Evening star., 1921-07-31
When the Government
Tried to Raise Camels

Going back to ConStantlnOple' tney
sold their Tunis camels for $i4 and
set sail for Alexandria.
More difficulties met them in Egypt
They asked for permission to expor!
twenty camels. but the viceroy wou!o
let them take only two. They finally
secured a permit for ten on condition
they would never ask for any more. and
then the viceroy, in fit OF generosity
insisted on giving them four from his
private stock. He selected such disrep-
utable animals that the Americans re-
fused to accept them. He then gave
them better ones. :,
From Alexandria the agents went oacR
to Smyrna. loaded up with Asiatic cam
els. and finally set out for home with
thirty-thr camels on board. Ihey
bought the camels for an average of $71
a head and sailed home with half OF
their money unexpended
The animals were landed at Indian :
ola, on the Texas coast Wayne wrote
to Davis that when they felt solid
ground beneath their feet the camels
seemed as joyous as schoolboys. running
and playing and fighting for hours.
They might well feel joyful. for much OF
the time on the voyage they had been
slung up on canvas during the storms or
tied down on the decks to such an ex-
tent as. to lose the use of their legs.
Davis had followed the course Of the
expedition with great interest and now
sent Wayne a message counseling him
not to begin his experiments too soon.
inasmuch as camels, like mules. needed
rest after sea trip. Wayne gave
them overland to San Antonio. while the
poets of the land gave vent to the ma :
tional interest in lyric outburst in the
magazines. After a short stay at San
Antonio, Wayne decided that cactus and
prickly pears were affecting the DISPOSE
~ h f0 hor
camp some sixty miles from the city for
his experiment. At Camp Verde grew
up, fiourished and died the. only camel
colony ever attempted in tthe United
States.
THE camels obstinately refused to
live Wayne had brought back
from Smyrna several camel NJ. DIS. but
though they used the branding iron
without cessing and used up thousands
of feathers in tickling the noses of the
camels and applied all the arts known
to camel doctors from time immemorfal,
the camels continued to die. Wayne
thought they died from eating cactus.
which is certainly calculated to kill II
used as a food. Later he thought they
ate too much baled hay. Before the
summer was over six were dead and Da-
Wis, in alarm. sent Porter back to Smyrna
after another load. Porter brought
forty-one to Indianola as a result of this
second trip and they were added to the
colony at Camp Verde.
A change Of administration in 1857
brought a change of policy in the War
Department and no further effort was
made to provide camels for our deesrt.
One by one the camels died, until by
1861 there were only few left. With
the coming Of the civil war all hope OF
establishing camel caravans in the west
had to be given up. Nor were they
ever used for the pursuing Of Indians.
There were attempts made by iRdt-
viduals as well as by the government TO
bring camels to America. A Mr.. Wal
ton of California proposed to establish q
caravan route from the Atlantic to the
Pacific II he were given i've sections at
land for his trouble. A Texas mum
made a similar offer to Texas. One
agency actually tried the experiment. of
transporting camels from Smyrna to
Baltimore and then marching them
overland to the west. They all died <aa
the way, some Of them at Hagerstown,
Md.
The attempts to establish carmel colo
nies In the west are not only interesting
in themselves. but even more interest,"
ing in the light they throw upon the
then idea of American geography. That
the great mass Of Americans could ever
have believed in a great Sahara in our
west passes our comprehension. But
they did so believe. and the government
believed it. =. s