Dodge City, Kansas - A Wicked Little Town

Dodge City, Kansas

Dodge City became the buffalo capital of the west and buffalo hides towered along Front Street awaiting shipment. Filthy buffalo hunters and traders filled the town’s establishment and the term “stinker” was coined. 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.

Though Sherman's tactic of killing the buffalo was effective in winning the Indian Wars, it placed hundreds of buffalo hunters out of business. Most of the buffalo were gone by 1876, but over 1 ½ million hides had been shipped from Dodge City on the railroad. For years farmers, during hard times, gathered the buffalo bones and sold them for six to eight dollars a ton. The bones were used in the manufacture of china and fertilizer.

40,000 buffalo hides are piled in Rath & Wright's Buffalo Hide Yard in 1878. Courtesy National Archives.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

Though the buffalo no longer offered a source of revenue for the townspeople, the cattle drives replaced the buffalo hunters. By the spring of 1876 the cattle trade had shifted west from Ellsworth and Wichita, Kansas, to Dodge City. As the Longhorn cattle from Texas were driven up the western branch of the Chisholm Trail to the railroad at Dodge City, the settlement was alive again. During the next 10 years, over 5 million head were driven on the trail into Dodge City.

But the cowboys brought even more lawlessness to Dodge City and soon the mayor contacted Wyatt Earp, who was working as a Wichita lawman. Pleading for Earp's help, he offered Wyatt the position of Chief Deputy Marshal with unheard of salary of $250 per month.

When Wyatt arrived, Dodge City's population was 1,200 and nineteen businesses were licensed to sell liquor.

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. Soon, four assistant deputies were hired -- Bat Masterson, Wyatt’s old buffalo hunting friend; Charlie Basset; Bill Tilghman; and Neal Brown.

Intending to restore order, one of the first things the new lawmen did was to initiate a “Deadline” north of the railroad yards on Front Street to keep the commercial part of the city quiet. On the north side, the city passed an ordinance that guns could not be worn or carried. On the south side of the “deadline”, those who supported the lawlessness continued to operate as usual, with a host of saloons, brothels, and frequent gunfights. The expression “Red Light District” was coined in Dodge City when the train masters took their red caboose lanterns with them when they visited the town’s brothels. The gun-toting rule was in effect around the clock and anyone wearing a gun was immediately jailed. Soon, Dodge City's jail was filled.

In his role as Chief Deputy Marshal, Earp would go after famed train robber, Dave Rudabaugh, following the outlaw's trail for 400 miles to Fort Griffin, Texas. While there, Wyatt visited the largest saloon in town, Shanssey’s, asking about Rudabaugh. Owner John Shanssey said that Rudabaugh had been there earlier in the week, but didn’t know where he was bound. 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. However, when Wyatt found him that evening at Shanssey’s, he was surprised at Holliday’s willingness to talk. Doc told Wyatt that he thought that Rudabaugh had back-trailed to Kansas. Wyatt wired this information to Bat Masterson and the news was instrumental in apprehending Rudabaugh. The unlikely pair formed a friendship in Shanssey’s that would last for years.

In the fall of 1876, Wyatt Earp and his brother Morgan left Dodge City for a while, traveling for the Black Hills outside of Deadwood, South Dakota in search of gold. However, he returned to Dodge in May of 1877 after James H. “Dog” Kelley, Dodge City’s new mayor, wired him, asking him to help with the Texas cowboys who were shooting up the town.

When he returned, Wyatt was made the new town marshal and deputized his brother Morgan. He plagued the courts for more severe sentencing, barred certain men from the town, and organized a "citizens’ committee" of reformers to help watchdog the streets.

The Dodge City Peace Commission in June 1883. Front,

left to right: Charles E. Basset, Wyatt S. Earp, Frank McLain, and Neil Brown. Back, left to right: W. H. Harris, Luke Short,

W. B. Bat Masterson, and W. F. Petillon.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

In June 1877, Ed Masterson was appointed an assistant marshal in Dodge City. Later in the same year, his younger brother Bat Masterson was chosen as an under-sheriff, until January 1878, when he became the sheriff. On April 9, 1878, Ed Masterson was killed in a gunfight. A third Masterson brother, James was appointed to the Dodge City police force in June of 1878.

By the late 1870’s Dodge City’s reputation for lawlessness had spread as far as Washington, D.C. In a letter in the Washington D.C.’s Evening Star of January 1, 1878, stated, “Dodge City is a wicked little town. Indeed, its character is so clearly and egregiously bad that one might conclude, were the evidence in the later times positive of its possibility, that it was marked for special Providential punishment.”

Continued Next Page

Cowboys and wagons gather in Dodge City in the late 1800's.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

The Long Branch Saloon, May, 2004, David Alexander.

This image available for photographic prints HERE.

<< Previous 1 2 3 4 Next >>

From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Old West Exclusive Products - Legends of America and the Rocky Mountain General Store now provide a number of exclusive products that you won't find anywhere else! Utilizing our vintage photos, Old West words, and original graphics, you'll find selections for t-shirts, bumper stickers, Old West prints and calendars, and much more. Click HERE to see the entire line.