When your guide-book description of Cody comes peppered with ‘gunslingers, gold diggers, outlaws and cowboys’, you think it’s over-sold. But then, the first local you meet, a co-passenger on the flight from Denver to Cody, greets you with a ‘Howdy’ as he tips his Stetson. He casts an intimidating figure at six-foot something, sporting a handle-bar moustache and boots with spurs that command attention even as he walks away. That’s when I knew instantly that Cody is the real deal. After all, this was the town founded by, and named after, the celebrated William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody.
Buffalo Bill was one of the most colourful figures in the 19th-Century American Old West. It was a turbulent and exciting time. The American Frontier was expanding, as rugged cowboys, mountain men and expeditioners travelled further west, claiming land. And Buffalo Bill wore many hats: frontier scout, showman, Pony Express rider, cowboy and hunter among others. He supposedly killed 4,282 bison (American buffaloes) in 18 months, earning his nickname.
The first place I visit is the Old Trail Town: an open-air museum of 19th Century buildings relocated from across Wyoming. Around me are wagons and cabins. The occasional deer skull marks certain cabins. It helps that Cody offers the perfect backdrop, surrounded by mountains and dotted with ranches. In the midst of this, you enter a hole-in-the-wall cabin that belonged to the notorious train and bank robber, Butch Cassidy. Cody is known as the ‘rodeo capital of the world’ because it’s possible to catch a performance every night, between June 1 and August 31. I watch as cowboys and cowgirls come onto the dauntingly-named Stampede Park, to perform fearless feats. As their horses kick up a dust storm, they round up cattle, wrestle steers, and ride fierce broncos.
The most-visited attraction is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. There are five museums within it — Cody Firearms, Whitney Western Art, Draper Natural History, Plains Indians and Buffalo Bill Museum; I head here first. At the entrance, I am greeted by an apparition; a hologram of the formidable William Cody. Within these walls lies his life story of triumph and tragedy.
Life on the edge
Buffalo Bill was born in Iowa, the fourth of eight children born to Isaac and Mary Cody. The icon’s home was shifted to the centre. A non-descript wooden structure speaks of humble beginnings. It was the prairies of Iowa that inculcated a love for Nature in him. When most kids learn the alphabet, Cody learned to ride horses, build houses, and set traps. The turning point came when, at the age of 11, he lost his father. At 14, he became a rider for the Pony Express, where men on horseback delivered mail. Posters at the museum dub it, ‘the most dangerous job in the world’. It entailed braving harsh terrains and attacks by bandits and American Indians. In his memoirs, Cody claims to have crossed a perilous path, defeated the enemy, only to find his relief rider had been killed. What did he do? Rode on, allegedly covering 300 miles in under 24 hours!
Soon after, Cody served as an army scout. He fought off American Indians, and hunted for bison to feed the army and the Kansas-Pacific Railroad workers. Around this time, he challenged a hunter, William Comstock, to a shooting match. The two shared a moniker. But Cody stripped him of it by killing 68 bison in eight hours, to Comstock’s 48.
As I ponder his surreal life, an attendant informs that scholars disagree on many accounts. Yet, it’s the embellishments that keep the romance of that era alive. Cody knew how to capitalise on it. He became a showman, started Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a travelling theatre, with scripts from his life. Often Cody was the star, performing death-defying stunts.
I see jackets and vests that he wore on stage. Cody earned international fame, performing across the US and Europe. Then, he set his sights on other ventures — mining, oil, hotels. Ironically, the man credited with creating the Wild West genre of entertainment, died a pauper as his investments failed. But his Irma Hotel, named after his daughter, still stands.At the hotel’s restaurant, I sit at the cherry wood bar — a gift from Queen Victoria — and strike up a conversation with a chatty local, Brian. He mentions Louisa Frederici, who remained in an unhappy marriage with Cody. Brian reveals a mystery surrounding Cody’s burial. The story goes that in a 1906 will and testament, Cody asked to be buried atop Cedar Mountain, outside his town. In a later will, he left the decision to Louisa, who picked Denver, where he’d passed away, while living with his sister. Rumour has it that Bill’s loyal friends exchanged his body for a look-alike and buried the ‘real Cody’ atop Cedar. Like most details of his life, this information is hazy. Yet, it’s only fitting that even in death, Buffalo Bill weaved the perfect tale.
Getting there: Fly British Airways from Mumbai/Delhi/Chennai to Denver. Fly a local American carrier from Denver to Cody (1hr 25m flight).
