They Stole Buffalo Bill's House
Tracking the showman and his home from LeClaire, Iowa, to Golden, Colorado.
Categories: Renegade Roads
By: Scott M. Fisher 04/01/2008
The house was moved in 2004 to Greever Garden where the landscape will soon resemble Iowa—minus the Mississippi River, of course. Carpenters restored the exterior of the home in 2005, using 19th-century siding. Restoration work on the home continues.
The next day, we head back up the highway to Bridger-Teton National Forest. It was heaven. We walk through meadows of clover, up across muddy stream beds, into forested areas and down to the shore of the lake that reflected the surrounding mountains as clearly as any mirror. It’s no wonder that Cody retreated to this area in his later years, trying to toss off his rocky marriage, his often shattered finances and his failed investments.
By the time Cody launched his “farewell tour” in New York in 1910, he was nearing the end of his energy, and his funds. He formally announced his retirement in 1913 at the age of 67.
When Cody’s beloved show went bankrupt, he was forced to work for others. His “iron constitution” was failing him and in a birthday speech to a group of friends, he admitted: “While I am a rover, and traveled over lots of country, Cody, Wyoming, is my home and shall always be my home as long as I live. And I want so to live that when I have gone from this world, my spirit shall still be with you here in the country of my choice.”
Yet that is not where his body lies today.
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