A WILD WEST SUPERSTAR

     Buffalo Bill Cody probably typifies the Wild West to more people in more parts of the world than anyone.  And, he was a real part of the frontier that made him a legend.

     Born William Frederick Cody in LeClaire, Scott County, Iowa in 1846, Buffalo Bill lived a life few could match.  A pony express rider, Indian scout, occasional horse thief and buffalo hunter for construction crews of the Union Pacific railroad, Cody was the real thing.

     1873 was a pivotal year for Cody the legend.  That was the year Ned Buntline persuaded Buffalo Bill to appear in a dramatized version of one his novels, one whose hero had been inspired by Cody.

     From this point, Cody's reputation grew faster than his exploits.  He continued on stage for eleven seasons, spending many of his summers scouting or guiding hunting parties.

     In 1883, Cody organized Buffalo Bill's Wild West, an outdoor exhibition dramatizing the contemporary western scene.  Legend has it Cody drove a Concord stagecoach full speed, revolvers blazing into the show arena.  The "Buffalo Bill" coach was a three-quarter scale version of the nine-passenger mail coaches used by Wells Fargo.  With attractions like a Pony Express relay race and Custer's Last Fight, the show was an international success, touring throughout Europe.

     Like the West he grew to represent, the legend of Buffalo Bill is a complex mixture of fact and fiction.

     Cody's reputation was a combination of reality and media hype.  In 1961, in an article for Frontier Times, E. S. Sutton, who as a young man met Cody, recalls a conversation in which Cody said, "I did not fire a shot in the Yellow Hand affair.  I never scalped an Indian... those were all tall tales... We never believed them and never expected anyone else to.  Then along came Buntline...; the public clamored for such tales; ...and now they are embalmed in history. ...anyway, they were good advertising for the show!"

(Story is used courtesy of Wells Fargo.com)