Buffalo, Wyoming: The Occidental Hotel, the TA Ranch, and the Bighorn Front
Buffalo is the small Wyoming town where Owen Wister wrote The Virginian, the Johnson County War climaxed, and the Bighorn Mountains rise out the back door. Two days well spent.
Buffalo sits at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains in Johnson County, Wyoming. Population about 4,500. Founded 1879 as a supply town for Fort McKinney, the U.S. Army post that anchored the Powder River Basin during the late Plains Indian Wars. The Occidental Hotel opened in 1880 to serve cattle drovers, traders, and Army officers passing through. The town was already mature by the time the Johnson County War climaxed at the TA Ranch fourteen miles south in April 1892.
What makes Buffalo worth visiting in 2026: it is small enough to walk in 20 minutes, the historic infrastructure is genuinely intact, the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum is one of the best small-town Western museums in the country, and the Bighorn Mountains rise out the western edge of town. A working visitor can do Buffalo properly in two days and walk away with a stronger sense of late-19th-century Wyoming than they would get in a week of guidebook tourism elsewhere.
What to do
The Occidental Hotel
The town landmark and the practical heart of any Buffalo visit. Built 1880, expanded to its current configuration by 1908, declined through the mid-20th century, and was thoroughly restored starting in 1997. The hotel includes 27 rooms (a mix of restored historical suites and standard rooms), the original Occidental Saloon, the Virginian Restaurant, and a small museum on the ground floor.
The bar is the substantive draw. Original mahogany top, original mirrors, original tin ceiling, original bullet holes (multiple, from various 19th-century gunfights, none of which produced fatalities according to the management). The walls hold photographs of essentially every important figure in late-19th-century Wyoming history. Owen Wister stayed here repeatedly while writing The Virginian; the table he reportedly used is identified.
Stop in for one drink in the early evening before dinner. Stay overnight if you can; the historic rooms are worth the experience.
The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum
One block off Main Street. Three rooms of artifacts covering the Johnson County War, the late Plains Indian Wars (Buffalo was supply town for Fort McKinney during the Wagon Box Fight era), and Buffalo’s frontier history. Includes Nate Champion’s diary (kept on his person during the KC Ranch siege, recovered from his body, published in the Buffalo Bulletin shortly after), invasion-force weapons, and Owen Wister material.
Free admission, donations encouraged. Two hours minimum. If you have any interest in Western history, this is the museum that punches far above its small-town weight.
The TA Ranch
Fourteen miles south of Buffalo on Crazy Woman Creek, accessed via a county road. The site of the climactic three-day siege of the Johnson County War in April 1892. The ranch is now a working operation and a guest ranch; tours are available, and some bullet holes from the 1892 siege are preserved in the original ranch buildings.
Check the TA Ranch website for current tour schedules. For visitors deeply interested in the Johnson County War, an overnight stay at the ranch (rates run $300-500/night with meals) is one of the more historically immersive experiences available in Wyoming.
Bighorn Mountains via Crazy Woman Canyon
Crazy Woman Canyon is the eastern access into the Bighorns from Buffalo. The canyon road (US-16 west) climbs from about 4,500 ft at Buffalo to 9,666 ft at Powder River Pass over about 25 miles, with dramatic canyon walls, granite cliffs, and access to multiple Cloud Peak Wilderness trailheads. The full drive to the western edge of the Bighorns at Tensleep Canyon takes about 90 minutes one-way; allow 4-6 hours round trip for the scenic drive with stops.
For multi-day horseback trips into the Cloud Peak Wilderness, the south access from Buffalo via West Tensleep is the standard route.
Hole-in-the-Wall (longer day trip)
Hole-in-the-Wall is a remote canyon in southern Johnson County, about 50 miles south of Buffalo via dirt roads, where Butch Cassidy’s gang sheltered between robberies in the 1890s. The cabin Nate Champion used in 1891-92 also stood here originally; the original was moved to Old Trail Town in Cody in the 1970s. The Hole-in-the-Wall site itself is on private ranch land but accessible via tours arranged through Buffalo outfitters. Half-day to full-day commitment, four-wheel drive required, worth it for visitors specifically interested in outlaw-era history.
Fort McKinney and the Wagon Box Fight site
The Fort McKinney site (the old Army post that supplied Buffalo’s founding) is on the southwest edge of town, now occupied by the Wyoming Pioneer Home. The Wagon Box Fight site (one of the more dramatic 1867 engagements between the U.S. Army and the Lakota under Red Cloud) is about 30 minutes north of Buffalo, marked with a small interpretive monument. Both worth visiting for serious Western history visitors; both unmarked enough that the Jim Gatchell Museum staff are the right people to ask for directions.
Where to eat
Buffalo’s food scene is small but solid.
The Virginian Restaurant at the Occidental Hotel. The town’s destination dining. Steaks, prime rib, bison. Reservations.
The Occidental Saloon for casual food at the bar. The kind of saloon menu that has not changed substantially in 30 years.
Bozeman Trail Steakhouse. Classic Wyoming steakhouse on the south edge of Buffalo. Real beef, no surprises.
