Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck, April 3, 1896Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917Johnston, JeremyChristianson, FrankSeefeldt, Douglas, 1964-Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.2013William F. Cody ArchiveUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnCenter for Digital Research in the Humanities319 Love LibraryUniversity of Nebraska–LincolnLincoln, NE 68588-4100cdrh@unlnotes.unl.eduLincoln, NebraskaUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnLincoln, NE 68588-4100wfc.css00469Horace C. Alger (1857-1906) was a banker from Sheridan, Wyoming, mayor of Sheridan in 1889, and candidate for Governor of Wyoming in 1898. Cody, Beck and Alger were responsible for developing the Shoshone Irrigation Company. Marquette, Wyoming, was a very small community located at the confluence of the North and South forks of the Shoshone River, named after George Marquette, a Civil War veteran, who had been an early hunter, trapper and prospector along the South Fork of the Shoshone River. In 1884 George Marquette established a ranch which became the meeting place for neighbors and travelers; he was appointed postmaster when the first post office on the South Fork was established in 1890. By then the meeting place had become a bustling and busy little community consisting of a general store, a saloon, several small log homes and a schoolhouse. Deputy Sheriff Felix Alston named the community of Marquette after the country gentleman everyone had come to know as "Uncle George," the fiddle-playing rancher who played for the many county get-togethers. The Marquette community served as headquarters for W. F. Cody's ditch company prior to the establishment of Cody, the town. When the Shoshone Dam, now known as the Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir, was being constructed, the Marquette buildings were all removed from the site as wood was scarce. The original site of Marquette disappeared when the new reservoir began to fill during spring of 1910. The foreman that Cody refers to as "Burke" is not Major John M. Burke but probably Carlton Burke, a foreman on the irrigation project. WFC's mention of "Stokes" may refer to Edward S. Stokes (1841-1901) who was at one time a railroad and oil magnate and businessman. In 1872 Stokes served four years in Sing-Sing Prison for the murder of his business partner, Jim Fisk. Stokes was an owner of the Hoffman House, an elegant hotel in Manhattan, where WFC often resided. Bronson Rumsey, II, 1854-1946, was one of the founding members of the town of Cody, Wyoming, and one of the directors in the Shoshone Irrigation Company that Cody put together to provide water to the arid Big Horn Basin. Rumsey's father (Bronson Case Rumsey) was a very wealthy businessman who owned a leather and tannery business in Buffalo, New York.Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917Letter from William F. Cody to George T. BeckApril 3, 18962 pagesUniversity of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Buffalo Bill Letters to George T. Beck (Acc. #9972)ah031322-23
2 hand-written pages
2 pages
Media: black ink
TextsCorrespondenceBuffalo Bill's WyomingBeck, George Washington Thornton, 1856-1943Alger, Horace Chapin, 1857-1906Marquette, George, 1841-1906Alston, Felix, 1869-1956Burke, CarltonStokes, Edward S., 1841-1901Rumsey, Bronson, II, 1854-1946Shoshone Irrigation District (Wyo.)Buffalo Bill Dam (Wyo.)Weakly, Laura K. Added annotationWeakly, Laura K. Initial encodingHouze, Lynn ProofingClark, Linda ProofingBoyce, Gary TranscriptionAdams, Deb Transcription
Auditorium Hotel
Breslin & SouthgateChicago, Apr. 3 1896My Dear George
I recd a letter from Alger this morn. and Answered it. also wrote You to Marquette. See my letter to Alger of this date and give me answer to it. George I cannot for the life of me see where all the money is going to for the results gained. Our own forces are surely being work to no advantage. like Burke1 was working his gang last fall one plow with six mules and two men standing idle eight hours out of the ten— but with
that I cantcan't see where the money is going. No wonder Rumsey wanted to shut down. I am glad my letter about Stokes2 came in good time. You see itsit's well to keep one posted punctually. wish you would learn a lesson from it. Say old Fellow. if you have come to Sheridan dont for goodness sake let Rumsey have to wait a week for you to play billiards before attending to business it will disgust him and this is a serious time.
I must have a statement of what has been done and where the money has gone. You did not take time to tell me in your letter what was being done to the ditch. its strange you have not moovedmoved from Marquette yet. If the force had been half managed you would have been away from those gin Mills long ago—
Yours—CodyNote 1: "Burke" refers to Carlton Burke, a foreman working on the irrigation project.Note 2: "Stokes" is possibly Edward S. Stokes (1841-1901), at one time a railroad and oil magnate and businessman. Stokes was an owner of Hoffman House, an elegant hotel in Manhattan where Cody was often a guest. Cody may have wanted Stokes to invest in the Cody Canal.