Geyser Bob's Yellowstone Park History Service
Serving the Greater Yellowstone & Surrounding Gateway & Historic Communities
Cinnabar MT
Gardiner MT
Cooke City MT
Corwin Springs MT
Cody & North Fork
LaDuke Hot Springs
Monida & Beaver Canyon MT
West Yellowstone MT
Jardine MT
Livingston MT - Original Gateway to YNP
Cody & North Fork
A Brief History of Cody Wyoming and the Cody Road to Yellowstone
                   With emphasis on early development and tourism



Photograph from Pictorial Souvenir of Cody, Wyoming, by A.G. Lucier, ca1911



Copyright 2019 Robert V. Goss 
All rights reserved.  No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author










The Early Days . . . 

Cody, Wyo is located on the Shoshone River in the Bighorn Basin in NW Wyoming, in a basin surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides: the Absarokas to the west; the Owl Creek Mtns to the south; and the Bighorn Mtns to the east. The east entrance to Yellowstone National Park lies 53 miles to the west, up the North Fork of the Shoshone River. John Colter passed through the area in 1807-08 and discovered the odorous springs along the Shoshone that became known as Colter’s Hell. The smell of the springs also gave the Shoshone River its original moniker of Stinking Water River. The name was changed in 1901, for public relations purposes.  Jim Carter and John Chapman both drove cattle herds from Oregon to the South Fork of the Stinkingwater River and established ranches. The following year Henry Belknap drove a herd south from Billings into that area.

Colter's Hell sign located along highway a few miles west of Cody     




In the spring of 1886, Charles deMaris trailed a herd of cattle from Lemhi, Id. to the hot springs on the Stinkingwater River and took up a homestead near the springs. Suffering from ailments, he hoped the springs would heal him, which they seemed to do. The springs were named after him and the general area became known as DeMaris Springs. Charles and his wife Nellie built a hotel on their site that opened in 1903. On June 26, 1914, Charles DeMaris passed away. His wife Nellie and her family continued to operate the resort until her death in 1935.

Left: Postcard of DeMaris Springs, early 1900s
Right: Newspaper Ad for DeMaris, 9Sep1914, Park Co. Enterprise
 



Wm. Cody had explored the Big Horn Basin in the 1870s and ’80s as guide and hunter for various military, civilian and governmental expeditions. He saw great potential for the agricultural development of the area. Cody and some cohorts examined the area for the possibility of dams and canals to provide water for the basin. They also surveyed for a road to pass over the Absaroka Mtns and into Yellowstone to establish a basis for tourism. He no doubt had conversations with Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR (CB&Q) officials to get their opinions for bringing a rail line into the basin.

The original town of Cody was located on DeMaris’s land and called Shoshone, which the Post Office rejected. Richland was also proposed, but rejected by Cody’s cohorts. In 1895, Buffalo Bill Cody, George T. Beck, Cody’s Wild West show partner Nate Salsbury, Harry Gerrans, Bronson Rumsey, Horace Alger, and George Bleistein founded the Shoshone Land and Irrigation Company. Construction began on the Cody Canal in the fall of 1895, which would carry water from the south fork of the Shoshone River to the town. In spring 1896, the area was surveyed and the present townsite laid out about 2 miles from DeMaris Springs. The CB&Q had showed some interest in building a spur to Cody from Toluca, Mont., northeast of Cody in order to exploit the future agricultural and cattle market. The Shoshone Land Company many town lots to the railroad company to ensure that the CB&Q built the line all the way to Cody, thus giving them a vested interest in the success of the town,

Left: Buffalo Bill Wild West Poster, undated
Right: Shoshone Irrigation Co. broadsheet, ca1897



 


William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody

Buffalo Bill helped to found the town of Cody in 1896. In 1897 and 1899 Cody and his associates acquired from the State of Wyoming the right to take water from the Shoshone River to irrigate about 169,000 acres of land in the Big Horn Basin. They began developing a canal system to carry water diverted from the river. A few years later the Feds stepped in to provide aid and funds for the huge project. The town of Cody was incorporated in 1901 and the following year W.F. Cody built the Irma Hotel and also established the town’s 1st newspaper, the Cody Enterprise in August 1899. The Buffalo Bill barn and livery was also operated by “Bill,” probably opening in the late 1890s, and reportedly torn down ca1919. In 1905 he officially opened up Pahaska Tepee Lodge at the east entrance and the Wapiti Inn about midway from Cody, serving both tourists and hunters in the nearby forest areas. He applied to the park to take over the business of the ailing Holm Transportation Co. in 1915.  However, their business improved and his request was denied.  He died in 1917 on the way to Denver and was buried there, much to the chagrin of the residents of Cody.

Left: Cover of brochure, Buffalo Bill's Hotels in the Rockies, nd
Right: 1916 Postcard of Buffalo Bill and Cody entrance to Yellowstone, Denver Public Library

Shoshone Dam

Planning and construction began on the Shoshone Dam in 1905 and was completed Jan. 17 1910. It created Shoshone Lake upon its completion, which took several years to fill. The dam was 328’ tall, and was claimed to be the tallest structure of its kind in the world. It was 85’ wide at the bottom and 200’ at the top, and 100’ thick. It was expected to irrigate some 100,000 acres of land. Hundreds of excited Cody citizens gathered on the 17th near the top of the dam to celebrate, and just before noon the final bucket of concrete was poured onto the dam, completing this massive project.

In order to reach the dam site itself, it was necessary to carve a road through the inaccessible gorge of the Shoshone River. For several miles the road was blasted out of the sheer face of Rattlesnake Mtn. and carved through several tunnels. The Shoshone Dam name was changed to Buffalo Bill Dam & Reservoir in 1946. President Truman signed the bill in March, honoring the 100th anniversary of Buffalo Bill Cody's birthdate.

"Shoshone Dam as seen from an Airplane, 1921"   
F.J Hiscock Postcard
      


Shoshone Canyon and Dam
Keystone Co. Stereoview, nd
Shoshone Canyon and Dam, ca1911
Pictorial Souvenir of Cody,  A.G. Lucier
 
Shoshone Dam Completion Headline
Powell Tribune, 18Jan1910




Burlington Cody Inn with Yellowstone Buses
Tammen Postcard, ca1930s

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR

As the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy RR reached town in 1901, construction began on an automobile road up the North Fork of the Shoshone River. It would meet up with the road that was under construction over Sylvan Pass into Yellowstone by the Army in charge of the park. Two years later the road over Sylvan Pass became passable for wagons but was not officially completed for two more years. This allowed Cody to become the eastern gateway to Yellowstone.

