 |
| Pony Express stamp, 1960 |
This site served first as a camping area for emigrants heading west to start a new life. It served as the Rock Creek Pony Express station along the St Joseph Missouri to Sacramento California route, a stagecoach stop and it was the scene of a shootout involving Wild Bill Hickok.
The images of the Oregon Trail are of wagon trains and just northeast of the station site itself is about 1,600 feet of the best Oregon Trail wagon train ruts you'll find anywhere along it's route. Rock Creek Station wagon ruts are a popular Nebraska tourist attraction. When you put all of these things together, this historically rich site is one you may just want to include on your next western U.S. road trip. Fairbury Nebraska is located about 80 miles southwest of Lincoln and the Rock Creek State Historic Park is about 10 miles east of Fairbury.
Visit Historic Rock Creek Station
 |
| Pony Express 1860 Postmark |
When you make your vacation plans take special notice that every year during the first weekend of June is Rock Creek Station Trail Days highlighting living history demonstrations, covered wagon rides, cowboy shoot outs, cowboy poets and a buffalo stew cookout. Rock Creek Station activities are for the entire family and will fit almost any vacation budget.
Wild Bill Hickok and Rock Creek Station
 |
| James Butler Hickok |
The story of Wild Bill Hickok and Rock Creek Station is quite interesting and very significant in the legend of the man we know as "Wild Bill". As with all stories from so long ago you will often read a couple different versions of events. This is certainly the case with this story. In fact, sometimes the versions increase over time. The problem with this tale is that it has several versions (more than two) and they are all quite different.
The story is that Wild Bill whose formal name was James Butler Hickok, and sometimes referred to as Bill Hickok, shot a man named David McCanles on December 16, 1861 inside the office at Rock Creek Station. This was called by many, the Rock Creek Station Shootout. Since the station was on the stage line and also was a Pony Express relay station, there was always a lot of activity going on. People on the Oregon Trail also passed through and this is the source of all those wagon ruts.
Back to the shootout... McCanles, his son and a few others went to the station's office to collect on an alleged debt from the station manager. The debt has been reported as a rent payment on the property. This is where the tale gets a bit complicated. The first question is what legal claim if any did David McCanles have on the property? Was he owed a payment? Why was there a gunfight? Why was Hickok involved? To understand why shots were exchanged in the first place you have to accept Hickoks story. Hickok's tale is that McCanles and his gang were wanted by the law for train robbery, murder, bank robbery, cattle rustling, and horse theft. That sounds like a pretty long list of criminal charges. At least by Hickok's version.
There is an entirely different version however that says McCanles had owned the property that the relay station was on and that he merely showed up to collect an overdue payment from the freight company. The story is that McCanles had been a rancher in the area as opposed to a wanted criminal. Wild Bill's version however was that he supposedly received word in 1861 that the gang (accepting that there was a McCanles gang) was hanging out near Rock Creek Station. At the time Wild Bill Hickok managed to get a job as a local town constable so this might explain why people were talking to him about David McCanles. It might also explain why Hickok was present at the station. To learn what really happened and why, you would have to determine exactly who David McCanles was. Was his group old west outlaws or were they simply friends and relatives trying to help him collect a debt?
The Hickok Legend
Most historians contend that the legend of Wild Bill Hickok began with this alleged McCanles Gang shootout. The question is...was McCanles a gang member or not? Supposedly Wild Bill killed six members of the gang himself armed with a pistol, rifle and Bowie knife. Some versions have have a much smaller number killed in the fight. Was this a simple law enforcement act or was there much more to the story?
As a result of the shooting at Rock Creek Station, Hickok and two others ( the station manager and an employee) were tried on murder charges. The best way to find out what really happened and why would be in the trial proceedings. One problem with this however is that the trial lasted only some fifteen minutes. These quick trials happened more often on the frontier than you may have realized. The important thing was that nobody showed up at the trial to contradict Hickok's story of self defense and he and the others were acquitted of all charges. The Rock Creek Station Shootout had no legal consequences. A copy of the formal complaint against Hickok (below) is in the files of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Since no new information of any substance came out of the trial, the best way to learn about the events at Rock Creek Station is to hear what witnesses ( if they truly were present) had to say after the fact.
One version has Wild Bill Hickok in some kind of feud with McCanles involving the Civil War which was beginning in 1861. This account states that McCanles was trying to recruit Hickok on to the Confederate side. The story from that perspective was that David McCanles' brother James was a Confederate sympathizer and had tried to talk Hickok into joining him and turning over the stagecoach company's livestock.
