growing popular fascination with the "Wild West," Sydney Barnett began organizing a Wild West Show and Grand Buffalo Hunt in 1872. He originally contacted "Buffalo Bill" Cody to feature lasso men and gathered over 100 Pottawatomie Indians for a large buffalo hunt. Problems arose when the US Government would not allow the Indians off the reservation. The show was then changed to feature General Custer's scout "Wild Bill" Hickok as master of ceremonies, assisted by local Woodland Indians of the Tuscarora and Cayuga Nations. Following the transfer of ownership in 1878 to the Davis family, after an acrimonious decades-long rivalry with Buffalo's Saul Davis, the museum nevertheless survived. In 1882, the Niagara Parks Commission was formed to convert the front to the present Queen Victoria Park. This forced the museum to be relocated. In 1888, no suitable location could be found in Canada so it was relocated to Niagara Falls, New York. The Davis family established an Art Gallery in the museum in 1891. During the early years of their proprietorship, five more Egyptian mummies were purchased, along with the entire collection from the celebrated Wood's Museum of Chicago. While acquiring a few new exhibits, others were lost or disposed of over time. There were documented exchanges also, of artifacts and specimens between the Niagara Falls Museum and P.T. Barnum. In 1892, the museum's living display came to an end because of complaints from area residents about the noises and the odors. A number of artifacts displayed in Buffalo at the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 had been acquired by the Niagara Falls Museum. A giant Sequoia tree that was reportedly felled on the Eel River, Humboldt County, California, on February 14, 1893, was a highlight in the Forestry Building at the exposition. Its circumference was seventy-seven feet, making it one of the largest trees ever cut down in the world. Also given to the museum was a shell and coral collection gathered by Louis Agassiz of Harvard University. The exposition contained a wealth of artifacts, and although only the above artifacts have been documented there may be items in the museum's Eskimo, Oriental and South Sea Island display originating from the exposition. Thomas Barnett died in 1890 in Niagara Falls, Canada. He leaves behind a legacy as the founder of Canada's oldest museum and Canada's first "Museum Man." The museum collection was owned by the Sherman family until May 1999