Having arrived in Dodge City, KS, late the night before, we set out to explore this historic western town a bit. We found the visitor's center, and just as we entered, the "Marshall" was getting ready to take another couple on a tour of town. I mistook the "Marshall," pictures shown below, for a performer in the local museum's re-enactment spectacles: he was dressed in typical cowboy attire, complete with boots, spurs, hat, gun belt, and 6-shooter. I was wrong. The "Marshall" is Special Deputy U.S. Marshall Charlie Meade, who is now literally the Marshall of Dodge City. When Dakota asked him if the bullets on his belt were real, he indicated that they were, and that his gun was loaded, because "there are a lot of crazy people in our country." His duties used to include prisoner transfer and some warrant enforcement, but now, he mainly gives tours of town. We eagerly joined him for a couple hours of walking around town, and he shared lots of history and stories of Dodge City.
Most of the historical markers around Dodge City center around Hollywood's portrayal of the city through some movies and the Gunsmoke television series. Oddly, the radio series wasn't really represented. Much of the original Dodge City burned down, and some other parts were torn down, but the railroad tracks and Depot are still there. The original Dodge was separated along the tracks, with the rowdy cowboys staying south of the tracks, and the more respectable parts being north of the tracks. Dodge City was a major destination for cowboys driving horses and mostly cattle until the state of KS restricted cow movements into the state to protect livestock from disease. The tour we got from him was amazing!
We finally got out of Dodge and drive a few miles to a location where you can see wagon ruts from wagons traveling the Santa Fe trail west. We couldn't quite make out the ruts (grass too high? wrong vantage point?), but it was neat all the same.
We then drove into Colorado, stopping at a state park for dinner and to walk the dogs around, and made it into our motel in Golden later in the evening.
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| The Marshall starting his tour of town. |
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| The Marshall explaining the cow drives into Dodge in the 1870s. |
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| This is Marshall Charlie Meade with loaded six-shooter. |
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| Statue of Wyatt Earp, the famous Marshall of Dodge City during the cow drive period. |
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| Luke, Dad, and Dakota with the Marshall after our tour. |
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| The Kansas prairie, at the monument where ruts are visible from the Santa Fe trail. |
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| Santa Fe trail marker. |
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| Panoramic view of the wagon rut monument. The trail passed through the center of the picture. |
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| I think the wagon ruts are aligned with this marker, and so you're looking at the Santa Fe trail path. |
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| Entering Colorado. |
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| State park in Pueblo, CO, where we stopped for dinner by a reservoir. |
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