Sometimes I had to send men on journeys of more than a hundred miles to get the right kind of war-bonnets, or to make correct copies of the tepees peculiar to a particular tribe.

It was my effort, in depicting the West, to depict it as it was.

I was much gratified in after years to find that scientists who had carefully studied the Indians, their traditions and habits, gave me credit for making very valuable contributions to the sum of human knowledge of the American native.
The first presentation of my show was given in May, 1883, at Omaha, which I had then chosen as my home.

From there we made our first summer tour, visiting practically every important city in the country.
For my grand entrance I made a spectacle which comprised the most picturesque features of Western life.

Sioux, Arapahoes, Brules, and Cheyennes in war-paint and feathers led the van, shrieking their war-whoops and waving the weapons with which they were armed in a manner to inspire both terror and admiration in the tenderfoot audience.
Next came cowboys and soldiers, all clad exactly as they were when engaged in their campaigns against the Indians, and lumbering along in the rear were the old stage-coaches which carried the settlers to the West in the days before the railroad made the journey easy and pleasant.
I am sure the people enjoyed this spectacle, for they flocked in crowds to see it.