By 1917, tourist facilities in Cody were proving inadequate to meet growing tourist demands. To help alleviate the problem and satisfy their customers, the CB&Q built the Burlington Cody Café for their rail passengers. It was located just west of
the depot and was scheduled to open on June 20, 1917. The railroad was hoping the town would pick up the slack in hotel accommodations, but apparently the local businessmen did little to add rooms. So, in 1922, the CB&Q built a new 2-story hotel to add on to the existing café. It featured 45 basic sleeping rooms upstairs, with a 100-person capacity café and lounge downstairs. It opened on June 19, 1922 and was renamed the Cody Inn.

Tourist demands continued to expand and the CB&Q built a new addition to the Cody Inn in the spring of 1928. It included a basement and 2-stories that would about double the existing restaurant space and bedroom count. Again, it was scheduled to open June 20, 1928. The Inn was closed from 1943 to spring 1946, no doubt due to WWII, and reopened June 19, 1946. During closure it was remodeled and redecorated. In 1948 the Cody Inn was leased to a Billings man and he changed the name to El Rancho. The railroad ended passenger service to Cody in 1956 and a year later the all the furnishings and mechanical/electrical fixtures were sold at auction the end of June. The north wing was saved and moved to the nearby Husky Oil Co. site to be used as office space. The rest of the historic Inn was razed. In 1970 the CB&Q became a part of the Burlington Northern RR.  BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe RR in 1995, creating the BNSF railroad. 


Cody Inn, ca1955
Real Photo Postcard

Cody Inn Dining Room, 1955
Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historic Center

Cody Inn (Left) and Depot
(Right),
Aerial View, 1955
Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historic Center


Buffalo Bill's Hotels

Irma Hotel

Built by Wm. F. Cody on the main street in Cody, Wyoming and opened on November 1, 1902.  He named the hotel after his youngest daughter. It was one of three lodgings that Cody built to help promote business through the east entrance of Yellowstone Park. The others were Pahaska Tepee at the east entrance, and Wapiti Inn, at about the halfway point from town. 8-10 guest rooms occupied the main floor of the Irma, along with a lobby, dining room, billiard and bar room, kitchen, and office. The Irma's famous cherrywood bar, a gift from Queen Victoria, dates to the period of construction. Cody hired brother-in-law Louis Decker to manage the hotel. Cody’s wife Louisa died in 1921, but the hotel stayed in the family until Henry and Pearl Newell bought the hotel in 1925. The northwest addition was constructed in 1929, and The new owners gradually expanded the hotel, building an annex around 1929-‘30 on the west side to accommodate automobile travelers. After her husband's death in 1940, Pearl Newell operated the hotel until her own death in 1965. She left the hotel's extensive collection of Buffalo Bill memorabilia to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and stipulated that proceeds from the estate be used as an endowment for the museum. The southwest addition was added in 1976-1977.

  Irma Hotel Collage, ca1911
Pictorial Souvenir of Cody, Wyoming
by A.G. Lucier

Irma Hotel ca1908,
Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historic Center
 
  Irma Hotel, ca1936,
Real-Photo PC by FJ Hiscock


  Cherrywood Bar in Irma Saloon, 1952
  Irma Hotel Postcard, 1970s


A 1908 Cody Road to Yellowstone brochure describes the inn:

“At Wapiti there is the Wickiup (or Inn), a unique structure of rough boards, accommodating forty guests, and other smaller buildings (for one or two persons) with board floors and sides' and canvas coverings. The dining tent is 50 x 20 feet. The Wickiup is on Elk Fork at the junction of the Wapiti, the Elk Fork, the Sweet Water and the North Shoshone rivers. Unexcelled trout fishing is found within a hundred paces of the Wickiup. Elk Fork takes its name from the fact that for years the elk have made this vicinity their home. They may be found there the year through. Rates for meals and for lodging will be $1 per meal or lodging for the first day, and for succeeding days, or parts thereof, a rate of $3 per day.”

Wapiti Inn



Wm. F. Cody built this lodge near in 1903-04 at about the halfway point (31 miles) from Cody, Wyoming to the east entrance of the park.  It was one of three hotels he built to help promote the town of Cody and the new road over Sylvan Pass at the east entrance of Yellowstone. The other two facilities were the Irma Hotel in Cody and Pahaska Tepee at the east entrance. The Wapiti Inn was a 14-room frame structure built on Forest Reserve land at the mouth of Wapiti (Elk) Creek and could accommodate about twenty people. It also catered to fisherman and hunters. It was sometimes called the Wapiti Wickiup. According to the Park County Enterprise, May 17, 1913, Wapiti Inn was slated to be torn down and removed to Pahaska to expand facilities there. That year the Holm Transportation Co. began transporting tourists from Cody to Pahaska by automobile, and with decreased travel times and improved roads, Wapiti may no longer have been a necessary mid-way stop.

Left: Wapiti Inn, photo courtesy Cambell Guide to Yellowstone, 1908
Right: Wapiti Wickiup ad from 21May1905 Omaha Daily Bee


 

 
In 1918 another Wapiti Inn appeared on the scene, but little is  known of this operation. It was established by Ed. Reighley and Art V. Cunningham, perhaps on the same or nearby the priginal “Wapiti Inn site. Cunningham later in the year took over Reighley’s share. Newspaper ad indicate it continued to operate off and on at least into the mid-late 1920s. In later years it may have become the Wapiti Valley Inn.
CLICK HERE for a 1920 Wapiti Inn ad


 


Pahaska Tepee

A.A. Anderson designed Pahaska Tepee, built by William F. Cody built at the east entrance of Yellowstone in 1903-05. The lodge first opened in 1904, although construction continued into the following year. The main building was built of logs in a T-shape with two stories, bedrooms for about forty people, a good-size dining room, and a large living room with a grand fireplace.  A large porch wrapped around the building on three sides.  The upstairs housed Cody’s private suite and six other bedrooms. One and two-room cabins were also available and were equipped with cook stove, cooking and eating utensils, and furniture.  A general store was also open for guests.

