![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.kirstenlynnwildwest.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/lockhart3.thumbnail.jpg\" "\\"lockhart3.thumbnail\\"")
<\/a>Lockhart, 1900
Photo courtesy American Heritage Center, #ah003129<\/p><\/div>\n
Born in Illinois, Caroline Lockhart spent fifteen years as a newspaper reporter in the East. But in 1904, she turned her thoughts to writing a novel and her feet to the West she always admired.\u00a0 When she stepped off the train, the thirty-three year old cut a fine figure with gold-burnished hair that caught the sun and the eye of many a cowboy.\u00a0 What caught Caroline\u2019s eye was the town of Cody, Wyoming and the diverse peoples of the West; sheepherders, cowboys, Indians and even dudes from the East. The town Caroline first laid eyes on had 210 inhabitants and 14 saloons, \u201cnone too many for such an arid landscape,\u201d according to Caroline.<\/p>\n
Though not well-known today, during the 1920s, Lockhart reached her goal of becoming \u201cthe best known woman west of the Mississippi.\u201d Her novels The Fighting Shepherdess<\/em> and The Man from the Bitter Roots <\/em>had been made into major motion pictures, and she had recently finished a stint as a celebrity journalist at the Denver Post<\/em>.\u00a0 The Park County Enterprise<\/em> reported on her trip to Los Angeles.\u00a0 \u201cLos Angeles, the mecca of artists and authors has a famous visitor this week in Caroline Lockhart who wrote The Fighting Shepherdess<\/em> and other best sellers of the day. Miss Lockhart\u2019s first visit upon her arrival was to the Louis B. Mayer studio.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 There she met with Douglas Fairbanks regarding the adaptation of her nearly completed novel The Dude Wrangler<\/em>.<\/p>\n Lockhart had a passion for the Old West; for the open-range cattle ranches before they were fenced and turned to dry-land farming, for the old characters who fought and scraped and survived the harsh land, and she loved, with a passion, horses. Her passions matched those of her contemporaries in Western novelists, such as Owen Wister and Zane Grey. But unlike other writers, Lockhart lived fulltime in the West. Therefore, her lifestyle brought authenticity to her work, not the depictions of what Easterners wanted the West to be.\u00a0 Also, Caroline set her stories during the 20th<\/sup> Century, unlike other authors who set their tales in the Old West.\u00a0 She wanted Wyoming to recognize its place in the present, and not fade into the past like the Midwestern frontier in the light and luxuries brought by the industrialization of the 20th<\/sup> Century. Wyoming\u2019s heritage was dying on the altar of railroads, electricity, and automobiles. Who needed horses? Why would anyone care about the American Indians?\u00a0 Only a small tip of the hat should be given to men such as Buffalo Bill Cody, whose legendary status was diminished by divorce and financial ruin.<\/p>\n Lockhart\u2019s novels breathed life back into Western culture.\u00a0 \u201cThree cheers and a tiger for Caroline Lockhart. She is our only live, living author. What Caroline doesn\u2019t know about Wyoming and Wyoming folks isn\u2019t much. She can make a cavalier out of a sheepherder and a courtly gentleman from the crudest cowpuncher,\u201d a Wyoming newspaper reported.<\/p>\n Almost 50 years old when her novels reached their peak, Lockhart appeared decades younger and \u201cwas one hell-of-a-good-lookin\u2019 woman\u201d according to one of her cowboy friends.\u00a0 And Caroline Lockhart had many cowboy friends. Although she never married, she juggled multiple boyfriends offending many of the more conservative citizens of Cody.\u00a0 Along with her long line of lovers, Codyites were fanning themselves over Lockhart\u2019s penchant for drinking at a time three-quarters of the town voted for Prohibition. Lockhart, on the other hand, threw lavish parties in her Cody home where there was no lack of the demon liquor. In 1921, The State Tribune<\/em> of Cheyenne published Lockhart\u2019s letter to J.D. Woodruff in Shoshoni supporting his stand against Prohibition.