Clark County history: In July 1913, the Wild West came to Vancouver for one day only

Hollywood’s Wild West myth never fit Clark County. Setting aside Saturday night bar fights and a man stabbed to death in a saloon, our local history lists no reports of quick-draw shootouts on any county streets. Still, residents romanticized the West. Youths read dime novels about frontiersmen adventurers, like Buffalo Bill Cody. As Tinseltown emerged, young and old watched flickering cowboy movies in Vancouver theaters.

In July 1913, the Wild West came to Vancouver. For one day only, at two shows, the Miller Brothers’ Oklahoma Ranch Wild West Show presented its version of the Wild West to local residents. Columbian advertisements shouted “Bing! Bang! Boom!” and announced Arnada Park was where the West would be won at 2 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. on Thursday. Before seeing it, the newspaper wrote the show would be the “most novel and effectively picturesque free street parade ever seen in this city,” entirely different from others because “it does not exhaust the possibilities of the show itself.”

Popular between 1870 and 1920, four-hour-long Wild West shows romanticized and restaged historical events, from robberies to battles between Native Americans and frontiersmen. Today, historians recognize the sensational and exploitative nature of these shows, especially of Native Americans. Although the Miller Brothers claimed their Oklahoma Ranch show as the largest, they had competition from Pawnee Bill (Gordon Lillie) and Buffalo Bill (William Cody), both equally popular and today more well known. All three shows toured Europe.

At one time, the Miller exhibition boasted appearances by Tom Mix, Will Rogers and Bill Pickett (1870-1832), an African American who was their most famous cowboy. He wrestled bulls to the ground by biting their lips. Their show also featured “Princess Wenona,” a sharpshooter incorrectly billed as Native American.

The woman billed as the world’s first cowgirl rode among the Oklahoma Ranch procession to Arnada Park. Lucille Mulhall (1885-1940) competed against men, riding and tossing the lasso better than any of them. Promotions claimed she once lassoed a wolf.

While other Wild West extravaganzas eliminated parades, the Millers continued the practice. Their trip to the park started at noon, an hour-and-a-half late. Five-hundred-fifty people and horses clopped down Vancouver streets, including 50 cowgirls, “scores of Indians,” an oxen-drawn prairie schooner, a stagecoach carrying a handsome young lady, bands and, oddly, funny micro-autos playing polo. Under the tent, events included displays of marksmanship, buffalo hunts, horse races and even bison riding.

Although every Wild West show excited audiences, the market changed. Silent pictures replaced them, and Western extravaganzas merged with circuses. Renowned showmen Lillie and Cody, whose combined show played Portland two weeks after the Millers, epitomized the change. Their epoch Wild West-Far East show covered history from the pyramids to the prairies.

In 1924, the Miller Brothers bought the Walter L. Main Circus, unifying the two. Eventually, many of their Wild West performers left and became early cowboy stars. Tom Mix, Will Rogers, Ed “Hoot” Gibson and Tex Ritter were a few taking the Wild West out of the sawdust arena and onto the silver screen.

Today, nothing at Arnada Park remains to evoke when, for one day, it became the Wild West.