See Buffalo Bill Museum and take a River Cruise
I was just driving along on my way back from the Badland National Park and I saw a sign along the highway, Buffalo Bill’s Museum. That was all it took to get me to stop.
It was about 9ish and museums general open between ten and noon most places and most days. Coming off the highway was perfect as the place had a laundromat which I had been looking for. So, a perfect day was coming, I could just feel it.
As I arrived at the Museum, I saw that a river boat trip was about to start. I got tickets and ran into the museum to buy a book because hanging out on a boat with the wind slightly blowing and reading a book is the greatest thing in the world.
Riverboat Twilight
The Riverboat Twilight has three different cruises available for 1.5 hour, 1 day, or 2 day, i.e. you get to sleep on the boat. I took the 1.5 hour one as it was available but one of these day, I would love to take the 2 day cruises but with someone.
The 1.5 hour cruise was amazingly priced at only $20.00 with free coffee. They also had a bar and snacks for additional cost for those that wanted them.
The Captain was great with useful information about the different sights along the way and information about the area. But the boat was incredible to be on and just relax and watch the mighty Mississippi roll on by. Plus I still have my sea legs!
One of the things that the Captain talked about is how this part of the river was so bad that guides would be give almost a months wages to take steam boat through back in the day. It was one of the most dangerous part of the Mississippi. But the river bed has been dug out and boats can safely go up and down this area.
Tip: Where to sit? It really does not matter! But if you are trying to get the front open deck, it generally gets to hot or to cold. So, for me, it is not worth fighting to be the first on. I generally go to the back of the ship and I always find a great spot.
Buffalo Bill Museum
The Buffalo Bill Museum is so much more then just about Buffalo Bill. Don’t get me wrong, they have a lot of items and a two nice videos’ about him. But they also have a room all about James J. Ryan II the inventor of the flight recorder, an area for Cecil Fletcher, the history of LeClaire, they have a desk that was once Abraham Lincoln’s, an old fire truck, old bibles, a local Native American area, information on Captain Philip Suiter who was a legenday Mississippi River Pilot, and the most important item is the Steamer Lone Star.
The Steamer Lone Star is a wooden hulled stern wheeler steam boat. She was built in 1890 at a cost of $18,000. A few modification had been made on her in the 1922 but otherwise, she is the same boat that was built back in the 1890.
She could operate in water as low as 3 feet deep and was working the Mississippi until 1967 when the government would no longer allow a wooden hulled boat to operate. Her home is now in this museum and you are welcome to walk on her and image all the things that she saw in her day.
Brief History
On February 16, 1846, William Frederick Cody was born just outside LeClaire, Iowa in a little log cabin. He would live in the little log cabin until he was eight years old and his family moved to the Kansas Territory after his older brother died. Unfortunately, the move to Kansas would cost Billy his father.
Kansas was on the edge of becoming a state but would it be a free state or a slave state. Bill’s father was against slavery. One night on a ride home with Bill, Bill’s father was dragged from his horse and stabbed for voicing his opinion. Bill was able to get his father home but it was the beginning of men trying to kill his father and coming to the family farm.
Bill had to grow up fast as his father had to leave the farm and would only come back once in a while. Bill was the man of the house when his father was away. Bill would also scout around the farm the family owned to keep his father and the family safe.
One night, Bill was sick with a fever but found out that a party of men were going to kill his father. Bill got on his horse and rode 30 miles to warn his father about the men. At one point, the men saw Bill and started shooting at him but Bill was able to break away and get to his father first.
But within a few years of the stabbing, Bill father died. Bill would start working because the family needed the income. So, at the age of 11, Bill took a job as a “boy extra” which would ride up and down the length of a wagon train and deliver messages.
This bit of his life would lead him to become the Greatest Show Man!
Books to Read
I am reading this now and I am loving it! The book is for age 9 and up but it is very informative about Buffalo Bill’s early life. It also includes a lot of history about Bleeding Kansas for those of us that don’t know a lot about it.
Honestly, I think that I know a bit about it from school but not a lot. It was like a one page in my history books through school, yet this is were the blood shed really started for the Civil War. Bill’s father was even involved with John Brown who would later lead the raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
He also wrote his life story but like Mark Twin said, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” I am sure that some of it will be, shall we say embellished a bit. Or in his case, a lot!!!
Buffalo Bill was also some what of a lady’s man. He always had the most beautiful, intelligent, and talented women around him. He would allow the women to do any work that they wanted to do. If they did that work as well or better then the men in his company, then he would pay them the same or more.
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