\u00a0 \u201cMr. Woodruff: I have finished reading your letter to Governor Brooks printed in the Tribune, and I am impelled to write and congratulate you upon your common sense and courage. It sounds like Colonel Henry Watterson\u2014a sane voice in the mob always. What you say finds an echo in the heart of every person who is not a hopeless bigot\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Lockhart Lockhart was, to say the least, a controversial figure, but she was a woman with \u201cpassion, gumption, and money to get things done.\u201d\u00a0 One thing she wanted to see done was an event to honor the Old West. So, on April 20, 1920 the bestselling novelist with a flair for publicity, gathered with other leading citizens of Cody; Ernest J. Goppert, Sr., an ambitious young attorney; Irving H. Larom, a Princeton-education owner of a prominent dude ranch; Sid Eldred, editor of the Park County Enterprise<\/em>, the newspaper founded by Buffalo Bill Cody; and Clarence Williams and William Loewar, both men helped run the town\u2019s small Fourth of July celebration. All agreed they wanted more than just a Fourth of July party, more than a rodeo and street dance. They wanted an event to bring back the Old West; an event to entertain and bring in tourists driving through the newly opened road to Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n The citizens who met in Lockhart\u2019s house, and enjoyed her liquor, decided they would call this event \u201cThe Cody Stampede.\u201d Lockhart persuaded them not to include the word \u201crodeo\u201d in the title as it \u201csounded like a dude word and besides we did not know how to pronounce it.\u201d\u00a0 Lockhart was elected the organization\u2019s president.\u00a0 They sought to attract the finest contestants, which included one of Lockhart\u2019s cowboy friends, champion bulldogger Pinky Gist.<\/p>\n The week after the meeting, Lockhart purchased, with four partners, the Enterprise<\/em>.\u00a0 She took control of the newspaper and used it to promote the Stampede.\u00a0 Her Enterprise<\/em> advertised such exciting news as: Toggery Bill securing \u201cthe Red Lodge Finnish orchestra and the only Mary Quilico for the Cody Stampede.\u201d\u00a0 And when Miles City, Montana chose the same dates for their rodeo, Lockhart and company stood firm believing \u201cif necessary, there are enough riders and horses in the surrounding country to furnish a good program without outside help. Bronco riders and Grand Opera stars, we have learned from experience, have similar temperments [sic], and while some of the outside riders had their growl because they did not get in on the money we believe that a good percentage of them will come back and make another try for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lockhart was correct and many top riders returned to Cody. The Stampede grew under Lockhart\u2019s presidency.\u00a0 At fundraising balls Caroline invited members of the Crow tribe to appear in traditional dress, renewing a fascination for the American Indians rarely seen in Cody except by invitation. With Lockhart\u2019s encouragement, fascination expanded to other aspects of the frontier. Lockhart argued Wyoming should capitalize on its unique cowboy heritage, rather than letting the state develop into a place like anywhere else.\u00a0 Today the Stampede stands among the top rodeos with Cheyenne Frontier Days and the Pendleton (Oregon) Roundup.<\/p>\n Buffalo Bill Cody Statue Promoting Wyoming\u2019s legacy became her passion. She next, proposed a gigantic statue of Buffalo Bill to be sculpted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, one of the country\u2019s most famous artists. By then the people of Cody would support any suggestion their local author made, but the town could not afford Whitney. Lockhart proceeded to pester the sculptor until Whitney agreed to both sculpt the statue and raise the required funds. Whitney campaigned for funds amongst New York City\u2019s wealthiest classes, establishing Buffalo Bill\u2019s nationwide posthumous reputation.<\/p>\n After a few years, Lockhart tired of the day-to-day frustrations of the newspaper and guiding the Stampede.