El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-02
THE STAKED PLAINS.

Some Misrepresentation Correct
ed.
Says william Tomas in the Dallas
News:
The plains-Llano Estacado-were
named so for two reasons. First when
Mexican struck out q new trail across
any part of the plains he planted poles
at varying and some times long dis
tances from each other along the trail
as wheels make scarcely any i'm pres
sion on the short. dry grass, and as the
horses were not shod it would be unsafe
to follow the trail of an unshod foot
when probably q herd of q hundred
wild horses would tangle the trail past
the possibility of keeping 1t. I have
driven for miles guided by these esta-
cadOs. To make them easier to see q
s'reamer of colOred rags is occasional
ly tied on them. The last decoration
OF this sort 1 remember was pair of
old Overalls dangling in the breeze. -
Second, all over the plains yucca fila
mentosa (bear GRASSY grows abundan-
fly. This, differing from some other
OF the yuccas, does not push up q stem
except flower stem, often six or eight
feet high, having a floral spike two or
three feet long and containing from
twenty to fifty cream white, SLIGHTLY
fragrant, bell-shaped flowers. q sight
worth days journey when you drive
through them, acres on acrss, glintiug
and shimmering silvery in
the sunlight. These stems stand till
old and dry. When mirages occur,
which are seen In the greatest perfec.
ton on the plaiss, these dry stems be-
come poles, posts, stakes, estacados and
often phantom forests encircling phan-
nRin hnA Ill
crfbab!e beauty of phsntssy. much
more than life.
Our writer speaks of caravans of
Mexicsns in the early days perishinR
In these sandy wastes because of the
scarcity of water during the summer
months. Ii SO it was their own fault.
The plains are not sandy wastes.
There are very few sandy'places and
these, instead of being wasted, furnish
the best shelter and feeding grounds
during the short dry winter. The
plains are formed of q rich chocolate
soil from two to ten feet deep and that
will grows now, as it always has done,
some OF the finest grasses
AS to water-natural water-the
whole plains for more than 200 miles in
} line from northeast to southwest in
stead OF being level as floor, as some
suppose, are dotted all over with sauc-
sr-hke depressions, generally nearly
circular, but often running into each
other and therefore being all shapes. 1
was puzzled for quite q while how they
sizes, from few feet to over
mile In diameter; in fact, there are
evidences occurring in the broken
country below the escarpment of the
plains OF portions of land miles in ex-I
emit that once were as high and form |
ID part of the plains, but in some
geologic age suddenly, or gradually, |
Junk TO their present position, and the |
anne agency has formed and is still |
orming those depressions.
During the rains that occur more In |
hummer than In winter, the winters be-
ng nearly always dry, these depres-
ions are filed with water, and as MANY
# them are large and somewhat deep
axes are formed and water stored, |
asting to greater or less extent ali |
he year round. Now, in those early
lines referred to, there we're unnum-
'ered herds of buffalo and the wild
re today. Where did they obtain the 1
bsolutely needed water? And where |.
o the herds of wild horses, as 1 have /
Ounted them over 100 in q herd, get
heir water today, to say nothing of
he cattle that range at large?
n all probability those caravans were /
ever five miles from water, had they
My known where to look for it--that
J, If they did really perish as so gra-
hically stated.
If it were not for the injury done to
'exas by these misrepresentation, 1
hould only be amused at the cre-
Utility with which this writer has
down the fearful
~, or think, how he has been fooled
hen say that these sandy wastes,
lis forbidden region, the epitome of :
7erythinR inhospitable in nature and
tally useless for supplying any of the
ants of man, reported by adventurous Z
dividuals-"whO ventured far into it's
angerous depths as q treeless, silent, :
aste, without sign of life except
le buzzard high In the heavens, or
aveled those plains for years 100
lies at stretch, found plenty of
water for my team through
Re day and camped down in comfort
Id safety wherever night found me,
'oking my supper and breakfast at q
re of buffalo chips, and enjoying
ain-fed antelope steak if 1 chose to
, so. (
know those plains east, west, north
I'd south. by day and by night, in
miner and in winter. I know many
the trails that intersecs those plains
q network. 1 know well-nigh all
e many grasses and herbs and flowers
at grow there, and most of the an
AXE their home there. D
ID the cheeriest of compan- 3