DAKOTA has signally demonstrated its capacity for supporting large populations, either by raising grain crops or live stock, for which the wild grasses of the plains furnish abundant pasturage. Divided by the Missouri in the centre, and bounded on the east by the Red River of the North, Dakota has come to be a great wheat-producing region in its eastern half, and a cattle-growing one in its western. Made a Territory in 1861, Dakota came into the Union as two States (North Dakota and South Dakota) in 1889. WYOMING contains in its north-western corner the wonderful Yellowstone Park, which Congress with wise forecast has set apart for the benefit and instruction of mankind. At no distant day this remarkable and picturesque region bids fair to become the chosen playground of the nation. Thus the Great American Desert, which only to have crossed was once thought a feat worthy of being handed down to posterity, whose length and breadth were vividly portrayed as never meant to be inhabited by man, is now everywhere supporting large and prosperous populations. It is but just to add that the Mormons first disproved this popular fallacy by making their homes in the heart of the desert, which imperfect knowledge first led them to choose, and necessity afterward forced to make trial of. These people have therefore done a work as remarkable in its way as that performed by the early New-England colonists. It should further be added, that the occupation of these Territories, notably Montana and Dakota, was productive of serious conflicts with the Indians, who fought to the death for the preservation of their last hunting-grounds. The Sioux war of 1876 was caused by the rush of gold-seekers into the Black Hills, which the Sioux had reserved to themselves. They attacked the whites, to whose aid soldiers were sent. One band led by General Custer perished to a man on the Little Big-Horn, in battle with confederate Indians, led by Sitting Bull, a Sioux chief. FOOTNOTES [1] IDAHO. Indian, said to signify "shining mountains," more fully interpreted by some to mean "gem of the mountains." Originally part of Oregon. The Territory contains the great falls of the Shoshone, or Snake, or Lewis River. Fremont's Peak is its great landmark on the east. [2] BOISÉ (see p. 241) became a government post upon our occupation of Oregon. The capital was first fixed at Lewiston, then removed to Boisé. [3] WASHINGTON. Besides the excellence of its harbors, Washington is noted for its inexhaustible forests, thus making it a great lumber-producing region. In the eastern part wheat is grown, and there are good grazing lands. [4] NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY unites the railway and water systems of the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi with the Pacific. It is the route forecast by Jona. Carver in 1766. (See p. 149.)