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Published May/Jun 2006

Dodge City in Kansas, once the ‘wickedest little town,’ clutches its cowboy culture and Western history.

Frontier lawman Wyatt Earp rode into Dodge City, Kan., in 1876, armed with a Colt revolver and nerves of steel. He would need all his resources in what was then called “the Wickedest Little City in America.” His new job was as Dodge’s assistant marshal at a salary of $100 a month plus $2.50 for every arrest.

Unknown to Earp, he also was riding into the colorful history of the Wild West. Dodge City was one of the raucous Kansas cow towns that needed to be tamed in the 1870s. Lawmen were hired to keep the peace in the rowdy frontier towns.

During those action-packed times, the truths and myths of the American cowboy were born. But how much of the authentic Wild West still can be experienced in the 21st century? Dodge City will offer today’s visitor plenty of Western-style fun and history.

History or fiction?

Dodge City, the icon of gun slinging and lawlessness, now attracts people from all over the globe who want to relive those cowboy legends. It is the town made famous by Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Boot Hill and “Gunsmoke.”

The longest-running television series in history, “Gunsmoke” ran from 1955 to 1975 and made Dodge City a household name. The main character was patterned after Wyatt and Sheriff Bat Masterson.
Let’s go beyond fiction and visit the real Dodge, a small town of about 25,000 in southwestern Kansas.

Earp still guards Dodge. Today, his larger-than-life statue stands near downtown. With a handlebar moustache and eyes alert to danger, he holds his six-shooter with its trademark 10-inch barrel.

Reminders of Dodge’s bad old days are everywhere–from Wyatt Earp Boulevard (the main street of town) to Doc Holliday Liquors, from the Gunsmoke Trav-L Park campground to the Boot Hill Museum.

Dodge’s notorious past comes closest to coming alive at the museum, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the history of the town and the Old West.

The look of Dodge’s historic Front Street has been re-created with a line of vintage-looking storefronts that could be the set for a Western movie. But the real Dodge of yesteryear is much more reflected in the 20,000 artifacts inside the Boot Hill Museum on Front Street.

“The Guns that Won the West” exhibit showcases more than 200 firearms. Other displays include branding irons, barbed wire, undertakers’ supplies and a life-size buffalo.

Gunfights are staged at high noon and 7 p.m. during the summer just outside the Long Branch Saloon on Front Street. It’s still possible to belly up to the bar and order a beer in the saloon where Miss Kitty and her can-can-girls perform in a variety show.

Everyone wants to see Boot Hill. Actually, the remains of those who died with their boots on were moved from the site in 1878. Now a replicated cemetery suggests the historic one. Replicas of original headstones dot the grass. One reads: “Edward Hurley killed January 1873 in a shooting spree in a saloon.”

Other attractions in Dodge include the Trail of Fame, marked by sidewalk medallions in the historic district; the Gunfighters Wax Museum (603 Fifth Ave.); the Mueller-Schmidt House “Home of Stone” dating from 1881 and with original furnishings; and the Santa Fe Depot, built in 1897 and now the home of the Depot Theater Company (201 Wyatt Earp Blvd.), and dinner theater productions.

Fort Dodge, five miles east of town on East Highway 400, now is the Kansas Soldiers Home. Self-guided tours include Sudler’s Store (built 1865), Custer House (1867) and other historic structures.

Stay for a spell

There’s a variety of motels in Dodge to accommodate an overnight stay. At Choice Hotel properties (Econo Lodge and Comfort Inn in town, both on Wyatt Earp Boulevard), AAA members can save 10 percent off standard room rates. Eateries include some chain restaurants plus an assortment of Mexican or Italian restaurants and–perhaps as expected in Kansas–three steakhouses.

Dodge City has enough to satisfy your appetite for Western history. Come on, cowboy, saddle up and head to Dodge.

John Handley is a contributor from Chicago, Ill.


Above: Signs in downtown Dodge City, Kan.

Below: Jim Johnson, an event coordinator for Dodge City, stands in period costume next to the larger-than-life statue of lawman Wyatt Earp.

