With that, the dangers of Dodge became a permanent commodity—a cultural production that was retailed to a primary market of tourists, and wholesaled to readers and viewers. Movies and then television also got into the act. As early as , Hollywood had discovered the old frontier town. In Dodge got major film treatment. But it was a TV series set in Dodge that ensured its continuing cultural importance. It was a dangerous place only because of the people who did not live there.
Imaginary Dodge is still hard at work helping Americans chart their moral landscape as the archetypal bad civic example. Inserted into the national narrative, it promotes belief that things can never be as dreadful as they were in the Old West, thereby confirming that we Americans have evolved into a civilized society.
For anyone intrigued by the life of the gunslinger, this is a must stop on your Kansas vacation. Dodge City is the windiest city in the United States with an average daily wind speed of over 22 mph. It is illegal to spit on the sidewalk in Dodge City, Kansas. It's still on the law books that all businesses must provide a horse watering trough in this town. During the three years of , an estimated , Buffalo hides were shipped from Dodge City.
This Kansas city is rich with attractions, including the 38 foot Coronado Cross which marks the spot where this famous Spanish explorer crossed the Arkansas River in in search of his 'Cities of Gold. The Dodge City Raceway Park is an exciting location for avid racing fans.
It is a host to the National Sprint Car Tour. Every year the Dodge City Raceway hosts a Rock and Race Fest, combining hard-driving musical entertainment with the noise and excitement of stock car racing. Wright, would say of this time:. Dozens of cars a day were loaded with hides and meat, and dozens of carloads of grain, flour, and provisions arrived each day.
The streets of Dodge were lined with wagons, bringing in hides and meat and getting supplies from early morning to late at night… I have been to several mining camps where rich strikes had been made, but I never saw any town to equal Dodge. There was initially no law enforcement in the burgeoning settlement, and Dodge City quickly acquired its infamous stamp of lawlessness and gunslinging. As many buffalo hunters, railroad workers, drifters, and soldiers streamed into the town after long excursions on the prairie, they quickly found the saloons, and the inevitable fights ensued.
With the gunfighters dying with their boots on, Dodge City developed the Boot Hill Cemetery, which was used until Dodge City became the buffalo capital of the west, and buffalo hides towered along Front Street awaiting shipment. However, when General William Sherman , Army Commander-in-Chief, ordered the slaughter of buffalo in order to drive the Indians onto reservations, the prairie was littered with decaying carcasses. During hard times, farmers gathered the buffalo bones for years and sold them for six to eight dollars a ton.
The bones were used in the manufacture of china and fertilizer. Though the buffalo no longer offered a revenue source for the townspeople, the cattle drives replaced the buffalo hunters. By the spring of , the cattle trade had shifted west from Ellsworth and Wichita , Kansas, to Dodge City. During the next 10 years, over 5 million head were driven on the trail into Dodge City.
Cowboys at the water tank in Dodge City, Kansas. But the cowboys brought even more lawlessness to Dodge City, and soon the mayor contacted Wyatt Earp, who was working as a Wichita lawman. Marshal Larry Deger, the last of a long line of officers who had been run out of town or shot in the back by the lawless forces of Dodge, was overwhelmed and heartily welcomed Wyatt.
On the north side, the city passed an ordinance that guns could not be worn or carried. The gun-toting rule was in effect around the clock, and anyone wearing a gun was immediately jailed.
Dodge City Peace Commission Front Row: Charlie E. Bassett, Wyatt Earp, M. McLain, Neal Brown. Back Row: William H. He directed Wyatt to Doc Holliday , who had played cards with Rudabaugh. Wyatt was skeptical about talking to Holliday, as it was well known that Doc hated lawmen. Doc told Wyatt that he thought that Rudabaugh had back-trailed to Kansas.
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