Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-11-15

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many a long year served rs a 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 a region of desolati0n and silence.
Nor is nature always IN one mood
throughout this grim district. 1t COM
nrises snow.capped and lofty mountains
and dark and gloomy valleys. There
are swift flowing rivers which dash
through jagged iTnyons; and there are
enormous plainssaa which IN winter are
white with snd. sand IN summer are
gray with the S, s-alkali dust They
all preserve. heSsSeer, the common
characteristics Of Yarrenness, inhosplt'
" There arc no inhabita .ntsa4 this land
of despair. A band Of PaSlees or Of
Blackfeet may occasion lilly traverse 1t
in order to reach other huntihg grounds.
but the hardest of the hives are glad
to lose sight of those aNs0n}A plains,
and to find themselves once More upon
the prairics. The coyote skulks among
the scrub. the buzzard flaps heavily
through the air, and the clumsy grizzly
bear lumbcrs through the dark ravines,
and picks up such sllstenance as 1t can
among the rocks. These are the sole
dwellers in the wilderness.
In the whole world there can be no
ore dreary view than that from the
northern slope of the Sierra Blan %.
As far as the eye eau reach stretches
tic or, Mt fiat plainland all busted over
with patches ol aKali. and intersected
by clumps of the dwarfish chapp,ral
bushes On the cXtteme verge OF the
horizon lie long chain Of mo 'atain
peaks, with their rugged submits
tleckefl with snow. In this great
stretch of country there is no sign Of
life, nor of anything pertaining to life.
There is no bird III the steel-bhle heav-
Ell, no movement upon the dull gray
earth-above all, there is absolute ST.
lence. Listen as one may. there Is no
shadow of sound in all that mighty
wilderness; nothing but silence-con-
plete and he;lrt-subuuing silence.
1t has been said that there is nothing
arpertaining to life upon the broad
plain. That is hardly true. Looking
down the Sierra Blanco one sees Il
pathway traced out across the desert,
which winds away and is lost in the eX
IRENE distance. 1t is rutted with
wheels and trodden down by the feet
of many adventures. Here and there
are scattered white objects which glis-
ten in the sun, and stand out against
the dull deposit of alkah. Approach,
and examine them! They are bones.
some large and coarse, others smaller
and more delicate. The former have
belonged to oxen, and the latter to
men. For fifteen hundred miles one
may trace this CHASTITY caravan route
by these scattered remains of those
who have fallen by the wayside.
Looking down on this very scene,
there stood on the fourth Of May,
eighteen hundred and forty-seven, a
solitary traveller. His appearance
was such that he might have
been the very genius OF demon Of
the region. An observer would have
found it difficult to say whether he was
nearer to forty or TO sixty. His face
was lean and haggard. aud the brown
parchment skin was drawn tightly over
the projecting bones; his long, brown
hair and beard were all flecked and
dashed with white; his eyes were sunk
On in his head, and burned with an I'M
natural lrstre; while the hand which
grasped his rifle was hardly more
fleslly than that of il skeleton. AS he
stood. he leaned upon his weapon for
support, and vet his tall figure and the
massive framework Of his bones sug-
gestcd wiry and vigorous constitu-
ton. His gaunt face, however, and his
clothes, which hung so baggily over his
shriveled limbs. proclaimed what it
was that gave him that senile and de-
crepit appearance. The man was dy-
ing-dying from hunger and from
thirst.
He had toile,l painfully down the ra-
vine, 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
a sign anywhere Of plant or tree, which
might indicate the presence Of moist
urc. 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
that his wanderings had come to an
end. and that there. on that barren
crag. he was about to die. "Why not
here as well as in IL feather bed, twen-
ty years hence" he muttered. as he
seated himself III the shelter of a
boulder
Before sitting down. he had depos-
tied upon the ground his useless rifle,
and also large bundle tied up in
gray shawl, which he had carried,
sl,lng over his right shoulder. 1t APP
pcared to be somewhat too heavy for
his strength, for, in lowering it., it
came down on the ground with some
little violence. Instantly there broke
from the gray parcel little moaning
cry, and from it there protruded Il
small. scared face, with very light
brown eyes, and two little speckled,
dimDled fists.