New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-06-20
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
u-THE AMERICAN DESERT

m Prairie Dog Greek, whence l wrote two Gays
AGO. were dissipated BY violent gale, which
threatened to overturn the heavy wagon N which uy
tuow.p,ssepgers and we're counting seep--hsd
:, .,ood bsosdside 70 the wind, il must have goae
over. lei customary, / learn, to stake down the
wagons epcanped on the OPEL prairie; in the val.
,e,s Of the creeks, where tho Company's Stations
are located, this precaut0 10 deemed ssperAuous.
But the winds which sv ,eep the high praires OF
this region are terrible; the few trees that grow
thnly along the cre',k bottoms rarely venture 10
raise their heads ab'ye the adjacent outis to which
they owe their dou otful hold on existence.
For more than. a hundred miles back, the soil
has been steadily degenerating, until here, where
we strike tho Republican, which has been far to
the north Of US since We left it at Fort Riley, 300
miles back, we seem TO have reached the acme q
bsrrenness and desola.ion We left shis morning
Station IL on little creek entitled Gouler, at least
50 miles back, and did not a tree and but one
banch Of low sbrubs in dry watercourfe through
out our dreary morning ride, till we came in sight
Of he Republican which has litte-a very little
-scrubby cottonwood nested in and along its
bIvffs Just here but there is beside for miles,
save a little lurking in ravine which makes down
10 the river from the north. OF grass there Is
little and that little Of miserable quality--either
scspty furze or coarse alkaline sort of rush, less
at for food than pbysc. Soil there is none but an
inch or 90 Of intermittent grass-root tangle based
on what uiuslly seems TO be thin stratum OF clay,
often washed of 80 TO leave nothing but slightly
argillaceous sand. Along the larger watsr-courses
this one especiay-ths sand seems to be as pure
a. Sahara can boast.
The desrth of water is fearful. Although the
whole region is deeply scanned and quilted by
watercourses-now dry, but in rainy weather
mill streams-nO springs burst from their steep
sides We have not passed drop of living water
in all our mornings ride, and but few pailfals of
muddy moisture at the bottoms Of very few of
the fastdryiDg sloughs or suDken holes in the beds
of dried-up creeks. Yet there has been much rain
here this season, Of it not loag ago. But this
il region of stcrty and thirst. If utterly unfed
the grass Of season would hardly suffice, when
dry, to noursh prairie'ffe.
Even the animals have deserted u.s. No Buffalo
have been seen this year within many miles of US,
though their old paths lead occasionally across this
country; i presume they pass rapidly through it,
as should urgently sdyse them to de- not Cray
Wolf has honored US with his company tO-day-he
prefers to live where there is something to eat
the PrArieDo also wisey shuns this land of starv
alton; no animal but the Copper "a little creature
between q mouse and ground-squrreD abeunds
here; ard he burrows deep in the sand and picks |
up living, cannot guess how; while a few |
HAWKS and an occasional Prairle-WOii (aoyOta)
lives by picking here aud there Copper. They
must find him disgustingly lean.
Twoud match this Station and its surroundings
sgspst any other scene on our continent for desO-
lstion From the high prairie over which we ap-
proach it, you overlook grand sweep of treeless
desert through the middle of which flows the
Republican, usually in several shallow streams Sc
paraied by sandbars or islets-its whole volume
being far less than that of the Mohawk at Utica,
though it has drained above this point equal
to that of Connecticut. OF the few scrubby cot
tonwoods lately covering under the bluffs at this
point, most have been cut for the uses of the Sta
top, though logs for its embryo house are drawn
from little clump, eight miles distant. broad
bed of sand indicates that the volume OF water is
sometimes hundred fold its present amount,
though it will doubtless soon be far less than il now
is. Its average depth cannot now exceed six
inches On every hand, and for many miles above
and below, the country above the bluffs is such as
we have passed over this morning. \ dead mule
bitten in the jaw this morning by rattlesnake-
lies here as il 10 complete the scene. On the track
TO Pixies Peak, al is drcary, solitude and silence.
Speaking Of Rattlesnakes--I hasten to retract |
the sbeptcism avowed in former letter as TO the |
usual and welcome residence Of these yenomous
serpents in the Prairie-Dog'e burrow. The evil |
dence of the fact is too direct and reliable TO be
g,iusayed. credible witness tcstifes that 10 and
others once undertook TO drown out Praire-Dog |
in his domic, and when sufficient water had been |
rapidly poured in, out came Prairie-Dog, an Owl |
and Rsttl, snake all together In another a
tremendous rain raised creek that it suddenly |
oveIhowed Prairie-Dog town, when the general
stampede Of Prairie Dogs, Owls and Rattlesnakes
was sight to behold. ltis idle TO attempt holding
out against facts; SO have pondered this anomaly
until think clearly comprehend it. The case is
much like that of some newspaper establishments,
whose proprietors it is said, find it convenient to
keep on their staff "a broth Of boy" from Tip
perary, standing Elk feet two in his stockings and
measuring yard or more across the shoulders
who stands ready, with an Elegant brogue, twin
HE in his eye and a hickory ssphng firmly grasped
in his dexter fst, 10 respond to all choleIic per-
emptory customers, who call of a morning, hot
with wrath and brstliDg with cowhide, to demand
a psrley with the editor. The Csyota is gentle
man of an inquiring, investigating turn, who is an