The Real Wild West

Founded in 1893, the 101 Ranch was famous across the country for its touring Wild West shows, which featured countless cowboys and cowgirls, including Buffalo Bill, Geronimo, and Bill Pickett. The 101 Ranch show came to embody the spirit of the frontier for the entire nation. The Miller brothers, who owned the ranch, also found themselves involved in the formation of Hollywood and western movies, and the ranch produced many of the earliest western film stars, including Tom Mix and Buck Jones.

Colonel George Washington Miller, the founder of the 101, participated in cattle drives, and Wallis follows Miller from Kentucky through Missouri and Kansas and into the Cherokee Outlet in northern Oklahoma, where he founded the 101 Ranch on the banks of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River.

The massive popular interest in the West also sparked a growth in western movies, and the Miller brothers were there to participate. Dozens of Hollywood's earliest films were shot on location at the ranch, and many of the 101 Ranch cowboys starred in these motion pictures.

Wallis also portrays the origins of the mass entertainment industry that flourishes today, and shows how this industry helped to undo the West of reality and preserve it as a popular mythology. Full of incredible characters and unbelievable stories, this is an evocative reflection of the story of America itself.