The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-04
WESTERN SCOUTS No MORE.
EHHxB P1orURBsoU1o ALL1Ns1UINED
III CULTIVATION.


wonderful Deeds in woodland and ON
plat, IN P,op.er Dnys-A Calling That
y.,z a. u-, .h. s,.,.
"'
OF houho' the """"" VI eep0'
pHuSIx. Ari1.. MAY 23-About the most
pitifullv oheerlees men In the West nova
dava are those who have given the greater
,art NJ THAR ltves To scouting for the army,
and occasionally for n cattle company or
a hand Of miners. who have endured a genera
tion Of say,pe hardships and have braved all
the 6anRers of the plains and now. Rriazled
and gray. realize that their occupation is gone
sorayer There Arc scores OF the old fellows
In the Territories, Several hundred OF the
Younger scouts have become vagucros. sheep
berders. express m messengers and guards. cat
tic men, railroad men. miners aud prospectors.
Electricity and rnilroa is principally have made
seoutinR obsoIsts, ard since tho Apaches in
the Southwest and tho Sioux in the Northwest
have been beaten into peaceful relations with
the white settlers there has been no demand
for the seryices OF the old-time scout.
The War Department kept aome OF the
soouts on the payrolls at the frontier Rarrisons
long after scouting had become com parativel
useless to the army but in 1890 the nay OF
many Of the old heroes was cut off. and by 1903
Lass than a dozen white scouts remained In the
In every town OF any size IN this region one
NAV eco some OF the veteran scouts-poor in
purse. tattered Of per- IN --loahne about the
ealoons telling visitors from the East Of the
rlories OF the frontier before civilization and
railroads spoiled It. ALL add hal: henrtedly
building hopes OF the day when something I'M
expected lay transpire and scouting may be
called into dem nd again. There are a dozen
scouts OF twenty Ave and thirty years service
spending their last days In poverty and melan-
choly In RRanhiN(IAt Prescott a score OF old
time scotS .2iyeo6n the bounty OF cattlemen
and gold n fpers. Az years come and 60 and
the scouts see not the least sign OF a revival OF
their departed occupation. they become more
touchinely elum.
Like the knight In the band OF Richard the
LION Heart, who thanked God he was not q
clerk. the true scout Of the Western plains has
fev INV sounterparts Along with the Rang
ara OF Texas he Is one Of Americas most char
acteristic and picturesque types No wonder
he was seized upon so unanimously by au-
thors and painters as material for romance
and picture The wildness and at the same
time the peculiar tenderness Of the scouts
life the adventurous character OF his daring,
his GOODNESS and sagacity In the midst OF dan
ger. his use OF simplest facts in nature to gain
his ends. his roam lnge In regions hitherto I'M
of the ways Of red men and especially his
era,ttncss are all features N the life of a genu-
inc scout Of the plains that stimulate the mag
ination OF story tellers and picture makers. 1t
ia hard In these days to realize how great
part the scouts OF the fortes and flfties played
In the settlement and the civilization Of tho
plains and tho Pacific coast
Kit Carson was the earliest and he still re-
nains tho most famous American scout. The
wny no guided the Fremont exploring expedi-
ton through the Rocky Mountains in 1S41.
and thence in 1913. some LOO miles across
the track!ess desert plains. Astounding with
Indians, past Salt Lake in Utah. through the
snow and ice OF the passes OF the Sierras TO
California is as thrilling q chapter as may be
found in fiction. From that time till ten years
ago the War Department constantly employed
scouts In the Western army service.
Tho earlier scouts like Kit Carson and Jim
Brdger we're originally trappers and lnnters.
born and reared in Missouri, Tennessee and
Kentucky who had fondncss for adventure.
They mad pushed their way across the border
O. civilization Of those days and had gone uIon
the plains OF Kansas Nebraska and Texas for
-, -. - a-,,.o.,o,. rI,.. u,-;oo, 800,