Opinion

Buffalo Jones meets Zane Grey

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

In 1906 Charlie Jones, aka "Buffalo" Jones was almost broke. He was 63 years old and had become a legend in his own time. Originally, he had become wealthy hunting buffalo for caravans of settlers in the 1870s. He had founded a city, Garden City, Kan., on land he had homesteaded. He was elected Garden City's first Mayor and had served as a Representative in the Kansas Legislature. He had developed an irrigation district, which served 75,000 acres near Garden City. He had been appointed, by President Theodore Roosevelt, to be the first Park Ranger in America's first National Park (Yellowstone Park). He had hunted Musk-Ox in Alaska. And perhaps most of all, he had gained a reputation as "The man who saved the buffalo."

But most of these accomplishments had not immediately been profitable for Jones, and now his latest venture had taken most of the money he had saved. Jones had first gained his reputation by capturing wild horses, and as a great Buffalo Hunter, along with "Buffalo Bill" Cody. The numbers of buffalo killed by these two, and their comrades, was staggering -- so much so that Jones could see that the buffalo in America were rapidly heading for extinction. Thereupon he smashed the barrel of his hunting rifle and vowed to begin saving the buffalo, rather than killing them.

This first conservationist used his rope, instead of a gun, to capture some 35 buffalo calves in Oklahoma and Texas, and used these as the basis of buffalo herds in Garden City and in McCook. These herds were successful, and he sold and showed buffalo in eastern cities of the United States and in some of the Capitals of Europe. But Jones felt that he could do more, both to save the buffalo and to make his fortune.

He had bought a ranch of huge proportions in the wild country on the north bank of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Here he proposed to cross his buffalo with beef cattle to make a new bovine breed, Cattalo, which would combine the superior eating qualities of beef with the ruggedness of the buffalo, to better withstand Midwestern winters.

In order to replenish his funds, Jones set up a lecture tour of eastern cities, to tell of his adventures on the Plains. The plan was sound. Mark Twain had recouped his dwindling finances in just this way, regaling audiences with his accounts of life on the Mississippi and the silver fields of Nevada.

The only trouble was that Jones did not have the flair for showmanship that Twain did. Jones told his story factually. The exploits, while true, seemed so fanciful that audiences felt that he was lying to them and taking them for fools. Mark Twain also told tall tales, which were factual, and people didn't care if he were lying or not. They just liked being entertained.

At a 1907 lecture in New York City the audience actually stopped Jones' lecture with boos and catcalls.

Afterwards, Jones was in his dressing room, seething with anger over his treatment by his audience and wondering how he could continue the lecture series, when Zane Grey knocked on his door. He was fascinated by Jones' descriptions of life on the Plains, and his adventures with the buffalo. He wanted to hear more.

Zane Grey was a dentist, son of a dentist, turned writer. A natural athlete, he had attended the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship, and was successful during the summers playing with minor league clubs.

He was a good hitter and a good pitcher, with a sharply dropping curve ball. However, in 1894, the baseball rules changed, lengthening the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate by 10'. This effectively put an end to Zane Grey's dreams of becoming a major league pitcher. Instead, he followed his father's admonitions and took a degree in dentistry.

As a writer, he had had some success in writing about his ancestors, the Zanes, who had been prominent in the Revolutionary War, but had recently hit a dry spell with his writing. He was interested in the romance of the Wild West, but realized that he did not know enough about the country, nor the people that he proposed to write about. And in Jones he felt that he had found the fellow who could introduce him to both.

Before the evening was over Jones and Grey had arranged for a trip to Jones' buffalo ranch in Arizona. The trip proved to be a life-changing experience for Grey and it served to cement Jones' reputation in the history of the Old West.

In 1907, the north rim of the Grand Canyon was a very remote and still untamed territory and Jones engaged a couple of Mormon men to assist and guide them safely to their destination. The trip helped Grey to gain the confidence and first hand knowledge that he felt he needed to write of the harshness (and the beauties) of the landscape, as well as the characters of the West.

He also learned about "treacherous river crossings, unpredictable beasts, bone-chilling cold, searing heat, parching thirst, bad water, irascible tempers, and heroic cooperation" at the same time -- a real education for the tenderfoot.

Zane Grey wrote two books about their trip -- "The Last Plainsman" (Buffalo Jones) and "Roping Lions in the Grand Canyon."

Jones was the hero of these two books and portions of Jones' personality served as the model for Grey's heroes in subsequent books, as did those of the two Mormon guides.

Grey's contact with Jones really launched Grey's literary career as a writer of Western Tales. He was a prolific writer and went on to become the first millionaire writer. His more than 85 Western novels represent some of the best Western writings. His books have been adapted into 111 films by Hollywood. They have carried over to TV, radio, magazines, and comic books.

Two of Grey's characters have given rise to series of their own -- The Lone Ranger, and Sgt. Preston of the Yukon.

Before Zane Grey's death in 1939, he had the opportunity to indulge in another of his passions -- fishing. He loved deep sea fishing, from his home on Catalina Island, off Los Angeles, and off the coast of New Zealand and Australia, but he also enjoyed sport fishing from his home on the Rogue River in Oregon.

In his latter years his custom was to spend half the year traveling and living the adventurous life and the other half of the year writing about those adventures.

Zane Grey's treatment of Buffalo Jones and the Great Plains brought the old Plainsman new respect. Subsequent trips to Africa, where Jones successfully roped all sorts of wild animals, including a gorilla, became subjects of books by other authors. Later lecture tours by Jones were met with great approval by the critics and large audiences wherever he appeared. This time audiences believed him.

By the time Charlie "Buffalo" Jones died, in 1919, he had gained world-wide respect and acclaim. The King of England, Edward VII, honored him for his conservation work with animals. In 1959 he was elected to the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

In his hometown of Garden City, Kan., where he is buried, beside his wife and two sons, Jones is still fondly remembered and greatly honored.

In 1979 the Finney County Historical Society erected a memorial to Jones, which reads, "Jones was an undying friend to Garden City and Southwest Kansas, and this memorial is in recognition of his services to our city, state, and nation. His character, courage, and indomitable spirit make him truly one of our finest citizens and an example for all to follow."

Source:

Finney County Historical Society notes, Zane Grey section, Books & Writers

Note:

A complete set of Zane Grey's works was presented to the McCook Library in Memory of Sid Hubert, by the Hubert Family.

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