The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-12-04
The Diet OF the
men OF The PLAINS
Bread and Meat, Washed Down
With Coffee, Makes Strong,
Sturdy Men.
A PIONEERS EXPERIENCE
He Knows a Better Story When Any
body Tells Him That Coffee Isn't
Good foT the Human De-
partnent of interior.

Kansas City Journal: The Hon.
James r. Meade, Kansas pioneer,
plainsman, ex-senator and capitalist,
believes that the food best fitted for
the human stomach is bread and meat
washed down with coffee. He points to
his own vigor at the age of &C as evil
dence Of the value of this diet, alleging
that he has eaten little else all his life,
and laying particular stress on coffee
as an article Of diet. Writing to an
eastern friend on this subject, Mr..
Meade says:
In the fall Of 1859, 1, a young man.,
full of life and vigor and loving hunting
and adventure above all else, went into
the heart Of the buffalo range in CEN
trail Kansas and established a hunting
camp known as Meade's ranch, on the
Saline river, where l built a umbe OF
cabins Il made preparations to stay.
Il was fascinated with my new life
on the plains, n entered heartily into
1t. Carried away by the excitement Of
killing SO much big game, and reaping
such a rich harvest, / eXerted myself
to the utmost limit from daylight to
dark AS an illustration, I in one day
killed. Skinned II took the tallow out
of twenty-five buffaloes myself, using
u notwithstanding rifle and butcher knife
as my only tools and walked five miles
going n coming from camp.
In my youth l cared very little for
vegetables Of any kind, and on the
plains we had but three articles of diet
meat, bread Gin the form of 'tiapjack)
and coffee; Of which meat was the main
part, the others to make a complete ra-
ton. The amount Of meat we ate
| seems almost incredible.
Ate an Elk in a Week.
TN September or October of SO l
shot a large, fat COW elk, and as the
weather was quite COO I kept the entire
carcass and several gallons of fat. In
a little over a week three of us ate up
the entire animal and made soup of the
bones, INC along with it at each meal
we made 1iapjacks fried in the talloW
and ran all the coffee we wanted,
usually two or three cups to each per-
son at morning and evening, n also
at noon, if we had time to COO at
noon.
While meat was our main reliance,
and we had no end Of the choicest parts
of buffalo, elk, antelope, turkey, etc,
it seemed a necessity to nave coffee,
strong and in large quantities. No mat
ter what extreme physical labor I had
undergone, nor how completely I might
be exhausted, a quart Of strong coffee
would restore me to fresh life and spir-
its at once, all fatigue would pass away
and in an hour l vas ready for more
eXertion.
with our coffee we wanted sugar,
and usually had it. If not, the coffee,
while not SO delightful, was drunk in
the am quantity. Milk we never a
on the plains. 1 think it safe to say
that a quart Of coffee in the morning
and another at night (also as much in
| {JN r,;llln oP +I,o " 70 No l,I t;~,a 10
make IT'D was our average through q
series Of years. We bought the best
green Rio coffee and roasted it our
selves in a Dutch oven as we required
it~-perhaps a weeks supply at one time
and often pounded 1t in a tin cup
istead Of grinding it.
$50 long as we had an abundance Of
coffee there seemed to be no limit to
pur physical endurance. When that
was gone we very soon started for the
ranch, where I kept a large supply. I
will say here that neither myself nor
pny Of the many young men 1 had in
my employ at various times used or
cared anything for liquor, though we
could buy an excellent article Of whisky
for So per barrel. We never took it
with us on our hunting expeditions,
simply because we cared nothing for
1t; but we would as soon AVE left our
rifles at camp as to start out without
coffee.
When the Coffee Gave Out.
The last half of the winter of go I
spent hunting on the upper waters of
the Solomon river with two men.
Toward spring there came a snow near
ly two feet deep on q level. Every day
with my heavy rifle (twelve pounds) I
waded in the snow, travelling miles. We
had no horses with US, and l came to
camp strong, nervy, vigorous until our
11rFaN orc va 1,,+ rrI,n,, ,-,, -,&o1 x.z-
weak. I came in tired, had no quick,
recuperative reserve, apparently. I
boiled over the grounds in the coffee
pot several times, and one evening,
coming in exhausted. I ate the entire
remainder, and felt relieved. In a few
days we started for home.
las an illustration of our CASTRO
nomic possibilities, one summer, afte,
being among the buffaIoes for three
months, being on straight meat, bread
and coffee, we started for LeaVenwortn,
our base of supplies, with our loads OF
hides, furs. etc. The first farm on our
route was on Lyons creek. where q
thrifty D%utchnan named Warwick
lived. We camped there, and I went
to. the house and bought a bucket OF
milk and five dozen eggs while my
Boung men We're getting supper. There
We're five of us.
At that meal we ate the usual sup.
ply of meat, and with our coffee dranl
the entire bucket Of milk: also ate the
live dozen eggs entire. WI Of the mer
had a quarrel, one claiming the othel
got more thar his share of the eggs.
81 nave continued to drink coffee con
~tinually to this time, frequently drink
ing a quart of cold coffee at noon
with sugar n cream, and not eatir.
anything, as l 10 not seem to requir'
anything else. I am strong, active
vigorous, have an unusually strong
babe of Is months of age. 1 eat Amos
nothing but meat, bread and coffee
Stomach is ready for business at al
times"
1t Didn't Work.
London Tit-Bits: Biway-Use a,