Calamity Jane, standing by the grave of Wild Bill Hickok, photogrpahed by J.A. Kumpf, 1903. Martha Jane Canary (May 1, 1852 - August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman and professional scout. She received little to no formal education and was illiterate. She worked as a dishwasher, a cook, a waitress, a dance-hall girl, a nurse, and an ox team driver. In 1874, she found work as a scout at Fort Russell. In 1876, she settled in the area of Deadwood and became friendly with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter. After Hickok's death she continued living in the Deadwood and in late 1876 or 1878, she nursed the victims of a smallpox epidemic. In 1881, she bought a ranch in Montana, along the Yellowstone River, where she kept an inn. In 1893, she started to appear in Buffalo Bill's Wild West as a storyteller. She also participated in the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She returned to the Black Hills in the early spring of 1903. It was reported that she had been drinking heavily on board the train and became very sick to her stomach. She died soon afterward from inflammation of the bowels and pneumonia. She was buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery, South Dakota, next to Wild Bill Hickok.