Episode #241 - Who Invented the Wild West?  ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Progress As A Geographic Timeline** - Thomas Jefferson and 19th-century thinkers viewed the U.S. as a timeline of human progress from west to east. - Buffalo Bill's persona and Wild West show exploited that narrative to portray frontier progress as inevitable and noble. Transcript: Sebastian Major In the early decades of American independence, there was a belief that the fledgling nation contained within its boundaries the entire history of humanity. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, perhaps I should let President Thomas Jefferson explain. The early 1800s, the president romantically opined that a journey across the continent, quote, is the equivalent to a survey in time of the progress of man from the infancy of creation To the present day, end quote. Like many 19th century thinkers, Jefferson believed that all human societies progressed the same phases of development. First, there was the hunting and gathering phase, where human beings were only slightly more developed than the animals that they killed for subsistence. Next came the pastoral society, where animals were roughly domesticated into herds that could be tended by shepherds. Then there was the agricultural society, defined by its permanent settlements, well-tended fields, fenced-in allotments, and thoroughly domesticated livestock. Then finally came the commercial society, defined by elaborate systems of exchange, industry, technology, and a sophisticated division of labor. Thomas Jefferson believed that in the early 1800s, each of these stages could be witnessed firsthand in America. According to the president, a timeline of human development was laid out over the country from west to east. A traveler moving from the Rocky Mountains towards the Atlantic Ocean would first encounter indigenous hunters with, quote, no law but that of nature, end quote. As one moved east, the traveler would then come across groups, quote, in a pastoral state, raising domestic animals to supply the defects of hunting, end quote. Then as this traveler headed steadily towards the coast, he would encounter, quote, semi-barbarous citizens of the United States, end quote, followed by, quote, gradual shades Of improving man until he reached his most improved state in our seaport towns, end quote. The people of the East, in Jefferson's estimation, were simply existing at a higher level of civilization than both the indigenous people of the West and the semi-barbarous settlers Who were pushing in to that traditional indigenous territory. But this state of affairs with all those societal models coexisting was believed to be especially unique because it was destined to be short-lived. This theory of human progress dictated that things simply must keep progressing. Civilization would undoubtedly overcome barbarism. The American West would one day be little different from the eastern United States. ([Time 0:01:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/37b77ea3-3762-491d-bc24-5f6fb7042500)) - **Performance Posed As Authentic History** - Buffalo Bill packaged his Wild West as educational 'history flesh' to gain middle-class respectability. - The show's claim to authenticity gave its invented scenes cultural power and credibility. Transcript: Sebastian Major Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which originally started performances in 1883, was similarly steeped in ideas about what was lost and gained by the supposed inevitability of American Progress. This massive outdoor exhibition simultaneously celebrated how the West was won while romantically mourning a way of life that was supposedly passing away. When the show first came indoors to Madison Square Garden in 1886, the show was organized using the supposed epochs of Western development, with acts set in the primeval forest, the Pastoral plain, the cattle ranch, and the mining camp, respectively. Wild nature gave way to human industry. Buffalo Bill spent his whole life chasing a certain middle-class respectability. As such, he wanted the Wild West show to be something more than just a Western-themed circus. In the late 19th century, the circus, despite being quite popular, was seen as shady, disreputable, and base. The big top trafficked in cheap thrills and human oddities. As such, it was snubbed as an immoral haven for con men. The Wild West show needed to be a circus with none of the negative circus baggage. So it was promoted as an educational exhibition of Western history and culture. The promoters didn't even like using the word show to describe the Wild West. They didn't want the audience to think that what they were seeing was merely a performance. This was an authentic depiction of frontier life. This was history flesh. ([Time 0:06:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/023d7498-fd61-462b-ad36-145903e60d19)) - **Fiction Amplified Into Myth** - Most reenactments in the Wild West were fictional or heavily altered to suit drama. - The show reinforced preexisting American myths rather than challenging