Day 5
Friday 9/7
Cody WY to
Douglas WY
The last and 500th group of Mormon pioneer settlers came to Cody WY in 1900. Buffalo Bill Cody owned the water rights but needed people populate the Horn Basin and the town named after him. He generously gave away the water rights to get people in. A ceiling mural of the pioneers traveling there hangs at a local church. The church serves two wards of parishioners and is also a museum. The docents present the journey of the pioneers from the Mormon perspective, of course.
Then we took a very long drive without a tree in sight for miles and miles. No wonder water rights count!
Ever heard of Hell’s Half Acre? Well, it is way bigger than that and scary just to look at. A long time ago the Indians used it as a trap for herds of buffalo to plunge down to their deaths while the women and children waited to butcher the animals. It seems that the men’s job was herding the bison in the correct direction. That sounds like the better job and easier.
Fort Casper was rebuilt in 1936 after being abandoned and buried by the Indians in 1867. There had been lots of bad blood between the white man and the red man particularly in this area. What surprised us was the quality of the restoration. One can truly appreciate the life the soldiers led with all their conveniences of life at hand.
Check out the T-Rex. It has skin on the right side and bones on the left. It even lights up at night from the inside. We’ll have to see that some time.
