Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-04-25


L out of chuck wagons down to
the present reien OF tcn-story hotels.
was the route traversed by Buffalo
Bill. Joe Miller and Major Gordon
w. Lille in speeches at IA banquet
given in honor OF Colonel Cody yes
| terday afternoon by the Tulsa Cham
Der Of Commerce.
The guest OF honor was in a remi
niscent mood and his impromptu talk
| carried those present back yonder to
| the period when the now famous
Snowman shot buffalo and fought In
dians for a living.
During the course OF his address 1t
developed that t was he who grub
staked" Captain Payne and the other
dauntless pioneers who opened Okla
homa to settlement 27 years ago yes
| terday. And strangely enough the
| speakers present partner In the show
business, now one OF Oklahoma's
wcalthiest ranchman. and his father
were among those who opposed Payne
| and his cOworkers In their attempts
to make oklahoma a territory OF and
for all tho people who cared to settle
here. Joe Miller admitted this fact
graciously and then told OF his own
career in this state and how he had
endeavored to sing Its praises in many
Parts of the world.
Grub Stakcd.
although l was a Kansan," said
| Colonel Cody. after being introduced
| by Secretary Edward o. Tilburne of
the Chamber OF Commerce. who for
many years was associated with the
veteran plainsnan. II really did not
have much OF n hand in opening old
Oklahoma to settlement. but Captain
| David Payne and his friends were my
friends and very dear friends. too. |
had some money in those days and
| grub-stakcd them, so | had something
to do with the Opening after all. l
am proud Of Oklahoma. II has been
turned from a trackless prairie into n
great empire quicker than any of the
other wild estates west of the Mis-
souri,.
live and fabricated.
II feel deeply grateful at being
honored by live and fabricated city
like Tulsa on the twenty-seventh
birthday Of oklahoma. A few years
ago this was but bald prairie, with
a few trees along the streams Today
| 1t Is a land OF skyscrapers and beau
| tiful mansions and paved streets, such
L
automobile tour Of Tulsa this after
noon"
He told Of how his father. also
pioneer. moved from Iowa to Kansas
in the early day: how he had bled
| and died in the cause of abolition
| along with John Brown. Buffalo BIZ
was left an orphan at the age of nine
years. He signed up to go with an OK
train to Salt Lake City. While near
Ing that city the train was set upon
and annihilated by a band OF Indians.
Cody and the other survivors were
started back toward the Missouri.
Got Enough Walking.
IT walked that one thousand miles,"
he commented. land | have never
been very strong for walking since"
lie told OF having built the first ir
rigation ditch in western Nebraska,
and of having been the pioneer in a
similar movement in the Big Horn
Basin of Wyoming. In the latter dis
trict, he said, they were developing
an oil field He passed around pho
tosraph of an oil well recently shot"
in the Basin. and explained that the
owners had dubbed 1t Buffalo Bills
Last Shot"
II want to die poor" he said in
closing, because all pioneers have
.
Carson, Daniel Boone and Captain
Payne. II | should die wealthy and
meet those men in the great beyond
they wouldn't have anything to do
with me because they would say
had earned my money dishonesty"
Miller Talks.
Joseph G. Miller, strong and healthy
from long life in the outdoors. made
characteristic talk. devoid Of elo-
quence. but tecming with pertinent
facts about Oklahoma.
I'm 1871" he said my father left
Kentucky for the gold fields of Cali
fornia. He stopped in Missouri and
being good trader. faculty which
some OF mis- sons have happily in
herited. he decided he could make
more money by bringing cattle up
from Texas and selling them to the
gold seekers than by going to Calf
fornia himself. He and my mother
and myself, mo being the only son
then. came into Oklahoma in 1879
and located In the Cherokee strip. My
father built tho first wire fence In
this country and went into the cattle
business. In 1855 my father decided
not to educate me and thus waste his
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