Audiences loved Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, but what he sold as “authentic” was anything but. Knute Berger shares how the myth shaped our idea of the frontier.

You’ve probably heard of Buffalo Bill. The name is nearly synonymous with “the Wild West,” a kind of cultural mythology created as white settlers colonized the American West in the late 19th century.

Although he’s now larger than life, Buffalo Bill was, in fact, a real person who hunted buffalo, scouted for the U.S. Army and developed a wildly popular traveling show of sharpshooters, cowboys and other “rough riders.” It was a beloved pageant that catapulted him into global fame. In 1908, Buffalo Bill’s show arrived in Seattle.

Cascade PBS’s resident historian Knute Berger explored all of this in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there’s much more left to discuss.

In this episode of Mossback, co-host Stephen Hegg joins Berger to more deeply understand who Buffalo Bill really was; unpack the genesis of his traveling show and what it meant to audiences everywhere; dig up firsthand accounts of his Seattle shows as well as that of copycat “Cheyenne Bill”; and interrogate the colonialist narrative that Bill and his supporters perpetuated and that still exists today.

For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you’d like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today.

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Credits

Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger

Producer: Sara Bernard

Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Folk songs, clam bakes, aquaculture and more: Knute Berger explores the myriad ways clams have shaped our region’s culture.

Clams are among the Pacific Northwest’s most vital natural resources. From thousands of years of aquaculture to folk songs and university mascots, the celebration and consumption of clams permeates local food and culture.

Cascade PBS’ resident historian Knute Berger dug up some of these stories in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there’s more left to uncover.

In this episode of Mossback, Berger and co-host Stephen Hegg discuss their own experiences digging for clams on the Washington coast; Indigenous knowledge and early settlers’ experiences with (and reliance on) clams; the lasting impact of Seattle restaurateur Ivar Haglund; and the strange but mighty geoduck.

Plus, they take a field trip to Ivar’s Acres of Clams on the Seattle waterfront to eat clam chowder, drink clam nectar and do battle with seagulls.

For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you’d like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today.

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Credits

Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger

Producer: Sara Bernard

Story editor: Sarah Menzies

Boeing's Plant 2 was so crucial that the military asked Hollywood to hide it from the enemy. Knute Berger shares the story.

From the moment the United States entered World War II, Seattle was vital to the war effort. Boeing’s Plant 2 was a key manufacturing hub for thousands of B-17 bombers, one of the Allies’ most important tools in Europe.

Fearing the consequences of a military attack on the facility, the U.S. Army hired a Hollywood set designer to help make its roof look – at least from the air – like just another suburban neighborhood.

Cascade PBS’ resident historian Knute Berger explored this historic feat of camouflage in a recent episode of the Mossback’s Northwest video series, but there’s much more to the story.

In this episode of Mossback, Berger and co-host Stephen Hegg dig into why the U.S. military went to such great lengths to hide the Boeing plant in the first place; John Stewart Detlie’s little-known legacy in Seattle; Detlie’s gossip-strewn relationship with actress Veronica Lake; and what all of this tells us about the war’s lasting impact on the Pacific Northwest.

For more on all things Mossback, visit CascadePBS.org. To reach Knute Berger directly, drop him a line at knute.berger@cascadepbs.org. And if you’d like an exclusive weekly newsletter from Knute, where he offers greater insight into his latest historical discoveries, become a Cascade PBS member today.

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Credits

Hosts: Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger

Producer: Sara Bernard

Story editor: Sarah Menzies