COMING OF THE SETTLER. 87 



ness. The Dakotas, which at one time were the great- 

 est of the open range states, practically ceased to be fac- 

 tors in it. This also held good on large areas of the 

 other states, although few of them became so completely 

 possessed by the "man with the hoe" as the Dakotas. 

 In the meantime the same process had been repeated on 

 the Pacific Coast. The Sierras offered a barrier to the 

 settlers in California, but they pushed up the coast and 

 worked their way eastward into Oregon and Washing- 

 ton, over the tips of the Cascades and out onto the great 

 sweeping prairies of eastern Oregon. 



The Mormons. With their oasis at Salt Lke City 

 for a headquarters, the settlement started on the margin 

 of the great Salt Lake in 1847 by the Mormons was 

 slowly spreading out, feeling its way cautiously. Once 

 a foot was planted they never turned back nor aban- 

 doned their position. Down into Arizona on the south, 

 and north into Idaho, pressed these desert fighters of 

 Brigham Young. Alone and unaided they faced and 

 solved some of the most difficult problems that the new- 

 comers in any country have been called upon to meet. 



The Nesters. One peculiar class of western settler 

 was the nester. As the stock-raisers opened up the 

 country the water question soon became important, and 

 locations on creeks and other streams, springs and water 

 holes began to have a decided value. Ordinarily the 

 larger outfits made locations in various ways, so as to 

 cover these watering places upon the more important 

 parts of their range, with a view to spreading out their 

 holdings in such a way that through their control of the 

 watering places the surrounding range would naturally 

 be left to their stock. Through dummy locators, land 

 scrip and many other methods, some legal and others at 



