The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-03-16
Vancouver Independent.
OFFICIAL PAPER OF CRY AND COUNTY.
Vancouver. Clarke County, Washington
Territory.
Buffalo Bill.

Lanesboro, Mimi, Aug. 22.-Mr. VIM.
F. Cody, the most noted plainsman and
guide now living and so well known
throughout the country as Buffalo Bill,
has been the guest of his friend and for
mer companion, DR.. d. f. Powell of this
place, for the past few days; and finding
much of interest in the life that is part
of the unwritten history of the plains,
your correspondent could not be so I'M
enterprising as not to apply the reporto-
rial pump for the benefit Of the Pioneer
Press readers.
Buffalo Bill is native of our sister
State of Iowa. His father was one of the
pioneers of the Hawkeye territory, set
thing in Scott county in the decade of
80. Bill was born III February, 1874,
while Iowa was still territory land lived
to see the great empire east of the Mis-
sissippi river emerge from the shawow of
western wilds and the possession of I'M
civilized men and take its place in the
front ranks OF civilization. 1t is wonder
full transformation to be witnessed in a
single lifetime. The iron horse was in
the inciplency of his wondrous career,
and the telegraph that to-day girdles the
globe, was first put into operation during
the year in which the liking of border
men" was born, and these civilizing
agencies have changed the scenes of his
boyhood from the widest pictures of ro-
nance to land teeming with hourishing
cities and the attending results of culture
and progressive influences.
In 1850 the father of Buffalo Bill re-
moved to Missouri; but the political at
mosphere was not congenial to him, and
he remained but short time in that
State, finally casting his lot in the new
territory of Kansas, where he served the
government as an agent for the Kicka-
poo Indians. During the desperate
struggle that sprang up in the early set
Element of Kansas, between the pro and
anti-slavery men, the father of our noted
plainsman was outspoken against slavery
and, like many others during the we'll
remembered ruffian reign of terror, was
murdered because he would not yield
to the slavery sentiment that found
merciless advocates. Not only was he
made martyr to the cause of freedom,
but much of the limited property left to
his almost helpless family was confis-
Gated, or, more properly. stolen. Moth
ing was more plain to young Cody than
that he must rely upon his own resources.
Not only this, but that he had a mother
and two sisters who were deprived of
the strong arm of protection in the MUIR
der of his father. In 1856, while but IL
years old, he made his first trip across
the plains in the capacity of teamster.
This was a herculean undertaking for a
youth of his years, but grit, familiarity
with the reins and "woodchuck case"
nerved him to success, and he remained
for a number of years in the employ of
the firm for whom he made his first trip
In the employ of another firm he was
second man to cross the great plains in
charge of the famous pony express. His
summers were spent in hard service on
the plains and his winters in trapping on
the streams of that country. In COM
pany with about thirty young Kansans
he subsequently, belonged to an
organization known as the Red-Legged
Scouts, Capt. Cleveland commanding,
which avenged the wrongs inflicted by
the murder of anti-slavery settlers OF
Kansas. In 1923 he engaged to the
government as guide, leading a party
up the Arkansas river. In 1S64-5 ne
was engaged as a scout in Mis-
souri, by Gems. McNeal, Pleasanton
and Blunt, respectfully In the
spring of 1866 he took serious and
sensible view of life, and married St.
Louis lady, removing to Leavenworth,
Kansas, where he engaged in the occupa-
ton of hotel keeping, the name of his
house being the Golden Rule; "but," as
he expressed it, sit was rule that didn't
work both ways" and he jumped the
business, and accepted an offer from the
government to go to old Fort Fletcher,
(now Fort Hayes in the capacity of a
scout. During the summer of the fol-
lowing year he was engaged by General
Custer as q scout and guide, and during
the autumn as post scout at Fort Hayes.
He was no less noted for his .narksman-
ship than for his ability as an Indian hun
ter and path finder of the plains, and
during the construction of the Kansas
Pacific Railroad, in 1868, was employed
by the chief contractors 20 supply the
constructionists with buffalo meat. This
was task in which he engaged with
great pleasure, killing from fifteen to
thirty-five animals per day. and thus sup
plying one of the substantial articles Of
diet for upwards of q thousand men. So
successfully did he fulfill the require
ments OF the various camps that the
workmen gave him the ever-to- be-worn
appellation OF Buffalo Bill.
In the fall of 1868 Gen. Sheridan took
command Of the department Of the
Platte, with headquarters at Fort Hayes.
The Indians were very troublesome and