Across The Fence: Who was Martha Jane Canary?

March 12, 2011 marked the end of one of the most recent museum exhibits of Martha "Calamity" Jane Canary. According to http://www.bonjourparis.com, the exhibit featured "Calamity Jane and American Far West memorabilia, carefully organized to be understandable for French and English speakers and abundantly stocked with ancient photos, documents, films, antique western gear of the times and fact-packed letters addressed – but never sent – from Calamity to her daughter."

The exhibit was featured at the museum of the French postal system, L'Adresse Musee de la Poste, in Paris, France. From excerpts of the promotional pieces it is clear that both the facts and fiction of Calamity's life continues to be perpetuated. Understandably, the legends of Calamity Jane make for exciting, although undocumented and often disputed, history.

From the day in July of 1876 that Martha Canary arrived in Deadwood, Dakota Territory on the wagon train that included the famous westerner Wild Bill Hickok, the life story of Calamity Jane would grow to legendary proportions. Already nicknamed "Calamity Jane," her flamboyant character would grow in notoriety through the fictionalized dime novel westerns of Edward L. Wheeler in 1877 and 1878. Fact and fiction would become so inextricably entangled that the real Martha Jane Canary would become blurred between the lines of sensational propaganda and the harsh realities of a teen-aged orphan struggling for survival in a male-dominated, wild west frontier.

Although her actual birthdate and given name are not a matter of record, Calamity Jane claimed her birthdate to be May 1, 1852. Some researchers believe the actual year may have been as early as 1844. It is not even clear that she had a middle name but because of her nickname it is assumed that Jane was already a part of her given name. Martha was born to Robert W. and Charlotte Canary, in Mercer County, Missouri. Her father was a farmer and Martha was the oldest of six children, which included two brothers and three sisters. In 1865, at the end of the American Civil War, Robert gathered up his family's belongings and joined a westbound wagon train to Virginia City, Montana.

During this westward migration Martha experienced all the hardships of travel along the Oregon Trail. In a seven-page biography written for Calamity in later years to promote her personal appearances, she related:

"In 1865 we emigrated from our homes in Missouri by the overland route to Virginia City, Montana, taking five months to make the journey. While on the way, the greater portion of my time was spent hunting along with the men and hunters of the party; in fact I was at all times with the men when there was excitement and adventures to be had. By the time we reached Virginia City, I was considered a remarkable good shot and a fearless rider for a girl my age. I remember many occurrences on the journey from Missouri to Montana. Many times in crossing the mountains, the conditions of the trail were so bad that we frequently had to lower the wagons over ledges by hand with ropes, for they were so rough and rugged that horses were of no use. We also had many exciting times fording streams, for many of the streams in our way were noted for quicksands and boggy places, where, unless we were very careful, we would have lost horses and all."

This account most certainly describes travel along the Platte River and the lowering of wagons at Windlass Hill. Martha no doubt learned well how to handle a team, to hunt and ride. All of which were experiences that could later be embellished to enhance the image of Calamity Jane.

Along the way her mother, Charlotte, died of pneumonia. Most accounts of Charlotte's death state that she was buried near Black Foot, Montana however it is unlikely that the family traveled to the Canadian border then back to Virginia City, Montana. Blackfoot, Idaho is on the Oregon Trail and would have been the route the family took to Virginia City.

Martha would then have been the 'woman of the house' and assumed the duties of the family care that had been her mothers. Already, life on the frontier was a hardship. Once settled near Virginia City, Mr. Canary began farming the 40 acres that they had likely homesteaded. In less than a year from their arrival in the promised land of the west, Martha's father also died. A short two years after leaving Missouri, the Canary children were orphaned and Martha was the head of the family. She loaded her siblings and their belongings and headed for Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory arriving there in May of 1868, then took the train to Piedmont, Wyoming.

In order to provide for her siblings, Martha took whatever jobs she could find, including dishwasher, laundress, cook, waitress, dance-hall girl, nurse and ox-team driver. It was during this time that Martha also began her occasional occupation of prostitute at the Fort Laramie Three-Mile Hog Ranch. As a young woman Martha was found to be quite attractive. In those times it was nearly impossible for a woman to find employment that provided a living wage, especially a young woman raising five siblings. In 1874, Martha had taken to wearing men's clothing and freely associated with teamsters near Fort D.A. Russell. It was there that she was hired on as a scout for the military.

This occasion led to the embellishment of events that prompted Calamity Jane to claim multiple stints of service as a scout for General George Armstrong Custer, Generals Crook and Miles. However, the truth of this might be the unofficial accounts that indicate the once it had been discovered that the new scout was a woman, she was sent back to Fort Laramie. In fact, Captain Jack Crawford, who served under General Crook, stated that Calamity Jane "...never saw service in any capacity under either General Crook or General Miles. [she]...never was in an Indian fight. She was simply a notorious character, dissolute and devilish, but possessed a generous streak which made her popular." Indeed, Calamity Jane was well known for her compassion and willingness to help others. She is notably remembered as one who nursed others during the smallpox epidemic that swept through the Dakotas.

Among the many deeds claimed by Calamity Jane was that she was also a rider for the Pony Express. Although the claim makes a great story for the gullible, Martha Canary was only eight years old during the year that the Pony Express was in operation. And yet, it is a fact that she did drive the stagecoach into Deadwood after Indians had attacked it and the driver, John Slaughter, was killed.

Jane tells of the event that led to her being named "Calamity Jane" while scouting for the U.S. Army on Goose Creek, Wyoming. The command, under Capt. Egan, was attacked and Egan was wounded. The Captain, about to fall from his horse, was swept up by Jane and lifted onto her horse then whisked away to the safety of the fort. Upon his recovery Capt. Egan proclaimed: "I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains." Unfortunately there is no record of a Capt. Egan serving the U.S. Military in Wyoming and the event described is not recorded elsewhere. Another possibility is that the moniker stems from Martha's supposed caution that any man who crossed her was "courting calamity." Still others maintain that due to her activities as a prostitute she had contracted gonorrhea. In the early American West, the disease was often referred to as the calamity. Whatever the source, the name stuck and Calamity Jane was headed toward both fame and ruin.

In 1901 Calamity Jane did travel with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, not as a performer such as trick rider or sharpshooter, but as a storyteller. Calamity would recite her much-embellished exploits to an audience that seemed to believe every word. Unfortunately due to her severe alcoholism and tendency to lace her rhetoric with shocking obscenities, Buffalo Bill dismissed her from the show and sent her back to Deadwood, where she remained until her death in 1903.

Once back in Deadwood, Martha took a job with her longtime friend, Madame Dora DuFran. No longer an attractive or desirable woman, Martha hired on not as a prostitute but as the cook and laundress for Ms. DuFran's girls. Calamity Jane had come to ruin. Her health was declining, her dependence on alcohol was debilitating and her former good looks had deteriorated from years of hard living.

In late July of 1903, Martha traveled to Terry, a small mining town a few miles southeast of Deadwood where she checked into the Calloway Hotel. Traveling back to Deadwood she took sick and was carried to a small cabin to rest. It was there that she died on August 1, 1903.

Martha "Calamity" Jane Canary was buried next to Bill Hickok at Mount Mariah Cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota, but the legend of Calamity Jane lives on.

M. Timothy Nolting is an award winning Nebraska columnist and freelance writer. To contact Tim, email; [email protected]