Calamity Jane was not a myth. She was born Martha Jane Canary on May 1, 1852? (accounts vary it could have been 1848) and died on Aug 1, 1903. Between those dates she lived a remarkable, sometimes courageous and sometimes despicable life in the frontier west. Some of the simple and documented facts of the life of Ms. Canary are:

She did work and socialize with men in a frontier setting. Accounts vary as to the exact nature of her employment. Some say she scouted for the Army others say she was simply a mule skinner.

She was nicknamed Calamity Jane and called by that name generally. How she came by the nickname is a matter of legend.

She was close friends with Dora Dufan and employed by her in some capacity. Ms. Dufan was one of Deadwood’s leading Madames.

She did save a stage load of people in the Black Hills who were attacked by Lakota Indians.

Probably most important to her esteem by the frontiersmen of the time, in 1876 she nursed the victims of a Small Pox epidermic in Deadwood at great risk to her own life.

There are numerous other facts concerning the life of Ms. Canary. She was married, she did work and support her brothers and sistersafter they were orphaned and so on. But there are also some areas that are disputed and one major legend.

The areas of dispute include her service as a military scout, how she acquired her nickname and her work as a prostitute.

The major myth is her love affair with James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickock. This myth was thoroughly laid to rest when a supposed female heir of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill surfaced. The family of Mr. Hickock thoroughly disproved these claims. It appears that only the most casual relationship existed between Calamity and Will Bill in every place accept Ms. Canary’s own vivid imagination.

What took Calamity out of the local stories and thrust her fully into western legend was her time with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show which she joined in 1893 and was a trick rider and shooter for the show. This exposure led to dime novels and later movies concerning the daring life of Calamity Jane.

So, once upon a time a remarkable young lady name Martha Jane was actually forced into a very unconventional life on the frontiers of America. It was a life she apparently took to and often excelled at. For some reason, possibly bravery, possibly bravodo she aquired the nickname Calamity Jane.

That nickname became a myth in the morality play that later became the “Western” but have no doubt, the lady lived. She lived hard and she lived fast if not always well.