On June 3, 1917, under the wide Colorado sky, William “Buffalo Bill” Cody was finally laid to rest atop Lookout Mountain, just outside Denver. Although he had died nearly six months earlier on January 10, disputes over where he should be buried delayed the ceremony. Many believed he would be interred in Cody, Wyoming, the town he had helped establish, but Buffalo Bill had chosen Lookout Mountain himself. With its sweeping views of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, it was a fitting resting place for a man whose life had been so closely tied to the American frontier.
Cody died of kidney failure in Denver, Colorado. His widow, Louisa, chose a burial site atop Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado. Because it was the dead of winter, the mountain ground was completely frozen solid, making it impossible to dig a proper grave or hew a tomb out of the solid granite. His body had to be kept embalmed and under guard at a Denver mortuary until the spring thaw arrived.
At the time of his death, Cody’s once-great fortune had dwindled to less than $100,000 (approximately $2,520,000 today). The delay was heavily prolonged by an intense political and emotional feud between two states. Cody had founded the town of Cody, Wyoming, and his 1906 will explicitly stated he wanted to be buried on Cedar Mountain overlooking his namesake town. The citizens of Wyoming felt deeply entitled to his remains.
A later 1913 will gave his widow the right to choose the burial site. She picked Colorado, though Wyoming residents loudly alleged that Denver officials and The Denver Post had bribed her with $10,000 to keep the legendary showman's body in Colorado to boost future tourism. Because the fury ran so high, Wyoming residents openly threatened to raid the Denver mortuary and steal Buffalo Bill’s body to take it back north.



































