The white kills for sport alone the game which is the entire support of the savage. I have often stood among the rotting carcasses of hundreds of buffaloes, and seen the beautiful skins decaying, and tons of richest meat feeding flies and maggots; and, standing there, I have felt but little surprise that the savage should consider such wanton destruction worthy of death. In the States, game is protected at least during the breeding season; but no period of the year is sacred from the spirit of slaughter which holds high revel in Buffalo Land.
It is manifest, however, that over the Indian Territory history will soon repeat itself. Railroads are pushing steadily forward; 1872 is already seeing the beginning of the end. The savage must flee still further westward, and the valleys and prairies which he is now jealously protecting will be invaded first by the sportsman, and then by the farmer. Perhaps, before that time, Congress may have taken the matter in hand, and passed laws which will have saved the noblest of our game from at least immediate extinction.
ADDITIONAL FACTS CONCERNING THE NATURAL FEATURES, RESOURCES, ETC., OF THE GREAT PLAINS AND CONTIGUOUS TERRITORY.
"BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES," 467
THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND VALLEYS OF BUFFALO LAND, 470
THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, 472
THE TREES AND FUTURE FORESTS OF THE PLAINS, 484
THE VALLEYS OF THE WHITE EARTH AND NIOBRARA, 492
NEW MEXICO--ITS SOIL, CLIMATE, RESOURCES, ETC., 494
THE MOUNTAIN SUPPLY OF LUMBER FOR THE PLAINS, 502
_ADDITIONAL FACTS CONCERNING THE NATURAL FEATURES OF THE GREAT PLAINS; THEIR PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND VALLEYS; THEIR CLIMATE, ETC., ETC._
"BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES."
In my endeavors to place Buffalo Land before the public in its true light, I have felt a desire, as earnest as it is natural, that my readers should feel that the subject has been justly treated. The opinions of any one individual are liable to be formed too hastily, and the country which before one traveler stretches away bright and beautiful, may appear full of gloomy features to another, who views it under different circumstances. A late dinner and a sour stomach, before now, have had more to do with an unfavorable opinion concerning a new town or country than any actual demerits. No two pairs of spectacles have precisely the same power, and defects ofttimes exist in the glass, rather than the vision.