Elijah Nicholas Wilson
Encyclopedia
Elijah Nicholas Wilson known as "Yagaiki" when among the Shoshones, and in his later years as "Uncle Nick" when entertaining young children with his adventurous exploits, was a: Mormon American pioneer
Mormon Pioneer
The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah...

, childhood runaway, 'adopted' brother of Shoshone
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....

 Chief Washakie, Pony Express
Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...

 rider for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company
Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company
The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was the parent company of the Pony Express.It was formed by William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell, as a freighting company supplying goods to the western United States...

, stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 driver for Ben Holloday's
Ben Holladay
Benjamin "Ben" Holladay was an American transportation businessman known as the "Stagecoach King" until his routes were taken over by Wells Fargo in 1866...

 Overland Stage, blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

, prison guard, farmer, Mormon bishop, prison inmate (unlawful cohabitation), carpenter/cabinet maker, fiddler, trader, trapper, and 'frontier doctor' (diphtheria and smallpox).

Wilson is remembered today primarily due to a) i) the publication of derivative works based upon, and ii) later-day republications of his 1910 autobiography entitled Among the Shoshones such as: The White Indian Boy: The Story of Uncle Nick Among the Shoshones (a volume of the World Book Company's In Pioneer Life Series), and The White Indian Boy ; and its Sequel, The Return of the White Indian, b) his founding of Wilson, Wyoming
Wilson, Wyoming
Wilson is a census-designated place in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,294 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson, WY–ID Micropolitan Statistical Area...

, and c) the 1997 movie entitled Wind River.
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