The US Camel Corps
When it comes to transportation in the Wild West, your mind usually thinks of horses of the cowboys that roamed the plains, or else the trains that became a common sight in the arid region later on. However, there was almost a far more bizarre mode of travel in the Western United States: Camels!
The idea, proposed by George Crosman in 1836, was that the camel, suited for long treks through desert environments would do just as well in the arid land of the west. The idea took 15 years to have anything come of it, but eventually, “The Camel Transportation Company”, and the “American Camel company” were formed with the porpoise of creating a camel transportation line that would travel from Texas, to California, and down to Panama. The companies both failed, but the idea lived on in, the secretary of war, Jefferson Davis, who had thought the camels as a perfect animal for use in transporting goods, and so, along with Major Henry Wayne, went and bought several camels from North Africa.
Source: "The Short Life of the Camel Corps." Opinionator The Short Life of the Camel Corps Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 201
10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Old West." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.