The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-08-02
THE GREAT AMERICAN DESSERT.

1t was but a few years ago, comparatively
speaking, that the magnificent country drain
ed by the Missouri, Columbia, Colo
RADIO and Platte rivers was known up.
on our maps as the Great North
American Desert. The line of the
western settlements rested upon the banks of
the Mississippi and lower Missouri and the
country beyond towards the setting
sun was not as we'll known as
the heart of Africa is to-day. A few
trading posts had been established in the re-
cesses of the then wilderness which annually
sent their seasons gathering of turs and pei
tries to markets within the borders of civili-
cation. The hunters and trappers who gem
orally had charge of these desert products
were either very ~reticent men and not dis,
posed to yield much information, or were of
that class whose glowing tales of the immense
stretches of beautiful land reaching to the
Pacific were taken as the idle chatter of
boastful men. Hence the savage was left to
roam undisturbed over the hunting grounds
of his fathers and the star of empire which
had taken its westward way to the Father of
Waters halted upon its banks. There it would
p robably have remained to the present day
had not Marshal's keen eye detected the Shin
ing gold while digging the race for SUIT
ter's saw mill at Coloma. That little nugget
was the key that unlocked the treasury of the
continent.
The world knows what followed its discov-
cry. How armies of ad yenturers forced their
way to the Pacific through a trackless wilder
ness and broke the solitude of an unknown
land. How hostile savages were, inch by
inch and foot by foot pressed to yield their
hunting grounds to make room for the per-
encroaching whites. How towns
aud cities have sprung up on the line of the
several pathways made by the brave, hardy
of this western land. How its pro-
life soil and u~nbounded ranges have proved
that instead of a great desert being found
here, there is a great country capable of sup
plying homes for millions of souls; a country
Astounding in mineral wealth, in fertile val
leys. in immense forests and magnificent
streams; a country Astounding in all the ele-
ments OF wealth and with a climate unsur-
passed for salubrity and healthfulness. 1t is
no longer known as the Great American Des-
ert. States and Territories have been carved
out of that mythical land. Cities have been
built within its borders, railroads are travers-
ing its area and civilization has usurped the
throne of the savage.
Even the Bad Lands. which by the great
of western men have been classed
As desert, are fairly entitled to honorable
The following from the St. Paul
Pioneer-Press of the 10Th inst. proves that
,ney are not too 'bad' for agricultural pur-
poses. Referring to the arrival of Mr.. Willard
and party from a visit to a portion of the
5 Great American Desert " it says:
"The Villard.party arrived from their west
srn tour yesterday, a part Of them stopping
1t Minneapolis, and part coming direct to St.
Paul. The journey was a succession of sur
3rises for the party, and profound astonish.
nent was constantly expressed. Where they
to find stretches of waste lands,
he teeming soils, the growths, the thrifty ap-
'earance Of the farms, the humble of streams,
he pleasant lakes, and the progress of the
u upOu tiiclE Tudu were SlClcCIS OIL won
They saw enough to convince them of
he value of their property, in the language
If one OF the party, to make them all the
more anxious to protect it by vigorous work
n pushing their lines to completion. The
Bad Lands were a revelation. Even in the
1eart of them was found a ten-acre garden
spot or top of one of the buttes. Cattle
found that had gone through the winter,
and are now fattening rapidly. Reports
rom Montana were even more glowing than
hose concerning Dakota. Everywhere crops
looking finely, with the exception of
wet spots where the land could have
oeen easily drained"
In view of the above it would indeed be
hard to find any considerable area of land in
he Great Northwest that can properly be
a desert.