Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-01-13
OF COURSE YOU LOVED BUFFALO BILL!
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN ABOUT
HIS LIFE ON THE "T e. RANCH
ST. Riddle, Who Spent SeDen
Months as Colonel C0dy'S
Neighbor, Tells Some HOWdy-
dos About "the Press Agent
of the Vest

of the WeSf'
! Among Harrisburg residents who
knew Colonel Cody and are familiar
with the Wyoming home of the Col
onel is Silas S. Riddle, editor of pub
lication, of tie Department of Labor
and Industry Mr.. Riddle spent seven
months In 1914 on the cattle ranch
of Colonel Cody in Northwestern
Wyoming. The following description,
given by Mr.. Riddle, of the ColoneIs
home country and its people contains
number OF anecdotes regarding the
Colonel.
Buffalo Bilrs Home
About forty miles, by rocky stage
coach trail, west of the little town of
Cody, Wyoming, is the L h ranch,
which Colonel Cody loved to term as
! home" Throughout Wyoming it is
known as the IT E"-the letters letters
horses and mules that roam the graz
ing country surrounding the ranch
house and buildings and the $40 wire
fence enclosed acres under irrigation
for the raising of oats and alfalfa for
the winter feeding of some of the
more select stock.
Colonel Cody was the founder of
the town which bears his name. II
delighted to tell of his first vision from
the Big Horn Mountains Of the broad
fiat plain, five thousand feet above
sea level, where he later established
the settlement which is known as one
of the most picturesque meccas for
tourists seeking fast fading evidences
of the wild west as it used to be.
Hotel Named For Daughter
The center of attraction in the town
of Cody is the Irma Hotel built by
| Al ~ - l,f Il rerl
ter In the lobby massive rough
stone fireplace comprises the greater
part of one wall. From above the
heavy stone mantel stands out a
groteSque whitened skull of a buffalo
with the horns intact.
The house is literally filed with
paintings and original drawings deal
ing with western scenes. Many of
Frederick Remington'S best known
western pictures hang, in the original
copies, in the 1rma. Autograph photo
graphs of the late P. Il. Barnum and
many other celebrities, not excluding
former presidents of the United States
and rulers of foreign realms are In
cluded in the mural decorations.
Great Spinner of Yarns
1t was always at the lrma Hotel
that the Colonel held forth at Cody.
He was a great spinner of yarns and
for hours would keep his listeners al
vulsed.
Il was visiting my daughter at a
young ladies' boarding school one
time" once narrated the Colonel, and
was corralled with the others at a
concert one evening. A young man,
evidently an instructor in the school
took the platform to sing tenor solo.
He started to sing about ten thousand
foes arise His voice went bad and
he started to cough. He got as far
as the ten thousand foes the second
time and again his voice broke. He
was game all right and L pitied him.
so just before he started his third trial
l called to him: 'Pardner your way
outnumbered. If you can manage to
reduce those foes by couple of thou
sand l don't mind unlimbering my
guns and helping you out of your
difficulty" The Colonel did not say
whether his offer was accepted.
He'd Throw Up His Job, Too
1t was from Cody and adjacent
territory that the Colonel recruited
virtually all of the bronco riders, rope
twirlers and sharp shooters that ac-
companied him with his show through
every State in the Union and to for
eign countries.
my heart went out to one poor
bronze twister after the voyage across
the Atlantic" once said the Colonel.
He was a horseman through and
| through and could ride any pitching
bronc' in the outfit. l did not see him
on deck all the way across to Europe.
When we landed / asked him where
he had been and what was his
| trouble? He frankly answered: Col
onel, l will ride anything you got in
the outfit without pullin' leather, but
the pitchin' of that boat plumb threw
me. 1 threw up everything | had ct
for two weeks back and if | had been
back in the old y. S. A. I'd threw
up my job, too
Press Agent of the West
But the Colonel was genuinely a
part of the western country. He has
been called the press agent of the west
and his personality has doubtlessly
plains and western cities tLan the
widely quoted advice of Horace
| Greely.
Many eastern millionaires. artists,
writer's and hunters of world fame
visited the Colonel in his Cody home.
I In the fall of 1913, the Prince of
Monaco, with q retinue, came from
his far off Monte Carlo province, to
hunt grizzlies and elk in the Shoshone
range of the Rockies that lie to the
west of the town of Cody.
Bet You n Million Gates
| About four years ago, Charlie Gates,
eastern millionaire, best known for his
bet you a million" slogan, came to
Cody by special car. While there he
hunted in the surrounding mountains
and later, bewildered even the resi-
dents of Cody by paying off church
debts, buying three-hundred-d dollar
coon skin overcoats for western char
acters, who pleased his fancy, and
even leasing, for one night, Cody's
lone movie show for the jubilation OF
the youngsters OF the settlement. II
was stated that Gates was so pleased
with the town of Cody that he in
tended building a home there but he
was suddenly stricken and died in his
private car on a siding at the Cody
station and thus was ended his first
and only visit.
Three times a week the stagecoach
leaves Cody to travel westward along
the south fork of the Shoshone River
past the T T. ranch of Colonel Cody
The north and south forks of the
Shoshone merge a few miles west OF
Cody. Along the course OF the north
fork is the eastern approach to the
Yellowstone Park. A well kept coach
road leads along the north branch ot
the stream into the park and at the
park boundary is an inn formerly
conducted by Colonel Cody and known
as Pahaska Teepee. The south forl
road can hardly be called well kept
1t ends in narrow trail in a mass ot
almost impossible peaks that rise tc
ten thousand feet and form the
/ aoStar,a ho1ndru of fha Val