HISTORIC ROCK ART - A FIGURE FROM DENVER HISTORY COMMEMORATED ON A CLIFF IN SKAGWAY, ALASKA:

Sometimes you can go halfway around the world only to run into something that makes you feel at home again.

Ship signature cliff, Skagway, Alaska. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

Ship signature cliff, Skagway, Alaska. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

“Alongside the Railroad Dock in Skagway is an impressive wall of solid granite that is home to one of the most unique art collections in Alaska. Since 1928, the crews of ships have been ‘autographing’ this wall to commemorate their first voyage to Skagway. Though access to the dock has been severely curtailed since ‘9/11’, passengers on the cruise ships with use of the dock and off-season visitors can spend hours reading the signatures, which comprise a virtual ‘Who’s Who’ of Alaska passenger ships from the past 80-odd years.” (Lundberg)

"Soapy" Smith skull painting, Skagway, Alaska. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

"Soapy" Smith skull painting, Skagway, Alaska. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

The dominating image on this wall in Skagway is a large painted skull dedicated to a man named “Soapy Smith.” Soapy Smith’s skull was painted in the Fall of 1926 on a rock formation that is shaped somewhat like a skull. It was signed by ‘FM’ but nowadays nobody seems to know who that was. (Lundberg)

"Soapy" Smith. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

"Soapy" Smith with "Soiled Dove", Skagway, Alaska. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

In this context the story of "Soapy" Smith begins in Denver, Colorado. "Once upon a time, our town had a most colorful villain, Jefferson Randolph ‘Soapy’ Smith, the king of all Western con-men. In Denver, Soapy earned his nickname, opening up a suitcase and offering downtown crowds a chance at easy money. He would flamboyantly wrap a $100 bill around a soap bar before sealing it with pretty pastel tissue. That bar would go on display with the other soap bars. Soapy sang out ads such as: ‘When you raise your arm, do you lose your charm?’ For a mere $1, anyone could pick any bar and take it home. Soapy’s bills, of course, went only to his confederates, whose whoops of elation could be heard for blocks away. Two Denver police officers were among Soapy’s early customers. When he balked at giving them his name, they booked him as Soapy Smith. The name stuck.” (Noel 2016)

"Soapy" Smith at a bar in Skagway, Alaska. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

He also became involved in local politics. “Soapy became a star at recruiting, registering, instructing and shepherding voters to the polls where they voted early and often. He masterminded the 1889 election of Mayor Wold Londoner, and election so blatantly crooked that Londoner became the only Denver mayor forced to step down.

During Denver’s notorious City Hall War of 1893, Soapy defended a corrupt city hall against the reform troops of Gov. Davis H. Waite. Supposedly while waving a stick of dynamite from atop the old city hall at 14^th and Larimer, Soapy Smith yelled down at the forces of reform, ‘I’m closer to heaven than you are, but if you come any closer you will get there first.

When reformers prevailed, Soapy was run out of Denver. He headed for Skagway, Alaska, where he is now the town’s pride and joy. The National Park Service is restoring Jeff Smith’s Parlor, a saloon, gambling hell and ‘business office’ for Soapy’s gang, which ran the the town and fleeced the thousands of fortune seekers pouring into this base camp for the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.” (Noel 2016) Soapy being considered “the town’s pride and joy” strikes me as an example of an anti-hero, but we in Colorado are happy to share this scoundrel with them in a reverse of their loss is our gain.

“Short on law and long on gold dust, Skagway was the perfect place for Smith to perfect his con games. He soon became the head of an ambitious criminal underworld, and he and his partners fleeced thousands of gullible miners. Smith’s success eventually angered the honest citizens of Skagway, who were trying to build an upstanding community. They formed a vigilante ‘Committee of 101’ in an attempt to bring law and order to the town. Undaunted, Smith formed his own gang into a ‘Committee of 303’ to oppose them.

"Soapy" Smith and his gang in Skagway, Alaska. Internet photograph, Public Domain.

