three or four passengers, over a distance of about
four hundred miles to Fort Riley, in Kansas. We had heard of many
Indian forays on the line we were to travel over and there was some
danger, but it was the only way to get home. Each of the passengers,
I among the number, had a good Winchester rifle, with plenty of
ammunition. The coach was a crude rattle-trap, noisy and rough,
but strong and well adapted to the journey. It was drawn by four
horses of the country, small but wiry. We had long reaches between
changes. The stations for meals had means of defense, and the food
set before us was substantial, mainly buffalo beef, chickens and
bread. A good appetite (always a sure thing on the plains) was
the best sauce for a substantial meal, and all the meals were
dinners with no change of courses. We saw on the way many evidences
of Indian depredations, one of which was quite recent, and two or
three settlers had been killed. We met no Indians on the way, but
we did meet myriads of buffaloes, scattered in vast herds to the
north and south of us as far as the eye could reach. It is sad to
reflect that all these animals have been exterminated, mainly in
wanton sport by hunters who did not need their flesh for food or
their hides for leather or robes. This destruction of buffaloes
opened the way for herds of domestic cattle, which perhaps in equal
numbers now feed upon the native grass of the prairies.

In a recent visit to western Nebraska and South Dakota, I saw these
cattle in great numbers in good condition, cheaply cared for and
sold for four cents a pound on the hoof. The owners of these cattle
purchased land from settlers who had acquired title under the
homestead or pre-emption laws, as suitable sites for ranches,
including a permanent lake or pond for each, an indispensable
requisite for a ranch. This being secured, they built houses to
live in and sheds for the protection of their cattle in winter,
and thus obtained practical possession, without cost or taxes, of
all the government land needed for their ranges. Sad experience
has convinced settlers in all the vast rainless region of the west,
that they cannot produce grain with any certainty of harvesting a
crop, and thousands who have made the experiment in western Kansas
and Nebraska and in eastern Colorado and Wyoming have recently
abandoned their improvements and their claims. It seems now that
this part of our country must be given up to the her