On the Trail of the Salford Sioux
The true story behind the legend of the Native American tribesmen who vanished into the Salford night
Shaun Ryder is in a pub telling a story.
“Thousands of them disappeared,” he says.
“Salford people were against the authorities so they hid them. They couldn’t find them — and loads of them stayed.
“They married into the community and everything.”
The story, recounted by the Happy Mondays frontman in Shaun Ryder and the Salford Sioux, a short film by Glenn Kitson, is one that has long since passed from myth to urban legend on the streets of Manchester and Salford.
And it goes something like this…
Nearly 140 years ago, Native Americans from the Lakota Sioux tribe came to Salford as part of a Wild West show led by the adventurer Buffalo Bill.
Then they disappeared into the Salford night and were hidden from the authorities by Salford families.
The legend is that they went on to make their homes here — thousands of miles from the Black Hills of South Dakota where they came from — and that some of their descendants are still living in Manchester and Salford today.
This is the true story of what really happened to the Salford Sioux…
In 1888, the people of Salford watched in awe as the US adventurer William Cody, better known as Bufallo Bill, brought a huge show from across the Atlantic.
The troupe of 250 riders included 97 Native Americans plus 180 broncos, 18 buffalo, 14 mules, 10 elk and two deer.
They pitched ther teepees at Manchester Racecourse at what is now Salford Quays.
Cody later wrote about what happened next: “In the short space of two months, the largest theatre ever seen in the world was erected by an enterprising firm of Manchester builders.”
The show’s “mammoth stage” included paintings of scenery by a famous artist called Matt Morgan. It cost more than $40,000.
One newspaper reporter wrote: “The theatre, brilliantly lighted and well warmed throughout, is like nothing else ever constructed in this country.
“The boundless plains and swelling prairies are so vividly counterfeited that it is difficult to resist the belief that we are really gazing over an immense expanse of country from some hillside in the far West.”
For weeks, they had horse races, staged mock battles and performed war dances — all watched by thousands of mill workers.
But then it was time to leave.
Water was poured over the camp fires and the teepees were taken down. The show moved to Hull before settling sail back to the US.
To find out what happened next, you have to meet a man named Black Elk.