When something is almost unbelievable, people often shake their head, and say, “You can’t make this stuff up.”

The life of Buffalo Bill is one of those almost unbelievable things. And the best part? His amazing life is part of Bradford history.

Buffalo Bill was one of the most famous and well-known figures of the American Old West — William F. Cody was a Civil War soldier, buffalo hunter for the Kansas Pacific Railroad, Army scout, fur trapper, gold miner, sharpshooter, excellent horseman and the subject of dime store novels in the 1870s that exaggerated his endeavors and made him a national sensation. By the time of his death in 1917, there were 591 such novellas, each featuring the adventures of the heroic Buffalo Bill in various predicaments in which, of course, he always came out on top.

Cody came to Bradford frequently over a 38-year period, from 1878 to 1916. The Honorable W.F. Cody (as The Bradford Era always referred to him) frequently stayed at the St. James Hotel at the head of Main Street, or at the Riddell House down the street. The Bradford Landmark Society has an old 1880 hotel register from the Riddell House with William F. Cody’s signature on one of the pages.

But why did he come to Bradford? Well, a couple of reasons. Cody had begun a “theatrical” career in 1872 at the age of 26 and by the time he came to Bradford it was in the midst of the “millionaire-making” oil boom. For years, the banner “High Grade Oil Metropolis of the World” on The Bradford Era’s nameplate was no exaggeration — Bradford was known nationwide as a wealthy oil town, and it was only logical that theatrical companies make the city a priority stop on their circuit.

And he had a good friend here as well. Porter Buchanan (for whom Buchanan Hollow of South Kendall Avenue is named) had once lived next door to Cody in North Platte, Neb. Both men were cattle ranchers and formed a warm friendship. Buchanan even spent his honeymoon with his second wife at Cody’s ranch.

Originally from this area, Buchanan had returned to Bradford in the early 1880s and became an oil producer but remained friends with his old neighbor. Whenever Buffalo Bill was in Bradford, he often renewed that old friendship.

Cody first appeared in Bradford in early March 1878. Buffalo Bill’s play “May Cody, or Lost and Won” was presented at the Wagner Opera House, now headquarters of the Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce at 66 Main St.

Advertisements boasted that Buffalo Bill, the “Chief of Government Scouts and Historic Guide,” would exhibit some marvelous shooting, which had distinguished him as “one of the greatest marksmen with a rifle that the world had ever produced,” as well as reenact the so-called Mormon War, and introduce two genuine Sioux War chiefs. Also included in this “border drama” cast was a real Mexican burro, Jack Cass.

He came again in May 1880, but this time Buffalo Bill had realized that eastern United States audiences were eager to learn of the Old West, and modified his greatly expanded theatrical troupe accordingly. This show, a “melo-drama” consisting of four acts, was titled “Buffalo Bill at Bay, or Pearl of the Prairie,” and had a military brass band; a band of (again) genuine frontier Indian chiefs who would appear in natural camping scenes and exhibit war dances; Buffalo Bill’s home in the Rocky Mountains; a burning cabin; an Indian renegade, Biting Wolf, who takes young Prairie Pearl captive; Eddie Burgess, boy chief of the Pawnees; rifle shooting; and a trained donkey named Jerry.

It was reported that Cody had asked the play’s author, John A. Stevens, to “write me a play with a donkey, mountains and Indians in it” and had his wish granted.

The Era reported that the Opera House was jammed with people, since “Bison William’s shows always draw like a circus,” and although “the scout was never designed for a great actor, his striking stage appearance, vigorous manners and skillful marksmanship combine to make him very popular.”

In 1881 the show was titled “Buffalo Bill and the Prairie Waif, a Story of the Far West.” In 1882,

“20 Days or Buffalo Bill’s Pledge” was presented. Both shows played at the Wagner Opera House, and both featured rifle shooting, two different Indian tribes (Cherokee in 1881, Winnebago in 1882), a large brass band, and a “free, daily, sensational street parade.”

In 1884, Cody decided to leave the smaller theatrical stages behind and created “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.” This was an outdoor spectacle, using hundreds of performers, as well as live buffalo, elk, cattle and other animals. Cody and the show’s management team believed it both educated and entertained visitors.

It was an instant hit and made him world famous.

He was invited to tour Europe in 1887, and eventually made eight tours there. “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” first went to London in 1887 as part of the American Exhibition, which coincided with the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Crossing the Atlantic was no small feat: he took along 83 saloon passengers, 38 steerage passengers, 97 Native Americans, 180 horses, 18 buffalo, 10 elk, five Texan steers, four donkeys and two deer. In 1889, his entire troupe went to the Paris Universal Exposition, and later to southern France, Spain, Germany and Rome, where the performers were personally blessed by Pope Leo XIII.

In August 1895, “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” returned to Bradford, arriving with 42 railroad cars and six sleepers. The show was set up at the Wagner farm, now the athletic field of UPB. The Era reported that there was standing room only, with an estimated 15,000 people at both performances.

The Wild West Show came again in July 1900, with the usual advance dramatic promotion, promising more than 1,200 men and horses doing a historic reenactment of the charge up San Juan Hill, South American gauchos, Sioux Indians, wild west cowboys, Prussian cuirassiers, Russian Cossacks, Arabian acrobats, Royal Irish Lancers and Mexican vaqueros — basically all the “Equestrian Nations of the World.” Trying for an international flair, there were also Filipinos, Hawaiians and Cubans.

In 1910, after three decades of touring, Buffalo Bill was now 64 years of age, tired of traveling and ready to retire. He had been one of the wealthiest and most famous entertainers in the world but always a generous man. Over the years he had given much of his money away and had made several bad business decisions. He was nearly broke.

He announced that he would end his career with a two-year farewell tour. Over the years, the Wild West Show had included many authentic personalities such as “Wild Bill” Hickok, Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull and Geronimo, as well as “real” cowboys recruited from the West. It had traveled throughout the United States, toured Europe and brought a sense of the Old West to thousands of people.

But the country was changing. The Old West was gone, a relic of the past. It had been replaced by motor cars, moving pictures, telephones and that new-fangled invention, the airplane. The new century promised a different history.

The last Wild West Show came to Bradford on June 24, 1910, and was staged on the old Driving Park off Congress Street, now the site of Zippo Manufacturing. The Era sadly wrote, “Now comes the most famous showman America has ever known, Col. W.F. Cody (Buffalo Bill). He is here to say goodbye today for now and all time. The old scout will never visit here again.”

Cody died Jan. 10, 1917, while visiting his sister in Denver. He is buried there, on Lookout Mountain, on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, with a sweeping view of the great plains that held so many memories.