Meanwhile the titKr of the United States 10 the whole re|{ion watered by die Co luirbia river was fiirdier fortified by the nettlement of Astoria, at the nujuth of that river, by Mr. J. J. Antor, in iHi 1, and thc title was perfected an against any luiropean pow«T by the treaty of llorida with Spain in 1819, which exprcHsly ceded to the United States all the rights, claims and |)reli:nsions of the Kin^' of Spain to any Territory north of the forty-second parallel of n«>rth lati- tude. The liuilson's Bay Company attcnipt'd to takt; possession of it between 1825 and 1H30, and from iKjS to 1841 it was held in joint occupancy by (jreat Britain ami the United States widi* out prejudice to the title of either. The Ashburlon Treaty of 1845 fmally settled the rij.jht of the United States to the I'l rritory u() to the li' of 49*^ north latitude, except at the Straits of San juan i\ii I'lica and die (julf of (ieorgia. It was umlerstood by that treaty that the American title took to die middle of the chan- nel of those waters ; but as there were several channels and some valuable islands in controversy, the matter was defuiitety and fmally settled by arbitration in 1873, the ICmperor of Ciennany \mn^ arbiter. American settlers began to come into the 'Terri- tory in 1845. It was originally a part of Oregon Territory, but was organized as a separate Territory in 1853. and had a severe Indian war in 1855. From 1859 to 1863 it included most of Idaho Territory, but since that time it has had it^ present bound- aries, r .^ ..:, i '! . , . ;.l ! ■ . , ■ .■•* '■•'■) Conclusion, — It may be inferred from our sketch of Washing- ton Territory that we regard it as a very desirable n gion for immigrants who desire to engage in farming, stock-raising, the preparation of timber or lumber for the market, or the packing and exportation of fish. Its luining districts are not yet developed to such an extent as to justify any immigration to them, but for ► «*.*i':rf«»«i*f^L**">#»-'i'*«'~"''*'«**«*''^-'<*** ■' M 1212 OCK WESTERN EMPIRE. the Other pursuits, and for many of the trades, there is certainly no section of "Our Western Empire" which offers greater opportunities for success to an enterprisinj^ and energetic man. As to the best route thither there is some room for an honest difference of opinion now, and will be more in a few months. Probably the best plan nmv is to take passage for San Francisco either by rail or by the Isthmus if Panama. From San Francisco a steamer may be taken for Portland, Oregon, and if by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's line, and it is desired to go to Eastern Washington Territory the immigrant can pur- chase a through ticket to Walla-Walla, or to any point on the Pend d'Oreille division of the Northern Pacific, or to the termini of the narrow gauge railroads from Ainsworth, Walla-Walla or Wallula. If, on the other hand, his destination is to any point i Western Washington, he should not go on to Portland, Oregon, but land at Kalama some forty miles nearer the mouth of the Columbia river, anc' take the North»':rn Pacific thence to Olympia, Tacoma or Wilkeson. If his destination is to Western Wash- ington he may, if he chooses, take the Puget sound steamer from San Francisco and land at Bellingham bay, Port Townsend, Seattle, Tacoma or Olympia. These routes are long and some- what wearisome, but safe and without other difficulties. There will soon be two other routes available. The best and most direct will be by way of the Northern Pacific, either from Duluth or Chicago, through Minnesota, Dakota, Montana and Idaho, which will traverse Eastern Washington diagonally from north- east to southwest, cross by one branch (the Cascade Mountain division) from Eastern to Western Washington, and make its terminus at Tacoma on Puget sound, while the Columbia River division will follow the north bank of the Columbia, and sending a branch to Pordand, Oregon, traverse by the Pacific division the greater part of Western Washington. More than one-half of this long route is already completed, and with the ample funds they have at command this company will probably have the whole in operation by the spring of 18S3. The other route by the Union Pacific and Utah and Northern, in connection with the Oregonian railway (limited), is not yet fully SITUATION OF WYOMING TERRITORY. I213 ^ certainly •s greater retic man. an honest w months. Francisco 1 Francisco i if by the t is desired it can pur- )int on the the termini la Walla or iny point i nd, Oregon, louth of the to Olympia, item Wash- ind steamer t Townsend, y and some- ties. There St and most from Duluth I and Idaho, ^ from north- ,de Mountain md make its >lumbia River ind sending a ,c division the n one-half of ample funds lave the whole and Northern, is not yet fully laid out, but will probably penetrate Southeastern Washington, and its principal connections will be with Portland, Oregon. With the completion of these lines Washington Territory will be as easily and readily accessible as Utah, Nevada, New Mexico or Arizona, and for a quiet and pleasant home much more desirable. CHAPTER XXI. WYOMING TERRITORY. Situation — Boundaries — Length and Bre/.dth — Form — Area — Topography — Mountains — Elevation of various Points — Rivers, Lakes, etc. — Re- markable Character ov its Drainage — Irs Waters Discharged into the Pacific by the Columbia River, into the Gulf of California by the Colorado, into the Salt Lake Basin by the Bear River, into the Upper Mis.;ouRi by the Madison and Gallatin, into the Middle of Missouri by the Yellowstone and Bio Cheyenne, into the Lower Missouri by Tr'.a Niobrara and Platte, and into the Gulf of Mexico by all these — Geology and Mineralogy — Coal — Petroleum — Gold and Silver — Other Metals — Mining of Precious Metals not much Developed— ^Marble and OTHER Mineral Products — Forests, Soil and Vegetation — Zoology — Climate — Meteorology of Cheyenne — Agricultural Productions and Stock-raising — Manufactures and Mining — Mining Products — Rail- ways, Existing and Projected — Population and its Distribution — Education — Religious Denominations — Counties — Area — Population in 1880, AND Valuation in 1877 — Principal Towns— Objects of Interest — The Yellowstone National Park made a Separate Chapter — Historical Notes — Early Spanish Occupation of Wyoming — Discovery of Arastras and Spanish Buildings — Father de Smet — Captain Bridger — His Occu- pation running back to a time " When Laramie Peak hadn't begun to Grow" — Organization of the Territory — Indian Conflicts — The Cus- ter Massacre — Advantages of Wyoming for certain Classes of Immi- grants — Prospects in the near Future. Wyoming is one of the central Territories of " Our Western Empire," both in its position on an east and west line, and in its relations to die States and Territories north and south of it. It lies between the 41st and the 45th parallels of north latitude, and between the 104th and iiith meridians of west longitude from Greenwich. It Is bounded on the north by Montana, on ,i«iajs«rf«*S«Si»sJSSWS(SA^t«»<««"iAiKi,«Sl^S;:a^ Itl4 OVR WESTERN EMPIRE. the east by Dakota and Nebraska, including in the northeast a considerable portion of the Black Hills region ; on the south by Colorado and Utah; and on the west by Utah, Idaho and Montana. Its length from east to west is 335 miles, its width from north to south is 276 miles. It is a perfect parallelogram, all its boundaries being astronomico-geographical lines. Its area is 97,883 squares miles, or 62,645,1 20 acres, of which, up to June, 1879, only about one-seventh had been surveyed. Topography. — The main divide of tlie Rocky Mountains, which, after traversing Northwestern Montana, turned suddenly south- westward and formed the southeast boundary of Idaho, separates again into two chains at the Yellowstone park, and enters Wyom- ing from the northwest in two distinct and nearly parallel ranges, the easternmost being known as the Shoshone range, and the westernmost as the Wind River range. Near the forty-third parallel, the Big Horn Mountains, a somewhat lower range from the north-northeast, meets them almost at a right angle, and from this point to the Colorado line both ranges break into a number of mountain groups extending in all directions, and rendering it difficult to define which has the best right to the name of the main range of the Rocky Mountains. Among the groups of this confused mountain mass may be named, beside the Big Horn range already mentioned, the Owl Creek Mountains, a spur of the Shoshone range, the Rattlesnake Mountains, and the Laramie Mountains, still farther east ; the Sweet- Water and the Seminole Mountains, which seem to be continuations of the Wind River range. Near the forty-second parallel these mountain ranges subside into an elevated plateau from 8,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea, with occasional elevated summits, rising again to higher elevations on either side of the North Park in Colorado. This elevated plateau extends westward and southwestward to the foot-hills of the Bear River range on the west, and the Uintah Mountains on the soucK both in Utah Territory. In the south- east there are the Medicine Bow Mounteins, and some isolated peaks, like Laramie Peak, Iron Mountain, the Red Buttes, etc.; and in the northwest the Heart Mountains ftnd the isolated peaks of the Yellowstone Park. In the northeast, east of the Big Horn AtOUNTAlXS, K/VEJIS AND LAKES. 1215 ortheast a le south by Idaho and •s, its width •allclogram, i%. Its area up to June, ains, which, enly south- o, separates ters Wyom- allel ranges, ge, and the I forty- third range from le, and from to a number rendering it name of the roups of this le Big Horn lis, a spur of the Laramie the Seminole Wind River intain ranges )0 feet above ain to higher orado. This tward to the 1 the Uintah !n the south- off»e isolated Buttes, etc.; solated peaks he Big Horn and north of the Laramie Mountains, there is an extended plateau of 4,000 to 7,000 feet elevation, rising at the east into the Black Hills, and in the northeast and nor ih to the Powder River range and the Wolf Mountains. The highest elevation in the Territory is probably Snow's Peak, in the Wind River Range, which is reported as 13,570 feet: the next is Gilbert's Peak, 13,250; Cloud Peak probably exceeds 13,000; and Lake Carpenter, in the Big Horn Moun- tains, is 11,000 feet above the sea. The average elevation of Yellowstone Park is 7,403 feet. The highest summit in the Wyoming portion of the Black HiUs is Harney's Peak, 7,700 feet, while Red Buttes, in the southeastern part of the Territory, is 7.336 feet, and Laramie City, 7,123 feet Laramie Peak is 1 0,000 feet and possibly a little more. Rivers and Lakes. — No State or Territory of "Our Western Empire," or of the United States, is drained by streams which find their way to such widely separated seas, as Wyoming. In the northwest and west the Shoshone lake and its outlet through Jackson lake, the Gros Ventres creek, and the John Gray river, are all tributaries to the Lewis fork of Snake river, itself one of tile constituents of the Columbia river, and these waters find their way to the Pacific by that route. In the southwest Bear river traverses Uintah county for fifty miles, and, flowing north- northwest around the range of the same name, turns suddenly south and discharges its waters into the Great Salt lake of the Utah Basiru Far up in the Wind River range the Green river has its sources, and receiving ten or a dozen afifluents, flows southward through Northwestern Colorado and Eastern Utah to its junction with the Grand river, with which it forms the Rio Colorado of the West, and discharges its waters into the Gulf of California. In the northwest of the Territory we find the Madi- son and Gallatin, two of the sources of the Missouri, both rising in the Yellowstone National Park; the Yellowstone river, the largest tributary of the Missouri, rising in the Wind River Moun- tains, and traversing Yellowstone National Park and the Yellow- sitone lake ; East fork, Clarke's fork, the Big Horn river and its numerous bcancMes; the Tong^ river, the Powder river and : >!«*!«f)!Sf^-*»«» (^S^ aKSiiars^-::sgy--gr:i:E:gp ^ g / j "-ig sr^-:T>-g?- ■-•- I2l6 OUK WESTERN EMPIRE. w - its tributaries, all affluents of the Yellowstone ; while the Little Missouri, the North fork or Belle Fourche river, and the Big Cheyenne with its forks and branches; the Eau qui Court or Niobrara and the North fork of the Platte river, which traverses half the Territory, are all affluents of the Missouri below the mouth of the Yellowstone, watering the northern, eastern and southeastern portions of the Territory. All of these carry their waters to the Gulf of Mexico. There are two lakes of considerable size, Yellowstone and Shoshone, in the Yellowstone National Park, and several of somewhat smaller dimensions, in the southern and central por- tions of the Territory, i.t ..ili'o.r 'II .1! i >>l li.i . Vi .1 Geology and Mineralogy. — The crests, and, indeed, the bulk of the mountain masses of all the ranges of the Territory are eozoic, being composed mainly of red feldspathic granite and syenite and gneiss, while the lower slopes are silurian, forming narrow belts around the higher mountain slopes. To these suc- ceed the more distinctly fossiliferous formations, Devonian, car- boniferous, triassic, Jurassic and cretaceous rocks, succeeding each other in regular order. Between the Big Horn and Wind River Ranges, the plateau is mainly carboniferous, triassic and Jurassic, with a small tract of cretaceous groups in the centre. The elevated plains are mosdy cretaceous, but overlaid with ter- tiary sands, gravel and drift, with occasionally extensive deposits of lignite or brown coal. The coal beds along and near the Union Pacific Railway, near Evanston, at Rockspring, from Point of Rocks to Table Rock, at Carbon Station, and, indeed, all along that road, are probably lignite, as they occur in tertiary deposits, but they differ in appearance and quality from the European lig- nites, containing from fifty to seventy-six per cent, of fixed carbon, and are equal to most of the best bituminous coals for all pur- poses of combustion. Some of them are true coking coals. 1 hey arc used not only on the Union and Central Pacific Railways, but in the villages and towns on the line of those roads between Omaha and San Francisco. Recently the coal of Utah and Col- orado has come in competition with them, and that of New Mexico IwiU do so. The consumption of Wyoming coal in 1876 was CEOLOaV AND MINERALOGY OF WYOMING. I217 the Little id the Big li Court or \ traverses below the astern and carry their /stone and several of entral por- J, the bulk ;rritory are rranite and an, forming > these suc- kronian, car- succeeding \ and Wind triassic and the centre, lid with ter- ive deposits id near the , from Point :d, all along ry deposits, jropean lig- xed carbon, for all pur- oals. i'hey ail ways, but ds between ah and Col- Jew Mexico 1 1876 was 534,000 tons, and has since largely increased. But if these coal beds in Southern Wyoming are lignite, there is undoubtedly an abundance of true coal, from the coal measures of the carbonif- erous era, on the! North fork of Platte river, above and below Fort Fetterman, at the head waters, and, indeed, along the whole line of Powder river, on the North fork or Belle Fourche river, and on the Big Cheyenne. There is also reason to believe that it will be found on the plateau between the Wind river and Big Horn Mountains. At numerous points throughout the Territory there have been found petroleum springs, and wells have been sunk which have proved moderately profitable. These springs have been found on the Bear river, in the extreme southwest of the Territory, at several points on the North fork of Platte river, particularly near South Pass City, and near Fort Casper, and on the branches of the Big Cheyenne. The petroleum springs, near South Pass City, are said to yield a very large supply, and are adding mate- rially to the freight receipts of the Union Pacific. The precious metals are found at many points in the Territory, gold predominating, either in placers or in quartz veins in most cases, though in a few instances silver and gold occur together. On Crow creek, twenty miles west of Cheyenne, in tlie Seminole Mountains, and on the eastern slope of the Big Horn Mountains, and at some other points, silver (argentiferous galena) has been discovered in proximity to the gold. In the Bear Lodge Range, in the Black Hills, at Inyan Kara and other points in that region, in the vicinity of Laramie Peak, directly north of the North Park in Colorado, in the Sweet Water Mountains, on the Wind river, and at the sources of Crazy Woman's fork, quartz mines, yielding fair amounts of gold, as well as rich placers, have been found. Doubtless these deposits are not as rich nor as actively worked as those of some of the other States and Territories adjacent ; for all of the mining enterprises of Wyoming have been but lan- guidly pushed, either from the want of men, of means, of water, or of yield sufficient to stimulate active enterprise. The whole gold and silver production of Wyoming, which was known to have been deposited in the mints and assay offices of the United 77 ■ ;j^j-, -'^-,>.-g^ (^y -^.j.--4'L&ir /^:23i;5v*ivfri.*rt?q;*flF*'-^»a?.'*saPi'Ka>;'.'s*." I3l8 OVX WE5TRRS KMPIRR. States from the first discovery of gold and silver there to Jun«> 50, 1880, was but 1728,760.33. Doubtless considerable amounts were sent through other States and T<.Tritories, and some was not deposited; but even if we allow an much more for these con- tingencies, the amount would be but little more than 1^125,000 per year. Of otlier metals and minerals, several ores of iron, particularly haematite, magnetic oxide, and red oxide of superior quality, occur in immense quantities. The red oxide, at Rawlins' Springs, is used for making a mineral paint of great excellence. Copper and lead are found in paying quantities, but are not as yet de- veloped. Near Laramie City are a cluster of lakes which yield a pure sulphate of soda, many feet in thickness ; and about sixty miles north oi Rawlins are two soda lakes, estimated to contain I >5,ooo tons of carbonate of soda of great purity. There are also soda springs near Fort Bridger and at other points in the Territory, !■'- 'le in all the \ the alkaline with buffalo of the white i& preferred s are clothed ees, of large walnut, elm, growth, while iai9 the rfvef bottoms are abundantly Kupplicd with two species of Cottonwood and thicketn of willows. There are considerable tracts of alkaline lands among them. The United States ICx* ploring Expedition, under Professor Hayden, described and named 195 species of plants, many ui them peculiar to the Territory. i iT/w/p/jy.— The wild animals of Wyoming are : the grizzly bear (not very common), black bear, gray wolf, prairie wolf, or coyote, badger, wolverine, otter, hsher, porcupine, mink, skunk, little ermine, buffalo, elk (more abundant in Wyoming and Colorado than anywhere else in the West), mule, or black-tailed deer, the common deer, bighorn, or mountain sheep, prong horn antelope, the Rocky Mountain goat, or goat antelope, four species of harq or rabbits, four of squirrels, two of prairie dogs, gopher, muskrat, two species of mouse, etc. In all, more than thirty species of mammals have been described in the Territory, and 1 24 specie-* of birds, including twelve or thirteen birds of prey ; many game birds, including a dozen or more of the duck and teal family, six species of grouse, ptarmigan, etc., and a large number of song birds ; there are more than eighty species of moUusks. Reptiles are not numerous. Trout are abundant in the mountain streams, and other fresh water food fishes are plentiful. Climate. — ^The average mean temperature of the whole Terri- tory is about 44° Fahrenheit. In the mountains it is, in some years as low as 36**, while on the plains in the east it averages 45° to 46", and in the Green river region, in the southwest, it is about 42**. The summers are, for the most part, cool and comfortable, though in some years the temperature rises to 103° in the hottest part of the day. The nights are cool. The cold of winter is at times intense, the winds and snow sweeping over the vast plains with almost irresistible fury. The "blizzard" is a painfully fami- liar term in the winter months. The mercury falls from 15° to 25° below zero. Stock requires to be sheltered for two or three months, though stock-raisers too often neglect this^ to their great loss. The annual rainiiall ranges from 8 to 13.5 inches* and it is an objection, though not an insuperable one, to the settlement of the Territory, for irrigation can be resorted to at less expense - m«^»P>iV*»fc*' of "Our VV»?stern I-'mpirc." Wc give below the meteorology of Cheyenne, which is nearly a fair average of that of the whole Territory. Meteorology of Cheyenne, Wyoming Tirrilory, l.jititude, 41° is' north. Longitiulc, 104" 43'. Elevation above tea, 6,057.35 fn-t. Dati. JUmikt. ••77 July.....".. AuguM S«pwmb«r. ■ (kloWr Novtmbar. . l>«c«Mb«r .. hnuary . . . . ribnury... M>rah...... April May June TouUafor ymr. July Augwi... S i >3 IS 44 45 «3 - 4 t -la 9« Tmwimivu. 9« 43 W 44 »7 77 « — le —10 I S I eg n so -■S 1 107 19 Ml »9 77J ■■"> VI 30.015 >9'93} 30049 30.094 JO.U9] >9.97« 39998 •9 947 •9.874 •99J7 »99»5 »9947 >9 90« •997' WlHBt. 1 > !' '1 ill in" I 1 par CI. %% St.i 4»4 5«9 4J9 5«3 579 So.« 5».l 59-» Mi •t.S 5«.5 44.» Si.l 41.6 334 s. s. w. w. w. w. N W. N.W. N W N.W. N, W. N.W. «.*54 I^J •970 7.155 7.493 lo,.n4 \% ••.153 Inchaa > OJ '•99 0.17 033 o.ot 0.11 ■ .■0 o. ig 4.4» 1.71 4 1 5 'I 5 4 7 J •0 ■4 100 N.W. 9. N.W. N.W. N.W. N.W. N.W. N.W, W. N.W. N.,N.W,ftW. 8. w. >347 ••41 • SO 075 0.04 o.oo 0.19 0-3» o.*o 1.30 0.07 N.W. •90 .... 5«.3 Agricultural Productions and Stock- Raising. — It is impossible ro give any very definite estimates of the amount of agricultural productions of Wyoming Territory, until the census report on that subject is made public. There is very little land in the Ter- ritory which at the present time will produce good crops without irrigation, and the poorest arable lands of the Territory lie along STOCK K A !S INC, IN WYOMING. 1331 as in any give below average of 6.oS7-»5ff'''' HuMroiTV. !l 1 fr 1 1 chn 1 p«rci. o.iij ^ Ji:l •99 11 o.i; A :J:'o OS J S o.o* 4 Sl.i rx r J to S>9 O. lO 4- 4* S«3 1.71 >4 579 'J.47 loe J0.8 >'43 .... 5t.i ty» ... * 59» 075 • •ft U:l 0.04 .... 0.00 ... • 21:^ 0.19 .... 0.31 61.S o.ao .... 5i» r« .... 44.» St.l 1.30 . .■ • 4i.« 0.07 .... 33-4 • 90 .... 5.., is impossible r agricultural lis report on d in the Ter- :rops without tory lie along the route of the Union Pacific. The v.illcys in the \\\^ I lorn and Wind River Mountains, cHpccially the former, are very fertile and easily irrigated. Probably not more than 300,OCK) acrcM of the 6,000,000 acr<-H of fertile lands are as yet under cultivation, per- haps even less than that. Cjood crops of the certals, except In- dian corn ; potatoes and other root irops, and sonic of the varieties of sorghum, can be grown lu;re; and when once the tideof dev ',f ; ,(|j •• lA t!iu(i - ^if%.-.it.A\M»tX*i'tm ' «i^VTawH:''.< .■;*.rv- 1 "J i"^****' <*■'»»-" r I2i2 OL'Jt lyAXIUMJy AMr/MJt. The Territory in Icm (kvorabte for swine -breedinf;, and there h«« not been much done in that line. Manmfmelurts amd Mimng. — Manufactures ara yrt in their in- fancy in the Territory. In 1870 the product* of inanuUiclurfH were Htatcd in the census an ^874,824. In 1877 Mr. Robert K. Straliorn, after careful in([uiry, estimated the amount of producth at 1^3,918,1 20. The larjfCHt items wen: machinery, railroad repairing', etc., which amounted to $1,4^9,430; railroad tics, poles, pontH, etc., 1^455.360; sawed lumlxir, {^345,000; Halen of tanned ruU s, hides and furs, ^^295,000; charcoal, ;j;340,ooc) , and miQcd quaru, $315,000; and blacksmithi(% $233,500; in all, about |((3,20O,oou of the 1^3,900,000 in manufactures, requiring very little skilled labor. Some branches of manuhcturc have U-en largely devel- oped since 1877, and the amount of products is not now probably less than $4,500,000. Mr. Straliorn estimated the mining pro- duct in 1877 at 53,911,000, of which the greater part was coi!. There arc now somt; iron mines and petroleum wells, which hail not then been diiicovered or worked, and the i.aning product. though there has bcc.i some falling off in gold» has probably tn< creased in all to about $3,500,000. ' Railways. — The Union Pacific Railway traverses the southern part of this Territory from east to west, having a length of 470 miles in it. There is no other railway in operation in the Terri- tory except five or six miles of the Colorado Central, extending from Cheyenne to Denver. Two or three other railways have been projected, but none of them are yet built. One was pro- posed to the Black Hills from the Union Pacific; but if it is ever built, it will probably start from Sidney, Nebraska, and may not enter Wyoming at all. Another was [)roposed from Point ol Rocks or Green River City to tlie Yellowstone Park, but this has been forestalled by the construction of the Utah and Northern Railroad, which now proposes to build a branch from Market lake or some other point in that vicinity to Shoshone lake, in the Park, and in that case will not enter Wyoming. Lastly, tlie Northern Pacific has projected a branch from the point where its Yellowstone Division crosses the Yellowstone river, to follow that river up to Yellowstone lake, in the Park. This road may be built before the close of the present year (1881). torVLAriON A*>H>. MJ>iXAriOS. «"3 n 1(1 therr hii« t in their in- imnulacluruH Robert L. fproducthat ad repairing, poles, pOHtH. nned roix s, itled quaru, Jt Jl3,20O,OCHJ little skillcil ar^^cly devcl- low probably mining pro- >art was co-it. IIh, which hail iiin^ product, i probably in< the southern length of 470 I in the Terri- ral, extending railways have Dnc was pro- ut if it is ever and may not rom point of k, but thia has and Northern 1 Market lake B lake, in the Lastly, tlie oint where its , to folbw that road may be Pi^iafim. — The following tabic give* the particulars of the populati')n of Wyoming in 1870 and 18H0, the only years in which anything like an iiiuinrraiion lus been luul; r,i I i 1870 1M80 7. "9 «4.»57 I i,»99 «,637 ti 3 5.40S U,943 3.5 « J 5.«45 I 8,7t6 •9. 