The daily sentinel., 1908-09-07

O'Clock the three big trains bear
ing Buffalo Bills Wild West exhibit
tion reached Grand Junction and
were greeted in :he railroad yards by
hundreds of big and little boys who
had been waiting impatiently for the
coming of the great show.
In little while the huge task of
unloading the trains was under way
and the systematic manner in which
the hundreds of wagons, the great
quantities of canvas, the tho ousands
and thousands of seats, and the thou
sand and one other things used in
building up the mighty caravan on
the show grounds at Ninth and
Tenth and Pitkin streets and in pro-
ducing the extended and remarkable
program, caused those who watched
to marvel and marvel.
Then there was the big herd of
buffaloes - those fast-disappearing
monarchs of the plains; the one hun
dred or more Sioux Indians, includ-
ing many notable chiefs; the great
army of American cowboys and cow
girls, Cossacks, Japs, Turks and peo-
pie of many other nationalities, to
attract keen interest and undivided
attention.
The old stage coach, the old mail
wagons used in the Big Horn basin,
carried by the show called forth COM
ments of awe, admiration and won
der.
The Wild West show carries more
than 400 horses, ponies and burros.
and these were housed on the show
grounds in three huge tents Be
tween $50 and $50 people are car
ried, as shown by the official roster
of the dining room, the dining room
cd t.-,
which was set up on the grounds
shortly after the show arrived
During the afternoon several
thousand people visited the show
grounds, watched the tents go up
and gazed upon the Indians, the for
eign soldiers, the buffalos and the
numberless other attractions. Far
into the evening the crowds fingered
on the grounds, and all the visitors
were courteously treated.
Buffalo Bill certainly carries a
tremendously big outfit, veritable
city of tents, people and wonders.
Col. Cody visited the grounds for
a short time in the afternoon, riding
in an auto and he attracted much
attention.
There was no untoward happening
on the show grounds during the
night.
The local feed store men were
kept busy nearly all day yesterday
delivering hay, straw, grain and
bran on the grounds. Enormous
supplies of many kinds were pur-
chased by the management from To-
cal dealers.
This morning bright and early Wis
itors began to stream out to the
grounds. By . o'clock everything
was in readiness for the performance
and at 10 O'Clock the main entrance
was opened and soon an endless
throng of humanity was pouring into
the great canvas coliseum.
The weather was fine and all
morning from every country road
there streamed people into Grand
Junction. Special trains and regular
trains in the morning brought in
hundreds and hundreds of visitors
from Fruita, Palisade. and all points
up in the Montrose. Ouray and Delta |
country. The special over the Mont |
rose line was not in until nearly / / |
O'Clock and many of the visitors
reached the grounds after the show
started.
The scene on the show grounds |
during the morning was one of won
derful activity. Acres and acres of
ground We're covered by the tents, |
the immense coliseum or arena and |
corrals.
The side shows did big business
before the hour of the principal per- /
formance. There is only one dis |
credit to the big Wild West exhibi- !
tion and that is the sideshow carried |
along. 1t is said not to be under the /
same management and we hope it is /
not for we would hate to think that |
Buffalo Bill would stand for such
rank fake outfit and grating con-
cern as this s--eshow. An eXhorb- |
itant admission fee is charged and |
then the photos and souvenirs of the
few ordinary freaks are almost fore
ed on the patrons. 1t is not worthy
of the endorsement of the magnif-
icent exhibition with which il is al
lowed to travel.
BY l O'Clock nearly ten thousand
pieces of hot but goodnatured hui
manity were within the seat sections
of the vast arena and by 1915 there
We're considerably over 10000 peo-
pie there. 1t was perhaps the great
est crowd that ever gathered at one
time in Mesa county. 1t was as
large and in all probability larger
than the crowd that saw Barnum G.
Bailey here three years ago.
Shortly after | o'clock the per-
formance began and The Sentinel is
glad to be able to say that Col. Cody
gave Grand Junction the entire and .
complete program. There was not a
feature cut out. 1t was all there
and during the two hours of the per-
formance the people certainly got
their moneys worth. There was
something doing all the time and ev-
cry feature was fine. Many of the
splendid features that Buffalo Bill
has given for years past were pre-
sented ana they are so good that the