 merrie says: Though they required tremendous amounts of water when they drank, they could go days without drinking, hence they could cross the vast distances between water supplies in the desert without dying of thirst. As beasts of burden, they could carry far more than the 300 lbs that was considered a 'mule load.' They were simply ideal for the purpose-making regular routes across the desert Southwest an actuality rather than a remote possibility. Jefferson Davis realized this in 1855 and sent a delegation from the US Army to the Middle East to observe and report on the feasibility of using camels in the American deserts. The officers reported seeing camels being used in every environment from the Sahara to the Alps, carrying loads that would crush even the biggest mules, and making trips between waterholes in deserts that would leave horses and mules dead of thirst. Camels were ideally suited, they reported, for the American Southwest. . . . . . Davis authorized the purchase of some 30 camels and their transport to the United States. While at sea between the Middle East and Powderhorn, Texas, one of the female camels- they are known as ‘cows’-gave birth, so the expedition landed with one more camel than it left with. Immediately upon landing, a discovery was made. Camels frightened horses. This was considered a mixed blessing. While US horses and mules would have to be trained to accept camels-which might take some time-Indian horses would certainly shy away from these strange, ungainly-looking beasts, making camel caravans across hostile territory far safer than wagon trains. The US Camel Corps was established at Camp Ve... I remember reading of this in some history book. If I recall, once the plan was eventually abandoned, they didn't know what to do with them, and a number of them were just let loose. For some years afterwards they were seen roaming wild. |
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