William Frederick Buffalo Bill Cody is best remembered for romanticizing
the American West with his Wild West Show, an outdoor exhibition employing
Indians and live buffalo to dramatize life on the American frontier.  Born
in Iowa in 1846, Buffalo Bill rode for the Pony Express as a teenager. 
Later, he became one of the U.S. Armyıs most valuable scouts, covering
vast areas of hostile terrain during the Indian wars of the 1860s and
1870s.  He received his nickname when he hunted buffalo for a brief time
to feed workers on the Kansas Pacific Railroad.  In 1869, Ned Buntline
made him the hero of a dime novel; later, Buntline persuaded Cody to
appear on stage.  Eventually Colonel Cody became the hero of more than
1,700 dime novels, some of which he authored himself.  His famous
exhibition, organized in 1883, offered Indians employment, Helped save the
buffalo from extinction, and preserved the history of the American West.