Dodge City

After we left the hotel this morning, we were off to explore Dodge City to get a taste of the city that Marshall Dillon , Miss Kitty, Doc and Festus made famous.  Guess what?  They weren't real.  I know, I know...we knew that it was just a TV show, right.

Anyway, we found out that the city started as Fort Dodge, and with the Indian's raids and killings, along with the arrival of the railroad, the town father's thought that the best way to get rid of the problems was to kill off the buffalo that sustained the Indian tribes around the area.  They invited buffalo hunters and they arrived by the hundreds and wiped out the buffalo in no time.  Unfortunately, buffalo hunters weren't the law abiding citizens that the town fathers had envisioned.

Thus they had to import Wyatt Earp and his brothers, along with Bat Masterson, who cleaned the city up so well, they were then invited to leave.  Some gratitude, huh?

We visited Boot Hill, the burying place for the town indigents, gun slingers, and ladies of ill repute.  It truly was on a hillside.  Their bodies were moved when the property was sold and divided up.  The museum believes that there are still some bodies left there, though.

It was great fun, and I can cross Dodge City and Boot Hill off of my bucket list now!
On to Mount Rushmore!