EARLY DAY STORIES. 77 



CHAPTER XL 

 Wild Animals and Birds That Lived Here — Continued. 



In all the experiences of my life, nothing that ever oc- 

 cured to me, or that came under my personal observation, 

 has left upon my memory a more vivid or pleasing impres- 

 sion than the occurrences related in the latter part of the 

 last chapter. There I was, a stranger in the country, view- 

 ing these scenes for the first time. Probably no white man 

 had ever been in that place before, excepting the govern- 

 ment surveyors. The soil was no more fertile, the lay of 

 the land no more desirable, the scenery no more beautiful, 

 and the location no better than could be found in scores of 

 other places in the county; but here, what completed the 

 picture and made it more beautiful and impressive, was the 

 coming of those antelope into the foreground of the pic- 

 ture, being chased away by the dog, and then following 

 him right back again. If there is one word that more than 

 any other fully expresses the feelings that possessed my 

 whole being that morning, it is the word "enchanted," and 

 this being the fact is probably the reason why it left an im- 

 pression of such vivid clearness upon my memory. There 

 were then, and are now, many places in the county which 

 afforded a grander and sublimer view than the one describ- 

 ed, but I had not seen them at that time ; in fact the whole 

 of Antelope county in the early days, when it was as yet 

 untouched and unmarred by the hand of the white man, 

 presented a varied scene of symmetrical beauty, grandeur 

 and loveliness that could scarcely be surpassed. How could 

 the early settlers fail to be pleased, charmed and suited 

 with what they saw before them? 



Many of the wild plants that once helped to adorn and 

 make beautiful the landscape scenes are now nearly extinct 



