Amazing Wild West Photos

[IceWizard]

Two Oglala Lakota Natives, known as Elk and Black Elk, were part of
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. They traveled all around the world with
the show and were famous for dancing while wearing shells and bells.





Gold mining was very profitable (and still is to this day) so it’s no surprise
that there were many innovations in the industry. Timothy O’Sullivan took
this picture of a railway track in Illinois that led to a gold mine.
Gold carts were moved up and down the railway using a pulley.





Spotted Elk, also known as Big Foot, was a Lakota Sioux chief who was killed in the
Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. He was just one of the 153 Native American
casualties killed by the Union soldiers, including women and children.





One aspect of American history that is not talked about enough is how
bad of a deal Native Americans got during European colonization.
First they were forced to move west, then they were forced to live
on reservations while the white settlers took all the best land.





Bathing did not occur on a daily basis in the wild west. In fact, some believed
that bathing could make you sick! Needless to say, this led to a stinky situation.
Women bathed at home, and by “bathed” we mean they wiped themselves
down with a cloth and a pitcher of water





Wanted posters were always popular, but since the “Dead or Alive” qualifier
came about, lawmen and bounty hunters often liked to prove that they had
bagged their prey by taking a photograph of their dead victim.
This is one such photo of famous outlaw Bill Doolin, who was killed
by U.S. Marshal Heck Thomas with around 20 buckshot wounds.






Native Americans had a special name for any Black American who served in the
U.S. Army: Buffalo Soldier. You might remember the term from Bob Marley’s song.
In 2005, the final living Buffalo Soldier passed away.
He was 111 years old.





The Dalton brothers were lawmen who became so frustrated at not
getting paid, they decided to become outlaws and rob trains and
banks in 1890. They were pretty successful outlaws until a bank
robbery went wrong in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892. Grat and
Bob Dalton were shot and killed, while brother Emmett survived,
despite taking a whopping 23 bullets. Emmett was captured, tried,
and convicted, and spent 14 years in prison before he was paroled.





One of the most famous female outlaws in the wild west was Belle Starr.
Her real name was Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr and her family
called her May. She rode sidesaddle with two pistols and was
killed in 1889.
Her murder is unsolved to this day.







Before Mexicans, these Chinese railway workers were the
hated-immigrants-du-jour. They made $1 a day when white workers
made about $2.50. They also had to personally move their own camps
and get their own food, while this was all provided for the white workers.






Timothy O’Sullivan was a photographer who took many pictures
of the European settlement of the wild west. This picture he took
of Little Cottonwood, UT, is one such photograph in his chronicle
of a changing western landscape.






This photo from 1887 shows the proud cowboys after capturing a gray wolf.
Predators such as these, as well as mountain lions and bears, would
regularly attack cattle, so it was quite an accomplishment for cowboys
like these to take out anything that threatened the lives of their
precious cattle.

---

Like we’ve said, cowboys loved to have their pictures taken and usually wore
their best duds. These pictures were meant to show off, so they usually
included accessories like guns and hats.





This photo from the late 1800s shows the great Comanche chief and war leader,
Quanah Parker. He was known for his bravery and his aggression as a warrior,
and for becoming a leader at a young age. He is shown here wearing an eagle
feather headdress and holding a lance bottom-up.





The general most famous for losing at the Battle of Little Big Horn,
George Armstrong Custer, took this picture shortly before his death.
He had risen in the Army ranks during the Civil War and the Indian Wars.





Ned Christie was a Cherokee statesman who was notable for fighting
American lawmen in a series of conflicts that came to be known as
“Ned Christie’s War.” He was accused of killing a U.S. Marshal in 1887,
which later turned out to be wrongfully so in 1918, according to testimony.
Nevertheless, his home was burned down by law enforcement officials in 1889,
and he was killed in 1892 by lawmen.





One of the most successful cavalry regiments on the Confederate side of the
Civil War was Terry’s Texas Rangers. The regiment was formed in 1861 and
was involved in at least 275 engagements until it was finally dissolved in 1865.





