The T E Ranch Headquarters, near

Cody, Wyoming Cody is a city in Northwest Wyoming and the seat of government of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Colonel William Frederick " Buffalo Bill" Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896. The population was 10,066 at ...

, is a log ranch house that belonged to buffalo hunter and entertainer

Buffalo Bill Cody William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years in ...

(1846–1917). The house may have originally been built by homesteader Bob Burns prior to 1895, when Cody acquired the ranch. Cody expanded the ranch to about eight thousand acres (32 km²), using the T E brand for his thousand head of cattle. The house faces the

Shoshone River The Shoshone River is a long river in northern Wyoming in the United States. Its headwaters are in the Absaroka Range in Shoshone National Forest. It ends when it runs into the Big Horn River near Lovell, Wyoming. Cities it runs near or thr ...

and is a little more than long by about wide. Short extensions exist on the southeast and northwest sides. With its broad, gently sloping roof, it is an archetypal ranch house. Two cupolas have been built on the roof to provide light and ventilation. The house has been renovated within without substantial loss of character. The grounds include indigenous plants that have been transplanted to the house's river-bottom surroundings, a place where they would not normally exist, but which are in keeping with the headquarters of a large ranch. An unusual feature is the collection of antlers and horns placed on the grounds. Cody's TE Ranch was the center of his efforts to irrigate more than of semi-arid land under the

Carey Act The Carey Act of 1894 (also known as the Federal Desert Land Act)Carey Act in Idaho http://www.gchshome.org/careyact.htm. allowed private companies in the U.S. to erect irrigation systems in the western semi-arid states, and profit from the sales ...

of 1894. Cody's manager was George T. Beck, who began what became known as the Shoshone Reclamation Project, which culminated in the construction of

Buffalo Bill Dam Buffalo Bill Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Shoshone River in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is named after the famous Wild West figure William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who founded the nearby town of Cody and owned much of the land now ...

. However, the project was beyond the scope of Cody's finances, and he signed the

water rights Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentiou ...

to the land back to the State of Wyoming in 1904. The TE's ranch lands bordered on the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, established in 1891, which offered summer range grazing. Cody acquired neighboring properties, then cut back as financial troubles grew. At the time of Cody's death in 1917 the TE comprised about and 500 head of cattle. By 1916 Cody was considering the use of the TE as a dude ranch, but died before carrying out his plan. After Cody's death the ranch passed to Philadelphian Stanley Groves. Groves continued the ranching operation but also used the TE as a family retreat, building cabins and a log octagonal library/game house. After Groves' death in 1930 the property was sold to Paul Patton of Kansas City, an associate of

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

who was forced to sell when Pendergast's political organization in Kansas City came under investigation. The next buyer was Robert W. Woodruff, then-president and later board chairman of the

Coca Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups ...

. The property passed from Woodruff in 1972 to another Coca Cola executive,

Charles Duncan Charles Duncan may refer to: Politics and law * Charles T. Duncan (1838–1915), American lawyer and Virginia state judge * Charles Duncan (politician) Charles Duncan (8 June 1865 – 6 July 1933) was a British Labour Party politician and t ...

References

External links

* at the National Park Service's NRHP database
T E Ranch Headquarters
at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office {{NRHP in Park County, Wyoming Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming Rustic architecture in Wyoming Houses in Park County, Wyoming Ranches in Wyoming Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming National Register of Historic Places in Park County, Wyoming