Charlie Bassett has been overshadowed by his friends Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. But he made some pretty big imprints on his own.
Bassett opened Dodge City’s famed Long Branch Saloon in 1872, when he was just 25. The next year, he was elected the first sheriff of Ford County and was twice reelected. He became Dodge City marshal when Ed Masterson was killed in 1878. He later moved away, but

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows