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

Date: October 27, [1910]

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

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Buffalo Bill's Wild West Combined with Pawnee Bill's Great Far East.

Douglass.
Ariz [1]
Oct. 27th [2]

Dear George

Some time ago Sheedy [3] wrote me. I see you have organized an Oil Co. [4] I hope it will be a great Success. For if there is a man in the world that I would like to see make a big bunch of money its you.

Well. George.

My mines [5] are simply appalling. they stagger me. They have knock me silly. I dont know what to say. They seem so far beyond my expectations or hopes. One Mill [6] is hammering away and I'll have another one going inside of 90 days.

Realy I dont know what to say. I am working 60 dandy miners night & day. And no one has put a dollar in but my self— But there is a dozen men wanting to come in now. But it looks so good I dont know how to let them in. after I took all the chances.

Yours

Col

Note 1: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Combined with Pawnee Bill's Great Far East performed in Douglas, Arizona, on October 27, 1910. [back]

Note 2: The year is not inscribed by Cody but is 1910. [back]

Note 3: Sheedy may be Dennis Sheedy (1846-1923) who, after making a great deal of money raising cattle, entered the banking business as vice president of Colorado National City Bank in 1886, a position that later gave him his connection to Globe Smelting. After helping the company reorganize its finances and create economies of scale, Sheedy led Globe Smelting in increasing its revenues from $200,000 in 1889 to $16 million in 1907. [back]

Note 4: In October 1902 the Cody Oil Company was organized in Cody, Wyoming. The company included the following investors: George T. Beck, Col. John H. Peake, C. E. Hayden, W. L. Walls, N. S. Nobles, John Buchanan, W. B. Sleeper, John Holm, William Horner, Dr. W. S. Devoe, J. M. Schwoob, John McGuffey, G. A. Pulley, Stewart Darling, R. J. McMullen, George Nelson, David H. McFall, Charles D. Blaine, J. A. Swenson, and Frank L. Houx. The elected officers were Frank L. Houx, President, and J. A. Swenson, Secretary-Treasurer. The company was incorporated under the state laws of Wyoming for the purpose of acquiring land for developing and refining oil and was capitalized at one million dollars for fifty years. [back]

Note 5: "My mines" likely refers to Cody's mining operation, Campo Bonito, located in the Santa Catalina Mountains of Arizona. Campo Bonito was in the Old Hat District near Tucson and Oracle, Arizona, where gold, silver, and other ore deposits were mined. [back]

Note 6: "Mill" refers to a machine whose purpose is to shred or crush aggregate materials into smaller pieces. According to a newspaper article published in The Coconino Sun, February 10, 1911 Cody's mining operations used "... A five-stamp Merrill's mill operating on sheelite ore and turning out high grade tungsten concentrates." [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, 1895-1910 (Acc. #9972), ah031483

Date: October 27, [1910]

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

Topic: Buffalo Bill's Wyoming

People: Beck, George Washington Thornton, 1856-1943

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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