The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-03-02

Early Oregon sKtssIons---Their Ina
pOrtance in Securing the Conn
Try to Americans.
NUMBER TwELYE.1


On leaving Laramie the whole face Of
the country is changed in appearance. -
East of that meridian the principal Oh
jects that strike the eye of The traveller
are the absence of timber, .he immense
expanse of prairie, covered with Il
rich verdure Of grass, wonderfully adapt
ed for pasturage. Countless herds of
buffalo and bands Of flying antelope give
animation 10 the country. The absence
of mountains in the distant horizon, and
Of the songs os birds in the morning,
give to il a solemn feeling. But west of
Laramie the country is sandy aud sterile
in appearance 4 constant succession cf
hills or mountains, with their black sum.
mits-occasioned by scattered growth of
stinted cedar-takes the place Of the end.
less plains. The place of the grass is
usurpcd by the cerfemissia, or sage, which
in these Black Hills is changed from u
shrub to a stout tree, 6 or feet high and
s inches thick, aud was very troublesome
to our wagon, and impregnated the air
strongly with the odor of camphor and
spirits of turpcntine, which belongs TO
this plant. The fcathered songsters
greet US in the morning from the small
clusters Of brush and cacti, or prickly
pear. The sbig horn," or mountain
sheep, and the "black-tailed" deer have
taken the place of the antelope, and the
hills hide most of the buffalo herds from
the eye. But the same low believing
and pounding of the buffalo bulls WOO us
to sleep at night, aud the frequent villages
of little yelping prairie dogs in the bot
toms still amuse Us by day. Good cur
rants, service-berrics and cherries grow
upon the streams. The magpie, and fresh
holes Of the badger arc seen. Terrific
storms Of wind, accompanied with torrents
of rain or hail, occasionally visited US
from the higher mountains.
Probably no human being can form
any just estimate of the countless millions
of buffalo which once inhabited the vast
prairie plains bounded on the west by the
crest of the Rocky Mountains and extend
ing south to Texas. Capt. Fitzpatrick
who from his long residence in the coun-
/ try is probably good authority on the sub.
,1ject, thought man might start from any
point of this long cham Of mountains
land travel east, and ever be in the midst
of large bands of buffalo, and never be
out Of view of them till he should arrive
almost in sight Of the settlements. These
i were emphatically Gods cattle upon q
thousand hills a thousand times told-the
ready food for numerous tribes of Red
Men that have disappeared, while the
remnant few, like the once great bands oi
buffalo, are fast passing away, witliout
God and without hope.
The former ages it seems the buffalo
did not frequent the regions vest Of the
Rocky Mountains. This is the testimony
of the oldest Indians, and the absence
here of their deep-worn highways, which
leveryWhere appear on the Eastern side
would favor that idea. But after the
whites began to traverse every mountain
stream for beaver, the buffalo appeared
between the years of 1910 and 1929, on
the waters Of the Columbia and Snake
rivers as low down as Salmon Falls. In
| 1880 band appeared in Grande Rondc
and when vent to Fort Colville, in 1889
saw few old skulls, quite perfect In
1886 there were a few to be found on the
Portneuf and in reach of Fort Hall. Now
4 (1867) none are to be found on this side
the mountains, and on the East side they
are being .bemmed up into four small
lpatches. have taken thefollowing table
from Mr.. Fremont, which was furnished
him by Mr.. Sanford of the American Fun
Company: 49,
| "The total amount of robes annually
traded, by ourselves and others, will moi
be found to differ much from the follow
4 ing statement:
Robes
: American Fur Company ny.................... 10000
Hudson's Bay Company any.................... 0,00(
All other sources, probably ..........,,.. 10000
Making total of ......... 90 ,OOl
] as an average annual return for the las