Tuesday, March 30,2010.

We are staying in Dodge city for a few more hours to get laundry done then off to see the Boot Hill Museum. This is virtually at the real site of Boot Hill Cemetary where the gunfighters were buried with their boots on. You can see the boots sticking up from the bottom of the graves. In 1870 it was a really wild town with Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday trying to bring order to the town by means of guns. It's condsidered the Cowboy Capital of the World
The Sante Fe Trail is 500 miles from St. Louis to Sante Fe and was mostly through Indian Territory; so the government established Fort Dodge in 1865 on the Arkansas River to protect the pioneers.The river is now 2 miles away due to the dams built. Millions of buffalo were killed and the hides sent back east from Dodge City. In 1872 the railroad brought supplies, shipped hides back east and the town of Dodge City was established as the center for buffalo hides and 1o million cattle passed through here. With all the cowboys coming into town from months on the prarie they were unruly and needed marshalling. Therefore, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday were made sheriffs. It's not that they were so honest, but they did keep the peace as they saw it.
In the Cemetary Josephine McIntyre wrote:
"Weep not for us, who early on made our beds, Wrapped in our blankets, saddles for our heads.
We tamed the west when this, our land was young
And sank into our graves, unknown and unsung."
There was only 1 woman buried in the cemetary. One man, McGill, was a buffalo hunter who shot into every house he passed. He was shot dead. He won't pass this way again. The fields all around here are covered with wild growing lavendar that'll be 3-4 ft. tall by June.
The Indians that lived here were nomadic tribes used to taking down their tepees and moving to another location quickly. The lodge poles were covered with 12 buffalo hides, which kept the inside cool during the day and warm at night. When it became worn out, they just patched it. They never wasted anything, but recycled it. The top of the tepee that had the smoke and ash made the hide water repellant; therefore they made mocassins out of it. In 1496 there were 300 tribal Indian languages; now only 150 left. With the coming of the horses from the Spanish, travel for the nomadic Indians became easier. The tepee poles were used to carry food , clothes and meats from the hunts. In 1492 there were 60,000,000 buffalo; by 1889 only 549! Talk about a slaughter!!!
Gambling was started in the 13 colonies to raise revenue to get the new country out of debt. In the 1800's gambling in lower Mississippi was organized and legal; so in 1840-1860 it was the glory days for the river boat gamblers. Dodge City from 1875-1885 was called the beautiful bibulous Babylon of the frontier. Faro was the card game of choice in the late 1800's. In the 1900's faro was stopped to give the gambling houses better odds. Faro was based on an egyptian card game. By 1985 the last faro bank was gone from the country.
By watching TV we feel the west was always having a gunfight. But the truth is there were only 36 total gunfights in Kansas and Texas from 1870-1878. They only usually lasted 30 seconds; not like "Gunsmoke" portrayed.
This town has no shortage of fast food restaurants. It is still a pretty small town that is just spread out. Some funny names too- a Tico Taco and Blake's LotA Burger.