Page 168 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2024 SPAIN

ductions in Chicago and New York while
still working as a scout and fighter. He’s
said to have begun dressing as he would
for the stage in beaded and fringed buck-
skin jackets in battle as well as on stage.
“He loved to commission paintings of
himself,” Harrington told us as we admired
vivid portrayals of his battles. My favorite
exhibits included saddles, costumes, and
even a stagecoach used in Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West, a massive stage show rivaling
PT Barnum’s traveling circus. Cody began
staging his Wild West extravaganza in the
1880s to international raves. He employed
some of the most legendary characters of
the era, including sharpshooter Annie Oak-
ley and Lakota warrior Sitting Bull. Bill-
board-sized posters on display in the
museum depicted a cast of hundreds plus
horses and other animals reenacting bat-
tles and other dramatic Wild West scenes.
Cody took the show to London twice, per-
forming before Queen Victoria. The dour
queen, normally dressed in black in mourn-
ing, is rumored to have been quite taken
with Buffalo Bill and gifted him an ornate
cherrywood bar for his Hotel Irma in the
new town of Cody, Wyoming.
In 1895,Cody promoted the develop-
ment of a new town to serve as a gateway
to Yellowstone National Park, established
as the nation’s first national park in 1872.
Cody, Wyoming was founded in 1896 on the
Shoshone River in the Bighorn Basin just 52
miles from Yellowstone. The region was al-
ready attracting attention as a gateway to
the national park and fertile area for hunt-
ing and fishing. A railroad line opened in
Cody in 1901, the same year the town be-
came incorporated. Cody, an ardent town
father, built the Irma Hotel in 1902; it re-
mains a beloved landmark and working ho-
tel and restaurant complete with Queen
Victoria’s bar. In 1899, he started the Cody
Enterprise newspaper, still published to-

168 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2024