When Buffalo Bill brought the wonders of the Wild West to Edinburgh

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show embarked on a tour of Scotland in 1904.

Billed as "the crowning equestrian spectacle of the ages" and incorporating a talented cast of performers from all over the world, the week of performances was staged on a large area of open ground on what is now the Hutchison Road area near Gorgie Road.

Cody, who had taken his unique vaudeville extravaganza all over the USA and Europe, toured Scotland a decade earlier, with the Wild West show enjoying a three-month residency at a showground in Glasgow in 1891/92. However, this improved 20th century show would be on a much grander scale.

Using their own trains, the Buffalo Bill entourage would visit an astonishing 29 towns and attract an estimated 500,000 people up and down the country in a matter of weeks.

Crowds gathered at Princes Street Station on Monday, August 8, to witness the Edinburgh arrival of Cody's three trains, made up of 49 cars, which in line extended to nearly three-quarters of a mile long.

Over the course of the morning, the noise of "a thousand hammers resounded through the morning air, and in an incredibly short space of time, a veritable canvas town, covering something like five acres, had reared itself".

The chosen site of the show was located within a short walk of Gorgie Station and was centred around a huge amphitheatre, sufficiently large enough to accommodate at least 18,000 people.

As the day progressed, the rich and varied cast of performers arrived on site, including Buffalo Bill's Native American Rough Riders: a hundred "Red men, chiefs, warriors, sqaws and papooses with feather head dresses, long spears, bead jackets, and uttering discordant war cries".

The indigenous Americans were joined by British Lancers, US cavalrymen, South American gauchos, Russian Cossacks, Japanese mounted troops and American cowboys.

Before the show, it was written that the participants collectively represented men who had served in almost every major conflict waged throughout the world since 1861.

Colonel Cody himself himself was a veteran of the US Civil War and also chief of scouts in later skirmishes with native American tribes in the old west.

When Buffalo Bill finally made his grand appearance at Gorgie, he was greeted with a rapturous applause, "a tribute to his fame and daring as a skilful frontier scout and his success as organiser of the night's entertainment".

With around 800 employees and more than 500 animals present, it was reported that food bills alone totalled more than £1200 a day, Colonel Cody's insistence on dining alongside his ensemble providing firm evidence of the quality fare on offer.

Spectators were treated with an exhibition of drills by the US Cavalry and British Lancers; acrobatics, wire-walking and juggling by Arab and Japanese performers; a war dance by a large troupe of Native Americans and "feats of equestrian skill" by the Cossacks.

A large section of the company re-enacted famous Wild West incidents, including the Battle of the Little Big Horn, lawless cowboys held up a stage coach, ranchers rounded up cattle and rode bucking broncos, while attacks were staged on wagon trains and settlers' huts.

Johnny Baker, the virtuoso of young American marksmen, pulled off a range of fancy tricks with his rifle, such as bringing down clay pigeons while standing on his head.

Never one to be outshone, Buffalo Bill demonstrated his own shooting prowess by scoring hits on small balls thrown high in the air while riding on horseback.

The following Monday, the Evening News noted that Buffalo Bill and his entourage had packed up and were, rather fittingly, heading west by railroad.

The News reported: "Despite the extremely bad weather on Thursday, close upon 140,000 persons visited the show during the week.

"At the conclusion of the performance on Saturday night, the tents were at once taken down - one of the most interesting features of the week - and packed on special trains for Falkirk, where the performance will be given to-day."

Ahead of a 2014 auction of rare items relating to the Wild West shows, Matt Chapman, an American history specialist, said the 1904 tour was "really something".

He said: "He (Cody) brought a huge show with him to Scotland - 200 horses and 100 Indians. They even had their own train to move them around the country.

"The show itself was a re-enactment of the legend of the wild west. They'd have an attack on a stagecoach, a buffalo hunt.

"The Indians would attack a female and Buffalo Bill would rescue her.

"The tour was incredibly popular. We think at least 500,000 people would have seen it, which is even more remarkable when you think Scotland only had around four million people at that time. It was a huge show."

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