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14/06/2025

Manual SHEEP SHEARING, 1906, Evelyn Cameron photographed this itinerant crew on the Baker family ranch about eight miles north of Terry in Eastern Montana (USA). Many farms and ranches in Eastern Montana had no electrical service until the 1950s.

Cameron was born in 1868 into a rich English family with servants. She was tutored in Italian, German, French, and music. She married an older Scottish ornithologist, and they settled in Montana with hopes of breeding polo ponies. She obtained her first camera in 1894. Donna Lucey’s well-researched “Photographing Montana” is the definitive volume on Cameron's life. Text and digital restoration of photo by Gary Coffrin.

13/06/2025

Cheyenne Dog SoldiersOf all the typical Plains tribes, the Cheyenne were most distinguished for warlike qualities. Few in number, they overcame or held in check most of the peoples who opposed them, and when the westward movement of European civilization began, they made more trouble than all the rest combined. In short, they were preeminently warriors among peoples whose trade was war.
As in other Plains tribes, the warriors of the Cheyenne were organized into societies or orders. These societies were fraternal, military, and semi-religious organizations with special privileges, duties, and dress, usually tracing their origin to some mythical culture hero or medicine man. Each society had its own songs and secret ritual and exacted certain observances and standards of its members.
Of these organizations, none played such a part in the history of the Plains as the “Dog Soldiers” of the Cheyenne.

12/06/2025

MONTANA Skyscrapers at Culbertson, circa 1909. The humorous title of the photo postcard caught my eye. Culbertson, founded in 1887, was named for Alexander Culbertson, an early superintendent for American Fur Company forts on the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. In 1847, Culbertson managed the construction of Fort Benton, a trade center 3500 miles upstream from New Orleans. Fort Benton became known as the world’s innermost port.

The cluster of log cabins might have served as cribs, places of work and residence for prostitutes, or perhaps as housing for other workers. After passage of the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909, my grandparents and great grandparents left Unionville, Missouri, to homestead south of Culbertson. My Photoshop efforts improved the view, but could not create great sharpness from the blurred source. -Gary Coffrin

10/06/2025

Medicine Crow. Photo by C. Bell in Washington, 1880

09/06/2025

Black Jack, a freighter for the government at Fort Defiance. ca 1900. Arizona. Photo by Frederick Monsen.

08/06/2025

Also known as the Kadohadacho, the Caddo homeland is primarily in southwestern Arkansas, northeastern Texas, and southeastern Oklahoma.

07/06/2025

“So, a funny thing happened on the ride home last night.” This photo, taken by an unnamed photographer near Lewistown, MT, reminded me of a family story that took place near Lemmon, SD.

In about 1932, Allegra (Sambo) Kusler was driving her daughter (my mom) home late one night. While driving too fast on a country road, Grandma suddenly saw a MONSTROUSLY HIGH hay stack directly in front of her.

She swerved, just in time to miss the hay stack! ...only to discover that the obstacle she steered to miss was a bridge.

I probably never heard the full story. Headlights were not very powerful then, but it seems reasonable to speculate that alcohol was involved. Story and Photoshop restoration of image by Gary Coffrin.

05/06/2025

Also known as the Othomi, the Otomi homeland is primarily in the area of the state of Hidalgo in central Mexico.

04/06/2025

“MOSA – MOHAVE,” by Edward S. Curtis, 1903. The portrait of a young Mohave (Mojave) woman with a painted face was the key image that convinced banker J. P. Morgan to grant Curtis $75,000, about $2.3 million in current value. The funds were to underwrite the initial five years of Curtis’s efforts to photograph Native Americans and to document the Old Ways of life, religion, ceremony, and song.

Curtis described Mosa’s eyes as “those of the fawn of the forest.” A link to his epic 20-volume "The North American Indian" is in the first comment. If using a PC, click image to enlarge/clarify. -Gary Coffrin

27/05/2025

𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗧𝗢 of frontier cowboys? Circa 1884, Tombstone (AZ) photographer C.S. Fly made the portrait of cowhands working for ‘Texas’ John Slaughter, legendary gunslinger, gambler, cattleman, and sheriff. The men wore hats with large, flat round brims and smooth uncreased crowns, unlike TV cowboys. At least five had leather chaps and gunbelts with revolvers. Two wore button bib shirts, which provided a bit of wind protection and could hold to***co supplies. Hats were tilted back to expose faces. The seated man at the right was on a lower surface, making him appear shorter. -Gary Coffrin

- Background information -
Lensman C.S. Fly began photographing Southeastern Arizona in 1879, the same year that L.A. Huffman, my favorite documentarian of cowboy life on the open range, began photographing Eastern Montana.

Standing, L to R: James C. Pursley (founding partner in Feb. 1885 of Chiricahua Cattle Co., the famous CCC outfit), Walter Thompson Fife (his parents had a ranch near the Riggs ranch) and James G. Maxwell (later owner of a large ranch and mine).
Seated, L to R: William ‘Billy’ Monroe Riggs (Cochise County ranch family), James H. McClure (Cochise County rancher) and John Blake (later a prosperous rancher and businessman).
The print is held by National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

True West magazine publicized this as “Best Cowboy Photo.” TW focuses on the Southwest, but photographers elsewhere made great photos of working cowboys as well. L.A. Huffman, O.S. Goff, John Grabill, and C.D. Kirkland spring immediately to mind.

I spent a full day researching the image and using Photoshop to clean and sharpen the print. The source file is at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

25/05/2025

TENT STUDIO, 1905. The mobile studio of North Dakota photographer Frank Bennett Fiske was well equipped. A section of the ceiling had a mesh fabric screen that admitted a soft light for portraits when the canvas below was rolled back. The heavy studio camera was mounted on a 4-wheel stand. The large cone-shaped lens hood was used to obscure backgrounds for headshots. The sawtooth vignetting mask (scrim) provided a soft transition to white on the lower portion of portraits. Backdrops at the right could be positioned behind subjects.

Fiske, who had apprenticed with S.T. Fansler and later bought his studio, was best known for his portraits of the Standing Rock Sioux. Most were taken at Fiske’s permanent studio at Fort Yates, ND. Commentary and Photoshop restoration by Gary Coffrin.

24/05/2025

The Mandan homeland is primarily in North Dakota.

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