GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 257 



Great preparations are being made in Northwestern Texas to gather together herds 

 which in numbers have not been heard of before. 



Abilene and Schuyler. — Abilene has been the great market this year. At that place 

 the receipts of cattle have reached the enormous figures of 200,000 head. The ship- 

 ments for the month of September amounted to 60,000 head, or 3,333 car loads, or 111 

 car loads per day, for the great corn-fields of Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois. It is antici- 

 pated that the shipments will reach 75,000 in October. 



This great cattle trade at Abilene, which has assumed such gigantic proportions, was 

 initiated in 1867, and has therefore counted only four seasons. In 1867, 75,000 head of 

 stock were received; in 1868, 125,000; in 1869, 150,000 ; in 1870, 200,000. In 1869, one 

 bank alone in Kansas City handled $3,000,000 cattle money. The cattle driven and sold 

 here are from the eastern part of the State, from the Rio Grande to the Red Rivers. 



At Schuyler, this year, which was an experiment only, 27,000 cattle were sold. The 

 First National Bank of Omaha handled $500,000 in consequence of this cattle business. 

 I am informed by those who know that 40,000 more cattle could have been sold i f they 

 had been at Schuyler. Next year it is hoped the supply will reach 100,000, as the de- 

 mand for Nebraska, Iowa, Southwestern Minnesota, and Dakota will certainly require 

 that number. 



Packing is one of the great means of disposing of the cattle of Texas. Allen & Poole, 

 of Galveston, are packing immense numbers of cattle at Galveston, Indianola, and at 

 Shreveport and other places. I am informed that they own more cattle than any other 

 firm in the State. This salted beef finds market in our great eastern cities, with our 

 navy and merchant marine, and in every beef-buying market of Europe. 



Refrigerator cars are looked forward anxiously to, to take the place of live shipments 

 as cheaper, healthier, and with no loss by long travel without food. If such shipments 

 prove successful, every market east of the Missouri River and west of the Sierra 

 Nevadas will receive beef from Texas. 



Such is the colossal cattle-raising, driving, and shipping in and from Texas, built up 

 where there were no markets and no railroads to stimulate it. What may we expect 

 it to be now that there is a demand for it in every valley and on every prairie west of 

 the Alleghany Mountains, and in every beef-buying market in the Atlantie States? 



GENERAL REMARKS. 

 THE PLAINS. 



At present one of the most important and interesting of the many 

 questions relating to the great West is, How can the Plains be made 

 useful to man ? And this, so far as it relates to agriculture, involves 

 two other inquiries, as follows : How much of it can be irrigated to 

 that extent required for the production of useful crops? And how 

 much of the remainder can be profitably used as pastoral lands 1 The 

 answers to these questions are of no small importance in the political 

 economy of the nation, but, on the contrary, deserve and should receive 

 the attention of our statesmen. That which adds to the material 

 wealth and productive energies of a nation is of far more importance 

 than that which simply represents value, although the latter often 

 receives more attention than the former. 



Take, for instance, the broad belt of country situated between the 

 99th and 104th meridians, and reaching from the Big Horn Mountains 

 on the north to the Llano Estacado on the south, containing about one 

 hundred and fifty thousand square miles. Must this vast area remain 

 forever unproductive and useless, without a vigorous effort being made 

 to redeem it and make it valuable ? If but one-fifth of it could be 

 brought under culture and made productive, this alone, when fully im- 

 proved, would add $400,000,000 to the aggregate value of the lands 

 of the nation. And taking the lowest estimate of the cash value of 

 the crops of 1869 per acre,* it would give an addition of more than 

 $200,000,000 per annum to the aggregate value of our products. 



But returning to the inquiries before us, I may state with all confi- 

 dence, in answer to the latter, that the extent of the pastoral lands is 

 fully equal to all the demands, for grazing purposes, of the population 



* Agricultural Report, 1869. 

 17 G 



