Rising high above Denver, Lookout Mountain has views of the snowy Rockies in one direction and The Great Plains in the other. Located at its summit is The Buffalo Bill museum, the last word on Buffalo Bill Cody’s exciting life as a Pony Express rider, army scout, buffalo hunter and showman. It is also his last resting place.
Lookout Mountain Park is a Denver Mountain Park located around 12 miles (20 km) west of downtown Denver overlooking Golden, Colorado. It consists of 65.7 acres (266,000 m2) of evergreen wilderness atop Lookout Mountain, named for its being a favored lookout point of the native Ute Indian tribe. Lookout Mountain Park is the burial site of the internationally famous western frontiersman William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1889, a group of prominent area businessmen and residents proposed the idea of creating a mountain park as a getaway point for people from the urban city. After a lively competition between Lookout Mountain and Eden Park in Jefferson County west of Denver, Lookout Mountain was chosen for the honour. Plans were commissioned from famed architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park in New York City, to create a naturalistic resort park for the area public to enjoy. Although the area for the original Lookout Mountain Park, as it became commonly known, was acquired by the syndicate, little manmade construction took place since finances were stymied by the Silver Crash of 1893. After languishing due to this and the deaths of its aging stockholders, Lookout Mountain Park was acquired by businessman Rees Vidler, who constructed a funicular incline railway to the top along with other attractions.
With the advent of the Denver Mountain Parks system, Lookout Mountain was quickly eyed by the city, whose efforts were led by Mayor Robert W. Speer who earlier sat on the board of Lookout Mountain Park during the early efforts. In 1917 a portion of what earlier was Lookout Mountain Park was acquired by Denver, which became the new Lookout Mountain Park for Denver. After existing briefly side by side, the bankrupt remaining original park passed by the wayside and Denver’s park has been popularly known as Lookout Mountain Park. Since then much of the area of the original park has been reacquired for park purposes as part of Jefferson County Open Space.
“Buffalo Bill” Cody, who spent his final years living in Denver, was buried at Lookout Mountain Park on June 3, 1917. It is disputed whether Cody was buried here by his own request or by coercion, and it is not known if the exact site was chosen by his sister. In 1921, the gravesite was joined by Pahaska Tepee, a large and rustic wooden lodge designed by Edwin H. Moorman, housing the Buffalo Bill Museum. The museum continues to host visitors from around the world, a testament to Buffalo Bill’s global appeal even a century after his Wild West exhibition last performed.
In spring of 1859 Buffalo Bill made his first trip to Colorado as part of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. He passed through the new town of Denver on his way to the gold fields near Black Hawk where he searched for gold for two months, meeting with little success. On his return to Kansas he stopped in Julesburg, Colorado, where he was recruited to ride in an early version of the Pony Express. Most of his time as a messenger was spent in Kansas, although occasionally he traveled across northeast Colorado. The Pony Express route did not go to Denver but cut north into Nebraska and Wyoming.
Cody visited Denver in the 1870s to perform in a local opera house with the Buffalo Bill Combination. He continued to tour through Colorado, performing at the Central City Opera (still in operation) and at another opera house in Georgetown. After Buffalo Bill organized his Wild West show, he visited Denver and Colorado many times. Altogether, Buffalo Bill performed 35 times in Colorado between 1886 and 1916.
In 1913 Buffalo Bill borrowed money from Denver businessman Harry Tammen, not realizing the loan would be used to force him to appear in Tammen’s Sells Floto Circus. Cody fell behind in payment of the loan and, when the Wild West stopped in Denver to do a show that July, Tammen had the show seized. The Wild West was sold off at auction in Denver’s Overland Park and Cody was forced to join the Sells Floto Circus. Eventually he got out of that contract but was never able to re-build his Wild West.
In 1917 Buffalo Bill died while visiting his sister’s home in Denver. According to his wife Louisa, it was his choice that he be buried on Lookout Mountain overlooking Denver and the plains. Despite the claims of the citizens of Cody, Wyoming, that he really wanted to be buried near Cody, close friends like Goldie Griffith and Johnny Baker, as well as the priest who administered last rites, affirmed that Lookout Mountain was indeed his choice. On June 3, 1917, Buffalo Bill was buried on Lookout Mountain, a site with spectacular views of both the mountains and plains, places where he had spent the happiest times of his life.