Oklahoma Journeys

Week of June 13, 2009

Pawnee Bill

Gordon Lillie was a big fan of Buffalo Bill growing up. In 1870 he was living in Wichita Kansas when the Pawnee Tribe was being moved from Nebraska to the Indian Territory. He met a number of Pawnees and moved to the territory with them. Years later he went to work for Buffalo Bill in his Wild West show, but well, that’s just the beginning of the story…Pawnee Bill, this week on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

Before there was television, before there was radio, even before the advent of movies, America’s favorite form of mass entertainment were the “wild west shows.” In the 1880s and ‘90s, a number of these shows toured the world, showcasing the talents of cowboys, cowgirls, and American Indians. The most famous of these shows was the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. In 1883, William Cody, Buffalo Bill, hired a young man from the Indian Territory named Gordon Lillie. Lillie had grown up reading dime novels about Buffalo Bill and had dreamed of living as a western adventurer. In 1870, as the Pawnee Tribe was being moved from Nebraska to the Indian Territory, young Gordon met some of them, spent hours with them learning their language and eventually moved south from Kansas to join his friends in the Pawnee Tribe. He lived with them, went on buffalo hunts with them, and became a teacher for them. They gave him the name “Pawnee Bill.” In 1883 he met Buffalo Bill and went to work for him, helping to run his wild west show. It became apparent to Pawnee Bill that his hero wasn’t a very good business man, and he left the show to form his own wild west show. In short order he was asked to buy out the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, and then he combined the two into one enormous wild west show.

The combined shows continued their popular run until 1913, when Pawnee Bill discovered his partner, Buffalo Bill, had been making loans on the side. In Denver during the Grand Entry one evening, six deputy sheriffs entered the grounds and told Pawnee Bill the entire show’s property was being confiscated because of debts. Buffalo Bill left for his home in North Platte where he was confronted by still more creditors. Pawnee Bill, however, was more fortunate. He returned home to Pawnee, Oklahoma, served on a bank board, was a school board member, owned an oil company, a publishing company, and a movie company. And he was a successful rancher. Gordon Lillie, Pawnee Bill, died in his sleep in 1942, considered by many to be one of the last legends of the old west he loved so much.

Gordon Lillie’s legacy lives on today. The Pawnee Bill Ranch, including the main house and out buildings, is now a beautiful museum owned by the Oklahoma Historical Society. Every summer on three Saturday nights in June, museum staff and volunteers from the City of Pawnee recreate the original Pawnee Bill Wild West Show using the original script from 1907 and 1908 shows. This Saturday night is the second of three performances this summer. For more information including schedule of events and admission prices, go to our web site: okhistory.org and click on the Pawnee Bill link. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.