The Republican journal., 1904-05-12
1.-THE BIG Dry"

AO OlS SoUAuAy. ~ 40 u oAoOe
of several million acres, drained by the
Big Dry Greek and its tributaries, and
from this creek the country derives its
name. The topography of this section
differs from other parts of the State,
being more of rolling nature, and
having but little timber and number
of rough, hilly groups known as "bad-
lands" The first impression the Wis
itor receives is of its immensely, the
next its aridity. In starting on a
journey one will notice, apparently but
a few miles ahead, a group of hills
forming a divide, and think, well, l
can see something when l arrive at the
top of those. After travelling about
twice as far as he expected he reaches
the top and looking ahead, far in the
distance, the outline of the hills form
ing another divide show dark and
gloomy against the white-blue line of
sky. Standing there and gazing in any
direction he sees the same old scene,
creek beds, sage flats and buttes;
buttes, sage flats and creek beds, and
so on for days. 1t may not tire the
first day, but after two or perhaps four
have passed one gets weary of the
eternal red brown of the hills and longs
for the sight of some timber, and Won
ders II there is any limit to the appar-
a,,+1I- ho,,pd1aSc aynaOSp
Then TO the eastern traveller, who is
accustomed to ripping brook and flow
ing stream, who While journeying is
able almost at his own convenience to
Stake his thirst at wayside spring or
farmhouse well, the aridity is a source
OF much annoyance. After starting on
trip he will not mind it so much until
he discovers the fact that it is perhaps
ten miles to the nearest ''water-hole,"
and that water cannot be had by merely
asking: he has got to wait. Then he at
once becomes thirsty, and his thirst
rapidly increases until it becomes a
torment His mouth gets parched, and
he continually moistens his lips with
his tongue. which causes them in the
dry air to get hard and crack, and by
the time the ''Water-hole" is reached he
would drink most anything, even mug
of beer though he might nave hailed
from the prohibition State OF Maine.
All amusing thing, in which | was a
participant, happened to friend of
mine from Maine, that is, it amused
NE. He had been here about week
when ! had occasion to go to the
Brakes after some logs and 50 invit-
ed him to accompany me. Tie place in
question is about fifty miles from my
ranch and requires six days to make
the trip. Everything went along nicely
until the third day when we went into
never been to the place before knew
water could be procured. | had with
me. however. an AFRICAN water
bottle" and at our last stopping place
prior to entering | had filled 1t with
water as a safeguard,
Early in the day while getting out
the logs ] noticed my friends frequent
visits To the water bottle and warned
hiIn that lie had better drink sparingly,
but was quite thirsty and it seemed
that as the supply of water diminished
his thirst grew. rs result. at noon
time when we ate our lunch there was
barely Fl ough for making coffee. Ma
finally ter lunch, with the water all
gone. his thirst assumed gigantic pro-
portions and his conversation and
actions until we LETT the timber remind
ed me- of that old song "And still his
WhiSktrs grew The amusing part of
the affair however, was that we were
all this time less than one mile from a
nice SPRING which we discovered on our
return trip
Another peculiar feature of this
country is that when starting for a
certain point in view the distance APP
pears much less than it really is. A
story told of a ''Pilgrim'' at Big Tim
Der my first stopping place OH arrival
to Mont aptly illustrates this decep-
tiveness of distance. Near the town
mentioned is a spur of the Rockies
known as the Crazy Nitus, they are
about 20 miles away, but at times, es-
pecially in the morning, they have the
appearance Of being quite near. The
party in question, noticing the appar-
ent nearnesS and without making any
inquiries, started one morning to visit
them. He walked nearly all the fore
noon and upon reaching the summit of
one,of the foothills outlying the range,
discovered that the object of his quest
seeuleu farther away than when he
started Dlsgustrd le turned and
started back towards town. In some
way he missed the path and struck out
across the country and after time
came to a ditch filled with water He
viewed it a few minutes, then sitting
down began divesting himself of his
shoes and stockings. While thus employ
ed horseman cantered up, and after
the usual salutationS asked the reason
for dotfing his footwear, receiving the
information that he was going to wade
across the ditch. ''Why didn't you
Jump across?" inquired the horseman,
ats only four feet wide?" ''Not by a
d-m sight" exclaimed the ''Tender-
foot you don't fool me again,
those mountains looked to be about
five miles away and they were twenty;
SO this ditch may be forty feet wide
for all that | know, and I'm not taking
any chances"
When | was approached on the sub
ject of taking trip to the big Dry l
remarked that | should be pleased to
take the trip on account OF the expert
ence it would afford me. In this re-
spect have not been disappointed for
my stay here, up to this writing, has
been continual round of experiences