Pictures and Descriptive
Labels

Included with each photograph purchased from our gallery is a
label describing the subject matter of the picture. This label is printed
on crack and peel paper and may be applied to the dust cover (back of
picture) when the picture is framed.

When a picture is framed in our gallery the descriptive label is
available framed under glass in moulding matching that of the art work and
can be hung with the art work. Overall dimension of framed Descriptive
Label is approximately 5 1/4"x 6 1/2". This greatly enhances the interest
of the photograph by bringing it historically to life.

Below are a few examples of Huffman photos with the descriptive
text. Click on the image to see photo in a larger size.

Spotted Eagle's Sioux Village -
1879

Spotted
Eagle's Village was the last great leather lodge village
seen on the Yellowstone. These lodges were pitched in the fall of
1880 near Fort Keogh when the Spotted Eagle band numbering nearly
2500 people of the Sioux nation surrendered to General Nelson Miles.
At this point in time, most lodges in other camps were made from
White Man's canvas. This is also the village where Rain-In-The-Face
was a prisoner of war and where Huffman smuggled him away from the
camp and into his studio where numerous photographs were made of
him. (see page 39 of Coffrin's catalogue).

Going To The Roundup
This
remains one of Huffman's
most popular photographs
today.

A
considerable part of a cowboy's working time was spent on
the roundup, branding calves, gathering beef from the nearby hills
and gullies and beef that had strayed far from their owner's range.
A scene such as this meant the start of several days, and possibly
weeks, of strenuous, long hours in the saddle. This classic Huffman
photograph pictures the cow hands on their way to set up camp with
their remuda of geldings trailing behind. Also seen are two, of what
appear to be, bed wagons that were important to any roundup
operation carrying bedrolls, water barrels, extra coats and
slickers, rope, etc.

The Bob
Saloon

Ismay,
Montana exists today, located in the Northeast corner of
Custer County. One person described Ismay in 1906, about the time
this picture was taken, as "a wide place in the road." Bob Levitt
was an expatriate from The Confederacy and as proprietor of The Bob
Saloon, provided the opportunity for cattleman and sheepherder alike
to stop to bend his elbow. A classic photograph of a time that has
passed and will never be again. A time when one could lean back in a
chair and gaze off in the distance and just do nothing, without
being considered peculiar.

Shy Little Cheyenne
Girl With
Doll
This photograph was taken in
Huffman's old
studio in Miles
City, Montana
Territory

This
little girl's dress, and the dress of her doll, is
exquisitely decorated with dentalia shells. These shells had been
harvested from the Pacific Ocean floor and traded inland by West
Coast Tribes. Dentalia shells had been used as money by North
American Indians for 2,500 years. The careful handwork of the
Cheyenne people is notably displayed here in this fine and sensitive
portrait by L.A. Huffman, and a mother's love is manifest in her
carefully parted and braided hair. Having lived in close proximity
to the Cheyenne people for most of his life Huffman had great
respect for them.

LU Bar cook making bread,
1904
A Typical early day chuck wagon
scene.

In the
early days the cooking was done over an open fire. It takes
but little imagination to picture the cook's difficulties when
working with wet wood on a rainy day, or when the wind blew smoke in
his eyes, scattered his fire and deposited dust, sand and ashes in
the food every time he lifted a lid. Later there was a long fly of
canvas stretched from the wagon to cover the working area, or a tent
and small portable stove. These went a long way toward lessening the
cook's troubles.

Please do not download art work displayed on this
web site. Copyright to reproduce these photographs in any form is held
solely by Frank and Nadine Ross D.B.A. Coffrin's Old West Gallery as
issued to them by the U. S. Copyright Office, Washington,
D.C.

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Our
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59715

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