Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1907-10-06

bul III hOOSeNelt Is Keen 10 nunt Dig
game here's his paradise.
Old Zebulon Pike, the man that
Pixies discovered in 1906 Though
they claim he discovered the peak).
is the first man tina. interested the
world in his highway to the west. At
first the trade went to Taos-the pue-
bio that hangs along ina verge of the
Cimarron canyon, seconI only to the
Grand Canyon of Arizona. the wonder
of the world. In order TO snorten Us
tance. they afterwards PLACED Il trail
along the Arkansas river TO a tnint
where it takes northward course.
There they crossed Il. made an air
line south OF Ration Pass, and on 10
Santa Fe. Along this dangerous nigh
way dust-covered teaInsters brought
their ladened prairie schooners from
the Mississippi river ports into the far
away Santa Fe country on scheduled
time. And now. along this very trail.
four great mountain railways have
performed unthinkable feats in civil
engineering until in ali the world there
- ho AlANl NihibAAAthN " " ASNAAN $780,
right here where the threbbins mo-
guls drag their string up tnese noun
tain ways.
For ages, centuries az least, the
Santa Fe trail. was but rne faintest
trace hewn out by the patient burrOs
that packed their loads across the
Great Divide. Upon the discovery Of
gold along the Pacific shores. the trail
became the path of an enormous pill
grimage. In the days of the pack
to learn a trick, as stubborn and as
patient as is the burro, yet he's a
mighty timid beast These bandits of
thetrail found that all they mad to do
was TO rattle a buffalo hide. And when
these rafting hides and rne yelling
Indians poured out like painted devils
from some canyon those asses lost
their bearings. As a result, pack,
mule and all. landed in the bosom of
these mountain pirates.
Among all the tribes south of the
Ohio and west of the Mississippi none
worked such awful havoc with the
commerce of the trail as did the Co
manches, Pawnees and Arapahoes. AS
early as 1929, the government began
to furnish troops to guard these cara
vans in their perilous pilgrimage
through a country crammed with Turk
ing ana blody redmen.
These old lingering pioneers. so
loath to give up their frontier memo
ries, will tell you that the biggest
thing that was ever pulled Off on the
trail was the introduction of the wag-
on, the prairie schooner" That's
what old John Holland told me, the
man who was raised on this trail, who
helped to bury the bones of old Kit
Carson IN his Taos grave, and who
now runs a gambling hell n Ration.
There would be anywhere from seven
to fifty, Of these wagons IN a single
caravan. The big ones were pulled by
from eighteen to twenty-four muleo;
the smaller by from eight 70 twelve.
When ready to strike camps. they
would swing the lead wagon into a
tAANlt until IL AdhSil up WITH Allt leA1N
wagon of the string. In this circular
form, they made for themselves a bar
ricade against the attack or the red
devils. In the early morning the head
i - = L. =
breaking aP Of camps. soon. dG%rn
the. long line. the teamssers would
yell: ''AIrs seti Stretcn OUT" bel
lowed the captain. Fall in!" and the
long caravans swing our onto the trail
again.
For days and days rae unbroken
vision of the plains was almost uneE-
durable. The shifting sand dunes and
the solitary wastes were broken only
by countless buffalo that now browsed
lazily on the plains. and then broke
away with tremendous tread that
shook the very earth. AT intervals,
when the sands were hot and the
winds were blistering, a teasing mir
age would paint on the desert sky a
scene of shade and fount They sigh
ed. and understood. After a while the
first mountain lifted its head above
the horizon. There it stood silent
sentinel of the plains over which it
kept a ceaseless watch FOR ages. Then
came the hills. the mountains, the
ranges. and the great divide.
These tragic days are gone-the
days when intrepid spirits pushed
their conquests toward Pacific shores.
Many sleep in unmarked graves.
Many were long since cevoured by
desert ghouls The buffalo no longer
shifts the coming of civilization. The
Indian. suiIen and silent, no longer
breaks from mountain crevices or the
stiffness of the plains. It is enough.
1t matters not where lies the bones of
these builders of the Western empire.
The stars will keep their vigils. The
granite hills win marx the sacred
spot. The mellow radiance Of the
moon on these snow hills Will still the
tunult of the past with a witchery as
gentle as a mothers love. The thun-
derine commerce of these hills win tell
the story. Sleep on. sleep on, ye
builders 0 fthe west! Rest in I'M
marked graves. ye fearless pioneers.
We builders of the tran. These mighty
hills have always been eternal--they
- x~a.. Ala