New-York daily tribune., 1859-07-09
coon BYE TO THE DESERT.

a. Iesyenwofth Express Company Road strikes
.,.i river N the great Amcrcaa desert SIX mhes
s.,tA-r ~, the stream disappears IN the oeep
n;,.,v .spds OF its wide bed and is not seen again
g, ,.spty.fye miles Even mile or two oelo" i1'
,o.. ofdssppcsraDce learn that excavations IN ''s
s.a.o, depth Of esh. feetbayc fhcd to reach wafer
n. ,e,ppearance below this point is MARKED ana
...oos 70 b. caused by the timely jnnciion o small
t,buiar, from the south, which seems toll over
l.., thirsty bed and pours into the devourng sands
# the Republican a small but steady stream, aided
~ which the river begins to rcappear FIRST IN pools
..a anon in an ipsgDif amt but gradually increas-
=. .nr,ent A. the head Of this sink, the stream
ar.ppesrs in like manner to that of IT'S emergence
Hare is Station % and here are a so called spring
,,a one or two considerable pools, not yisbly con-
.,eted with the sinking river, but DOUBTLESS sus-
t.i,ed by it. And here the thirty men and teams
vAicb have been twenty-five miles without water
q, the Express Company's Road, are met by those
vl;eh have come up the longer and more southerly
route by the Smehy lIll, and which have travelled
,ir,y miles since they last found water or shade
This is a sore trial for weary, gaunt, heavy laden
cattle and doubtless proves fatal to many OF them
The Pixies Peakers from the Smoky Hill met
here With ox-,eams, had driven through tho sixty
miles at one stretch, the time required being two
Says and the ipterye ming night From this point,
westward the original Smoky Hill route is aban-
aoued for that we had been travelling, which follows
The Republican some twenty-five miles further
its bed is often dry or only mostened by little pools
from the mesgre current which filters slowly
through the deep sands below. Where the bed Is
naIrow and the channel under one bank, the petty
stream is seen creeping awsy to the Kansas, the
Missouri, the Mississippi the Gulf of Mexico.
OF course, there are seasons when the river runs
above ground throughout, and Others when the
sinh is far longer than now.
The face Of the country remains ss have al
ready described IT, save in the greater scarcity OF
wood ard water The bluffs are usually los, aud
the DRY creeks which separate them are often vide
reaches Of heavy sand, most trying to the lifted
teams There is little grass the rolling prairie
above the bluffs and that little generally thin, dead,
worthless Some of the dry creek valleys have
little that is green but thin, while the river bottom
often half mile wide-is sometimes toleraoly
erased, and sometimes sandy and sterile. oi
noe5 there is none for stretches of forty or fifty
miles: the cerrais are made of earth, aud consist
of a trench and mud or turf wall; one or tSo
station. houses are to be built of turf If ever built
nj sl and at one station the fuel is brought sixty
miles from the pinercs further west Even the
grasses are often coarse and rushy. or so alkaline
rs 10 be injurious to cattle; the more common
plants seem 10 be Wild sage aud wild wormwood
the Cacius--whch had begun to appear some 200
miles baek-grows common, but is dwsried by the
pervading sterilty; the Spanish Netsle and PrekIy
Pear are abundant further on. But little rock is
seen, and that looks Ike volcanic eonglomerate.
Yet the river such il is is the life Of this region;
the Ground Squirrel Of the prarits digs his holes
proiusely in IFS vcinsge; the Hawk and the Raven
circle and sweep in pursuit of him; the Antelope
ofleu lcoks down from the ridges, and is hunted
with success; the bark Of the Coyote is heard, and
the Gray Wolf proNls fearless and ferocious, aud
Sees net hesitate 10 rob COWS of their young calves
m spite of the desperate maternal resistance, and
even 10 attack and disable ponies. The harness OF
the mules which draw the express wagons have
been often guawed and injured as they hung up
he.ide the tents, IN which half dozen men were
sleeping. by these impudeut miscreanis. They
may easily be shot BY sny one who will bait and
patiently, skillfaly hunt them
A ride over rolling divide Of some twenty
miles brought us 10. he BIZ Sandy, running south
west TO become tributary (when it has anything to
contribute) to the Arkansas. Like the Republican,
II is sometimes running stream, sometimes e sue
eession Of shallow pools, sometimes waste Of
deep, scorchiug sand A few psltry cotton-woods,
a Few bunches of low willow, may have graced it's
banks or those Of some dry creek running into il,
in the course Of the twenty miles or Sc thst We
followed up its northern bank, but DO not now
remember any. rcccleet only that the grass at
intervals along its narrow bottoms seemed little
better than on the upper course Of the Republican.
One popularity Of the BIZ Sandy had not before
obseryed--ihat Of thin alkaline incrusiatien-
mainly Of scdS. l believe-coveriug msny scres Of
the smoother sands Of its dry bed OF course.
the water Of its stsgnSnt pools must be pr,judcis
t. man or beast. AZ length, We crossed its deep,
irving sand and leit il behind Us, passing over =
high divide much cut up by gulies through
witch the water of the Vet seasons aOWs Snd ,esrs
its WAY 20 the Arkansas on the south The Platte
on the north, until We struck st SS eyeaiog, the
hr, hvpg Tributary to the PlS,te-a httle creek
called Beaver, which have not seen on any map
1t is sbou, ten miles east Of the BjCu with which
itprcbsbly uuites before rcSching toe Pls,te.
After leaving the valley OF Big Ssady, the grass
of the SplNnds becomes better, aud is no lsnger
confined 10 the wa;crcourScs II sPrcSGs in green
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