audiences' views. Transcript: Sebastian Major The scenes from The American West that he touted as authentic reenactments were mostly fictional. Those that were based on real events were massively exaggerated, contorted, or changed to better suit the dramatic needs of the show. The Wild West worked because it reinforced a story about American history that was already well known to the audience. This performance did not challenge the audience's expectations, but rather played to them. So, was there anything real about Buffalo Bill's Wild West? Did this exhibition ever manage to live up to its promise to edify and educate? Was the Wild West able to capture something unique and ineffable about the 19th century frontier? Or is this patient zero for all the cowboy-themed fake history that has come in its wake? ([Time 0:10:23](https://share.snipd.com/snip/495de7b3-82e4-4554-89a7-a2977ed30640)) - **From Brownface To Real Performers** - Buffalo Bill first added live animals and Indigenous performers to increase realism in his stage plays. - The shift from white actors in brownface to real Lakota and Pawnee men became a selling point. Transcript: Sebastian Major As I mentioned in part one, the plays starring Buffalo Bill relied on a certain amount of gimmickry. At first, the gimmick was that a real frontier scout was going to portray himself on stage. The blurring of reality and theater illusion was part of the shtick. Now, the fact that Bill was not an especially good actor was initially part of the draw. But after a few years, this gimmick was starting to wear thin. Bill was becoming a more competent actor, which ironically hurt the supposed authenticity that he brought to the stage. So he started searching for new ways to make his show feel real. One of the ways that he started spicing up his productions was by bringing real animals on stage. Many of his shows started featuring real horses. Some shows would have live bison and others elk. The real animals brought a sense of excitement to the productions, even though the constraints of the stage meant that the beasts couldn't really move around. In this period, Bill also incorporating more Indigenous performers into his shows. In the early days, most of the so-called stage Indians in the show were portrayed by white actors in a type of brown face. ([Time 0:25:16](https://share.snipd.com/snip/09936aa5-a5f7-40d1-b059-e03f2daa8a8b)) - **The 'Show Indian' Stereotype** - Eastern audiences craved a romanticized 'vanishing Indian' performance tied to Plains stereotypes. - The show homogenized diverse Indigenous cultures into a single, marketable image. Transcript: Sebastian Major As the scholar L.G. Moses has pointed out, the myth that Indigenous people were somehow fading away from the Western landscape was key to their allure as performers in the late 19th century. Moses writes, quote, a belief that they were the vanishing Americans doomed to extinction by the march of civilization became the most romantic of all impressions associated with Indians. The image of a doomed and dying race produced in the romantic mind melancholy and pity, end quote. In the 1880s, there was a growing belief that the supposed vanishing of America's first people was almost complete. As such, indigenous performers were treated like rare specimens. People who were willing to perform traditional dances, demonstrate feats of bareback horsemanship, and even create facsimiles of sacred rituals discovered that Euro-Americans Had become eager audiences. Specific type of, quote, Indian-ness that Eastern audiences seemed particularly enthusiastic about. People wanted to see representations of the people of the plain, the horseback warriors who fought Custer at Little Bighorn. Buffalo Bill's theater shows had been revived by the inclusion of Indigenous performers, but he sensed that he was not fully exploiting their appeal. Buffalo Bill biographer Lewis Warren explains that, quote, performance space from the stage to the arena became increasingly evident. For Indianness to be on display, Indians needed to be on horses, end quote. In this way, the creation of the Wild West show was deeply tied to a new group of stereotypes about North America's first people. Quote-unquote show Indian was someone who rode a horse, lived in a teepee, and wore feathered headdresses. This was a show business reflection of a few very specific cultures from the Great Plains, namely the Lakota, the Cheyenne, and the Pawnee. Very rarely were distinctions made between people from different language or cultural groups. These performers were all reductively grouped together as quote-unquote Indians. This helped reinforce the perception that all indigenous cultures were alike. ([Time 0:28:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c2d12566-0436-4cb7-9da2-b512ef9b799b)) - **Inventing The Deadwood Attack** - Buffalo Bill staged the Deadwood stagecoach robbery with Indigenous attackers despite the real crime being by settler outlaws. - He rewrote events to cast Native people as aggressors and cowboys as saviors. Transcript: Sebastian Major This was the attack on the Deadwood