Show v I THE CAMEL EXPERIMENT J I The current Popular Science has bas a most interesting interesting interest- interest f ing article by b- Professor Flemming of the Louisiana I State university on Jefferson Davis' Davis efforts to intro- intro duce 1 camels in this country when he le was secretary i k ot of f war 51 war 51 He was very much interested in inthe inthe the subject lie He believed camels might he be substituted 1 for mules both for carrying freight and aDd carrying the mails over the great west between western Texas and the Pacific coast He reasoned that a camel could go two or three days without water and cOl could d y pa pack l k as much as as' a mule four-mule team cOl could d haul or as three mules could pack that camels could live on the simplest and roughest food and that they had been the real beast of burden in Asia and northern Africa since before the days of Abraham The fhe proposal to substitute cam camels ls for horses mules and oxen was first made by Major George I Hampton Grossman Crossman a West Point graduate who was afterward Ta Taylors Taylor's lors quartermaster in the Seminole war war Another gentleman much interested was wag Major Henry ren Constantine Constantino Wayne who during and after aftertime the time McLean fex can war served in the quartermasters quartermaster's department de de- de- de lie Ic and Mr lr Davis had bad made extensive studies in regard to the ilie different breeds of the camel its habitat the proper care of it and its adaptability to the thc arid plains of Texas New Kew Mexico and Cali Cali- fornia In March 1851 Mr lr Davis ih h the senate proposed to to 10 insert in the alm army appropriation tion bill an amendment amend amend- ment providing the sum of for the tho purchase 1 of fifty camels the hire of ten Arabs and other exand ex ex- I and supported his motion by a JP speech e h. h In I r. r t r that speech he lie pointed out that they the could live a along along along long time timo without water cat eat scraggy bushes and that dromedaries because of or their superior s speed speech could be mounted as ns cavalry and aud could carr carry small cannon as has lias been done clone in J Persia and E Egypt Ept pt A year car later when Davis had returned to Mississippi Mississippi Mis Mis- I Bissell of Illinois introduced into the house housea I a bill for for the purchase of camels E Evans Eans ans ansof of Maine and Shields of Ohio supported it and amI spoke of or it as ns originating with ith Mr j rr Da Davis s The house passed the bill lill but it was WH lost in the senate George e Rawlins Glidden time thc archaeologist who had bad I lived ed twenty three years cars in Egypt wrote a a memorial memorial memorial me me- morial to congress declaring ing that the project was fC feasible cible George e Perkins Mash Marsh who had lived Ii in inthe inthe inthe the Levant ant and was as acquainted with thc the camel in Turkey used all his influence to help the matter on and und delivered a lecture in 1854 in the Smithsonian institute on the subject He He also wrote a little hook book hookon on the subject This led to the of the American Camel company of New York and about 1857 this company landed one shipment in Texas but nothing is what came caine of it Davis made a t strong recommendation to congress in ill favor of an experiment with camels lie He went into details showing the great extent of the time newly acquired acquired ac ac- ac- ac territory its lack of navigable streams and good roads 1 lime he absence of grass and water for long Iong distances lIe He pointed out that the Pacific e coast const was 1 0 days das distant f as was defenseless and that quicker and better transportation must be ho provided pro Con Con- gress would not respond and in 1854 Davis renewed his request and finally was appropriated Major l Wayno and David D. D Porter of tho the navy were sent in the store ship Supply to the time Mediterranean Med fed for the camels Those two to men went to I work to study the habits and breeds of the camels and the diseases they the were subject to The They soon soomi became became became be be- came expert camel traders The first ca camels els the they bought were found to bo be worthless and two of or them were sold to a Do butcher in Constantinople for 14 Then the government over there threw obstacles in their way They did not want more than two camels exported The viceroy finally notified Wayne that he wOl would d make the government of th the United States a present of six When Then they came Porter refused refused refused re re- re- re fused to take them and wrote to the time viceroy that they were worthless and diseased and he could not accept them and that the attempt to fraudulently force on the government of the United States such camels was a discourtesy Then some good ones were subs substituted Finally a cargo of three thirty three camels was as secured with their trappings nine dromedaries Arabian from Egypt twenty Arabian camels one Turkish camel two two-humped two one The trip home lasted nine months Lieutenant Porter prepared the ship for the camels and when it was stormy he tied them down lest they thrash themselves to death A stop was made at Kingston and people people peo peo- pie in one day da- came camo abo aboard rd to look at the camels Finally the tho camels were landed at Powder Point three miles below Indianola Texas When released from their confinement the camels nearly went crazy I and were almost uncontrollable rearing kicking crying out breaking halters tearing up pickets and raising Ned generally And less than third one-third of the appropriation had be been n expended Another expedition was sent and brought in four forty-four camels The Texans did not take kindly to the camels They did not believe th they y could bear any such burdens burdens bur bur- dens as w were r told o of them and one day Major l Wayne Vayne had two bales of hay weighing pounds each loaded on a camel The rhe Texans were sure it could d not rise with the loa load Wayne then put two more bales on making 1256 pounds in all The camel arose and walked off easily Some of these camels were sent to the army posts at El EI Paso and Bowie but the army hostlers did not like the camels and the hors horses s objected to them but hut butin butin hutin in the next three or four years ears some interesting sting and successful attempts were mal made maue e to use the tle camel for military transportation purposes Lieutenant Beale reported that one camel was as good as four mules The Tho chances are they wOl would d have come into general gen geu- eral use except for the war coming on They The TheW W were lC permitted to drift and one band was sent to Nevada Neala and for a while packed salt from tho the salt saIt marsh marsh- marshon on the Carson to Virginia City There is no possible doubt but that had the tho building of railroads been put off fifty years ears longer ca camels els would have haye been used all over Oler this western country The thought though of Mr l Davis was a correct ono one only at that time it was not anticipated that this countr country would be found filled with valuable mines and while a few s sanguine people believed ed that somo some time a railroad m might ht be built across the country the impression was that the west was wa-q always to be a long way from the ca cast t. t Then camels arc are hard things to pack and packers do not like them It was hard to secure a load I It Itis Itis is the animal for a vagrant agrant Bedouin but hardly for foran foran foran an Anglo But enough was tried to show that in a Do desert country where roads are bad badwater water scarce and feed poor the men of the orient who adopted and trained camels in the long ago had the right idea |