William F. Cody, aka Buffalo Bill, was best known for his exploits as a frontiersman and Army Scout and later as a showman participating in popular tours all throughout the United States and Europe. What few people realize however, including myself, was that Buffalo Bill was born in LeClaire, Iowa! He didn’t spend much time in Iowa however as his family moved to Ontario for William’s early years.
The museum is a showcase of early life in the LeClair’s history and features many of the prominent people who were born and lived there. Of course, Buffalo Bill is the most infamous.
Of course you can’t talk about Buffalo Bill without a hat tip to Annie Oakley!
Because LeClaire is located on the banks of the Mississippi River, you can’t leave out the influence of the riverboats.
A few miles south of the museum is the “famous” lock and dam #14. People from all over the world come to this location in the winter to photograph eagles. Most of the lakes and streams further north freeze during the winter forcing the eagles to migrate farther south for food. Since eagles love fish, the open water that is usually found behind dams provides ample opportunities for snapping up stunned fish as they pass through the dams. I was there in 2014 and saw close to 100 eagles around the dam area.
On the small island where the picknic tables and the radio towers are were two trees that the eagles liked to sit in to watch over the water, wait for the next fishing opportunity, eat their recent catch, and just hang out. Several years ago these trees succumed to Dutch Elm disease and had to be removed. Large “man-made perches” were erected for the eagles to land on.
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