Stagecoach. The Deadwood stagecoach was a large treasure coach painted golden yellow. Bill claimed that he had found the glorious old coach abandoned while on a scouting expedition in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He then purchased the coach from the Cheyenne Black Hills stagecoach company and had it moved back east. He claimed that the vehicle had been left at the side of the trail because it had been involved in a famous stagecoach robbery while it was transporting mail and gold from Wyoming to Deadwood, South Dakota. Now, it was true that in 1877, a stagecoach working that route was violently robbed. The attack on the coach left the young driver, John Slaughter, dead. Slaughter was the son of a well-known judge in the area, which made the incident particularly notorious. Now, was the coach that Bill wheeled out into the arena, that same coach that John Slaughter rode on that fateful day? Definitely not. Biographers have since discovered that Bill ordered a brand new stagecoach from South Dakota specifically for use in the show. Not only was this not the stagecoach from the famous holdup, this coach had never even been used by the company. It was commissioned for the stage. But more significantly, the attack presented in the Wild West show had very little to do with the real robbery that occurred in 1877. The 1877 robbery is usually credited to a group of Anglo-American outlaws known as the Sam Bass Gang. The shooter was likely a red-haired army deserter known as Reddy McKinney. But in Buffalo Bill's hands, this event was transformed into something very different. In the Wild West show, the Deadwood stagecoach entered the arena and promenaded around so the crowd could get a good look at what they were told was a historical artifact. Then the attackers burst onto the scene, but this was not some facsimile of the Sam Bass gang. This was a group of indigenous warriors in full feathered war regalia. The whooping warriors surrounded the coach and started firing arrows and the occasional round from a rifle. Then, when all looked lost, Buffalo Bill and his crew of cowboys would arrive on the scene, driving off the attackers and saving the day. Now, where do we even start with this? First, let's just dismiss the preposterous idea that Buffalo Bill rode in and stopped the 1877 Deadwood Stagecoach robbery. That is pure fiction and one more bald-face example of Bill absorbing a Western icon into his personal mythology. The stagecoach was an emblem of the West, a mode of transportation that was associated with being at the vanguard of progressing civilization. By the 1880s, the stagecoaches were also starting to fade away as the railway was beginning to fill the gaps. So, of course, Bill told his audience that he owned the most famous stagecoach in the West. And even better, he had personally saved the most famous stagecoach from a robbery. Buffalo Blob strikes again. But more serious was Bill's choice to change the attackers into Indigenous people. By making this change, he completely changed the meaning of the Deadwood Stagecoach robbery. The Indigenous attackers are presented as greedy, bloodthirsty, and standing in the way of American progress, as represented by the stagecoach. Bill and the show's other creators purposefully misrepresented history in this instance to help support a larger narrative that they were trying to create with the show. The West was once dangerous and ruled by lawless savages, but it had been tamed by the likes of Buffalo Bill and his Anglo-Saxon cowboys. Now, it's very telling that to illustrate that specific narrative, Buffalo Bill had to invent fictional scenes and pass them off as real historical events. ([Time 0:37:05](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b2e3382b-f944-4de2-aca0-6385c7d3699f)) - **Annie Oakley Softened The Show** - Annie Oakley joined the Wild West as a star sharpshooter and family-friendly draw. - Her female presence softened the gunplay and helped attract middle-class audiences. Transcript: Sebastian Major The middle section of the Wild West show was mostly composed of what Buffalo Bill called cowboy fun. This included roping demonstrations, bronco riding, and trick shooting acts. Now, originally the shooters were Bill himself and a champion trap shooter named A.H. Bogardus. But in the show's third season, Bill brought on a new shooting act that would become one of the Wild West's biggest draws. This was the 25-year sharpshooter named Annie Oakley, along with her husband, Frank Butler. Annie's shooting act was truly next level. She could shoot a cigarette from her husband's lips, split a playing card edge on. She could hit dimes in midair and shoot targets behind her back using a mirror. Not only was she a crack shot, she was also a bit of an acrobat. Standing less than five feet tall, Annie was incredibly quick and would perform feats of agility while knocking targets of the air. Some, like biographer Lewis Warren, have credited Annie Oakley with helping the Wild West show find its much-coveted middle-class family audience. The fact that Annie was a married woman who performed