The National tribune., 1901-10-24
THE LAST AMERICAN CAMEL.
He is Believed to Have Died Recently IL
Arizona.
New York SUM-

Arizona.
CNew York SUM-
1t is believed that the last American
camel died in the Castle Dome Mountains
in southwestern Arizona a few days ago,
and word has reached Phoenix, Ariz., from
Fort Huachuca that q Greek, known as
Hi Jolly, who had charge Of the first and
only importation of camels ever made by
the United States Government, is on his
deathbed there.
1t was in 1853 that the idea Of en-
ployins camels for transporting army sup
plies and equipment over the deserts was
conceived. At that time freight could be
| carried over the waterless wastes only at
heavy expense in horses, oxen and mules.
At that time, too, the heavy traffic to the
! California goldfields was in progress and
1 the bones Of thirst-kilied animals strewed
the trail, from Texas well into California
Under these conditions Lieut. Edward F.
Bea1e, who was later Minister to Austria
but was then stationed at old Fort Yuma
conceived the idea that the use Of camels
would do away with the sufferings of
emigrants and give the army a quick and
certain method of transportation. He be-
| lieved that the Government should make
the experiment and suggested the matter
| to jefferson Davis, the Secretary of War
The War Department approved The sug.
! gestion and commission was sent out to
| ascertain the military uses to which
camels could be put in the Southwest. II
| reported favorably and an appropriation
and importation of camels.
In December of the following year
Maj. Charles Wayne was sent by the De,
partment to the Orient, commissioned 10
buy 10 camels. In Egypt he bought halt
that number and secured the others in
Smyrna, paying about 5000 for each. The
naval transport Supply brought the camels,
| in charge of Hi Jolly, to the United States
in 1857. Three died on the voyage. They
were landed on the Texas coast and I'M
der the care of Capt. J. n. Palmer halt
of the herd were driven to Camp Verde,
Ariz., and the others were left at In
dianola, Tex.
Months were devoted to series of tests
Of the physical strength and endurance of
the animals. Their employment met with
great opposition from the army hostlers
and teamsters. The camels were neglected
and a number of them died, despite the
efforts of the officers to give them fair
trial. 1t was frequently reported that one
or two lad broken away and escaped dur
ing the night, and it was suspected that
unusual zeal was not used to recapture
the animals.
Until 1851 about thirty of them were at
Forts Verde, Ell Paso and Yuma. The
troopers and teamsters, however, could not
be induced to use the beasts instead of
horses and mules, partly because of the
clumsiness of the camel harness and the
labor necessary in preparing a camel for a
trip, but largely because of an antipathy
fn,. b. L.
of their stay at the forts the camels were
pensioners.
Then the civil war came, and in the ex-
element of the times, the camels were for
gotten. The forts were abandoned when
the troops were sent East, and the camels
were allowed to wander away on the des.
erts, sometimes in pairs and sometimes
in herds. They scattered through the
deserts and mountains of Arizona, Texas
and New Mexico, and even wandered into
northern Mexico, where several of them
were seen years afterward in the Sierra
Madre Mountains.
In some instances they multiplied rapidly
and numbers of them were caught by
white settlers, Mexicans and Indians, who
tried, usually in vain, to domesticate them.
Some cases are known in which descend
ants of the original herd were tanned and
used as pack animals, and several of them
were captured and sold to circus people
p. 7. Barnum at one time secured four
of them and added them to his exhibition
herd.
Reports have frequently been brought
in by prospectors, that stray camels were
seen in the foothills and among the cacti
and sagebrush of the desert. They had
become as wild as deer, and life in the
rocky hills had brought about a change
in their appearance. Their hides had lost
their hair. and their hoofs their cushions,
becoming hard and horny.
Then for several years, none of them
was seen, and the failure of offers of large
sums of money by circus. people to secure
some of them led to the belief that the
last of the camels had disappeared. More
than year ago a pair of them aged and
feeble, were captured in the Castle Dome
Mountains and kept on a small ranch
owned by the Howison brothers. A few
months later the female died, apparently
of old age and since then her mate has
been pining away, until he, too, died few
days ago.
Several efforts have been made to Sc
cure pension for Hi Jolly on account of
his care of the camels, and his later ser
vice as a scout under Crook, and during
the war with Spain in the transport ser
vice, but all have been futile.