The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-11-11
IGAMElS WHICH WE'RE BROUGHT
TO MONTANA IM PIONEER DAYS
WE'RE PART OF FEDERAL HERD

| climate there would more resembl,
: that of the far east.
q Buying the Animals
Major Wayne and Lieutenant Por
!, ter bought their first animal in Tuni.
In August and upon applying for
permit to bring the camel away the
, Bey of Tunis presented to the United
States two other animals, one o
which finally became the veteran o.
the American herd.
The ship then went to Constant.
%inople, where the officers declined ar
offer the sultan of Turkey to pre-.
sent four camels to the United States
because it was found the animals
would have to be brought from Asia
and the officers did not want to wait
for them. The Supply went from
Constantinople to Alexandria, where
1t IA proposed to purchase 10 drom-
edaTies and 80 camels, but red tape
so disguised the Americans that they
loaded three d~romedaries and made
ready to sail. Before leaving, how
ever, they secured six fairly good
beasts. The ship sailed with nine
dromedaries and the camel present
ed by the Bey of Tunis, the two
others obtained in Tunis having been
sold to a Turkish butcher for S44
after they were found to have signs
of itch.
Gwyn H. Heap was sent on ahead
to Smyrna and when the Supply ar
rived at that point the remaining
camels were found assembled. Mr..
Heap had purchased them at prices
ranging from 500 to $500.
The Trip Home
The voyage home was begun on
February Is, 1856, with 33 animals,
nine ~dromedaries, or runners, 23
camels of burden. and n calf. Six
Arabs were engaged to go along
with the animals as it was thought
they would prove useful in their
management. A Turk was employed
as a camel nj. d." but his medical
services were dispensed with after it
was found that his cure for a cold
was a piece of cheese, for swelled
legs, tea mixed with gunpowder, and
for t~rifling complaints, tickling the
animals nose with a chameleon's
tail.
The cargo was landed at 1ndianola,
Texas, May IA, 1856, and the beasts
we're taken by easy stages to San
Antonio. 120 miles away, where Ma
jor Wayne planned to establish a
camel ranch and to attempt the
breeding of the animals, but Secre-
tary Davis instructed him to find out
whether they were adapted to mill
tary uses.
Major Wayne found the animals
highly satisfactory for the purpose
for which they were secured and as
something owe 100000 of the ORR
ginal appropriation remained, Lieu
tenant Porter was sen for another
shipload. The Sultan of Turkey gave
six ~dromedaries, which were includ-
ed In the lot of Al animals landed
at I~ndiancla February 10, 1857.
The camels were taken to Camp
Verde. which had been established
as the camel station. Five of the
first herd had died, one, it was said,
from blows received from a mule
driver.
Favorable Report
The senate in February, 1857, di-
'rected the secretary of war to make
a report on the camel experiment.
which was done, and John B. Floyd,
who became secretary of wal under
President Buchanan, continued to
urge buying of more camels, saying
in his annual report of 1858:
1.-THE experiments thus far made
and they are pretty fully demon
strated, that camels constitute a most
useful and economic means of trans
portation for men and supplies over
the great deserts and barren portions
of our interior"
Secretary Floyd recommended that
congress authorize an appropriation
for the purchase of 1000 camels,
but the lawmakers did not agree with
him and no further expenditures
were authorized.
During the summer of 1857 the
camels were used in carrying water
and for scout duty. That fall Lieut..
Edward Fitzgerald Beale opened a
wagon road from Fort Defiance, N.
M. to the eastern frontier of Cali
fornia, using part of a herd of ca
mels. The journey took 48 days
through unexplored wilderness, des-
ert and plains. The camels carried
water for the mules on the desert,
traversed stretches of country COW
cred with the sharpest of volcanic
rocks and swan rivers without hest
tation.
When Lincoln's administration be-
gan In 1861 the wal department had
% camels in California. These, with
several others, brought on from
Texas. were held in various forts and
military reservations In California
without being put to any use. In
1852 Lieutenant Beale wrote Secre-
tary Stanton of their idle condition
and proposed to use them for further
exploration and in packing supplies
across the Great Basin, but his pro-
posal was rejected, as was one a year
later, to use the camels in carrying
mail between Fort Mohave, N. M,
and New San Pedro, Cal.
The herd finally was sold by the
government to Samuel Mclaughlin.
In whose care the herds had been for
some time. Some of the camels found
their way into circuses and hands of