Tuesday, August 7 we headed to the heart of the old west, Meeteetse, Wyoming. Meeteetse is a small community 32 miles south of Cody. It was founded in 1896 and takes its name from the Shoshone Indian word meaning "meeting place".
Meeteetse retains a special Western character with watering troughs, hitching posts and historic buildings dating to the turn of the 20th century.
Famed outlaw Butch Cassidy (real name, Robert Leroy Parker) once lived in the area and was a young cowboy in Meeteetse. Its also where he was arrested for the first and only time - outside the Cowboy Bar, which is still in business today.
After his arrest he was convicted of horse thievery.
He was sent to state prison in Laramie where he served 18 months of a two-year sentence. He was released in January 1896. Upon his release he decided that if he was going to be an outlaw, he would be the "most dreaded, most hunted and surely the most illusive outlaw that either North or South America had to contend with". Cassidy eventually left the area and traveled to South America with Henry Longabaugh, alias "The Sundance Kid". He's widely believed to have died in November 1908 after a gunfight with the Bolivian militia.
Another well known almost-resident in the area was aviatrix Amelia Earhart and her husband, George Putnam.
In the summer of 1934, a freckle-faced young woman with curly tousled brown hair sought the solitude provided by the Double D Ranch, located southwest of Meeteetse. Amelia Earhart and her husband spent three weeks at Carl Dunrud's dude ranch. Even though the weather was rainy, Earhart fell in love with the peace and solitude of the mountains and before heading back to New York, she filed a 20-acre mining claim in the area.
She asked Dunrud to do the necessary paper work on the claim and to build them a four room cabin on
the site. The cabin would be a place she could escape from the public.Construction on the cabin began in 1936. On May 20, 1937 she began her solo flight around the world at the equator. On July 2, Earhart was lost over the Pacific. By that time her cabin was four logs high and had door frames in place. When Dunrud received word of her disappearance he stopped construction on the cabin and waited for final word of her fate.
The cabin was never finished. We were told there were some remnants of the cabin up in the hills, however a 4-wheel drive vehicle is needed to climb to where the cabin was located. Needless to say, we did
not get to this site.One other famous stop in Meeteetse is the Chocolate Shop.
The shop is owned by a local working cowboy, Tim Kellogg. He works as a cowboy during the day and is a chocolatier at night. His chocolates are wonderful!! It is worth a stop!!!
On Wednesday, we went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody. This is a museum really worth seeing. There are three buildings. The part housing Wild Bill's Wild West Show artifacts has been redone and I really like what they have done. John loves to head to the gun collection area. They have over 2,700 guns. The art work section is also a wonderful place to visit. They also have some wonderful western sculptures. Another great place to visit.
That is all for now, the weather is supposed to be overcast for the next few days, which does not make for good sight seeing in the mountain, but we shall see.
Love to all,
Candy and Johnny
