The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1860-09-01
A TRIP TO THE GREAT PLANS.
From EmpOrla to she Arkansa. and Back.
By J. Il. WATSON .
Continued,

Continually
FiIoy. July 2o.-Made an early start
this morning. 1 should have said, when
speaking of camping. DC, that about day
light, or little before. our cattle were
turned out and herded as in the evening.
and that By the time breakfast was over
they were generally pretty well filed.
We continued a southwest course The
greater part of the country we passed over
this forenoon was covered with a soil two or
three inches in depth. beneath which was
yellow sand. The only growth was short
fuzzy grass, called buffalo grass, not more
than an inch or two in length, and which
appeared to be dead. The whole earth was
literally burnt up; the very cactus, which
abounds here, seemed to be whitening fer
the want of rain. Not green shrub. flow
er,, oreven a stone, nor living thing, ex-
cert occasionally Struggling wolf. was
observed to break the monotony of the
scene. The wind was Immediately before
US. and seemed to be as hot as if il came
from burning log heap near by.
Snder remarked that the wolves were
coming out to meet him, or rather to ex
press their satisfaction at the prospect of his
medting them. 81 have several hundred Of
these pets" said he, tout here, and they
will be set of ungrateful dogs if they
should begrudge me few of their pelts nexi
winter, in view of the exceeding care take
to apPease their wolfsh appetites this sum
mer. AT present they feel as if they owed
me an eternal debt of gratitude, and you se5
tile poor dumb brutes take this method 81
exp essing it. What on earth else can they
be doing out here %
Towards noon we began to perceive the
sand hills b.yond the Big Arkansas !; at the
same time they made their appearance of
to our right.
The course Of the Arkansas is not marked,
rs most other streams in Kansas, by CON
iDuous stretch Of woodland. bul by a small
Cluster of colt nwood, or single tree, oft
en- miles apart the stream in the inferno
diate space is often bounded, on one side ol
the other. by sand banks, occasionally GOV
cred with small growth Of plum lushes.
At noon we halted to rest and feed our
cattle on the banks of the Big Al kansas
The valley here, and as far up "a we
Travelled. Is principally on the north side oil
the river. and varies from half to three,
miles wide. The banks are low, and the
bed Of the river seemed to be higher than
tie surrounding plains. Notwithstanding
the great droutb, and the immense herds o
buffalo that had been but recently feeding
on this valley, the grass looked green, and
We found pretty good grazing for our cattle
This is the more surprising when we take
into consideration that it springs up through,
deep deposit of pure yellow sand. The
waters of the river must evidently soak
through the sand throughout the valley,
thus causing the fertility above alluded to-
You can obtain pure, COL water anywhere
in the valley by digging down few feet
The river is from quarter to half mile
wide; the waller muddy and shallow. di
vided by innumerable sand bars. Tie
whole appearance of the stream very much
resembles the Missouri. When we remem-
Der that this river rises in the Rocky Mum
tains, and take into consideration the vast
extent of country it traverses and drains.
we may form some idea of the immense
amount of water that must find its way into
its channel, and unless the water soaks
through the sand, as already suggested, we
would BE- unable to understand why, in TIM
of a flood, the whole country should not be
inundated.
We met some hunters, who live on the
Walnut. returning. They had three steers
which they had found on the plains This
company looked sad ard detected !; they bal
left The bones of one of their comrades t.
molder on the banks of the Arkansas. This
youth was accidentally shot, by throwing
an armful of wood into wagon on loaded
gun.
ITO be continued 1