But it was when he became a scout in the army that he made his greatest name; and the general officers under whom he has served, and those who have served with him, give him the credit of being a man of unimpaired skill in prairie craft, indomitable courage, a miraculous marksman with rifle and revolver, and at all times a gentleman.
Receiving only a common-school education, Buffalo Bill has since educated himself; for, a thorough reader of human nature and close observer of men and things, he falls naturally into the ways of polite society, while, a great reader, he has a fund of general information one would not believe possible to be attained by a person who had led his arduous, busy, and adventurous life.
Over six feet in height, formed like an Apollo, and as handsome as a picture, he is a man to attract universal attention wherever he goes, to which, however, he seems utterly indifferent.
At the time of the visit of the Grand Duke Alexis to the United States, General Sheridan selected Buffalo Bill as his guide, and he received from the duke a magnificent diamond ring in return for his services, and an invitation to visit him in Russia, which Mr. Cody says he will one day accept.
Acting also as guide and hunter for numerous parties of English noblemen hunting on the plains, and also for Mr. James Gordon Bennett, J. G. Hecksher, Leonard and Lawrence Jerome, Colonel Schuyler Crosby, and other noted Americans, he soon became known as a bona fide frontiersman.
When the late Mr. Frank Leslie made his memorable trip to the Pacific coast, Buffalo Bill was his invited guest through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Thus becoming famous through his own deeds, Mr. Cody was seized upon as the hero of many an “o’er true tale” in the weekly papers, and was urged to come to the East and engage in a dramatic enterprise, in which he has been successful as an actor, and made a snug fortune.
As a pistol and rifle shot Mr. Cody has no superior; and his deeds with fire-arms are simply miraculous, and must be seen to be believed.
At present Mr. Cody resides at North Platte, Nebraska, where he has a large cattle-ranch, which yields him a handsome sum annually, and where he is known as a “cattle-king.”
The cause of this great region of the plains spreading out treeless and devoid of vegetation has been the subject of extravagant conjecture, and some queer theories have been advanced. Some persons think that it was once covered with trees and plants, but was swept over by fire, which so thoroughly destroyed all seed and roots that there was nothing left to sprout; hence the broad, clear range. All persons who have been upon the plains will scout all such theories, for nothing will grow there if planted. The physical condition of this great track is but the reasonable effect of the working of natural laws. Rain is all that is required to make the desert beam and blossom like the beautiful valleys of the states, though of course it would take some years to turn the dry sands into soil. No well-informed person wonders why Sahara is a desert; and though the region of the plains is visited with a few more little showers, and the surface is not so sandy, yet the principle is the same. What falls from the clouds is but that which arises by the process of evaporation from the waters below. The evaporation from our little inland waters is very limited, that as rain it would amount to very few and feeble showers. The great oceans, seas, and gulfs that fringe the continent are the mighty reservoirs from which rise our dews and refreshing showers; and wherever their moisture is not carried, the effect is invariably that of which the great deserts of the world, and the mighty plains of America, bear testimony to-day. In this case, the distance is so great from the waters north and east that all the moisture is lost before it reaches the prairie-land. It is also a great way from the gulf, and to the west the mountain ranges rear their cold summits aloof to extract the dampness from the Pacific breeze. Hence, so long as the broad, open waters roll in their present channels, and the hills and valleys remain, the American plains will divide the East from the West, and their dry surface will glitter in the bright, burning sun. It is, nevertheless, an excellent stock-range; and judging from the mighty herds annually shipped from this great field, it appears a necessary pasture-land for the world. It appears that the all-designing Providence, in the creation, prepared for the contingencies of mankind, and adapted this region to its present use, as well as the mountain-sides to the glittering diamonds and rusty ores.