Buffalo Bill Memorial Museum & Grave

Wild West's Legendary Son

Description

Without William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, it could be argued that story surrounding the Old Wild West would have never taken off in popular culture where it still pervades into the social conscience of that old time. Buffalo Bill was born in LeClaire of the Iowa Territory (which later would become the state of Iowa) in 1846, however he spent most of his young and adult life venturing into the West through various conquests. He first ventured West at the ripe age of eleven as a Wagon Trail rider before he joined the other Colorado "59ers" into the hills around Blackhawk where he prospected for gold. It was here that he began the first of many visits to the state of Colorado which he would later preform and live the final years of his life. Buffalo Bill earned his nickname for his work for Kansas Pacific Railroad as a buffalo hunter. It was after a stint in the Pony Express and as a Scout in the Army, that Cody began his Wild West Show in which he would continue through the rest of his life. By the time he died in 1917, Buffalo Bill had already become an international star after tours across the US and Europe. Though disputed among some individuals, Cody's remains were interned in a plot of land on Lookout Mountain overlooking nearby Golden and Denver. Buffalo Bill's life will always be remembered for his dazzling shows, but a stop at the museum will also reveal his devotion to native Indian and woman's rights, as well as the conservation and protection of America's bison.