Year: 1859

they pass rapidly through it, as / should
urgently advise them to do; not a Gray
Wolf has honored us with his company to-
day-he prefers to live where there is some
thingsto eat--the Prairie-Dog also wisely
shuns this land of starvation; no animal but
the Copper "a little creature, between a
mouse aud ground-squirrel) abounds here
and he burrows deep in the sand and picks
up living, cannot guess bow; while a
few Hawks and an occasional Prairie Wolf
(aoyota) lives by picking here and there a
Copper. They must ind him disgustingly
lean.


/ would match this Station and its sur
roundings against any other scene on our
continent for desolatiou From the high
prairie over which we approach it, you
overlook grand sweep of treesless desert,
through the middle of which flows the Re-
publican, usually in several shallow streams
separated by sandbars or islets--its whole
volume being far less than that of the Mo.
hawk at Utica, though it has drained a.
bove this point an area equal to that Of the
Connecticut. OF the few scrubby cotton
woods lately covering under the bluffs at
this point, most have been cut for the uses
of the Station, though logs for its embryo
house are drawn from little clump, eight
miles distant. A broad bed of sand indi-
Gates that the volume of water is some
times hundred fold its present amount,
though it will doubtless soon be far less
than it now is. Its average depth cannot
now exceed six inches. On every hand
nd f1r II, IL Al
country above the bluffs is such as we have
passed over this morning. A dead mule
bitten in the jaw this morning by rattle.
snake-lieS here as if to complete the scene.
Off the track to Pixies Peak, all is dreary,
solitude and silence.


Speaking of RattleSnakes-I hasten to
retract the skepticism avowed in a former
letter as to the usual and welcome residence
OF these venomous serpents in the Prairie
Dogs burrow. The evidence of the fact
is too direct and reliable to be gainsayed
A credible witness testifies that he and
Others once undertook to drown out Pra-
irie-Dog in his domicil, and, when sufficient
water had been rapidly poured in, out came
a Prairie-Dog, an Owl and Rattlesnake
all together. In another case tremendous
rain raised a creek so that it suddenly over
flowed Prairie-Dog town, when the gen.
eral stampede of Prairie-Dogs, Owls and
Rattlesnakes was sight to behold. 1t is
idle to attempt holding out against facts;
so have pondered this anomaly until
think / clearly comprehend it. The case
is much like that of some newspaper estab-
lishmentS, whose proprietors, it is said, find
it convenient to keep on their staff "a broth
of boy" from Tipperary, standing six
feet two in his stockings and measuring a
yard or more across the shoulders, who
stands ready, with an Elegant brogue, a
twinkle in his eye and a hickory sapIing
firmly grasped in his dexter fist, to respond
to all choleric, peremptory customers, who
call OF morning, hot with wrath and
briStling with cowhide, to demand parley
with the editor The Cayota is a gentle
man of an inquiring, investigating turn,
who is an adept at excavation, and whose
fondness for Prairie-Dog is more ardent
than fattering. To dig one out and digest
him would be an easy task, if he were a.
lone in his den, or with only the Owl as his
partner; but when the firm is known to be
Prairie-Dog, Rattlesnake & Co., this Ca
yota's passion for subterranean researches
is materially cooled. The RattIesnake is
TO the concern what the Fighting Editor is
10 the journalistic organizations aforesaid.
And thus, while my faith is enlarged, is my
reason satisfied.


A word now on the Antelope. liked
him when first saw him, days ago; then
wished for better acquaintance, which
wish has since been gratifed; and since /
dined with him (that is, off him) my es-
teen has ripened into affection OF the
many Antelopes | have seen, ju lge ma
jority considerably larger than the deer OF
our Eastern forests-not so tall nor (per-
haps) so long, but heavier in body, while
hardly less swift or less graceful in motion.
He is the only animal have seen here that
may justly boast of either grace or beauty.
His flesh is tender and delicate-the choic-
est eating have found in Kansas. Shy
and feet as he is, he is the chief sustehance
at this season of the Indians out of the
present Buffalo range An old hunter as
suTes me that, with all his timidity, he is
easily taken by the knowing To follow
him is absurd; his scent is too keen, his fear
too great; but go upon high prairie, to
spot whence you can overlook fifteen or
twenty square miles; there cronch in hol-
low or in the grass, and hoist your hand;
kerchef, or some red, Auttering scarf on a
light pole, which you wave gently and pa
tiently in the air soon the Antelope, If
there be one within sight, perceives the
strange apparition his curiosity is excited:
it masters his cautiou; he makes toward
the strange object, and keeps drawing near
er and nearer till he is within fifteen or
twenty rods. The rest requires no instruc.
tion.


STATION, 81, June 8, (eveuing,) 1889.


Since l wrote the foregoing, we have
Travelled ninety miles up the south branch
of the Republican (Which forks just above
Station lS) and have thus pursued a course
somewhat south of west In all these niue
ty miles, we have passed just two live
streams making in from the South-both
together running scarcely water enough to
turn a grindstone. In all that ninety miles,
we have not seen wood enough to make a
decent pig-pen The bottom Of the river
is perhaps half mile in average width;