Buffalo Hunt Menu with Black Letters

We’ve already seen a Western Star menu featuring one of Charles Russell’s many paintings of a buffalo hunt on the cover. This one is different because the words “Western Star” on the front cover are in black letters instead of white. I have no idea why this change was made, but all my menus with white letters are dated 1954 or earlier while this and other black-lettered menus are dated 1955 or later.

Click image to download a 1.9-MB PDF of this menu.

Unfortunately, the painting did not reproduce well on the menu covers. The herd of buffalo in the center looks like one big black blob. Most of the Russell paintings used on these menus worked out better, but they would have been even better if they had reproduced them larger, probably oriented 90 degrees to the right like many Santa Fe menus.

The back of this menu has a handwritten message from John and Trudie. “Of all the RR we were on this is the best diner,” they affirm. “Nice coach too.” Naturally, testimonials like this is why railroads were willing to give away menus with envelopes for people to mail to their friends.


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