ARCHEOLOGICAL mVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 7 



shot two hundred and seventy one . . . [They were] in prodigious 

 flocks [which] will cover an area several acres in extent, and the 

 birds are so close to each other that the ground can scarcely be 

 seen ..." 



One further authority may be cited in support of the astonishing 

 quantity of game, particularly deer, recorded in these narratives. In 

 1818 three companies of riflemen under Capt. Martin spent the winter 

 on Isle au Vache, just above present Leavenworth. Lacking rations, 

 they were compelled to support themselves principally by hunting. 

 By the following spring, according to James (1823, vol. 1, p. Ill), 

 "between two and three thousand deer, beside great quantities of 

 bears, turkeys, etc. had been taken. . . ." ^ 



For the most part these observations were made incidentally by 

 parties passing through the region. Had they searched out the trib- 

 utaries and hinterland in Platte and Clay Counties, their game lists 

 would undoubtedly have included beaver, otter, muskrat, fox, wildcat, 

 raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, and numerous other forms. In any event, 

 it is abundantly clear that well into the historic period, as probably 

 long before, the timbered belt traversed by the Missouri must have 

 been a veritable hunter's paradise. 



Today, most of the suitable sections of the region are under culti- 

 vation. Corn and wheat are the principal crops, but locally there 

 are extensive truck gardens supplying the Kansas City and Leaven- 

 worth trade. Some tobacco is grown in sheltered sunny side valleys. 

 Hardwoods cover the steeper bluffs and valley slopes, some of the 

 narrower ridges, and the immediate banks of most of the water- 

 courses, but they comprise only a remnant of the magnificent forest 

 belt that formerly clothed the bluffs zone to a distance of several 

 miles from the Missouri. Oak, elm, walnut, hickory, sycamore, ash, 

 maple, hackberry, locust, Cottonwood, and willow were the principal 

 but by no means the only species present. No accurate data are 

 available for tracing out the former line between forest and prairie, 

 but it seems likely that the ragged margins of the latter frequently 

 approached quite closely the larger valleys, particularly west of the 

 IMissouri. 



Climatically the region is characterized by a wide range of temp- 

 erature and much nnnual, as well as seasonal, variation in precipi- 

 tation. At Kansas City, where accurate meteorological data go back to 

 1889, the temperature ranges from —22° to 113° F. Such ex- 

 tremes, however, are unusual. Both the winter cold and the summer 

 heat are tempered by periods of comparatively moderate weather, 

 while spring and autumn generally are characterized by mild tem- 

 peratures. Annual precipitation at Kansas City since 1889 has aver- 



^ Cf. Maxmilian, 1S43, p. 124, who located this camp farther upstream on Nodaway 

 Island. 



