The Lone Camp Mystery

The Lone Camp Mystery This installment from *The Original Buffalo Bill Library* (Aldine Series) presents a Western adventure story titled "How Buffalo Bill Beat the Dead Centre Valley Band." The narrative follows Buffalo Bill as he approaches the mining settlement of Lone Camp in the Cascade Mountains. He discovers a Pai-Ute Indian with a broken leg lying drunk near the trail, recognizes a rifle belonging to a man named Grizzly Pete, and suspects serious trouble. Upon reaching the camp, Buffalo Bill encounters Chief Spotted Tail and numerous Pai-Utes occupying the miners' settlement. Through bold confrontation—keeping the chief covered with his rifle—Cody forces the Indians to withdraw, though they believe he commands cavalry reinforcements. The chapter concludes with Buffalo Bill discovering the mining camp mysteriously abandoned, with thirty miners vanished without apparent violence or struggle, raising questions about their fate.