THE FARMER OF YESTERDAY 3 



sion of settlements of law and order, until final- 

 ly they would be forced to bond together for 

 self-protection in the heart of the desert; and 

 from them in time would spring an entity with 

 traditions and ethics founded on barbarism 

 and outlawry. Yet he himself lived to see "the 

 Great American Desert" as a name wiped 

 out of memory, and law and order established 

 in the Great Plains region which once he had 

 confidently predicted would never yield to the 

 plow. 



The Oregon Trail had already become a 

 fact in 1846, and a year or two later saw 

 Mormon regiments that had fought in the 

 Mexican War moving slowly across the plains 

 and over the mountain barrier with their 

 families and cattle, to be mustered out in 

 California. In another year came the rush of 

 gold-seekers, and before another decade had 

 elapsed the country west of the Mississippi 

 had become sufficiently populous to be rent 

 asunder by the political question of States' 

 rights. Cooper, the novelist, writing again 

 in 1847, pointed with pride to the million and 

 one-half souls which constituted the popula- 

 tion of the State of New York, yet he ven- 

 tured the prediction that the agricultural re- 



