White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1860-02-16
WHOLE NUMBER, 1856.
The Great Par Ws.t.

/ A..
We have recently noticed IN our col.
umns the arrival Of steamer at st. Louis
which had come down the Missouri for
25OOmiles, having started ct point where
was barely water enough to allow her to
turn. Col. Galphin, passenger in this,
steamer, communicated to the st.. Louis
Democrat, a graphic account Of the cour<
try traversed by the great river and is
branches, from which account, % eondsns-
ed, we take the following az ,,rs7r
"The plains occupy g longitudinal
parallelogram Of nearly thousand
miles in width. and extend from Texas
to the Arctic coast, presenting an area
equal to the twenty. four States east of thu
Mississippi. They have 9 slight slope,
from the west to the east and abound in riv.,
ers and streams, which serve, like the
Nile, to irrigste rather, than drain tbs
neighboring surface. having few Efin-s
ents. and running from west to east. ia /,
shallow, broad beds, through long, fat,
narrow basins. They are destitute of,
timber, even single trees being scarce,
though thickly clad with nutritious grass
and swarming with animal life. Chsir
soil is chiefly a fine, calcarsous mould,
admirably adapted for pssturage, and |.
good arable farming land is found along
the banks of the rivers. -'.-i .
Col. Galphin describes the climats to-
be- in many respects, like Egypt, rAin- I
less, favorable to longevity, intellectual
and physical developments and stimula-
tive OF high social civilization. Storms
are rare, except during the melting Of
snow upon the crest Of the Rocky Noun.
tains. These plains, commonly regarded
as deserts irreclaimable, he declares,
swarm with animal life; and be esti-
mates the buffalo, which find their living
upon them. at twenty millions, all Of
which subsist mainly upon gramma or :
buffalo grass, which the dry Atmosphere
crisps into highly nutritious hay. o.;
A million of Indians have until lately
subsisted altogether upon the game which
they furnished. and they are capable Of
sustaining q vast pastoral population.
Six-tenths of the food of the human fam,
lily, the Colonel thinks, is or ought to BE- !,
animal, the result Of pastoral agriculture
and as the northwest is now the granHry
OF the world. so he maintains. viii the
Far West furnish its supplies Of animal
food consisting Of meat, milk, butter,
cheese, poultry, eggs. wool and honey.
These plains, without Q single abTupa
mountain, timber space, desert or lake,
running smoothly out to the navigabls
Missouri, Mississippi and St. LaWrsnce.
and to the Texas coast, not . portion u !
whose whole sweep of surface il mors /.
than thousand miles from the bsst nav. +.
igation. must become the pastoral garden
of the world. Ca 1i1silii5s
They are everywhere adapted % suss >
tain pastoral population. Abode bricks
Or dwellings, imprevious to heat or cold,
can be made anywhere plaster, lime,
clay and sand exist beneath nearly every
acre bituminous coal is abundant, buffs.s
10 dung is scattered everywhere and
wood fuel is found plsntifnlly by digging,
for the trees are stunted by the dry st.,
r.osphere. while the roots spread out In
all directions. -i
Mr.. Galphin does not claim for -thass
vast plains and cardinal basis Of the future
empire Of commerce and industry but
maintains, from their ample dimensions
and positions, their climate, abnndanes5
Of fuel, buildiDg material and animal life,
that they are not only adapted to Be the
home Of millions Of happy fresmsn. bat
that they will be the pasture Geld Of the
world" - lct- e. isE