4 J* «99 a. 466 j,j89 1870 1880 »43 914 0.09 0.18 Education, — The educational statistics of Wyoming are not so late as could be wished. There were in the Territory in 1877, which is the latest report which we have been able to obtain, 16 school buildings, 27 schools, a school population of 1,690 children, 1,54 ^pupils enrolled in the schools; the amount of wages paid to teachers was 1(^18,169; llu: value of school property, ;jJ6o,5oo. All the counties had surplus school funds, and some of them were arranging to erect new buildings and make other improvements. Th«:re are good schools at Cheyenne, Laramie and one or two other points. There are no collegiate schools, colleges or univer- sities in the Territory. Provision is made at the expense of tlie 1 I ritory for deaf mutes and the blind. Religious Denominations, — Ther«; were, in 1875, ^o church organizations, 17 church edifices, 11 clergymen, ministers or priests, 427 communicants, 3,570 adherent population, and $56.- • Including 3,400 Uibai ludliM. ■,i$o tribal Indiani. l»M Otfit WKXTKHl^ KMPtMM. I* 500 of church property, Amonj; thrnr thrrr wprc 2 Raptitt churchcN, 1 ordained minister, 50 m«ml»rrH. 300 •dhrrrnt [)opii Intion. ami I7.000 cfwirch prop« rty ; ihr Conf^regationalintM ha nntnltrrH lhr«>(t;,d)oiit. Thfrr wrrc: 4 i'ipiNcopal chiirchcu. with 3 church rdificrn, a cirrjj) rtirn, 1 16 c()mmuni«atw>, 696 atlherrcnt population, and ^i3,<>''>o n»| • WiUMwt Irib*! IndiM*. )'«& <naliHtM IkkI 4 I'.piHcopal )inmiiniiantN, •'•rty. 'Ilw their church !«• iVrnbytf reh property. )nft. 2 |)rir!itii, hiirdi prop- inatioHH, with iiiaKrriully in- njT^ table gives of each : ^1,850,000 1 ,900,000 3,500,000 1,918,449 800,000 ijood location 1 4,000. Lar- of over 3,000 er 1,000, and Pass and At- marontCAi. xortci os wyomisq, \%i^ Objt'\- "^ ;;r ;i)' - :.j.';i ;; i^i <.'.-u)' The Territory ig deserving of a better reputation than it has had in the past, and will be found desirable for those who are disposed to engage in stock-raising or the breeding of horses ; while parties who have some means can invest them very profit- ably in some of the rich valleys of the Big Horn or Wind River Mountains, and with a moderate irrigation can produce abundant crops, for which they will find a ready home market The con- struction of railways, to render the Yellowstone National Park readily accessible, will not only call many thousands to Wy- oming, but will greatly increase the demand for agricultural products, which ought to be supplied by Wyoming farmers. I i i\) ..}/ f': ^;n,a( ■■,> :.' ■••. i n,i. tri mm/, ■ • 1 . , ' ' ' '1 >.■"' V - - ■ V -«*jiV bur. 'V'-jSiruX .y.t' f I/i vfi l-^yd tt-'i v.i)>.\iriii .yi.i'i .of 'jr 'aU',l.> burned it Several protection nts. The d July 25, dians were easily ox |es. There 876, when the Black jletely de- the Terri- Shoshones, ;r band of ry. These 5 1,520,000 peaceabks than it has se who are of horses; very profit- A^ind River • :e abundant The con- tional Park ds to Wy- agricultural rmers. -^'i BOUHD ARIES OF YELLOWSTONE PARK i>3; ^iU ,r,>v lutj; .v.'Oi;,, \'-^■;^\ (X><';i.<>. .Of ilr .'jjjf;;. CHAPTER XXII. mi YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. Situation — Boundaries and Area- Its Recent Discovery and Exploration —The Act of Congress setting it apart as a National Park — The Park DRAINED INTO THE PACIFIC AND THE GULP OF MEXICO — ItS VoLCANIC CHAR- ACTER — Not of much Value as an Agricultural Region — Inaccessible EXCEPT FROM THE NoRTH AND WEST — EASTERN PaRI' NOT FULLY EXPLORED — No Mineral Wealth YF/r Discovered excepiinthe Northf .i ''orner — The Approach to the Park at the North — The CaSon ».• ;»'• V'ellow- stone, outside the Park — Cinnabar Mountain — •' The T "•'II'^ Lv .iok '' — Entrance to the Park — Rapid Review ov the Ohjects to .<»■ Visited — Sepulchre Mountain— CaSon of Gardiner's River — Mammoth Hot Springs — Tower Creek and Falls — The Columns and Towers ok Tower Creek CaSon — Mount Washburn — The Grand CaSon o;' the Yellow- stone — Yellowstone Lake — The Lakes of the Southern Tour, Heart, Lewis and Shoshone— The Cross Cut which avoids these — The Upprr AND Lower Geyser Basins of the Fire Hole or Upper Madison River— The Geyser Basins of Gibbon's Fork — The Wonders of Beaver Lake and the Obsidian Cliffs — Return to Mammoth Hot Springs — Time in which the Trip can be made— The Wonders in Detail — Mammoth Hot Springs— Mr. Strahorn'^ Description— The Route to Tower Creek Falls and CaSo?<— Hon. N. P. Langford and Lieut. Doane's Eulogy or ■ them — The Ascent to Mount Washburn — Rev. Da. Hoyt's Eloquent PiCTURB OF the View from its Summit — The Descent from Mount Wash- burn — The Old and the New Trail — The Grand CaSon of the Yellow- stone—Its Bed Inaccessible at most Points — The Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone — The Latter at the Head of the Grand CaSon — Dr. Hoyt's Eloquent Description or the Falls and the CA5k>N — The TraV' to Yellowstone Lakk — Thb Lake Itself- -Its Shape Com- pared TO THE Human Hand — Professc« Raymond's Criticism of the Comparison — The Elevation of the Lake — Professor Hayden's State- ment only Correct if applied to Large Lakes — Height of Colorado Lakes— The Yellowstone River Flows through the Lake — Thb Lake mot its Source— *iffluints or the Lake — Mineral and Hot Springs on 1T$ B^K3r-I-f» ' ' ATBRS GENERALLY VERY PURE AKD SWBET — ThE TrOUT iNKisri'^n WITH WoKMS — Beauty of the Lake — Marshall's Description — Strahorn's Poetical Picture — Professor Raymond's Eulogy — Rev. Dr. Hoyt's Pen Portraiture of it — Moving Forward — "The Upper and Lowkr Oevser Bastns — Explanations m regard to Geysers — ^ThosE ov Iceland -^■:5«TK5r'«T«««atia:30-*fi3'i»,^»t':»*iaiyf»SLX^*»^n=»sw* ,^ 1228 OVR WESTERN EMPIRE. THE ONI-Y OTHERS OF NoTE IN THE WoRLD — CHARACTER OK THE GeYSER Eruption — Old and Recent Geysers — The Upper Gryser Basin — Rev. Edwin Stanley's " Parade of the Geysers " — The Geysers not all in Action at once — Lieutenant Barlow on the Fan and Well Geysers— The Grotto — Mr. Norton's Description — Lieutenant Doane on thf. Grand Geyser — Professor Raymond on the Lower Geyser Basin — Thf. Langs OR Extinct Geysers — Gfyserdom not Paradise— Dr. Hoyt's Df- scRiPTiON or the Desolation — The Geysers and Hot Springs of Gib- bon's Fork — Beaver Lake — The Obsidian Cliffs — Mountains of Glass — Reviisw of the whole — Accessibility of the Park — Its Future Attrac- tions — Its Quiet and Beautiful Valleys and Glades — Distances withi.n the Park. The Yellowstone National Park is a region about sixty-five miles long by fifty-five miles wide, situated mostly in the northwest corner of Wyoming Territory, but on its north and west sides stretching a few miles into the adjacent Territories of Montana and Idaho. It covers an area of about 3,578 square miles, or ;:, 298,920 acres, having an extent a little greater than that of the combined States of Rhode Island and Delaware. In this region there are assembled so many grand, sublime and piriuresque natural objects, and such a variety of unique and marvellous phenomena, that when an account of some of the most remarkable of these wonders was brought before Congress in the report of the United States Geological Survey, under Professor Hayden, an act was passed by the unanimous vote of both Houses, and approved by the President, March i, 1872, withdrawing from sale and occupancy, and setting apart as a National Park, or perpetual public pleasure ground, for the use and enjoyment of the people, the area above described, with boundaries designed to include the chief wonders of the region, and described as fol- lows : "Commencing at the junction of Gardiner's river with the Yellowstone river, and running east to the meridian passing ten miles to the eastward of the most eastern point of Yellowstone lake ; thence south along said meridian to the parallel of latitude passing ten miles south of the most southerly poirit of Yellowstone lake ; thence west along said parallel to the meridian passing fifteen miles west of the most western point of Madison lake ; thence north along said meridian tp the l^ititude of the junction of ,^he BOVNDARJES FIXED BY CONGRESS. 1229 F. Geyser SIN — Rev. OT AIX IN EYSERS— E ON THE \SIN — TlIF. ovt's Df- s OF G:u- 3F Glass — E Attrac- [CES WITHIN sixty-five northwest vest sides Montana miles, or hat of the his region ifiuresque narvelloiis emarkable report of r Hayden, ouses, and wing from 1 Park, or oyment of s designed bed as fol- tr with the assing ten ellowstone of latitude ellowstone sing fifteen ke ; thence tion of the Yellowstone and Gardiner's rivers ; thence east to the place of beginning." The region, thus bounded, stretches a few miles east of the me- ridian of 1 10°, and about as far west of the meridian of 1 1 1 ° west longitude from Greenwich, and a few miles north of the parallel of 45°, and not quite so far south as 44° north latitude. These boundaries show at once that this Nitional Park is not like the parks of Colorado, which are strictly natural divisions of land, being great areas, level or slightly undulating, enclosed by a rim of lofty mountains, whereas the boundaries of the National Park are purely artificial, merely referring to certain natural objects for their location. i" ;,/■• r "Situated," says Professor William I. Marshall, who has made this great wonderland a special subject of study, " along the highest part of that great culminating area of North America which has been aptly termed ' The Crown of the Continent,' and from which pour down to the Gulf of Mexico on the southeast, to the Gulf of California on the southwest, and to the open Pa- cific on the northwest, the mightiest rivers of both coasts of the continent, the Park embraces within its boundaries, on the west side of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, the country about some of the headwaters of the Lewis or Snake river, the great southerly fork of the Oregon or Columbia, the greatest river of the Pacific slope, which no longer '•i *' < Hears no sound ■' ' ' *■''■■■ ' Save its oMm dashings,' "l>ni ■ • ::\)i\ " .' since the steamer's wheels now vex its waters, the hum of varied industry rises from its fertile valleys, and the roar of the railroad stardes the echoes along its dales. Most of the Park, however, is on the east side of the main range, and embraces the country about the headwaters of the Madison and Gallatin rivers, which are the middle and eastern of the three streams which unite to form the Missouri river, and much of the upper valley, though not the extreme headwaters of the Yellowstone river, which is a stream as long as the Rhine -or the Ohio, far surpasses them in the sublimity of its scenery, and is the greatest tributary of the upper part of the Missouri river. .v?-<«nss«asusr»saSr . J 1330 OUR WESTERS EUPUtS, " Being a volcanic region, the Park (except a littye of the north- east corner of it, where silver mines exist) is valueless for mining puqx)ses, except for sulphur, and as that exists in unlimited quan- tities at points nearer the main line of the Union Pacific, notably at a point forty miles 'southeast of Evanston, the extra freight on it will make the Park deposit economically valueless. As the lowest valleys of the Park are more than 6,000 and most of them from 7,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea, its altitude and latitude make it worthless for farming purposes, there being few nights without frosts. Though not adapted for a permanent residence of any considerable population, die Park, with its opportunities for sailing, and rowing, and fishing, and hunting, with the grandest of mountains within it and upon its borders, and the purest of air ever sweeping over it, and with the inducements to open air life and exercise offered by its unique and enchanting scenery, is pre- eminently fitted for a public pleasure ground, from June to Oc- tober, and especially from »bout the first of August to the middle of October. Tiiough a vi ^nic region, there isi nowhere in the Park any opehing from which flame, smoke, ashes or lava issues now, or, as far as known, has issued for ages past, the only mani- ff^stations of the volcanic forces now being limited to eruptions of steam and hot water ; though almost everywhere in the Park, and outside its boundaries m many directions, are vast beds and streams of ancient lava, showing how terrific was the former in- tensity of the volcanic forces, whose declining activity now only suffices to produce steam and spout boiling water, instead, as anciently, of melting down into indistinguishable ruin the ada- thatttinfe framework of the continent, and spreading it, as a foam- irtg torrent of fiery devastation, over the Si^ffkce df mountains and plains for an area of scores of thousands of square miles.** The Park is not readily accessible from Wyoming ; on its east- ern side the Wind River Range presents an impassable barrier of lofty walls of rock, through which none of the exploring parties have ever been able to find a practicable pass even for pack animnls; on the southern side a stage road exterids from Green River City to Camp Brown, a distance of 155 nwles; thence a tolerabJe wagon road exists to the head of Wind river, a distance AFPMOACNES TO TJTE PARK. U3« ■ the north- for mining litcd quan- ific, notably frciy;lit Oft , As the ost of them nd latitude few nights »t residence pportunities ;he grandest jurest of air open air life nery, is pre- June to Oc- o the middle where in the rlava issues le only mant- to eruptions in the Park, rast beds and le former in- /ity now only ;r, instead, as ruin the ada- it, as a foam- c^f meuntains are milesj'* r ; on its ea^t- ssable barrier loring parties ven for pack s from Green lies ; thence a ^er, a distance of 1 lo miles more ; but from thence to Yellowstone lake, a dis- tance of fifty miles, is a difficult trail, which can be traversed only on foot with pack animals and with considerable dan<^er. On the west side, by way of the Utah and Northern Railway, from Ogden, Utah, stopping at Pleasant Valley, there is a wagon road by way of Red Rock and Henry lakes, which reaches the Upper Geyser bafiin by about sixty«five miles travel. A still better route is that by the Utah and Northern Railway to the vicinity of Bozeman, Montana, from thence a wagon road by way of Boteler's Ranche, only about thirteen miles distant from the Park, with a good wagon road to Gardiner's river and the mammoth Hot Springs. Before the close of the present year (1881), the Northern Pacific Railway will undoubtedly be completed to Fort Ellis or beyond, and probably its branch to the Park, so that this great wonderland will then be for the first time easily accessible by the shortest and swiftest route. ^ m ■ It should be said that that portion of the Park lying east of the Yellowstone river and lake is so rough and mountainous and possesses so few attractions, that it is not often visited. The lofty mountain chain which extends from the southeastern arm of Yellowstone lake to Slough creek and the Tower creek falls of the Yellowstone, has but a single and very difficult pass over it. '•' *' ■"'*'* V-"***',!. «« *• Mj.-.'imntjii ,j-,:'n ,- inrri •■'<('■•,? f» The elevated plateau enclosed between this mountain' range and the Yellowstone lake and river affords a fine pasture-ground for the elk, black buffalo, deer, bighorns and moose, which, on the other side of the Park, are so ruthlessly slaughtered by wanton tourists, and after being deprived of their skins, antlers, or horns, and tongues, are left to be the prey of wolves, panthers and coyotes. Amfid these lofty pasture-grounds specimens at least of our great game animals might be kept. In the extreme north- east corner of the Park, on Clark's fork of the Yellowstone, are some mines of gold and peHiaps silver, which might better be ceded to the miners than suffered lo encroach on the Park. Thfe attractive features o(f the Park are all on the west side of the Yeltewstone river, and west of the east or southeast shores of the Yellowstone lake. Approaching the Park from the north, from 5"'r3»^^-oW- . - >'iBi'»qM!r' laja OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. Dozeman and Boteler's Ranche, the road passes first along what is called outside the Park the Upper CaAon of the Yellowstone, a narrow passage of that river between perpendicular, rocky walls, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in height. This extends for about three miles. Ten miles farther on, Cinnabar Mountain, so called from its surface of brilliant red clay (the color being due, how- ever, to red ochre and not to cinnabar), is passed, with its im- mense " Devil's Slide," a huge stone trough, which extends to its summit, with smooth, dark, nearly vertical parallel walls, thirty feet apart and 200 feet in height. A short distance beyond this we enter the Park, passing between Sepulchre Mountain, the northern terminal mountain of the Upper Madison Range, on the right hand, looking south, and the caflon of Gardiner's river, an affluent of the Yellowstone, which here has a course nearly west by south, through deeply worn banks. Shortly after leaving Sepulchre Mountain we come to a terraced hill, quite steep and of various colors, iti which are situated die Mammoth Hot Springs, whose wonderful forms and character we will allow an eye-witness to describe presently. Crossing at the foot of these terraces the Gardiner river at the point where its caflon com- mences, we ride along by the side of a succession of cascades of one of its eastern affluents, and striking due east, at a distance of twenty miles, reach Bat ronette's bridge over the Yellowstone, and a little above, just where the Yellowstone emerges from its Grand Caflon, Tower creek comes in from the west, plunging down 156 feet, and within the next two hundred yards by a suc- cession of rapids leaping into a dark and dismal gorge, 260 feet in depth. Basaltic tufa cones and columns, in the form of towers, turrets, pinnacles and cathedrals, in the vicinity of the falls, have suggested its name. At these falls the Grand Caflon of the Yellow- stone, twenty miles in length, and one of the great wonders of the Park, terminates. Southward from the Tower falls commences the long, rolling, and somewhat difficult ascent to Mount Washburn, the Pisgah of the Park, from the summit of which can be seen, in near or distant view, all its glories. Descending from the moun- tain, t^e trail takes us again to the Yellowstone and to the great falls which precede its plunge into the Great Caflon. Reserving ■ .««.•'££ „ rr-"j' .'■*!./ v^'' ^i^.mit^sm'i'ititsmmsin^ms'em ' long what L'UowKtone, jlar, rocky s for about n, so called due, how- yith its im- tends to its vails, thirty leyond this >untain, the Range, on iner's river, urse nearly fter leaving e steep and nmoth Hot rill allow an loot of these cafton corn- cascades of It a distance ifellowstone, -ges from its ist, plunging ds by a suc- rge, 260 feet m of towers, 10 falls, have ftheYellow- )nders of the mmences the t Washburn, n be seen, in m the moun- tQ. the great Reserving aKiSKSSSSWt- ^ V,f' ■■:<■■ » -I .r- iWP—^WW ""- J ' ..^" 'It FRlNCirAt. onjRCTS Of INTHMHar tN THR PARK, |jjj a dcHcription of these for the pootic lan^'ua|,;e of nn (^yi^witnuss, wc follow the couriie of the river to Sulphur MoutUain, with iut boiling springs of sulphuretted water, then four miles farther to the Mud Volcapo, or Mud Geysers, spouting springs, which throw up malodorous mud instead of water, and one of which, from its preternatural activity, is named "The Devil's Work- shop." Ii)ight miles farther on, we reach the northern extremity of tlie beautiful Yellowstone lake, at the point where the Yellow* stone river leaves it. This lake, the surface of which is 7,788 feet above the sea, is twenty-two miles in its grmtest luni^th, and about fifteen miles in width, and has a shore line of more than 300 mil^s, from its very irregular form. There are a number of islands in it, and its beauty is too great for description. To com* prehend its loveliness several days should be spent in camping on its borders. From this lake we may take either of two trails, the one going nearly south, pust the Geysers of the Yellowstone lake, on the east side of the great divide of the Rocky Mountains, and across a spur of that divide to Heart lake, at the foot of Mount Sheridan, where there are other geysers, and thence by a new trail westward past Lewis lake and Shoshone lake, where there are more geysers and a lake four feet higher than the Yel* iowstone, and thence northward by a difficult pass over the Rocky Mountains to the Upper Geyser basin, on the Upper Madison river, from which point there is a good road (the Norris road) to the Midway Springs and the Lower Geyser basin, on the Fire Hole river. Or, we may go from the geysers on the Yellowstone lake by a shorter though difficult trail directly west to the Upper Geyser basin, without visiting Heart, Lewis and Shbshone lakes. From this Upper Geyser basin we pdss by the Norris road, as we have said, to the Mkjway Springs, the Lower Geyser basin, in the Fire Hole river, the Gibbon's Fire Hole basin and geysers on the Howard road, the falls and caAon of Gibbon's fork, the Mon- ument Geyser basin, the Norris and Fire Hole basins, of geysers and craters of spent vol0anoes, the remarkable formation of Pine and Beaver lakes, the Obsidian or volcanic glass cliffs, and the road of glass over thetn» and so back to the Mammoth Hot Spriogsat.tbe entmnoe tQ ti>e Park. 7« I |J3^ OVit WKSrKK.V EMPIHE, W« have purposely avoklcd in tliin mrr** liinerary any dcscrip' tion of these wondcrn, ihai we mi^'ht ^r heat, and contains in solution a greui amount of lime, sulphur and magnesia, with some soda, alumina and other sub- stances, which are slowly deposited in 'very conceivable form and shape as the water flows along in its course down the moun- tain skle. "On each level, or terrace, there Is a large central spring, which is usually surrounded by a basin of several feet in diameter, and the water, after leaving the main basin at different portions of the delicately-wrought rim, flows down the declivity, step by step, forming hundreds of basins and reservoirs of every size and depth, from a few inches to six or eight feet in diameter, and from one inch to several feet in depth, their margins beautifully scallbped with a finish resembling bead-work of exquisite beauty. Ufidornealli the sides of mairy of the basins are beautifolly ar- ranged stalactites, formed by the dripping of the water ; aod, by *L, ,.^ia&.'.«jM#M.'«. iiiin i»rt nil|-»i|i«li«.caJ>:jW6i».>— >Jli-'»' *«E-" UAMMOTM nor SJNtL^aSi'-B. M, STMAHOXN'S DUStltltTION. »a3$ any dcscrip- f»T jiiHticp in. ih«- Park thus r over in le»M et us go over li.ivc studied jrrssfd with immoth Hot kilful pen of ihesc Springs untain bcauti- varioiis direc' I, fonmcr', Dt in all their nj^s of greater I about a mile same kind for vcrgrown with of the water is nount of lime, ind other sub- iceivnblc form )wn the moun- 1 Spring, which diameter, and portions of the , step by step, very size and diatnett*r, and ins beautifully quisitt; beauty, beautifully ar- i^atcr; and, by digging hrfteatli the iiur(ns of uelicaff little urns, sj.arkling with ••ater transparent as glass, and tint^»'d with many varieties of i-oloring, all glisteniny under tin glare of a noonday sun. " The larg«'Hl spring now uclive, situated about half way vi() the mountain on the out«:r ed^c of the main terr u ( has a bfiHin about twcnty-hve by lorty feet in diameter, in the centre of which the water boils up heveral inches aUwe the surface, and is «so trans- parent that you can, by approaching the margin, look down into tl)e heated depths many feet below the suriace. The sides of the cavern are ornamented with a • or.il like formatioi) of almost ev^^ry vaiiety of shade, with a Tme, ailky subHtunre, much like moss, of a bright vegetable green spread over it thinlj', which, with the slight ebullition of the water keeping it in constant motion, and the blue sky rellcrterd in the transparent depths, gives it an en- chanting beauty far beyond the skill of the finest artist. Here ill the hues of the rainlww are seen and arranged so gorgeously that, with other strange views by which one is surrounded, you almost imagine yourself in some fairy region, the wonders of which baffle all attempts >f pen or penal to portray tliem. "Besides the elegant smlpturing of this de[M)sit, imagine, If you can, the wonderful variety of delicate and artistically arranged colors with which it is adorned. The mineral-chargfl fluid lays down pavements here and there of all lite shades ot red, from bright scarlet to rose tint, beautiful layers of bright sulphur-yellow, interspersed with tints of green, all elaborately arranged in Na- ture's own order. "At the foot of the mountain are several springs whose waters have effected remarkable cures in cases of chronic rheumatism, rruptive diseases, etc. The medidnai properties ol each fountain seem to be different, and the invalid can find which are best adapted to his or her own case." •:'«»• I #' i ^l ^ Ot/M trUSlAHJV /(Mf/MM, ••f V « M 1156 On lravin(( thr Mot Spring to mak^ th** Hrniit of the Park, tht: (avoritr cnurnc* in that Ittaciin^ I'MHtward to the Y(*llow«it(>nr CftAofi. Iho rouii^antic pillars, at the entrance of aome ^rrand temple. Of these columns the late Hon. N. V. Ltfn^ford, the ftrst superintendent and hiH- torian of the Park, said : " Sor-e resemble towers, others the spires of churches, and others still shoot up as little and slender as the minarets of a mosque. Some of the loftiest of these forma- tions, standing upon the very brink of the fall, are accessible to an expert and adventurous climber. The position attained on one of these narrow summits, amid the uproar of waters, and at a height of 360 feet aborve the boiling chasm, as the writer can affinrit requires a steady head and strong nerves ; yet the view which rewards the temerity of ttw exploit is full of compensa- tions." Below the fall the stream descends in numerous rapids with frightful velocity, through a gloomy fi;or^e, to its union with the Yellowstone. \c& bed is filled with enormous boulders, against which the rusl ^ waters break with great fury. M^ny of the capricious formations wrought from the shal Ix! found in the level of with ailumnn nd extendinjf hev! columns lent and his- jer» the spires ul slender a« these fornia< accennible to n attained on M^aters, and at he writer can yet the view of compensa- rterous rapids its union with ous boulders, ; fury. M^ny \t ejictte mer- lly, is a huge ) resemblance d the" Devil's ; surrounding 'alls " was, of cAiiffti*. Ru^etted by iiome of the most fonMpiruotit fdalu rr« of the ttccncry. I'he sidcufsf the chaum arr worn into caverns, lined with variously tir'.u inoviieH, nouiished by < loads of spray whiih rinc from the cataract ; while above anci to thr left, a npur fnmi the great plateau rises over all with a p«-rpendicular front of 400 " Nothinif," says Lieutenant Donne, "can be more chastely b<'autifitl than this lovely cast.ulf, hidden away in the dim li^dit of oversluidowin;^ rocks and wrcparcd after hit return, but which it at yet unpubliithed. -_i V 1238 O^^ WESTERN EMPIRE. * of the sea, and perhaps 5,000 feet above the level of the valley out of which it springs. Its smooth slopes are easy of ascent. You need not dismount from your horse to gain its summit. Standing there you look down upon the whole grand panorama, as does that eagle yonder, holding himself aloft upon almost mo- tionless wings. I doubt if there is another view at once so ma- jestic and so beautiful in the whole world. Your vision darts through the spaces for 1 50 miles on some sides. You are stand- ing upon a mountain lifting itself out of a vast saucer-shaped depression. Away yo.