The Great Camel Experiment of the Old West by Sherry Alexander

by Sherry Alexander

The smell of wet sawdust, hay, and old manure is pungent. Your eyes water and your nose runs, but your saddled mount is waiting. Powerful legs stomp at the ready. You swing up, loosen the reigns, and click your tongue. A walk becomes a lope and a lope becomes a gallop. The wind steals your breath and tears your eyes until you pull the leather straps and call “Koosh.”Riding a camel instead of a horse wouldn’t be that far-fetched today if a few powerful men had their way in the mid-1800s.By 1853, the Mexican War and the Gadsden Purchase had added 934,670 square miles of open territory to America. California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming were no longer under Mexican rule. Thousands of settlers, pioneers, and immigrants eager to own a piece of the new land or to make their fortunes traveled through the great American Desert of the southwest. It was a dangerous unknown region with little water and even less vegetation inhabited by native tribes who resented the new trespassers.A public cry for protection erupted. The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, had to respond, but here was only a spattering of forts in the new frontier. Transportation and communication between them was almost non-existent. There was no railroad, no pony express, and no stage coaches. In addition, the territory was inhospitable to horses and mules. What could he do?He could use camels!In 1855, Congress agreed and an outlandish enterprise to substitute the camel for the horse and mule in the southwest began. Now it was up to a few men to determine if the “Great Camel Experiment of the Old West” would solve the transportation and communication problems of the military and win the hearts of a nation.

Mass Market Paperback

First published March 7, 2014

About the author

Admittedly obsessed with American and Native American history, Sherry Alexander comes by it honestly. Her ancestors were pioneers who traveled west in hopes of making a new life, and she was fascinated by the stories of their lives on the frontier.

“As a kid, I wanted to be a pioneer, so reading books was the last thing on my mind. Instead, I lead my siblings and cousins on great adventures into the forests of Scappoose, Oregon, hunted and fished with my brother, and dreamed of forging new trails to an unknown land.”

Sherry is also not one to take a dare lightly. She started writing on a dare, and her first book, published in 1987, was the result of that dare. Recently retired, Sherry now spends her days writing children’s articles and books, homeschooling her 10 year old granddaughter—a job she says is the best part about being a grandmother, sharing her new found love of books with her family and friends, and enjoying life with her husband on their ten forested acres in Southwest Washington.

Visit her website to learn more. www.sherryalexanderwrites.com