From the Wild and Woolly West. Wyoming 1905 -- Illustrated by Fred and May (Original Photo Album)

1905. Photo Album. Near Fine. Fred and May. A charming vernacular Bighorn Mountains (Wyoming) photo album, created during a pivotal time (1905) in the region's history. Depicting family life, cabin living, and the bands of sheep for which the area was known. Oblong octavo, 26 photographs in a photo album of thin black card wraps, bound by string-tie. With mounted original photograph and the title and decorative border (both painted by hand) on the front panel. Captions in pen below each photo. The largest photograph measures 4 1/2" x 3 3/4" and the smallest measures 3" x 3 1/4". Clean and crisp and very well-preserved, though, understandably, quite fragile. The Bighorn Mountains are located in North-Central Wyoming, halfway bewteen Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park. Settlers began moving into the Bighorn Basin in the 1870s. Quite a few of the early settlers to the region ran sheep as well as cattle, and antagonism arose between those who viewed the open range as their property and those who wanted to fence and farm the land. Before the organization of Big Horn County was created in 1897, there was very little law enforcement. After Big Horn County set up an established government, county business could be pursued and crimes prosecuted in Basin City. This became especially crucial after the infamous Spring Creek Raid on April 2nd, 1909, south of Ten Sleep in what's now Washakie County but then was still part of Big Horn County. The Spring Creek Raid was the final major conflict during the Wyoming Sheep Wars. (In the raid, three sheepmen were murdered. The subsequent trials and their outcomes became a decisive point in the history of the whole region). This rare album represents a wonderful, one-of-a-kind piece of Americana, of late 19th-early 20th century Western Americana.