-^der, where the sky seems to meet the earth, on every side, around the whole circumference of your sight, ajre lines and ranges of snow-capped peaks shutting your glances in. Yonder shoots upward the serrated peak of Pilot Mountain, iix the Clark's Fork Range. Joined to that, sweep on around you, in the dim distance, the snowy lines of the Madison Range. Yonder join hands with these the Stinking Water Moun- tains, and so on and on and around. Do you see that sharp, pinnacle->pointed mountain, away off at the southwest, shining, in its garments of white, against tlie blue of the summer sky ? — that is Mount Everts, named after the poor lost wanderer, who for thirty-seven days of deadly peril and starvation sought a way of escape from these frowning mountain barriers, which shut him in so remorselessly, and it marks the iivide of the continent. "Take now a closer view for a moment. Mark the lower hills, iblded in their thick draperies of pine and spruce like dark green velvet; of the softest and the deepest ; notice, too, those beautiful park*ltke splices, where the trees refuse to grow, and where the prairie spreads its smooth sward freely toward the sun- light. And — those spots of steam, breaking into the vision every now and then, and floating oif like the whitest clouds riiat ever graced the summer sky-— f the valley sy of ascent, its summit, id panorama, n almost mo- once so ma- vlsion darts ou are stand- aucer-shaped to meet the ence of your shutting your peak of Pilot that, sweep the Madison Water Moun- that sharp, ;st, shming-, in er sky ? — that lerer, who for ight a way of hich shut him continent, trk the lower ruce Kke dark ice, too, those to grow, and ward the sun- e vision every jds tfiat ever :he geysers at ty miles away, er on the hill- are waterfalls been at their ^et completed such a daint}' shape, running its arms out toward the hills, and bearing on its serene bosom emeralds of islands — that is the sweetest sheet oi' water in the world — that is tlic Yellowstone lake. And — that exquisite broad sheen of silver, winding tliroug^i the green oi the trees and the brown of the praine~-lliat is the Yellowstone river, starting on its wonderful journey to the Missouri, and thence downward to the gulf, between six and seven thousand iiiiler, away. But, neater to us, almost at our feet, as we trace this broad line of silver, the eye encounters a frightful chasm, as if the earth had suddenly sunk away, and into its gloomy depths the brightness and beauty of the shining river leaps, and is thenceforward lost altogether to the view — that is the tremendous cafton or gorge of the Yellowstone." ^l;..!.! ,,. Contru.y to the Latin adage, "FcutJis descensus Avemi!" the descent frcum Mount Wasliburn to the Grand Cafton of the Yellowstone Is one of considerable difficulty by the old trail ; but by a new one traced by Mr. P. W. Norris, the present superin- tendent of the Park, it is much easier. The old trail, more than twenty miles in length, followed the Waiihburn Range at a considerable distance from the river, through tangled forest and along rocky and precipitous passes, to the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone, just where Cascade creek di.scharges its waters into the river. This is above the Grand Cafton, or* rather, at the point where it commences; for these two falls, the upper of about 150 feet, and the lower of ^^50 Teet, with the rapids wbich follow, constitute a part of the tremendous depth to which the Grand Cafton sinks, and which it maintains to the point of emer- gence at Tower creek falls, twenty miles below. At one or two points near its lower terminus daring and adventurous spirits have reached the floor of the cafton, but have found it extremely perilous and di^cult to clamber out of it ; they describe it as having its full share of disagreeable sounds, sights and smells, from the great number of hot springs of sulphur, sulphate of cop^ per, alum, etc. The water is warm and impregnated with a vll-> lanous taste of alum and sulphur, and along the dark margin of the river are numerous chemical and corrosive springs, some depositing craters^ of calcareous rock, and some casting up vol- n -" i^-»:.-j««Mb ^^■r,irrti%rv..-r- 1240 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. umes of mud or muddy waters. The greater part of the Grand CaAon, however, and especially its upper two-thirds, had always been regarded as entirely inaccessible, till the summer of 1878, when Messrs. Hoyt and Rouse, of Cleveland, Ohio, succeeded ftt the imminent peril of their lives, in descending to it, a little Ibelow the Great falls. They describe it as fearfully gloomy and uncanny. Rev. Dr. Hoyt and his party took the old trail and approached the river at the mouth of Cascade creek, between the upper and lower or Great falls, at the point where they could look down into the Grand Caflon at the place of its greatest magnificence, and of the many descriptions of this great wonder of the world, that which he has given may justly be esteemed the most graphic and beautiful. It is as follows: "Well, we have reached Ciascade creek at last; r.nd a beautiful g^ove of trees, beneath whose shade sparkles a clear stream, whose waters are .ree from the nauseous taste of alkali, furnishes a delightful place in which to camp. Now — dismounting and seeing that your horse is well cared for, while the men are un- k)ading the pack-mules and pitching the tents — walk up that trail, winding u^ that hillside ; follow it for a litde among the solemn pines, and then pass out from the tree-shadows, and take your sUrU ^pon that jutting rock — clinging to it well meanwhile. and being very sure of your looting, for your head will surely grow dizzy-i-and there opens before you one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature — the lower falls and the awful canon or THE YeL-'^OWSTONE. , .i\.i'.A\vynm \ -VlU px iljii.[ 4 ~j>i.Ui>Mia> ,7*!Mitj^,. "And now, where shall F begin, arid how shall I, iri atiy wise, describe this tremendous sight— its overpowering grandeur, and at the same time its inexpressible beauty? '•Look yonder — those are the lower falls of the Yellowstone. They are not the grandest in the world, but there are none more beautiful. There is not the breadth and dash of Niagara, nor is there the enormous depth of leap of some of the waterfalls of the Yosemite. But here is majesty of its own kind, and beauty, too. On either side are vast pinnacles of sculptured rock. There, where the rock opens for the river, its waters are compressed from a width of 200 feet, between the tapper «{^ XEV. DK. I/OYT'S DESCRIPTION OF TItR GRAND CAS^ON. 1 34 1 the Grand lad always :r of 1878, succeeded it, a little illy gloomy >ld trail and ;k, between they could [its greatest ■eat wonder esteemed a beautiful ear stream, di, furnishes mnting and ten are un- alk up that among the vs, and take meanwhile, surely grow stupendous L CANON OK in any wise, andeur, and Yellowstone. : none more igara, nor is e waterfalls 1 kind, and sculptured ; waters are upper and lower falls, to 1 50 where it takes the plunge. The shelf of rock over which it leaps Ts absolutely level. The water seems to wait a moment on its verge; then it passes with a single bound of 350 feet into the gorge below. It is a sheer, unbroken, compact, shining mass of silver foam. "But your eyes are all the time distracted from the fall itself, great and beautiful as it is, to its marvellous setting — to the sur- prising, overmastering caflon into which the river leaps, and through which it flows, dwindling to but a foamy ribbon there in its appalling depths. .•• '■' '-^ ■■!< ' -f V. "As you cling here to this jutting rock, the falls are already many hundred feet below you. The falb unroll their whiteness down amid the caAon glooms. Hold firmly on, and peer over the rock to which you cling and gaze down ; that apparently narrow stream is the large river flowing nearly 2,000 feet below you ; it is sheer that distance ; these rocky sides are almost per- pendicular— -indeed in many places the boiling springs have gouged them out so as to leave overhanging cliffs and tables at the top. Take a stone and throw it over — you must wait long before you hear it strike. Nothing more awful have I ever seen than the yawning of that chasm. And the stillness, solemn as midnight, profound as death ! The water dashing there as in a kind of agony against those rocks, you cannot hear. The mighty distance lays the finger of its silence on its white lips. You are oppressed with a sense of danger. It is as though the vastness would soon force you from the rock to which you cling. The silence, the sheer depth, the gloom burden you. It is a relief to feel the firm earth beneath your feet again, as you carefully crawl back from your perching place. "But this is not all, nor is the half yet told. As soon as you can stand it, go out on that jutting rock again, and mark the sculpturings of God upon those vast and solemn walls. By dash of wind and wave, by forces of the Irost, by file of .snow plunge and glaciei and mountain torrent, by the hot breath of boiling springs, those walls have been cut into the most various and surprising shapes. I have seen the middle age castles along the Rliine ; there, those, castles are reproduced exactly. I have seen jism. JUUiSL .^M^. .it^MJ* 1242 Ol/X WESTKBN f.MPtRK. f^\ the soaring summits of the great cathedral spires, in. the country beyond the sea ; there they stand in prototype, only loftier and sublimer. "And then, of course and almost beyond all else, you are fasci- nated by the mflg-ancence and utter opulence of color. Those are not simply gray and hoary depths and reaches, and domes and pinnacles of sullen rock. The whole gorge flames. It is as though rainbows had fallen out of the sky and hung themselves there like glorious banners. The underlying color is the clearest yellow ; this flushes onward into orange. Down at the base the deepest mosses unroll their draperies of the most vivid green ; browns, sweet and soft, do their blending; white rocks stand spectral ; turrets of rock shoot up as crimson as though they were drenched through with bk>od. It is a wilderness of color. It is impossible that even the pencil of an artist tell it What you would call, accustomed to the softer tints of nature, a great exaggeration, would be the utmost tamcness comfiared with the reality. It is as though the most glorious sunset you ever saw had been caught and held upon that resplendent, awful gorge ! " Through nearly all the hours of that afternoon, until the sun- set shadows came, and afterwards amid the moonbeams, I waited there, clinging to that rock, Jutting out into that overpowering, gorgeous chasm. I was appalled and fascinated* afraid and yet compeUed to cling there. It was an epoch in my life." », ;a .^twifut But we must hasten forward. The trail above the upper falls folk)ws closely the right or west bank of the Yellowstone to the Yellowstone lake, a distance of eighteen or nineteen miles. On the way Sulphur Mountain is passed on the right, and the Sulphur Hills on the left, east of the river, though oekhcr of tbera are more sulphurous than many other hills and mounds in the Parle. Eleven miles from the Great Falls is the Mud Volcano, sur. interesting though somev/hat dirty object Eight miles more bring the traveller to th<: Yellowstone lake, one of the most beauttful sheets of water in "Our Western Empire," and hardly surpassed in beauty by any hike on our globe. It is twenty-two miles in length, and (i-om twelve to fifteen in breadth. Its shape is pecu- liar, several long peniosulais extending into ix from the- southern K£.' -V.-Urt :;^.,..i£i.'Ji THE YKLLOtrSTONR LAKE. 1343 the country / loftier and ou are fasci- )lor. Those and domes Ives. It is as themselves > the clearest the base the /ivid green ; rocks stand though they CSS of color. II it. What :ure, a great red with the )u ever saw ful gorge ! ntil the sun- ims, I waited ^erpowering, "aid and yet > '» e upper falls rstone to the I miles. On the Sulphur em are mors ark. Eleven r. interesting e bring the uitiful sheets surpassed in wo miles in Ape is pecu- the. southern shore, so that it has been compared to the human hand, though as Professor R. W. Raymond humorously suggests, " the imagi- native gentleman who 6rst discovered this resemblance must have thought the size and form of fingers quite insignificant, pro* vided the number was complete. The hand in question is afflicted with elephantiasis in the thumb, dropsy in the little finger, hornet bites on the third finger, and the last .stages of starvation in the other two." The shore line of the lake is over 300 miles in length ; its superficial area is nearly 300 square miles ; its greatest depth, by a series of careful :;oundings, is found to be 300 feet. Its elevation above the sea, by repeated observations, has been ascertained to be 7,788 feet. Professor Hayden very enthusiastically declares that "only four lakes are known to have so great an elevation in any part of the world, up to this time, namely, Lakes Titicaca, in Peru, and Uros, in Bolivia, which are respectively 12,874 and 12,359 feet above the sea-level; and Lakes Manasasarowak and Rakastal, in Thibet, Asia, both of which lie at the great height of 1 5,000 feet." With all due respect to the Professor, we think that this statement should be taken with some reservation as to the size of the lakes ; for in the very article from his pen which describes the Yellowstone Park and contains this sentence, we find that Shoshone lake has an eleva- tion of 7,870 feet (Mr. Norris' report of 1879 makes this 7,792 feet, four feet higher than Yellowstone lake), and Madison lake, 8,301 feet. Both these are in the Park, arwd though smaller than Yellowstone lake, they are entitled to be called lakes. Moreover, we find in " Whitney's Survey of Colorado " the following eleva- tions assigned to some of the lakes of that mountainous State : Chicago lakes, 11,500 feet; Green, io,opo feet; Gtariu, 8,153 feet; Mary or Santa Maria, 9,324 feet; San Miguel, 9,720 feet; Twin lakes, 9,357 feet; San Cristoval, 9,000 feet; and Osborn's, 8,821 feet. Lake Carpenter, in the Bighorn Mountains, »s about 1 1 ,000 feet. We might enumerate some others, but these will suffice. They are none of them as large as Yellowstone lake, though all of sufficient size to be properly denominated lahes. One other popular notion, which is often repeated in the descriptions of 1244 OCX WESTERN F.MPIRR. Yellowstone National P; V, may as well be corrcctrxl in this place: the Yellowstone lai is in no sense the source of the Yel- lowAtonc river. That river rises by two forks at least forty-five or fifty miles southeast of the Yellowstone lake, one affluent having its source in a small lake in the Shoshone Mountains, presumably higher than Yellowstone lake, and the other in the elevated plateau between the Shoshone and Wind River Moun- tains. One of these sources is in about latitude 43° 45', and the other in about 43° 50'. The Yellowstone river flows through the Yellowstone lake, just as the Rhine Hows through Lake Geneva. . <• ;. ^ii.;-»»| >( •,0 .»> >. ,) ' a But let us return to our lake itself. Situated uport the very crown of the continent, the lake receives but few tributa- ries of any considerable size, the upper Yellowstone being much the largest, and Beaver Dam creek and Pelican creek, both on the eastern side, the next in importance. There are, in all, six- teen or eighteen small streams from the moutitain ranges, on the lorth, east, south and southwest sides, which bring to the lake their tribute from the snow line ; several of these affluents are strongly chirgdl with sulphur, alum or alkalies, and these and the springs on the banks of the lake render its waters near the shore, at some poi.its, turbid and unpleasant; but at a little dis- tance from the shore, at all points, and at the very brink of the lake at many, the water is clear, pure and sweet. It abounds with fish, mainly trout, as does the Yellowstone above the Great falls ; but it is a most remarkable iiact, that very many of the trout, both in the lake and river, above the falls, are infested by an intestinal worm, of a s[)ff'ies not hitherto known as a parasite of any of the salmomda. In some cases the worms eat their vvay out, and the fish, if not too severely injured, recovers, but with deep scars. It is said that the larger fish sometimes have from five to fifty of these parasites, and that their presence makes the fish very voracious, snapping viciously at the hook, "which is strange/' as Professor Raymond remarks, " when one considers that they have already more bait in them than is wholesome." Of course, not all the trout are thus infested, and usually the Yisl(ii>g .(^rties, aftf^r .rejecting the dis^$«dJg§h,fiQd enough that Jt/l-SSJtS. MARSHALL AND STRAIIOHS'S nESCKtPTlOl^. 1245 ctrd in this of the Yf 1- ist forty-five one affluent Mountains, other in the lake afRuents are id these and ^ers near the at a little dis- brink of the It abounds >ve the Great many of thf t infested by as a parasite eat their way /ers, but with 2s have from ce makes tlu' )k, "which is Dne considers wholesome." 1 usually the 1 enough that arc sound to supply their demand. Below the Great falls the fish are not diseased, and there are grayling and white fish in almost as great numbers as the trout. The remarkable beauty of the lake cannot be too highly ex- tolled. All the visitors to it have been charmed by its loveliness. Mr. Marshall, who is not given to sentimental writing, says : " It contains several beautiful islands, is surrounded by some of the grandest mountains in North America, and is of so irregular a form as to give an uncommon beauty alike to its bold bluiif shores and its stretches of sandy, pebbly bea<:hes. Its waters, pure and cold, in places 300 feet deep, shine with the rich blue of the open sea, swarm with trout, and are the summer home of countless swans, white pelicans, geese, brant, snipe, ducks, cranes and other water fowl, while its shores, sometimes grassy, but generally clothed with dense forests of pine, spruce and fir, furnish coverts and feeding grounds for elk, antelope, black and white-tailed deer, bears and mountain sheep. Scattered along the shores of the lake, and on the mountain slopes which overlook it, are many clusters of hot springs, solfataras, fumaroles and small geysers. At one point a hot spring, boiling up in the edge of the lake, has deposited the mineral carried in solution by its waters, and built up a rocky rim about itself, so that wading out into the lake you can climb on the rim of the spring, and standmg there can catch trout out of the cold water of the lake, and without detaching them from the hook, plunge them into the boiling spring and cook them." The more poetic Strahorn thus eulogiaes it: ' " In the early part of the day, when the air is still and the bright sunshine falls on its unruffted surface, its bright green color, sliading to a delicate ultramarine, commands the admiration of every beholder. Later in the day, when the mountain winds come down from their icy heights, it puts on an aspect more in accordance with the fierce wilderness around it. Its shores are paved with volcanic rocks, sometimes in masses, sometimes broken and worn into pebbles of trachyte, obsidian, chalcedony, cornelians, agates and bits of agatized wood ; and again ground to obsidian sand sprinkled with crystals of California diamonds." ia4<^ OUK h^'SST/lKM BM/>IMM, The enthuRiastic I-anpford * %Ay% : ** Secluded amid the toftic'Kt (>eaks of the Rocky Mountains, possessing strange peculiarities of form and beauty, thi» watery solitude is one of the mo»C attractive objects in the world. Its southern shore, indented with long, narrow inlets, not unlike the frequent fiordu of Iceland, bears testimony to the awful upheaval and tremendous force of the elements which resulted in its erec- tion. The long pine-crowned pronnontories, stretching into it from t!>e base of the hills, lend new and charming features to an aquatic scene full of novelty and splendor. Islands of emerald hue dot its surface, i^m\ a margin of sparkling sand forms its set- ting. The winds, compressed in their passage through the moun- tain gorges, lash it into a sea as terrible as the fretted ocean, covering it with foam. But now it lay before us calm and un- ruffled, save as the gentle wavelets broke in murmurs along the shore. Water, one of the grandest elements of scenery, never seemed so beautiful before." Besides its entrancing shore line, the lake is dotted with nu- merous islands, which lend rare beauty by their luxuriant vege- tation. Fish abound in the lake, game of all kinds inhabit tlie surrounding forests, and the piacid surface of the water and grassy margins render this mountain-locked sheet the earthly paradise for myriads of water-fowl. Professor Rossitcr W. Raymond, the man of fiacts and figures, " with no nonsense about him," felt himself constrained to say " The scene presented to our eyes by this lake, as we emerged from the thick forests on the western side and trod with exulta- tion its sand with exulta- ad expanse of s, the summits inset, the deep I to produce a oyt's eloquent rgely: •'•■i^;\ d the lake. It bless the un- troubled slumbers of a child. How still it was ! What silence reigned I How lovingly it laid its hush upon you ! I rannot tell you of it better than in thoK<; words of Scrijjiure — ' for they rest from their labors.' To me that vision must henceforward be liic best illustration of tlie unvexed, tranvparent 8ea of glass, and tlie rest of the Beyond. "And yet it was not a stillness and a reit devoid of music and of motion. You could hear the murmur of the breezes through the tree-tops ; you could ice where they roughened the lake's surface, and strewed new brightness on its waters. IMeets of pelicans, white-breasted and white-winged, with swans, large and inexpressibly graceful, sailed majestically out upon the waves. Birds sang in the edges of the groves; eagles and wild fowl filled the upper air. The whole scene was redolent of a glad and happy hfe." -.■ • " m,-w.,- .• > ■ ^^^.•^ • - , - - • But we must move forward, or our exploration will ocatpy too much time and space. As it is, we must forego any tour into the al- most wholly unexplored region east and north of the Yellowstone lake, and must also postpone to another season our hoped-for visit to Heart, Lewis, Shoshone and Madison lakes, all ot which have small geysers, or, rather, spouting spring?;, on their banks. Very fair and beautiful are these lakes, set as gems in the rocky and frowning heights of the " Great Divide," and in the not distant future they will he among the most interesting of the many attractions of the Park ; bat until they are rendered more accessible by good, or at least passable, roads, wc must neglect them. There are two routes, both as yet only trails, from the Yellow- stone bke and river westward to the basins of the Upper Madison and its largest branch, the Fire Hole river— the home of the gey- sers. The southernmost takes us from the geysers or boiling springs, on the banks of the lake, over two arms of the Great Rocky Mountain Divide (which here takes a horseshoe fwm, enclosing ^oshone lake), directly to the Upper Geyser basin, on the Upper Madison river. This trail is more difficult, and crosses the mountains at a greater elevation than the other, but tt ts shorter, not exceeding fourteen oaiies, and it does not require 13^ V ovjt tyesr£*ty gur/MX. any retracing of our courtc. I'he norrhernmoAt rrqtiirrs a return over the roul force whi.a- ract, or Hkc the thunder of distant surf. Every instant the column is changing Its height and sha|>e, as the mighty and mys> terious forces of tho under world, shaking the mountains in their struggles for freedom, pulsate along it; and it is always ert v eloped and surmounted by vast banks and lofty pillars of steam, ever swaying with the wind, constantly assuming fantastic forms, and crowned and fringed wiih rainbows. ITiese indescribably mag- nificent displays occur wit:l\ some geysi^rs at fixed periods, as in the case of Old Faithful, which spouts from an onfice seven feet long by two feet wide, every sixty-seve-' minutes, its eruptions last- ing from four to six minutes. It is the onlv large geyser known in the world, which spouts ho frequently and with sutih unfailing regularity; whence its name. In more than one hundred erup- tions of it, which I witnessed during my two visits to the Park in 1873 and 1875, I never knew it to be more than three minuter behind its appointed time. Most of the great geysers, however, spout at very irregular intervals, varying from three or four hours to several days, or even two or three weeks, their eruptions last- rng from fifteen or twenty minutes to two or three hours, and sometimes even as long as nine hours. " No geyser spouts constantly, though some of the small ones 79 .!rlo iTti'v; w-il r III ' rUui.]/! yu: ,iv(v r laje OVK WgSTKHf MMftilM. #) upmit monx of th^ rtmc Between «!rupt{oni, «iomi» poiir p«»l forms in n»l mnr)(inn of li unU doltcatc nd hot tprin^rii ' th<'ir mineral ml than these f branches, and of the jjroves the wood falls jjcyser, the hot le quantities of an. /• :,'i!V>:7/.i inp and geyser cs past, its cen- ow, constantly age wc do not 'Old Faithful* is of each are vholly petrified, icen there very •y the rapid de he open ground ^ich are piftinty rs of the Upper y recent origin, and the spring , which do not '^ffc^ ■■ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Senes. