Dodge City in 1872 (An Eyewitness Account) 

I'm a trucker by trade (Now retired due to health). A few years ago, I had occasion to live & work some months in the Dodge City area building roads for some new wind farms just south of town. I lived out of my truck. As a young boy growing up in Southern California, I always heard a story from my paternal grandma about how my great grandpa had decked Wyatt Earp in Dodge City. A terrible ice storm blew through the area and shut down the whole wind farm project for almost a month. So one afternoon, I found where the historical society was and within 5 minutes, had quite a handful of articles from local papers of those days (1870's and '80's) talking about P.W. Beamer. Peter Walter was a black smith. He was been born in 1842 in Ohio and served in the civil war under Gen. Sherman as a First Sargent. Not sure of his training and how he came to come to Kansas. but in around this same time period of the video, he began to ply his trade. At some point, he partnered up with a man named White. We found an old photo of Front Street looking east and in about the middle of the block is the name White clearly visible. Some point along the way, the mayor asked P.W. to be sheriff. I don't know why, but he only did it for about a month. May have had something to do with the city council outlawing having a city job at the same time having another line of work. I'm pretty sure swinging a hammer paid better! One day, Wyatt Earp came in to a saloon, but refused to hang up his guns with the bartender. The bars north of the railroad required this, whereas those south of it, did not. So off they went to fetch the sheriff, Peter Walter. When Wyatt refused P.W.'s request, the black smith knocked him to the ground. And then, helped him back to his feet. At this point, they became friends, I was always told. Not a word of it in any of those papers. Just a family story passed down through the years. His son, my grandfather, died in '61 when I was 2. After my time in Dodge City, I actually know more about my great grandpa and his wife Julia than I ever did about grandpa. Julia had a boarding his which is still there. Across the street from Applebee's. The block where the forge was was torn down in the '70's to widen the state highway, I was told. Peter Walter Beamer took his family by way of northern Arizona to San Diego eventually. My great aunt told me how frightened she was by the Indians as a young girl in Arizona. I was 10 in '69 when she shared that with me. I wish I could have known her later to ask more questions. Anyway, I loved hearing this tale of that era and area. We'll never see another time like it.

History has always been one of my top three subjects when I was in school. It is always interesting to know who was first to plant a stake in open land. I enjoy trivia questions so I will take away at least three from this video and ask them at work. I hope that you never tire of recapturing the old Wild Wild West for your Legacy of the West family 🥰!

I forgot to add this-Frank Hopper, alias "Knarf" (Frank spelled backwards) enjoyed play on words-when he described H.P. Neiss being a boot and shoe seller he really used as many shoe puns as possible. When he was talking about Fringer and Peacock playing "freeze out", it was in November-so it would have been cold in Dodge City-so "freeze out" was another play on words, referring to the weather and them playing cards at the same time. Hope you liked the video!

Probably my favorite historical period of time. Thanks for real ❤️

I lived at Fort Dodge for a year in Y2k. I was amazed at the vibe of the locals. The vestiges of early Dodge still run through those folks as if it wasn't but a few decades ago. The looks in their eyes, their mannerisms & ways are still of that era. It was very cool. The practically lost art of storytelling was still going strong then, & what a joy it was to attend those gatherings. One was about a half-hour long & was about a guy who was mad as can be, accusing someone he finally caught up with of stealing his brand new long johns about a year prior. As it turned out, they were never stolen. He had them on all this time but couldn't tell because they were under a thick layer of dirt...

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸 Happy 150th Dodge City

History is always interesting and should never be forgotten. Thanks for your videos and time, good luck, Mike

Very nice content! One note: Frank Hopper would have pronounced "Arkansas River" as "Ar-Kansas in 1872.

Great video! One thing I think most don't realize is that poker was not the big game in western towns. Faro was.

This is amazing information. Thank you sir for your efforts ! I wish I could have lived back then as to keep the peace ! 💪👍

Great video as usual. Thanks.

I look forward to your videos, they are always informative and interesting. Keep up the great work.

I love these old newspaper accounts of the old west. Thank you for bringing them to life. Thanks, by the way, for the links to the maps. It may be a few months before I can get started on that project, I'm busy rebuilding my pontoon boat's helm and control box.

What about Matt Dillion, the marshall, Miss Kitty from the Long Branch saloon, Chester or Cestus, and Doc?

As always, another well made informative video that couldnte hound anywhere else.

The ending was a really nice version of Leaning On the Everlasting Arms. I could listen to that style of music for hours.

Most excellent. From an Australian history fan.. And a railfan.

