BUSINESS IN MANHATTAN
As captioned in the photo, this small town is located in Manhattan, Nevada. The picture depicts the Western people who were in a rush doing business. The people in this small Old West town had an investment in trade and industry, as seen in one of the buildings labeled as general merchandise. The town was originally founded in 1867 due to the silver mining boom. In 1905, there was another influx of population due to the gold rush. Two years after, there was a huge financial crisis in the United States, and it was known as the 1907 depression.
SHOW INDIANS
This image shows a group of Indians lining up. They looked as if they’re headed for battle, but they are participating in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The Native American performers are credited as Show Indians or Wild West Show Indians. The performers reenacted historic battles and events, demonstrated horseback riding, showed their sharpshooting skills with bows and arrows, and performed dances for audiences. The Show Indians also reenacted the Battle of the Little Bighorn including the death of George Armstrong Custer. It was known that Buffalo Bill treated the performers well by providing them wages, food, and accommodation.
LITTLEFEATHER
This is Sacheen Littlefeather, who was an Apache actress as well as an activist for Native American rights. On the 45th Academy Awards, Littlefeather represented Marlon Brando to decline the Best Actor award for his performance in The Godfather. Brando, also an activist for the American Indian Movement, boycotted the ceremony in protest of Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans and to cause awareness regarding the Wounded Knee standoff. During Littlefeather’s speech, the audience was divided between criticism and applause. She then claimed she was blacklisted by the Hollywood community and later studied to receive a degree in health and a minor in Native American medicine.
PIEGAN GIRL
This photo was captured around 1910 and the subject was this teenage woman from the Piegan tribe, wearing their traditional Native American clothes. The Piegan people are also credited as Blackfeet and were from the North American Great Plains. The Piegan tribe is known to be very skillful. They worked well on agriculture, bison hunting, and created beautiful crafts such as clothing, tepee tents, riding equipment, and weapons. However, the Piegan tribe also suffered a lot. Thousands of them died in the 1837 smallpox epidemic, and in 1883, a number of them died of starvation due to lack of food supply.
BUSINESS IN THE WEST
Here we can see a busy town of the Wild West. We see carriages either loading or unloading products for trade. We can imagine what kind of business investments they had a century ago, from agriculture to gambling businesses, but one that stood out from the rest was fur trading. People from the West participated in trading beaver fur and other skins for shipment to Europe. Beaver fur was one of the most used fashion clothing and one of the most expensive as well. However, in 1830, the fashion style changed and beaver hats were replaced by silk hats, ceasing the demand for expensive furs.
BUFFALO BILL’S WILD WEST SHOW
The popular and long-running Wild West Shows was credited to William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill began working at a young age as a rider for the Pony Express. When he was 23, his legend became widespread. He founded Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1883. It was a traveling show going around the United States and Europe. The show held a variety of entertainment such as rodeo events, reenactments of historic events, shooting exhibitions, and dance performances. At the peak of its success, the Wild West Show reached as many as 1,200 performers.
DEADWOOD
This photo was captioned Omaha Board of Trade in the mountains near Deadwood, South Dakota. This was photographed by John C.H. Grabill. The procession of stagecoaches on a mountain road carried the passengers that were part of the Omaha Board of Trade. The board of trade’s responsibility was likely to oversee the trading industry and business investments in Omaha. Some examples of trade in the Wild West include agriculture products, fur and cattle, and dry goods which were carried in wagons. The location in this photo, Deadwood in Dakota, was the inspiration behind the HBO western series entitled Deadwood.
FRIENDSHIP
The depiction of media and entertainment is that Native Americans and the West settlers always fight. It might be true in some situations, but in this picture, it seemed as if they’re one big family sharing a meal. It was possible for both Western people and Native Americans to get along and work together. To see them sit down together and maybe take a rest brings us back to their historic friendship. The degree of trust they have for each other led them to go on expeditions together. The Native Americans served as the cowboy’s guide along the Wild West.
ANNIE OAKLEY
Phoebe Ann Mosey, or popularly known as Annie Oakley, was a sharpshooter in the Wild West. She was a superstar since she was one of the few females who were very skilled with guns. Credits to her talent, she was invited by Buffalo Bill to perform in the Wild West show. She married Frank E. Butler who was also a skilled shooter and performed with her on Buffalo Bill’s show. In 1902, Annie Oakley pursued a career in acting. Sad to say she suffered a blood disorder known as pernicious anemia and died in 1926 at the age of 44.
CIRCLE THE WAGONS
This phrase was very popular in the Wild West. It is a metaphor that means to unite together to fend off an impending attack. This phrase was commonly used a century ago since the degree of threats against the Native Americans grew high. Especially for travelers, there were some incidents that they were being ambushed by the different Indian tribes who were very territorial and defensive of their land. As seen in this photo, it looked like several families from the West were wandering or migrating to another land. The men on the front were positioned on the defense.