The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-01-25

"a. Country Of The SaiH'G
CHAPTER l.
N gHE GREAT ALEALI PLAIN

al al ia oLNl lt tElllANiNt NtsCll WHICH ApI
many long year served as barrier
against the advance of civilization.
From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska
and from the Yellowstone river in the
north to the Colorado upon the south
is L region of deSulation and silence.
Nor IS nature always in one mood
throughout this grim district Ii COM
priseS Snow-capped and lofty noun
tains and dark and gloomy valleys.
There are swift-howing rivers which
dash through jagged canyons, and
there are enormous plains which in
winter are white with snow and in
summer are gray with the saline alkali
dust. They all preserve, however the
common characteristics Of baueuuess,
iuhoSpitality and misery.
There are no inhabitants OF this land
ct despair. A band Of Pawuees or Of
Blackfeet may occasionally traverse ii
in order to reach other hunting
grounds, but the hardest Of the braves
are glad to lose sight Of those uwesome
plains, and to lind themselves once
more upon their prairies The coyote
skulks among the scrub, the bulZard
flaps heavily through the air, and the
clumsy grizzly bear Iumbers througl
the dark raviues, and picks up such
susteuance as it can among the rocks.
These are the sole dwellers in the will
Gerness.
In the whole world there can be no
more dreary view than that from the
northern slope of the Sierra Blauco.
As far as the eye can reach stretches
the great list plainland, all busted over
with patches Of alkai. and iutersected
by clumps Of the dwarfsh chaparral
bushes. On the extreme verge Of the
horizon lies long chain Of mountain
peaks, with their rugged submits
hecked with snow. In this great
stretch of country there is no sign of
life, nor of anything apper-aining to
life. There is no bird in the steel-blue
heaven, no movement upon the dull,
gray earth-above all. there is abso-
Lutte silence. Listen as one may, there
IS no shadow Of q sound in all that
mighty wilderness; nothing but silence
complete and heart-subduing silence.
1t has been said there is nothing APP
pertaining to life upon the broad
plain. That is hardly true. Looking
down from the Sierra Blanco. one sees
4 pathway traced out across the desert,
which winds away and is lost in the
extreme distance. 1t is rutted with
wheels and trodden down by the feet
OF many adgeuturers. Here and there
are scattered white objects which
glisten in the sun, and stand out
against the dull deposit Of alkaH. APP
proach and examine them! They are
bones; some large and coarse, others
smaller and more delicate. The for
ner have belonged to oxen, and the
latter to men. For fifteen hundred
miles one may trace this ghastly cara
van route by these scattered remains
of those who had fallen by the way
side.
Looking down on this very scene,
there stood upon the 4th of May, 1s4T,
a solitary traveller His appearance
was such that he might have been the
very genius or demon Of the region.
An observer would have found it diff
cult to say whether he was nearer to
forty or to sixty His face was lean
and haggard, and the brown, parch-
ment-like skin was drawn tightly over
the projecting bones; his long, brown
hair and beard were all hecked and
dashed with white; his eyes were
sunken in his head, and burned with
an unnatural luster. while the hand
which grasped his rife was hardly
more feshy than that Of skeleton.
As he stood, he leaned upon his weapon
for support and yet his tall figure and
the massive framework Of his bones
suggested wiry and vigorous consti.
tuition His gaunt face, however, and
his clothes, which hung so bagg.ly over
his shriveled limbs, proclaimed what
1t was that gave him that senile and
deerepit appearance. The man was
dying-dying from hunger and from
thirst.
lie had toiled painfully down the
Tayine and on to this little elevation,
in the vain hope of seeing some signs
Of water. Now the great salt plain
stretched before his eyes, and the dis
tant belt of savage mountains, without
Il sign anywhere Of plant or tree, which
might indicate the presence Of moist
ure. In all that broad landscape
there was no CLEAN Of hope. North
and east and west he looked with wild
questioning eyes, and then he realized
shat his wanderings had come TO an
end, and that there, on that barren
crag, he was about 30 die why not
here, as we'll as in a feather bed, twenty
years hence, he muttered, as he seated
himself in the shelter Of bowlder.
Before sitting down, he had de-
posted upon the ground his useless
rifle, and also a large bundle tied up
in a gray shawl, which he had carried
slung over his right shoulder II ap.
peared TO be somewhat too heavy for
Ailo hbiCtB VIZ lOl1 III lDWtIlnk W. IL
came down ON the ground with some
little violence. Instantly there broke
from the gray parcel little moaning
cry, and from it there protrudcd
small, scared face, with very bright
brown eyes and two little specl<led
dimpled fists
You've hurt mew said a childish
voice, reproachfully.
Have though?" the man answered,
penitently; 81 didn't go for to do it,"
As he spoke he unwrapped the. gray
shawl and extricated pretty little girl
of about five years of age, whose
dainty shoes and smart pink frock,
with its little linen apron, all bespoke
a mothers care. The child was pale
and wan, but her healthy arms and
legs showed that she had suffered less
than her companion.
"How is it nowP' he answered, anx-
iously, for she was still rubbing the
towsy golden curls which covered the