Beautiful Native Powwow

STEAK, GRIDDLE CAKES, & COFFEE, 1904. Old West photographer L.A. Huffman was at the Bow & Arrow (a/k/a Bow-Gun) Ranch on South Sunday Creek, north of Miles City, Montana. Lee Warren, with plate and cup atop his boots, was the “broncho buster.” Warren and a few helpers would “tame” six to eight horses per day.

Warren, a short man, tucked his pants into his boots when working. (Click photo to enlarge.) The cowboy to the left had laced boots. The stove at the back of the tent had been unloaded from the chuckwagon. The men were wearing heavy wool California pants, not denim. L.A. Huffman was not a “hold still and face the camera” ideologue. Starting in 1879, he photographed buffalo hunters at work, preserved portraits of Native warriors who fought at the Little Big Horn, and documented the working life of Montana cowboys. Text and digital restoration of photo by Gary Coffrin.

NORTHERN CHEYENNE GIRL, circa 1916. Renowned Old West photographer L.A. Huffman captured the portrait of a young Cheyenne girl and her toy tepee and miniature tent in Eastern Montana. Another child was at the left, behind the cloth overhang made from flour bags.

Huffman’s perspective was low, showing empathy for the child. A young female subject and the low perspective were unusual for the time, particularly from a Caucasian male. Huffman has been the subject of five books. “The Frontier Years” and “Before Barbed Wire” remain my sentimental favorites, since Dad supplied all the photographs. Several of L.A. Huffman’s photographs are national treasures, including his early portraits of Native participants in the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn. Text and digital restoration of photo by Gary Coffrin.

I normally post restored photographs of the Old West, but since it is back-to-school season and exams are soon to follow...