Title: Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck

Date: September 29, 1895

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

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Accessible By Electric and Cable Cars To All Parts Of The City.
The Carrollton
J. P. Shannon, Manager.
Baltimore, Light & German Sts.

Baltimore, Md. Sep 29 1895 [1]

My Dear Beck—

2 letters from You. go up head— None from Heck. I sent Alger $2.500 and will try to keep him in funds. You must let me know about how much money you will require each month and about how much it will cost to build the ditch to Sulphur creek [2] — And about how long it will take to do it. Bleistein Says he thinks ODay [3] will come in with us. Now shall I try to get any more men in on ground floor. Salsbury Says if you   can get the ditch built this fall to Sulphur creek headgate put in. Then he can borrow on it all the money we want. And it would be better than takeing in to many on ground floor. What do you think? If we do this you must let me know how much money you will need this fall. And I want to know if work can be carried on during winter You know you must figure on lumber for head gate and to build us some kind of a house for head quarters this   winter. Also stable. What do you think of nameing the tracts after leading Generals both sides of Army. [4] Did you get any Wagons or horses from the transportation co that you are turning over to our Co. and the horses & outfit that Hymer had. If so keep account of them. Where did Heck locate his first camp— Are you living in a tent what do you do for a Cocktail? I wrote you that Bleistein. ODay. Salsbury. Nailor. [5] Young Perkins Son of Prest Perkins. [6] Henry Guy   Carlton. [7] Burke. K. Christ knows how many more are coming out with me in December— [8] how will the weather be?

Will we get snowed in. will you have a house for us— if we bring our own whiskey. I must find out these things before I bring them. dont fail to answer—

Wonder what Heck done with Transportation Co— When he left Sheridan. he never writes a word— well if he pushes on the ditch I will let him off—

Bill

Note 1: Buffalo Bill's Wild West performed in Baltimore, Maryland, September 30-October 1, 1895; there was no performance on Sunday, September 29, 1895. [back]

Note 2: Sulphur Creek is a natural streambed located west of Cody, Wyoming, flowing north toward the Shoshone River along the south side of Cedar Mountain. [back]

Note 3: Daniel O'Day (c.1846-1906) was the vice-president of the National Transit Company and one of the five principals of Standard Oil Company. O'Day's greatest achievement may have been engineering the transfer of the oil-carrying trade from the Empire Transportation Company to the Erie Railroad. O'Day was instrumental in laying the first oil pipeline in the state of New York in 1873, building the first pipelines from the oilfields to New York City. O'Day acted as president and/or director of many budding banks and oil-related companies. Mr. O'Day was a close personal friend of John D. Rockefeller and George Bleistein. [back]

Note 4: Cody asks about naming "streets" or "tracts" after both Union and Confederate Generals. In a previous letter dated September 25, 1895, Cody also refers to naming streets in the first planned town site, and the initial plats of the town of Cody in that original location show the streets named for generals. In the town site's later and current location, the main street of Sheridan Avenue, named for General Philip Sheridan, is the only street honoring a general; the principal east-west streets were and still are named for founders of the town. [back]

Nope 5: "Nailor" is likely Colonel Allison Nailor, Jr. (1836-1908), from Washington, D.C., who was a friend of Cody's and with him on Cody's trip to the Grand Canyon in 1892. Nailor and others were expected to join Cody on the hunt that he was planning for December 1895. [back]

Note 6: "Prest Perkins" would likely have been Charles Elliott Perkins (1840-1907), then president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. His son is referred to as "Young Perkins Son." In Cody's time, the term "president" was often written as "prest." [back]

Note 7: Henry Guy Carleton (1813-1901), the oldest son of Major General James H. Carleton, became a noted American humorist, journalist, author, playwright, and an amateur inventor of the 19th century. [back]

Note 8: The hunt Cody was planning for December that year. [back]

Title: Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck

Source: University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Buffalo Bill Letters to George T. Beck (Acc. #9972), ah031298-301

Date: September 29, 1895

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

Topic: Buffalo Bill's Wyoming

Keyword: Carey Act of 1894

People: Beck, George Washington Thornton, 1856-1943 Hymer, William Ebert, 1853-1933 Smith, Michael Hoke, 1855-1931 Warren, Francis E. (Francis Emroy), 1844-1929 Foote, Robert, 1834-1916

Place: Shoshone Irrigation District (Wyo.)

Sponsor: Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

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