On this day [8 July] in 1898, Smith tried to crash a vigilante meeting on the Skagway wharf, apparently hoping to use his con-man skills to persuade them that he posed no threat to the community. Smith, however, had failed to realize just how angry the vigilantes were. When he tried to break through the crowd, a Skagway city engineer named Frank Reid confronted him. The men exchanged harsh words and then bullets. Reid shot Smith dead on the spot, but not before Smith had badly wounded him. The engineer died 12 days later.” (History.com)

Old Soapy seems to have been destined for a bad ending hurting a lot of people along the way. With the buffer of time, however, people seem to find a way to admire, even celebrate, scoundrels like Soapy Smith. Denver celebrates running him out of town, Skagway not so much apparently.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

History.com Editors, 2019, Soapy Smith killed in Skagway, Alaska, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-histury/soapy-smith-killed-in-skagway-alaska, accessed on 3 July 2022.

Lundberg, Murray, Skagway, Alaska: The “Ship Signature Wall,” Explore North, An Explorer’s Guide to the North, accessed on 13 November 2021

Noel, Tom, 2016, “Soapy” Smith was Denver’s Original Tourist Attraction, 11 September 2008, updated 7 May 2011, https://www.denverpost.com

MEET THE ROCK ARTIST - PACOMIO CHACON:

Dragon trail, S. of Rangley,

Rio Blanco county, CO.,

Photograph Peter Faris,

Sept. 1990.

Back in 1990, south of Rangeley, Colorado, I ran into one of the most amazing and memorable petroglyphs I had (and still have) ever seen. A beautiful example of sheepherder art, it was the nude figure of a woman, wearing only a drape and high heels, and signed "Paco Chacon, Fruita, Colo, Jan 9 1975."

Sketch of petroglyph, 

Dragon trail, S. of Rangley,

Rio Blanco county, CO.,

The thing about it was that it could in no way be labeled a pornoglyph; although nude, she was demure and innocent, self-confident and comfortable in her beauty. When I met her she was only fifteen years old based on the dated signature. As a life-long fan of folk art this petroglyph instantly impressed itself in my memories as one of my very favorites.

Dragon trail, S. of Rangley,

Rio Blanco county, CO.

Photograph Cheryl Ames,

Sept. 2008.

I was later given this 2008 photograph by Cheryl Ames showing the demise of this remarkable beauty. Some philistine with a high-powered rifle, for whatever demented reasons, had decided to practice his target practice on her image.

By now I am sure you have noticed that this particular column is not an impartial scientific report on rock art. I am, in fact, ranting about an all-too-common occurrence in rock art, vandalism, and lamenting the destruction of a particularly beautiful example of sheepherder art. There is, however, one bright element in this dark and depressing story. I have recently read a wonderful book by Steven G. Baker (2016) about this artist, Paco Chacon. Baker's "My Name is Pacomio" opens up the life of this artist whom Baker had befriended, and introduces us to the remarkable body of work, both on rock and on Aspen bark, that is Paco Chacon's legacy to the world. So many more examples of the work of this remarkable self-taught artist than I could ever hope to find are illustrated in Baker's 130 pages.

Paco Chacon petroglyph,

"Desert Bighorn, and Little 

Miss Tuffet." #12, p. 93,

Photograph Steven G. Baker.

 "Paco's Pony", #13, p. 93, 

from Shavetail Basin,

near Rangely, CO.

Photograph Steven G. Baker

According to Baker, Pacomio Chacon was born in New Mexico's Jemez mountains on La Mesa del Polio in the vicinity of the community of Coyote. As with so many others in this rural, pastoral society, Chacon grew up working around the family's small farm and herding flocks of sheep. I have no intention of recounting the life history of Paco Chacon, for that I will refer you to the book listed below which Steven G. Baker wrote about the life and work of his friend. I will say that Chacon sounds like an admirable man who showed a remarkable talent for portraying the human figure although he had no formal art training. That you will see for yourself in the few other examples of Chacon's body of work that I am including with Baker's permission out of the roughly one hundred that Baker has documented (and refers to other known examples that he could not photograph).