her act with her husband brought an air of domesticity to what was otherwise a fairly violent act. Having men like Bill and A.H. Bogartis perform feats of gunplay doubled down on the violence in what was an already violent show. But the fact that their trick shooter was a woman was perceived as not only novel, but as more suitable for female audiences and children. ([Time 0:42:41](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b06e3374-1803-473e-a71f-c26b4617bb47)) - **Stages Of Victim And Villain** - The show's reenactments routinely framed settlers as innocent victims and Indigenous people as unprovoked villains. - Presenting fiction as history normalized and amplified racialized narratives about the frontier. Transcript: Sebastian Major Then came the final historical scene. Now, this scene changed a few times over the course of the Wild West's 30-year run. But at first, the grand finale was an attack on a settler cabin. For this scene, a small cabin would be quickly built in the middle of the arena. The scene begins with a family of settlers welcoming home their father who had been hunting for the day. But shockingly, they discover that the man was followed home by a fierce Lakota warrior. The hunter would then shoot the warrior from his horse, but soon it becomes clear that he was just a scout. Then into the arena would charge a band of mounted indigenous warriors who proceed to lay siege to the log cabin while the family of settlers discharged rifles from the windows. The log cabin would then be set on fire by the attackers, and things would look dire until, you guessed it, Buffalo Bill and a posse of cowboys would come riding in guns blazing. The native warriors would be dispersed and the family saved. Now, once again, we have a supposedly historical scene that did not actually depict any one real event, but it was presented like the kind of thing that happened all the time on the frontier. A group of peaceful settlers suffer an entirely unprovoked attack by Indigenous people who want them dead for some unknown reason. The narrative here is almost identical to what was presented during the stagecoach robbery scene. Native people are presented as villains who are violent by nature, and in this case have no qualms targeting women and children. Violence in the Wild West show was almost always instigated by the indigenous characters. Settlers wielded weapons always in self-defense to protect their hard-won gains, be it the treasures of the stagecoach or the family home. Now, there might be some of you thinking, well, what's the big deal? This was just a show. That's very true. But this was a show that presented itself as historical education. The Wild West was supposedly an authentic representation of Western life. Audiences were being encouraged to believe that all of these scenes were rooted in real lived experiences. ([Time 0:45:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0e9e7ea5-6f9c-4b27-a9a9-c0cc26521f3b)) - **A Difficult Bargain For Performers** - Joining the show offered Indigenous performers travel, pay, and cultural space otherwise denied under assimilation policies. - This opportunity coexisted with coercive stereotyping and limits on self-representation. Transcript: Sebastian Major By 1885, the Wild West firmly established itself as one of America's most popular touring shows. Annie Oakley was becoming a celebrity in her own right, and her inclusion in the show helped the Wild West court the highly desirable middle-class family audience. That year, the show was also joined by one of the most consequential indigenous leaders of the era, the Hunkpapa Lakota leader, Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull had been one of the most important Lakota leaders during the Black Hills War, and had played a key role in the Lakota victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn. But after a four-year exile in Canada, Sitting Bull and his followers were forced to return to the United States and surrender to the U.S. Government. His Hongpapa Lakota were resettled in the reservation lands of the Standing Rock Agency. Once there, Sitting Bull became the purview of U.S. Government Indian officials. The chief soon realized that one of the few ways he could bring in money for his struggling people was as a performer. Audiences were eager to see the man who was perceived as one of the last Great Plains warriors. To this end, the Indian Agency permitted him to undertake small tours. This caught the attention of Bill Cody, who petitioned the Indian Agency to allow him to bring Sitting Bull on his 1885 Wild West tour through the United States and Canada. After some cajoling, permission was granted, and Sitting Bull was paid to join the Wild West show. Wild West show experts like L.G. Moses believe that Sitting Bull's presence on the 1885 tour was instrumental in making the Wild West an enduring success. Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull also seemed to have a good working relationship. The men would eventually become quite friendly. Not only was Sitting Bull well paid by Buffalo Bill, he was also able to make extra money by selling autographed pictures after the show. Now, I found that little detail particularly mind-blowing because during the Black Hills War, Sitting Bull had been vilified as an enemy of the United States. Just a few years later, he was celebrated as a type of celebrity. Interestingly, Sitting Bull was granted a certain level of dignity as a performer in the Wild West show. He was not expected to take part in any of the reenactments or be involved in any of the violent scenes. He was part of the introductory parade and was very much able to shape how he was presented in the show. He was not there to be some loathsome plains villain. He was a respected hunk papa chief, and that is how he was presented. Sitting Bull only stayed with the show for about one year, but in that time, he not only raised the profile of the Wild West, he also helped set a new template for how Indigenous people Could participate in the show. You see, one of the ironies of the Wild West show was that it was one of the few places where Indigenous culture and horsecraft could be expressed in the 1880s. At the time, the policy of the American Indian Agency was one of forcible assimilation. Traditional cultures, languages, and religions were being actively suppressed in an effort to have indigenous people accept the religion, language, and farming practices of Anglo-America. While the Indian agency was intentionally trying to eradicate Indigenous cultural practices, the Wild West show offered an opportunity to keep those practices alive. Buffalo Bill's Wild West also offered autonomy and financial freedom to its indigenous performers. The Lakota and Pawnee people who joined Buffalo Bill were some of the few who were able to leave their reservations. These folks were able to travel freely and were paid reasonably. Now, of course, this was a devil's bargain. These performers secured for themselves decent jobs, and a level of autonomy and freedom denied many of their people, but they were limited in how they could perform. ([Time 0:53:26](https://share.snipd.com/snip/18cb2646-6d33-4df5-9360-71b25a55c6d7)) - **Staging Little Bighorn Differently** - Starting in 1886 Cody staged 'Custer's Last Rally' with a giant painted backdrop to dramatize Little Bighorn. - The reenactment unusually acknowledged U.S. aggression and sometimes portrayed Native fighters sympathetically. Transcript: Sebastian Major Starting in 1886, the Wild West show started using a grand reenactment of the Battle of Little Bighorn as the show's climax. As I mentioned in the last episode, the Battle of Little Bighorn was one of the most decisive victories for the Lakota and the Northern Cheyenne during the Black Hills War. But soon after the battle, it very quickly became a thing of myth. The slain American army commander, George Armstrong C was made into a bit of a martyr. Thanks to Buffalo Bill and the Wild West show and his many imitators, between 1886 and the turn of the century, the Battle of Little Bighorn became the most reenacted event from all of American history. To really add to the drama, Buffalo Bill commissioned a giant landscape painting that covered the entire end of the arena. This painting had a special entranceway that horses could ride through. It was painted in a way to give the illusion that anyone coming out of the entrance was riding in from a great distance over the plain. Buffalo Bill dubbed this historical reenactment Custer's last rally. While the reenactment certainly valorized the American cavalry commander, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, it also made it clear that the American Cavalry started the fight that Day. In the reenactment, a bugle would sound and the U.S. Cavalry would charge towards a Lakota village. But Custer would soon realize he was outnumbered. Dozens of Lakota riders would emerge from the giant landscape painting and surround the U.S. Cavalrymen. Custer was then given a very dramatic death. Then, as the scene cleared, Buffalo Bill would ride into the arena and two words would be projected onto the giant painting, too late. Now, that last little moment was a fairly ridiculous addition. Buffalo Bill was suggesting that he was at the Battle of Little Bighorn and had arrived just a moment too late to save Custer. We know that Buffalo Bill was actually over 150 miles away from Little Bighorn that day. Nevertheless, in a performance that largely depicted indigenous warriors dealing out unprovoked violence against settlers, the show's depiction of Little Bighorn was surprisingly Even-handed. Little Bighorn was sometimes depicted as a massacre motivated by quote-unquote Lakota savagery. Buffalo Bill's reenactment thankfully defied that mischaracterization. This was because, despite everything, Bill was fairly sympathetic to the Lakota. The year he started performing the Battle of Little Bighorn as part of the Wild West show, he told a reporter, quote, the defeat of Custer was not a massacre. The Indians were being pursued by skilled fighters with orders to kill. For centuries, they had been hounded. They had their wives and little ones