Old West rides again in Pawnee Bill show Performances, exhibits highlight excitement of life on frontier - Pawnee, OK - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

Pawnee Bill's Ranch and Museum is on the south side of Pawnee. It is open to the public, and visitors can see longhorn, bison and horses in the fields.

Article text:

Those thrilling days of yesteryear are alive and well.

During "Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show" at the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum, visitors will be transported back to the days when original troupe members Gordon Lillie, aka Pawnee Bill, and his high-society wife, May, performed feats of speed and skill on horseback.

Rope tricks, brightly costumed tribal dancers and a mock stagecoach holdup will be included in the festivities Saturday and June 28.

Come early so you can watch the parade downtown and tour the ranch and other historic sites in Pawnee.

For some excitement, don't miss the gunfights, scheduled at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. Blacksmith and arrow-making demonstrations also will be offered during the day. A traveling medicine man show will be performed Saturday only.

Wild West show trivia Annie Oakley, the famous female sharpshooter, and Buffalo Bill Cody were good friends and fellow performers in the original Wild West show.

Mexican Joe, the ranch's foreman, could rope 12 horses at a time in the arena. He also did trick roping with Will Rogers.

Pawnee Bill's Quaker-born wife performed riding and shooting stunts in the show. She quit after he shot a piece off her finger during a trick.



A cast of 1,000 Excerpts from a 1907 show program advertise:

A cast of more than 1,000 "men, women and horses," playing to an average of 2 million people each year.

Seating for more than 10,000 people a day.

Performers from 11 countries.

"The oldest buffalo in captivity, age seventy-four years."

A menagerie valued at $250,000 with 216 "Rare Animals." These animals included 10 camels and "2 Herds of Performing Elephants."

Down on the ranch Admission is free to the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum.

Built in 1910, the 14-room mansion cost $100,000. The original furnishings, rugs and china remain in the house.

The mansion produced its own electricity from wind power and had electric lights throughout.

See the 4-foot-long alligator cane rack made from a pet who performed in the show and lived in the goldfish pond.

A bust in the living room was made by Gutzon Borglum, who also sculpted the faces on Mount Rushmore.

One of the first electric trains ever made is in the playroom upstairs.

There is a haunted painting over the stairs with a white figure that appears and disappears as guests walk through the house.



Tour the three-room log cabin the Lillies lived in until their mansion was built.

Buffalo, longhorn cattle, horses and elk graze on the range around the museum.

See costumes and artifacts from the show, including a new display with the pistol and holster May Lillie used.

A reconstructed stagecoach and other items used in the original show are on display.

Don't miss a new Pistol Pete exhibit, including memorabilia from Pistol Pete's 1932 performance in Pawnee Bill's Fourth of July Rodeo.

Pawnee facts Home of Gordon W. Lillie (Pawnee Bill).

Home of Chester Gould, creator of "Dick Tracy."

Home of Moses Yellow Horse only full-blooded American Indian to play major-league baseball. (Pittsburg Pirates, 1922.)

The first Ford dealership in Oklahoma.

The first telephone in the territory

The first murder in cartoon history occurred in an early 1932 "Dick Tracy" comic set in Pawnee.

Other things to see Pawnee Indian Agency andSchool, historical buildings dating to the 1840s. Pawnee Bill earned his nickname after teaching at the school.

World's largest "Dick Tracy" mural.

Veterans Memorial. More than 2,000 local veterans are listed on the Walk of Honor.

Historic Rough Rider Monument. Dedicated to Roosevelt's Rough Riders buried at a nearby cemetery, this is the only monument dedicated to the Rough Riders in Oklahoma.

History and more What's to see at the Pawnee County Historical Museum?

The history of Pawnee in artifacts and pictures.

Dick Tracy Headquarters with a variety of memorabilia many characters and settings in the early Dick Tracy episodes were named after people and places Gould knew in Pawnee.

Newly remodeled period bedroom displays.

Farming tools and furniture from Pawnee's pioneer days.

The wheels of a county fair stunt plane that crashed in the early 1930s.

If you go

What: Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show.

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday and June 28.

Where: Pawnee Bill Ranch on Blue Hawk Peak, one mile west of Pawnee on Highway 64.

Extras: Parade starts at 2 p.m. in downtown Pawnee. Barbecue dinner at 5:30 p.m. at the ranch. Adults $6, children 12 and younger, $3.

Show cost: Adults $10; ages 7 to 12, $5; limited reserve seating, $12.50.

Information: (918) 762-2108.

Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum: Free admission. (918) 762-2513.

Pawnee County Historical Museum: Free admission. (918) 762-2513. Call in advance for group tours.

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 06/15/2003 Publication: The Oklahoman Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Entertainment

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