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historicai IVIicroreproductions / Inttitut Canadian de microreproductions historiquas A:«iuM3»- ns NUMB KM OF TIFR GEYSERS. I35I "No one knows how many geysers and hot springs there are in the Park. Dr. Hayden estimates that in the two Fire Hole River Geyser basins, within an arc-a about equal to that of an ordinary township, say thirty-five or forty square miles, there are at least 2,000, and in the whole Park there are supposed to be at least 10,000 hot springs, steam jets, geysers and mud springs. The solfataras, fumaroles and salses, of which some are found scattered through the geyser basins, but most of which are in groups here and there outside the Geyser basins, especially at Brimstone Mountain, on the summit of the divide between the Yellowstone and Fire Hole Valleys ; at numerous points about Yellowstone lake, on Pelican creek, at Crater Hills, and at Mud Volcanoes, en the west bank of the Yellowstone river ; on Alum creek, along the Grand Cafton, and on the slopes of the Sierra Shoshone and the Elephant's Back Mountains, follow naturally in our catalogue of attractions. These from thousands of vents, pour out sulphurous hot water, or steam charged with sulphu- retted hydrogen and other gases commonly emitted from volcanic craters, or boil and spout mud, slate-blue, or white, or pink, or lavender, or blackish green, or brown, some thin as mush, some thick as hasty pudding, with much puffing and rumbling and hissing of steam escape-pipes, and often with much trembling of the ground. ! "About many of them are deposited beautiful incrustations of sulphur and silica, of a light buff-color, or solid sheets or delicate feathery, frost-like crystals of bright yellow sulphur, together with alum and other volcanic products. Some of the larger of these sulphurous steam jets, pouring out of openings several feet in diameter, keep up a continual roar, like a hoarse fog-whisde; others, night and day, maintain a steady series of explosions, like distant thunder, from twenty to fifty peals a minute, audible for miles around, and each jarring the ground, so that you may, ia . some cases, plainly feel it, sitting on your horse, a half a mile away from them. " Some of these, also, are plainly of quite recent origin ; for, walking about among them at Brimstone Mountain, where, over many acres, the vegetation is utterly destroyed, and the surface •X *'y'^j^"^. " ■ w ' T j- 'i m n »' « 1353 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. of the earth blasted and burned, and streaked red, and yellow, and white, seems a mere heap of ashes mixed with sulphur, near the centre of the great area of desolation, we saw the pros- trate trunks of several pine trees not yet entirely destroyed by the corrosive, stilling vapors, but so far decayed that we could kick them to pieces easily. The waters of this cluster flow towards the Yellowstone, and in a hollow have formed a minia- ture Dead sea, whose steaming, sulphurous, heavy, j^reen waves support no form of life, and beat sullenly on a shore whose deso- lation is in marked contrast to the luxurious, grassy slopes which stretch for miles to the east towards and across the Yellowstone." i- f ' " ' • We shall not attempt in this place any explanation of the phi- losophy of die geyser, for two reasons : one, that scientists are not agreed in their views of it ; the only thing fully ascertained in regard to it is that the hot water (from whatever source it may be derived) passes up through long tubes or pipes of different diamet'Ts; and the other, that their explanations are too ab- struse to be understood by the masses, even if (which is doubtful) they understand them fully themselves. . . Let us, then, turn to a contemplation of these geysers, and espe- cially of those of the Upper Geyser Basin, where, though some- what fewer in number than in the Lower basin, they are of much greater power and magnificence. And, first, let us folbw Rev. Edwin Stanley, a visitor to the Park, whose " Rambles in Won- derland " gives a very interesting account of this Upper basin, as he marshals the geysers in a grand parade ;;-■ ' • • '" ' '' , " Let us imagine ourselves for once standing in a eerrtral posi- tion, where we can see every geyser in the basin. It is an extra occasion, and they are all out on parade, and all playing at once. There is good Old Faithful, always ready for her part, doing her best — the two by five feet column playing to a height of 1 30 feet — perfect in all the elements of geyser action. Yonder the Bee- hive is sending up its graceful column 200 feet heavenward, while the Giantess is just in die humor, and is making a gorgeous dis- play of its, say, ten ittt volume to an altitude of 250 feet. In the meantime the old Casde answers the summons, and putting ■« and yellow, iih sulphur, aw the pros- estroyed by at we could cluster How ned a ininia- ^>:reen waves whose deso- rassy slopes across the n of the phi- icientists are y ascertained •ource it may J of different are too ab- h is doubtful) srs, and espe- :hough some- r are of much I follow Rev. bles in Won- 3per basin, as central posi- It is an extra ying at once, irt, doing her ^t of 1 50 feet ider the Bee- ;n\v much self-importance as if it were the only geyser in the basin, we see the Grand, by a more than ordinary effort, overtopping all the rest, with its hfcaven -ascending, graceful volume, 300 feet in the air. Just below here the Riverside, the Comet, the complicated and fascinating Fantail, and the curiously-wrought Grotto, are all chiming in, and the grand old Giant, the chief of the basin, not to be left behind, or by any one outdone, is towering up with its six feet fountain, swaying in the bright sunlight at an elevation of 250 feet. In the meantime a hundred others of lesser note, we will say, are answering the call at this grand exposition, and coming out in all their native glory and surpassing beauty. Just listen to the terrible, awful rumblings and deafening thunders, as if the very earth would be moved from its foundation — the thou- sand reports of rushing waters and hissing steam, while Pluto is mustering all his forces, and Hades would feign disgorge itself and submerge our world. But then look upward at the immense masses of rising steam ascending higher and still h'gher, until lost in the heavens above ; while every column is tinseled over with a robe of silver decked with all the prismatic colors, and every majestic fountain is encircled with a halo of gorgeous hues." As a matter of fact, however, the geysers are never all in action at the same time. Their periods of activity are different at different times, and with some of them are at increasingly long intervals, and probably they will eventually cease to act, as so many others have done. New geysers are constantly forming, and may take the places of the silent ones. Some of the most remarkable of the number are so uncertain that parties have re- mained at the basins for two or three weeks without witnessing their action, and again perhaps soon after they have sent up a magnificent column twice or thrice in twenty-four hours. One explorer. Lieutenant Barlow, tells us that near the edge of the basin, where the river makes a sharp bend to the southeast, is iiii -ikiV 1354 OUR IVESTERN EMPIRE. found the initial geyser — a small steam vent — on the right. Soon on either side of the river are seen the two lively geysers, called the " Sentinels," because of their nearness to the gate of the great geyser basins. The one on the left is in constant agi- tation, the waters revolving horizontally with great violence, and occasionally spouting upward to the height of twenty feet, the lat- eral direction being fifty feet. Enormous masses of steam are ejected. The crater of this is three feet by ten. The opposite Sentinel is not so constantly active, and is smaller. About 250 yards from the gate are three geysers acting in concert. When in full action the display from these is very fine. The waters spread out in the shape of a fan, in consequence of which they have been named the Fan Geysers. One hundred yards farther up the side of the stream is found a double geyser, a stream from one of its orifices playing to the height of eighty or ninety feet, emitting large volumes of steam. From the formation of its crater it was named the Well Geyser. Still above are found some of the most interestinc: and beau- tiful geysers of the whole basin. First are two smaller geysers near a large spiing of blue water, while a few yards beyond are seen the walls and arches of the Grotto. Thip is an exceedingly intricate formation, eight feet in height and ninety in circumfer- ence. It is by many called the gem of all the geysers. It is absolutely magnificent — a sight of resplendent beauty, that greets the eyes nowhere outside of the region of the National Park. It is simply a miniature temple of alabaster whiteness, with arches leading to some interior Holy of Holies, whose sacred places may never be profaned by eye or foot. The hard calcareous formation about it is smooth, and bright as a cleati swept pave- ment. Several columns of purest white rise to a height of eight to ten feet, supporting a roof that covers the entire vent, forming fantastic arches and entrances, out of which the water is ejected during an eruption fifty or sixty feet. The entire surface is composed of the most delicate bead-work imaginable, white as the driven snow, -massive but elaborately elegant. and so peerlessly beautiful that the hand of desecration has not been laid upon it, and it stands without flaw or break in all its primal beauty — a grotto of pearls, " the beautiful princess of all the realm." THR GIANT ASD OLD FAtTr'FUI. CRYSERS. 1*55 on the right, lively geysers, |to thij gate of constant agi- violence, and |ty feet, the lat- of steam arc The opposite About 250 ncert. When The waters of which they 1 yards farther a stream from or ninety feet, on of its crater ing and bcau- maller geysers ds beyond are ^n exceedingly y in circiimfer- jeysers. It is ity, that greets onal Park. It 5S, with arches sacred places ird calcareous J swept pave- leight of eight vent, forming Iter is ejected ire surface is able, white as I so peerlessly I laid upon it, lal beauty — a ealm." Proceeding 1 50 yards farther, and passing two hot springs, a remarkable group of geysers is discovered. One of these has a huge crater, five feet in diameter, shaped something like the base of a horn — one side broken down — the highest point being fifteen ftrel above the mound on which it stands. This proved to b(? a tremendous geyuer, which has been called the (iiant. It throws a column of water the size of the opening to the measured altitude of 130 feet, and continues the display for an hour and a half. The amount of water discharged is immense, almost equal in quantity to that in the river, the volume of which during the eruption is doubled. But one eruption of this geyser was ob- served. Another large crater close by has several orifices, and with ten small jets surrounding it, formed probably one connect- ing system. The hill built up by this group covers an acre of ground, and is thirty feet in height. Harry J. Norton, Esq., formerly of Virginia City, made the rounds of all the geysers, and describes the leading ones as fol- lows: "In our opinion, there is no geyser in the entire region that is so richly deserving of mention as our ancient-looking, steadfast friend, Old Faithful ; for its operations are as regular as clock-work, of most frequent occurrence, and of great power. Standing sentinel-like on the upper outskirts of the valley, at regular intervals of sixty-seven moments, the grim old vidette sounds forth his 'all's well ' in a column of water five or six feet in diameter, throwing it skyward to a distance of 1 50 feet, and holding it up to that height for eight or ten minutes' duration. The stream is nearly vertical, and in descending the water forms a glittering shower of pearl-drops, plashing into a succession of porcelain-lined reservoirs of every conceivable shape and many- colored tints. The mound is not far from twenty feet in height, and gradually slopes down to the south in regular terraces to a neighboring hot spring. One of the artistic reservoirs nearest the crater is half-filled with irregularly shaprd, perfectly polished white pebbles, which must have been thrown out at the different eruptions. When the eruption ceases the water recedes, and nothing is heard but the occasional escape of steam until another exhibition occurs. Old Faithful will ever be the favorite of I II ,f \. I J f)j6 OUM WESTERN RMP/EE. touritts, as it never fails in regularly giving a display of lu powers. "Crossing the river, and proceeding down its cast bank an eighth of a mile, we come to the Beehive. Marly in the afternoon an eruption took place without a moment's warning. The column of water ejected filled the full size of the crater, and shot up at L'ast 200 feet. So nearly vertically does the stream ascend that on a calm day nine-tenths of the volume would fall directly bark into the aperture. From this cause, probably, there is no mound of any consequence built around it. At the time we witnessed its action, the ascending torrent was interposed between us and a bright, shining sun, and through its cloud of spray there was formed a rainbow of magnificent proportions, lending the fountain a crowning splendor and glory that it could not other- wise possess. ■i\ 1 ' "To the right, and down stream a few hundred yards from the Beehive, is the Giantess, with a crater eighteen by twenty-five feet. We came upon it during one of its lucid intervals, and looking down into the gaping chasm could just discern the water a. great distance below, as in a state of apparent tranquillity. Presently, however, there came up from its gloomy depths a dismal groan, quickly followed by a dense volume of steam and a rumbling sound beneath our feet, as of terrific underground thunder. In a moment more the seething elements below were in wildest commotion. The rolling and clashing of waves, the terrible steam-clouds rushing to and fro under the frail crust, the thunder of the raging waters, a«, lashed into fury by the pur- suing steam, they sought to burst apart their prison wall and escape — all were but too distinctly heard and felt. Spell-bound we stood, and, with enraptured awe, silently awaited the result of this terrible confusion. Spasm succeeded spasm ; the agitated flood boiled up to the surface of the crater, and with a deafening report the immense body of water was hurled into the air over a hundred feet. Like some gigantic fountain impelled by an engine power that could have revolved a world, the boiling jet continued to play for several minutes. Surrounding this majestic liquid dome is a circle of smaller jets issuing from the same iplay of its St hank an c afternoon The column shot up at ascend that irectly back no mound 'e witnessed vecn us and spray there lending the d not other- rds from the ' twenty-five ntervals, and rn the water tranquillity. ny depths a M steam and underground s below were if waves, the -ail crust, the by the pur- ion wall and Spell-bound the result of the agitated 1 a deafening > the air over pelled by an »e boiling jet this majestic )m the same THR PAN AND Thti GRAND OH YSERS. 1257 crater, but from lesser apertures below, giving the main column the appearance of a fountain within a tuuntain. Playing hither and thither in the mellow sunlit mist, miniature rainbowH were seen, and the air glistened with the falling wutcr-bcails as if a shower of diamonds were being poured from the goUlon gates of the Eternal City. " Suddenly, just below us on the opposite bank of the river, a vast column of steam burst forth and ascended several hundred feet. On the qui vive for new wonders, we hurried over a slight knoll in that direction, and arrived just in time to witness the I'^an (Jeyser getting up steam for an eruption. It requires more in- side machinery to operate this geyser than any of the others. In fact, it is a massive natural engine, 35 by 100 feet, with two small valves, two escape pipes, and at the extreme upper end a large smoke-stack — five separate and distinct craters. When we ar- rived, we could hear a sound as of cord-wood being thrown into a mammoth furnace. This continued several seconds, ceased, -and was followed by great quantities of steam from the smoke- stack ; then the two valves opened, shooting out swift, hissing jets of steam. The next moment there would be an unearthly roar from the double craters ; both would fill, and ''rom each aper- ture a column of water two feet in diameter shot upward over eighty feet, one ascending nearly vertical, and the other at an angle of about forty-five degrees, thus forming the * fan.' The eruption would continue from two to four minutes, then the flow cease for eight or ten seconds, and then the entire movement would be repeated. These repetitions continued for about twenty-five minutes, then ceased altogether. It requires no great flight of fancy to see in this marvellous natural mechanism a vast engine running under the guidance of a ghostly engineer, and being 'stoked' from Pluto's wood-pile by a thousand goblin firemen." Near the middle of the Upper Geyser basin is the "Grand Geyser," the most remarkable in many respects in the world. Lieutenant Doane, U. S, A., who spent several days in its imme- diate vicinity in 1877, thus describes it: "Opposite camp, on the other side of Fire Hole river, is a high ledge of stalagmite, ': I 13^8 Ol'Jf WKSI/iitfi/ KMPfffF. sloping from the base of the mountain down to the river. Nu meroiDi Hnuill knolls are scaltered over itn nurfacr, the (raters of boiling sprinj^H, from fifteen to twenty-five feet in (hamcter; some of these throw water to tlie h.:-Ti- i3 OlM U'ltSriMS MittrntM, to thr bratity of thrtr va«t and rxqiimtiily Kriilptitrc'il and j«'W- drtl ctipx tillfrd to thr hrint with Htaldin^r water, yvi no rntran* cin){ly hcaiitifiil that yon cannot rv%\>,i thr tcmpu'ion to thruMt in your hand and phick the Milvcr llowors and ^'athcr the >;l ughly explored, unknown, shall the northwest become better ajid tourists to le most remark- 1 comparativefy : wonderful vol- he hot springs • escape pipes — internal forces, e beautiful than ACCESS TO THE PARK. IJ63 humcn art ever conceived, and which have required thousands of years for the cunning hand of Nature to form." "It is prob- able," he remarks elsewhere, " that during the Pliocene period, the entire country, drained by the sources of the Yellowstone and the Colorado, was the scene of volcanic activity as great as that of any portion of the globe. It might be called one vast crater, made up of a thousand smaller volcanic vents and fissures, out of which the fluid interior of the earth, fragments of rock and volcanic dus^ were poured in unlimited quantities. Hundreds of the nuclei or cones of these vents are now remaining, some of them rising tea height of 10,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea." Up to the present time the access to the Park has been only by long and difficult journeys, involving too great fatigue for any but the most robust, and almost entirely excluding, by its very wearisomeness, the visits of the gentler sex. Moreover, tlie necessary absence of any considerable hotel accommodations, 01 other provisions for a stay of at least ten or twelve days in the Park, and the frequent presence of hostile bands of Indians within it, have prevented any very large influx of visitors to it. These difficulties are now almost wholly obviated. The Utah and Northern Railway is within fifty miles of Yellowstone lake, and swift coaches over good wagon roads traverse the remainder of the way. Before the opening cf the next season (the season is from the middle of August to the middle of October), the Northern Pacific Railway will be running through trains from Chicago and St. Paul to Fort Ellis, and not impossibly to the Park itself. The hardships of the journey will all be gone, and the time of reaching there will be reduced to about flight days, and the expense to one-half what it is at present. The Indians have gone for good, and the era of fast coaches, good hotels, restaurants and bathing-houses is coming on. The impression that there is little of interest in the Park except the phenomena we have described should be carefully and for- ever dispelled from the minds of the public. "Few, I suppose," says Mr. William I. Marshall, "would care to live long among spouting geysers and boiling springs, or even upon the banks of 5?^-S«3s^ 126^ OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. the brilliantly colored Grand Caflon of the Yellowstone; but these cover only a small part, probably not more than two or three per cent., of the surface of the Park, which embraces 3,578 square miles, or 2,298,920 acres, an area almost one-half as larj^e as the State of Massachusetts, and, of course, extensive enough to contain an immense variety of scenery. There are scores of miles of beautiful valleys traversed by rivers of the purest water, swarming with trout, grayling and whitefish, and furnishing the finest hunting-grounds for ducks, geese, swans, and other water- fowl. These valleys are generally covered with fine grass, on which numerous antelopes pasture, while the greater part of the mountains which bound them is covered with the forests (inter- spersed with those great grassy slopes which are so marked a feature of the timbered areas of the Rocky Mountains) in which those fond of rifle-shooting can find elk and black-tailed deer and white-tailed deer and mountain sheep, and occasionally a band of mountain buffalo and other large game. There are countless quiet nooks where one can camp under the fragrant pines, besides green meadows gemmed with lovely wild flowers and watered by bubbling brooks, across which the beaver still builds his cun- ning dam, and beneath whose banks and in whose deep pools the dainty litde speckled brook-trout watches for his prey. Not only are there scores of grand mountains lifting their craggy sides and rugged summits (few of which have ever felt the tread of civilized man) far up among the clouds, but innumerable sunny glades and shady dells, charming bits of quiet, picturesque scenery, where one will see nothing of the striking, but only the gendy beau- tiful. '••;- •"/ ' ;■ ■ ■-■■■■;. ■■ - ', ■;"- " I pi^esiinie tile h^2[d-<[uilrtei'§-f6»' toUriSts, When the Park shall be made a little more accessible, will be established on the shores of the lovely Yellowstone lake, which, lying at an altitude of 7,778 feet above the sea, or 1,500 higher than the surtimit of Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, covers 300 square miles With cool, clear water, which in places is 300 feet deep, and rolls its waves, of as deep a blufc as tKe open sea, on 300 miles of shore line now of loveliest beauty, and now of wildest grandeur. With its opportunities for rowing and sailing and fishing and hunting, YELLOWSTONE PARK FOR A SUMMER HOME. ia6$ [owstone; but than two or braces 3,578 ■half as larjre tnsive enough are scores of purest water, turnishing the other water- ine grass, on er part of the forests (inter- so marked a ains) in which liled deer and onally a band are counrless pines, besides i and watered uilds his cun- leep pools the ey. Not only iggy sides and :ad of civilized ny glades and :enery, where gently beau- M l^'l. .^ he Park shall on the shores itude of 7,778 hit of Mount re miles with and rolls its liles of shore ideur. With and hunting, with the grandest of mountains bordering it and the purest of air ever sweeping over it, and with the inducements to open-air life offered by its surroundings, it is surely destined to become a most delightful summer resort for those who love nature, and who, when they wish to see her strangest and most wonderful phases, can sail or ride in a few hours to the ^pouting gevs^rs, the boil- ing springs, the stifling solfataras, the roaring mud volcanoes, the lofty cataracts, and the gorgeous CaAon of the Yellowstone ; and when they would enjoy her quieter and more subdued aspects can find them on eveiy hand in endless profusion. Those who travel to see the triumphs of industry and the treasures of art, to behold the ruins of an ancient era or splendor of modern cities; those who wish to revive historical associations, or to survey the beauty of the earth as affected by human effort, and connected with human life, will, of course, go to the old world ; but there are many, and the number seems to be constantly increasing, who, for a longer or shorter time, love yearly to leave behind them the bustle of towns and the roar of cities, the vexations of business and the conventionalities of society, and live face to face with na- ture, resting in her solitudes or communing with her ceaseless health-giving activities, and to these the endless features of the Park will offer Yfined attractions and constant charms.". , , •Tiijni.'f ii »; /v Ml' »■' fiir • '.'i.' hio-'.. . u. )*i ,^ •■.., ni'I (tj ..r lyf -''ll ■■: >'i tJ.:.,:'.) uu.A !■ m: i.iTij.'r. t^i i.nA !, (iih'>jiii>; J. j-v I'p , 'ii(;,",i I -jil? ;•. J^.■^^ *);ij riv :' -..en ., ■] }'. ; • ,,■ • «/'>fl fl<.. hits. .-••flT^.if. I til ..<'lj «»» J:;.,., ii;;j. •':..l ,.. ;, ;|, .;(:,. .'•■uh./ /•Aiiur < y<' '•>;*. Xii;.':r>' (lu: Ut "ii- .<:(j')f ,i(> -i /;, . 1 r.^^ •t^^iii} I" 'iiy.''t]\- -u': {Un^M in rn'jr nii<\y\ 11 i- vif* m.'yl •,■■: lii)^'>v.ii..; MT)n' Jiiif iKii.'f,' i; ,rfiir>ii-; ihf.' ) .(i; :ii ' i t"»hij.tij»il iy_/-, i;|(rr>N (.vf.vi'/ to ,'.->^i[.>infi-.i f. i.i",;,; 1 ■! Ii-ff'! ;• >■ tur, .•>;.'{ .ni) ,. robufijii! wof .',i^ jUup III •.♦5„ dio<.{ .'{^^u'-hIi ,f;:jff: vi) :i':'i);;i;-itn :? ■ • ■"^5fsr^ , tAa^^arew£.-^::si.t£La,ausKM>^>.iJ:ii^:Jii::^-U:.^.*A'.- 1266 III I , I OUM WESThRN EMPUiE, i •' 1 r 111 I I., , ;■ ', I CHAPTER XXIII. i' 1,11, ALASKA, I'.ii I III , I , .' RiLATioM Of Alaska to Ouh Wutbkn Empikk— Anothck Kamschatka— Absurdity or the Stories told op m Present or Prospective Produc« TivENEss — Its Furs, Fisheries, and Timber, somewhat valuable— Pbcu* LIAR Form or the Territory — The Bull's Head with i-wo long Horns — Its three Divisions, Sitka, Yukon, and the Islands— Area— Populatioh — Topography — Mountains — Rivers — The Limits and Area or each Di- vision—Geology — Volcanoes and Glaciers — Mineralogy— Coal — Me- tals — Minerals — Gold and Silver — Recent Discx)veries — Zo5logy — The Divisions in detail — The Sitkan Division — Its Fur Trade, Fisheries, AND Timber — Its Agricultural Productions confined to a few Veoeta* BLE6— s. The Yukon District of little Value, except for its Fur Trade, Whale and other Fisheries on the Coast — 3. The Island District — Some Arable Land on the larger Islands, and a possibility Or ru- TURE Dairy-farms tHerb, though at Too grbAt Cost rOR muck Pro<^ii^ THt Capture of the Fur Seal on the Pribvlopp Islands the principal Industry, though Fisheries may Increase — Detailed Account or thr Fisheries — The Population, Nationalities, and Character — The Na- tives — KoLOSHiAN Tribes — Kenaian Tribes — The Aleuts — ^The Eskimo — Principal Towns and Villages — Meteorology op Fort St. Michael's and Unalashka — Objects or Imititar to the Tourist^Historical Notes-^ Can it be Commended to Immigrants? Alaska, the unorganized Northwestern Territory of the United States, bears about the same relation to "Our Western Empire" that Eastern Siberia and Kamschatka do to the Russian Em- pire ; it is remote from the rest of the Empire, of vast territorial extent, but desolate and cold to the last degree, and can never become very populous, or of any remarkable economic value, until the plane of the ecliptic changes, and what is now an Arctic climate becomes torrid, or at least temperate. We know very well what is said about the ameliorating effect of the Kuro-Siwo or Japan current upon the climate of thdSe high latitudes ; but the Gulf stream, a similar but more powerful current, has not rendered Iceland a paradise, or Novaya Zemla a fit habitation for men, though both are in quite as low latitudes ■ TA t I* t^fTlTl^^iiJiMVrTl iM 1, »» l.ii^ii "Tr^^TlT^^^^^H*^^!