Buffalo Bill's Wild West is here in town!
That was the rallying cry as a group of nine children paraded around the fountain at the Overland Trail Museum Friday during the annual Bison Days program in a re-creation of the Thomas Edison film of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Parade through New York City. The historic film also included a clip of Annie Oakley demonstrating her sharp-shooting skills, the Sioux Ghost Dance, the Buffalo Dance and a bucking bronco.
The march was just one of a number of activities the participants enjoyed as they learned more about Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley and Lakota Sioux Chief Sitting Bull, as well as the "featured guest" of the program, the American bison.
Museum assistant Perry Johnson shared a number of facts about the Plains bison, which once roamed the area freely. In the mid-1800s there were 100 million bison — one-third of the American population at the time. By 1900, there were fewer than 1,000 bison left. Thanks to conservation and re-population efforts, there are over 300,000 bison alive today.
Johnson said the bison is an "incredibly fast, agile and strong" animal that can grow up to 10 feet long, run up to 25 mph and jump up to 6 feet high. The symbol of the Old West was recently named the national mammal of the U.S.
The participants also learned about the lives of the three prominent characters from the Wild West show, including Buffalo Bill's connection to local history. Cody was the U.S. Army scout who helped located the raiding Indian tribe that fought in the Battle of Summit Springs south of Sterling, and his farewell tour with the show included a stop in Sterling.
Oakley and her husband, Frank, joined the Wild West show in 1885. She believed all women should learn how to handle guns and taught more than 15,000 women how to shoot. She overcame two severe injuries during her lifetime, and died in 1926 at the age of 66 from a lack of vitamin B12 and possibly lead poisoning.
Sitting Bull was a medicine man and tribal chief who united the Sioux against the U.S. government, helping to rally the Indian warriors at the Battle of Little Big Horn. He toured briefly with the Wild West show and used his earnings to help his fellow tribesmen. He was a supporter of the Ghost Dance Movement, which tribes believed would raise fallen soldiers, and was killed by reservation officers during a scuffle at a rally.
Other activities that made up the annual program included a bison hunt re-creating the contest by which Cody earned his nickname; a Pony Express relay, in honor of Cody's service on the short-lived mail delivery system; and a squirt gun shootout in the Annie Oakley Shooting Gallery on Bison Hill.
Sara Waite: 970-526-9310, email@example.com