by Gil Bollinger (Author), Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum (Author)
Buffalo, the county seat of Johnson County in northeastern Wyoming, began in 1878 as an army town adjacent to Fort McKinney (1877-1894). Since that foundation was laid, Buffalo has been witness to gold prospectors and settlers as a waypoint along the Bozeman Trail, nearby battles during the ensuing Indian Wars, and the Cattle War of 1892. Those events and their associated hard times helped forge the town's unique heritage and culture and made its place in American history significant. It was recently referred to as "an epicenter of Western frontier history" by local museum educator Bob Edwards. Buffalo's site, at the boundary between the Big Horn Mountains and the Northern High Plains, is not only historic but particularly beautiful, and it also provides superb grasslands for cattle and sheep ranching. Those industries, plus mining, lumbering, and tourism, make up the community's present-day economy.