For the ranch in Johnson County, Wyoming associated with the Johnson County Range War, see TA Ranch Historic District

TA Ranch Historic District

The TA Ranch was the site of the principal events of the Johnson County Range War in 1892. The TA was established in 1882 as one of the first ranches in Johnson County, Wyoming. The TA is the only intact site associated with the range war, with trenches used by both sides still visible and scars on...

The T E Ranch Headquarters, near Cody, Wyoming

Cody, Wyoming

Cody is a city in Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after William Frederick Cody, primarily known as Buffalo Bill, from William Cody's part in the creation of the original town. The population was 9,520 at the 2010 census...

, is a log ranch house that belonged to Buffalo Bill Cody. 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

Shoshone River

The Shoshone River is 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 through are Cody, Powell, Byron, and Lovell. Near Cody, it...

 and is a little more than 60 feet (18.3 m) long by about 20 feet (6.1 m) 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 100000 acres (40,468.6 ha) of semi-arid land under the Carey Act

Carey act

The Carey Act of 1894 allowed private companies in the U.S. to erect irrigation systems in the western semi-arid states, and profit from the sales of water. The Carey Act was enacted into law by Congress by the Act of August 18, 1894 , as amended...

 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

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

. However, the project was beyond the scope of Cody's finances, and he signed the water rights 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 4000 acres (1,618.7 ha) 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

Tom Pendergast

Thomas Joseph Pendergast controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri as a political boss. "Boss Tom" Pendergast gave workers jobs and helped elect politicians during the Great Depression, becoming wealthy in the process.-Early years:Thomas Joseph Pendergast, also known to close friends as...

 who was forced to sell when Pendergast's political organization in Kansas City came under investigation. The next buyer was Robert W. Woodruff

Robert W. Woodruff

Robert Winship Woodruff was the president of The Coca-Cola Company from 1923 until 1954. With his enormous Coke fortune, he was also a major philanthropist, and many educational and cultural landmarks in the U.S...

, then-president and later board chairman of the Coca Cola Company. The property passed from Woodruff in 1972 to another Coca Cola executive, Charles Duncan.

External links

• Photographs of the T E Ranch at the National Park Service's NRHP database
• T E Ranch Headquarters at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office