s as an arid and repulsive desert, there advanced a procession of
the most unique and awe-inspiring character. History tells us of bands
of crusaders who tramped across Europe in order to rescue the Holy Land
from tyrants and invaders. On that occasion, all sorts and conditions of
men were represented, from the religious enthusiast, to the ignorant
bigot, and from the rich man who was sacrificing his all in the cause
that he believed to be right, to the tramp and ne'er-do-well, who had
allied himself with that cause for revenue only.

But the distance traversed by the crusaders six or seven hundred years
ago was insignificant compared with the distance traversed by the
pilgrims to whom we are referring. In addition to this, the country to
be crossed presented difficulties of a far more startling and
threatening character. There was before them a promised land in the
extreme distance, but there intervened a tract of land which seemed as
impassable a barrier as the much talked-of, but seldom inspected,
Chinese Wall of old. There was a region of desolation and death,
extending from the Sierra Nevadas to the border lines of Nebraska, and
from the Yellowstone to the Colorado Rivers. A profane writer once
suggested that the same Creator could hardly have brought into existence
this arid, barren and inhospitable region and the fertile plains and
beautiful mountains which surrounded it on all sides.

Civilization and irrigation have destroyed the most awful
characteristics of this region, but at the time to which we are
referring, it was about as bad from the standpoint of humanity and human
needs as could well be imagined. Here and there, there were lofty
mountains and deep canons, as there are now, but the immense plains,
which occupy the bulk of the land, were unwatered and uncared for,
giving forth volumes of a penetrating alkali dust, almost as injurious
to human flesh as to human attire. Here and there, there were, of
course, little oases of comparative verdure, which were regarded by
unfortunate travelers not only as havens of refuge, but as little
heavens in the midst of a sea of despair. The trail across the desert,
naturally, ran through as many as possible of these successful efforts
of nature to resist decay, and along the trail there were to be found
skeletons and ghastly remains of men whose courage had exceeded their
ability, and who had succumbed to hunger and thirst in this great,
lonesome desert.

That no o