The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-06-29

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The ol1-nss saailMls Of yEsstss
Tsxasssed Of A1issss h6vs soae vivld
rssullsclions Of ths p1Inss to aks T.
bardsazbearsr Of the 0fiept usefll e. -
military sssvips Of IT, sopthwat md -
pscially Of the lsd9habis failute that =
prosedao b. From Indhnolas Iex, -
ca1nsls we're moved Overland = - rsea
Of 1ostr Of MY miles day, carrying
Government stores 10 IL weight Of 1000
to 1900 pounds each to interior points IN
Texas. Almost from the hrst there VA
mseh difficulty in grooming and feeding
thu camels. In : few weeks several died
Of unknown diseases and others Ian
oufGhed' and became un6t for work. The
military officers found it hard 70 get any
hostlers to attend tosths cameh, toward
whieh al the cavalrypen and trooper
took ! violent dislike. The horses b.
came FESTIVE and ugly when stabbed o.
cosralled with the strange beasts. There
were frequent reports that camel OF two
had broken away during the night and
wandered away BY itself across the sandy
plains, and it has been suspected that OK
traordipary zeal vas not always put
forth to find the animals aud bring them
back for military service.
From May 8, 1887, until early In 1861,
some thirty Of the camels, that had be-
come partially domesticated to American
ways and the climate Of the Southwest,
we're kept at the United States forts At
Ell Paso and Bowie. They were fed and
cared for at the expense of the military
department, but because the troopers and
teamsters in the service could not be
urged to use the beasts instead OF horses
and mules, especially because Of the clum-
siness of the camel's harness and the un-
usual labor in packing and preparing .
''ship Of the desert" for service, the ami
mails were seldom used. In the last year
or two of their stay at the garrison they
were merely pensioners upon Uncle Sans
bounty, and were never brought in ser
vice. In 1851 the herd had increased
to forty four head. Then the civil war
came on, and in the stir and wild excite
ment of those days in every army fort in
the South all attention was turned from
the camels to the great crisis in national
military affairs. The forts fell into disuse,
and the beasts were allowed to wander
away at will. They travelled in pairs,
and sometimes in punches Of four and six,
across the deserts and into the mountains.
Some lived for years in the panhandle Of
Texas, and in few years made their way
as far west as the Colorado River in
Southern California. In some instances
the camels multiplied, but in twenty
years most of them died among the
mountains or were killed by the Indians.
At intervals in the last decade the sol
diers at the garrisons in New Mexico
and Arizona have seen stray remnants OF
descendants of the original herd running
about the alkali plains and amid the sage
brush and cactus. Many a passenger on
the Southern Pacific Railroad trains has
had sight of some gaunt, bony and de-
crepid old camel away off in the distance
from the railroad and Flooding his way
across the Territories. All reports are
that the animals have grown white with
age, are as wild and intractable a. any
and have hard, horny hoofs, un-
like the cushiony pedal extremities of
the well-kept camel, and that their hide
has assumed hard, leathery appearance.
1t is likely there are very few of these
ships Of the desert left in America. They
M
have not been seen in the central part of
either New Mexico or Arizona in several
years. A number Of the members of the
international Boundary Commission,
that recently finished survey Of the
boundary line between the United States
and Mexico, report that they saw two
camels on their progress though Southern
Arizona, and the animale although seen
we'll only through field glass, appeared
to be in their prime, and probably were
the descendants of the original herd of
camels. The beasts we're running wild
in Sonora, in Mexico, about forty miles
south of the territorial limits. The In
dams there said they had seen several
similar animals in their country for years
and had Toasted on few Of them on
tribal feast Days. F. Chronicle.
After Eating Onions.
Uncle Jerry Rusk, when Secretary Of
Agriculture, met q friend in Fifteenth
street, Washington, one day. The friend