The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-07-31
wn.rs wss,ern Emigration vim cea.e,

VIII ue aa1aIHed up at our present western
frontier.
He divides Kansas and Nebraska into
three main sections the bottom lands on
the rivers, the arable prairies that rise up
from them, and the Bad Lands, or the
Manvois Ts77es of the French trappers
Back of the latter spread out "vast rain
less plains, sometimes, though rarely
broken by streams of water, yet usually
covered BY short grass, sufficient for the
ordinary purpose of pasturage." He be-
lieves that when the Bad Lands are
reached, final barrier will be interposed
to the establishment of large agricultural,
mercantile, or even pastoral communities.
He founds this conclusion upon number
of reasons, the most important Of which
are, the insnfiiciency of water, or the rain
lessness of the great central plains, arising
from the necessity of their position and
from natural causes which the writer ex-
plains at length and, secondly, the in
adequacy of the sofia fact alleged on
the strength of scientific observation and
the practical experience of emigrants. If
this theory be correct, and the grounds
upon which it rests have lately been laid
before the Smithsonian Institution. in an
elaborate paper, by Prof. Henry, Kansas
and Nebraska will be the shores at which
will terminate vast ocean desert, nearly
one thousand miles in breadth, bounded
on the west by the great producing States
of California and Oregon, and on the east
Ivy the great sites of manufactories-kan-
sas and Nebraska. with soil capable of
supporting a million of workmen, and
llayers of coal which will form the fuel of
tens of thousands of square miles. These
Territories, the writer thinks, will be the
eastern coast of the great desert seattle
great manufactures of the Union, and the
| furnishing warerooms where the people
| of California will exchange their gold and
quicksilver, and those of Oregon their fish
and lumber, for the hardware, the clothes
and the furniture which the manufacto-
ries of the Missouri Valley will produce.
| The only remark we have to make upon
this important if true" development is,
that the more the great West has been
practically explored and tested. the better
it has been found to be, for all practical
purposes.-N T. journal Of Commerce.
In the old maps, all that region of coun-
try extending from the present boundary
of Missouri to the Rocky Mountains, was
described as ]" The Great American Desert
inhabited only by bufaloes and rowing
tribes of wild Indian" Modern writers
taking their cue from Morse and Wood.
bridge, havs continued the representation
and, until within the past few years, it was
supposed that all that region now embraced
within the limits Of Kansas and Nebraska
was a barren, arid desert. And even
now, scientific writers, drawing their in.
formation from these old maps, and from
what they suppose scientific deductions
represent that the western portion oI
Kansas, indeed the whole of it. ranging
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty
miles from its eastern boundary, is "vas
rainless plain, wholly worthless for ag.
rieultural purposes, or for the abode o.
man. And yet it is well known that it i.
inhabited by bufaloes and rowing tribe.
of wild Indians"
| We had supposed that "bufaloes and
wild Indians" required something be.
sides "arid deserts" from which to draw
sustenance, and that a country capable o
sustaining life in its rude form, withou
the aid of science. would be susceptible O
doing it to far higher extent with tht
aid of that knowledge of agricultural sub
Iiects possessed by the present Alpine
generation.
But independent of logical conclusions
we have abundant evidence which estab
lish the fact that "The Great American
Desert" is myth, found only in active
lmaginations, but that it does not exist il
fact. Late travellers all concur in repre-
senting that the whole of Kansas, extend
| ing quite to the slope of the Rocky Noun
tains, is capable of yielding every species
of vegetation common to the temperate
zone. Col. FREMONT remarked that $50
two hundred miles from the eastern
boundary of Kansas it was capable of be
ing converted into a continuous corn
! field" He spoke of this portion of tn
| Territory, and no more Of it, because h
was not acquainted with it for any create
distance west than that mentioned. Hi
routes to the Pacific extended in each in
stance up the Kansas river to the Bi;
Blue, or Republican, and thence north t
the Platte, giving him little or no knowl
edge of the immense country lying ives
of the Republican, Smoky Hill, &c, EN-
braced in the present limits of Kansas
Indeed, the path of nearly all our western
travellers to California, or Oregon, com
mencing with Lewis & Clark, has lai
either north of the 10th, or south of th
9th parallel of latitude. But within tn
past year new class of adventures, in
| spired by other motives than seeking gold
or establishing colonies on the Paci6
slope of the Rocky Mountains, hav
visited those regions, and they concur il
/ representing it as Agoodiy land
abounding with all the esspents of res
wealth. The soil is productive. Will
water, though not abundant, is yet plen
tiful. On the uplands there is littleor n
timber, yet it is found along the bottoms
as is the case in all prairie countries. Fo
four hundred miles west of the eastern
boundary of Kansas. the country is vel
adapted to agricultural purposes. Wes
of this is found a large region, less noun
famous than the New England States
but abounding, like those States. In mia