*!^^"^!*!""""!* :r Kamschatka — IPECTIVB PKODUC* VALUABLB— PBCV* O LONG HORN»— »A — Population |Arca op each Di« OGY— Coal— Mk » — ZodLOGY — Tm e tuDE, Fisheries, O A FEW VSOETA* ;EPr FOR ITS Fur IE Island District POSSIBILITY Op PU- or much propit— ^ [ds the principal Account op the RACTER— The Na- ps—The Eskimo— St. Michael's and isTORicAL Norss^ ■y of the United istern Empire" e Russian Em- vast territorial and can never conomic value, now an Arctic sliorating eflTect imate of thdSe more powerful Novaya Zemla IS low latitudes 1 * isjffcSr''" V if-' ALASKA NOT A PAKAD/SM. ] .167 as most of Alaska. We hope for some return of the national outlay from the fisheries, the fur trade, and the timber of Alaska. The precious metals may be found there — probably they will ; and it may be possible on some favored spots to raise oats and barley, though not, to any extent, wheat or corn ; but in a climate which is " nine months winter and the other three months late m the finll " how can either mining or agriculture be expected to pros- per? As to the absurd prediction, that within a few years it will become the principal region of our country for dairy products, it is sufficient to say that Mr. Walker Blaine, son of the Senator, after a careful exploration of Alaska in the spring and summer oi 1880, wrote to the New York Tribune on the 20th of June, 1 880, that there was not a single cow in the whole of Alaska. Even the ice, which is always abundant, does not prove profitable as an article of export, the manufacture of ice by machinery hav- ing been so far perfected that it can be produced in San Fran- cisco as cheaply as it can be imported from Alaska. No ice is now exported from the Territory. [ - That we may do no injustice to this great northwestern land, let us proceed to say what can justly be said in its favor. Alaska is not, as is supposed by those who have given but little attention to the subject, a vast compact tract of territory. It has been not inapdy compared to the head and horns of a Texas bull-— Yukon district forming the massive head, the Sitkan shore and archipelago forming one horn, and the Aliaskan penin- sula and the Aleutian Islands the other. The tips of the two horns are 60** of longitude or 3,000 miles apart ; and from the southernmost of the islands of the Aleutian group to Point Bar- row in the Anctic ocean, the northernmost point of Yukon is a' little mors than icf* of latitude, or about 1,400 miles. The area, according to the last report of the Land Office, is 577,- 390 square miles,- or 369,529,660 acres. The shore lines around the islands and peninsulas are roughly estimated at 25,000 miles, lor the Entire circumference of the globe. The entire population , of this Territory at the time of Its acquisition from Russia was said to be about 29,000, of which 26,800 were said to be Indians and the remainder Caucasians and Creoles. It has not materially increased since. 1 ii;:a ^ii^ik'SX^i^-::^- ♦*\.l« 1368 OUR WESTERN EMPIKB. Topography — Afounlains. — Th<; Alaskan range, which seems to be a coml)ination uf the Coast, Cascaclc and Rocky Mountain Chains, passes northwestward through Uritinh Columbia a little east of the Sitkan Division of Alaska, enters the Yukon Division between the sixtieth and sixty-second parallels, and keeping a course parallel with and at a little distance from the left bank of the Yukon river, extends north nearly as far as I'^ort Yukon in latitude 66°, turns sharply south and forming the backbone of the Aliaskan peninsula and the Aleutian islands, each of which is a peak and generally a volcanic peak of the range, till finally its summits are all sunk in the deepest part of the northern Pacific ocean. This range has the loftiest peaks in North America outside of Mexico. Among the.se are Mount St. Klias, 19,500 feet in height; Mount Cook, 16,000 feet; Mount Crillon, 15,900; Mount Fairweather, 15,500; while of the partially submerged volcanic peaks, Shcshaldin is 9,000 feet above the water ; Una- lashka, 5,691 feet; Atka» 4,853 feet; Kyska, 3,700 feet; while poor Attu, the westernmost of the group, can only lift its head 3,084 feet above the deep valley of the Pacific. ,,,, , •, .,,( 7/ j* In addition to the Alaskan range, there are several other mountain ranges of less elevation : among them are tlie Shakto- lik and Ulukuk Hills, near Norton's sound ; the Yukon and Ro- manzoff Hills, north of the Yukon river ; the Kayiuh and Nowika- kat mountains east and south of the river, and a low range of hills bordering on the Arctic coast nin. •<-» " <.! ».('»•»» i. '.. '^ ' Rivers. — ^The great river of the Territory is the Yukon, whose sources are in the Chippewayan and Alaskan range, in British America. It is more ths^n 2,000 miles in length, and is oavig9.ble, when not frozen over, for i ,500 miles. The delta across its five mouths is seventy miles wide, and the river itself is from one to (five miles wide for the first 1,000 miles of its course. One of its largest tributaries, the Porpupine river, has most of its course above the Arctic circle. The Tanana.h> J50 miles m lertgth, and the Nowikakat, 112 miles, are also tributaries of the Yukon. The Inland river, which 6ows ii>tOiKotzebue sound, artd the Col- ville, which discharges its watsrs into the Arctic ocean, are the only other rivers north of the Yukon, South of it are .the Konst . . ..lilt". i> >-i*.->' jnt hich seems to ky Mounuin mbia a little kon division nd keeping a left bank of on Yukon in kbone of the of which is a till finally its •rthern Pacific ortb America Klias, 19,500 •illon, 15,900; y submerged water; Una- et; while poor (9 head 3,084 several other e tJie Shakto- ukon and Ro- and Nowika* low range of iTukon, whose ige, in British 1 is navigable, across its five i from one to . One of its of its course o length, and the Yukon, and the Col- cean, are the te the Kons* TOrOUKAPHY OF ALASKA. x^ koquim, about 600 miles in length, the Nushagak, the Sushitna, the Aina or Copper river, and in the Sitkan division the Chilr.it, the Takou and the Stickine. The last is about 350 miles in ItMigth. It is divided by natural lines into three ^rand divisions, varying e.ich from thq other in natural charnctfristics and value: 1. The Sitkan Division, triangular in shape with the latitudinal line of 54" 40' north for the southern boundary, and the longitu- dinal line of 141° west for the western, and on the north and cast following the summits of the Coast Range of mountains between these points, with a proviso that this strip of shore shall never exceed ten marine league in width. 2. The Yukon Division, consisting of all the continent west of 141** as far north as the Frozen Ocean. 3. The islands not included in the Sitkan Division, comprising all the important islands of the Pacific Ocean north of 54" 40^, from Alaska to Kamschatka, known generally as the Aleutian islands, and also the Aliaskan peninsula and the Kodiak or Ka- diak Islands, east of that peninsula, and the PribylofT group, which are remarkable for the vast numbers of the fur>seal caught there. t .i- . - • •■• ■ ^ .,..<. ... In the first or Sitkan Division, there were in 1867 about 800 natives and some 800 whites and Creoles ; in the Yukon, 8,000 natives, and 100 whites and Creoles; and in the remainder of Alaska, the Island Districts, 1 7,300 natives and i ,300 whites and Creoles. This meagre population is grouped entirely around the sea- board and large rivers. A glance at the best map will <- u;o Ol/K tf/i^/AMA AMr/KM. forest and undergrowth. The growth of stunted treen all along the shores of tite islands and main land of the Sitkan Division xh HO Uiick as to bo almost impenetrable. There is bne instance, at least, of a man's having given an entire day to the work of pcne- trating inland, and at the end of his labor finding himself less than a mile from the shore. Gtoiogy.'—'V\m greater part of this vast Territory has under- gone changes from volcanic eruptions which have coniplcK.'ly altered the character of itn rocks. This is particularly the ranc in the Sitkan and Aleutian Divisions, in which there are sixty-onir volcanoes which have been active within 1 50 years. The violence of the volcanic action seems to be decreasing, and of these sixty •* one only ten are now in a condition of active and constant erup- tion. There are also very many extinct volcanoes in the Sitkan Division, and several are known in Yukon. The immense shore line and the mountain slopes are crowded with glaciers; some of these are the most stupendous in the world. One of these is described as fifty miles in length, and terminating on the sea-coast in a perpendicular ice-wall 300 feet high and eight miles broad; another, thirty-five miles above Wrangell, on the Stickine river, is said to be forty miles long at the base, four or five miles across, and variously estimated at from 500 to i,CKX> feet in thickness. Mineral Wealth. — Alaska is known to possess coal beds oi good quality and of great extent. Most of the coal beds are in the tertiary, and are properly lignite, though of the best quality. That in the Sitkan District has been so far changed by volcanic action th§t it is in some places a semi-pnthracite. Petroleum is said to have been found of excellent quality and nearly odorless near the Bay of Katmai and on Copper river. Copper, native, or very rich copper ores, have been found on Copper river, at Kasa-an bay, at Whale bay, below Sitka, and in Kadiak Island. , i n '> ..,.,,.(,; tH.jrrtir, A -ni.i 'urm-r.y u -i '■■■ Iron exists all over the Territory, arid graphfte in several places. There is bismuth of fine quality on Vostovia Mountain, and gypsum, kaolin, marble, and the more common of the pre- cious stones, agate, carnelian, auiethyst, etc., are sufiiciently plentiful. €Ot.DMt/fiffa. II7I trerft all alonf^ an Divinion In |nv inHUincc.at workofpene- himscif IcMk f (t; ►ry haft umlrr- Ivc coniplfK'l) ilarly th« rase are sixty-oiu: The violence of theie sixty-- constant eriip- in the Sitkan (s are crowded endoiis in the in length, and e-wall 300 feet miles above y miles long at y estimated at 9 coal beds of oal beds are in e best quality, ed by volcanic Petroleum is leariy odorless >een found on i Sitka, and in lite in several via Mountain, >n of the pre- • 'e sufficiently ' Gold undoubtedly exinta in the Terntor>', and probably at sev- eral points. In the Sitkan Dintrict there are several mines which have been worked to some extent on UaranofT (or .Sitka) Island; two or three formerly worked on the streams fallin(7 into Ste- phen's passage, about seventy-five miles north of Fort Wrangell. at the mouth of the Stickine river. Mr. Walker Hlainr says: " The gold mines of the Stickine river are all located in British Columbia, and as the stores from which the most of the miners' supplir:s are furnished are upon the river, the business is diverted to the British possessions. Very many miners, however, winter at Wrangell, and freight bound to points on the Stickine river is nt this place transferred to the smaU river steamers. Some ^cid claims have been located near Sitka, and specimens of ore sent to the assay office at Victoria have been found to contain a fair quantity of the precious metal. A quartz mill was erected during 1878, and it was intended to develop one of the mines, but the unpleasant weather and short days of winter will render it ex- tremely difficult to carry on operations during more than six months of the year. No sufficient amount of capital has as yet been invested, nor have the mines been sufficienUy worked to determine the mineral wealth of the Territory. Many who have given the subject great attention are fully convinced that valuable deposits of the precious metals exist. Mr. Francis, now and for many years past our Consul at Victoria, is sanguine in the belief that considerable quantities of gold will yet be mined, and his son, who was until recently the Deputy Collector at Sitka, speaks in still more confident terms of the value of the ore beds." As we write a report comes from Sitka, dated December 33, 188O1 saying that about two months previous a report was cir- cubted that gold had been discovered at Tahon, an Indian set- tlement on the river of the same name, about 1 50 miles north of Sitka, and near the border of British Columbia. Further reports only increased the excitement, and when specimens of the ore were brought to Sitka, which yielded ^aoo of pure gold to joo pounds of ore, the excitement became so intense that the people began to migrate thither in such numbers that the town was almost depopulated. It remains to be seen whether these mines ■1 h« ««r» 01 M WKSTMMS KJHrtMK. prove at rich M thf7 %i*fn\ to pronti««*. If thry do, thry will \m prftfitahle, nlthough thry rnnnot \\r worlc^l morr than four or fiv« monthH in the year. The Ataiikan Mountains cwv/r: Kouthwentwarl in the Hi itrict of Yukon, and extend aton^; the Alla Zodio/ry. — The animaU of Alaska lylong rather to the fauna of the Arctic than the Temperate Zone. The munk ox in found in Yukon District, and the reindeer, though of a diffrrrnt sperien from the F.uropran. The polar bear frefujrnta the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and sometimen venture* as far south as KotJjebue sound. The elk and moose are seen, though rarely ; the Kocky Mountain goat and sheep (the bighorn), several species of fox, the mink, beaver, marten, lynx, otter, sea-otter, black brar, wol- verine, whistler, ermine, marmot, skunk, muskrat and wolf. Of amphibia, the seal, sea-otter, whale, porpoise, narwhal, etc., are abundant. Its birds ate largely game birds, the ptarmigan, grouse, wild geese, teal, ducks, brant, etc., at certain seasons, and eagles, fishhawks, gulls, the great owl, etc., etc. Of the fish we speak elsewhere, f- ''• .i-H.ti.i / u ;,. ■ ..,, ; .m ,r. ■■ ,f.;M, Let us now take up the divisions In detail, and endeavor to ascertain what each can produce with profit. And, first, of the Sitkan Division. — "Here," says Mr. Blaine, "no grass has been grbwn, and the small gardens at Sitka and Wrangell pro- duce only a few of the hardiest vegetables. So grrat is the moisture that hay cannot readily be cured, wheat ripened, nor potatoes raised. Even cal^ges will not head. Whlio our troops were in the Territory, a few cattle were with great riifificulty kept in the District, but there is not at pre.sent a cow in '.he whole military Division of Alaska. Beef is a luxury most highly prized, the only meat being an occasional haunch of venison, and, in th^ proper season, small game. The mountains as a rule descend abruptly to the sea, apd the small patches of level land are few INK Sit KAN PIVtStOS OP Al.AXh'A. \m thry win b« In four or five Inithwrmwanl can prninNulA thr connoli. rPheur motin- )th jfoKI anil larr vrry rirh. Iwill bOHseH«« n great abun- dance of nu)st valuable xhiptimber. The wood, known an yellow cetlar, and sometimes called camphor-wooti, which is the most durable of all wotuis for [uirposrs of ship biiilding. is found in large ([uantities, ami the .Sitka spruce, inferior to this, but of very great value, is most plentiful. Logs of eithrrof tlusr woods can be easily procureil at very small expense. I.titnlwr has been sawed at n total cost of three dollars per thousand, which would easily commaml from twelve to fifteen dollars in .San I'rancisco. There has been for some lime a small saw mill in .Sitka, and nnother has recently been built in Klahwoch, but only trilling tpiantities of lumber have as yet been sawed at either place. The vast tracts of timber land in Oregon, Washington Territory tnd Northern California will, for many years, sui)ply the murkct of the Pacific coast. "The fur trade of the .Sitkan Division is at present the most im|)ortant interest. The small amount of business now trans- acted at Sitka is entirely dependent upon the exchange of com- modities for furs and peltries. For the past few years there has not been a sufficient demand for furs to make high prices or large gains. Fashion has frowned, at the dictation, perhaps, of the hard times, and competition among traders has assisted in reducing the profits. All the merchants profess to have lost money, and it is the general opinion that none have made any. The fur-seal is not found in the waters adjacent to Sitka, but large quantities of other valuable furs are brought to this place and to Wrangell by the Indians and accumulated by traders. Fur-trading is in its very nature little suited to the permanent prosperity of a country. It demands the frontier and the wilder- ness as the seat of operations, and is perforce killed, as a country is settled and its resources developed. It is the enemy of civili- zation, and the more profitable it is, the sooner docs it come to ') I 1274 OUR n^ESTER// XAfP/Jfg. an end. Year by year, as the circle of population widens, the trippers are driven farther to the north. Astoria, for years the centre of the trade, long ago yielded its supremacy, and to-day no furs are sold in that market at first hand. A large part of the world's supply must henceforth come from Alaska. She has no rival on this continent, and in the mosi important branches no formidable competitor on the globe. "The fisheries of the Sitkan waters will perhaps ultimately prove the most valuable resource. They have, however, until ^'try recently been of but litde practi(.al value. A few barrels of salted fish have been annually exported, and the inhabitants have to a large extent sustained life on the products of the sea. Within the past two years two salmon canneries have been built, and quite a large amount of money invested in this enterprise, but lack of information does not permit me to say whether the venture has proved successful. „( , •, . , ^. i .,u, "It was said in support of the Alaskan purchase that all the ice of the Pacific coast was imported from that Territory ; but the value of the export was never in a single year more than $30,000, and the successful introduction of machinery for the production of ice artificially has caused the business to rapidly decline and disappear. No ice is now exported from any portion of thie Territory." .r. ,, .;. ;...:.,,;,.(,,> ..^ 1, ^ 2. The Yukon District. — Of this region the massive head of the bull, whose left horn, the Sitkan Division, we have just been considering, it has been the fashion with some writers to speak in the most glowing terms. It was " the garden of Alaska." Here wheat and all the other cereals except corn, and all the tubers and vegetables required in the market gardens or the markets of the Pacific coast, could be raised in the greatest profusion. In the hot, short summer, everything, it was said, grew so rapidly that a vast population could be sustained here. The later commis- sioners and explorers do not corroborate these glowing accounts. "The second division, called the Yukon." says Mr. Walker Blaine, " has been less explored than either of the others. There were formerly a few Russian posts in the Territory, but these have now been abandoned. At Cook's Inlet, at the mouth of the Sutchiuo |on widens, the for years the ley. and to-day |rge part of the She has no It branches no laps ultimately however, until few barrels of ihabitants have ts of the sea. ave been built, his enterprise, y whether the that all the ice •itory; but the ; than $30,000, the production lly decline and portion of the issive head of lave just been ers to speak in Llaska." Here the tubers and markets of the fusion. In the » rapidly that a later commis- iving accounts. iValker Blaine, There were liese have now f the Sutchi.io THh VUKON DISTKJCT OF ALASKA. ij^J river, and at many points on the Yukon river, sufficient grass is found to afford the best of fodder for catde, and wild berries and smaller fruits flourish in abundance. The range of the thermom- eter at a distance from the sea-coast is far greater than in Sitka, or near the sea-line, and the summers are so warm as to produce the most luxuriant vegetation. On the Yukon river the sun has been known in the month of July to burst a spirit thermometer, graduated up to i3o°, and the winters are Arctic in severity. There is no trouble in curing hay at these points, and there is said to be good grazing land for cattle. It will of course be ne- cessary to shelter the herds during more than half of the year, and fattening for market will not therefore be profitable. Fruit- trees will not flourish, and while some experiments have been made with barley and oats, which are said to have been satisfac- tory, not a grain of wheat has ever been brought to maturity. South of the Alaskan Range, save at Cook's Inlet and on the peninsulas, there is no good land, and north of the mountains only persistent and careful cultivation will enable the farmers to reap satisfactory results. The only evidence which we have as to the land is from experiments made by the Russians and the scientific officers of the Western Union Telegraph Company. They are both Very unsatisfactory, especially those of the former, as they were intrusted to Indians, who, being utterly ignorant of agriculture and catUe-breeding, conducted them most unskilfully. I'here are also said to be valuable coal-beds, but as no examina- tion was ever made by competent geologists, this cannot be safely affirmed. Undoubtedly there is conside«-able free copper in the district, as the natives formerly employed this metal in the manufacture of wagons and domestic articles, but its location is at present unknown. Fur animals abound, especially those liv ing upon the land. Fort St. Michael was formerly one of the chief trading posts of the Russians, and many of the fox and beaver skins now sent from the north Pacific are trapped upon the Yukon. Good timber is also foifhd in many portions of the division, but it is not so accessible nor so valuable for ship- building as tliat about Sitka. Fish of all kinds, especially cod and halibut, are very abundant at Cook's Inlet and along the entire coast. ■■,'•(;;■■; •■;•.:) ■-ag"a!i!E-^ t' -l' a> :- ; - '!^'^0: ?!ra:>~ 1276 OUX WESTERN EMPIRE. 3. Tht Island Dislrtct^ which includes the Aiiaskan peninsula, the large island of Kadiak and the group of islands which surround it, the Aleutian Archipelago, comprising the three groups of the Fox, the Andreanowsky, and the Ulijnie or Rat Islands, the whole constituting the right horn of the bull ; and with these the Priby- loff group (the home of the fur seal), Nounivak, Lawrence, and the St. Matthew group, come next in review. " These islands," says Mr. Blaine, "are the most valuable portion of our Russian purchase. The island of Kadiak and others of the Aleutian group contain very good arable land. The catde distributed hy the Russian Commercial Company succeeded here far better than in any other part of the Territory. There is good pasture land, and hay can be made with greater case than at the mouth of the Columbia river. There is also an encouraging report that a good variety of potatoes can be grown, although ' the tubers are said to be small.' There is not much timber of good quality upon these islands, but the fisheries are of very great value. The Aleuts, who are the chief native race, are by nature the most honest people in the world. On the islands where there are no forests, driftwood furnishes the principal supply of fuel, and it is said that the unwritten law with reference to the rights of property is so strong that, should an Indian discover a log of wood which it is not then convenient for him to carry away, he may, by carrying it above high-water mark and placing it at right angles to the line of the beach, leave it with full assurance that it will not be disturbed until his convenience warrants the removaL »it , !vU.TjL»i>^uo'.» .1 t itodu vi iti.-' ♦'The chief sources of our revenue from Alaska are in what is known as the Pribyloff Islands. St. Paul and St. George, two of the group, now furnish almost all of the sealskins used in the workl. These islands abound with seal, and being the property of the United States, are leased by the government to the Alaska Fur Company. The number of seals killed each year is limited by law to locsooo, and for these a royalty of two dollars each is paid. If the law restricting the number of seals annually killed is strictly enforced, this industry will for many years furnish the chief part of the revenue from Alaska, and constitute the most valuable product of the Territory." Tl FtSHKK/BS OF ALASKA. 1277 an peninsula, lich surround groups of the nds, the whole ese the Priby- -awrence, and lese islands," our Russian Aleutian group ibuted by the better than pasture land, ! mouth of the report that a the tubers are good quality y great value. )y nature the Is where there supply of fuel, e to the rights cover a log of :arry away, he placing it at full assurance 2 warrants the are in what is ieorge, two of ns used in the * the property to the Alaska ^ear is limited ) dollars each innually killed irs furnish the tute the most A correspondent of the Portland Oregonian, writing from Siika m the summer of 1880, gives the following account of the fish- eries: "Alaska is destined to supply the world with Hsh. Its waters abound in halibut, herring, cod, and salmon; indeed there is hardly a species of which representatives cannot be found. While those above named exist here in endless profusion, flounders, black bass, rock-cod, trout, and the delicious eulocous, with other varieties, appear in vast schools, supplying the natives with abundant food at all seasons of the year. "At Klowak, sixty miles from Fort Wrangell, the North Pacific trading and packing company have a large fishery in operation, where during the present year especial attention has been paid to herring. The catch this spring was very successful, the fish being in prime condition, and not only larger in size but of better flavor than ever before sent to market. 