Establishing a Mormon colony at Bighorn Basin, Wyoming Early in the year 1900, Woodruff traveled to the Bighorn River in Wyoming to scout the availability of resources and determine the feasibility of establishing a colony of Latter-day Saints there. In February, he traveled back to Salt Lake City to make his report to church leadership, traveling on the Northern Pacific Railway through Butte, Montana. He stayed with Colonel William F. Cody (also known as Buffalo Bill) in Cody, Wyoming during a bout of cold weather. Once he arrived in Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that "Mr. Woodruff stated that he was delighted with eastern Montana and northern Wyoming, which is peculiarly adapted for Mormon husbandry. He said that he and his colleagues would make a favorable report to the higher officials of the Mormon church". Additionally, Woodruff told the Salt Lake Herald-Republican, "Our people are naturally agriculturalists, industrious and thrifty, and if the Big Horn country is what I am told it is, the colony should prove very successful." He became president of the Big Horn Basin Colonization Company and encouraged church members to migrate to Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Alongside a committee of public and church officials, Woodruff facilitated the purchase of 18,000 acres under the Carey Act on which to establish a new Mormon colony. The Wyoming state government cooperated with Woodruff, who said that the Wyoming representatives gave the committee "every encouragement in this matter". Land in the basin cost 25 cents per acre for settlers. Preparations for the settlement were finalized in March 1900. Under Woodruff's direction, 500 Latter-day Saints settled in Big Horn County, Wyoming in May 1900. He was there to greet them upon arrival. Then, in July 1901, group of Latter-day Saints from Sanpete County, Utah; Ogden, Utah; and Coalville, Utah left for Big Horn as well. One of the settlers' first projects was the construction of an irrigation system. In 1901 Woodruff was president of the "Wood River Live-stock company," which focused on fostering the livestock industry in Idaho and Wyoming. Post-Manifesto polygamy During one of his trips to Bighorn Basin, Woodruff met Eliza Avery Clark in Star Valley, Wyoming. He married her in 1901 while still married to his first wife, Helen, thus entering into plural marriage 11 years after his father issued the 1890 Manifesto, which ended polygamy as an official practice of the church. Woodruff was not alone in