Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-03-30
The LInno E..acndo.

N-NNNN~N@NH
The value of that table-and in Northern
Texas known as the Llano Estacado or
"Staked Plain, is Just beginning to be felt
Until very recently this vast plateau was the
favorite stamping ground of the Comanches,
Kiowas, Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Lipan
Apaches, and impractcable to settlers. The
nearest military posts were Fort Bascom in
New Mexico, Camp Supply, and Fort Sill, in
Indian Territory, and Forts Davis Griffin,
and Concho on the southwestern boundary
of the plain in Texas, and the grounds in the
Canadian and Pecos river bottoms could only
be used for stock raising by large parties of
well-armed men, and even these were some
times overwhelmed aud massacred by the
large bands of Indians making periodical
raids from their reservations. Now, howev-
er, that cantonments have been established
at Antelope Hills, the Escondido, Carson's
Fort, DEVILS River, Eagle Springs, and 9TH
er points along the Canadian and Pecos, with
constant scouting parties from Forts Supply,
Ooncho and Sill patrolling the border and
ready to act promptly in case of an Indian
outbreak, such protection is afforded that
stockmen are rapidly moving in.
The elevation of the Staked Plain is about
3, 500 feet above the sea. 1t is SO level that
observations for latitude have been success
fully taken upon it in many places without
recourse to the, e,articial horizon, and it is lux
urantly covered for many thousand square
miles with that most nutritious of grasses
the gramma. Until recent years. when mis-
chievous Indians and still more deadly hide
hunters drove them from their pasture, bison
tenanted this immense area to the number of
several millions, finding abundant sustenance
even in winter. The facts show conolusively
the adsptability of the Llano Estscado for
the purpose to which it is now to be devoted.
Ona 1f6 nultv in fha. wa Of itg antira ufili-
cation still exists During the rainy season
the plateau is well covered with water holes
ponds and small lakes, but by the middle of
July these are drained by bison, antelope,
and the heat, and only the 6aTrGHcdS or deep
ravines, and the water-courses of the Cana
dian, Pecos, Brazos, and their tributaries re-
main AS these are on the boundary of the
great plain, the main portion of it, though
covered with grass, is impractcable for pas
ture. This obstacle would appear to be in
superable we're it not that previous expert
ments in New Mexico and Kansas have shown
that artesan wells may be sunk in almost
any portion of these table-lands with success.
The ninety mile desert lying in New Mexico
between Forts Craig and Selden, for example,
and still called the Jornada del Muerto or
Journey of Death" was, until 1867 per-
fectly waterless 1t is separated from the
Rio Grande by the precipitous range known
as the Fra Cristobal and travellers were COM
PEELED either to take three days supply of
water with them or go Is miles out of their
way to the alkali spring called Ojo de Muer-
to, or Spring of the Dead" where Fort Nc
Rae now stands, and where the Apaches were
wont to lie in wait. Being the thoroughfare
to Chihuahua and Sonora, this road was much
travelled, and so many men and beasts per-
ished upon it from thirst or were murdered
by Apaches that it well deserved its name.
In 1867, however, Jack Martin, noted char
acter in that section, obtained aid from the
| government to sink well midway between
the two posts. Water was struck at $50 feet,
| and rose to within IA feet OF the surface, and
the supply is ample not only to meet the re-
| quirements of passing OK trains, but for a
| large number of cattle which he has since
purchased. In 1874 he sunk a similar we'll
at the Round Mountain, 25 miles from Fort
Craig, and recently still another, toward Sell
| den. Both of these yielded sweet water at
| the same depth, and the Jornada is now q
most valuable pasture, with thousands of
cattle grazing upon it.
The geological formation of the Llano Es-
tacado is almost identical with that of this
former desert, with the exception that it is
not hanked by mountains Its substratum
| being lava, however, as is the case with the
Jornada, but little of the rainfall can escape
!
than probable that few experiments with
drive-wels would demonstrate the possibili-
ty of reaching water at no great depth any
where on the plain. The fact that colonies
| of prairies dogs are to be found even in its
central portion is a significant one. These
little animals. like other rodents, soon perish
| if exposed to thirst, and as they are to be
found scores of miles from any spring or
stream, the frontier theory that they burrow
IL. l.. i Nl,,g- ,l,-
themselves is borne out. The abundant
growth of yucca and gramma grass also in
dicates strongly the presence of subterranean
waters, and in the opinion of military engin-
eers who have recently explored that section,
ihe entire great plain can be successfully tap
ped by the drill and made habitable. In
view of its immense extent and fertility, the
Llano Estacado is a proper field for immedi-
ate investigation, aud if experiment supports
the theory now held, it will be one of the
most valuable tracts in the country.-N. y.
! Times