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The High Plains Roadhead
By Mike (Roadie) Marino
Published July 2003
Lawdogs and outlaws fill
the American dreamscape with visions of the Wild
West. Barroom brawls and honky tonk women, good
guys and bad guys, white hats versus black hats
in a battle of good and evil played out in a backdrop
of the High Plains cowtowns that dotted the landscape
of the Old West. Dusty trails and the heat of
the sun, building a thirst for whiskey and a hunger
for companionship, forming a deadly combination
that could erupt in a Vesuvian gun battle..resulting
in a one way ticket to Boot Hill.
That is the American picture
most associated with the Old West. In reality
it was a hard, dusty, lowpaying and bathless drama
that was played out on the stage of cowtowns and
mining towns that were indeed wild and wooly.
Law was a thinly veiled disguise for localized
corruption and justice was dispensed with a six
gun or the end of a rope. Just as Egypt has the
pyramids to extoll her past, America has the Wild
West that will forever define us as a people.
In this Roadhead Tour-du-Jour we'll visit Dodge
City, Tombstone and Deadwood with guns a'blazin!
So saddle up, it's time to hit the dusty trail,
and don't be surprised at anything you might see
along the way.
The longest running TV western
in vast wasteland history was "Gunsmoke".
Every week Marshall Dillon, Miss Kitty, Doc and
the rest of the townspeople would hang out at
the Longbranch Saloon and no matter what evil
befell the town, by the end of sixty minutes,
right had replaced wrong and good once again,
with only a few commercial interruptions, triumphed
over evil. Although "Gunsmoke" was TV
fiction it was based in reality on the roughest
cowtown of them all, Dodge City, Kansas.
To understand Dodge City
you have to go back to 1821 when the Sante Fe
Trail opened up from Franklin, Missouri all the
way to Sante Fe, New Mexico. The trail of trade
was direct as could be in those days, but danger
lurked behind every coyote bush on the lone prairie.
Buffalo filled the grassland ocean with the sound
of thunder from their hooves and America was expanding
faster than a Chia pet.
Fort Dodge was built in
1865 to protect the trail and it's caravans, and
by 1871 the first settler built a sod hut and
trading post for the exchange of buffalo furs,
not more than 5 miles from the fort. Like prolific
rabbits, the settlers soon multiplied and by 1872
had the makings of a "town" and in honor
of their military benefactors, named the town,
Dodge City.
Although the boom and bust
longhorn cattle drives only lasted from 1875 to
1886, Dodge City has given the world it's share
of legend. The lawless nature of Dodge was caused
by a large influx of "cowboys" ready
for a good time and a town only to eager to capitalize
on that readiness, but the fact remained, there
were no lawdog peace officers at the time on the
payroll and the military had no jurisdiction.
The town simply divided itself using the railroad
tracks as a "dividing line". To the
north..no guns, no sin. To the south..anything
goes. If you went to the south side of town to
Front Street you were literally heading for the
"wrong side of the tracks"
Gunfights were common and
many a person was shot down in the street or in
a saloon and buried with "their boots on"
in makeshift graves in what became known as "Boothill".
The railroad eventually entered Dodge and when
the conductors and brakemen had layovers would
visit the local brothels that were prevalent in
the area. In order to be found by their compatriots
when the trains were ready to leave and required
their assistance, they simply hung their red lanterns
outside the door so they could signal their whereabouts.
Hence the term, "red-light district".
In time, the imaginary line
of virtue disappeared and things were out of control
and it was decided that peace officers needed
to be hired, and in the course of that hiring
process Dodge City hired some of the soon to be
most legendary lawdogs in history. William Barclay
Masterson, nicknamed "Bat", was born
in Canada in 1856 and by 1876 was serving as sheriff
of Ford County which included the town of Dodge.
Another legend was serving as the town Marshall
at the time. A gentlemen born in 1848 in Illinois
and destined to explode in lore and legend, becoming
larger than life, Wyatt Earp. Eventually Bat and
Wyatt moved on, the cattle drives slowed down
and were all but gone by 1886 and Fort Dodge had
already closed by 1882.
