[Ca. 1915 Sentinel Butte, North Dakota Ranching Photograph Album.]

Home on the Range

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A pre-First World War album of photographs taken in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota in the area known as the Golden Valley.

“Sentinel” originated from two Arikara sentinels killed nearby in 1864, killed by Sioux Indians. A prominent geological formation supplies “Butte.” The town had been been founded just a decade earlier, in 1902, a stop along the transcontinental rail line of the Northern Pacific Railway. Throughout the decades since, the population has never broken over 300 souls.

This album seems to have been taken by a man named Fred who may have been out in the area to get a sense of the Great West in Teddy Roosevelt-style.

One image clearly shows the railroad station, track signal raised and passengers lined up on the platform. Another shows the “Blazed Trail Store” and its lone gas pump. Several images, taken from a high vantage point, provide aerial views of the small settlement of Sentinel Butte and its prominent buildings. There appear to be a number of views of a quarry too. Also seen are hog pens, flocks of turkeys, plus a real photo postcard of “The First Harvest in Golden Valley. N.D. Sentinel Butte,” showing haystacks in a large rail-fenced field.

The real attraction here are the cowboys. About 30 photographs show cowboys, many of whom wear “woolies,” wooly chaps, typical of the northern Great Plains. Several pose for the camera with their rifles and horses. One of the cowboys, in “before” and “after” photos, appears to also pose as a Native American, feathers in his mop of hair and wearing a quilt as though it was an Indian blanket.

One of the cowboys, appears to be the keeper of this album, Fred. He is shown being welcomed on the railroad platform (captioned within with the date “March 9–1915”) in his from-back-East clothes. He is also shown in full cowboy kit: Cowboy hat (front rim facing forward), wooly chaps, rifle, and horse with lariat. An image of the “Ranch Bugler” may also be Fred playing different role.

Among the cowboy photos, there are several that appear to document some kind of gathering, perhaps a rodeo or other mounted competition. A line of horsemen watch cowboys in a large open field while spectators seated on the rocky hillside or on the hoods of automobiles look on. In one photo, a brass band with drums can be seen as a parade of cowboys goes by.

In all, a visually interesting album depicting cowboys and documenting early views of a small railroad settlement on the Great Plains of North Dakota.

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