William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, who found fame as a Wild West Show entertainer in the late 1800s, sought another type of fortune later in his life as an investor in mines near Oracle on the northern slopes of the Catalina Mountains.
That part of his life has inspired a “Buffalo Bill Days” event in Oracle Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26 and 27.
“Buffalo Bill was an icon. People need those old heroes,” said William “Flint” Carter, an Arizona prospector and author who organized the event along with others in the Oracle community. “A lot of the history is being lost, and this could help people get an idea of what Buffalo Bill was like.”
AN ILLUSTRIOUS LIFE
The free event at several locations in Oracle will include presentations about the adventures of Buffalo Bill, who led an illustrious life as a fur trapper, buffalo hunter, ranch hand, Pony Express Rider and Army scout before turning to show business in the 1870s.
In the 1880s, his Wild West Show was “an outdoor spectacle, designed to both educate and entertain, using a cast of hundreds as well as live buffalo, elk, cattle and other animals,” according to a website of The Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave in Colorado.
Later, in the early 1900s, Cody visited Oracle and invested in several mining claims. Accounts differ, but the Campo Bonito mining area reportedly was the site of some of his holdings.
“By 1910 Cody was fully involved in his mining venture near Oracle,” says an account in “Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains” by Robert E. Zucker, collaborated with William “Flint” Carter.
Business partners and Cody “turned six claims at Campo Bonito into a $600,000 corporation under the name of the Campo Bonito Mining and Milling Company,” says the book.
Cody, who reportedly spent some time in the Oracle area during ensuing years, died in 1917 in Denver.
CELEBRATING A LEGEND
Many of the scheduled Buffalo Bill Days events will take place at the Oracle Inn Steakhouse at 305 E. American Ave. in Oracle. They include:
- Free classic Buffalo Bill movies shown several times over the two-day event.
- A presentation by Carter at 6 p.m. Friday on his new book, “Canyon of Gold: Buffalo Bill Cody and the Legendary Iron Door Mine Treasure.”
- A presentation at 4 p.m. Saturday by Dane Johnson, a Buffalo Bill lookalike known for appearing in full costume and telling the life story of Buffalo Bill.
- Drawings for giveaways of pieces of jewelry created by Carter.