Today the cowboys don't
race into town hell-bent on debauchery, the gamblers
don't prey on the unsuspecting and the brothels
have all closed their doors. The tourist in search
of the "wild west" experience is the
new "cowboy" that makes tracks for the
infamous cowtown. Dodge City plays host to over
100,000 visitors a year from around the globe
who pack the town and visit the Boothill Museum
and the historic recreation of Front Street, with
it's saloon's, mercantiles and blacksmith shop.
Watch your step though, gunplay in the form of
reenactments are liable to break out at any moment.
(Note: This is not the original Front Street and
is only a re-creation) Also it's north of the
tracks these days for tourist convenience, considering
it was originally on the "wrong side of the
tracks", to the south in it's high plains
heyday. When you mosey down Front Street, and
the swinging doors of The Longbranch Saloon swing
open go inside and soak up history and pop culture
itself. Yes, the original Longbranch was the model
for the TV version on "GUNSMOKE" that
starred James Arness, who's character, Marshall
Matt Dillion was a romanticized character that
was a fictional composite of the real life Bat
Masterson and Wyatt Earp. Miss Kitty? Well, anybody's
guess.
In addition to Dodge City
itself, you can also take side trips to visit
Fort Dodge and if you go west of town on Highway
50 towards the town of Cimarron, you'll find a
pull off on the north side of the highway where
you can park and walk out into the hills and see
the original ruts and remains of the famed Santa
Fe Trail. Go south from Cimarron on Highway 23
and you'll hit the town of Meade and the Dalton
Gang Hideout and Museum, an interesting side trip
to your Dodge City adventure.
Dodge City also celebrates
it's gun blazin' past with Dodge City Days, in
late July. The town fills up for days of country
music, barbecues, rodeo's, carnivals and crafts,
dancing, a western parade and a western art show.
Other Dodge diversions include a tour by trolley
or stagecoach, cowboy poetry reading festivals
and you can wax poetically at the passing of the
old west at the Gunfighters Wax Museum!! Dodge
also has mighty modified Roadhead action, and
you can rev it up at the Dodge City Raceway.
The dusty chaps are replaced
by Bermuda shorts and the Colt revolver is long
gone, but Nikon camera's are loaded and ready
to fire away. Dodge has over 700 rooms to accommodate
the visitor and 40 some eating establishments
to appeal to every taste. One of the quirkier
things about Dodge City, is that there are two
interestingly named liquour stores in town and
within sight of each other. One is the Wyatt Earp
Liquor Store and within a block or two is the
Doc Holiday Liquor Store!! Two old friends still
looking after each other. Overall, Doc's has my
vote, as you can sit in a late 19th Century dental
chair in the back of the store and have your picture
taken!!
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Tombstone was a rough
and rowdy ride by anyone's standards. Sitting
high on a mesa at 4,500 feet above sea level,
and the Huachuca Mountains standing guard
over it's buried natural treasures, it was
mining, not the lure of the longhorn that
brought notoriety to this part of Arizona.
It was such a lawless region that the newspaper
was named The Epitaph, and Tombstone itself,
earned the sobriquet, The Town Too Tough
To Die!! Now that's tough!!
The lure of silver
and ore opened the floodgates and the rush
of humanity raced to the region in search
of wealth, faster than water running in
a sluice. As more miners and dreamers moved
to the region, the need for products and
goods increased, and eventually the first
house and business establishment to cater
to the mercantile needs of the growing boomtown
was erected in April of 1879. The population
swelled like water in a sponge and by 1881
could boast a citizenry in excess of 6,500.
Along with the boom came the obligatory
battalions of bad guys, barrooms and brothels.
The bad guys were certainly a colorful lot
of card cheats and charlatons, but by far
the most dangerous group were the "cowboys",
comprised of some of the meaner spirits
of the old west with Mafia like nicknames.
The rambunctious Johnny Ringo, the barroom
brawling Curly Bill Brocious and and the
somewhat scared like a chicken Ike Clanton.
Not abiders of law, west or east of the
Pecos, the "cowboys" generally
had carte blanche of the town to themselves
until a gentleman by the name of Virgil
Earp put on a badge and became Tombstones
Chief of Police.
