vast arid region constituting fully two-fifths of the United States, where irrigation is necessary to agriculture, and, in consequence, less than ten per cent. of this large surface bears forests of any value. We are told that so scant is the moisture, if the whole current of every water-course in this district were utilized for irrigation it would not be possible to redeem four per cent. of the land. Some of this surface, however, bears grasses and plants that, to an extent, make pasturage. The precious metals and other useful minerals are found in abundance, and various parts of the region have been developed by the many valuable mines, making their owners enormous fortunes. Through this vast mountain district, over deserts and along devious defiles, a half-dozen great railways lead from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific slope. The Southern Pacific Railway we have already followed from New Orleans across to Southern California. Northward from its route at El Paso a railway leads through New Mexico to the next great transcontinental line, the Atchison system, coming from Chicago by way of Kansas City and Santa Fé southwestward The main line traverses Kansas, and branches go south into the Indian Territory and Oklahoma. In the former are the reservations of the civilized tribes of Indians originally removed from east of the Mississippi--the Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws and Seminoles, with some others--who number nearly two hundred thousand souls, most of them engaged in agriculture. To the westward, south of Kansas and Colorado, is the "Boomers' Paradise" of Oklahoma, or the "Beautiful Land," a fertile and well-watered region, originally part of the Indian reserved lands, but bought from them by the Government. People from Kansas long had a desire to occupy this prolific land, and only with great difficulty were they kept out. The portion first got ready was opened to settlement by proclamation at noon on April 22, 1889, a large force of troops being in attendance to preserve order. Over fifty thousand people crossed the boundaries and entered the Territory the first day, taking up farms and starting towns. The "Cherokee Strip" along the northern line was subsequently obtained and opened to settlement in September, 1893, when ninety thousand people rushed in. These great invasions of the "Oklahoma boomers" became historic, cities of tents springing up in a night; but while there then was much suffering and privation from want of food and shelter, yet the new Territory has since become a most successful agricultural community.