Louis E. Decker, Cody’s brother-in-law, managed the lodge in 1910 and the following year a log laundry building, a round canvas-topped dance pavilion, rifle range, tennis and croquet courts were added. Two years later a bunkhouse was constructed using logs from the Wapiti Inn. After 1916 the lodge was also used as a lunch stop for passengers on the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co. (YPTCo) touring buses. In 1924 Sylvan Pass Lodge opened and became the YPTCo lunch stop.

Pahaska Tepee lodge w s listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and the land is still leased from the federal government. The Coe family currently owns the lodge. The word Pahaska probably comes from the Lakota word for ‘long hair of the head’, which is what the Lakota called Buffalo Bill.

Left Top: Pahaska Tepee, early 1920s, RPPC
Left Center: Ad for Pahaska Tepee, 18Jun1926, Casper Star-Tribune
Left Bottom: Buffalo Bill driving White Motor Co. steamer, ca1910
Right Top: Interior of Pahaska Lodge, Tammen postcard
Right Middle: Menu of services at the lodge. 1930s or 40s Pahaska Menu
Right Bottom: Pahaska Tepee decal, ca1940s


 


Early Cody Hotels

By the early 1900's, Cody had at least three lodging houses, in addition to Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel:



    Cody Hotel

The Cody Hotel was built ca1896 on the north side of the 1300 block of Sheridan Avenue and run by Maxx & Shurtleff in 1900. By 1903 the hotel and saloon was owned by J.B. Primm. It was later owned by the Prante family who operated the hotel until the late 1930s

Left: Cody Hotel, undated. Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historic Center
Right: Ad for the Cody Hotel, 6Sept1900, Cody Enterprise



 
Hart Mountain Inn, undated

    Hart Mountain Inn


The two-story Hart Mountain Inn (Hotel) was constructed by David H. McFall at the corner of Beck and 13rd St. around 1897-’98. May Jordan bought the hotel in 1912 and ran it until 1928. Kate Buckingham purchased the Inn ca1953 and operated it into the 1990s. In 2004 new owners dubbed it the Hart Mountain Suites and operated it until 2008.

Right: Ad for Hart Mountain Inn,
14March1901, Cody Enterprise


        Chamberlin Hotel

The Chamberlin Hotel was built in 1903 on 12th St, a half block off of Sheridan Ave by Agnes Chamberlin who moved to Cody in 1900 to work for W.F. Cody’s newspaper. It was primarily used as a boarding house, but as additions were built and the hotel improved and expanded over the next 15 years, it became the Chamberlin Hotel. It was advertised as the Hotel Chamberlin by at least 1928, having rooms with or without bath and a dining room. Agnes sold the hotel in 1939 and passed away in January 1949. She was a pillar of the community and upon her death the town’s businesses closed for her funeral service.  Around 1941, the Chamberlin was renamed the Pawnee Hotel by new owners Hattie and George Evans. After other changes in ownership, it became the Chamberlin Inn in 2005 and is still in operation.

Left: Chamberlin Hotel, undated, courtesy Chamberlin Inn website
Right: Ad for Hotel Chamberlin, March 1937, Casper Star Tribune



The Cody Exchange and Saloon

Ben Primm and his wife Katherine, or Katie, established this saloon and gambling house sometime in the late 1890s. A 1938 Billings newspaper article dubbed it, “one of town’s first establishments of pleasure.” It seems Ben ran the saloon and pool room, while “Blue Chip Katie” ran the gambling and faro tables. Ben Primm died in December 1904 and Katherine in 1932. The state of Wyoming officially outlawed gambling in 1901, although in the smaller and more remote towns the practice continued for years. In 1906 Mayor Schwoob cracked down on gambling in Cody and 12-15 persons were charged with violations. Katie’s business must have greatly suffered, but the saloon continued to operate until at least 1913. At some point after that, the building was rehabilitated and remodeled under the direction of Mrs. Wm. F. Cody to establish an opera house for the culturally needy. “But the town didn't take to culture. Mrs. Cody’s well-meant plans could overcome the wind but they couldn't overcome the preference of customers who chose to find their entertainment in Cody's 14 saloons,” commented a 1938 news article in the Billings Gazette. A gas station later replaced the opera house and the buildings finally torn down in 1938.





Above: Undated photo Cody Exchange
Left: Cody Exchange Ad, 20June1901, Cody Enterprise

Right: Cody Exchange Tokens
Far Right: Saloon Hold-Up Article, 23Dec1902, Great Falls Tribune


From the Billings Gazette, May 22, 1938

Dam Brought Boom . . . [and Pleasure Palaces]
It was during the "growing period" of the west that the old saloon [Cody Exchange] was built. However. Cody's first hey-day came during the construction of the Shoshone dam in 1907 and it was then that Poker Nell entered the scene. Mrs. Katherine Primm. dubbed "Blue Chip Katie" by the boys who tried to "take" her in faro, founded one of the town's first establishments of pleasure in the old building. She and her husband, Ben, for a time had a virtual monopoly on the local custom in liquor, gambling and license until another woman muscled in with a similar establishment directly across the street.

  The latter is remembered only as Poker Nell. Through the years, her fame has lived in the minds of the region's old timers for her ability to keep up a vociferous, cross-street argument with her competitor. During the wild boom years at the opening of the century there was plenty of business for both houses. However, when things were dull, Poker Nell and Blue Chip Katie would pass unpleasantrles back and forth across the street to while away the hours.  Men who worked on the dam still remember the "acid*’ of their comments and tell of richly increased vocabularies after listening to the women exchange amenities. However, Nell and Katie never finished their debate and it became only a memory when the town continued to grow with the subsequent invasion of a dozen more saloons.




Cassie Waters, undated photo


Cassie's Ad
19Mar1997 Billings Gazette

Cassie’s Place - Cassie’s Supper Club - Cassie's

Cassie came to Cody with her father Joe Welsh after they settled in Otto. In 1907 Cassie married an engineer on the dam project. When her husband died, Cassie started a “Ladies of the Night” house on Salsbury Street. She obtained liquor licenses to operate as a saloon, but with “extras” on the side. Her “house” was generally known as Cassie’s Place, and at various times she used several different last names, including, Waters, LaFay, McGhan and Stevens.