\u00a0 She believed local merchants never contributed all they could to an event that brought them so much business. She bristled at the incompetence of her co-owners at the newspaper, and her unpopular political positions made enemies and dampened profits.<\/p>\n Lockhart cabin In 1925, Caroline decided instead of promoting the Old West lifestyle she loved so much, she would embrace it and she purchased her own homestead.\u00a0 She purchased a small 160 acre homestead, the\u00a0 L\/\u2665, north of Lovell, Wyoming.\u00a0 She added land through purchase, homesteading, and leases until she controlled over 6,034 acres. From the owners she inherited a two-room cabin, a few run-down sheds, and 20 acres of cultivated ground. Lockhart added onto and landscaped the area around the cabin with irises, hollyhocks, cottonwood trees, and stone pathways. She constructed fences, corrals, and irrigation systems as well as adding 15 new structures.<\/p>\n Life on the L\/\u2665 ranch was self-sufficient. Potatoes, apples, onions, carrots, dried beans and peas, along with beef, pork, and wild game were stored in the powerhouse\/storage building. Milk, butter, and eggs went to the spring house for chilling. In 1935, three loads of Lockhart steers topped the market in Omaha, granting Lockhart her dream of becoming a Cattle Queen.<\/p>\n In 1952, Caroline decided she and her then-boyfriend were too old to continue running the ranch. Her eyesight was failing and ranch life had become too hard. She moved back to Cody, and lived the rest of her life in obscurity. Her only foray into society was inviting neighborhood children over to watch \u201cHopalong Cassidy,\u201d on the only television in town.\u00a0 A show based on novels that in 1910 were considered inferior to her works.<\/p>\n Caroline Lockhart died on July 25, 1962. There was no funeral as she had requested her ashes be scattered over \u201cthe most convenient peak.\u201d<\/p>\n A woman who not only loved Wyoming and the West, but did all in her power to see its legacy preserved! \u00a0I\u2019m a bit ashamed to admit that as a writer and Wyomingite the first I heard of this amazing woman was when I was diggin\u2019 around for blog material.<\/p>\n But Cookie and me made fast tracks to meet up with Ms. Lockhart on the trail, some cause of her enduring story and some cause after all our time on the dark side of the trail Cookie needed a couple fingers of whiskey and with Prohibition and all Caroline was the only one servin\u2019 the stuff!<\/p>\n We hope y\u2019all enjoyed readin\u2019 about this lady as much as we enjoyed diggin\u2019 through newspapers and articles to meet her. My mind\u2019s already turnin\u2019 and twistin\u2019 about a heroine based on the woman.<\/p>\n See y\u2019all on the bright side of the trail!<\/p>\n SOURCES:<\/p>\n Cheyenne State Leader<\/em>, no 136. Cheyenne, Wyoming. \u00a0March 11, 1911, page 5.<\/p>\n Wyoming State Tribune<\/em>, no. 93. Cheyenne, Wyoming. \u00a0April 14, 1921, page 1.<\/p>\n Park County Enterprise<\/em>, no. 32. Cody, Wyoming. March 17, 1920, page 1.<\/p>\n Wyoming State Tribune<\/em>, no. 169. Cheyenne, Wyoming. June 30, 1921 [Morning edition], page 6.<\/p>\n Park County Enterprise<\/em>, no. 36. Cody, Wyoming. \u00a0April 13, 1921, page 1.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/discover\/10.2307\/4518949?uid=3739256&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101129651861<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.wyohistory.org\/essays\/old-west%E2%80%99s-female-champion-caroline-lockhart-and-wyoming%E2%80%99s-cowboy-heritage<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/bica\/historyculture\/caroline-lockhart-ranch.htm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Howdy, Folks!! It\u2019s a beautiful day on the trail! We\u2019re movin\u2019 out of the darker side of Wyomin\u2019s past\u2026well\u2026 \u2018cause frankly Cookie and me were gettin\u2019 a might depressed.\u00a0 Cookie\u2019s stew has never been particularly savory, but we were gettin\u2019 … Continue reading <\/a>
Photo courtesy American Heritage Center, #ah002656<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>
Photo courtesy of NPS<\/p><\/div>\n