Buffalo Bill's Wild West
Burlington [1]Aug 17 [2] My Dear Beck
I find that Jones [3] is very unpopular in Kewanee [4] and I dont think he will ever go there again. And its Most Necessary that we should have a salesman there Mr. E. D. Mayhew Post Master [5] wants the appointment for Kewanee and the county Henry Co. I wish you would send him the appointment at once As He wants to send some people out in Sep. And he wants to go to Chicago to see Eustis [6] to make rates. he allso wants an Exhibit of grain to show at the Fair. [7] Will you kindly see that Mayhew gets his appointment and at once. Without putting off—
Very truly yours W. F. CodyPS. I have never heard if canal was repaired.
Note 1: Buffalo Bill's Wild West performed in Burlington, Iowa, on August 17, 1898. [back]
Note 2: The year is not inscribed by Cody but is 1898. [back]
Note 3: "Jones" is likely C. B. Jones, a land agent from Galesburg, Illinois, who brought settlers to the Big Horn Basin. [back]
Note 4: Kewanee, a city of Henry County in northwestern Illinois, lies about 45 miles northwest of Peoria, Illinois. The town became a prairie boom town along the railroad tracks in 1854. In 1856 those tracks were appropriated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. [back]
Note 5: "Mr. E. D. Mayhew Post Master" is Ernest Davis Mayhew (1859-1917), a merchant in Kewanee, Henry County, Illinois, who dealt in timber, ice, coal, and grocery merchandise. [back]
Note 6: P. S. Eustis was the general passenger agent in Chicago, Illinois, for the Burlington Route of the Northern Pacific Railway that went from Chicago to Yellowstone National Park. [back]
Note 7: "Exhibit of grain to show at the Fair" likely refers to samples of grain grown in the Big Horn Basin. [back]