to protect, and they were fighting for their existence. ([Time 0:59:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/72e9e5f9-a420-4b1f-ace4-e0599264c915)) - **European Validation Fuels Prestige** - The Wild West's London run in 1887 made Buffalo Bill a symbol of American cultural success abroad. - British royal interest lent the show transatlantic legitimacy despite American critics' disdain. Transcript: Sebastian Major But the show ascended to a new level of cultural relevance in 1887, Buffalo Bill loaded his massive crew of animals and entertainers onto a steamer and took them across the Atlantic For his first ever tour of the United Kingdom. This included a legendary five-month stand in London. At first, this was seen as a gamble, as it was deeply unclear how English audiences would respond to this deeply American show. But it turned out to be an unqualified triumph. In fact, London was seized with a kind of Wild West mania. This was helped enormously by the interest paid by the British royal family. The biggest royal fan of the Wild West was Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. Edward was treated to an advanced performance of the Wild West a week before the show's opening. He loved it so much that he encouraged his mother, Queen Victoria, to command a private showing of the Wild West for her and a large entourage of royals, politicians, and British celebrities. This show for Queen Victoria would end up giving birth to a few historical myths. First, you will sometimes see reported that the 1887 Wild West show was the first time Queen Victoria attended any type of public entertainment in over 25 years. Now, it is true that after the death of Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, in 1861, she went into a period of deep mourning. She wore black almost exclusively for decades, and she very rarely left her royal residences. Her public appearances were incredibly rare. But it's not true that the Wild West show was the first thing that got her out of the house in over two decades. 1887 was the Queen's Jubilee year, which was part of the reason why Bill had chosen that moment to take his arena show across the pond. This meant that in 1887, Queen Victoria had been compelled to attend a number of public events. Now, it is true that Victoria refused to go to the theatre until the 1890s, but she was a noted lover of the circus. Records show that just a few months before Bill arrived, Queen Victoria had been out to see a French circus that happened to be on tour from the Paris Hippodrome. Queen Victoria did get out occasionally, and it was usually to see circuses. But of course, the story that played better back in the United States was that the first thing to rouse the Queen after decades of mourning was the Wild West. The other story that was eagerly reported stateside was a remarkable event that allegedly occurred during the Wild West's opening ceremonies. As part of the opening parade, a cowboy on horseback presented an unfurled American flag to the queen. One of Buffalo Bill's publicists, a man by the name of Arizona John Burke, described the event like this, quote, As the standard bearer waved the proud emblem above his head, Her Majesty Rose from her seat and bowed deeply and impressively toward the banner. For the first time since the Declaration of Independence, a sovereign of Great Britain had saluted the Star-Spangled Banner, and that banner was carried by a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West. End quote. Now, did Queen Victoria actually bow to the American flag? Well, probably not. When you compare John Burke's account to those found in English publications, it seems like he was probably exaggerating. First, we should all just recognize that it would be a huge breach of protocol for a British royal to bow to the flag of a foreign nation while in England. This sort of thing just did not happen. If it had happened, it would have caused a scandal in England. And this scandal did not materialize. According to the English reports, the American flag was indeed presented to Queen Victoria. And the flag was dipped as a salute in front of the Queen, as was customary. The Queen then responded by acknowledging the dip of the flag with a nod of her head. Now, this account makes way more sense because it's in keeping with proper flag etiquette. Flags dip in front of the Queen and she nods. That's how it goes. But of course, back in the U.S., it was reported that Buffalo Bill had not only won the hearts of the Brits, he had pulled off a diplomatic coup by having the flag venerated by a British Monarch. Now, part of the reason this story seems to have been believed by some was because it communicated a bigger truth about Bill's sojourn across the Atlantic. He had won a new level of respect for American entertainment that had previously been denied by European audiences. Queen Victoria's patronage of the show and the Prince of Wales' vocal enthusiasm helped make the London run of the Wild West show a huge success. The Prince even returned to the show for an encore performance, bringing with him the King