Before You Go
Contact Dodge City Convention and Visitors Bureau, 1-800-653-9378 or www.visitdodgecity.org.

Order free information through the Reader Service Card online. Click on Reader Resources.

Stop by your nearest AAA service office for maps, reservations, TripTiks and TourBook guides. A list of offices to serve you is at www.aaa.com.



By John Handley

Now it’s time to get out of Dodge, as the saying goes. Any cowboy tour should include some time in the saddle, so head for the Moore Ranch (620-826-3649, www.longhorn-cattle.com), 40 miles southeast of Dodge, which offers ranch vacations, cowboy and cowgirl schools, and longhorn cattle drives.

Typically, a group of about 10 “city slickers,” along with five experienced wrangles, saddle up to drive a herd of 85 Texas longhorn cattle. Each is about 1,000 pounds of beef on the hoof, with a rack of horns that look sharp and dangerous. Fortunately, they turn out to be mild-mannered beasts.

The pretend cowboys play the role to the hilt by dressing in their best Western wear. Trail riders camp for the night on the plains. Gathering around a campfire, they swap stories of the day’s ride and eat a chuckwagon meal that includes longhorn beef. They sleep in bedrolls under the stars or in teepees.

Sounds like they’re roughing it, but these dudes have it easy, compared to the real cattle drives from Texas to Kansas rail shipping points. Some 10 to 15 cowboys drove 500 to 1,000 cattle. The trip took two to three months. Cowboys rode long hours, had to deal with stampeding cattle and dangerous river crossings, and were paid only about $1 a day. No wonder they let off steam in the cow towns at the end of the trail.

By 1885, the cattle drives were ending, due to fencing of lands and quarantine laws affecting Texas longhorns.

A trail fort and open-air museum

Next stop on the tour is Fort Larned (620-285-6911, www.nps.gov/fols), a garrison established in 1859 to protect travelers and wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail, a major interstate route of that time. Now a national historic site, it is considered the best-prevered Indian wars fort on the trail. One of the officers who served there was George Armstrong Custer.

Nine original buildings surround the parade ground with a cannon and flagpole at the center. Living history programs include tours of the infantry barracks, commissary, officers’ quarters, bakery, schoolhouse and hospital. Weapons firing demonstrations often are held on summer weekends.

Just east of the fort is the Santa Fe Trail Center, a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the trail.

Now on to Wichita, which has come a long say since it was a dusty cow town on the Chisholm Trail. But the legacy of frontier days still can be visited at the Old Cowtown Museum (316-264-6398) in town.

A re-creation of a Kansas cattle town from 1865 to 1880, it is an open-air living history museum populated by a costumed staff playing characters from the past. Visitors may chat with a cowboy, a blacksmith, a carpenter or a farmer. They may sip sarsaparilla in Fritz Snitzler’s Saloon, then head over to the DeVore Farm to view animals and machinery common to farms in the 1880s.

Rides on some weekends are given in a replica of an 1870s stagecoach. When not in operation, the Kansas Stage Company coach is on display.
Another cowboy-themed stop in Wichita may be Sheplers, a super-sized Western wear store, for those who want to play the part.

More Western fun

Fifteen miles northeast of town is the capital of cowboy vittles and entertainment–the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper (316-778-2121, www.prairierosechuckwagon.com) on the grounds of a working cattle ranch in Benton.

After the all-you-can-eat barbecue supper, the Prairie Rose Wranglers tune up their voices and guitars and serve up a satisfying helping of country music.

Before leaving, check out the Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Museum, dedicated to the famous 1950s era Hollywood cowboy.

The owners of Prairie Rose are forging ahead with a new project called Wild West World. The theme park will be located on 130 acres beside the Chisholm Trail. The opening of the first phase is scheduled for 2007.
But there’s no ned to wait. The real Old West awaits those willing to search for it now.
Galen Arnett, lead cowboy performer, at the Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita, Kan. John Handley photo

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