JUST GOTTA MENTION.....LOVE YOUR MUSIC, FIDDLE.....VERY VERY DESCRIPTIVE, OF THE ERA......good boys ! AND GIRLS/WIVES ! GO , TEAM GO. but with 'moderation' !

Very well done.

Great video!

I think my people might have come there around that time down from near Kearney, Nebraska.

A good story and some interesting comments!

Very interesting and entertaining 👍

Wow! Kind of makes me wish I could go back to this time. 🙋😍😃

I really enjoyed this it was very interesting

Fantastic clip. Hear Hear!

Beautiful

Very interesting...new subscriber…will you be doing Utah? I would like to hear about Provo

Been reading Tom Clavin's book on Dodge City. Interesting history. Once the most wicked town in the west. I had wanted to drive through Dodge City to see it. Ut upon further research it only has a small block of new fake false front buildings and a small grassy dirt quad with candy stores and trinket shops in those fake false front buildings. Didn't find any authentic parts left. So I crossed it off my list. It woukd have been a long drive just to go to a tourist trap. The Buffalo hunters killed tens of thousands of Buffalo. Only the hides will pay off and thr carcass left to rot in the sun. When thr railroads came through and a herd came close to the tracks, the train will stop and allow th4 passengers to just shoot them indiscriminately. If yiu didn't have a gun, thr railroad will lend you a rifle to just slaughter these noble animals. Ine, the railroads want to clear out thr millions of heads of Buffalo from roaming across the tracks. Two, the army supported this slaughter to starve out the plains Indians and force them to move to barren plains.

Those words from that song were used in "The Streets of Loredo"

What about the Longbranch, and Miss Kitty.

I spent a lot of time in that town.

When I was a girl we lived in an old house in Kansas. We used to say, 'knarf, knarf' on the school playground to make fun of some one after making a snarky comment at them in fun. I had no idea it was a historical word akin to Kansas folk!

alright you're gonna have to make more content asap jst went through ur entire channel over the last week at work

I shall visit dodge city one day . I live in Buffalo New York .

I read accounts where you could smell Dodge city from a half mile before you got to it. Because of the lack of dogs and cats Skunks took their place eating up food scrap and tidbits of buffalo that they could find and they had to be driven off to keep them from chewing on hides. They had the advantage of nobody wanting to shoot them unless it was from a safe distance which ruled out using handguns in allies and crawl spaces. Eventually as the population of dogs, and cats went up skunks went down but they were missed as they were better at eating rodents than pampered house cats. As the population of cats went up stray cats eventually plugged the rodent control gap.

See you soon dodge city❤

Where was Delmonico's restaurant? How about the Longbranch bar? Where?

Whole lot different than "Gunsmoke!" lol

My Great-Grandfather, James Richard Daniels, was from Ohio. He and his friend started west in 1876. They got jobs as bullwhackers in Des Moines, Iowa. They went as far as Dodge City. I was told that they left so my Great-Grandfather could play fiddle at dances because the money was much better. Wyatt Earp was in Dodge City at the time but I don't know if he ever met him. He ended up in SE Idaho. How he got there, I don't know. He was not LDS.

thanks love the back work

At 4:04 I believe you are looking East of old Dodge City. None of these buildings remain standing. What was the town is now Highway 54.

A good many famous old west names passed though Dodge City and spent time there. The Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, James ( Wild Bill ) Hickock. Bat Masterson was marshall there for awhile, his brother Jim killed while trying to arrest a drunk cowboy. However, there was not ever a Matt Dillon, and the closest thing to "Miss Kitty" and the girls who worked for her were not young, pretty, or virtuous.

Whiskey 🥃good money 💰

I don't understand why people talk crap on Kansas it has a very rich history.

Hail Knarf! Thanks for the reading of this inrepid reporter!

Billy Brooks hid behind barrels while Kirk Jordin expressed his dismay by.using.a buffalo gun

Obviously there will be an endless supply of buffalo.

Miss Kitty and Matt Dillon

This is exactly what Mars will be like.

Any city 2023.

@2:36 The pronunciation of the Arkansas River is....ar-KAN-zəs. Its not pronounced like the State of Arkansas

Dodgem city

They were making better money than some people in this day and time. Sounds like nobody had any morals, when the most respected man and mayor is the guy that mixed the best cocktail.

Pinky and the Brain Knarf

So called wind farms are liberal destructive edifices to the land

As the comedian said "What a dump"

50 buffaloes a day killed? How would anyone possibly process the hides so fast?

whatta waste killing 50 Buffalo/day to get drunk and play cards

Any churches yet pards?😅😅😅😅😅

Were there any black people living in Dodge City 🏙️

lt seems quite presumptuous to refer to a hamlet as a city.