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      History and Geography of Gunsmoke

      Mock shoot-out in today's Dodge City

      • The Real Businesses of Dodge: Gunsmoke's Dodge City had numerous businesses within the city limits. Below are listed some actual Dodge City businesses of the 1870's. Match the names. An answer can apply more than once.
        • 1. George M. Hoover's a. Dry Goods Store
        2. Morris Collar's b. Tonsorial Parlor
        3. Great Western c. Hotel
        4. Long Branch d. Saloon
        5. John Tyler's
        6. Billiard Hall
        7. Saratoga

          Answer: 1d, 2a, 3c, 4d, 5b, 6d

          A Hotel in 19th century Dodge City

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      • Dodge City Dictionary: Faithful watchers of Gunsmoke will have little problem in matching the following words with their meanings.
        (1) Slippery Elm (a) a chewing tobacco
        (2) Pecos Whisky (b) mock serenade for newly weds
        (3) shod (c) characterized by its salty taste
        (4) shivaree (d) in reference to horses: shoed
        (5) commancharos (e) a condition of winter
        (6) galloses (f) a Mexican gang of bandits
        (7) point (g) where money was carried on a stagecoach
        (8) eggyout (h) whiskey
        (9) thick blood (i) a sickness
        (10) sarsaparilla (j) suspenders
        (11) surrey (k) the position in front of the herd in a cattle drive
        (12) lobo (l) soda pop of the west
        (13) strongbox (m) a wolf
        (14) Kansas sheep dip (n) a type of buggy

          Answer: 1a, 2c, 3d, 4b, 5f, 6j, 7k, 8i, 9e, 10l, 11n, 12m, 13g, 14h

          .

      • In what state, county, city and street is Matt Dillon's office located?

          • Kansas, Ford County, Dodge City and Front Street. For a thumbnail description of historical Dodge City, click HERE.

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    Front Street in Dodge City (1878)

          Front Street in 1880

      • (T/F) The state, county, city and street on which Matt Dillon's office is located exist either now or historically.

            • True

          19th century map of Dodge City

          A map of today's Dodge City



      • What is the name of the closest major river to Dodge City?

          • The Arkansas.


      • There was a Long Branch Saloon in 19th century Dodge City. How was it destroyed in 1885?

          • Fire


      • In television's Gunsmoke, Kitty owned the Long Branch Saloon. The person who actually purchased the Long Branch Saloon in 1878 and transformed it into Dodge City's most popular drinking establishment was (a) Doogie Parks. (b) Chalk Beeson. (c) Wyatt Earp. (d) Obie Tater.

          • Answer: b ... Benson purchased if from Robert W. Wright in 1878 and popularized the saloon by organizing an orchestra to play there. In 1877, there were less than 1000 citizens in Dodge and sixteen saloons.


      • (T/F) The Long Branch Saloon was Dodge's first saloon.

          • False ... George M. Hoover's Saloon opened on June 17, 1872 and was the first commercial business in Dodge City.

      • What was the major economic force in Dodge City during the days of Matt Dillon?

          • Cattle ... over eight million passed through Dodge in 1884 alone.


      • Which of the following is not a rifle or a hand gun
        • Sharps 50.
        • Patterson 40
        • the Trevor 35.

          • Answer: ... The Trevor 35


      • The tree most common to the Kansas prairie is the
        • oak.
        • cottonwood.
        • fir.
        • cherry.

          • Answer: ... Cottonwood


      • During the Gunsmoke era, was Dodge City the capital of Kansas?

        • No ... but it was the county seat for Ford County

      • During the Gunsmoke era, was Kansas a state or a territory?

          • State

      • What is the Cimmarron?

          • A river flowing 692 miles from NE New Mexico through the Colorado and Kansas to the Arkansas river in NE Oklahoma

      • Today's ZIP code for Dodge City is
        • 44125.
        • 49355.
        • 67801.
        • 98195.

          • Answer: ... 67801

      • When a cowboy is drunk, he is
        • "whisky crazy".
        • "deep drunk".
        • "liquered up".
        • "smashed".

          • Answer: ... Liquered up.


      • When a Texas cowboy refers to the Canadian, he means
        • a citizen of Canada.
        • a river.
        • a breed of steer.
        • a storm from the north.

          • Answer: ... River

      • (T/F) Consistant with its cowboy heritage, the official animal for the state of Kansas is the long horn stear.

          • False ... it's the buffalo

      • (T/F) The official song for the state of Kansas is Home on the Range.

          • True

      • There was a military installation near Dodge City where most of the soldiers appearing in Gunsmoke were stationed. The existence of the installation is historically accurate and is on the map today. What was the name of this place?

          • Fort Dodge ... indeed, Dodge City was named from Fort Dodge which was named for Colonel Henry I. Dodge. Fort Dodge was founded in 1864.

      • To within a decade, when was Dodge City founded?

          • Answer: 1872 and incorporated in 1875.

      • A famous Dodge City prostitute was
        • Frog Mouth Kate
        • Squirrel Tooth Alice
        • Mole Faced Fran
        • Wart Nose Nancy

          • A: Squirrel Tooth Alice. Frog Mouth Kate was a saloon girl character in a Gunsmoke episode.

      • A drummer is
        • the boy who plays the tom tom in an Indian village.
        • a salesman.
        • a loud cowboy.
        • bloated steer.
        • ugly calf.

