The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1892-12-22

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"Who kROtrs It tpdSn't that J0omdRf"
Spread out the map again. Put your
finger down at the town Of Great Bend,
in southern Kansas, on the Arkansas
river. Annihilate by a backward step
Of forty years all signs Of the white
mans presence that now lie so thick
throughout the length and breadth Of
this fertile valley of the "NileOf Kansas
the mysterious stream whose noun
tain fed waters are said to flow more
below ground than above.
Picture q vast rolling prairie covered
with all the shades Of grass that ever
grew. Fresh and spring green in the
sloughs, lush and long and June green
on the river margins, burned brown on
the southern slopes and misty and gray
on the uplands where the buffalo grass
spreads. The river Is hidden by it.
Higher than a mans head the rank grass
waves in every passing breeze or stands
mOtionless in the August sun. To the
waters very edge the traveller must go
10 look upon its slow sliding food.
Down from the higher lands, north
and south, come narrow paths worn by
the feet Of the mighty buffalo as he
journeys with the seasons and halts and
stamps at the river brink while he slakes
his thirst. His "wallows" dot the up
lands here and there-bare, round
patches ten or twelve feet across, where
his lordship has rolled and turned on
every journey till the tough sod is worn
through and not spear Of grass sprouts.
At right angles to these deep, slim
paths run the Santa Fe Trail; at times
near the brink Of the river, again cut
ting across a loop from bend to bend,
and them climbing to the highlands to
avoid o marsh or deep ravine.
Along its track is strung a long caval-
cade, the returning Santa Fe train for
the summer Of eighteen hundred and
ffty-one. Rows of immense covered
wagons, four abreast, and drawn by
many yoke of oxen, weary plodders
with heads downbent and heavy Jokes
rubbing their CALLED necks. Pack mules
with their tight padded panniers strapped
on their sides and their huge ears flap
ping In time with their trim feet.
BrOnchos with gay, careless riders, and
with none, nipping the tenderest tufts
Of grass and weed tops that are to their
liking. Frontierslnen with furtive eye
and ever ready rife, clad in buckslCin
and cottonade of indescribable cut.
United States infantry in decidedly I'M
dress uniform, weary Of the march and
thirsty for war-Indians, Spaniards,
ambush, anything, they said, to break
the monotony Of sun and heat, the climb
ing Of one rise" to SEQ another beyond,
and the never ending sea Of grass.
Stragglers from nobody knew whence,
going nobody knew where. The name
less hangers on, outcasts and SPECTATORS
in whatever was easily carried and could
be dishonesty won.
On little children there are none, thank
heaven; though two young women live
in one Of the middle tralns-safer there,
the captain thinks. The wagon in which
they ride is garlanded with flowers. The
year is nearing its autumn, and the sea-
son Of yellOws and puppies has come.
Goldenrod feathers the ground over
acres and acres, and stands in solid rows
Of crinkled gold along the broken lines
of the trail. Tall, purplish flower spikes
bend stifiy before the south wind, like
bayonets in armored hands, and shake O
spicy perfume from the sensitive plant
at their feet. Here and there q clump Of
fringed gentian hides behind screen Of
compass weed; and the modest cycla.
men, the violet ofautumn, turns its sweet
white face down toward its own hear
leaves, bluBhes q tender pink, fades
twists its stalk into spiral and bends Il
earth to deposit its ripened seeds, wherl
they may be cherished by Its own sub
stance. All these blossoms and NAM
more, twined with the black and reddish
water grasses, hang from the dusty wag
on bows But now the flower beds ar
almost past, buffalo grass stretches fol
many miles ahead, and then the deser
sand, aIkah dust and cactus.
The wagon masters wife told her com
panion what was before them and bad
her cherish her flowers well She dix
for their own sakes. But in the fold
Of her only other gown, between thl
leaves Of q prayer book that had seel
better days, were tho blossoms sh
plucked along the Kings highway" o.
the Missouri hills, and none Of thes
latter ones were ever put with them.
: The trains had been out now man,
; days. More than hundred miles back
OF Council Grove, on the Neosho river
they had halted for organization. Tia
point was the final rendezvous for ives
bound trains. There they elected
commander for the expedition and b
yond that point the wagons never fel
out Of their regular order in the line Q
e march.
, -Four long, toiling teams moved cor
4 Stantly forward side by side. Then fou
q more came on abreast, and 30 10 III
end. This arrangement was for th
purpose Of better protection against no,
tile Indians, for whom 4 constant lool
3 out was kept, and with whom encounter
:, were not unknown by the trader
: though treaties had been made by Il
= government with every tribe throug
D whose territory the Santa Fe Trail raj
!. by the terms Of which all trains were 1
pass along its track unmolested. Tn
the government entertained doubt
% the Indians holding to this compact vi
70 evidenced by the fact that the gre
d road, 800 miles long, was made 200 fe
n wide, 30 that the caravans might |
M kept compact and defensible.
The delay at Council Grove had be,
longer than usual, owing to the difficult
!. Of agreeing upon captain. 1t develop,