getting goods to these outposts. The trails across the deserts of the Southwest took a deadly toll on all who crossed them. The danger was once summed up by the quartermaster at Fort Yuma, Arizona, who said: “From San Diego to Fort Yuma there is but one practical wagon route and it passes over the worst, most irksome desert for beasts in the world. There are more extensive deserts than this great ‘American desert’; but consider- ing the distance to be passed over, it is as hazardous and pernicious as so much of Sahara and Gobi.”
In an 1854 report to the US Senate, Secretary of War Davis outlined his belief that camels could be used effectively to carry supplies to the military garrisons scattered through- out the American Southwest. He pointed out the camel’s endurance and ability to transport loads of five hundred or even nine hundred pounds without stopping for rest. A camel could carry this heavy burden thirty to forty miles a day, for many days. The creatures required very little food and could go without water for several days. Davis explained the peculiarities of a camel’s body, which was so
While stationed at Camp Verde, Texas, the US Camel Corps, depicted here in 1857, transported provisions and was engaged in military operations against Native Americans in the region. GETTY IMAGES
efficient at extracting moisture from food that some camels had even gone months without water. Since the camel’s hump was mainly fatty tissue, it became a source of nutrition when food was scarce, and when the animal worked hard, the hump gradually wasted away, sometimes being reduced to little more than skin. After a period of rest and food, the hump would return to its normal size. Camels could withstand dust storms because they had thick, curly eye- lashes, which protected their eyes from blowing sand. Their nostrils could close to keep grit out of their air passages, and they were surefooted,
with feet adapted to walking on both sand and rocks.
Eventually, Jefferson Davis’ camel proposal was publicized by the newspapers and became a hot topic. Financial wizards compared the costs of horses, oxen, and mules against the paltry price of one camel. As camel fever grew, American citizens wrote their congressmen, urging them to give the creatures a try.
Acquisition and Acclimation In 1855, Congress appropriated
$30,000 (about $780,000 in today’s dollars) to import camels to the United States. US Army Major Henry Wayne
T H E E L K S M A G A Z Z I N E E E L K S M A G A
I N E
39 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76