Back in 1887, the legendary Buffalo Bill brought his Wild West Show to Manchester and set up camp on the freezing banks of the River Irwell - on the very site of the Lowry Centre. Buffalo Bill brought with him a 200-strong travelling company comprising 97 native Americans complete with broncos and buffalo. They stayed for five months performing nightly to packed crowds in what was then the largest indoor arena ever built.
 | | Salford Sioux: we all follow United |
The native Americans were all from the Oglala tribe from South Dakota which is part of the Sioux Nation. Many of them were fleeing the US Cavalry after defeating General Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn. More than a century later, Steve Coen - who lives and works in Salford - has been tracing the connections between Salford and the Sioux warriors who came here. He believes that there may be people living in Salford today who can claim a distant Sioux ancestry. | "It's very possible there are descendants here today, as they were here for such a long time, and they were certainly friendly with the locals!" | | Steve Coen |
"It's very possible there are descendants here today, as they were here for such a long time, and they were certainly friendly with the locals!" The days when native Americans walked the streets of Salford are long gone. But their memory lives on in Salford street names such as Buffalo Court and Dakota Avenue. But maybe Steve Coen is right... that descendants of the Sioux Warriors are walking amongst us.... Are you a distant relation of the Sioux Indians who came to Salford? Was your great-great-grandfather an Indian brave? Is there a mysterious fable in your family folklore? | 
