Buffalo Bill Cody

One of the coolest museums I have visited recently is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, WY. Cody was a Pony Express rider, a soldier in the Union army, a bison hunter, a scout during the Indian Wars, and a masterful showman. Whether you think of Buffalo Bill Cody as a hero or “not so much,” he is truly one of the larger than life icons of America’s 19th Century.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West toured the United States and Europe from 1883 until well into the 20th Century. When they set up camp in Ambrose Park, NY in 1894, the cast of hundreds was able to play to 20,000 audience members at a time.

I was fascinated by the model (pictured above) of the Wild West encampment for a two of reasons. First, his homage to the Old West made ample use of modern technology. According to the display graphics the show “contracted with Edison Illuminating Company of Brooklyn for the largest private electric plant then in use. Its dynamos powered three searchlights, 46 arc lights and nearly two thousand incandescent lamps.”

Second, although the acts played to stereotypes and usually portrayed whites as the good guys and Indians as the bad guys, he employed many Indian and African-American horsemen as re-enactors. Go to this link for motion pictures of Cody’s Wild West in New York in 1910.