- CountryUS
- Town:KS Oakley
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Year of creation:2004
- Rider(s):Buffalo Bill Cody
(1846 –1917) was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Iowa Territory and lived for several years in his father’s hometown Toronto in Canada, before the family returned to the Midwest and settled in the Kansas Territory.
Buffalo Bill started working at the age of eleven, after his father’s death, and became a rider for the Pony Express at age 15. During the American Civil War, he served the Union from 1863 to the end of the war in 1865. Later he served as a civilian scout for the US Army during the Indian Wars, receiving the Medal of Honor in 1872.
One of the most famous and well-known figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill’s legend began to spread when he was only 23. Shortly thereafter he started performing in shows that displayed cowboy themes and episodes from the frontier and Indian Wars. He founded Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States and, from 1887 on, in Great Britain and continental Europe.
- Sculptor(s):Norton, Charlie
(born 1942) is an American sculptor
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In 1868 William F. Cody, “Buffalo Bill”, made his living as a contract buffalo hunter feeding the crews laying track across Kansas for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. At the same time William Comstock, who was also sometimes called “Buffalo Bill” hunted buffalo to provide meat to feed the soldiers at Fort Wallace. To determine who would be the real “Buffalo Bill” a wager was made and a contest was staged west of Oakley in Logan County, Kansas. The contest was to see which hunter could harvest the most buffalo in one day. William F. Cody won the contest 69 to 46. It was on that day in the spring of 1868 that the ‘legend of Buffalo Bill Cody’ was born
From the beginning of the Buffalo Bill project until the sculpture was put in place took six years. It had its beginning as a sketch on a napkin at a restaurant in Garden City, KS. Once the monumental piece was started, it took about three years to complete. The sculpture is approximately two times life-size.
Photo by DrFumblefinger
