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Home > Forging the Wild West

  • Forging the Wild West

    The Wild West was known as a place of intrigue, opportunity, quick fortune and danger. Get to know the gutsy-adventurers, eccentrics, and risktakers who blazed the American West.

Table of Contents:

  • Buffalo Bill Cody: Romancing the Western Frontier
  • John C. Frémont: General, Explorer, and Entrepreneur
  • Wells and Fargo Bring the American Express Company West
  • Tombstone, Arizona: the Ungoverned West

  • Buffalo Bill Cody: Romancing the Western Frontier

    Portrait of Buffalo Bill in western clothes holding a rifle and a poster of cowboys advertising his Wild West show

    Buffalo Bill Cody began as a soldier, cowboy, and renowned buffalo hunter and became a successful showman and businessman later in life. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show toured the nation spinning stories of grandeur and enchantment of a Wild West, romanticizing the image of the western frontier.

    Read more about Buffalo Bill Cody: Romancing the Western Frontier

    Left Image: Buffalo Bill Cody ca. 1880; author Sarony courtesy Wikimedia Commons [1]. Right Image: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show 1899 Poster; author Courier Litho. Co.; courtesy Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons [2]. Background Image: Buffalo Bill Cody ca. 1880; author Sarony courtesy Wikimedia Commons [3].

  • John C. Frémont: General, Explorer, and Entrepreneur

    Map of the western US created from Frémont’s explorations and a portrait of Frémont in a military coat

    John Frémont surveyed major parts of the Western U.S. and is known in Nevada for his role in mapping the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Pyramid Lake. His life was one of adventure, war, politics, and ultimately fortune and failure. His legacy will forever run through our Northern Nevada landscape.

    Read more about John C. Frémont: General, Explorer, and Entrepreneur

    Left Image: This map was created from one of Frémont’s explorations through the Rocky Mountains and to the Pacific Northwest between 1843–1844; courtesy Library of Congress [4]. Right Image: Frémont poses in military uniform; author Emil Boehl courtesy Wikimedia Commons [5].

  • Wells and Fargo Bring the American Express Company West

    Shipping receipts from the American Express Company and a picture of a western office with a horse-drawn wagon in front

    Express companies in the west ensured fast and secure transportation of gold and silver from isolated mining towns to urban centers. As stage coach thieves and railroad bandits lurked in the shadows, the American Express Company saw opportunity to expand their services.

    Read more about Wells and Fargo Bring the American Express Company West

    Left Image: Express Company shipping receipts; author American Express Co. courtesy Wikimedia Commons [6]. Right Image: The Virginia City, Nevada Express Office in 1852; author Lawrence & Houseworth, courtesy LOC and NGS [7].

  • Tombstone, Arizona: the Ungoverned West

    Wooden tombstone of the men killed in the shootout at the OK Corral & map of mining claims in the Tombstone Mining District

    An isolated town on the Western frontier, Tombstone, Arizona became a haven of lawlessness where even the ethics of lawmen were questioned. The notorious Gunfight at O.K. Corral exemplified the Wild West and was memorialized in the 1993 movie Tombstone.

    Read more about Tombstone, Arizona: the Ungoverned West

    Left Image: A tombstone of the men killed during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; author Lee Russel courtesy Library of Congress [8]. Right Image: Map of the Tombstone Mining District, 1881; author Ingoldsby, Kelleher, Peel, and Crocker & Co., courtesy Library of Congress [9].

Related Bonds

Certificate with black ink shows intricate borders, lettering, and vignettes with Native Americans-one with a bow, a train, and flora

The Tombstone Mill and Mining Company
Certificate with black, yellow, and red ink shows intricate borders, lettering, and vignettes with a cornucopia of foods and a small mining village

Bodie Bluff Consolidation Mining Company
Certificate with black and blue ink shows intricate borders and lettering, company seal, and vignettes with a farm town and train and woman

Cincinnati Railway Tunnel Company
Certificate with black ink shows intricate borders and lettering, signatures, vignettes of a Greek god, woman, sailor, boat, and eagle and coupons

Republic of Texas
Certificate with black and red ink shows intricate bordering, lettering, signatures, company seal, and vignette of a hand holding a set of aces

Four Aces Mining Company
Certificate with black ink shows intricate borders, lettering, signatures, a company seal, and vignettes of miners, mining carts, and gold panning

Rawhide Bighorn Mining Company
Certificate with black ink shows intricate borders, lettering, signatures, and a vignette with a bulldog, horse-drawn carriage, harbor, and eagle

American Express Company
Certificate with blue and black ink shows intricate borders, lettering, signatures, a company seal, an IRS stamp, and a plant and ribbon vignette