Hickok claimed he had killed six members of the McCanles Gang who had broke the station's door down. To add to the confusion, another story that circulated years later was that David McCanles was known as a local bully and had earlier had a run in with Hickok over a woman both were seeing. Allegedly by some accounts, Wild Bill began courting a woman by the name of Sara Shull, alleged mistress of David McCanles. Some say due to this McCanles started to insult Hickok. He had been called Duck Bill by McCanles who also questioned Hickok's sexual orientation..If the entire story sounds way too confusing, it's simply because it is.
 |
| Oregon Trail reenactment |
To add a bit more confusion about the "Wild Bill" name, there is also a story contending that after a bar brawl while Hickok was working for the army in 1861, a lady present afterward referred to him as "Wild Bill" and the name stuck. We leave it to the reader to research further and decide which story has more merit. Nevertheless, the Rock Creek Station gunfight legend stayed with Hickok throughout the remainder of his life.
Wild Bill Hickok and Gun Fire
What seems to be undisputed is that Wild Bill Hickok did shoot a lot of people. There were two times after 1861 that Hickok was described as a sheriff or lawman. In 1869 in Ellis County Kansas and in 1871 in Abilene Kansas. During both of these stints, Wild Bill was involved in several shootouts and people were killed. The Rock Creek Station incident fits in with all of this.
Old west gunfights happened for a variety of reasons and some of the one's Bill Hickok was involved in were a bit murky. He was eventually fired from both lawman positions because of what the town elders thought was excessive violence. Flying bullets will do that to peaceful town folk.
After losing those jobs, Hickok just drifted and gambled and was arrested himself several times. Interestingly, James Butler Hickok, aside from his turbulent past, forged some influential friendships. He eventually became acquainted with George Armstrong Custer and the tale is that in 1867 Wild Bill enlisted in the Seventh Cavalry under Custer for $100 per month. There are also reports that Wild Bill Hickok was along on Custer's campaign against the Cheyennes in 1867 which included the Washita Massacre. There's a story also that says at around this same time Hickok traveled to Niagara Falls to play in "The Daring Buffalo Chases of the Plains"'. There was a bit of actor inside Bill Hickok although he wasn't successful in this endeavor and journeyed back west.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Deadwood
 |
| Rock Creek Station, Courtesy NPS |
The story of the Rock Creek Station shootout and Wild Bill Hickok wouldn't be complete without some mention of his death in Deadwood South Dakota. In the year 1876 Deadwood was a wild gold mining town in the Black Hills. Like every gold mining town before and after it had it's collection of questionable characters. Where there was money there were gamblers. Some of them honest and some not. In fact, the west in 1876 was generally an unruly lawless place.
 |
| Deadwood, 1876 (Public Domain) |
While playing cards in the Number 10 Saloon in Deadwood, James Butler Hickok was shot dead by a man known as Crooked Nose Jack. The killers real name was Jack McCall who was essentially a drunk and a troublemaker.
The problem was that Jack McCall thought Wild Bill was the killer of his brother. As with all Wild Bill Hickok stories there are other versions. This version has McCall as the killer but under different circumstances.
Supposedly McCall became drunk at the Number 10 Saloon. Wild Bill was playing Poker and when a space opened up at the table McCall took it. McCall lost all of his money in short order and Hickok reportedly gave him some money for a drink. For whatever reason, the tale is that Jack McCall was insulted by Hickok giving him money. The story goes on and says that the next day, August 2, 1876, Hickok was back at the Number 10 but in a different seat, this one with it's back to the door. McCall entered the saloon intoxicated and saw the opportunity to take revenge for the questionable insult. He sneaked up behind Wild Bill and shot him in the back of the head with a Colt .45 Pistol. An interesting historical note is that a man named Seth Bullock who would become a legendary sheriff in Deadwood arrived in town just one day after the slaying of Bill Hickok.
Jack McCall was caught and tried during a two hour trial the very next day. There was no formal law structure in 1876 Deadwood and the case was tried by the local miners. He was found innocent of murder having convinced the miner's court that Hickok had shot his brother back in Abilene Kansas. The real surprise was that later it was found out that McCall never had a brother.
Research shows that McCall was arrested later when the new evidence surfaced and was tried and convicted in Yankton, Indian Territory in 1877. He was hanged there shortly afterward. The double jeopardy law wasn't applicable since McCall's first trial was not held in any U.S. jurisdiction. In other words, the first miner's trial meant nothing legally. Wild Bill Hickok is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood South Dakota. The grave is surrounded by a cast iron fence with a U.S. flag nearby. The grave of Calamity Jane is directly next to Wild Bill's.
The photo at left is of Calamity Jane, once the supposed wife of Wild Bill Hickok. Photo is public domain image.When you visit Rock Creek Station in Nebraska on your next western vacation you will marvel at the old wagon train wheel ruts from the Oregon Trail days and at the same time be at the site where, for better or worse, the sometimes varied but colorful legend of Wild Bill Hickok first began. The history of the old west and particularly the old images of the Oregon Trail can be found at Nebraska's Rock Creek Station.
(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images in the public domain)
