486 BUFFALO LAND. 



poses, the habitable character of our vast traditional 'desert ' is 

 generally conceded, and hence it need not be enlarged on 

 here " 



THE SUPPLY OF FUEL. 



Of the question of fuel for the future dwellers upon the face 

 of Buffalo Land, Hayden, in his report, speaks as follows : 



" The question often arises in the minds of visitors to this 

 region, how the law of compensation supplies the want of fuel 

 in the absence of trees for that use. Many persons have taken 

 the position that the Creator never made such a vast country, 

 with a soil of such wonderful fertility, and rendered it so suita- 

 ble for the abode of man, without storing in the earth beds of 

 carbon for his needs. If this idea could be shown to be true 

 in any case, we would ask why are the immense beds of coal 

 stored away in the mountains of Pennyslvania and Virginia, 

 while at the same time the surface is covered with dense forests 

 of timber. We now know that this law does not apply to the 

 natural world; and, if it did, this western country would be a 

 remarkable exception. The State of Nebraska seems to be 

 located on the western rim of the great coal basin of the 

 West, and only thin seams of poor coal will probably ever be 

 found; but in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, in 

 Wyoming, and Colorado, coal in immense quantities has been 

 hidden away for ages, and the Union Pacific Railroad has now 

 brought it near the door of every man's dwelling. 



" These Rocky Mountain coal-beds will one day supply an 

 abundance of fuel for more than one hundred thousand square 