Wild Bill Hickock might have been the fastest gun in the west and legend has it that
he killed over 100 people. Bill was not happy when this count gave him the
reputation of being a killer, even though he was responsible for exaggerating
his kill count.
In reality, he killed about 10 men





In the late 1800s, photographer John Grabill sent almost 200 pictures to Congress
for copyright. His photos chronicled the development of South Dakota,
Wyoming, and Colorado, as well as its effects on the local Natives.






Curly was a young and handsome 17-year-old during the Battle of Little Bighorn,
where he witnessed firsthand the fall of Custer. He was a scout for Custer,
which meant that he didn’t actually engage in the fighting, but he was always
in close proximity to it. Word quickly spread that Curly was the “only survivor”
of the battle, and he became famous, with his photograph garnering high demand.
This photograph is one of the earliest of Curly, taken shortly after the battle
in 1876 by D.F. Barry in Bismarck, Dakota Territory.






When she was 14 years old, Olive Oatman’s parents were killed by a tribe
of Native Indians. She and her younger sister were enslaved and a year
later traded to a Mohave tribe. Both sisters were tattooed on the chin and
her younger sister died of starvation.
She was held for five years.





This 19th century man, shown in a Kansas City newspaper, is wearing the
traditional garb of the wild west. The hat he’s wearing is a Mexican sombrero
and was vital to survival in the harsh wild western climate.






Quanah Parker was half Native American and half white
(his mother was of European descent).
He became a great Comanche chief who opposed the government’s
orders that the Natives move to a reservation. Eventually he agreed
after the threats became too great.






It seems like everyone these days moves into a new house or apartment every
few years. Well, back in the 19th century, people also moved around, just not
as frequently. Here is a couple taking a break in Kansas as they head west
to start a new life.

---

Guns were an integral part of survival in the wild west and everyone had one.
Since photographs were a relatively new invention and very exclusive, many
cowboys were filled with pride when they got their photograph taken — almost
always with their guns showing.





Rufus Buck started a short-lived, but deadly, gang made up of part-Creek Indians and
African-Americans. They killed some people, robbed, raped and were eventually captured.
They were sentenced to death.






Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton were all massacred during the
1881 shootout at the O.K. Corral. “Murdered on the Streets of Tombstone” read
the sign that preceded their dead bodies during the funeral procession.
Eventually the bodies became a front window display in the hardware shop.






Captured in 1885, this group of cowpokes worked for cattle businessman John Slaughter.
This photo is widely considered to be the best and clearest photo ever taken of
hard-working cattle ranchers.






Chaps could be made from many various types of material based on what kind
of work cowboys did. The majority were made from durable cowhide, but some
were sewn together pieces of goat and sheep skin.






William T. Anderson’s story of vengeance turned him into a full-blown savage after
his sister died while under custody of Union soldiers during the Civil War.
He satisfied his revenge by hijacking a train full of Union troops and slaughtering
24 of them, thus giving him the name “Bloody Bill” Anderson.






When photographer Timothy O’Sullivan was passing through the picturesque
Shoshone Falls in Idaho in 1874, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to set up
his equipment and snap a photo of the gorgeous scenery.






Captured in 1879, this photo remains the only authentic photo of infamous
outlaw Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney).






A small group of teepees sit in the foreground of this photo taken in Pine Ridge,
South Dakota, while two large estates dwarf them — a foreshadowing of what
would eventually become of the Native American territory.






Wyatt Earp is widely considered to be among the most famous gunslingers in the
entire Wild West.
Pictured are Nicholas and Virginia, his parents.






Buffalo Bill was crazy lucky when he found arguably one of the greatest
sharpshooters of her time. This photo was taken before the show went
out tour to London where Oakley famously outshot Lillian Smith.






If you’ve seen films like The Magnificent Seven or Tombstone, you likely
have a pretty romantic image in your head of what a real gun-totin’ gunslinger
looked like. Did it look anything like this?
This is what the average gunslinger really looked like.