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The wheels were now set
in motion and the inevitable non-harmonic convergence
and lead filled clash between two legendary factions
of the wild and crazy west was about to come to
a death dealing head. The Clantons and McLowery's
were used to bullying the populous around..until
Virgil Earp and his deputized brothers Morgan
and Wyatt had decided that it was time for an
old fashioned showdown. They had additional and
most deadly assistance from a close friend of
Wyatt Earp. He was a hell bent on self destruction
"lunger", gambler and dentist from Georgia,
named Doc Holiday. Dying anyway, Doc was only
too happy to shoot it out with anyone who might
offer the opportunity. Magnificently portrayed
in the film "TOMBSTONE" by Val Kilmer,
Doc proclaimed to all challengers..."I'm
your huckleberry".
On October 26th, 1881, The
Earp Faction walked determinedly to face the Clantons
and soon the most famous of all shoot-outs of
the old west took place...and was over in just
30 seconds. Although the shoot out actually took
place near the OK Corral and not actually in it,
the battle left some men dead in the dust and
the others wounded or grazed, except for Wyatt
Earp. He emerged unscathed and destined for immortality
in the annals of the wild west. Dime novels, magazine
articles, movies and of course, the Nifty Fifties
television series starring Hugh O'Brien.
The dust has settled, and
today, Tombstone relishes it's historic past and
recreates it on an almost daily basis with the
fervor of a Tasmanian devil on diet pills. Today
you can pose with life-size cutouts of the famed
participants of the shoot-out and take your stand
and your place next to Doc, as you bring down
the bad guys, restore law and order and tip your
white hat to the ladies. Re-enacters reenact to
the delight of greenhorns, city slickers and tourists
from around the world. Shoot-outs and hangin'
around the saloon is a great way to enjoy Tombstone,
but you might get lucky and see some double dealing,
hoss thieving, cattle rustling, no good son-of-a-gun
varmint hung from the highest tree around, great
fun for the entire family!! Gunfights, hangings,
shoot-outs..oh my!!
You won't have to rough
it in some sweaty upstairs room over the saloon
either. There's plenty of lodging in Tombstone
so you can rest comfortably, and wake up refreshed
with the energy for a full day of souvenir shopping
and touring. When you get hungry for a visit to
the old chuckwagon, there are numerous choices
of eateries for a great steak and a tall cold
one to wash down the dust of the cattle trail.
To prove that this town of 1,500 is truly civilized,
you can even get a gourmet bagel and designer
brew of cappuccino while webbing away at an Internet
ready digital delight of a deli!! Now that's civilized.
Guided tours aplenty here to help you journey
through Tombstones past and to visit highlighted
attractions with experienced guides that will
regale you with tales, truth's and a myth or two
with a wink of the eye. Enjoy the tour from a
great choice of transportation modes including
your choice of carriage, covered wagon or one
of the stage coach tours that prowl the town.
Museums and displays of
artifacts from those highly romanticized days,
are also alive and kicking and a visit to the
infamous Bird Cage Saloon is a must see stop on
your visit to town. It opened as an "opera"
house in 1881, the designation being a euphemism
for a bawdy house. Brothel upstairs...booze and
bawdy downstairs. Now that's entertainment. The
Bird Cage is allegedly where the famous verbal
sparring in the learned language of Latin occurred
between Doc Holiday and Johnny Ringo. Upstairs
in one of those hot, humid rooms is where Wyatt
Earp and his eventual lifemate, Josephine, held
their secret liaisons. It was common in those
days that the "the soiled doves" had
to be licensed in order to practice their craft,
very similar to having a drivers license, and
on display at The Birdcage is Josephine's permit
that allowed her to work in the Bird Cage brothel
and her magic on Wyatt.
Don't forget to visit Boothill
and enjoy the ghostly jaunt through a true gunslinging
past. In addition to Tombstone, there are ghost
towns to visit, drives into the mystical Huachuca's,
and for an extra treat, spend a night in a retro
Airstream in the town of Bisbee just to the south
of Tombstone at the Shady Dell Trailer Motel with
an awesome Cold War motif mixing with the wild
and woolie west.
Tombstone lies in tranquil
repose not far from the Mexican border. The town
and its past luring tourists in search of excitement
and a glimpse of our unique American Western heritage.
