29 



increasing toward the south. Grasses and sedges suitable for gra/in"- 

 purposes flourish in greater or h^ss abundance, especially as the foof- 

 hills are approached and the valleys between them penetrated into. 



Ihe drier portions of the country (especially where water is within 

 reach) may be advantageously utilized as sheep-walks. Tbe grass of 

 such regions is nutritions and abundant enough for this purpose As 

 an dlustration I may allude to Huerfano Park, which now affords pas- 

 turage to immense droves of sheep. The great objection to allowin'- 

 them indiscriminate range is, that where they go, the grass is so soiled 

 that horses and cattle refuse to touch it. Hence the bitter antagonism 

 between the two classes of herdsmen. An equitable division of the 

 piibhc lands would be to confine the sheep to the region of the shorter 

 grasses, and giving cattle and horses the range of the taller bunch- 

 grass. Of course, when the land was definitely settled, surveyed, and 

 paid tor, the proprietor would consult his own individual interest. 



Along our route the possibilities of agriculture died out as we ap- 

 proached Georgetown, though here and there an acre under cultivation 

 showed that the farmer must have received some return for his labor 

 The valleys still furnished a tair quantity and qualitv of bunch-<^rass' 



\V e leave the country between Georgetown and South Park out of 

 the question for agricultural purposes. There were, as usual, some 

 beautitul summer-ranges for herds. One especially, along a tributarf 

 of the Snake Eiver, was covered with a luxuriant crop of grass The 

 soil, too, was fertile and, but for its altitude, would have produced laro-e 

 crops of the ordinary cereals. " 



South Park, 9,842 feet above tide-water, so far as known, does not 

 promise much m the way of grain-raising. It has frequent frosts dur- 

 ing the summer-months, and the temperature at the same time is so low 

 as to almost inevitably destroy all the cereals. On the morning of July 3 

 the ground was covered to a depth of tn-o inches with snow as low 

 down as the level of Fair Play. Its utmost will probably be accom- ' 

 plished m the way of agriculture in the production of turnips, cabbages 

 and possibly potatoes, with other vegetables equally hardy. Jt will 

 however, be an important grazing ground. Large herds of "'cattle now 

 roam at large over it. In 1872 and in 1873 the experiment was tried of 

 wintering the stock in the park. It is asserted that it was successful 

 and that the herds kept there were in better condition in sprino- than 

 those that had been driven for the winter to the valley of the Arkansas 



The bunch-grasses in the smaller parks toward the mountains are of 

 wonderful luxuriance, and will furnish abundant food for many thou- 

 sand head of cattle. Sheep do well on the more level portions of the 

 park, among the shorter grasses. 



The valley of the Upper Arkansas, as we first saw it, twelve miles 

 above Twin Lakes, certainly looked like anything but a land of prom- 

 ise. Along its central axis, the soil appeared absolutely uuproducti\ 

 and seemed fit to raise nothing but " prickly pears and sage-brush.'' Yet 

 we have abundant evidence that, if the climate were not too rio-orous 

 under irrigation this same soil would raise foir crops. The sraalTer val- 

 leys leading down from the mountains on either side and intersectiu'r the 

 mam valley at right angles all produced abundance of bunch-grass 

 though not so luxuriantly as South Park. lu crossing iuto this valley 

 from South Park, we had made a descent of some 400 feet, and found as 

 a rule a climate proportionately more genial. At Twin Lakes, potatoes 

 grew large enough to be eaten before the early frosts destroyed the tops. 

 It is not improbable that some of the hardier grains might be raised at 

 this point. By September, the yellow leaves on the cotton wood-trees 



e, 