1 70 barrels were sent to Pordand for the purpose of introducing the fish to dealers, and if desired ten times that amount could have been secured. " Five miles from the town of Sitka the firm of Cutting & Co. have a large cannery erected wher^ thousands of salmon are put up ever)' year to meet the demand made for Alaska salmon from the Eastern markets. While the salmon from these waters have not the gustable richness, and lack the savory flavor of Columbia river salmon, there are many that prefer the Alaskan species, particularly in the Eastern States and foreign countries. This may be, perhaps, accounted for, in part, for the reason that Columbia river salmon labels find dieir way on thousands of cans of wha>t is purported to be the genuine article, while in fact their contents are dog-fish. The establishment of Messrs. Cutting & Co. is complete in every detail, and is under the superintendency of Mr. A. Hunter. A large number of white r.ien and Indians find steady employment at the cannery during^ the summer, and it is remarkable to witness the proficiency attained by some of the Indian boys in making cans. Some idea of the extensive business of this estaUishment may be had by the shipments made, ahd this year the superintendent will send 40,000 cases of fish to San Feancisoo knd the Eastern markets. •'' ' r- "^ » !'> '*' ii' i •'^^i^&i?*ii^«S.^US>4)' M-.'-'^-^^ 12^8 OUX WESTEJty EMPJXE. "The catching of cod-fish in Alaskan waters is becomings yearly a more prosperous pursuit, and this season Mr. James Haley, of Fort Wrangell, secured a schooner-load of cod at the Knout-Znu bank, in Chatham straits. He found the bank swarming with fish, but the Indians of that locality, the Knout-znous, are ' hiyu sullux,' over the coming of white men in their waters, refusing to allow the men to fish, performing that work themselves and charging one cent for each and every fish caught. In this way a full load was secured, which is now in process of curation at Wrangell. A ready market for the fish is found at home for supplying the mining camps, the entire cargo being readily dis- posed of at $ioo a ton, delivered at Wrangell. The Alaska cod, when once fairly introduced to Oregon and California mar* kets, will rapidly become a favorite with all lovers of that fish, and in time supplant the eastern>caught fish." Fop^itUimty its NationaliHts mnd Character.' — ^We have already stated the probable number of the population, though as no cen- sus has been taken, it is impossible to fix it accurately. Of the 2,2cx> whites and Creoles reported in 1867 nearly one-half were half-breeds with Indian mothers. The number of whites and Creoles has increased, perhaps, 500 since that time ; but the in- crease has been almost wholly in . the half-breeds. The native tribes were divided by General Halleck's report of 1869 into four groups — I. The Kolothian tribes, which occupy the Sitkan Divi- «on, and extend Us far as the Atna or Copper river. These tribes, which have been yarioudy estimated at from 800 to 1 5,000 (the latter estimate, however, including the coast Indians of Northwestern British Columbia), arc those with which our people have been brought tnost in contact. They are^ Ttke the other Indian tribes of this coast, of the Athabascan family, and origi<' naUy probably of Mongolian or Northern Tartar stbck. They are as a rule more intelligent iand possesstmore mechanical skill than the Dakota or Sioux fjaunily,ilMit are more superstitious and idolatrous, and quite as low morally as any of the Indian tribes. Some of these' tribes have been hosifle to the whites, and have; murdered the crews of vessels, but they are now generally peaceful, except when th^ are intoxicated. They distil a fiery >ecoininj^ yearly ames Haley, of : the Knout-Znu swarming with nous, are ' hlyu Iters, refusing to themselves and ht. In this way of cu ration at nd at home for ting readily dis- 1. The Alaska California mar- ers of that fish, Ve have already ough as no cen- irately. Of the ly one^half were r of whites and me ; but the in- !ds. The native )f 1869 into four he Sitkan Divi- if river. These m 800 to 1 5,000 oast Indians of irhich our people , like the other amily, and origi-< \x stdck. They mechanical skill . re superstitious ly of the Indian > the whites, and e now generally ey distil a fiery PRLS'CIPAL TVW\S AND VILLAGES. 1279 and wretched rum, which they call " Hoochinoo," from refuse molasses brought there by some of the ships, and become very fiendish and violent under its influence. Missionaries are now laboring among them, and a considerable number have been converted 2. The Kenaian Tribes, who occupy the whole of the Yukon Division south of the Yukon river. They are more numerous than the preceding, ranging from 1 5,000 to 20,000. They are said to be peaceful, quiet and well disposed, though there is not much known of them. 3. The Aleuts. These are the Indians of the islands and the Aliaskan peninsula. They strongly resemble the Eskimo, and are industrious, honest, peaceable and ready for instruction. 4. The Eskimo, who inhabit the region north of the Yukon nver. These, like their fellows of Greenland and the eastern coast, are very industrious, patient and hospitable. General Halleck estimated their number at about 20,000. Later writers think there are not more than 5,000. • Want of Laws and a Legal Government, — There is to-day no legal government in Alaska, and only two laws in force in the Territory, one the revenue law for the collection of customs and the prevention of smuggling, and the other ?. law prohibiting the importation of liquor into the Territory. There are no efficient means of enforcing even these laws. There is no provision for arreisting or punishing a murderer, highway robber, or pirate. A few simple laws woyld be sufficient, but though the attention of Congress has been repeatedly called to the matter by the Secre- tary of the Treasury, nothing ha^ been done. JPrincipal Towns and Visages. — In the Sitkan Division, Sitka, the present capital of the Territory, and Fort Wrangell, are the only important settlements. They have about 1,300 and $00 inhabitants respectively. In the Island Division, St. Paul's, on Kadiak Island the former capital under the Russians, and Una- lashka, the refitting station and trading post of the Alaska Com- mericial Company, are small villages. ^ In the Yukon District, Fort St. Mich4el'»|a^4|C^QO^'|. IqJ.^^ atj^ the only places of any . . /»\wa>eoSU^«*i**eii >>ii*!v.?A->"o . u^l i28o OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. Wc have given some notes of the climate of Sitka. Perhaps a lew items from the Signal Service reports in relation to a sta- tion at Fort St. Michael's, in Yukon, and Unalaahka Island, in the Aleutian Archipelago, may be worth noting : > ,." • . i'' rORT ST. MICHAEL'S, Yukon DItlrlcl, Alraka. Ullludt Al° 4*'< ' Longilud* 161" o*. ll«v«lion JO fMt. -^^ YiAa AND MuHTMI. I •■■: 1878. V«w July Auguil . . 8»pt 4ff. Ebvailen ab. ta Irat. Temparalura. 4« 43 48.5 44 49 Sa '9 7 >> at H I 38. 37 34 3» 3 480 40.8 335 J5« 34 39.1 I»» 33' Humidity. Sman. 30-74 a.J5 397 3.7* ■0.01 *.88 I'd a.93 fr •3 I S « J ! I6.0 a.o k}.0 ll.o 84s 84.0 8a.j T/i^ A /tractions 0/ A/aska to the summer tourist are very great. At Sitka and its vicinity the midsummer night is almost as attrac- tive as at Tromsoe or the North Cafpfe. At Kotzebue sound it is quite as beautiful. Latef in the Season the brilliant atirora borealis, or htortherh lights, are of unsurpassed beauty and magnificence. ■ Mr. Blaine thus describes the voyajg^e from Nan&into,.the last port of British Columbia, to Sitka : ' . 11.;: "The picturesque parts of the voyage are found between Na- naimo ^nd Sitka. The steamer sWeieps thrbugh a narrow strait guarded on either hand by sndw-capped mountains, and so nar- row that despite iall your knowledge ttf perspective?!^ seems as if the shores meet as you look up the channel from the bow of itka. Perhaps lation to a sta- a Island, in the ,'l. h .A ISLAND. AlMha. lud«t««<>4/. Lllon ab. to iMt. ura. Humidily. 1 H 3 , ! e • ■Mil •l.o S4S «4.o !"•» ta.j a8.< 37 34 3» 4lo 4o.a 3)3 34 99.1 3J1 ••! 3< 3-5 ■o.t t.l 3. 15 !i >* n H )3 are very great. Imost as attrac- zebue sound it brilliant adrora ^ beauty and nainto,.the last d between Na- si narrow strait ns, and so nar- IveJtf seems as om the bow of 1 C^Af ALASKA HE COMMENDI-.n TO IMMlCRASTSf 1381 the ship. On either side mountains, j^rcon at the base and white at the summit, overhang' the water. A patch of marble cropping through the trees forms an occasional and welcome spot of color in the monotonous green, and the ripple of a cascade agreeably breaks the stillness which everywliere reigns supreme, Vox days not a living thing is seen ; no animal upon the land, no Indian on the water, no bird in the air. The waves, washed by the wheel • against the shore, tremble into silence; the hills which echoed the whistle sullenly grow calm once more, and you seem r.hut In by the forces of nature, and in th' power of the genii of sea and strand. There is apathy everywhere, activity nowhere. High up in the sky the sun rolls lazily along, completing the task in twenty hours which elsewhere he accomplishes in fourteen. The nights glitter with weird light. The sunset is reflected by the sunrise. The west yet glimmers with the streaks of day, while in the east jocund morn stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-top. At 10 at night the finest print is read with ease, and at 3 in the morning the sun streaming into the state room wakens you from sleep." We can hardly commend Alaska as a favorable point for emi- grants, unless it be those hardy Norsemen whose constant encounters with the Arctic climate have rendered them proof against its hardships ; but development, though slow in coming, will yet surely reach this far-off land of ice. There will probably be no great change in the climate. Neither wheat nor dairy products will be exported in any large quantity, but the seal and sea-otter furs, and the furs and pelts of land animals, will increase in value and perhaps in numbers ; the magnificent forests will supplement the fast diminishing timber product of the Pacific coast, and the fisheries will furnish abundant and healthful food to millions who to-day hardly know that Alaska exists. Then there will be a place there for the hardy and adventurous emi- grant, and his toil will be rewarded. 81 .7 . ; ; . Iff' Iw .-■■■ l^i^-i^^^j^if^i:i.fiim}^^.itsitf^'is^-t''i'--'.*^ PART IV. THE LANDS OUTSIDE OF "OUR WESTERN EMPIRE." CHAPTER I. , . i I THE NORTHWESTERN PROVINCES OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. t. British Columbia— Boundaries— Area— Islands— Soil or Islands and Coast— Soil and Surface of the Interior— Mountains— Rivkks—Gkol- oov and Minkralooy— Coal— Gold, Silver, ktc— Fisheriks— Timbkk— Fur-Tradk— Population— Indian*— Chief Towns— II. The Northwkst Territories— Extent— Recknt Division-Lakes— Rivers— Mountains- Soil — Climate Warmer than Manitoba— Wild Animals and G amk 1'lkntv — Rivers and Lakes Stocked with Fish— Population— Indians— Rem- GioN— III. Keewatin— The New Territory— Not much known or it— IV. Manitoba— Its Territory too Small— No Good Reason for this— Its Boundaries— Its Rivers— The Province nearly a Dead Level — Climate — Rainfall— Meteorology of Fort Garry — Agriculture- Conflicting " Accounts— Report of an " English Farmer "—Reply of "a Canadian" — Climate very Severe in Winter — Mr. Vernon Smith's Descrifhon of the Rivers and Lakes and their Future Usefulness— Eakl Dufferin's Description— Mr. Vernon Smith on the Crops— Later Statistics not available— Transportation— The Canadian PAciric— Its Present Con- dition AND Prospects— Religion-Education, etc.— Principal Towns- Historical Notes— The Red River Settlement— Pembina— Assiniboia— Riel's Revolution — The rapid growth of the Province since it became 'a Part of the Dominion. ■■• I' ;;; I. BRITISH COLUMBIA. — ^This IS the most western province of the Dominion of Canada, lying between the 48th and the 60th parallels of north latitude, and the 1 14th and the 139th meridians of longitude west from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic portion of the Northwest Territory ; on the east by the same ; on the south by the United States (the Territories of (1283) 4 EMPIRB." 0^ OF CANADA. L OK Islands and s — Rivers — Gr.oL- niERlES— TlMHKR— . The Northwest ERS — Mountains — SANUClAMK TLKNTY N — Indians — Rem- I KNOWN or IT — IV. lson for this — Its \n Level — Climate TURE— Conflicting r OF "A Canadian" ph's DEscRiFnoN or —Earl Dufferin's TER Statistics not —Its Present Con- Principal Towns — IBINA — ASSINIBOIA — NCE since it became tern province of ^8th and the 6oth : 139th meridians ded on the north y ; on the east by he Territories of i I ! *•»■■» ••^•»« ■0j^i^\t%t.^?aii^ -* -.'. t*-..- V;<^,jarw^*«3^i'* -^* -- u TOrOiiHANIV Ot HNIIISII COLLMM/A. uHj WaHhin^'ton, Idaho and a hmuII part of Montana) ; on tin; wuHt by the I'atiht: Oir-an and thi* Icrritory of Ahuka. \i% ana in vai'iouitly stated at Iroin jjo.(xx> to i(>^^,(xx) H(|iiarf milcH. It in- cUidc'H several iniporiant inlamls, as well an many smaller onen. I he largest of thene, Vancouver Inland, wan it»elt at ont; time a fteparate province. Amony; the othi-r important inlands arc thoHC of tile yuecn Cliarlottc k''""P> which contain mines of excellent anthracite coal. The whole coast forms an archipelago, which is continued alon^ the Sitkan Division of Alaska. 'Iht^re is a corn- plete sheltered waterway, navi^'able for the larj^est slearn«;r8, between these islands and the (oast, and many of the rivers of the province have extensive estuaries or Jionis, called by the inhabitants "canals," whidi penetrate far into the interior, walled m by lofty and often perpendicular cliffs. The soil of the islands and of th«.' lands near the sea is very fl^ood, and the climate mild, though rainy. In the interior, the surface is extremely ru^^^'eil and barren, and the climate severe. The main chain of the Rocky Mountains forms thtr eastern boundary between this and the NorJiwestern Territory, while the Cascade and Coast Ranges, which unite fartlu:r north, here form separate chains of mountains. There are several elevaieil sum- mits, ranginjf from 10,000 to 13,000 or 14,000 feet, but none approaching very near to the Alaskan peaks. I'hc rivers are numerous, and som<; of them of y^reat size. The Columbia river and its affluents, the Okinakane and the Kootante, drain the southeastern part of the province, the former Houinjij through several small lakes in its course ; the Frazer river, rising from two sources, one in the Rocky Mountains, and the other in the Cascade Range, drains the central portion of the province, and discharges its waters intv) the Gulf of Georgia. On the west side ol the province, a half-dozen considerable streams, among which are the Salmon, the Simp-^on and the Stickine, find their way from the Cascade Range mto the Archipelago. In the north, two important tributaries of the Mackenzie river traverse the valleys between the mountains, and one of them crosses the Rocky Mountains by a low-lying pass from west to east. In the north(iast the Finley branch of the Peace river, which falls into I "■.'v^ySi. esm^MK I31U OVM trAXrMMJV HMfiMM. tli<' AthaluHca Ukr, ban iiM lourre in the Cascadr MminUinn, and t:ri)n4-ttc>r, and thn root crupsi arc very ^oud North ui thitt iNlaml thrrr in much fin the (ii .lar designation of all that part of the Dominion of Canada Wi: ch lay north of the United States and west of the province of Ontario and Hudson's bay, except the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba. The Parliament of 1 880, how- ever, made some changes which restrict the extent of this vast and almost unknown domain. It still retains more than 3,000,000 of square miles; but while it extends from the 49th parallel to the Arctic Ocean, its eastern limit is found in the chain of lakes lotintainH, uml r ihr 50th par- (»• Ihr hmt hr roAHt alonjl try il ihr rainn , and thr rool r iH much tine cry important, • on, anchovii'H, wrc arc many Stit kinc rivcrn, (juicksilvrr arc : mainland, Init larlottr Islandit. crn part of the rhi« province f ycarH to come, fas: whites, 14.- idians havr not hite population Victoria, in the Westminster is l^nf^lish bishop. I of considerable r, and is repre- «natorH and six been until re- the Dominion of and west of the the provinces of nt of 1 880, how- itent of this vast re than a.ooo.cxx) 49th parallel to le chain of lakes whirh mark the rim of thr lliidHoii May iNinin — I-ake W'inniprj^', l-ik** NfUon, Drrr lake, l^ikc WollaHtun, etc. All tlu- land raRt of ManitulNi ami lake Wmniprj^', to th** tioundaricH of On- tario (wl)irh have lj«-«'n ronniih-rabiy rxtiiidtd wcstwanl an«l northwcHtuard), arc* comprinrd in ilw new and as yet nut fully organized provim e of K<-«'watin, or K(*Haydin. This vast Territory of the Northw<'»»t is but little known except by the hunter and trapper. It Is a kind of ^^rent lakes and lui^^hty rivers, lietwcen th<' foothills (»f ihr Rocky Mountains and the dreat Arctic Plain and thr rimof tlu* (ireat Mudson May bastin stretrhes the !,ow Central I'lain, whiih extends from thr Arctic Ocean, at thr broad titlta of the Mackrn/ie river, south- warti throujjh all tlu: lon^j vallry of that river, thr .Slave river and lake, the Athalxisca, the Peace, the .Saskat( hewan and the Krd river, with all the lakes in their course, to the head waters ol the Mississippi, in Minnesota (which arc not two miles distant from those of the Red river), and thence down the Mississippi X'ailey to the ^'ulf. Nowhere else in the world is there such a (ontinu- ous valh'y throuj^jh the whole lenj,'th of a continent. Tlu; soil of these river valleys is very jjood, even up to the limit whrre the cold season is too protract«:d for most agricultural products. There are great tracts, called barrens, and which desrrve the name, where hardy lichens and mosses form the only vejjetation; but the valleys of the Saskatchewan, the Peace river, th(! Atha- l)asca and the Nelson, have a ){ood soil, and a climate said to be I)etter than that of Manitoba* or Northern Minnesota. In this valley, as far north as Peace river and Athabasca lake, it is asserted that one-half the prairie land is arable, and most of this is suitable for wheat-growing, or at least for the cultivation o*" sonu! of the cereals. Along the foothills of the Rocky or Chip- pt'wayan Mountains the soil is not so good, and the water has a tendency to be alkaline. The northern portion, and, ind(!ed, nearly the whole of this vast Territory, has lx.'en the favorite hunting-ground of the Indians, the French voyageurs, and the * lUttlrforil, in latitude 53°, 700 niil«i tfortliwent of Winnipeg, ha< a climnle nver.iging keven dF;,TeiM w:irmer than that city, and the whole nurth .Saskatchewan Valley is materially wwracr than .Manitoba. 12&3 OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. Scotch traders and trappers. It is, with the provinces and Terri- tories west of it, the main dependence of the civilized world for furs. Buffalo, beavers, sables, martens, wolves, foxes, bears, otter, fishers, etc., are very numerous, and the uttermost diligence of the hunters and trappers does not materially diminish their num- bers. The musk ox, the polar bear, and the blue and Arctic foxes are found toward the mouth of the Mackenzie river and along the coasts and islands of the Arctic Archipelago. Ueer are abundant in the south and west, and the elk and moose are often seen. Geese, ducks, swans, ptarmigans and various kinds of grouse are found in great quantities on and near the numerous lakes. The lakes and streams are well stocked with fish. The population until 1871 was mainly Indian, with a small number of Canadian-French voyageurs, Scotch, Iri':h and Ameri- can trappers and hanters, and some half-breeds. Within the last decade, however, the immigration to Manitoba has very largelj' migrated from that province to the better and dryer lands along the Qui Appelle, or Assiniboine, and the Saskatchewan rivers, and the land has been found well adapted to wheat culture, and the climate more favorable than that of Manitoba. The white popu- lation of the southern part of the Territory has thus largely in- creased. It was computed in 187 1 that there were about 67,000 Indians in the Territory, and not over 1,000 whites. There may' be now 10,000 whites in the Territory. The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the southern portion of the Territory within a few years will probably greatly accelerate its growth. Battleford is the capital, though until very recendy the lieutenant-governor and the bishop of the diocese resided at Winnipeg, in Manitoba. It is not represented in the Dominion Parliament. III. Keewatin, or Kewaydin. — Of this new and unorganized Territory there is little to be said. It is almost wholly in the basin of Hudson's bay, and its numerous lakes and rivers all drain, direcdy or indirectly, into that bay. Its southern boundary under the report of the commissioners is not lower than 52° of latitude, and this in that longitude insures for it a rigorous climate. The Canadian almanacs state its area as about 500,000 «M|fW*«*«M(ri**;**««i»aW*s^ m^r'^j^^ir-vtm^it tices and Terri- lized world for es, bears, otter, 5t diligence of nish their num- nd Arctic foxes ver and along >. Ueer are loose arc often rious kinds of ■ the numerous ith fish. ), with a small i':h and Ameri- Within the last as very largely 'er lands alonjr wan rivers, and ulture, and the he white popu- hus largely in- e about 67,000 s. There may ly through the s will probably capital, though e bishop of the ot represented d unorganized : wholly in the and rivers all liern boundary wer than 52° r it a rigorous about 500,000 KESTRICTED AREA OF MANITOBA. 1287 square miles, of which not more than 30,000 are fit for culture. It is probably a good country for hunters and trappers. We have no means of ascertaining its population, though we know it to be mostly Indians and trappers;* but the census of the whole Do- minion will be taken during the present year (1881). If there is mineral wealth in this Territory, it is as yet undiscovered. IV. Manitoba. — This province of the Dominion of Canada was organized, with its present boundaries, in 1871. The circum- stances attending its organization probably had much to do with its somewhat restricted area. That in a region where it was as easy to carve out a territory or province of 75,000 or 100,000 square miles as of any less extent, and still leave immense tracts of unorganized territory, it does seem surprising that the founders of the province should have contented themselves with an area of only 14,340 square miles, less than one-third of that of Penn- sylvania, and only one-sixth of that of Minnesota, its nearest neighbor on the south. And this wonder is heightened when we find that its present limits exclude almost the whole of the two great lakes, Winnipeg and Manitoba, as well as the large rivers, whose valleys are so fertile, and whose lands are so much more desirable than those included within its boundaries. The first requisites for a new Territory are : that it .shall have an abun- dance of good, arable land, wich large, navigable rivers, if possible; a climate not too moist, even if it is somewhat told ; and good grazing lands and timber, as well as a large farming area. All of these Manitoba might easily have had by extending its boun- daries northward and westward. Manitoba is bounded on the north and west by the Northwest Territory ; on the east by Kee- watin, or Kewaydin, which interposes a narrow tract between it and Ontario ; and on the south by the State of Minnesota and the Territory of Dakota, or, as it will speedily be called, the Terri- tory of Pembina. It lies between the parallels of 49° and 50° 30' north latitude, and between the meridiaiis of 96° and 99° west longitude from Greenwich. Its area, as already stated, is 14,340 square miles, or 9,177,600 acres.f *Whitakcr's Almnnnc for 1881 estimates the popuUition at about 10,000. f.'Vn official statement, in Whitaker's Almanac for 1881 gives the area as 13,923 square milei. ia88 OUR WESTERN EMPIRR. ■•>■ h If ill I Surface, Soil, and Geology. — ^The province lies almost entirely in the valley of the Red river, and is nearly a dead level, though rising very gently toward the south. Lake Winnipeg, on its northern boundary, is a little more than loo feet lower than the Red river where it enters the province on the southern boun- dary ; the surface of the lake being 628 feet above the sea ; Fort Garry, which is at some height above the river banks, 724 feet, while the Red river at Emerson is about 760 feet. So level is the area around Winnipeg that it is often overflowed by the Red river when it is swollen by T t melting of the winter snows. West of the river, the streams have cut their way through the yielding soil ^d flow in deep troughs, or, as they are called in the provincial Canadian voyageur's French, coulees, a corruption of coulisses. The roads, in the spring and autumn especially, are miry and wretched, and animals, carriages, and wagons are fre- quently stuck in the mire. Most of the country where not cultivated is ov; ^J! with tall, coarse grass. There is a sufficiency of timber in the province for all immediate wants, and the banks of the lakes and rivers outside of the province are heavily wooded. The soil is alluvial, this whole region having once been the bed of a great lake. The floods in the lower Red river may make the soil richer, but they interfere at times very seriously with the crops and with the comfort of the settlers. East of the Red river, there is more forest than west of it, and the land is not quite so uniformly level. There are, however, extensive marshes. The climate is remarkably healthful, but the winters are very severe. The rainfall is slightly greater than at Pembina, Dr^:ota, on the southern border, and with the humid atmosphere frois the* adjacent lakes, is amply sufficient. We give on page ;2^9 ^'le reports of the Canadian Signal Service of the temperature at Fi i . Garry, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and as the Canadian authorities do not report the rainfall, we have added that at Pembina, which is only a little less than that of Fort Garry. Agriculture and Agricultural Productions. — There is hardly any inhabited region of the globe about which so many conflict- ing statements have been made, as Manitoba. These contradic- * 1 TEAfrf.R.lTUKF. .IT FOKT GARRY. \ost entirely evel, though ipeg, on its iver than the them boun- ce sea ; Fort iks, 724 feet, :t. So level lowed by the nnter snows, through the are called in a corruption :specially, are jons are fre- v^^ with tall, the province es and riverj ioil is alluvial, a great lake, oil richer, but 5 and with the here is more liformly level. Iters are very ibina, Drl ota, •here froi ; rhr page : 2c v ' *^ :rature at Ft ;t authorities do embina, which »ere is hardly many conflict- lese contradic- t K o a'8?s"84P^a ft-STjjp Ot Ui Wt U( in 1^ i/i WWWWUI^W MMUI M W M U« f> 5 Si i U "S 8. B M p o M e • w» « o •« =1 il \y S "»4 u* *3 ]5» U ^ 6t 'M bo b >b s) » '3 e e «o »b ^ M >b w £''? Maximum Ttmpernlure. Miiiimam Temperature. Range of Temperature. Mean Tmiptrature. Rain&ll, monthly and annual. •A Mean Humidity. •^ >=< X > g 5 „ 'Ml ? ? ? ^ 1 1 M ri rt r I -a. S U -3 w ;?! ?