The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-31
BUFFALO BILL AS A GUIDE.
One Sportsman's Experience in the Big
Horn Basin.

horn basin.
From the Chicago Inter- Ocean.
It's the only place in the United
States where big game and lots of it
can be found to-day" enthusiastically
declared George p. Everhart. on his
return recently from the Big Horn basin
in Wyoming, where for five weeks he
was with a hunting party arranged by
Hon. William F. Cody
Il left Chicago on October 2S,"
continued Mr.. Everhart, accompanied
by H. M. Gerens, owner of the Iroquois
hotel in Buffalo, n. Y. and Henry
Foote, a New York capitalist, both
good sportsmen. When we reached
Billings, Mont, we found Buffalo
BilPs private car waiting 10 take us to
Red Lodge, the terminal of the North
ern Pacific railroad. There our host.
Major John M. Burke, and Pony Bob
the famous express rider of other days,
We're on hand with bronchos and wag-
ons to carry us and our outfits over the
Shoshone mountains to the metropolis
of the Big Horn basin. Cody-the met
ropolis referred tots only two years
old, and has about Is houses, one store
blacksmith shop, and a big irrigation
plant. The town is near the center of
the Big Horn basin, which lies 1000 feet
below the summit of the Rocky noun
tains, and in area is as large as the
state of Massachusetts,. The Shoshone
river flows through 1t.
The main street of Cody is along the
river. The inhabitants call it River
street, Water street. 'Shoshone ave-
nue. and on extra fine days Major
Burke would proudly call it Canyon
Boulevard but Pony Bob and other
oldtimers always called it the Stink
ing water trail The Indians gave the
ShoShone river the name of Sinking
water, and rightly, too, but it has been
discovered that the sulphur and car
NJ n.
possess wonderful curative powers.
Within a stones throw of each other
are two springs, one having a tempera-
ture of SO degrees, and the other of 60
degrees The waters of the hot springs
of the Big Horn basin possess the medi-
cinal properties of the famous hot
springs of Arkansas.
But beautiful as the basin is, adapt
able to agriculture and rich in minerals,
the game that abounds in it was the
chief charm for me. i have travelled
all over this country, and know that
the Big Horn basin is the sportsman's
paradise. There's good hunting in
thousands of places-but no finding.
During the five weeks in that country
L saw bears, mountain lions, elk. deer.
antelope, Rocky mountain sheep, wolves
and coyotes, to say nothing of small
game, which included the finest mallard
ducks | ever tasted. The mountain
The last day / fished ] caught 81 noun
tain trout. ranging in weight from one
and one-half to two and one-half
pounds. a
One day we saw herd of $50 elk
We only killed four of them Our party
made a record by killing in one day
four Rocky mountain sheep, the wariest
animal in the world, not barring the
channels. By the way, the story about
Rocky mountain sheep leaping from
crag to crag and alighting ON their
horns is-like lots of other good stories
not true. The stories of the jumping
Of the mountain sheep have perhaps
been exaggerated, but the way they do
leap along the mountain is truly Won
derful."
Wasn't 1t very cold in that coun-
try?''
The lowest temperature was eight
degrees above zero. but SO dry is the
climate that we did not feel the cold.
So mild are the winters that nearly
every day the men go around in their
shirt sleeves, and | bathed in the sui
phur springs nearly every day.
Il hardly know which is more enjoy
able. hunting for big game in the day
time, or listening at night 10 the remi-
niscences of Buffalo Bill Major Burke
and Col. Henry Inman. who was the
quartermaster of Sheridan's army The
only thing on the whole trip which /
cannot look back on with pleasure is
ride which Buffalo Bill invited me to
to take through Box canyon. 1t is only
six miles long but no man ever passed
through it. 1t lies between the Rattle
snake and Cedar mountains, and its
walls, hundreds of feet high, are almost
perpendicular. In places we passed the
path was less than a foot in width, and
a misstep simply meant death.
just like riding on Michigan ave
nue. complacently remarked Buffalo
Bill after we passed one of the most
dangerous places. | think he took me
out on that trip just to try my nerve.
l followed him because, after we had
entered the canyon, there wasn't any
chance for a horse TO turn around till
We had gone for several miles.
wouldn't make that trip again for the
best business block in Chicago"