THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS. 25 



tracts occasional hunters and trappers still 

 linger ; but as a distinctive class, with a peculiar 

 and important position in American life, they 

 no longer exist. 



There were other men beside the professional 

 hunters, who lived on the borders of the 

 wilderness, and followed hunting, not only as 

 a pastime, but also as yielding an important 

 portion of their subsistence. The frontier 

 farmers were all hunters. In the eastern back- 

 woods, and in certain places in the west, as in 

 Oregon, these adventurous tillers of the soil 

 were the pioneers among the actual settlers; 

 in the Rockies their places were taken by the 

 miners, and on the great plains by the ranch- 

 men and cowboys, the men who lived in the 

 saddle, guarding their branded herds of horses 

 and horned stock. Almost all of the miners 

 and cowboys were obliged on occasions to 

 turn hunters. 



Moreover, the regular army which played so 

 important a part in all the later stages of the 

 winning of the west produced its full share of 

 mighty hunters. The later Indian wars were 

 fought principally by the regulars. The West 

 Point officer and his little company of trained 

 soldiers appeared abreast of the first hardy 

 cattlemen and miners. The ordinary settlers 

 rarely made their appearance until in campaign 

 after campaign, always inconceivably wearing 

 and harassing, and often very bloody in 

 character, the scarred and tattered troops had 

 broken and overthrown the most formidable 

 among the Indian tribes. Faithful, uncom- 

 plaining, unflinching, the soldiers wearing the 

 national uniform lived for many weary years 