To experience Tombstone is to experience a bonifide
legendary locale with a murky past chock full
of wranglers, wrong doers and Wyatt Earp.
Doing Deadwood is an absolute
Wild West delight! It's up to it's gunbelt in
Wild Bill Hickok lore and legend, and packs a
fully loaded six shooter of sights and attractions
guaranteed to appeal to the whole family. Water
parks, go carts and casino's sharing the tourist
dollar going with history and Western art. Although
the boom town heyday of mining is long gone, there's
certainly plenty of tourist gold in them thar
Black Hills.
Deadwood got it's start
during the Gold Rush of 1875, and it's name from
all the "deadwood" that accumulated
in the gulch just outside of what would eventually
become the pile of debris' namesake. Gold brought
miners, and in turn, the miners attracted all
the elements of a bonafide frontier town..scam
artists, ladies of the night, merchants, gamblers,
gunfighters, and preachers. Deadwood exploded
in size with it's fair share of churches, stores,
saloons and opium dens. The boom didn't last long,
however, when it was full tilt boogie, it attracted
the infamous and the famous like a giant historic
magnet of destiny. The most colorful character
drawn to Deadwood, and the one person whose life
is celebrated on a yearly basis, is the Prince
of the Pistoleers, James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickok.
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Born
in 1837, the well coifed Wild Bill rode
into the dime novel west from his prairie.
roots in Illinois and created a persona
and legend that invited the young guns of
the west to dream of taking him on and taking
him down at high noon, all in hopes of making
a name for themselves and leaving their
own footprints in the sands of Wild West
legend.
His
lawdog career was primarily in the cowtowns
of Hays and Abilene, Kansas and brought
his peculiar no frills, no compromise, and
unconditional surrender brand of law n'order
to a lawless frontier. His background also
included working as a spy for the Union
Army during the Civil War, a scout for fellow
blonde, General George Armstrong Custer
and a stint as a sideshow attraction with
Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show.
Getting
on in years and eyesight failing, Bill decided
to slow it down and go the gold fields and
strike it rich in the Dakota's. Rumor has
it that along the way he married a lady
who owned a circus, and was also a lion
tamer and tightrope walker, an interesting
combination to say the least, and hence
his reason to raise money in order to raise
a family. Wild Bill lit out for Deadwood
in 1876 and so did someone else who would
figure prominently in the annals of the
Old West, Martha (Calamity) Jane Cannary-Burke.
More man then most men of the old west,
she would be linked forever with the six
gun hero, not only in life, but in death
as well.
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Wild Bill was playing poker
in the Number 10 Saloon one day, with his customary
seat-with-back-to-the-wall taken he sat with his
back to the door instead. In walks Jack McCall
to make his mark in the history books. Some say
he was hired as part of a conspiracy to assassinate
Wild Bill on behalf of the towns criminal elements
just to make sure that he had no plans of putting
on a badge again and cleaning up the town. In
effect, Jack McCall would become the object of
Wild West conspiracy theorists worldwide and would
be the first Lee Harvey Oswald..The Lone Gunman!
When Bill fell lifeless to the floor on August
2, 1876, he held a pair of 8's and pair of Aces,
which to this day is referred to as the "Dead
Mans Hand". What suit they were and what
the fifth card was, is still up for debate.
Wild Bill was originally
laid to rest in Ingleside Cemetery, but the towns
growth eventually called for re-internment in
Mt. Moriah Cemetery, where he lies peacefully
today. Calamity Jane lived on throughout the west
until 1903 when she died penniless in South Dakota.
Her final wish, to be buried next to Wild Bill.
She is. Today that Deadmans Hand is celebrated
along with other events in the yearly Days of
'76 Days and Wild Bill Days.
The true Gold Rush of Tourism
began with the first "Days of 76 Celebration"
in 1924. Silent Cal Coolidge visited the area
in 1929 and in addition to donning a war bonnet,
he attracted a half million visitors at the same
time, and the new rush was off and running. Today
over 2,000,000 visitors descend on the area to
visit not just Deadwood, but also the Black Hills,
the Badlands and of course, the great granite
monolith of Mt. Rushmore and the work in progress
of Chief Crazy Horse.
