Visiting Buffalo Bill’s grave
By: usermattw
What it is:
Snapshot measuring 2.5 x 3 inches, with mounting traces on the back from having been glued into a photo album.
What I know about it:
Written on the front: July 1936 Lookout Mt. / Denver Colo – Written on the back in a different hand: Taken July 12, 1936 In back of Buffalo Bill’s Grave Lookout Mt.
Comments:
What amuses me about this photo is that these dandies, who look more like they’re touring through town with a swing band than guys who would be interested in a Wild West icon, are visiting Buffalo Bill’s grave. Still, he was enormously popular in his day, and perhaps they were attracted to his showmanship. Or perhaps they had exhausted all the other options for entertainment in that section of Colorado. Of course, I would never have known where they were if it weren’t for the writing on the back, but they still look charmingly out of place in this craggy setting. I’m not sure what that site was like in 1936, but today it appears to be a well-developed tourist attraction. I would imagine it was something of a draw back then, too, so perhaps they are not standing in as remote a locale as the framing of this snapshot implies. For the record, when this photo was taken, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody had been dead 19 years.
Pics of Then 
Thank you for posting this snapshot! I like it as it is, without knowing where it was taken, but the info. about Buffalo Bill Cody’s grave is extra-nice!
Thanks, I agree, it’s an interesting enough photo, and the extra information just makes it all the more fun.