New Britain herald., 1926-01-22
;CAMELS IMPORTED
 HERE IN F|FT|ES
Were to Be Used in Great
 American Desert

Washington, D. C., Jan. 22 (P,--- Escape of a circus elephant fifty miles west of San Antonio, Texas, and his efforts to get back 10 nature by tearing up fences and striking across ranches and farms recall the strange project to establish gov enment- owned camel colory in the same region, says bulletin from the Washington, D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic Society,
 Egypt and Asia Minor were tho main sources of supply for the Fed eral Government" says the bulletin, Two Shiploads of camels were brought over in 1856 and 1851 for use in the great American deSert,' believed in those early days to be a sort of q Sahara of the Western Hemisphere. There were then no trans-continental railways or high ways, and hundreds of thousands of square miles of the West wore total ly unknown. The few trails across the continent were difficult and the lives of those using them were in constant danger from hostile Indians. Visions of L. S, Army Camel Corps.
 Tt was believed thatecommunica- ton across the continent could be greatly facilitated by the use of cam- els who would carryfumch heavier loads than mules and Horses, cover greater distances and eS1onger with out water. The most enthusiastic supporters of the scheme also visual ized a full fledged camel corps. |. S. army, devastating cavalry of the desert that would sweep over the barren regions of the West and keep the Indians in suhiection.
 The project was in charge of the War Department, and Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, was its most ardent advocate. The strange beasts--75 of them in all-were landed at Indianola about midway of the coast of Texas and marched westward overland. Sixty miles west of San Antonio at Camp Verde the governments camel station was es- tablished, and for some years the test marches of the camcls gave the countryside the appearance of Asia or Africa.
 No Sympathy From Muleteers. "uncle Sam's camel experiment was a failure not because the beasts could not live in America, but chief ly because of the human factor, After the first year of the venture, when the sicklicr animals died, cer- tain breeds became acclimatcd and increased in numbers, But the army muletecrs detailed to the camel sta i ton declared a feud against the strange creatures from the first only the few Greek and Turkish camel drivers brought from Smyrna had any patience with them. The ranch men and other residents of the coun- try shared the feelings of the mule teers, for whenever a camel appear cd horses and mules boltcd in ter TOT.
 Tests showed that the camels were well fitted to work in the southwest. On one expedition they crossed Texas, New Mexico and Ari- zona to the Colorado river and their successful performance was highly commended by the army officer in charge. Perhaps even the prejudice of their attendants might have been overcome and the camel have taken an important economic place in the Southwest as he has in central Australia. The coming on of the Civil War, however. put an end to the experiment. Some of the camels were sold to circuses, some to in dividuais, and some were turned loose in the rough. uninhabited country of Arizona.
 "A few crumbling camel stables at the old camp west of San Antonio are the only surviving evidences of Uncle Sam's fling at camel raising. For many years camels-grown wild were seen occasionally in the mountains of Arizona. the last re- port of the sort being in 1909. There is belief among some Arizonians that the creatures still wander about in the uninhabited wastes of that state and that there is a herd not 1 far from the delta of the Colorado l in Mexico"
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