Doc Carver spent the winter of 1883-1884 touring the South with his show, renamed "The Carver and Crawford Wild West" after himself and his new partner, a scout named Jack Crawford. As for Buffalo Bill Cody, he joined forces with Nate Salsbury and set out again in the spring of 1884. These two shows set the standard for what was to come. Within three or four years there would be another dozen Wild West shows on the market, and the number kept growing. Historian Don Russell has identified well over a hundred different Wild West outfits and says the list is probably far from complete. Some performed only briefly and in a limited area, while others, such as Cody's, were nationally famous and went on for many years. All, however, can trace their origins back to Carver and Cody's first Wild West tour in the summer of...