COMMENTS: There are no buildings left at the site. It is on private property and can only be visited during the tour sponsored by Meeteetse Museum each October. Trespassing is illegal. No photographs are known to exist of Arland, however a hotel from Arland was moved to nearby Meeteetse, and was photographed there. More info available at Meeteetse Museum 307-868-2423.

Old Town Trail in Cody, Wyoming has one building from Arland, The Arland Cabin- 1883. Residential cabin built at Arland (Corbett Trading Post) on Cottonwood Creek. The post was a trading center for hunters, trappers and hunters. Also at Old Town Trail are the grave sites for Belle Drewry (1867-1897) the famous "Woman in Blue" murdered at Arland and two cowboys murdered in 1894, W.A. Gallagher and Blind Bill Hoolihan.
www.museumoftheoldwest.org
Submitted by Russell Beere
REMAINS: None

Started in 1884 by Frenchman, Victor Arland, the town of Arland consisted of a store, saloon, restaurant, storehouse, stable, cabins, hotel, and dance hall. Rose Williams ran a house of ill repute. In 1886, the government started a post office there. Arland was a bloody town, where a number of people died violent deaths. One night, prostitute, Belle Drewry shot mail carrier, Jess Conway, an enemy of her lover, John Corbett. The next night, Conway's friends returned to Arland and killed Belle and three other women. The town of Arland died out then, about 1896. Submitted by: Echo Renner

ARLAND 1884-1897

A few miles up Meeteetse Creek from here stood one of the toughest settlements of Wyoming's frontier history. The town was founded in the spring of 1884 by Victor Arland, a French businessman and John Corbett, a buffalo hunter. From 1880 to 1884, the men were partners in a trading post on Trail Creek and another on Cottonwood Creek, just north of Cody, Wyoming. They moved to Meeteetse to be in the center of the cattle country and developing ranches. "Arland" soon had a store, saloon, restaurant, U.S. Post Office, a two story hotel, blacksmith shop, red light district, coal mine, livery stables, residential cabins, and corrals. A mail and passenger stage ran weekly through Arland, helping the town to become a trade center for the area ranches and a mecca for the cowboys and other tough characters of the region. The nearest law was 150 miles away in Lander, Wyoming. On February 22, 1888, Vic Arland shot and killed Broken Nose Jackson in self defense at a dance in Arland. Jackson's friend, Bill Landon, shot and killed Vic Arland in revenge at Dunivan's Saloon in Red Lodge, Montana on April 24 1890. After Vic's death Arland degenerated into a hang-out for the outlaw element. There were names such as Black Jack Miller, John Bliss, Al Durant, Butch Cassidy, W.A. Gallagher, Blind Bill Hoolihan, Ed Nye, Rose Williams, Sage Brush Nancy and Bella Drewry, known as the "Woman in Blue". Most of the above and others died  entangled in a web of lawlessness, romance, intrigue and murder. By 1886 the nearby town Meeteetse had sprung up and by 1897 Arland had died. Today,  nothing remains of old Arland but the stories and ghost of days gone by.

Hotel in Meeteetse, Wy that was moved in from the ghost town of Arland, WY where it was built and operated until abt. 1896
Courtesy Echo Renner

Historical Sign
Courtesy Russell Beere

Arland Cabin now at Old Town Trail in Cody, Wyoming 9/04/09
Courtesy Russell Beere


Sign on Arland Cabin 9/04/09
Courtesy Russell Beere