Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/68594
W Best Best T he first great hunter who came to this country in search of big game of whom I have knowledge was Sir George Gore. I was a boy at Fort Leavenworth in 1853 when he arrived there from London and fitted out his own expedition. At that time buffalo, elk, deer and antelope were so numerous upon the plains, and all through the Rocky mountain region, that we frontiersmen were somewhat naturally surprised to find that an English gentleman would come all the way across the ocean, and make the tedious journey from the seaboard to the frontier, with no other end in view than the chase. The ready good fellowship, however, with which Sir George Gore adapted himself to his surroundings, soon made him a favorite. His party was made up of about 200 men, the trappers and guides being engaged at Laramie 700 miles west of Leavenworth. He had no companions to share the expense of his extensive equipment, and no guests to join him around the campfire in the evening. He went in for genuine sport, and bade goodbye to civilization when he left St. Louis. At that time there was no railroad west of Chicago, which is 1,500 miles east of Laramie, and SPOR TIN G CL ASSICS 123 estley Richards celebrates its bicentenary this year, with its reputation and output as high as it has ever been since the company's founding by Jeremy Musson Photography by Terry Allen 200 years ago.