of Denmark, the King of Greece, and the King and Queen of the Belgians. The Prince even had a ride in the Deadwood stagecoach. Londoners flocked to the show by the thousands. For a moment in the summer of 1887, cowboy hats became a trendy fashion accessory on the streets of London. ([Time 1:05:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e2369b5c-d27a-4fa5-af8e-9b5b5aa28d16)) - **Disappearing West Makes Myth Irrefutable** - The Wild West remained culturally powerful because it claimed to preserve a disappearing frontier. - That perpetual 'already gone' claim made its falsehoods hard to disprove and emotionally resonant. Transcript: Sebastian Major When Bill returned from his first tour of the UK, he found himself the toast of New York City. Buffalo Bill now entered the final phase of his journey. As Thomas Jefferson had predicted, the American journey ended with the refinement of the seaport towns. After the 1887 season in the UK, Buffalo Bill's Wild West was now recognized as a great piece of American entertainment. Bill himself transitioned into the life of a New York socialite. While he kept a ranch in Nebraska, Bill fully started living the life of a big city entertainment mogul. Once the Wild West show had been fully validated by its European run, it never really lost popularity for the next 20 years. The show would tour the UK and continental Europe seven times between 1892 and 1906. Back in the United States, it remained a perennial draw. During the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, or the World Columbian Exposition, as it was known, the Wild West set up shop just outside of the official fairgrounds. Apparently, during the summer of 1893, something like 18,000 people attended the Wild West performance daily. The poignancy of the show was underscored by lectures by the historian Frederick Turner, who, in a nearby hall, reflected on the end of the American frontier. It was going, folks, so you better catch it now at the Wild West show. The show remained incredibly popular through the turn of the century. However, when Annie Oakley departed in late 1901, it marked a turning point for the Wild West. The show would continue on for another solid decade, but its presence in the culture steadily started to decline. Bill's competitors caught up with him. Local rodeos were now providing many of the same thrills that at one time had been exclusive to Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Soon, moving pictures would pick up on many of the cowboys and Indian tropes that Bill had established, and it would repackage them for a whole new generation. Now, you would think that this amazing success meant that Buffalo Bill Cody became a very rich man. Despite coming into some serious windfalls throughout his life, Bill was never particularly good with money. He was a lavish spender, and he also had a penchant for making foolhardy investments in ill-fated business ventures. He lost just as much money as he took in, which is one of the reasons Bill stayed on the road with the Wild West well past the age when many others would have retired. Bill also made his way through a series of business partners. Now, most of these men appreciated the enduring appeal of the Wild West. However, not all of them appreciated that one of the show's secret weapons was its aspirations towards historical gravitas. In the later years of the show, Bill was inclined to work with various circus promoters who, predictably, made the Wild West into a bit more of a circus. By 1913, Bill's financial mismanagement meant that the Wild West's many debtors had the exhibition sold at auction. It continued on under the auspices of the Sells Flodo Circus until 1916, with Bill staying on as a performer. Throughout all of it, William Cody remained stubbornly committed to playing the part of Buffalo Bill in the arena. His last show was in November 1916. He died in Colorado just three months later. The 30-year run of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show was nothing short of astounding. Part of the lasting power of the show was that as the years went on, the message of the Wild West became all the more poignant. The idea that animated this unique exhibition had always been that the West was disappearing. Every year, this imagined frontier was getting further and further away. The way of life being depicted in the Wild West show, however exaggerated or invented, was going away. And only through the gymnastic feats of these dedicated preservationists could one still experience it. As Bill aged in the arena, this idea was imbued with even more pathos and drama. Soon, the West would be gone, and so too would this dignified old scout. But this experience was an illusion. It had always been an illusion. The fact that Buffalo Bill claimed to be showing you something that was constantly disappearing made him a hard guy to fact check. If you went to the West and found things not as Buffalo Bill had described, well, that's because you had just missed it. ([Time 1:15:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/12ef97e6-30ea-4d94-a64b-74846694bb90))