AN EPISODE SINCE THE RETURN FROM EUROPE.
When abroad Buffalo Bill heard so many officers of the army of France, England, and other countries ask about the Wild West of America, its game and wonderful scenery, that he extended an invitation to a number of gentlemen of rank and title to join him, with others from this country, on an extended expedition to the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, and thence on through Arizona and Utah to Salt Lake City on horseback.
Various causes prevented many from accepting the invitation, but a number assembled at Scout’s Rest Ranch, the home of Colonel Cody at North Platte, Neb., and started upon the long and adventurous trail of a thousand miles in the saddle. The following are those who went on the expedition:
Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill); Col. Frank D. Baldwin, U. S. Army; Col. W. H. MacKinnon, Grenadier Guards, England; Maj. St. John Mildmay, Grenadier Guards; Col. Allison Nailor, Washington, D. C.; Maj. John M. Burke (Arizona John); Col. Prentiss Ingraham, Washington, D. C.; Hon. George P. Everhart, Chicago, Ill.; Elder Daniel Seigmiller, Utah; Elder Junius Wells, Utah; Robert H. Haslam (Pony Bob); Horton S. Boal, Nebraska; Edward Bradford, Denver, Colo.; William B. Dowd, New York; John Hance, Guide of Grand Cañon of the Colorado.
Going by rail to Denver, then down into New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona, the party found there a wagon outfit and horses, with an escort of nearly half a hundred Mormon scouts, guides, and cowboys.
They took the trail to the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, hunting as they went along, then by a long flank movement through the Navajo Country, they crossed at Lee’s Ferry, thence going on to the Kaibal Mountains, viewing the grandest scenery on earth, and enjoying the sport of hunting bear, mountain lions, mountain sheep, elk, deer, antelope, turkey, ducks, and catching fine trout and other fish.
Caught in several blizzards on the mountains, and following unknown trails, many perilous adventures were met with on the expedition, but fortunately no life was lost, though one adventure well nigh proved fatal to Major Mildmay of the Grenadier Guards, giving an opportunity to Colonel Cody to show his nerve in sudden danger and his skill with a lasso as well, for, but for his quick act, horse and rider would have run over a precipice a couple of thousand feet down to the valley below.
The expedition left the trail at Salt Lake City and returned via Wyoming and Colorado, back to the East, thus ending Colonel Cody’s last trail upon the frontier, though if there should occur another border war, he would at once be found at his old post.
THE END.