borne out by the facts. The number of Indians out in that country was absolutely unknown to our people, and all guesses as to their strength were wildly conjectural. The country in which the coming operations were to be carried on was as different as different could be from the rugged ranges, the broken mesas, and the arid deserts of Arizona. Topographically, it might be styled a great undulating plain, rolling like the waves of ocean—a sea of grass, over which still roamed great herds of buffalo, and antelope by the hundred. It is far better watered than either New Mexico or Arizona, and has a vegetation of an entirely different type. There is considerable cactus of the plate variety in certain places, but the general rule is that the face of nature is covered with bunch and buffalo grass, with a straggling growth of timber along the water courses—cottonwood, ash, willow, and now and then a little oak. On the summits of the buttes there is pine timber in some quantity, and upon the higher elevations of the ranges like the Big Horn the pine, fir, and other coniferæ grow very dense; but at the height of eleven thousand feet all timber ceases and the peaks project perfectly bald and tower upwards toward the sky, enveloped in clouds and nearly all the year round wrapped in snow. Coal is to be found in wonderful abundance and of excellent quality, and it is now asserted that the State of Wyoming is better supplied with carbon than is the State of Pennsylvania. Coal oil is also found in the Rattlesnake basin, but has not yet been made commercially profitable.
Montana, situated to the north of Wyoming, is perhaps a trifle colder in winter, but both are cold enough; although, strange to say, few if any of the settlers suffer from the effects of the severe reduction of temperature—at least few of those whose business does not compel them to face the blizzards. Stage-drivers, stock-*men, settlers living on isolated ranchos, were the principal sufferers. Both Wyoming and Montana were fortunate in securing a fine class of population at the outset, men and women who would stand by the new country until after all the scapegraces, scoundrels, and cutthroats who had flocked in with the advent of the railroads had died off, most of them with their boots on. The Union Pacific Railroad crossed the Territory from east to west, making the transportation of supplies a matter of comparative ease, and keeping the various posts within touch of civilization. South of the North Platte River the country was held by
