Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City, Kansas

We were able to be in Dodge City, Kansas through the July 4th Independence Day celebration. On July 4 the Boot Hill Museum had many activities during the day, but the best part was the Special Gunfight by the World Famous Boot Hill Museum Gunfighters on Front Street. 

Boot Hill Gunfighters

Before the shootout, we were able to tour the museum and learn more about the history of Dodge City and how Boot Hill got its name. There is a lot of information to take in, but we had a good time touring and meeting new friends.

Native woman using a stone grinder

Arapaho medicine man and his family, c. 1870

Did you know? Countless Indian words are now part of the English language, including barbeque, cannibal, chipmunk, chocolate, hammock, hurricane, mahogany, opossum, potato, skunk, and woodchuck.

Over a span of 350 years, American Indians lost their lands and their old way of life. In 1541, explorer Francisco de Coronado and his men passed east of today's Fort Dodge. He claimed the region for Spain, but there was little contact between Europeans and Indians for the next 200 years.

By the 1800s, thousands of U.S. settlers thought it their right to move onto Indian land. Disease and the mass killing of buffalo greatly disrupted the native way of life, and the Indians retaliated by attacking the newcomers. The U.S. government responded by building forts along the frontier. By 1900, the native population that once numbered some 72 million was reduced to about 250,000, and the buffalo were nearly gone.

Coronado introduced horses to the Plains Indians, whose lives were soon transformed. On horseback, men could hunt farther and faster, and warriors became even more fearsome. A tribe with guns and a herd of their "blood brothers" was powerful and prosperous. But horses also marked the beginning of the end for native cultures, which had thrived for thousands of years. Only 350 years after acquiring the horse, the Plains tribes were nearly wiped out.

A wagon train of Americans arriving in Santa Fe

The Santa Fe Trail Rut Site: The longest and best preserved part of the trail is the Santa Fe Trail Rut Site. The deep tracks found nine miles west of Dodge City on U.S. Highway 400 mark the passage of thousands of wagons over the trail's main branch. The site is listed on the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. 

William Becknell shortened the Santa Fe Trail by cutting
through one of the most dangerous stretches to what later
became Cimarron, Kansas

William Becknell (1788-1856)
"Father of the Santa Fe Trail"

Freight Wagon, 1860s

This 6,000 lb. freight wagon was built in Idaho and used to haul freight from there to Wyoming. Freight wagons such as this is what were used on the Santa Fe Trail. This wagon would have been in the middle of the wagon train. The lead and tail wagons would have been larger, with back wheels and taller than six feet.

Fort Dodge, built in response to Indian attacks on wagon
trains along the Santa Fe Trail

Peace Pipes

These calumets are often referred to as "peace pipes," but they were used during a variety of ceremonies, including going to war. Boot Hill Museum and other museums store and display the bowl and stem detached from each other because, according to Indian beliefs, when they are assembled the pipe becomes a living entity. They are attached only during ceremonies.

Henry Sitler (1837-1917)

Henry Sitler was a rancher and builder; he was the first settler in the area that would later become Dodge City. In 1871 he built a sod house near Fort Dodge. Sitler served as a cavalry sergeant in the Civil War and fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. He was also a man of many trades. Besides ranching, he helped construct Fort Hays and Harker, supplied wood and hay to Fort Dodge, and ran a brickyard. At his death at age 80, his obituary noted that he "preferred to be in the thickest of the fray where things were in the making."

Beatty & Kelley Saloon

After weeks of hunting buffalo or months driving cattle north from Texas, men came to town ready to eat and drink, and they wanted something stronger than water. Saloons and restaurants served up whisky and meals. In 1872, Pettis L. Beatty partnered with James "Dog" Kelley to open a saloon.

Essington Hotel

Newcomers and visitors who had business in Dodge City needed a place to stay, and the hotel offered beds and meals. Essington House was the first hotel in town. It was renamed Dodge House in1873.

Elephant Livery Stable

Visitors to Dodge City needed a place to park their wagons and shelter, feed, and rest their horses and mules. The livery stable offered service. In the 1870s, Hamilton Bell opened a sod livery stable that later grew into the largest structure in western Kansas at 10,625 square feet.

Blacksmith

Wagon parts, machines, horseshoes, and other iron items needed to be made, fixed, or replaced. The blacksmith did this work by shaping iron heated in a fire. A farrier was a blacksmith who mostly made and fit horseshoes and oxshoes.

City Drug Store

When early Dodge citizens got sick, they went to Dr. Thomas McCarty's drug store to buy medicine to help them feel better. The drug store also sold other useful items for the farm and home, such as paint.

Zimmerman Hardware

Early settlers in Dodge City needed permanent housing. Frederick Zimmerman supplied the lumber and tools to build it. He also sold stoves, tinware, and farming tools.

Third Ward School

The children of Dodge City settlers needed a school where they could learn how to read and write. In 1890, the two-story Third Ward School was built on Boot Hill for the rapidly growing student population.

Union Church

Once the basics of food, water, clothing, shelter, and health were met, the settlers turned to their spiritual needs. In 1874, Reverend Ormond Wright preached to Dodge Citians in saloons. He later preached in Union Church, the town's first house of worship, with Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson as deacons.

Wooden Indian

Native Americans introduced tobacco to Europeans. Merchants used the familiar association of Indians and tobacco to advertise their goods without using words, much like a red-and-white striped pole in front of a barber shop. A "cigar store Indian" out front indicated that you could buy tobacco in the shop.

