76 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



Dr. Latham says : " All the country west of Omaha, 

 on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad, as far as Fort 

 Kearney is in the belt where twenty-five inches of rain 

 falls yearly. West of Fort Kearney, extending to the 

 Sierra Madre, on this railroad line, including the Black 

 Hills and Laramie Plains, is the belt where twenty 

 inches fall annually, with the exception of a small 

 portion of country in Texas, called the Staked Plain. 

 These two belts include all the trans-Missouri country 

 west, from the Missouri and Mississippi to the snowy 

 range. This rainfall includes the snow reduced to 

 water measure, twelve inches of snow making one inch 

 of water. This water falls mostly in the spring in 

 gentle rains, during the month of May, which is the 

 rainy season of the country. In the month of May 

 the rain gives our grasses their growth, and by June 

 1st to 15th they are fully matured. Our rains then 

 come in short showers, and the fall for the summer is 

 small. Our grasses begin to cure, and by September 

 1st they have become perfectly cured uncut hay. This 

 one fact alone is the key to the great superiority of this 

 country for grazing. Our grasses cure instead of de- 

 composing, as there is neither heat nor moisture, both 

 of which are necessary for the chemical process of de- 

 composition. 



" As you leave the Missouri River you enter the belt 

 of country where two feet of snow falls. This belt 

 extends, like the first belt of rain, to Port Kearney. 

 "West of that point to the mountain's foot is the belt 

 of eighteen inches. The snowfalls at a single storm 

 are very light, three inches being exceptionally large, 



