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Show WHERE SHALL WE SETTLE? i'/ l') are free from Mormon domination, ami will remain so if settled by Gentile colonies. It has always seemed to me that life would be ex-ceedingly pleasant in one of these alpine valleys. The elevation is about five thousand feet above sea- level ; the winters are mild ; the summer air dry and stimulating. There is game on the hills, and trout in the streams; land enough to produce grain for a sparse population, and almost unlimited grazing ground. But these dis-tricts will never sustain a large population. Between each settled valley and the next there will be a day's ride over barren mountain or grassy hill. All that part of Utah east of the Wasatch will never sus-tain a hundred thousand people. Wyoming contains so little farming land that it is not worth while to discuss it ; but it is rich in grazing tracts. Of the 98,000 square miles in this Territory, one- half is complete desert; the rest good grazing ground, with perhaps 500 sections of farming land, though I never saw the latter and do not know where it is located. Of course no one pre- empts his grazing land ; he merely takes up meadow land when he can get it convenient; and perhaps enough farming land for a garden, if there is so much in the neighborhood. One year with another the herder puts up hay enough for three months' feeding. Sometimes none of it is used, and then it is on hand for the next winter. About half the time the common stock can go through the winter without hay, living on the bunch- grass; but blooded stock should be fed at least two months every winter. By the first of May stock can live well on the range. From that on, the grass appears to get more nourishing every day till December. If the winter comes on with snow, grass remains good till the snow melts ; but rain takes the sweetness out of it. It will then sustain life, but stock lose flesh rapidly while living on it. It requires a much larger area for the same number of stock than in a blue- grass country, as the grass makes but one growth per year, not renewing itself after being eaten off. From all these facts it will be apparent that Wyoming never can sus-tain a very large population. New Mexico ? Well. J must as candidly as may be admit that I was rather disgusted with it that is, for any thing else than mountains and scenery. Bear in mind that the central portions of New Mexico are really older country than Ohio. Santa Fe was founded a hundred and fifty years before Cincinnati. All the good land in the valleys of the Rio Grande and its tributaries was long ago occupied, and the grazing lands of the central section are taken up. West of the Rio Grande the country is practically worthless to a man used to the system of 40 |
