SCRIBNERS VOL. XXXVII MARCH, 1905 MAGAZINE PORTRAITS OF By ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHL changes which a few vears [y/ 57 2 CNSR D2 2 =n 3 have w rought over the West- ern country can be compre- ll hended only bv those who Sle have witnessed their prog- ress, and this has been pos- sible for men not long past middle life. A single generation will almost cover the dev elopment of the country west of the Mis- souri River. It is less than forty vears since the first railroad pushed shining threads of iron into what had long heen called the Great American Desert; concern- ing which so many prophesies had already been written bv men who had journeved over it, of which it had been intimated that its sterile wastes and its wild inhabitants would be alike a barrier to westward travel and a protection against invasion from ex- ternal enemies. It had already been crossed many times; a trade route had been opened with the Mexicans in the South-west; Mor- mons had established their kingdom in the Salt Lake Vallev; and gold seekers had walked across the continent beside their bull teams to dig the yellow wealth from the shores of the Pacific—but these lines of travel had not affected the loneliness of the western half of the continent. When the first Pacific railroad was built, the Western plains and mountains sup- ported an abundantlife that, in many places, has now wholly disappeared. The great plains were the pastures of innumerable buffalo, and antelope, and elk, and deer, which supported the wild tribes that dwelt there, or passed north and south across them in peaceful journevings or hostile fo- Copyright, 19035, by Charles Seribner's Sons. PHOTOGRAPHS BY KE. SN. INDIAN TYPES George Bird Grinnell CURTIS rav. Almost the entire subsistence of the laborers emploved in laving the railroad track was wild meat. The Indians ob- jected to the passage of the railway, and were hostile. At that time, and for several vears thereafter, unless a man were a skilled plainsman or had an escort of troops near at hand, it was as much as his life was worth to venture far from the railroad track. 1 recall an occurrence of the early railroad davs where a passenger on the overland train, not caring much for the mid-day meal served at the eating station at Sidney, Neb., wandered off, while his fellows ate, to look at the blutt on the north side of the track. While standing there, two of party of Sioux, who had been watching the train from a hiding place on the top of the bluff, rode swiftly down upon him and killed, scalped, and stripped him before the very eves of the astonished trainmen and passengers. The two Sioux rode slowly away, while others of their party danced in triumph and derision on the top of the bluff in plain view of the train. In those days Indians were Indians, and the plains were the plains, indeed. It all seems so short a time ago that it is difficult to realize the change. Only last summer I was talking with a middle-aged Indian friend about old times, and as we discussed one thing after another, he spoke of an occasion in 1867, when with a party of warriors of his tribe, he had helped to ditch a freight train on the Union Pacific Railway. The cars gave up abundant plunder, and the Indians sent to the camp for the women to bring pack-horses to carry
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