Alabama Gold and Copper Mining Company
This black and white ornately bordered certificate shows fish, an anchor, a shell, two flags, and tridents; there is a triangular hole in the center

Texian Loan
Certificate with blue and black ink shows intricate borders, lettering, signatures, a company seal, a cancel stamp, and Greek woman vignette

The San Juan Consolidated Mining Company
Certificate with black and yellow shows intricate borders, lettering, and signatures and vignettes of miners

Cactus Peak Mining and Milling Company
Certificate with blue and black ink shows intricate bordering, lettering, signatures, and “canceled” handwritten in red ink

Bodie and Hawthorne Telephone and Telegraph Company
Certificate with brown and gold ink shows intricate bordering, lettering, a company seal, signatures, and a vignette of a mountain scene

The Cripple Creek Consolidated Mining Company
Certificate with black, green, orange and gold ink shows intricate bordering, lettering, a company seal, signatures, and vignettes of a train

Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company
Certificate with black and orange ink shows intricate lettering, a company seal, and signatures written in French

Le Nouveau Monde
Certificate with black ink shows intricate lettering, a company seal, signatures, and a vignette of a horse-drawn wagon

Weaverville and Shasta Railroad Company
Certificate with black and yellow ink shows intricate bordering, lettering, a seal, signatures, and vignettes of an eagle, train, and coal mine

Cody’s Wyoming Coal Company

Related Stories

  • Rawhide and the Era of Boosterism Full Story

  • False Hopes at the Four Aces Full Story

  • Sam Houston and the Texas Rangers Full Story

  • Financing the Republic of Texas Full Story

Sources

  1. Left Image: Sarony. (ca. 1880). Buffalo Bill Cody. 680 Broadway, New York. Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9534518
  2. Right Image: Courier Litho. Co. (1899). Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Congress of Rough Riders of the World Circus Poster. Courier Litho. Co., Buffalo, N.Y. Public Domain from Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buffalo_bill_wild_west_show_c1899.jpg
  3. Background Image: Sarony. (ca. 1880). Buffalo Bill Cody. 680 Broadway, New York. [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
  4. Left Image: Frémont, J.C. (1844–45). Map of an exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the year 1842 and to Oregon & north California in the years 1843–44 [map]. Washington D.C.: Edward Weber and Co., U.S. Senate. Public Domain from Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/item/96688042/
  5. Right Image: Boehl, Emil. John C. Frémont, General (Union). 1862. Missouri History Museum. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=John+C.+Fremont&title=Special:Search&go=Go&searchToken=28pwb64hfo32kfetiz9wwabne#/media/File:John_C._Fremont,_General_(Union).jpg
  6. Left Image: American Express Co. (1853; 1869). Express Company shipping receipts. The Cooper Collection of American Transportation History. Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Express_Shipping_Receipt_1853.jpg
  7. Right Image: Lawrence & Houseworth, photographer. Virginia City, Nevada, 1852. Retrieved from the National Geographic Society via Library of Congress, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/mar18/wells-fargo-founded/. (Accessed March 20, 2018.)
  8. Left Image: Lee, Russell. (1940). Tombstone in Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona [photograph]. Public Domain from the Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/item/2017742136/
  9. Right Image: Ingoldsby, Frank S, M Kelleher, M. R Peel, and H.S. Crocker & Co. (1881). Map of the Tombstone mining district: Cochise Co., Arizona Ter. [Map]. Public Domain from the Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/item/2012586611/
  10. City of Tombstone, Cochise County. (2017). City of Tombstone. Retrieved from http://www.cityoftombstone.com/
  11. Clements, E.L. (2003). After the Boom in Tombstone and Jerome, Arizona: Decline in Western Resource Towns. Reno and Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=1ypWISP_B20C&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
  12. Comstock, J.B. (1904). Fifty Years of Progress: History of the House of P.F. Corbin. Buffalo and New York: The Matthews-Northrup Works. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=y_CErQvcbPEC&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
  13. O’Neal, B. (1991). Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=5KLrfdOrI78C&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
  14. Tombstone Arizona History. (n.d.). TombstoneWeb. Retrieved from http://tombstoneweb.com/
  15. Trimble, M. (1986). Roadside History of Arizona. Mountain Press Publishing Company: Missoula.
  16. Wyatt Earp. (ca. 1870s). Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wyatt_earp_1870s.jpg
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  • Collection
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Story Themes

  • Art of the Bond
  • Backing the Republic of Texas
  • Bankrolling the Revolutionary and Civil Wars
  • Forging the Wild West
  • Nevada’s Promises and Perils
  • Railroads and Trade Routes
  • Scandals and Swindlers
  • Tycoons and Benefactors

Resources

  • Resources for Researchers
  • Resources for Teachers
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