The Daily state register. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1870-1872, 1872-01-05
THE PLAINS

The history of that great eXpanse
Of plains and mountains which first
became widely known in 1919 as
The Plains" if it could be written,
would more than demonstrate the
force of the oft repeated expression,
Truth is stranger than Fiction.
But it will never be fully written up.
HE deeds Of the pioneers persisted
with the act in most cases. The
witnesses were more familiar with
the rifle than with the pen.
The grandest field for heroisln, for
force OF character, for bravery, for
daring and endurance has been lost
and forgotten in a darker than the
so-called Dark Ages. The heroes
Lave mostly gone to their silent
Graves. The story Of the lives OF the
early mountaineers aud trappers was
unwritten, and even tradition IS fast
losing memory Of the later deeds OF
the generation that poured as a fiery
Hood over that vast plain, and along
he t~orteous winnings of the river
beds that separate the East from the
West.
The Omaha Herald has been favor
ably situated TO garner up the float
lng fragments OF. those early days
It's location has given it access to
many sources of information Inac-
cessible to remote chronicles. Its
numerous sketches OF the early fIe-
4aenters OF the great basin of the
Missouri, and the hostile and dreary
regions to the westward, have done
much to preserve their memories,
aud to throw light on the hayward,
eventual history of one Of the most
remarkable regions or this continent.
Reviewing some Of these facts in 4
iate number that journal remarks:
Some biologists tell us thaS the
sea. az immense lakes, once rolled
their dark and turbulent waters ovar
the whole country, and that the
mountain peaks now were then the
islands dotting the waters surface.
More recent indications show the
Wild and almost limitless abode of
the Indian and buffalo, and the ex-
cayatiOns of the Union Pacific rail
road show that q race Of animals
many times larger than any now IN
existence once roamed over the hills
and valleys. and they also show in
retritied forms the existence OF shell
fish and other denizens OF the deep,
scattered in millions all over tie
ground, and TO the depth ofhundreds
u feet.
What a wonderful history this
would be could it be written and the
facts known instead ofbeing Guessed
ii by slow and imperfect scientific
investigation. Marvels would ap-
pear of which we have now only q
faint conception.
But we did not mean to speak OF
these ancient landmarks. but Of the
more recent history, since the first
emigrant train startedf for the Golden
State. What hopes and fears, what
success and disappointments, what
~rlfiering and death, these desolate
pIains have witnessed, i never be
Known.
But we know this: it IS from the
Missouri to the PaGiicc0as5 one vast
burial place Of hopes and fears and
SEPARATIONS in the graves OF mon and
omen
How often il driving hundreds OF
niles over these plains wehaTe come
across the solitary mound which
marked the final resting place of q
human being, but with no mark to
tell why death found him OF her
amid the vast plains.
Whether accident or sickness, or
Violence among those once friends,
o., the arrow OF sealping knife Of the
Indian, or treachery for gold, or the
din of battle, none can tel We
anIv know thai q human being like
ourselves sleeps the last sleep al1He
On the wild waste, and n most in
Stances the secret will not be known
until the .'sea gives up its dead"
Ia Ii burial place seventy-two
rapose, and only two Of the whole
number died a natural death. All
the rest fell by the hand Of violence.
e