> a « S S ? 3 "3 a 8 "8 b> b w b M it VI 00 CK in Ci bt ot uj Maximum Temperature. Minimum Temperature. Range of Temperature. Mean Temperature. H m ■8 PI > P8 RaiolaU. Mean Humidity. Kg So 1289 ^ 55 ^ § ^. § It 11 f3 •J 2 to ;. %> -;^Sa»l«««"'-V«''aaf-5^'i»- -■■''••■■■>'' r-*:* 1390 OVR IVRSTK/IN EMPIRE. tions concern it »»jft^- <«mV>.^1KT^Mo'A.>k«Kr-aMM«*ut hot summer. Thinic of a climate where the thermometer sinks below zero (and more than 43° below) fur five successive months, where the mean temperature is 34°5, and the annual range 138". i6,v.j--V'>».ei^«.jM.K». .»«--t#; p^''Ti:r'7-tF'T-TV?-'*.Tfns»^a^-r >^-^r^vtir":.T'.— i -I 13^2 OVK H'-eSTFRN KUPIKF.. was scarce grass enough for a half-grown rabbit. I have watched the little Welsh mountain sheep browsing upon the nourishing refuse of a slate quarry. Yet any of these would have stood forth as veritable Southdowns compared with the sheep I have seen in Manitoba. And then the quality of the mutton ! Imagine the flavor of 'seven-day veal ' combined with the firmness of fif- teen-year-old male mutton and you have it e.xactly. Some will wonder why this shoulil be the case. The reasons are simple, but yet they are such as cannot be easily overcome. In the first place the prairie grass is too coarse for sheep. In the next place there is a fatal enemy to sheep here in the form of a weed called •wild barley.' It se'-ms to be growing all over the prairie. The seed of this weed is scarcely a fourth the size of a barleycorn, and it is armed with a hard, sharp spear. This goes into the sheep and the point breaking remains in the skin, causing contin- uous irritation and pain quite sufficient to prevent sheep from ever thriving where such a pest prevails. "Another difficulty that the settlers in Manitoba and the North- west will have to contend with is alkali. It is present in such large quantities throughout the \6\\ that the water everywhere is impregnated with it. To such an e.xtent does this prevail in some places that I have frequendy known setders have to dig five or six wells before they could get one sufficiently free from alkali to admit of its being used. This bad water is, I feel cer- tain, the principal cause of the death of such a large proportion (eight out of every ten) of the horses that are brought into Man- itoba from Ontario and elsewhere, within eighteen months of their arrival. In fact I know of one family, father and sons, who brought fourteen horses with them from Ontario, and in two years there was only one alive out of the fourteen. These are matters that should certainly be made known among intending emigrants. . / . - ;, "When the three seasons — i. e., the spring, summer, and au- tumn — are squeezed into some four or five mpndis at the most, the thoughtful mind will easily realize that this alone is sufficien; to prevent Manitoba from ever being a good farming country;, for you must bear in nlind that within this four or five months thfe 8: ■iii -■<«'i*«WfA*ic«ft*»«it.a.i*w;»jr*.*«fcM*r =<*•-"*( **»M:i*'l«.-«^-a»i« .-C* -.A'V .^, . have watched the nourishing Id have stood sheep 1 have ton! Imagine firmness of fif- ly. Some will ns are simple, e. In the first the next place f a weed called e prairie. The if a barleycorn, goes into the causing contin- ent sheep from I and the North- present in such ater everywhere :s this prevail in lers have to dig ciently free from ter is, I feel cer- arge proportion ought into Man- teen months of ;r and sons, who irio, and in two een. These are imong intending ummer, and au- rchs at the most, done is sufficien,* iarming country;, r five months tha LENGTH OF THE COLD SEASON. 1293 whole of the farm work for the year has to be completed. Breaking the sod, backsetting, sowing, planting, fencing, haying, harvesting, well-digging, house-building, besides a long list of other jobs that cannot possibly be done while land and water lie in the icy grip of winter. All these have to be done in the brief interval oocurring between the beginning of June and the middle or end of Octolirr. Take the last spring as an instance of the wonderful adaptation of this country for farming May was nearly gone before spring was really come, and for a fortnight or three weeks after the surface of the ground had thawed the whole country was so saturated that, except in a few instances where the land lay high, it was quite impossible either to plough or sow, and the result was that by the end of seed-time the ma jority of the farmers of Manitoba had put in only one-half the number of acres of wheat and oats they had intended doing. The consequence of this will be that our farmers, who are heavily indebted to the machine agents for implements of various kinds bought on time, will be unable to meet their notes, and will either have a visit from the sheriff or will be forced to get cash from the money-lenders at from fifteen to twenty per cent., 0(t by giving a mortgage on their property they may get the money at twelve percent., and this I am assured is already the condition of more than half the farmers of Manitoba. This state of thing.s is not at all surprising when we consider that the resources of the country are limited to the production of wheat, oats, pota- toes and beets." As a meaxis of health and enjoyment for the family, as well as a source of profit to the farmer, fruit culture, where practicable, is really a necessity. The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Thomas Spence, in a book for emigrants entitled " Prairie Lands of Canada," asserts " that there is no reason why every farm may not have its orchard in this as in other parts of the Dominion." The "English farmer" replies, " If Manitoba is so well adapted to the growth of fruit, how is it that at the Provincial Agri- cultural Exhibition^ held at Portage la Prairie in October, 1879, the whple display of Manitoba-grown fruit amounted to two •Bsjioavrif*:' 13iH OLft H'HSrt/tJV UMi'/ZiE. % Hi ! plates of crab applos almost as lar^e as walnuts — having a smHI and tast<: that wuiild give any one the idea that they were grown in a bed of iron tilings and watered with vinegar? "The general testimony of those 1 have met, who have been here five, six, and seven years, is that * scarcely any of the fruit-trees planted lure outlive the second winter.' This is no hearsay, but the testimony of men thoroughly conversant with fruit culture, who have tried over and over again to ,^row apples, pears, peaches, etc., but always with the same results — failure and dis- appointment. I met with a nursery agent here last spring, who told me that he had sold several thousand fruit trees of various kinds during his trip through Manitoba, but he rather thought he shoiilil not come again, for from what he saw and heard of the winter he should not expect to find any of the trees alive next year. So the settler in Manitoba will save time and money by leaving the fruit trees alone, as an orcliard here is totally out of the question." Per contra, a "Canadian" says, of the climate: "As to Manitoba it possesses a climate exactly the same as Minnesota, at Moorehead, or Dakota.at Fargo. The winters are known to be severe, that is, as the thermometer shows; but they are probably less trying than the more humid winters on the seaboard. The snowfall is very light, not more than a foot and a h.ilf. The horses of the country gra^ out all winter ; and sometimes, after having been turned out in the fall, return in the spring with increased numbers, from the mares having foaled. They paw the light, mealy snow off the grass and find plenty of nutritious food." wij. . iiu.t . ;i. i ai • ; j v j j io .1. , Of the lands, he says, "They are contiguous to those of Minne- sota and Dakota, and the same, being only separated by an as- tronomical line. If there is any difference in as far as the lands themselves are concerned, it is that the fartlier you proceed down the Red river of the North, say from the point of Moorehead or Fargo, the nearer you get to what was undoubtedly in previous geologic ages the centre of the great lake which at one time covered the whole of this territory, and the deeper you find the alluvium resting on a lacustrine clay formation. This fact gives ^._^-W^^a •Mn,f,^»»*' >.W.-'«rt*M')"- »-*- .AM»-'.''iV rilh. MAXn OKAS' MAA'StlY L.I.WS VEKV VALUABLE. 1305 — havin^j a smell they were f^rown r? \o have been here of the fruit-trt;es s no hearsay, but vith fruit culture, w apples, pears, —failure and dis- iast spring, who trees of various e rather thoujrht aw and heard of f the trees alive : time and money lere is totally out ;actly the same as The winters are • shows; but they d winters on the e than a foot and t all winter; and fall, return in the es having foaled, ind find plenty of those of Minne- parated by an as- IS far as the lands ou proceed down of Moorehead or •tedly in previous 'hich at one time sper you find the This fact gives the advantage to Manitoba, although it is undr)ubtr(l that the banks of the river above the boundary line are of the same for- mation. This deep alluvium, held l)y a closely retentive clay sub-soil, has been enriched by ashes from fires, decaying V(!geta- tion and the uroppings by animals ami birds, for ages, imtil it has naturally become the richest on the face of the ^lobe, and especially adapted to the growth of wheat. It would be folly for anybody to attempt to deny this fact, so well known to thou- sands and susceptible of such easy proof. "The country is, however, quite new, and linglish farmers may find many things which are both new and strangi; to them; for Instance, the roads are of the most primitive kind, and in the early spring, when the snow and frost go away, before the sur- face dries, it is not so easy to drive over them as it is over the roads of the Central Park, New York. But as the season ad- vances they do dry, and then the roads become as smooth and hard as any in the world. All this is fully stated in the gov- ernment pamphlets referred to, and the very clearest and fullest warnings are given to emigrants as to the kind of difficulties they may have to encounter. A section of the Canadian Pacific Railway, loo miles west of Winnipeg, will be completed this fall; and this will open up very great facilities for settlers along its line. " There are undoubtedly many marshes in tli province of Man- itoba, and these are very fully set forth in the government pam- plilets and maps. But they are all susceptible of very easy drainage ; and large drainage operations are now being carried on by the provincial government, under an arrangement with the Dominioh government. Your correspondent says that these can- not be drained because the rivers are too near the level of the prairies. A difference of four feet is given. It is folly to make such an assertion as this in the face of the fact that the Red river and the Assiniboine have cut their winding ways very deep below the level of the prairies, twenty-five or thirty feet at the very least, and there are everywhere natural coulies entering these rivers, making the task of drainage very easy and inexpen- sive, while the land so drained will become the most valuable in the province and naturally the richest in the world. 1396 OVM Wt:S1lliN HMriUB. "A« to the /ovrrnmrnt land rcjrulatinnn, it Is prrhnp^ not of very much intcrcHt to tliscuHH \\\v.%v. nt kn^th in your columns; but in view of tlu* rrffrcnce your correHpondcnt has made; to thrm, ptrrhapii you will (M-Tniit nic to Hay that they are the iiame as those of the Unitcil States jjovcrnmcnt, with the exception that \\\v. fccH are a little Icsh. Any man can get a homestead of 1 60 ncrcrH free on any unocaipicil surveyed government lands on condition of three years settlement, and he can pre-empt 160 acres more. The lands granted for railway purposes are sold in the same way as in the United States. The government lands open for free settlement are ilividcd in alternate sections with the railway lands. The ' eighty acre ' restriction, to which your correspondent refers, was done away witli about a year ago." It seems, however, that there is some ground of complaint even now, in regard to land grants in Manitoba, and the migra- tion of some large bands of Meniionites across the line to Minne- sota and Dakota on this account the last year would indicate that, there had been some favoritism, at least. The descriptions of the region north and west of Manitoba by Mr. Vernon Stnith in the " Nineteenth Century," and by Lord Dufferin, at Winnipeg, are very eloquent, and though perhaps 0. little overstated are worthy of quotation here : "In the very centre of this great Dominion of Canada, equi- distant from the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic Ocean, and mid- way in the other direction between the Atlantic and Pacific, lies the low depression of Lake Winnipeg, 300 miles long, 6fty to sixty miles wide — the future Black Sea of Canada. Its shape is roughly a parallelogram lying north and south ; at three of its four corners it receives the waters of a large river; the main trunk of a hundred smaller ones. At the remaining northeast angle a fourth and larger river— the Dardanelles of the system — conveys the accumulated waters of nearly a million square miles into Hudson's bay. This l^ke Winnipeg receives the drainage of the future wheat-field of the world. The Red River of the North, with its afiBuents, the Assiniboine, the Quiappelle, the Red Lake river, the Souris and a score of others, discharge their waters into it through the grass-covered deltas at the southwest angle. At lii ,.( . ■g T Wto r w*i*»>t»T»w*in.«M»^,*n -^^v.. » ■ ^^^ r. . ( u^-«»; » vi*a« r»*. «•• *? <-rhapH not of our columnH; has tnuilc tu arc tin: unme the exception homestead of ment landn on pre-empt 1 60 Imi!h art! sold in .'rnmcnt lands sectionii with to which your year ajjo." I of complaint and the mi^ra* line to Minnc- Id indicate thar >f Manitoba by " anti by Lord Dw^h perhaps 0. f Canada, equi- )cean, and mid- &nd Pacific, lies »8 long, fifty to a. ItK shape is at three of its the main tnmk >rtheast angle a I'stem — conveys uare miles into the drainage of er of the North, , the Red Lake heir waters into /est angle. At AMMl OVrflLKIff OM WMUfirKa LAKM AND ITS KIVHKS. \^j th« ■Diirh«'ail, and only twmiy'fivc milet dintAnt oloni; thr shurM jf iho lake, tlie large, impetuous river, which gives itH minic lo the fretlt-watcr aea into wkkh it ruahi's, pour* its wild majenltc fkxid from the Ijiwrentian hif^hlands, which iqwrate thr waNrsof l^ke Superior and the uAluenu of the St. LawrcAce k%Mt{ ihoM that seek Lake Winnipeg. U Lord IJufitrin's siNstck at the capital of Manitoba, he dcHcribca m* fdl atoualy this noble Hfvdr that any ' rtore meagre dtiHcriptiun than his appears almost presu./iptiiotiN. After describing thtf route of th«i travrller from Luke S(»perior up the Kamanistaguia, over the height of land, down tilt liaautihil Rainy river into the lovely I^alcQ of the Woods-^ .<.:j,f.. ** 'Tor the last eighty miles of his voyage (he says) he will be consoled by sailing through a sncceasion of laiid-lodkcd chaaoeU, the beauty of whose toeneryt while it resembles, certainly excels the far-famed Thousand Islands 0/ the Ht* Lawrencei From this lacustrine Paradise of sylvan beauty we are able at once to trans* fer our friend to the Winnipeg, a river wliose existence in the very heart of the contiaent is in itself one of nature's most de« ligMil miraolflSv so bealutiful and varied are its rocky banks, itA tufted islands ; «o broad, so deep, so fervkl is the volume af its waters, the extent of their lAkedifcc expansions and the trcmeft> dous power of their rapids.' . ,11.. .; ... "The Winnipeg, in its short btltpfctUreique course of 1 35 miles from the Lake of the Woods* falls 500 teet^ ind though not navi- gable, in consequence, for steamers, was fbr over two ctnturits the route by which all the trade of the interior continent was con- ducted by tlte great fur (tompinies from and to thpir depots at Mackinaw and Moatnoal. The Lake of the Woods Itself is a noble expanse of waten and with its a,ooo ishuids ofilcrs some lovely places for setUeraent. At the oodct to the river an Ice> iandic colony has been latttly formed^ and ita Iridian liame of Keewatin has been attached no# to the whdie province, whksh covek-s the area betMseen the old province of Ontario And Mailif toba, the pioneer of the new western pirovinces. A\\nv\\ hy\\t\u (n/^This (tha Winoipcg) is the body of witer that falla into the southeaster^ angle of Lake Wlanipeg. Paaskig now to the northwest comer of the sadwo inladd rdservoir, the mouths of the 82 »4>«1. •«•-■•«'< W*^ 1^ OUK WgSTEMM kMrtMM, two riveri beln^ dia^nany acroM the kke, about if% mltea apart, wc find another great river— the Danube of North Amrr* ica— stretching it* long twofold channel, each 1,000 milcn in length, to the foot of the Rocky Mountftint of the West. Thia it the Saskatchewan, who»e two arm* or branchea, rising not very far aaunder in the great backbone of the continent, gradually di« verga until the distance between them is over 300 miles, and then convei^ng up, finally join at a point 773 miles from the source' of the north branch, and 810 by the south branch, from whence the united stream runs a8a miles to its debouchure in Ijike Win- nipeg, making the total length from the lake 1,034 miles by one branch, and 1.09a by the other, to their sources in the Rocky Mountains. Both these rivers run their whole length through the prairie land of the Northwest, and it is from isolated settlements on these rivers, such as Prince Albert and Carlton, that the largest returns of agricultural yields have been received. Both rivers are navigable throughout, cxce|»'ing the three and a half miles near the mouth, where the river passes over rapids and falls of a total height of forty-four feet into the lake. Laat year the Hudson's Bay Company constructed a tramway four m' 1 long to overcome these obstructions, and they also placed a mer, the ' North- cote,' at the head of this tramway, which during the season made five doable trips from the Grand Rapids to Carlton, 550 miles, and one trip up to Edmonton, over i /x)0 milea from the lake, along the north branch. " Last season a second steamer was placed on the river, and during the year the navigation of both branches was thoroughly tested. The two Saskatchewans drain what is especially known as the ' fertile belt,' containing not less than 90,000,000 acres of as fine wheat land as can be found in any country. " Such are the three main rivers that pour their accumulated waters into Lake Winnipeg, all of them of a size and capacity whirh Ml Europe would class them as first-class rivers. Their united length, with their nKMt important affluents, is not less than ■f o/xx> miles, of which, certainly, 4,000 are availaUe for steam navigation. The outlet ci this magnificent and comprehensive Miter system is the large but little known Ndson, which, issuing «.._ •i-jwoi ^losiwiwioearifia** rit»i«n:T:.i-t,-K»»^— =-— .t- out a7s mile* If North Amrr- |i,ocx> milcM in icWett. This rising not very t, graduaUy di- miles, and then m the source' h, from whence e in l^ke Win* 54 miles by one s in the Rocky igth through the led settlements , that the laiigest Both rivers are half miles near id falls of a total !ar the Hudson's long to overcome mer, the • North- the season made irlton, 550 miles, • from the lake, >n the river, and i was thoroughly especially known 000,000 acres of ry. lieir accumulated lise and capacity ,ss rivers. Their s, is not less than u'laUe for steam i comprehensive m, which, issuing C^Af 0CM4N STMAMKHS ASCMffl* TMM SAliONt •»« - V» ,l«»TS-=,rT^,.^ from the northeast angle of the take, disrharge^ its «iirptu4 watt* rn into lluUiion's bay. Thin riv«r — broad, drrp. firnt (-la^4<« in rvrry rcupect— may liavr probably an important bearing on thr future prospects of this northern section of America. Ijikr Winni|)r^ is 700 (ret above thcocean level; as Car as known thu Nrlnon has neither rock, nor shoal, nor excessive rapid to interfere with its navigation by properly constructed steamers. Its even grmlual slope of twenty inches to the mile is not more than is constantly and safely worked on other American rivers. 'I'he Uppor Mis- souri and Yellowstone, with far worse water to contend with, were constantly navigated in 1877 by twenty*sevrn steamers; whilst the old Danube at its Iron Gate has water quite as strong to contend with, and not half the breadth and depth of water for a vessel to pick her way in. The question remains to be solved whether this river is really available or not for ocean steami^s to work through to the lake above, and, if not, whether the lake .itcamers can be trusted to bring their cargoes down with a cer- tainty of being able to rcascend again. The outlet of Nelson river is a harbor, a mile wide, and with any depth of water. It is called Port Nelson, at^ I not very far from it is the old York Fac- tory, for a long time the head-quarters of the Hudson's Kay Com- pany, and from which, for the last 200 years, from two to five vessels have annually sailed for England, and not unfrequently under the convoy of a man-of-war. Fort Nelson, although situ* ated in ninety-three degrees of west longitude, in the very heart of the continent, is eighty miles nearer to Liverpool than New York is. For four certainly, probably five months in the year, it is as clear of ice as any other of the North Atlantic ports. There is no question about its accessibility for ordinary ocean steamers from June to October, and it only remains to be proved whether these same vessels cannot force their way up the great Nelson river and load then* cargoes directly at the mouth of the Saskatchewan, the Red river or the Winnipeg, in the very centre and heart of this great wheat-field of the Northwest, where 200,- 000,000 acres now await the advent of the farmer to be rapidly brought into cultivation. . w., . "Mr. Vernon Smith says of the yield of cereal and root J — ijoo OUR WESTERN EMPIRE. M I J- i> crops in this Northwestern region, not conftnihgf hU ^tktet^^nts, it wUl be observed, to Manitoba : The fact established by clima- tologists, that tlie cultivated plants yield the greatest products near the northel-nmost limit at whieh they %t&ii, is Ailly illusthaited in the productions of the Can^ian Territories ; afid the rettfrns from Prince Albert and other new settlertient^ Oii Hhe Sii^katche- wan show a yield of 40 bushels of spring wiieat i!o the acre, averaging 63 pdunds to the bushel, whilst one ^xe^tfbnial field shdwed 68 pounds to the bushd, and another loie 0^2,69O bushels weighed 66 pounds, producing respectively 46 th^ 42 1!^ j[)0'jnds of dressed fknir to the bushel of wheat In sbuch^rn latitude? the warm spring develops the joie^s of the plant4 i^ rapidly. They run into stalk and leaf, to the d^t^imbht oi^ the i^ed. Com Inat2e, for eNamj^e, in the Weat Indies runs bfVeb thirty' ffeet high, but it produces only a few grains at the bo»*Tth 'of d sjiibrigy cob too coarse. far himun food.' •■■'>''*« -" ■ '^ii "i Hyi-n-T .i... • " Whatever be the caose^ tH* aiic6i-«atrik^^ ibi irist^nce, a series of very heavy rain-'Storttis whibh caught tfi^ Whbsit just as it was ripeniagu^he yiddH periacre wi&rti: Of wHtlit, frtlhi 2% t6 55 bushels, v^ith an average of Jie^ ; bikrtey, fh>m 4!^ to ^b! Aver- age 42)^ ; oatB, 40 to 6q, airefrage ^t ; p^^^veiiige J^)^, ^(!>ta- t«eB 219, anid turnipi 662 bushels tx» the) vtt^. iHdivldiidl ckses were enumerated of loobushels of oat^ (Iter a£l^, biiflisv ai high a» 60 busbili, and weighing froM ^ t6 5t; ^biindW t6 the bushel. Potatoes have yielded ad high! as 6l(k> blush^b'to'd^e aicre, and bf a quality un^ar^ssed, «i !ai-6 all tk^ t^i cH6]^s. Turnips have yielded 1,000 biisheh to th^ i.Qi%\ '7bb B^fn^ i^Xti- n»0n, whilst cabbage, ceiKUAdwer and celety ^HoW kh^iih ^hb^oud size,andof excellent quality ^and'flavbi'/^ ' ' " ' '^ We «^k«t tint -we o^ellliaM^ b plh>etife 'kt«r dtyt^tiek' 6i t4ie croipisiof tbe fh>rthw»fesi^rrtwh*ati*gf?^." Thtfi^Vfi . . j . i The Canadian Pacific Railway demands a notice as one of the five greni trM»k lines now constructed or in process of construc- tion to the Paci^<{ coast. It has been for some years in progress, but has been embarrassed by the lack of means and efficient gov- ernment aid It is jpQvi taken up by an association of English and American capitalists, the Dominion government rendering liberal assi<;(ance by land grants, subsidies, and the gift to die company of the portions of the road already completed. The chief poir "^s of the compact are allegied to be : : ., 1 : The total length of the projected system is to be 2,200 miles, of which it may be said that 600 miles are either completed or under construction. The government, it is announced, are pre- pared %o grant a sMibsidy of $aOkOOO,ooo in cash, payment to be spread over the period of ten years, assumed to be necessary for tb? construction of the Hne, an amount equal to <|ti 0,000 per milot or abojut one-ithird x>f the eilimated cost. A further grant will b<^ madie of 35,000,000 acres of land, to be located in alter- nate sections along the route, as was done in the case of the Union and Centml Pacific companies. The 600 miles under con- strucjtion will be handed ovoT: to the company without cost Two hundred Jind twenty-two miles more were placed Under contract before the nfew company took charge of it. The total cost is estimate() at $644750,000. A submarine telegraph from MancouKer's Iskand to Yoddo, Japan, is also projected as a part of this system of cqmnntnication. .■■>,,.., B4ligion, Educatum, eU. '^Manitoba has a large Roman Cstth-*' olic population, that religious system having been kmgago estab-^ ' li^ihed here bytfae missionaries among the Indians. A Roman 1 Ti^-'SKtflZJiUi^^^'Wjii-^ ■»!*i/^^'yr'. * WfMCWIWraiSaP iJfl^CffSf "iT '•^r^i»nBK«J«**!• • fi.>i.'iri>Mt I Hf = ;.'i<;}''[r • Mcn >"' ',.'