Elliot and Fry

Born in 1871 in Coleville, California, Lillian Smith was reportedly interested in shooting from a young age, asking her father for a rifle instead of dolls at the age of seven. Her father was a commercial hunter of ducks and geese, and growing up Smith would accompany him, helping out and learning to shoot herself. From the age of ten she was shooting for sport, appearing at amusement parks and competing for prize money. Perhaps spurred by the growing conservation movement in California in the 1880s and subsequent criticism of wholesale hunting, Smith‘s family increasingly encouraged and invested in her trick shooting career.

Smith’s skills were discovered by Buffalo Bill Cody when he visited her father’s shooting gallery in Los Angeles in 1886. Following the success of Annie Oakley’s act in the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, Cody was on the lookout for another female marksman. Smith was signed to the show shortly thereafter, at only 15 years old. Her act, billed as The California Girl, quickly gained popularity for her dazzling target shooting abilities, but she is remembered largely for her rivalry with Oakley. Claims of Oakley’s jealousy over Smith’s youth and irritation with her flirtatious and boastful nature followed the two women for the rest of their careers.