EDUCATORS ’ PERSPECTIVE
Wild West Finance : Buffalo Bill Cody ( Part 1 )
By Brian Grinder and Dan Cooper
Buffalo Bill Cody was a late 19th century superstar . Discovered by Ned Buntline in 1869 , William F . Cody , scout and buffalo hunter , first became the subject of countless dime novels . 2 He then joined Buntline and John Burwell “ Texas Jack ” Omohundro in Scouts of the Prairie , a melodramatic stage play written by Buntline . According to Buntline biographer Julia Bricklin , “ The show was outrageously popular along the eastern seaboard and introduced the world to the showman Buffalo Bill …” “ Scouts ,” she continues , “ was the template from which Cody developed his fantastically popular Wild West show .” 3 After a 10-year stint on the stage , Cody achieved international fame and fortune as the purveyor of the famed Buffalo Bill ’ s Wild West . 4
The Wild West was an extravaganza featuring Native Americans , some of whom had participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn and some who would suffer at the Wounded Knee massacre . Authentic cowboys , known as rough riders , were also an important part of the show . Cody ’ s genius was to transport his version of the American West directly to Eastern audiences . In an age where words in newspapers were the primary means of information transmission , Americans , who could never hope to visit the West , saw cowboys , Indians , horses , cattle , elk , deer and bison with their own eyes for the nominal price of admission to the Wild West show .
American West historian Richard White contends that Cody “… recreated himself as a walking icon , at once real and make-believe .” Although Cody viewed his Wild West as authentic , much of it was pure fantasy . Cody , writes White , turned the story of conquest on its head . “ His spectacles presented an account of Indian aggression and white defense ; of Indian killers and white victims ; of , in effect , badly abused conquerors .”
Cody was not averse to fabricating the details of his frontier life to enhance his show ’ s appeal . For instance , it is doubtful that Cody ever rode for the Pony Express ,
Auditorium Hotel Chicago March 10 , 1902
My Dear Hinkle ,
I am here seeing some gentlemen who are talking of building the Cody & Salsbury Canal … This is going to be an expensive canal and the price of water will have to be liberal . Say from twelve to twenty dollars per acre . And they will sell for that . I expect to get five thousand men & children in to the Basin inside of two years . I am on my way to Buffalo [, New York ] with Mr . Wiley to meet with the directors of the Shoshone Irrigation Co . Rest assured I am not idle and am doing my level best to build up northern Wyo …
the reenactment of which was a regular feature of Wild West performances . He never had the close relationship with George Custer implied in the show , and in truth , Indians were usually the victims , not the perpetrators , of aggression . Yet night after night Buffalo Bill and his rough riders rode to the rescue of white settlers under Indian attack in his re-creation of the frontier . Cody ’ s ambiguity , according to White , “ gave the Wild West its power .” Part of the appeal of the show , according to Cody biographer Louis S . Warren , was that it allowed those attending to determine what was authentic and what was fake . Although this approach to showmanship worked well for Cody , it would come back later to haunt him in his other business dealings .
The wild success of the Wild West failed to satisfy Cody . In 1894 , he learned of an opportunity to build an irrigation canal in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming and jumped at the chance to invest . According to author Robert Bonner , Cody , “… was at the height of his powers as a man : not yet 50 years old , known from coast to coast , this very successful showman yearned to become a great capitalist as well , to convert the liquid capital of the Wild West Show into a solid monument that would carry his name across time .” 5
Very truly yours W . F . Cody 1
The irrigation canal was the brainchild of Wyoming rancher and politician George T . Beck and Sheridan , Wyoming banker Horace Alger , who were both eager to bring Cody on board as the first major investor . While most potential investors remained skeptical , George Bleistein of Buffalo , New York became enamored with the Big Horn Basin after a hunting trip to the area with Cody in 1895 . He and fellow Buffalo resident Bronson Rumsey , who was also on the hunting trip , agreed to invest in the canal scheme . They would later bring in Henry M . Gerrans , another Buffalo resident , as an investor . However , after their initial investments , the group from Buffalo became extremely reluctant to invest more capital in the project as the years went by . Cody , however , poured his own funds into the canal scheme and the town of Cody year after year .
The original directors of the company included Cody ( who also served as president ), Bleistein , Rumsey , Wild West manager Nate Salsbury 6 and Beck , the man on the ground in Wyoming in charge of operations . According to Bonner , “ Rumsey and Bleistein set about trying to attract other investors but found themselves hampered by the ramshackle nature of the company ’ s plans . Rumsey pleaded with Beck in January 1896 to provide firm
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