b'Buffalo Bills regulated to the sideboards - and once their tour washe would resign his commission as chief of scouts of over, to obscurity. But no doubt it was Buntline who wasthe Black Hills and Yellowstone Expedition and return the catalyst in promoting a relatively unknown (exceptto show business - and building his new ranch home perhaps on the plains) frontier scout into a theatrical -alongside the North Platte River in Nebraska. Already, the and festival - superstar, perhaps the very first Americanseeds in Cody\'s fertile mind - the seeds of creating a Wild SUPERSTAR in our history because Cody not only wasWest extravaganza - had begun germinating.a natural, he discovered that he had a taste for the acting life and a desire to promote and market himself evenTHE EMBRYONIC BEGINNINGS OF BUFFALO as his scouting career continued - at least for the timeBILL\'S WILD WEST SHOWIT MAY NOT HAVE being. The sky was the limit for Cody -in great part dueBEEN THE FIRST, BUT IT WAS ARGUABLY BY to Buntline\'s encouragement and employment. FAR THE BEST!Despite his lack of having a regimented schooling Cody Ned Buntline\'s contribution to the legend of Buffalohad a natural intellect and was a visionary. He had seen Bill has often been exaggerated, it must be said that hethe vast numbers of settlers moving west across the exploited Cody more than Cody exploited him. Still, hisplains, making settlements, towns, and cities along the dime novels all added to Cody\'s celebrity - and he didway. He had been a major participant in the slaughter of succeed in getting Buffalo Bill on a stage, though the buffalo. He had first-hand experience in the defeat he probably never realized how big a star he had (Ibid.,once darkened the plains in sheer numbers. Or, as inand dispersal of the Indians. He knew that the Old West, pp. 186-187). the aftermath of the Custer disaster at the Little Bigthe very plains and mountains of his adolescence and Horn, it would be Cody who brought the news ofearly adulthood would soon be a thing of the past, and Ned Buntline played his role in the creation of the legendthe annihilation of Custer\'s immediate command tohe resolved to do something about it. He knew that the known as Buffalo Bill Cody and history has recognizedGeneral (then Colonel) Wesley Merritt and the staff ofmultitudes of eastern folk who had never gone west, never him for that. However, an actor-manager whom Codythe 5th Cavalry, then ride off with the 5th to cut off thesaw a buffalo or an Indian, but who were thrilled by the "officially" met in 1882, but may have met earlier duringCheyenne on their way to join the victorious Sittingstories of Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, Jesse James, Billy those New York shows would play an even greater roleBull. Cody would earn everlasting fame and notorietythe Kid, Custer, Sitting Bull and yes, a frontier hero by the in the development of what would become the Wildat the relatively minor skirmish in the rugged terrainname of William Cody aka Buffalo Bill would flock to an West shows. His name was Nate Salsbury and we shallalong the northwestern Nebraska-Wyoming frontier atextravaganza centered around the Wild West experience.encounter him again shortly. War Bonnet Gorge when he highhandedly fought and killed the Cheyenne sub-chief known as Yellow Hand (orCody\'s vision of this extravaganza wasn\'t a new thing. For the next five years, Cody returned to the plainsYellow Hair) alongside the banks of War Bonnet (alsoIt had been tried by others, including the well-known during the summer months. His reputation as one ofcalled Hat Creek), exclaiming as he pulled the hair of thecircus impresario Phineas Barnum, who, with Grizzly the very best plainsmen having been earlier established.slain chieftain - "the first scalp for Custer!" Adams had attempted a small-scale version of a Wild Cody was involved with either scouting for the army inWest show attached to the Barnum and Bailey Circus the ongoing campaigns against the Cheyenne and theCody may not have realized it at first, but his employmentabout two decades earlier, but the idea failed to take Sioux or arranging and engaging in celebrity buffaloas General Merritt\'s chief scout in leading the 5th Cavalryshape and catch on with the public, perhaps due to the hunts with the likes of George Custer, General Philup the Yellowstone Basin in pursuance of the Sioux wouldlack of both the characters (real Cowboys and Indians) Sheridan, and the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia againstbe his last employment as an Army scout. As soon as heand the stock (buffalo and other wildlife) needed to an ever-decreasing number of the woolly beasts whohelped the 5th meet up with the forces of General Terry, continued on page 46WAC has something for everyone!Open StudioTai ChiArt GalleryWriters GroupClay GroupPhotography GroupDaytime and Evening Art ClassesLocated two blocks south of the downtowntraffic light at 188 S. Tegner. For generalinformation, call 928-684-0483.188 S. TEGNERWickenburg, AZ wickenburgartclub.orgArizonaRealCountry.com May 2021 45'