On Nov. 27, 1911, young Art Spicer, a local cowboy came into Cassie's and claimed to have been drugged by two men and his bankroll of $110 stolen. After his discovery, he blamed the women in the saloon and drew his revolver and started firing at Cassie, missing her head by a mere 4 inches. Another women also had a close escape. An officer arrived around 1:30am and arrested Spicer and took him off to jail. The young man broke loose and ran, but the deputy stopped him with a bullet in the calf. He was later fined $5 and $3 in costs for firing a weapon in a house within city limits, and warned against getting into trouble again.

After a fight broke out in her saloon in December of 1916, she was charged with operating a house of ill-fame,” and a number of her ‘girls” were accused of frequenting a house of prostitution. Cassie was soon after acquitted of the charges due to testimony by the local marshal and sheriff.

In the early 1930’s, Cassie and another madam, Ida, were asked by the city to close their establishments. Cassie decided to move to the West Strip and in 1933 Cassie’s Supper Club was open. It was a very popular night club with dancing, liquor and later on, food was served. A bourbon and water sold for 50 cents a glass. Cassie did the color scheme in orchid after her daughter “Orchid”. Cassie died in April 1954. In 1955, the Nelsons took over Cassie’s. Cassie was remembered by close friends as a lovely lady who always helped people who needed a helping hand.

Left: Cassie LaFay of early Cody Fame, or ill-fame perhaps
Courtesy of Cassies.com
Right Top: Brass tokens from Cassie's Place
Right Bottom: Cassie's, modern day view


Above:
Undated Brass Tokens from Cassie's Place
Below: Modern day photo of Cassie's


Local Businesses


Cody Enterprise

From the Semi Weekly Billings Gazette, Aug. 8, 1899:

“J. H. Peake, an experienced journalist of Washington, D.C., and an old-time friend of Buffalo Bill, arrived in the city today [Billings] en route to Cody, Wyo.. to establish a newspaper, says the Red Lodge Picket. The plant will reach Red Lodge in a day or two, and Mr. Peake expects to get out the first issue about Aug. 20. It will be called The Cody Enterprise and is to be a seven-column, four page paper, with all home print. Independent, with democratic tendencies, will be the new paper's politics.”

Peake established the newspaper in conjunction with W.F. Cody, who funded the project. Over the years the name has vacillated with the Park County Enterprise name, sometimes using both. A number of different owners and publishers have run the paper. Novelist Caroline Lockhart purchased the Park County Enterprise in 1920, changing back to Cody Enterprise the following year. She apparently tired of the business and sold the paper in October 1925 to concentrate on writing and other projects. The newspaper has continued to prosper and had been owned by the Sage Publishing Co. of Cody since 1971.

Photo Courtesy Park Co. Archives, Cody, Wy. 




Buffalo Bill Museum
Dedication, July 4, 1927
Doubleday RPPC

Buffalo Bill Museum

The Buffalo Bill Museum was built in 1927 on the current site of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce and the Cody Country Art League. It was dedicated and opened to the public on July 4 with Cody's niece, Mary Jester Allen, as the first curator. In 1935 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney donated 40-acre site that later became the Buffalo Bill Historic Center. The Whitney Gallery of Western Art was dedicated in a newly constructed modern facility on the donated site in 1959. Ten years later the name was changed to Buffalo Bill Historical Center and the Plains Indian Collection added and the original Buffalo Bill Museum collection was moved to the new facility. In 1979 the Plains Indian Museum was dedicated and the following year the Winchester Collection was installed and the McCracken Research Library dedicated. In 1981 the Cody Firearms Museum was added and dedicated. The Draper Museum of Natural History was constructed and opened to the public in 2002. Name changes ruled the day in 2013 as the Buffalo Bill Historical Center was renamed to Buffalo Bill Center of the West, to more accurately describe the width and depth of the museum’s mission, collections, and programs. In addition, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art became the Whitney Western Art Museum, and the Draper Museum of Natural History transformed into the Draper Natural History Museum.


Buffalo Bill Museum
RPPC, No Date

Ned Frost

Nedward W. Frost was born April 11, 1881 in Minnesota and in 1884 came into the Cody country in a covered wagon  with his family and settled near what later became Cody, on South Fork of the Shoshone R., moving to Sage Creek in 1888.  He reportedly killed his first grizzly bear around the age of seven or eight and began a life of hunting and guiding. By age 14 he was shooting antelope to supply meat houses in Coulson (Billings), Montana.  He appears in the 1900 Federal Census for Wyoming. He helped to build the Corkscrew Bridge on Sylvan Pass in the early 1900’s and in 1903 he discovered Frost Cave in Cedar Mountain just west of Cody. His future wife Mary Hughes was born February 1881 in Chicago, Ill.  and was the sister of Margaret Hughes, who married Fred Richard in 1909.  Ned and Mary were married January 20, 1910 at the home of Fred Richard.  The couple’s first son Nedward Mahlon was born around 1911. He was followed by Richard J. about 1918 and Jessie W. circa 1921. Ned passed away Nov. 19, 1957 after several months of ill health. He was considered by many to be the foremost big-game hunter of his time.

Frost Curio
Ned” Frost constructed his Frost Curio Shop on Main Street across from the Irma Hotel in 1927 in time to be ready to open for the summer season, usually around 19-20h of June. The store was operated in conjunction with the curio shop and specimen room established by his wife Mary in 1916 at the Burlington Cody Inn. In 1946 son Richard Frost retired from the Army and took over management of the business.

Ad for Frost Curio Store, 13Mar1932, Casper Star-Tribune  


Frost Curio, ca1930s
Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historic Center
 
Frost Curio, ca1950s
Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historic Center

Frost Curio & Sheridan Ave., ca1960s
Postcard View

Frost Cave

This cave high upon Cedar Mountain (now called Spirit Mountain), was discovered by Ned frost and his pack of hunting dogs while chasing mountain lions in January 1909. The dogs spotted a bobcat and chased it to a small opening in the mountain. Ned thought it just a bobcat lair, but soon after entering, realized it was a cave. In one of his reminisces, he reflected that,

“I didn’t smoke in those days and I had only a few matches I kept striking them as I followed the barking dogs but when I got down to three matches, I stopped to get my bearings and I couldn't see the daylight through the entrance any longer and I was in black darkness. I guess I never felt so lonely or lost before or since. But I found an old letter in my vest pocket, tore it into strips and twisted them into quills and back-tracked. I noticed the beauty of the cave in the small light made by my light—it looked like something in a huge block of ice—with frost glistening everywhere. On a later trip I found the “frost" was the stalactites and stalagmites formed by the lime from the old extinct geysers."

