Rein in Wyoming’s rich, wild history in Cody

Cody is a Wyoming town named for a man who made a difference — Buffalo Bill Cody the gentleman in question. But there are today in that town two more men making a difference in the lives of others, and I aim to tell you about them. (No, one of them is not Bill’s great grandson, Kit, who lives there and owns the hotel I stayed in.) The town may be full of such men and women, for all I know, but I met only two, both seeming to personify that great Western ideal of independent thinking that has made the USA such a fascinating place to live in.

Both are transplants from the Midwest or East, and neither is interested in killing animals, as did Buffalo Bill (4,280 buffalo shot in 17 months). Ken Martin, owner of the Red Canyon River Trips and Red Canyon Wild Mustang Tours, says he came here from Wisconsin in 1972, working as a Shoshone river rafter for the company started by Bill’s great grandson, Kit. By now, Ken has more experience than almost anyone on the Shoshone. But I loved his passionate devotion to the cause of the wild mustangs, which he lets visitors see with him on van trips into the Bureau of Land Management prairies near Cody. When I went recently, we saw a couple of antelope and dozens of horses, some grazing, some nuzzling their young, another 25 or so racing across the road near us in single file, perhaps spooked by the lightning that struck close by. For his river rafting trips (from $25 and up), check details at 800/293-0148 or 307/587-6988 , website www.imt.net/~rodeo/raft.html. The Wild Mustang Tour costs $26. Details at 800/293-0148 or 307/587-6988 , website http://www.wildmustangtours.com/.

The second man who has made a difference is Jerry J. Fick, also known as “The Eagle Speaker,” his Indian name (he is part Delaware/Cherokee, he says.) To attract visitors to his buckskin clothing line, which you can watch him make at his worktable, he opened Tecumseh’s Frontier Trading Post, Miniature Village & Museum in 1994 after he moved here in search of clean air to help cure his severe asthma. He also brought with him his collection of Indian memorabilia and miniature figures, which he made into a sprawling miniature history of the Old West. He began the collection as a child of nine, with the encouragement of his mother, he says, and kept it up over the years. There are some 66 scenes on 7,000 sq. ft., with depictions of Custer’s Last Stand, Bill’s Wild West Show, the Oregon Trail, tiny trains and more. Open May to September and in winter by appointment. Buckskin coats go for around $265 to $280. 140 W. Yellowstone, Cody, tel. 307/587-5362 , website http://www.tecumsehs.com/.

“The Best Museum Between Minneapolis and the West Coast”

The most impressive sight in Cody, though, is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, the oldest (1917) and most comprehensive museum of the West, they say. It is actually five museums, which are the Buffalo Bill Museum (1927), the Whitney Gallery of Western Art (1959), the Plains Indian Museum (1969), the Cody Firearms Museum/Winchester Museum (1976), the Draper Museum of Natural History (2002) and a research library. They offer classes, seminars and the like, too. I counted at least ten Remington bronzes in the Whitney Gallery, and there is a short movie of Bill’s actual “Wild West” performance filmed back around the turn of the 19th/20th century.

The Cody Firearms Museum says it houses the world’s largest collection of American arms and the Draper says it is the first major natural history museum of the 21st century, partly funded by the National Science Foundation. There is a fine gift shop (with expensive Remington reproductions) and one of the best book collections I have ever seen in a museum.

Seeing this magnificent collection in a town of only 8,800 persons reinforces my belief that, at least in Cody, people do make a difference. In fact, the museum says, it is “the Voice of the American West.”

Admission is $15, less for seniors and students. Family rate is $40. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 720 Sheridan Avenue, Cody, tel. 307/587-4771 ; website http://www.bbhc.org/.

Old Town

Another man who made a difference, Bob Edgar, started in 1967 putting together old buildings from Cody and other towns when developers began tearing them down to make room for new structures. The result is the Museum of the Old West at Old Trail Town, located on the original town site of Cody City.

Now there are 26 buildings, dating from 1879 to 1901, along with 100 horse-drawn vehicles, and more, the largest collection of its kind in the state. The gravesites of Jeremiah Johnson and a few other legends of the past are here, as are three cabins connected to the Hole in the Wall Gang and the Sundance Kid. These consist of the cabin (1883) where Butch Cassidy and the Kid lived, the Rivers Saloon (1888) where the gang hung out and the Mud Spring Cabin used by the Kid as a hideout before attempting to hold up the Red Lodge Bank in 1897, a scene memorialized in the famous movie about the two desperadoes. Admission $7. Contact: 1831 Demaris Drive, Cody, tel. 307/587-5302 , website www.imt.net/~stan/trltown.html.

By Robert Haru Fisher

Courtesy of frommers.com