History and gaming go hand
in hand in Deadwood, and you won't have any trouble
trying your luck at any one of numerous casino's
that run like a string of pearls throughout the
town. The Number 10 Saloon is ready to open those
swinging doors wide pardner, so be careful if
someone deals you a pair of eights and a pair
of Aces with your beer.
To get the real flavor of
the era, visit the Days of 76 Museum and try your
luck at one of the gold mines that still hold
just enough treasure for the tourist to be amazed
and delighted, and of course, the obligatory visit
to the "Boothill Museum" (every town
had a Boothill. They were at the time, the equivalent
of a Levittown for the dead!). Reenactments relive
those exciting days and you don't want to miss
the Chinese Tunnel Tour. A visit to the Wax Museum
is a must on any itinerary, but the jewel of the
crown is a visit to pay your respects to the Lucy
and Desi of the frontier west, Wild Bill and Calamity
Jane. Graves are protected these days because
some tourist come to mine and pilfer souvenirs
from the tombstones. (Footnote: Wild Bills original
tombstone completely destroyed by souvenir hunters
way back in the 1880's. In 1891, a ten foot bronze
statue was put in it's place and within ten years,
it was destroyed too!! Ah, what price fame, eh?)
History stands proudly shoulder
to shoulder in Deadwood alongside miniature golf,
gold panning for the kids, paintball, go carts
and water slides. Outdoor enthusiasts will find
enough hiking and camping areas that will make
your head spin. Souvenir shopping here is overwhelming
and can create a hunger, so make sure you please
your palate at any of the large variety of eateries
that won't require a suit and tie. Lodging runs
the gamut from downtown motels, to bed and breakfasts,
to cabins nestled in the pines with fishing opportunities,
as well as a plethora of RV campgrounds and rustic
tent sites too, for the more Muir-like tourist.
Deadwood is alive and well
with activity from The Days of 76 to Kool Deadwood
Nights in August, and the heavenly hog Harley
meet in neighboring Sturgis every year. The Black
Hills region is indeed alive with the sounds of
tourism music.
Dodge City...Tombstone and
Deadwood. Legendary locations that define the
High Plains Drifter past of America. The growing
pains of a nation hungry for expansion and growth
and feeding that hunger not with a knife and fork,
but with six gun justice. Today, you can journey
back in time and walk in the footsteps of The
Good, The Bad and The Ugly and pretend your Wyatt
Earp. On the other hand I think I'd make a better
Doc Holiday. See you in the saloon Pard!
This
Dharmabum Roadhead writer's work has been described as DELIGHTFULLY WIERD and
WICKEDLY WONDERFUL!! Mike (Roadie) Marino is a publisher of an on line
magazine called ROAD TRIPPIN' USA. It's an asphalt kickin' journey of Roadside
Nostalgia and American Pop/Car Culture for the Chrome-Magnon in all of us. The
style is lock n load and deals with the realm of where Pop Culture and Chrome
meet Asphalt and Art!!
Mike
also writes a monthly feature column under the banner THE ROADHEAD for the award
winning Offbeat Travel zine. His column deals with bizzare ashpalt and roadside
oddities and locales from mechanical museums to Cadillac Ranch. Mike is also
a freelance writer of travel and history pieces that have been published in
magazines and ezines in the US and Europe.
Most
current project includes toiling endlessly on his first book about Pop and Car
Culture in America of the 50's, 60's and 70's. Although born in the rustbelt
of industrial Detroit, he's also been the definitive son-of-a-beach and has
lived in a treehouse in Honolulu, the tie dyed spare change neighborhood of
Haight Ashbury in San Francisco, as well as the North Beach district..where
the Beat Goes On!!
Today
Mike (Roadie) Marino lives in Missouri near the banks of the Missouri
River with his word processor. In addition, to writing and backpacking, Mike
has a penchant for Hawaiian shirts, Jimmy Buffett albums and Corona Beer. If
you would like to use any of Mike's articles some of which are included here,
contact him at the email address below or at dharmabumroadie@yahoo.com He also
accepts contract work and what the hell, a good agent wouldn't hurt either.
So contact him for rates and information. Now...Have Fun Reading...Grab A Cold
Corona..And Kick Asphalt!!!
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