The Busy Bee Cafe. Best breakfast in Buffalo. Locals’ diner. Cheap.
Big Horn Mountain Pizza. Real pizza, in a town not known for pizza. Worth the visit.
Where to stay
The Occidental Hotel. As above. The reason most people come.
The Big Horn B&B. Historic property, three blocks from downtown. $150-220/night.
Mid-range chain options (Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn) on the north edge of town near the I-25 interchange. $130-200/night.
TA Ranch for visitors specifically interested in the Johnson County War history. $300-500/night with meals, multi-night packages available.
Camping: Bighorn National Forest campgrounds along US-16 west of Buffalo (Tie Hack, Mountain Park, others) are 30-60 minutes into the mountains, $20-30/night.
When to visit
Summer (June-August): all attractions open, Bighorn access at peak, Frontier Days week (last week of July) brings adjacent Cheyenne crowds but not necessarily Buffalo crowds.
Fall (September-October): ideal weather, cottonwoods turn gold along Clear Creek, lodging cheaper, museums still open. The strongest window for thoughtful visitors.
Winter (November-March): quiet, cold, the Bighorn pass closures restrict mountain access, but the Occidental and the museum are still open. Good for budget visitors who do not need wilderness access.
Spring (April-May): unpredictable; mud season for the mountains. Lower prices.
What’s around Buffalo
- Sheridan, WY (35 minutes north): the larger sister town, with King’s Saddlery, the Brinton Museum, and the WYO Rodeo (mid-July).
- Story, WY (15 minutes north): tiny historic town, Wagon Box Restaurant.
- Big Horn, WY (25 minutes north): the Brinton Museum.
- Casper, WY (90 minutes south): the Wyoming oil and energy capital, less historic but practical for I-25 travelers.
- The Bighorn Mountains as covered above.
Why Buffalo matters
Buffalo punches above its weight historically because of geographic accident. The town was the supply hub for the U.S. Army’s Powder River campaigns in the 1860s-70s, the headquarters of small-rancher resistance during the cattle-baron era of the 1880s-90s, the staging point for the 1892 Johnson County War, the writing location for Owen Wister’s The Virginian (the novel that defined the modern Western genre), and the gateway to one of Wyoming’s most accessible wilderness areas.
Almost all of this history is still legible in the town. The Occidental still operates. The TA Ranch still stands. The Jim Gatchell Museum holds the documents. The Bighorn Mountains still rise out the western edge.
For a visitor who wants the densest concentration of Wyoming history in the smallest physical area, Buffalo is the right destination. For a visitor who wants Western lodging that is genuinely historic and not a theme-park reproduction, the Occidental is the right hotel. For anyone interested in the actual events that shaped late-19th-century Wyoming and the American West, the Jim Gatchell Museum is the right resource.
Two days here is enough. Three is better. Pair with Sheridan (35 minutes north) for a substantial four- to five-day Bighorn-area trip.
Gear for Buffalo and the Bighorn Front
- Kinco 1927KW work gloves — for any ranch-adjacent work or cold Bighorn morning
- Fiebing’s Yellow Saddle Soap — the tack-cleaning standard for the working operations around Buffalo
- Klean Kanteen insulated 20 oz — for the Bighorn backcountry day
Related reading on this site
- The Johnson County War: how Wyoming’s cattle barons lost the range
- Tom Horn: stock detective, hanged in Cheyenne 1903
- Sheridan, Wyoming: home of King’s Saddlery
- How to pack for a four-day horse camp trip in the Bighorns
- Cody, Wyoming: a local’s guide
- 9 Wyoming ghost towns worth the drive
- Chief Washakie: the Eastern Shoshone leader who shaped Wyoming
Further reading
- Helena Huntington Smith, The War on Powder River (McGraw-Hill, 1966).
- John W. Davis, Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County (Oklahoma, 2010).
- Owen Wister, The Virginian (1902).
- Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum publications and archives.
Frequently asked questions
What is Buffalo, Wyoming known for?
Three things: the Occidental Hotel (1880, where Owen Wister wrote much of The Virginian and where almost every notable figure in late-19th-century Wyoming history at some point stayed), the Johnson County War (the climactic 1892 siege at the TA Ranch happened 14 miles south of town), and access to the Cloud Peak Wilderness in the Bighorn Mountains directly west. Population about 4,500. The town is small, intact, and historically dense.
How does Buffalo compare to Sheridan?
Buffalo is smaller (4,500 vs Sheridan's 18,000), quieter, and more historically focused. Sheridan has more dining and lodging infrastructure plus King's Saddlery. Buffalo has the Occidental, the Jim Gatchell Museum, and the TA Ranch. For a Bighorn Mountains trip, both are valid bases and Buffalo is the closer one to the south-side Cloud Peak Wilderness trailheads. The two are 35 minutes apart, so visitors often stay in one and day-trip to the other.
Is the Occidental Hotel still operating?
Yes. Continuously since 1880, with extensive restoration in the 2000s. The hotel rooms are atmospheric and the bar is the original. Reservations recommended. Worth one night even if you are staying elsewhere; historic suites run $200-400/night, standard rooms $150-220.