A few weeks later Ned, along with Will Richards, and 10-12 other men went back in to explore the cave. They carried ropes, lanterns, lamps, candles and other necessities, and spent over 5 hours in the cave and figured they explored several miles worth. Later that year President Taft issued a proclamation on September 21, creating the Shoshone Cavern National Monument, the 2nd national monument in Wyo. Locally, it was mostly referred to as Frost Cave. On May 17, 1954, after years of lobbying by Cody officials, the federal government delisted the monument and turned it over to the City of Cody. The cave was renamed Spirit Mountain Caverns.

On Sept. 16, 1957, after jurisdiction was turned over to local control, the cave was officially opened as Spirit Cave, with a grand opening ceremony. Claud Brown leased the cave and operated tours for about a decade, but never invested enough money to make it successful. The cave was abandoned in the late ‘60s and another lease was issued in the early ‘70s to develop the area, but little happened. In Sept. 1977, the site was turned back over to the Federal government and is currently under jurisdiction of the BLM. The entrance to cave is locked and permits required for entry.

Bottom Left Photo includes: Dick Frost, Claude and Katie Brown, Mayor Hugh Smith, 
E.O. Cowgil, Ned Frost, Governor Milward and Lorna Simpson 


Frost Cave, 1909. Not long after discovery.
WF Cody in center.
Courtesy Wyo. State Archives 

Frost Cave, 16Sep1957
Re-opening & renaming celebration
Courtesy Buffalo Bill Historic Center


Cody Trading Co, ca1905
Courtesy Park Co. Archives

Cody Trading Company - Jacob M. “Jake” Schwoob

The Cody Trading Company was established in 1898 by W.F. Cody. The following year J.M Schwoob was made manager of the firm and by 1920 Schwoob was sole owner of the Cody Trading Company. A huge fire consumed he store in Feb 1913 and a temporary store across the street replaced it until a newbuilding was constructed and formally opened Feb. 1917.  Schwoob owned and operated the business until his death in 1932. By 1942 it was owned by E.V. Robertson, but by the following year it was again sold to E.H. Melbraten. By 1948 the Cody Trading Co. was claimed to be the largest store of its kind in Wyoming. A fire completely gutted the interior of the store in April 1963. According to OpenCorporates.com, the business was incorporated in 1901 and dissolved Nov. 2009.


Cody Trading Co, after fire of 1913
Courtesy Park Co. Archives

The State of Wyoming began issuing motor vehicle license plates in 1913 and Jacob M. Schwoob was issued plate number 1. This was in return for his writing of the motor vehicle licensing law. State senator Schwoob continued to apply for, and receive, plate 1 annually until 1929, when he was awarded the number for the term of his life. On July 4, 1915, J.M. Schwoob took the first private automobile through the East Entrance over Sylvan Pass into Yellowstone and Lake Hotel.  He was accompanied by Gus Holms, brother of Tex Holm. They conducted a congressional party that included Stephen Mather, to Lake Hotel for a high level conference regarding transportation in the parks and the switch-over from stagecoaches to automobiles.  He was requested to make the trip by park superintendent Col. Brett with approval by the Department of Interior. 

Left: Cody Trading Co. sale, 17May1963, Billings Gazette
Right: Jake Schwoob and his auto with No. 1 license Plate,
Courtesy University of Wyoming


Cody Street Scenes . . .
 View of Cody, ca1904
F.J. Hiscock?
 Cody Main St, ca1904  
Real-Photo PC, F.J. Hiscock
 CodySheridan Ave, ca1930s
Real-Photo PC, F.J. Hiscock
 Cody Sheridan Ave, ca1940s
Real-Photo PC, F.J. Hiscock



North Fork of Shoshone River & Yellowstone Park


1931 Map of Cody Road to Yellowstone
From a Buffalo Bill Country Brochure
Wapiti Inn was located near the Wapiti R.S. (Ranger Station)

The Cody Road to Yellowstone

Travel from Cody into Yellowstone Park via the Shoshone River became possible beginning in 1903. With a road being carved through the Shoshone canyon for construction of the Shoshone Dam, the government building a road over Sylvan Pass to Lake Hotel, and improvements on the road from Cody to Pahaska, visitors could began travel on this scenic road to visit Wonderland. Tex Holm began guiding tourist in wagons over the pass in 1903 with Frost & Richard soon after. Pahaska Tepee became an overnight stop for visitors in 1904 with Holm Lodge following in 1910. Gradually other tourist and hunting lodges sprang up in the valley along the Shoshone River. In 1912 W.F. Cody and Tex Holm purchased automobiles for use on the trip from Cody in 1912. In 1915 the government began allowing private motor cars into Yellowstone and in 1917, the stagecoaches in the park were replaced with auto stages run by the Yellowstone Park Transportation Co.

An article from an Indiana newspaper beautifully describes the trip from Cody to Pahaska:
“The Cody road is the famous scenic motor highway which starts at Cody, Wyo., and ends at the Colonial hotel on Yellowstone lake - a 90 mile trail of scenic splendor with a thrill around every curve. One goes to Cody and, breakfast over, boards a 12 passenger touring car, whirls down the double hairpin turns, crosses the bridge over the Shoshone river, spirals up the opposite slope to the old frontier town which was Buffalo Bill's home and, turning west, heads for the mountains - the Shoshone river along side . . . The way ahead is seemingly blocked by two great mountains . . . But the Shoshone finds a tortuous way through at the bottom of a tremendous canyon along the side of which the Cody road runs on a shelf hewn out of the solid granite. It passes close beside the roaring river, then rises hundreds of feet above the stream, down and up and across the bridge, through twin tunnels bored through the rock, in and out for five miles of thrills, and up the great hill to the top of the government irrigation dam. There a stop is made while one catches his breath and inspects this gigantic barrier behind which the water is piled up to within a few feet of the crest . . .Then on - more tunnels, more canyon with almost perpendicular walls, the road winds around the shore of a great lake and enters the ranch country. The canyon walls give way to lower and remote cliffs.  On and on runs the Cody road - into the dude ranch region and for 40 miles through the vast Shoshone national forest There’s a stop for luncheon at Sylvan Pass lodge: and then the traveler is whirled away again through the jack pines into Yellowstone park and up the seven mile hill to the snow on Sylvan pass where the road crosses the Absaroka range.”
The Richmond Item, (Richmond, IN) 23Jun1929, p.16


