but a short distance when three antelope — a buck, doe 

 and a fawn — crossed the trail directly in front of us. 



At Lyon's Ranch we branched oif to the south, 

 passing to the east of Heart Mountain, and covered the 

 country l)etween it and Beatty's Butte to Hot Springs 

 and the DuBoise Ranch. Here we made a halt, and 

 while the doctor was making some inquiries in regard 

 to the ])est route to Desert Lake, I asked one of the 

 men if there were any antelopes in the vicinity. He 

 said: "Yes, plenty of them, — thousands of them." 

 Pointing to a distant ridge he said that he had seen more 

 than five hundred of them over on that bench quite 

 recently, and that they were quite plentiful in the 

 vicinity of Warm Springs. 



Now the fact is, we had just covered that identical 

 territory, taking a zigzag course, and examining it for 

 miles in every direction with a ])owerful field glass 

 without discovering a single antelope, nor even a track 

 or sign of one. It was our custom not only to look for 

 the antelope, but also for signs; anything and every- 

 thing that looked like tracks or signs was carefully 

 examined. 



The men at the DuBoise Ranch expressed an 

 opinion that since the State had passed a law protecting 

 the antelope, that it would be a good plan for the IT. S. 

 Government to make it all a game preserve, and in 

 this way, not only protect the antelope, but regulate 

 the grazing of stock, and that unless something is done, 

 there would soon be no pasture for either cattle or sheep. 



From the DuBoise Ranch we moved on in the 

 direction of Desert Lake, and shortly we began to see 

 antelope in small bands of from three to six, also a few- 

 single individuals. Arriving at Desert Lake, a dry 

 level plain, practically devoid of any vegetation, and 

 several miles in width and length, we saw two antelope 

 close to the northwestern edge. 



Crossing the lake at this point and taking a 

 westerly course, we continued in this direction until 

 we found the old California and Oregon Military road 

 which runs northwest to old Fort Warner. This Post 

 was abandoned many years ago, and the road leading 



69 



