DOWN MEMORY LANE: The time Buffalo Bill and the Wild West came to Inverness...

Dalneigh, which translates as the ‘field of the horse’, was never more appropriately named than when Buffalo Bill galloped through its green meadow 119 years ago – with Indians in hot pursuit.

Yes, the man who created the legend of the American West took his amazing show, with 800 employees and 200 horses, to Inverness.

Special poles with electric lights attached, the forerunner of the floodlights, were erected to allow evening shows for Colonel William F Cody’s extravaganza in September 1904.

Four trains pulling 49 wagons arrived at Inverness Station, triggering massive interest throughout the Highlands. It was one of the last stops of a memorable Scottish tour for what was billed as “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World”.

It had begun in Hawick on July 26 and took in Edinburgh, Glasgow and towns such as Ayr, where the western hero visited Robert Burns’ grave, Arbroath and Aberdeen. When he visited Peterhead and Fraserburgh, crews abandoned their trawlers to see the show – sending the price of fish soaring!

Related: Down Memory Lane: Pioneering airman’s vision brought flights to Highlands

The man who rode for Pony Express at 15, was an Army scout, then gained his nickname hunting buffalo for the Kansas Pacific Railroad, attracted 175,000 people to 12 performances in Glasgow. His show was reputed to have been watched by 500,000 people – or one in 10 of the population – on his Scottish safari.

The Highlands fairly clamoured to see Buffalo Bill. Inverness at the time had a population of less than 25,000 – yet more than 46,000 people jampacked the Dalneigh event’s four shows over two days. Caley Thistle can only dream of such attendances at their games!

Groups and families arranged special buses and trains to head for Inverness in a massive and unprecedented social exodus to fire their imaginations with a glimpse into Cody’s version of the Wild West.

J Marr Wood’s Piano Warehouse at 23 Church Street was where advance tickets could be snapped up at four shillings while box seats were available at five shillings and, for the really affluent, seven shillings and sixpence. Children gained half price admission.

Tickets for one, two and three shillings could be bought at the showground on Cemetery Road on the day, with performances at 2pm and 8pm. With an eye on autumnal Inverness weather, the Courier

advertisement stated:”Will positively be presented undivided and uncurtailed, Rain or Shine!”

It was a vast logistics operation to set up camp in Dalneigh. A huge spit was set up to roast meat and the show had eight cooks and 60 waiters to feed their cast. The food bill was £1200 a day – which, literally, ate in to the profits….

Not for eating were the 118 buffalo plus elk, mules and Texas longhorn cattle which grazed where St Valery Drive and other streets now stand.

Imagine the locals’ awe at watching what was billed as “not the Imitation of Fancy but the Stupendous Realism of Facts” and their thoughts on seeing 100 Indians – mainly Sioux and Cheyenne – showing their war dances and sports.

The programme included the re-enactment of a stagecoach hold-up, using a genuine Deadwood stage, Custer’s Last Stand, the Burning of a Settlers Barn and a cowboy roundup.

Buffalo Bill, resplendent in his buckskin-fringed outfit, galloped along while shooting successfully at glass balls being thrown up by a fellow rider. Carter, The Cowboy Cyclist, proved a bizarre attraction.

The show also featured ‘Cossacks of the Caucusus, Arabs from the Sahara, Imperial Japanese Troupe and the World’s Mounted Warriors’.

The man renowned as Buffalo Bill was to give his final performance seven years later. He died in 1917 and thousands attended his funeral as he was buried on Lookout Mountain, Colorado. There will still be local folk who may recall their grandparents’ fond memories of the day the Wild West crossed the Ness and the Sioux rode along Laurel Avenue…

– Sponsored by Ness Castle Lodges.