Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-11-17
RANDALL. PARRisD's .aREATt
y; pLAiNS.n Ing

The Great Plains: The Romance
of Western American Exploration,
Warfare and Settlement, 1527-187s,''
BY Randall Parrish. Duodecimo, s
1-2x5 IL inches; xivx3S2 pages; pro-
fusely illustrated. Indexed. Chicago;
A. G. McClurg & Co., Sits net. u
Randall Parrish is nothing if not a
teller of stories, and he has found a
congenial field, never fully occupied
until now, in The Great Plains; The
Romance of Western American Elk
ploration. Warfare and Settlement,
s1527-1s70 J" Just published by A. G..
McCiurg & Co. In recent years other
writers have found pleasant and pat
riotic occupation in detailing one or
more of the features of the settle
ment of the Great West; never be-
fore has the entire story been told
as whole or with adequacy, and
confined within the limits of a single
easily handled volume
Mr.. Parrish knows the country OF
which he treats at first hand, and
one, at least, OF his stirring roman
ces has its scene in that vast region
of grass land and arid desert which
extended like an uncharted ssa Of
green and brown dssolation between
the valley of ting Missouri upon the
north and east, and the foothills Of
the Rockies" His early love for it
has led him to the careful reading of
every book which touches the theme.
From one he obtains a viyidness and
intimacy impossible Otherwise; from
the other, authenticity and complete
ness. Add to that his natural abil-
ities as writer, and Americans are
at last enabled to read one Of the
greatest chapters in their national
history with full understanding.
The book opens with a careful de-
4 finitfon of the Great Plains in which
they, their fora and fauna and their
aboriginal inhabitants are described.
n The first Spaniards. who set foot on
this territory in 1927 almost a cen
/ fury before the landing Don Plymouth
Rock; the French explorers; the ear
lest American expeditions under Lew
IS and Clark Pike and Long; the fur
I traders; and the beginning OF the.
trade to Santa Fe, all are included in
the first part, which treats of explora-
tion. ~
The second part is entitled The
Struggle for Possession, z and in this
oItJ may read of the first waves Of
emigration of the earliest military
occupat ton, and Of the fighting during
The war with Mexico; OF the rush Of
the Mormons, and of the goId-seekers
OF lS49 of thtJ vast navy OF prairie
schooners which followed; and Of the
stage lines and pony express: and Of
the Indian wars up to 1870. These
last cover the period of the civil war,
when the outbreaks of the unconquer-
ed tribes were lost sight of in the
greater struggle for national union,
and one chapter contains the best sin
gle fight contained in Our national an
mails.
The third and last part treats Of
occupation, and lacks nothing Of
interest and excitemen t. The first
faint beginnings of settlement crys-
faiize in the struggle for the posses
sion of Kansas. The opening Of the
cattle country and the fine old, bad
4 old days of thg cattle kings follow.
with q deserved tribute to the cow
boy. The building of the first trans
continental railway, and the curious.
seVaneseent border towns which
sprang up along its length, the out.
laws and desperadoas who worked
out their brief day of lawIessness and
probation, and the gallant nlsn, be.
ginning with Kit Carson, who served
nsfr country and civilization as from
4 tier scouts and guides, are themes
peculiarly congenial to Mr.. Parrish
4 who closes his admirable contribution
TO readable history with a description
Of the Great Plains as they were ii
& 1870, when. at last, they stood ready
for tho worlds acquaintance. 81
For the illustration Of such q worl
curse has been had to volume,
u contemp orary with the region and ii
cidents touched upon More than iii
e * scenes and portraits are thus uti
HE'D, all OF them possessing fdelit,
and accuracy otherwise impossible
They serve TO elucidate Mr.. Parrish,
vivid and Weil.pIannel text as mott
ing else could, and leave the book
complete and fully organized whole
B ct interest TO every American. fror
the schoo1boy to the grandfather VIII
AZ whose life most of the seftlemer
Of the Great Plains has taken piac,
IT has been left for Randall Pa
Tishs natural story teller, to- gathe