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[[underlined]] Aug. 15 [/underlined]]  Left Shattuck at 3 A.M. & reached Amarillo at 9 "
Had to wait till [[blank]] P.M. for train to Dalhart on F.W.& D.

The Staked Plains are big and beautiful as ever with their rich carpet of short gramma grass. There has been lots of rain & the numerous basins are full of water & waders.  Sorgum, milo maize & kaffer corn are the principal crops raised at the ranches & are looking well. Some peach orchards at ranches are bearing fruit, but many trees show dead tops.

Fairy rings on the plains are abundant & large and full of big mushrooms. Some of the rings are 50 or 100 feet across & some of the mushrooms look to be a foot across. In some of the rings there are apparently 100 or more mushrooms & in all the circle of dark grass is very strongly marked.

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On leaving [[underlined in red]] Amarillo [/underlined]] we follow down a gulch and soon strike mesquite which continues in considerable abundance to and well up the slope beyond the [[underlined in red]] Canadian River [/underlined]]. It is surely more abundant and larger than it was 7 years ago when I was over the ground last. Even the little bushes 2 feet high are loaded with conspicuous red bean pods.

The wide red sand bed of the Canadian river & the scattered groves of old gnarled cottonwoods along its banks form a strong contrast to the eroded badland banks & buttes along the sides of the valley. This valley is still inhabited by cattle mainly.

On the high prairie north of the river valley farms are increasing in number but grazing is still the main industry.  Fields of milo maize & kaffer corn at the scattered ranches are doing well this year and some fields of corn are seen.