Frost & Richard

Ned Frost and Fred Richard began operating as “Frost & Richard” in the early 1900s. leading camping tours into the park. These informal tours no doubt utilized the Sunlight Basin route through Cooke City and the northwest entrance prior to the opening of the Sylvan Pass road in 1903. A 1905 Wyoming Stockgrower & Farmer newspaper noted several small tours that were led into the park by Frost. The men formed the Frost & Richard Camping Co. around 1909 and began conducting formal camping trips into Yellowstone using moveable camps. Frost and Richard built a large house on their ranch along Green Creek west of Cody, which became their base for their hunting and trapping business. The size of the camping parties gradually increased and in June 1910, the Park County Enterprise (WY) reported that the Frost & Richard Camping Co. was guiding a party of around 30 tourists through Yellowstone. After the end of the 1916 season, due to changes in the park camping system, Ned Frost and Fred Richard parted ways and concentrated on their separate guiding and hunting businesses for many years.

Cody Road to Yellowstone
In 1910 the Frost & Richard Camping Co. had a 20-page promotional booklet printed up by South Publishing Press to advertise their services. It was entitled, “Over the Cody Trail to Yellowstone: Seeing nature’s Wonderland by Camp in Parties of Two or More.” The following year the McGuire Printing Co. published a 16-page booklet more simply titled, “Cody Road Through Yellowstone Park.”  This small tome
is not to be confused with a Burlington, Chicago & Quincy RR publication titled “The Cody Road to Yellowstone” that was in publication by 1907, and continued through 1916.  The Frost & Richard Camping Co. is first mentioned in that brochure in 1909.

Left: Frost & Richard Brochure, 1915
 


For More Information, check out my Frost & Richard web page


Frost & Richard Camp, undated
A.G. Lucier Photo

Frost & Richard party on Sylvan Pass
YNP Archives, #1935

Wylie Permanent Camping Co.

The Wylie Camping Company, with its humble beginnings in 1883, arose to become the premier camping experience in Yellowstone National Park until 1917. Originated by William Wallace Wylie, the operation, with its goal of providing for a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable camping experience, became the standard to emulate by other camps companies in Yellowstone and other western national parks. Sold by Wylie to AW Miles and HW Child in 1905 the company continued to expand and improve the Wylie Way operations through 1916. 

In 1912 a Wylie Camp was established at Sylvan Lake on Sylvan Pass, along the route from the East Entrance to Lake Hotel, utilizing a lodge site that had used by Tex Holm’s operation. This move allowed the company to gain access to visitors from the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RR (CB&Q) depot in Cody. Travelers could enter the park through the east entrance and then exit by either the north or west entrances. The following year the camp was moved to a more convenient location down the mountain near the entrance of the park and called Cody Camp, even though Cody was 50 miles distant. The camp was closed after 1916 when the consolidation of Wylie and Shaw & Powell camping companies by the Interior dept. This site was later used for the Sylvan Pass Lodge in 1924.
[See my Wylie Camping Co. page for more info] 

Left Top: Typical Wylie Camp in 1908
Left Bottom: Wylie Permanent Camping Co. Logo
Right: Article on Cody Camp, 5/3/1912, Northern Wyoming Herald


“Tex” Holm Camping Co.

Prior to the unofficial opening of the road over Sylvan Pass in 1903, Aron "Tex" Holm and his wife Katharine led Yellowstone camping excursions into the park on tours of 2-3 weeks duration. They went on horseback with pack animals over Dead Indian Pass north of Cody, down the precipitous mountainsides to the Clark Fork River and trekked through the wilds of Sunlight Basin, through the mining town of Cooke City and the northeast entrance of Yellowstone. After 1903 he began taking guests over the newly constructed, albeit unfinished road over Sylvan Pass into the park on extended camping trips. Around that time be built the Holm Livery Stable in Cody. To accommodate his guests before and after the trips, he built Holm Lodge in 1910 about 7 miles east of the park border. He brought tourists from the CB&Q depot at Cody to his lodge, and afterward took them up and over Sylvan Pass and into the park on trips.


"Tex" Holm Ready for a Dude Party
Postcard ca1910
"Tex" Holm Camping Wagon, 1907
Glass Lantern Slide
"Tex" Holm Camp at Turbid Lake
Located east of Yellowstone Lake near Pelican Creek
Postcard ca1910
"Tex" Holm's camping wagons
crossing Sylvan Pass on Corkscrew Bridge
A.G. Lucier Real-photo PC



1st Holm Lodge, ca1910-1913
Courtesy Stanley Steamer Museum

Holm Lodge

Tex Holm, of the Yellowstone Park Camping and Transportation Co. (later the Holm Transportation Co.) built Holm Lodge about 7 miles east of Yellowstone’s East Entrance. It opened in June 1910, as a retreat for the guests on his camping company excursions into Yellowstone.  The trips were originally 15 and 21 days long. The log lodge contained the kitchen, dining room, lobby, and a “…few sleeping rooms for unescorted ladies.” A 1910 brochure, ‘The Cody Road’, described the lodge as “beautifully situated near the North Fork of Shoshone River on Libby Creek”. It noted that a new lodge will be opened that year with a log building for kitchen and dining room, and another for “social purposes”. Tent houses measuring 12’ x 14’ with board floors and half-walls were available for overnight stays. One and two-room cabins and cottages were scattered through the nearby pine woods, along with sleeping tents with wood floor and doors. Guide services were available into the park, and camping and hunting trips were available outside of the park boundaries.




2nd Holm Lodge, after 1913 Fire
Tammen Postcard #91671
In 1912 arrangements were made for Wylie Camping Co. guests to spend the night at the Lodge, along with Holm Co. guests. Wylie guests were taken from the Lodge into the park by Wylie stagecoaches the following morning.  A disastrous fire occurred in November of 1913 and destroyed the lodge. The following spring, William "Billy" Howell, former Holm employee, and Mr. Jordan purchased the lodge remains and property from Tex and began their own camping operation into the park.  Howell rebuilt Holm Lodge and it was open by summer of 1915.  It continued in use by a succession of owners until a fire in 2004 burned it to the ground.


