Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck, May 12, 1895 Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917 Johnston, Jeremy Christianson, Frank Seefeldt, Douglas, 1964- Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. 2013 William F. Cody Archive University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
319 Love Library University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-4100 cdrh@unlnotes.unl.edu
Lincoln, Nebraska
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-4100
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William A. Paxton (1837-1907) was one of Omaha's leading entrepreneurs involved in cattle, stockyards, wholesale groceries, land, and politics. The Paxton-Gallagher business became renowned for its line of wholesale groceries, including Butternut coffee. The Paxton & Gallagher Wholesale Grocery Company was founded in 1879 by William Paxton and Benjamin Gallagher. Paxton was being pursued as a potential investor in The Shoshone Irrigation Company but later decided against investing [See Bonner, pp18, 31]. William E. Hymer was one of the early members of the Shoshone Land and Irrigation Company [See Bonner, pp13, 22, 27, 31-33, 49-50, 52-55, 185]. Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917 Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck May 12, 1895 2 pages University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Buffalo Bill Letters to George T. Beck (Acc. #9972) ah031272-03

2 hand-written pages

 2 pages

Media: black ink

Texts Correspondence Buffalo Bill's Wyoming Weakly, Laura K. Added annotations Weakly, Laura K. Initial encoding Clarke, Linda Proofing Boyce, Gary Transcription Adams, Deb Transcription
The Wyoming.F. R. White, Proprietor. Scranton, Pa., May 12 18951 My Dear Beck

Yours from Omaha Recdreceived— Now George we must not let any one get a headahead of us on the land we propose to irrigate on either side of the river.2 I fear you donotdo not appreciate that enterprizeenterprise as much as I do. And if the Paxton party dontdon't get up there soon And decide whether they are going into it or not we will looselose at lot of our land.3 We must get to work and do something and that right away.

Will you put your shoulder

The Wyoming.F. R. White, Proprietor.Scranton, Pa., ____189_ to the wheel and hoof things up— And let me know how the thing stands.

I heard from Hymer he sent reports. And I tell you That Man Hymer Knows his business. And George— without him we would have been holding the bag— And I hope all concerned will appreciate what he has done.

He will need some money at once. We must keep our credit good and at once— Nothing will hurt us more than to looselose our credit. Will you let me hear from you at once.

Yours— Cody Note 1: Buffalo Bill's Wild West had performed in Scranton on May 11, 1895. May 12 was a Sunday, and no performance was scheduled. Note 2: Cody, Beck, and their partners planned to apply for a land segregation under the terms of the Carey Act. The necessary irrigation project became known as the Cody Canal. Note 3: Cody and Beck were hoping to persuade Omaha businessman William A. Paxton to invest in their irrigation venture.