• , HistonccU Notes. — Manitoba is the northern part of the region purchased by Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, in 18 10, from the Hudson's Bay Company. He planted here the fomdus " Red River Settlement," called also "Pembina," and later "Assiniboia." The first settlers here were Scotch Highlanders. In 181 5 a con- siderable number of Canadians, of English, Scotch and French descent, and some half-breed Indians, joined the colony. When, some years later, the United States boundary line was run through, it was found that the greater part of the colbny was south of that line, and especially that what are now Pembina, Dakota, and St. Vincent, Minnesota, were peopled by these colonists. Meanwhile the population did not increase rapidly, owing to the attacks of the Northwest Company, then hostile to the Hud- son's Bay Company, the severity of the winters, and repeated destructive vbitations of grasshoppers, wnich destroyed their crops. The Hudson Bay Company at length took possession of so much of the colony as remained north of the boundary, and established a local government, with the title of " The Council of Assiniboia," which continued to administer the government till March, 1871. In 1869 and 1870 there was a movement to transfer the authority to the Dominion of Canada, then just ^•:«3!T*r*33ss»raiisspWTflP.ssaB»s«»,j«jiwf i .-,-» _..«j>jMisi. -# THE CLASSES WHO PMEFEM PfOT TO CO WEST. iy>3 ere is also an board of edu- nd Protestant re maintained >vincial grant. Roman Cath- considerable d Methodists, o represented wn up around 3 having about ,nd enterprise, td Oufrost are t of the regioiv 1810, from the famous "Red r "Assiniboia." In 181 3 a con- :h and French olony. When, line was run he colbny was now Pembina, pled by these )idly, owing to lie to the Hud- ,and repeated estroyed their ; possession of boundary, and "The Council le government \. movement to lada, then just organized. This was opposed by the French Canadians and half-breeds, and under a Canadian-French leader, Louis Riel, they organized an armed resistance, took possession of the treas- ury, and imprisoned many of their opponents. In July, 1870, an arnted force from Canada appeared in the province, captured the insurgent leaders, and gave opportunity for an elective govern- ment, which soon united with the Dominion, and is represented in the Dominion Parliament. The growth of the province since that time has been rapid. 11 III ii< '(It, CHAPTER a . / 1 1 ) K '• ' ■ I '• 1 I I r . ) I wi M -; .. . . . ,il! ' '.li 1;. .i!i. ')''., , . . • 1... I . EOnS FOR IMMIGRANTS ON THE ATLANTIC SLOPt. ' " 1 'III. )' I Why many Immigrants do not like to go to the West — Views or iuNV op OUR OWN People on the Subject — Are there not Homes for these on .THE Atlantic Slope? — Advantages of the EAst — Wisconsin and Michi- ^ CAN — Ohio, Indiana and Illinois — Tennessee — Maine, New Hampshire AND Vermont — Massachusetts and Connecticut — Northern Nwir Yottic- — Long Islanc^-Advamtage6 of New System of Ensilage here and in New Jersey — New Jersey — The Southern Counties — West Virginia — North Carolina — East Tennessee — Northern Georgia — Florida — Conclusion. ;r ).•, In.; I ;/ Mii • •■ Iv-m ini,. While we have given a full and (air description of the advan- tages which the West offers to the intending Immigrant, and have demonstrated its superiority to any other portion of the globe which is now inviting immigration, we are not unmindful of the fact that there are very many of the nearly 600,000 immigrants who have landed on our shores during the past year to whom the continuation of their journey to the far West is either a very great hardship or an impossibility. They have friends in the Eibtitkn States, who are comfortably situated, and who desire to have them near them; or they are somewhat advanced in life and have but scanty means, which would be entirely exhausted on reaching' the West ; or they have children or grandchildren whose homes are on the Atlantic slope, and to whom they would be again united ; or they are not in robust health, and die Western lands />:*#* ■■>Wk,«*»r«t'-i. S*^i!£--.«*X', w Mi )>3PH CUM U^aSTSM9 MMMJ9M. M«m M far, the climale id* unliUe thm to which they have been aoaistomed, and all the Ikde comforts of an old civiliaation have bttcome ao tndiapeiMaUe to them, that they dncad, as those ad- vance in Ufi^ always do, the privations, to which they will be ex- posed. These things did not seem ao f^ and formidable when they /were on the other side of tlpe Atku^tic as ihey do now; and if they persist in gfoiag West; these matteni wiU grow more and mmie ditUsteful to thenar tiU they denrelop into a genuine home* sickness and serious discontent. There are also very large numbers of our Eastern people who, after all, make up the la rg e r part of the emigration to the West, who, for one reason or another, while they do not care particu- larly about going to the Weal, |>f cjf^r' iobie change, and for many reasons .^^Ifp^id bfe^tt^if s»|j«fif4 wit^^a© Ga«|erf| tha« bMaii9e ^ larger captllal is aaqunred ^or cMten^e operaiionft, and k is tnOire ddfVieult to pro- aitm:lhe necessaiy quantfiy of hMd; but#ith the iiame resolate iriUv'thdre is nothing impoasihte (as Kossuth i^ys) to him wh6 wUla^ and the acbievement of a great (brtune Is not a tadk which ianii>iisiknpos8ibleti» a resolute spirHi at tiie East than sit the >^el It is iha to be conskbred that many men are not ambi- tioi»tb aeoumulate large fortunes, ilr.'J&:s^v.■^.^ DESIRABLE LOCATfONS ON THE ATLANTIC SLOPE. ^30J y have been iMtiofi have those ad- y will be ex« itdable when do now; and >w more and nuine home* ri>li -MlllJ Jt.itl people who, to the West, care particu- and for many pin A Western e. They can )roken, ready Qy accessible, ill. and buy at ! inquiry : " Is ere, all things m live as well ;he same time (s of ii llfdon ;.j ■ ■,■•! oksjlderatlons^ I ^nd padtorai rger capt^I is Kwicult to pro-' l^ftme resolute' i) to him whd* )t a ta^k which jt than ^t the' are net ambl- ;y muit foVegd sMerable time; Uion, and with it. if they can have friends, society and abundant advantages of intellectual and moral culture, they are as happy as men well can be in this life. To the»c classes we have to say: You will find a larger meosi ure of enjoyment east of the Mississippi than you would wert of it. Tliere is the same choice of occupations here as at the West. Land is not quite so low, generally, but on the other hand you avoid the long and expensive journey to the West. The agri- cultural production, under favorable circumstances, does not differ nateriaJly ; but there prices are low and the cost of trans- portation to a better and higher market is very heavy, while here you have a market almost at your doors, and that one which pays the highest price for produce. If there is a difference, as there certainly is in some sections, the Eastern climate is healthier, neither the heat nor the coW so oppressive, the rainfall sufificifent to prevent any apprehension of n drought, the insect pests much less formidable, and tlie danger from malarial fevers less serious. The intensity of the cold of winter is greater in the northern tier of States and Territories of the West than in the middle Atlantic States, and the heat of the Southwestern States and Territories ia summer has no parallel in the East. ,,,"Bat where," it may be asked, "are these lands whidhare so desirable?" It is, we answer, hardly possible to go amiss of them, Wisconsin and Michigan are as truly States for immi- grants as Iowa and Minnesota; more so than Missouri. North-: ern Wisconsin and the Northern Peninsula of Michigan have, it is true, a severe winter climate, though not more so than: North*' ern Minnesota or Dakota, and in gencfal the winter mean temperature is not lower than thati of Iowa. In both State* there are good Ijinds, yielding with pjroper culture as large crops of wheat, barley, oats, and, in ordinary seasons. Indian corn, and as many bushels of the root crops aa the trans-Mississippi States. In both these States there are extensive granng lands, and both stock-raising and dairy-farming aire already conducted on an ex- tensive scale. Both States are rich in minerals ; gold and silver are fpund in moderate quantities ; but copper, zinc, iron and lead abound, and so nearly pure as to be easily reduced; while the ci%i>*^ ■•■A^jiiu^'f « jMu::i&';r I I i IJ06 Ot/Jt WBSTEMAr EMPIRE. 9 rarer metals are found in ample quantities. Coal is less abun* dant as yet, but the immense forests furnish not only vast amounts of timber and lumber, but all the fuel which will be required for many years. Those who prefer the isolation of a new country can find homes here reasonably free from neighbors, while their crops can be speedily conveyed to market at a very moderate cost. ■" .t i'- ' ii. •' '■ * ''' 1 ' 'i ' ■ '•''! '' '" '■' ' '■" ' OAio, Indiana and Illinois have now no desirable government lands for sale, but there are valuable State lands (school and swamp lands), and Illinois especially has yet some excellent rail- road lands which can be purchased at moderate prices. A skilful farmer, buying his land low, can always be sure of making his farm pay in either of these States. There are also extensive coal and iron mines in all three. : Portions of Kentucky are desirable for immigrants, but both Middle and Eastern Tmmssee are more so. The soil is not as rich as in some of the Western States, but there is a close clay sub-soil, and the land retains and is permanently benefited by manures, and under their influence yields liberal crops. There is much heavy timber, and most of the land has to be cleared before cultivation. Hitherto much of this region, especially the Cum- berland Plateau of Middle Tennessee, has been inaccessible to markets ; but now railroads have been built, and several colonies liave established themselves there. One of these, sent out under the direction of an association of which Thomas Hughes, M. P., ("Tom Brown at Rugby") is President, have founded a colony called Rugby, and are making very fair progress in developing the region, for the time which has elapsed since their colonial enterprise was commenced. The English members of the colony are satisfied that they can accumulate property much faster than they could have done in England. ' • ii • . •< ' i., ..r. East Tennessee has not a rich soil, but its miheral wealth is very great, especially in coal and iron of the best quality. There are also some gold and silver ores, though the mining for them is only moderately profitable^ These mineral deposits exist throughout the region occupied by the Appalachian chain of mountains, and render West Virginia, Western North and South ,-'ssrw«!?^s/=-W!airi<»*i«w s;-'jifi'.M«#<,. »*i> ,■•.■■ .^..a,,. LONG ISLAND AS A HOME FOK IMMIGRANTS. 1307 9 less abun- vast amounts required for new country s, while their ry moderate government (school and xcellent rail- prices. A jre of making also extensive ints, but both soil is not as \ a close clay benefited by crops. There cleared before ally the Cum- inaccessible to Everal colonics sent out under Hughes, M. P., nded a cnlony in developing I their colonial rs of the colony jch faster than 1 ,\u 1 // leral wealth is [uality. There ining for them deposits exist hian chain of Wth and South Carolina^ and Northern Georgia and Aiabama desirable localities for those who desire to engage in mining, or who prefer to prose- cute the timber or lumber trade. But while the principal deposits of gold and silver are found in North Carolina, South Carolina and Northern Georgia, West Virginia and East Tennessee have the most -inexhaustible resources in coal, iron and lime in close proximity to each other and to the railways ; and the best salt springs and petroleum springs and wells in the country, with large tracts of black walnut and other hard-wood timber. When cleared, the lands with proper tillage yield good crops, and will continue to do so permanently. East of the Alleghany or Appalachian range there are many desirable localities. In Maine the Scandinavians, Finns and Northern Russians will find a climate much like their own, an abundance of timber, and land which, with good farming, will yield fair crops. The other New England States have many old farms which are capable of becoming profitable under intellij^'ent cultiva- tion. There are here also opportunities for employment for me- chanics and operatives in manufactories. In Northern New York the vast area known as the "North Woods," "John Brown's Tract," " The Adirondacks," etc., offers some desirable lands to an industrious farmer. The country is well watered, and its numerous lakes abound in fish and its forests in deer and other game. With the completion of some projected roads, it will be easily accessible. ' •* > • i ' ' ' But the best region for imini'grants in the State of New York is on Long Island, and mainly in Suffolk county. It seems almost incredible that 600,000 acres of land, lying between thirty- five and ninety miles from New York city, the best and most inexhaustible market in the world. With a good soil, a very , healthful climate, well watered, and having a sufficient but not excessive annual rainfall, should, from the apathy of its owners lie unimproved, and be at the present time for sale at from five to fifteen dollars per acre. And the wonder is all the greater, when we find that a railroad passes through the whole length of this tract, with several branches, and that no part of it is mere than twelve miles from the railroad, and much of it within from one to five mlleii of it, and that this railroad is now ofTcriDg every facility to farmers to transport their produce to market, and to brin^^ from the city the needed fertilizers. The shores of tlie islaiul abound in the best qualities of edible fiHh, oysters, clams, mussels, scollops, lobsters, crabs, etc., and the game-birds and four-footed game of the whole region arc abundant. On the island are forty factories for the production of oil from the menhaden, and the ti* h-Hcrap, or guano, one of the best fertilizers known, is now sent gway from the island, because there is little or no demand for it there. This apathetic condition is now passing away and the Long Island farms are in demand. The land can be cleared at from hve to ten dollars per acre, some of the timber being large enough for building purposes or (or railroad ties. It will yield fmm twenty-five to diirty-five bushels of wheat, or from twenty to tweiay-eight bushels of rye. to the acre, from 350 to 350 bushels of potatoes of the b^st quality, and with good cultivation and fair manuring, the whole region can be transformed into market gardens, fruit orchards, and strawberry, blackberry and raspberry lands of the greatest productiveness, and for oil these products there is an unfailing demand, at the highest pricos. in New York and Brooklyn and the cities adjacent.;; ,/ ,, j\u\wii 'nlJ .r»niij,i r'jioin'i/l**/ at, This is a very paradise foir the markct-^^ardener. The great cities of New York, ^rooklyj)» Jersey City and Newark, and the smaller cities and towns of Hoboken, Bergen, Bayonne, Long Island City, Yonkers, Garden City* Breslau, Hempstead. Flush- ing, Jamaica and Huntington-^r^having together a population of two and a half millions — are all largely dependent upon this re- gion for market-garden produce. The great summer resorts of Coney Island, Rock^way Beach, Long Beach, Fire Island, Mon- tauk, etc., all pn Long Island, which are visited by more than two millions of people every season, furnish, additional markets for all tl^ fruits, vegetables and root crops which can be raised. The new sy^ten^ pf ^n(^lage is destined to wotjc wonders on these Long Island ^nd New Jersey lands.* By its use and the * Ensilage it (h« narfife given to * preparation of green forage })1an)!i for winter feeding, "fhe jiUnts may be com (the UJIcr and larger growiagTarielia»prcfefreA),'Ci'bttliib it i»**in the silk}'' •:*V4**««««t; I vM^^.k^iV';«>'<^iiR'fvyu.MKT>««.^'h»)>^iK.i>a-fM^«J^f. .<.,,.«. ^^u£au .J A'A»K y/.A'sey as a home ito/t /.vy/o'A'.i.vrs. 1309 every facility and to brin^ of tlie inland ams, musseln, id four-footed land arc forty idcn, and the nown, is now no demand ng away and r lars per acre, g purposes or to tJiirty-five jufiiiels of rye. i% of the bf'st \ag, the whole fruit orchards, »f the greatest is an unfailing BrPpklyn an4 ^ II . : *. Ef. The great ewark, and the Bayonne, Long ipstead. FJush- i population of It upon this re- vmer resorts of rp Island, Mon- by more than itional markets can be raised. 4*^ ponders on it3 uae and the )r winter feeding, "the lilitl>ki»*'intheiilk}'' soiling of the cattle in summer a farmer can keep a dairy nrrd of from eighty to one hundred cows on a farm of (ilty acres, and raise in addition at least $2,yx> or $3iOCO worth of market vegetables and small fruits, wliile in the West, on the old system, he would require at least 640 acres for the same purpose. At the same time, the large amount of manure produced will enable him to keep his whole farm in the hig^uat condition for produc- tiveness. The system m very simpte, and not beyond the meant of even the poor emigrant; for the returns arc so speedy that the cost of the necessary structures can be paid for from the milk receipts of the first y<:ar. The island affords also great opportuniues for successful manu- facturing. The great city of Brooklyn, at its western extremity, has more tlian |^25cuX)o,ooo invested in manufacturing, and therii is now rapid progress in the establishment of manufacluriea in tlic counties of ^eens and Suffolki I l^tT 7; >/ -i Otntii . ii | The climate of Long Iskod is healthful and mild, the mean annual temperature being 50** and the extremes 98° or rarely 100°, and zero, or at lowest -^5". The cool siEm-bruezes moderate the summer heat and mitigate the winter's cokJ. Another region wluch posaesaett exceptional advantages for fruit-culture and market-gardening and dairy-farming is Soutkerm New jfersty. The Secrttairy of the Bureau of Suti sties of Labor and Industry of New Jersey furnisbea u» the following interesting facts relative to this region. ' ..1 4u .. <<..> . , u, , li There are more than a miUion aoref of uncleared lands i* the eight southern counties of New Jersey, which can be ptuxdaaaed at from five to twenty dollars per acre. They have been held by large proprietors, and most of th^m have their title» dirtet from the "Lords Proprietors," Pernio Fenwick, Byllinge and others, who received their granfts from Charle!^ II. 'Ilhese great I ' I I . ^ ... ■ , I , I Alfalfa, Hungarian gnus, ftgyptfan rtce com, pearl miRet or sorghum. Kiiher should be sowed very thick and cut up at the rooU, chopped up, ears and all, into piecen ■* Mcl^ aail a Mf ih leugth aiid then fi»^ in « dooe pit wiUr cwnented wallt/iand 4oor» lra|hpUd tloii|ii wtil l%\ the pit (whiqh is called^ /I'/tf) h weU filled, when it is covered with six inches of stroMr, and upon this ai^ Md heavy {iliMkt, jointed or (on^A and gfoovet^, and heavy wefghh put upon rtie top either of stone qr |p«^. Ii kMfs 9«|f«c|ly and is M Ijwoiiilb thf . wiiil^ nNdtrint my 'wm vt hay unnecessary. .<>> titnj.lt/. ''fl* fi'» •'I'ftj.l ^{iMfitii,^ r'M»i »fll MJitfc.V.-w"'**firf''lJi*i>'' 'W. *?rtii.i£A*'y' 1310 OUM WRSTMMN KUriKM, etUtet are now broken up, ami the uae of anthracite ami other coaU for the furnace* and f|flaa*(-workii, and for fuel, ban rendered their former buRiness lean productive. The soil of these lands is good, a light loam, but easily culti- vated ; it can be readily fertilised by the use of marl, which is abundant in the immediate vicinity, and is worth from %\ to f 1.75 per ton ; lime, which is worth from twelve to fifteen cents a bushel ; or 6sh guano, which is a very powerful manure, worth from %\ 5 to |i8 per ton. It will produce almost any crop which you may desire to cultivate, and yields fine crops of the tereals and Indian corn (thirty to sixty bushels of the latter), root crops, melons, market-garden vegetables of excellent quality, fruit of great excellence, and all the small fruits. Railroads traverse all these counties, and both New York and Philadelphia furnish ex- cellent markets. Iv u* '»'iiwiot,jr. ' I'll r" •«;,,' t'l '•»iij I ti The climate is very mild. tHie mean annual range of the ther- mometer being only 43^^ the mean average being about 51°, and the extremes being about 90" and is** Fahrenheit. The rainfall is about forty-eight inches. Ploughing can be done every month in the year. The culture of the grape is a favorite industry, and the grape attains great perfection from the long season without frost. The region is remarkably healthy and free from all malarious influences. It is especially commended for sufferers from pulmonary complaints. Here are glass-works, silk factories, iron mines, artificial-stone works, iron furnaces, and a great variety of other manufacturing and mining industries. "i There are desirable lands at moderate prices also in Central Piimsylvama, Northern Mmryianti, and large tracts of some of the best lands the sun shines on, though now exhausted by the slovenly farming of the period before the war, in VirgiMta. These lands can be easily reclaimed, and can be bought at reasonable prices. The lands in Eastern North Carolina, though fertile, arc very often subject to malarial fevers. Where they can be freed from these by drainage or the extensive planting of the Eucalyptus there are no better farming lands on the Atlantic coast. ii j^ffcHxaaJtaXki-iimagyM^^^ aw^.' a,' Ithracitc and other fuel, has rendered m, but eatiily cuiti- of marl, which in h frr>m $1 to $1.75 to fifteen cents a ful manure, worth est any crop which ropH of the Cereals latter), root crops, nt quality, fruit of lilroads traverse all idelphia furnish ex- range of the ther- ■c being about 51°, ihrenheit. Ploughing can be B of the grape is a perfection from the larkably healthy and pecially commended lines, artificial-stone )ther manufacturing ices also in Central tracts of some of r exhausted by the; I war, in Virgtma. can be bought at gh fertile, arc very ^ can be freed from of the Eucalyptus, in tic coast. <*■ COSCLMION. IJII Ftorid«k has received more emigrants and settlers from the North than any other Southern State. Its fine dimutc, which has had quite as much rc-puuiion as it deserves for the relief of pulmotvary diseases, its orange culture, and its fme hunting and fishing, have been its great attractionu. The cultivation of the orange haji been greatly dev<;lo|>ed, and is profitable to those who can wait for the maturity of the orange groves. They should not be permitted to bear n fiil' cro[) till they are ten years old, and from the tenth to the thirtieth year they are very profitable. At long intervals, however, a severe frost destroys the fruit, and kills or blights many of the trees. The present winter (1880- 1881 ) has been most destructive to the crop. Some parts of the peninsula are aubject to malarial diseases. conclVsiom. ■1)1, ,(i' j»,.,i I. inr. ii / I .\ I •• I. ■' 1 1 1 Imw iht trtad at pionMra ■' " '' or naliontyettobti Th« fini low wtkh of wavw, wWc i Shall roll • human m*. I hear the far-off voyagtr't horn ; I M« ihc Vanket'* Irall— HU fuot on tvcry mountatii-pMa, On ev«r]r stream hU tail. Behind ihr tcarcd xjuaw't hirrh canot. The tieamer imokcn and raves, And city lots are MakaU for laU Above old Indian graves. The rudiments > / empire here Are plastic yet and warm ( The ehaot of a aaighty world h rounding into form I —J. G. WkiTTIIR. Our task is done, our work completed. For the first time since we became a nation has an attempt been made to portray with accuracy and completeness of detail, the region beyond the Mississippi. Wc have sought to show its vast extent, its mineral wealth, its varied climate, the bountiful production of its fields of golden grain, the flocks and herds on its myriad hills and moun- tain slopes, its rapid progress in civilization and material devel- opment, the manner of men who are occupying this vast empire of the future, their advance in population, organization, education, morals and religion. We lave shown the phenomena which ISIS OVM W^STMHH MJurmM. 9^t^ make thi» We%tem Finplpe tM wrymfpflamf, nht afofN} of the globe, a« it \% tu-Vf>rr(f th« grarea of the geologic race* of animaU, and di-iirribrd the mon* iters of the age* beforv there were any meanuremf^nta of rim*- \ and wc have Hrurrht>d the leavrm of unwrttvrn hUtory to learn something of the raccH who reart-'d, agct ago, the tcrmplei and thrinen. the furtresMt and towcrw, which are now without record or inhabitunt ■' •-■ \ And not content with rhf!i, hut looking k^nrtHi tt> llilit nnt Hta- tant future, when thin continent, from the Arctic nea to th« Mexi* can gulf, and from Atlanti«'H Hurf*beat to the puUaling wairet of the I'aoihc, iihail all bo pait and { '^rcel of the mvghiient and grandest of empires ; we have ImeHy sketched th<: provin^ea of the Frozen Zone, and tht* wcsttvn ix)rtion of that Dominion to the nurth of us. to whom we stretch forth the hand of welcome ; and yet more hrieMy. have noticed the advantages which still attract immigrants to our Atlantic States. I'he efforts of the railroad companies, State boards and emi- gration societies to picture each State and Territory with which they were connected as an earthly paradise, and the unwarranta- ble depreciation of the lands of other organizations, in which they and others have iiulutged, have been alike foreign to our purpose ; and having nothing but the truth to utter, we have sought to " nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." That this fair land may develop far more rapidly than it has done in the pai '. in wealth, inteUigcnce and virtue, is our most earnest wish and prayer ; and then shall we rejoice tu realize the truth of the JMst uttered predictioa of the genial and nkty Holmcac 'tMLfn in doiricd I. irnr>iij >^ im" •• I ,M« thfl livim lida rail •tli I' i| (t'»i'j- 1 "*!••• "»t iiviiwiiot raJI o« I '^ ' It crown* with Aamipf lowtta |»:i ..Hiftj i( 'II 'J/i >.'i'|l««l«yein»to( Ubmtor, I I'll], / >i.iij I >•. fi) ti \x) r\A ^\\ r\t |i> iiMiru Tht Syt w iufd't UftJ »f flowtrib t !.»m./ ^-Ji .t!i(i. .// fill' •! I II < I ■ I< Mrcanii beyond the •plinUrcd lidgt M I {{^11 *u.rri l>rir. ftaaiButtniKXk i«niiHtWMW,l>i'{M •'li • «;n|.> nu.t •»iiipir» 1, 1./ .liill \\n\, Th«Bomio«itUoMnl",,„ ),, •,„,„,;,„ .„(t tn un.|.> .jimtHi"!! » .(loiiKsHiK^jio no' • lO*./!.!'. umIi . »'iitij) »ili >'> iVmAm ».fiwft«»ff>f!.| »f|f n'H'H^. »/«;ur, Au^nm LBD'14 n«n>n)MM jfu.i • .»N.liM^.ai'S.««:'Vl'y'lk' '.'v«l.i>r t alofw rtf the ribed the mon* m^ntt of ttmf i iftiory to learn « templet nnfl without record to that not dU- ea to th« Mfxi- ating wairf* of mtf(htieiit and H: provliwea of it Dominion to ul of welcome ; igcs which itill sarUji and cmi- tory with which the unwarranta- 8, in which they to our purpose; have nought to idly than it has ue, iH our most ce to realize the enbl and fikty II, / 'i.ti) I It. fli' *i iHii;/ »'Ii ,(iili '// ,1 ^% .,< >«|'l[,« lUl.t 'U;tn '"'t 1" Hftijo ■mIi , »»jiitii) Mil ^'' il-il f>fir, .-•(i.TJfii irf^/'-rfi-C'-'Af .,-..-o*a««-. ' -l'