Did you know? A .44-40 Winchester rifle cartridge cost a dime, as did a one-ounce whiskey. Someone low on cash might coax the barkeep to swap a cartridge for a whisky, hence the term "shot."

Comanche warrior Quanah Parker (1845-1911) with
To-Nicy, one of his eight wives. He almost died leading
the raid on Adobe Walls

Spotted Tail (1823-1881)

In 1872, hunters ignored the peace treaty of 1867 and killed bison south of the Arkansas River. Sioux Chief Spotted Tail came to Dodge City to warn Charles Rath of what would happen if these actions did not stop. In town, enmity was high. Hunter Kirk Jordan vowed to kill the first Indian he saw. When Spotted Tail arrived in full native dress, Rath and Dr. Thomas McCarty hid him in their lean-to behind the City Drug Store. With angry armed men lying in wait in the street, Rath dressed the chief in a suit, bundled him into a wagon, and hightailed it out of town. In the end, Spotted Tail's mission was for naught. The hunting continued.

It may say don't touch the Buffalo, but this is a Bison, not a buffalo

Did you know? Bison and buffalo are different animals: bison are native to North America and Europe, while buffalo are found in Africa and Asia. Key differences include bison having a prominent shoulder hump and shorter, sharper horns, whereas buffalo have long, curved horns and no shoulder hump.

Saddle

Horses were important to Plains Indians, who were skilled riders. This saddle, possibly Kiowa, shows one of the many ways they used every part of the buffalo [bison]. They stretched the rawhide (untanned hide) over bison bone and stitched it with sinew. The bone and dried rawhide made an extremely tough and durable saddle.

Engine No. 314 in Santa Fe's day yard

Dodge City's First Depot

In the 1870s, Fred Harvey started a business empire that transformed railroad dining and helped "civilize" the West ~~ Fred Harvey landed in New York in 1853. It was while working as a railroad agent out west that he saw the terrible food fed to passengers -- canned beans, hard biscuits, and cold coffee served on dirty dishes -- and the overpriced fare often arrived just as the train was whistled its departure. He came up with a plan to build good restaurants at rail stops.

The first Harvey House opened at the AT&SF depot in Topeka in 1876. By 1883, there were 17.  By the time of his death, his company ran 15 hotels, 47 restaurants, and 30 dining cars. Planes, autos, World War II, and other factors led to the decline of the company, but Harvey's impact endured.

Wrestling with Rustlers

There have been cattle thieves for as long as humans have herded cattle. In the wide-open Great Plains, "rustling" was no joke. Rustlers could drive a herd of stolen steers for miles before the owner even knew they were missing. Branding was a way to mark each animal's hide with the owner's unique symbol, but "brand artists" could change or mar the symbol using a simple "running iron." Some rustlers killed cattle, buried the hides, and sold the meat. The nearest lawman could be days away, so some owners took matters into their own hands, hiring detectives to hunt down rustlers, or hanging those they caught, without benefit of trial or jury.

If a ranch was shorthanded, women sometimes helped with the roping and
branding and proved themselves just as able as the cowboys

William "Bat" Masterson (1853-1921)

Bat came to southwest Kansas in 1872 to work on the railroad. In 1902, he moved to New York to work as a reporter and columnist. The law enforcement career of gambler and sports enthusiast "Bat" Masterson only spanned 1876 to 1879, but in that time he served as deputy sheriff, under-sheriff, sheriff, and deputy U.S. Marshall, capturing horse thieves, robbers, and murderers. As a member of the "Gang," he tolerated gambling, drinking, and prostitution, putting him at odds with reformers. As Luke Short's friend he returned to town in 1883 as a member of the "Peace Commission."

Wyatt Earp (1848 -1929)

Lawman, saloon owner, and gambler, Earp was arrested for horse sealing, keeping a brothel, and vagrancy but is best known as a gunfighter. From 1870 to 1881, he was a lawman in Missouri, Wichita, Dodge City, and Arizona. As a seasonal deputy sheriff or assistant marshal, he helped keep the peace when Dodge was full of rowdy cowboys. In 1881, at the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, three men died, three were wounded, and Earp was unscathed.

Dora Hand aka Fannie Keenan (1844 - 1878)

Local legend says that Dora, aka Fannie Keenan, had grown up in Boston, studied voice abroad, and come west either for her health or to flee an unhappy marriage. Whatever her past, he was a favorite in Dodge City dance halls, first arriving in 1878, the same summer as Eddie Foy. Her weekly pay -- an astounding $75 -- was testament to her talent. Dora's generosity was as celebrated as her voice -- she helped anyone regardless of race or social standing, even broke cowboys. On many mornings "Lady Bountiful" could be seen delivering food to the needy or a toy to a sick child. Every business in town closed for Dora's funeral after her untimely death.

Kansas Prohibition

An Interesting Chair

How It All Began

The Fort Dodge jail was the United States Army's equivalent of the county jail, which was a place for incarceration for petty crimes and was called a "guardhouse." Larger jails on bigger posts were known as stockades. This jail was in use in the 1860s and 1970s. Soldiers were often confined in this small structure for weeks at a time. The jail was miserably cold in the winter, even worse in the stifling heat of the summer and was not equipped with any facilities. In 1872, the Commandant of the Fort banned alcohol for all enlisted men and civilians, so it can be assumed at that time, some soldiers were confined to this jail for alcohol related issues.

The Gunfight