258

Inter Ocean July 3"

FAMOUS LONG RIDES.

Soldier and Scouts Who Rode on
Imperative Orders

RECORD OF ENDURANCE.

Buffalo Bill's Great Ride for General
Sheridan.

Colonel Stanton, Carrier Johnstone,
and the Pony Express Riders
Recalled.

The recent cowboy race from Chadron,
Neb., to Chicago, and the excellent condition
of the horses used by the riders at the
conclusion of the trip, which goes to prove
the stamina and enduring qualities of the
Western bred horse, and was one of the
marvels of the race, calling forth as it did,
the admiration of rough riders everywhere
and securing from the agents
of the Humane Society a certificate
that with few exceptions, the
horses were in good health when they
reached this city, brings to mind some famous
long-distance rides by scouts, soldiers,
and dispatch carriers on the Western
plains. These riders performed feats with
their horses that brought forth encomiums
from generals in the army, and in the light
of recent events are well worth the relating.
All these trips were in the face of
dangers not met with on the Chadron race;
every man was riding in the performance
of duty, and pluck and endurance were displayed
by both men and horses.

From the nature of things there have
been few long races under conditions, similar
to those of the cowboy contest, but
there have been many splendid examples
of endurance on the part of American
soldiers and plainsmen riding American
horses.

A story is current In the Southwest that
frontiersman named F. X. Aubrey years
go galloped from Santa Fe to Independence,
Mo., in a few hours less than seven
days. The distance was 840 miles, and he
had four changes of horses. He won a
wager of $1,000, but was so exhausted that
he had to be lifted from his horse at the
end of his journey.

Buffalo Bill's Ride.

General Phil Sheridan has left a record
in his autobiography of a ride by Colonel
W. F. Cody ("Buffalo Bill") while carrying
dispatches in Kansas in 1868, then an unsettled
country 'with hostile Indians. It
was in the winter, but "Buffalo Bill" rode
350 miles in less than sixty hours. He had
several changes of horses. While a pony
express rider, Colonel Cody covered his
own division and that of another rider,
who had been killed the night before by
Indians. The round trip of 324 miles was
made without a stop except for meals and
to change horses, and Buell's "History of
the Plains," which contains the record,
says the riders were scheduled to average
fifteen miles per hour.

On June 8, 1860, James A. Moore received
an important government dispatch at Midway
station, in Western Nebraska. He
carried it to Julesburg, Colo., 140 miles,
and met another government message coming
east. The rider w o should have carried
it had been killed by Indians the day
before, and Moore started on the return
trip after resting only seven minutes. He
made the round trip of 280 miles in fourteen
hours and forty-six minutes, perhaps the
most remarkable speed ever made. The
west-bound dispatch, which relieved John-
stone from the command of the army on
the coast, was carried from St. Joseph to
Sacramento, over 1,900 miles, in eight days,
nine hours and forty minutes.

Pony Express Riders.

On the pony express there were riders at
intervals of seventy-five to 150 miles, and
they changed horses every fifteen or
twenty-five miles. The distance from St.
Joseph to San Francisco was 1,996 miles.
The first trip was made, in ten days the
second in fourteen, and the third and many
others in nine days. The trip from St.
Joseph to Denver, a distance of 625 miles,
was once made in two days and twenty-one
hours.

During the late Indians war near Pine
Ridge Agency Colonel Guy Henry's colored
command rode 102 miles and fought two
skirmishes in thirty and one-half hours.
The actual time in the saddle was twenty-two
hours. These cavalrymen carried
extra ammunition and blankets weighing
twenty-five pounds.

During the Indian troubles of 1879 that
resulted in the Meeker massacre, Sergeant
Murphy rode 170 miles in a little less than
twenty-four hours to secure relief for
Colonel Thornburg's command, which had
been surrounded by Indians. The record
is not explicit, but the presumption is that
Murphy could not break through the Indian
line with more than one horse. At
any rate, considering the mountainous
country, poor roads, and the night riding, it
as a phenomenal performance.

Colonel Stanton Made a Record.

During the Indian troubles of 1876
Colonel Stanton rode with important dispatches
from Fort Laramie in Wyoming to
Fort Robinson in Nebraska, a distance of
10 miles, in the twelve hours between
noon and midnight. He used but one
horse.

In 1870 four men of Company H, First
cavalry, rode with dispatches from Fort
Harney to Fort Warner, 140 miles, the last
twenty in sand, in twenty-two hours. The
actual marching time was eighteen and
one-half hours.

General Miles has a record of 150 miles in
thirteen hours, stopping only long enough
to change horses. This was made in New
Mexico in 1885.

In 1877 Captain Ezra B. Fuller made a
scout after Chief Joseph in the mountainous
country of Montana, and covered 350 miles
in five days. A part of his command continued
the scout, and rode 600 miles in
twelve days.

In 1882 Lieutenant Bell of the Seventh
cavalry rode 105 miles in North Dakota in
twelve hours with one change of horses.

A scout attached to Colonel Lawton's command
once traveled 450 miles in the Sierra
Madre mountains on eng horse in seven
days and nights.