Inside the newest museum at Cody's Buffalo Bill Historical Center, it's not difficult to ignore the few dozen other people there. My full attention is devoted to the wildfire raging in front of me... not to mention the two wolves that are in danger of getting caught in it. Lights simulate the fire and sound effects create a realistic crackling and crashing of falling trees. An elk bugling drowns out the snufflings of bears. It even smells like fire.“If you were to stand in front of an approaching wildfire in one of Yellowstone’s forests, these are the sights, sounds and smells you’d experience,” a volunteer says.
The Draper is the newest and fanciest of the five museums (and one research library) that comprise the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, the undeniable heart of the town of Cody and a window into the entire West. Each, while not as 21st century as the Draper, is remarkable in itself, but together – the Draper Museum of Natural History, the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, the Plains Indian Museum and the Cody Firearms Museum – they present one of the most complete pictures of the history, geology, geography, people, cultures and spirit of the West … over an area equal in size to eight football fields. It’s no wonder novelist James Mitchener called the place, “one of the five best museums in the world.”
Any visit to Cody starts with the BBHC.
Like the former cow town it calls home, the BBHC didn’t start out on such a grand scale. Mary Jester Allen wanted a shrine dedicated to her famous uncle, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. With the help of some wealthy friends, she opened the Buffalo Bill Museum in 1927. On Cody’s main street, the museum was housed in a 50-foot by 70-foot log cabin constructed as an exact replica (albeit larger) of the house on Cody’s TE Ranch, up the South Fork of the Shoshone River a short distance out of town.
Within a few years, the museum was bulging with “too many riches for its display space,” according to Allen. More and more people visited every year. Because this museum was so popular, a second museum, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, was added in 1958. Things just snowballed from there. The Plains Indian Museum opened in 1969. That same year, a new space was built for the Buffalo Bill Museum and the three museums together were christened “Buffalo Bill Historical Center.” In 1976, the Cody Firearms Museum opened. After that – with four museums – the center took a bit of a break. No new museums were added until the Draper opened, with Clint Eastwood looking on, in June 2002.
If you don’t have the time to do all five museums, here’s a synopsis of each to help you choose the ones you do want to hit:
Buffalo Bill Museum: Celebrating both the public and private life of Buffalo Bill, this museum overflows with original posters advertising the Wild West Show, show costumes and props – you won’t believe how small Annie Oakley was – and clothing and trinkets once belonging to Buffalo Bill’s wife and children.
Whitney Gallery of Western Art: The Louvre may have the Mona Lisa, but the Whitney has the Last of the Buffalo by Albert Bierstadt
Draper Museum of Natural History - BBHC Mark Gocke
and the giant Custer’s Last Stand by Edgar S. Paxson, as well as a few thousand other historic and contemporary western pieces.
Plains Indian Museum: After a $3.8 million remodel and reinterpretation, the Plains Indian museum reopened in June 2000 to tell the story of the lives of Plains Indian people, their cultures, traditions, values and histories, as well as the contexts of their lives today through traditional displays as well as interactive kiosks.
Cody Firearms Museum: Interested in behind-the-scene photos from Jimmy Stewart’s movie Winchester 73 or the television shows Bonanza and Have Gun Will Travel? The Boone & Crockett collection of trophy North American big game animals? The most comprehensive collection of American firearms in the world? Even if guns aren’t your thing, this museum will fascinate you.
Draper Museum of Natural History: The Draper isn’t a mini-Yellowstone, meant to act as a substitute for the real thing, but a place that helps visitors understand the area better. Walk around the museum and learn why Old Faithful isn’t so faithful anymore; about why the re-introduction of wolves to the park in 1995 and 1996 was, and still is, so contentious and that the region has produced over 2 billion barrels of oil.
Whichever of the BBHC museums you decide to hit, make sure to save some time and energy for Cody itself.
The first time I went to Cody it was to climb the frozen waterfalls that form in the canyons and gullies outside town each winter. But don’t worry, I won’t recommend that for you … at least not in the middle of summer. Cody has plenty of non-extremity-numbing things to do. The Cody Nite Rodeo, the longest running rodeo in the U.S. and the reason Cody was named the “Rodeo Capital of the World,” has been going strong at Stampede Park for over 60 years. The North Fork of the Shoshone has whitewater rafting perfect for rafters (there are commercial outfitters happy to take you) and kayakers. Fly fishermen and women will love the North and South Forks of the Shoshone as well as Buffalo Bill Reservoir. Browse antique shops and art galleries along Main Street. Hike in Buffalo Bill State Park and on area landmark Heart Mountain (the summit of Heart is a true test of how hard and fast your heart can pump). There are mountain biking and horseback riding areas within town limits and the nearby Shoshone National Forest has hundreds of miles of trails.
Looking for a comfortable place to recover from all these activities? The Irma Hotel, named after Cody’s daughter Irma Louise and built smack in the middle of downtown in 1902 by Cody himself, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While Buffalo Bill Cody is no longer around to hold try-outs for his Wild West Show (which he did right at the Irma), every night from June through September, the Cody Gunfighters stage a shootout on the street in front of the hotel. The hotel’s cherrywood bar – a gift to Buffalo Bill from Queen Victoria – is one of the most photographed features in town.
To get an idea of what more period buildings looked like, head for Cody’s Old Trail Town, an assemblage of historic area buildings and relics. In addition to 30-some restored buildings dating from 1879 through the early 1900s, Old Trail Town is also the final resting place for several local and national folk heroes like John “Liver Eating” Johnston (the movie Jeremiah Johnson was based on his life).
When you’re done with all this, come back in winter and we’ll start ice climbing.
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