Holm Transportation Co. Ad
24Aug1913, Topeka Daily Capital

Holm Transportation Co.

In 1911, Aron “Tex” Holm in conjunction four other Cody men, created the Holm Transportation Co., which was granted permission to establish a transportation business to and from the east entrance of the park. The company was incorporated Nov. 11, 1911, with five directors: Aron Holm, Louis Gokel, J.M. Schwoob, W.L SImpson, W.J. Deegan. In 1913, he was granted a permit to transport visitors from Cody into the park to stay at the various hotels or camps. A year later, Holm was having some financial difficulties and by the end of the 1915 season his company went bankrupt. He was unable to operate the following season, leaving no service provider from Cody to and from the east entrance into Yellowstone. To alleviate this situation, the Interior dept authorized the creation of the Cody-Sylvan Pass Motor Co. for the 1916 season. This company became the first commercial motorized transportation concern allowed into the park and it journeyed from the CB&Q railroad depot in Cody to Lake Hotel where passengers were loaded onto Yellowstone Park Transportation Co stagecoaches for travel into the interior of the park. The following year the stagecoaches were retired and all commercial travel was by auto stages, with YPTCo being the carrier from Cody into Yellowstone.



Holm Transportation Co. Logo
From an envelope, pm1913

Old Trail Shop

The Trail Shop was founded as a camping stop for travelers between Cody and Yellowstone in 1922. Wiley Sherwin built the Trail Shop at the edge of the Wapiti Valley, right on the boundary of the Shoshone NF, a perfect place for people to rest, get a drink, eat and admire the beautiful mountain views. Wiley’s children made/collected souvenirs to sell to the visitors, such as deer/elk horns, rocks and handmade jewelry. Due to survey problems a few years later, the building had to be moved about 100 yards away, and with the help of neighbors, a new lodge was built.

The following are excerpts from Wiley’s son, Ted Sherwin, Wiley’s son, from his book, The Sherwins of Northfork (2010):

“The new building, which Dad designed himself, had a large front room with a fireplace in one end, which would be the store and lunchroom, and behind that a large kitchen and family dining area. In back of the kitchen were three rooms which included a living room and two bedrooms. Underneath the end bedroom on the west was a cellar, used for storing food and supplies. There was a fairly large enclosed porch next to the kitchen, serving as a utility room, laundry and space for a large icebox.” The new Trail Shop was completed and ready for business by the spring of 1925, along with three double cabins which had been built during the winter, with some hired help. Dad hand-lettered another sign which said CABINS and underneath that WAFFLES & HONEY. The word CABINS was in capital letters, and Dad inadvertently reversed the diagonal bar on the letter N.”

“One day, in 1926, some of the buses stopped to let passengers use the restrooms, and other passengers took advantage of the opportunity to buy refreshments and souvenirs. Realizing the potential economic advantage of having all the buses stop at the Trail Shop, Dad talked to the bus company officials in Cody about it. They visited the Trail Shop and told him that they would make it a regular stop if he would install more restroom facilities. Dad was jubilant, and set to work immediately on the restroom expansion. He had to put up a new building with flush toilets for men and women on opposite sides, and several shower stalls for the use of cabin customers . . . these changes made a tremendous difference in the business activity and profitability of the Trail Shop. The buses went “up” (from Cody train station) about mid­morning, and “down” (from Yellowstone Park) in the afternoon. Sometimes there were as many as seventy or eighty buses a day with about 24 passengers each.”


In 1962 Wiley and Nina Sherwin put the lodge up for sale. With their children spread out in other occupations and 40 years of diligent service - it was time to retire. Wiley passed on 5 years later, and Nina moved to live in Cody until her death in 1994.


Top Photo: Trail Shop, ca1923, F.J. Hiscock Real-Photo PC  
Middle Photo: Aerial View Trail Shop, nd, Habs/Haer Photo  
Bottom Photo: Interior of Trail Shop, nd, Real-Photo PC  


Sylvan Pass Lodge, 1924
YNP Archives Black Album
Sylvan Pass Lodge

The Yellowstone Park Lodge & Camps Co. opened this lodge at the East Entrance in 1924, on the former Wylie camp site. It seems the first year it was referred to as the Cody Camp, derived from the Wylie days. The name “Sylvan Pass Lodge” became official in 1925. The building was 150’x100’ in size ,with a dining room 135’x52’. It served as a lunch stop for travelers coming to the park on the YPTCo.’s buses from the railroad station in Cody. It was said that 500 people would have their lunch there. One group of buses would arrive at noon from Cody and another at 1pm from the park. Sometimes up to 50 11-passenger buses would be parked in front of the lodge. It also served all other travelers in the area and tent facilities for overnight guests. Mrs. Underwood, a long time park employee, managed the lodge. The operation only lasted about 10 years and was torn down in 1940.

Sylvan Pass Lodge, ca1930
with YPTCo buses
Real-Photo PC

Yellowstone Yule Carols Fill Park

YELLOWSTONE PARK — Christmas carols will fill the crisp mountain air, presents wil] he exchanged and workers will sit down to special dinners today as Yellowstone National Park continues a traditional celebration.
   The first Christmas in August observance was held during the 1920s at Sylvan Pass Lodge. Since the lodge was small, the number of employes was small and the party begun by the manager was very close. The occasion now is celebrated also in such cities near the park as West Yellowstone, Gardiner and Cooke City as a farewell to park and seasonal employes.  New trees are decorated throughout the park, the nation's first, sand the entire crew of park workers and concessionaries — not to mention tourists — join in the celebration.
   Art Bazata, president of Yellowstone Park Co., will hold a special open house today as part of the observance.  Sylvan Pass Lodge was the first overnight stop from Cody, Wyo, The lodgo no longer exists.
   Celebrants opened the festivities Saturday night with a dance.
     [25Aug1968 Billings Gazette]

(Author Note: This could be true, although I have not researched the subject. But Sylvan Pass Lodge was generally a lunch station, although lodging was available. Pahaska Tepee was probably the first overnight lodging near the east entrance.)

