An article in the current Wild West that looks behind the real characters that inspired the HBO series “Deadwood” turns up details not just on the best known characters such as Wild bill Hickok and Calamity Jane but also a considerable amount of time on Seth Bullock, among others.
The Canadian-born son of a British military officer, Bullock was indeed Deadwood sheriff in 1877-78, after which he briefly became deputy U.S. marshal. Later, while serving as senator in Montana Territory, he drafted the Yellowstone Act, leading the way for the creation of the famous national park.
He got to know Teddy Roosevelt, then a deputy sheriff from Dakota, while patrolling in 1884. They became pals and in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt appointed Bullock leader of the Black Hills Rough Riders.
Charlie Utter had an even more colorful history, becoming a well known mountain man in Colorado long before he moved to the Black Hills gold rush and befriending Hickok. Utter’s name is on Wild Bill’s tombstone:
Pard, we will meet again in the Happy Hunting Ground. To part no more, Goodbye. Colorado Charlie, C.H. Utter.
The real Utter started a Pony Express type operation between Deadwood and Fort Laramie, Wyoming and ran a dance hall in the town of Lead. Later he moved to New Mexico and maybe even Panama.
With the foreshortened “Deadwood” that will replace a fourth season with a couple of feature-length films, we’ll never get to see this kind of future in their singular depiction of the past.
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