, 1923-02-14
COWBOYS and Big HATS
Let's Keep Cody AS 1t Used To Be
(June Little)

LGl > hCCp Souy
(June Little)
A letter has been received from
Tom Ames of Valley in answer to
one written him some weeks ago in
the "Small Town Stuff" column of
the Enterprise with reference to q
speech Mr.. Ames previously had
made at a meeting of the Cody Club.
It's the general opinion of those
who are interested in increasing h
tourist trade in this country that
something should be done towards up
holding the standards and perpetual
ing the spirit of the old west US TAR
as Cody is concerned and for some
time a movement has been on foot
as regards finding a way in which
the town made famous by Buffalo
Bill may continue along the lines set
by it's founder and live up to the re-
putation it has had for many years
as being a western town of the old
school.
Mr.. Ames believes that the name
of Cody is a great and natural adj
vertisement that should be lived up
to and he wants to see Cody more as
it used to be, with more riders, i'll
dams, big hats ETC., and a general
wild and wolly atmosphere which
NAV sound a bit fiction like to some
of the town who have come here
from the middlewest and have tried
to make people believe that Cody is
no different from any town in Iowa
or other southwestern states, but
which nevertheless is known as an
undisputed fact that the western ide
is what attracts Fasteners and h
ummer tourists who annually pass
through Cody. The big hats, olae
jeans, and chapps, are what the visi-
tors are interested in seeing and such
things are what induces them to ling
err longer while here, and later to re-
turn home to talk about finding the
west as they had hoped to see it and
to send their friends or ONE back
again year after year.
Mr.. Ames letter goes in part rs
follows:
"My Dear B. V. D.
/ am glad you wrote mt that letter
1t gives me a chance to write you
one and to say some things which
l was too scared to remember and
say at the Cody Club luncheon.
Your idea about holding a show
right here in town is a good one but
it doesn't go far enough. The show
should be every evening. What bet
ter way could Cody be advertised?
And in what way could they have a
better chance of holding the crowds
and letting them spend money in our
town?
You know from experience that a
dude or tourist couldn't be dragged
out of town even if he presumed he
was on the way to wild and woolly
ranch for a visit, if there was going
to be some bucking horses and riders
and some steer riding and roping that
evening by the very cowboys he had
observed walking about town during
the day of his visit.
You couldn't drive a tourist car
out of Cody from noon on, n day
during the season if they had any in
timation that there was to be a wild
west show of any kind put on nearby
that evening, and in stopping over,
tourists would naturally have to pur-
chase other essentials besides the nee
essary gas and oil and the town
merchants would all be identified.
The railroad hotel at the depot across
the river could not possibly furnish
any sort of attraction that could
rival the things Cody could do in the
way of entertainment and Park
tourists would all flock over to look
us over and to spend money amongst
us and talk about us forever after
wards.
The new Park road up the south
side of the river won't bring the
people and keep them. 1t will simply
make it easier for tourists enroute to
and from Yellowstone Park to speed
on their way. Really, there is moth
ing different in Cody from any other
small Wyoming town of it's size ex-
cepting the name and what the world
in general expects to encounter about
Buffalo Bills old stamping grounds,
and when people come and find moth
ing distinctive about Cody, they go
away disappointed and have nothing
to say IN our behalf. Yet here we
hnvo possibly the greatest known
name in the U. S. A. and nothing is
being done to carry on and make use
of the name and reputation.
The cost Of the hire of a few men
to do the wild stuff would be very
light throughout n season. A calf
a week would keep them or four or
five families of Indians who could
come over from the Grow reserva-
ton and parade up and down, blanket
clad, about the main streets of Cody.