          • Answer: ... salesman

      • A jayhawker is
        • a guerrilla raider of the Civil War period in Kansas.
        • a steer that strays from the herd.
        • a type of saddle made in Texas.
        • Kansas slang for a politician.

          • Answer: ... guerrilla

      • On what animal would one use hobbles?

          • A horse

      • A shod horse refers to
        • an ex-Indian pony.
        • a plow horse.
        • a dead horse that has decayed.
        • a horse with horse shoes.
        • an unbranded horse.
        • a tool used in carpentry and blacksmith shops.

          • Answer: ... A shoeless horse

      • What kind of boot would a cowboy put on his horse?

          • A rifle boot



      • According to the script of the Gunsmoke's first television episode, how many miles was it to Fort Dodge?

          • Five


      • Many a cowboy hat was made by Stetson. What is Stetson's first name?

          • John with a middle initial of B. for Batterson


      • (T/F) Milk in Gunsmoke's Dodge City was sold in much the way it was in the movie Fiddler on the Roof.

          • True ... off of a milk cart

      • What was the top man on a trail drive called?

          • The trail boss

      • (T/F) In the real Long Branch Saloon, Wyatt Earp and Batt Masterson called the bluff of the psychopathic killer, Clay Allison. Allison was branded a coward and was driven out of Dodge City.

          • True

      • (T/F) Kansas was named after an Indian tribe.

          • True ... the Kansa or Kaw tribe. The word means south wind.


      • In the days of Gunsmoke, one did not take beer home in six packs. In what would one normally take beer home in?

          • Buckets

      • (T/F) Dodge City was founded by Robert Wright.

          • True

      • Kansas has two nick names. One of them is ``the Sunflower State". The other, which is more representative of the Gunsmoke era, is
        • the Gunsmoke State.
        • the Cow Town State.
        • the Jayhawker State.
        • the State of Confusion.

          • Answer: ... Jayhawker

      • During the 1860's, Kansas towns such as Dodge City, Abilene and Wichita were know as what kind of towns?

          • Cow towns

      • (T/F) Before the days of Gunsmoke, Kansas was part of Missouri.

          • True

      • Dodge City is in Ford County. To within three, how many counties border on Ford County?

          • Six

      • Many of the psychopathic killers on Gunsmoke were said to have once rode with Quantrill. (a) What famous outlaws truly rode with Quantrill and (b) What Kansas town did Quantrill raid and burn to the ground?

          William Clark Quantrill (1837-65) was the leader of a Confederate band of guerrillas who raided farms and towns in Kansas and Missouri. Both Frank and Jesse James rode with him before their bank robbing days. He was best known for leading a raid on Lawrence, Kansas on August 3, 1863 during which most of the town was burned. Over 150 people were killed. In Gunsmoke, the Dodge House clerk, Howie, was said to have been in Lawrence during this raid. Quantrill was fatally wounded during a raid in Kentucky.

          Dodge City's real Dodge House

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      • Did Quantrill regularly brush his teeth?

          • Probably not ... that type of hygiene was not regularly practiced until after World War II.

      • Who was the President of the United States when:
        • a) Gunsmoke premiered on radio?
        • b) Gunsmoke expanded from a half to a full hour?
        • c) Gunsmoke was first broadcast in color?
        • d) the last hour episode of Gunsmoke aired on CBS?
        • e) the TV movie, Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge, first aired on television?
        • f) The movie Gunsmoke: The Last Apache first aired on network television?
        • g) The movie Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice first aired on network television?

          • Answer: a-Truman, b-Kennedy, c-Nixon, d-Ford, e-Reagan, f-Bush, g-Clinton. Click HERE for details.


      • (T/F) A true historical sheriff of Ford County was Bat Masterson. Is there any evidence that he killed anyone during his tenure?

          No

      • (T/F) For the 1880's, Gunsmoke was an appropriate name since smokeless powder did not come into popular use until the middle of the 1990's. Indeed, gun smoke was so thick after the first shot, that it often impaired the accuracy of the second.

          • True

      • (T/F) There is no historical evidence that anyone ever got killed in the real Long Branch Saloon.

          • False ... in 1879, for example, Cock-Eyed Frank Loving shot Levi Richardson in a fight over a woman.

      • Wyatt Earp was assistant marshal of Dodge City under
        • Frank Basset.
        • Dick Richards.
        • Hector Gleason.
        • Al Lessless.

          • Answer: a ... Frank Basset

      • The name of the paper in Dodge City during the days of Gunsmoke was The Dodge City
        • Shoot Out.
        • Times.
        • Gun.

          • Answer: ... Times. Another paper was the Ford County Globe



      • Besides the Long Branch, the Lady Gay is a saloon often mentioned in Gunsmoke episodes. Did the Lady Gay exist historically?

          • Yes

      • Was there really a Boot Hill cemetery in Dodge?

          Yes ... although, contrary to legend, it was never an official burying ground, but was used to bury drifters, buffalo hunters, and others who had no family in the area. Boot Hill was closed in 1879 and the remains of those buried there were moved to another cemetary.


      • (T/F) True playing cards in the old west had no numbers in the corners.

          True ... Gunsmoke was accurate in this regard in early shows. Later, the prop cards, made by the United States Playing Card Company, looked just like the ones you'd buy today.

      • What is the name of the bed that is dragged behind a horse normally used to transport sick or wounded people?

          • A travois or travee

      • One of the writers who glorified the west during the west's wild days was
        • Ned Buntline.
        • Tim Toms.
        • Mark Roberts.

          • Answer: ... Buntline