Green Lantern - Wapiti Lodge

The Wapiti Lodge had no association with WF Cody or the Wapiti Inn. Ben and Mary Simpers moved from Indiana to the Cody area in 1913. The following year they relocated to the Wapiti area of the Northfork of the Shoshone River and established a ranch, apparently on the site of the demolished Wapiti Inn. The Cody Enterprise noted in July of 1927 that, "Ben Simpers Is building an attractive stand at the entrance of his ranch and will sell strawberries and cream and fried chickens to the hungry tourists this summer. He will also fill orders for dressed chickens."  He had received a load of about 1000 chickens two months previously to get the business rolling. As time went on, they developed the Green Lantern Tourist Camp. In 1931 they constructed a building that was called "Green Lantern." It served as a cafe and probably the office for the campgrounds. Sometime after Prohibition, they became what is believed to be the first business to sell beer in the area.

In 1938 Postmaster Wylie Sherwin, of the Trail Shop, resigned after 15 years and the new postmaster was Ben Simpers, who located the PO in the Green Lantern..Ben and Mary operated the Green Lantern until 1946 when sold the property and moved into Cody. Inez and George R. King were the new owners. and renamed it Wapiti Lodge. They had lived in Los Angeles CA before moving to Wyoming in 1946. They built new cabins and continued to operate the lodge until 1970, when the couple bought a home in Cody, residing there for their remaining years. The lodge is still operating under the name, Historic Wapiti Lodge,


Green Lantern & Post Office


Wapiti Lodge, ca1948
Courtesy Park Co. Wyo. State Archives


Wapiti Lodge, ca1960s
Post Card view


  Absaroka Lodge

This lodge probably originated in August 1917, when Earl F. Crouch obtained a permit for the site from the Shoshone National Forest. It is located about 12 miles east of Yellowstone and situated along Gunbarrel Creek, The original site name was Gunbarrel Lodge from 1917 to 1925. In 1925, it was bought by Tracy Hill (Crouch's step-son) and Earl and Mildred Martin. In 1927 Wood and Martin bought the dude ranch. The Martins and Earl Hayner bought the place in 1928. Later, Earl Hayner took over full ownership and named the place the LV Bar Ranch in 1930. In 1946, it was sold to Victor Heyliger and Forest A. Jordan, who operated the place as Absaroka Lodge Camp for Boys. In 1951, Peg and Fred Garlow (Buffalo Bill Cody's grandson) bought the dude ranch. In the 1970-90s, there was a series of owners. It is currently operated as the Absarorka Mountain Lodge.

  Left: Absaroka Lodge, Real-Photo PC, undated
  Right: Absaroka Ad, 23Jul1925, Casper Star-Tribune

 
Elephant Head Lodge

The Elephant Head Lodge gets its name from a rock formation overlooking it. The Lodge, Restaurant, and the “Trapper” cabin were all built in 1910 by Buffalo Bill Cody’s niece, Josephine Thurston, and her husband Harry W. Thurston. Harry chose the site for its water. He was one of the first Rangers in the Shoshone Forest and knew about the spring that still serves the Lodge today. It was a dependable source of good water for early travelers to Yellowstone – and for trappers and Indians before them. The lodge is operated by a Wyoming native with a fourth generation ranch family background.

  Left: Elephant Head Lodge, Real-Photo PC, undated
  Right:
Elephant Head Lodge Interior, Real-Photo PC, undated


 
Goff Creek Lodge

The Goff Creek Lodge is a dude ranch in Shoshone National Forest on the east entrance road to Yellowstone National Park. The ranch was probably established ca1910 by Tex Kennedy. Built in typical dude ranch style with a rustic log lodge surrounded by cabins, its period of significance extends from 1929 to 1950. Goff Creek is no doubt named for famed hunter John B. Goff, who hunted and camped in the area in the early 1900s.

Goff Creek Lodge, Real-Photo PC, postmarked 1946


Red Star Ranch, ca1930s

  Shoshone Lodge - Red Star Ranch

The Re  0, about 6 miles  from the east entrance to Yellowstone. The lodge was built by Henry Dahlem, the first sheriff of Park County, Wyoming, begining in 1924 and progressing by stages. The second quarter of the lodge was built in 1930, the third in 1935, and the final quarter in 1944. The lodge and other structures were built of D-shaped milled logs, produced on site at the Star Sawmill. Henry's son Harry took over management of the ranch in 1949 at a time when the Forest Service called the operation "Shoshone Lodge." Henry died in 1952 and Harry died in 1954, and his wife Betty managed the lodge with the help of their children Keith and Deborah.
 
Right: Shoshone Lodge, ca1952 Buffalo Bill Hist. Center
 
 

  Morris - Nameit Creek - Bill Cody Ranch


   Morris Ranch: 1925-1945:

In 1925, Leonard and Dorothy Morris laid the groundwork for the main lodge, the Westerner, and the Deluxe Ponderosa cabins. Leonard, a Cody native and Hollywood movie actor named the new establishment the Lazy Bar H Ranch. The ranch operated in conjunction with the Broken H Dude Ranch, owned by Leonard’s father, Fred Morris. At this time, the concept of a “dude ranch” was just entering the American consciousness. In its early days, guests at the Lazy Bar H Ranch would enjoy great home cooked meals, horseback riding, pack trips, big game hunting, fishing, and target shooting.

   Nameit Creek Lodge: 1945-1971:
The ranch stayed in the Morris family through the early 1940s but was closed for brief periods during the Depression and World War II. In 1945, Bill and Mary Walker purchased the ranch and renamed it Nameit Creek Lodge after the creek that runs through the property into the Shoshone River.

   Bill Cody Ranch: 1971-
From 1968 through the 1970s, the ranch changed ownership multiple times. It was not until 1971 when the grandson of Buffalo Bill himself purchased the guest ranch, calling it “Bill Cody’s Ranch Inn.” Bill Cody had grown up in the Cody area. His mother was Irma Cody Garlow, the favored daughter of Buffalo Bill after whom the historic Irma Hotel is named. The young Bill Cody left Wyoming to pursue other ventures as a young adult, but Bill Cody Ranch would be where he spent his later years. Bill Cody Ranch was purchased by John Jelks out of Arkansas after the 2018 season. John plans on keeping the Bill Cody Ranch a family oriented guest ranch that is devoted to giving families from all over the world a true western vacation at an affordable price.

Top Right: Ad for Morris Ranch, 4Jul1926, Casper Star-Tribune  
Bottom Right: Morris Ranch Collage,
Pictorial Souvenir of Cody, Wyoming  
by A.G. Lucier  







Copyright 2019 Robert V. Goss 
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