Title: Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck

Date: March 2, 1899

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

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No Platte Neb
Mar. 2d 99 [1]

My Dear Beck

Am in recept of letter from Irma Valley Saying Burns is herding his sheep in their door yards. [2] Now George you promised to stop this herding of sheep on our segregated lands. Why dont you do it? Why is it that no one will try to look after our companys interests out there? [3] its a shame— I will see the Directors when I get east and see what can be done.

Very truly

W. F. Cody

Note 1: Cody did not write the year clearly. The last numeral most closely resembles a "2," but the events referred to in this letter could not have occurred in 1892. Another reading of the final numeral is a "9" with a dash added at the base of the numeral. The existence of another Cody letter dated 2 March 1899 written on similar paper also suggests that this letter may have been written in 1899. [back]

Note 2: "Irma Valley" most likely refers to an area now known as Irma Flats, located on the South Fork of the Shoshone River about nine miles southwest of Cody, Wyoming. Named for William F. Cody's daughter Irma, the area was made viable for settlement by the construction of the Cody Canal. "Burns" may be John L. Burns, whose family owned a liquor store in the town of Cody. Burns was a charter member of Shoshone Lodge #21 of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, organized in Cody in 1903. William F. Cody purchased the Carter Ranch, a few miles south of Irma Flats, from the Burns family about 1900. [back]

Note 3: The company to which William F. Cody refers is the Shoshone Irrigation Company. The "segregated" land mentioned by Cody was meant to be settled by persons who would buy their water rights from the Shoshone Irrigation Company under the terms of the Carey Act once the Cody Canal became operational. [back]

Title: Letter from William F. Cody to George T. Beck

Source: University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center, Buffalo Bill Letters to George T. Beck (Acc. #9972), ah031434

Date: March 2, 1899

Author: Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917

Topic: Buffalo Bill's Wyoming

Sponsor: Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

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