Boot Hill of Dodge City, Santa Fe Trail Ruts, 100th Meridian

Dave had heard of Boot Hill and wanted to go see what it was all about.  It is a replica of the original Dodge City from 1872, the original had burned down, not once but twice.  Seeing pictures of the first Dodge City and this replica - looks pretty darn good.

From our campground we can see this lit up at night

Loved the boots sticking up out of the ground

Lots of history here.  From the original peoples (Indians) to today's cowboy town - has seen some pretty interesting times.  Fort Dodge built to protect the Santa Fe Trail overland freighters (yes, that's what they were called then) from Indian aggression then the fort was abandoned after the 'Indian problem' was taken care (they forced the Indians onto reservations), to the cattle drives of Texan longhorns coming up and getting processed (slaughtered then butchered) and the rowdiness of lawless town to the influx of the good guys (Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp's marshaling) to a period of settlement and peace.  Displays inside the museum were really impressive.

Great displays throughout museum

All the brands of ranches where etched in concrete inside museum, cool.

Great Texas cattle drives

And today - 200 truck loads of cattle arrive every day - to be
'processed' and then shipped out.  

We toured Boot Hill famous for the folks buried there that were 'nobody famous' and placed in a common grave with literally their boots still on - some of them they never knew their names when buried. The replica of old Dodge City was pretty cool, walked along the boardwalk and I was looking for Miss Kitty or Eustus (Gunsmoke fame).  Every walk of life's business was displayed inside with great interpretive signs.

Hollywood connection - Gunsmoke and numerous movies of Dodge City's history

1960's TV with Gunsmoke running constantly

The 'gang'

Dodge City was - back when it was founded - considered the cowboy center of the country, and it is today still known as the epitome of the Old West. Even the television series GUNSMOKE was based in Dodge City.

Yep, my Featherweight Singer would fit right in

Rooms of so many different topics

Loved this one - undertaking - reminds me of my days at Riddle FH

REAL quilt from 1850.

The boardwalk

A 2 seater!

We then drove 9 miles west out of town to an interpretive trail site where you could see the original trail ruts from the Santa Fe Trail.  Little difficult to find but we could make out the ruts in the distance.  Was way too hot to take a stroll and see closer (99 when we were there) and the winds were gusting over 40 miles an hour which made tumbleweeds and all kinds of stuff blown against us.

Tornado 3 years ago wiped out the large billboard that showed
this Historic marker, had trouble finding it because no sign is up still.

Ruts in the distance

Last we came back into Dodge City and found the marker where the 100th meridian comes through town.  Interesting.

Love this Remington bronze statue that welcomes you to Dodge City

Got back to the campground about 3pm and was surprised - lots of RVs in and set up.  Our guess is that the high winds made it quite difficult for them to be on the road.