Aspen bark inscription, 1964-65,

photograph by Richard Moyer,

Meeker, Colorado.

Paco's "Marilyn M., Chimera of

the Aspens", #19, p. 71.

Photograph Steven G. Baker.

"Kneeling Lady", #18, p. 71.

Photograph Steven G. Baker

As grateful as I am to Paco Chacon for the beautiful examples of his work which decorate some of the Colorado/Utah  wilderness where sheep have long grazed, I am as grateful to Steve Baker for bringing me the full story of the gentle and talented man who produced it. Thank you both.

REFERENCE:

Baker, Steven G.

2016 My Name Is Pacomio: The Life and Works of Colorado's Sheepherder and Master Artist of Nature's Canvases, Western Reflections Publishing Co., Lake City, CO.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON - ROCK ARTIST:

Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire,

Great Britain, home of

Sir Isaac Newton.

  

Recent investigations have found evidence that the famous 17th century scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, created rock art, drawings scratched into the interior surface of stone blocks his home was constricted from. "Using a photographic technique to survey interior surfaces of Sir Isaac Newton's childhood home, Woolsthorpe Manor, in Lincolnshire, England, conservator Chris Pickup has discovered a doodle of a windmill drawn by the scientist as a young man." (Brown 2018)

Woolsthorpe Manor is not only where Newton famously observed the apple falling from a tree which led him to theories on gravitation, but also where he conducted his experiments with a prism that gave him his understanding of light. "Newton was born in 1642 and grew up in the house, returning in 1665 when he left Cambridge during an outbreak of the plague." (Brown 2018)

Windmill, by Sir Isaac Newton, 

www.atlasobscura.com.

"' Paper was expensive, and the walls of the house would have been repainted regularly, so using them as a sketchpad as he explored the world around him would have made sense," said Jim Grevatte, a program manager at Woolsthorpe Manor, in a press release." (Traverso 2017)

This practice was recorded in 1752 by Sir Isaac's friend and visitor William Stukeley. "After visiting Woolsthorpe Manor, William Stukeley, biographer of the great scientist remarked: 'The walls, & ceelings were full of drawings, which he had made with charcole. There were birds, beasts, men, ships, plants, mathematical figures, circles & triangles.'" (Collins 2018) In a wonderful coincidence, William Stukeley was one of our earliest archaeologists. "He pioneered the archaeological investigation of the prehistoric monuments of Stonehenge and Avebury." (Wikipedia)

            Windmill in black, other lines
              in red, by Sir Isaac Newton,
               www.nationaltrust.org.uk.

Conservator Chris Pickup discovered the new drawing during a careful study of the interior surfaces. "Previous sketches had been found in the 1920s and 1930s by tenants moving into the home, which is now owned by the National Trust, the largest conservations organization in England. Pickup and his team are currently studying the building, which is where Newton undertook his prism experiment and allegedly observed the famous apple falling from a tree, in order to understand more about the scientist's early investigations." (Traverso 2017)

"The technology, called reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), creates a synthesis of multiple digital images, allowing researchers to identify features invisible to the naked eye. "Each RTI requires over 24 photographs, so each small section is time consuming," Pickup explains." (Brown 2018)

Now I totally regret scolding our granddaughter for scribbling on our wall, I might have nipped another great genius in the bud.

Memorial plaque with sundial

plate, cut with a penknife by

Sir Isaac Newton in 1651, in

St John the Baptist's church,

Colsterworth, Lincolnshire,

Great Britain. Wikipedia.

PS: Another stone carving by Sir Isaac Newton is this sundial that he reportedly carved with a penknife in 1651 at the age of 9, in St. John the Baptist's church, Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, Great Britain. The inscription reads ""Newton: aged 9 years cut with his penknife this dial: the stone was given by C. Turnor Esq^re, and placed here at the cost of the Rt. Hon. Sir William Erle, a collateral descendent of Newton. 1877."

REFERENCES:

Brown, Marley

2018 Newtonian Whiteboard, Archaeology Magazine, March-April 2018, p. 21

Collins, Tim

2018 Hidden Drawing by Sir Isaac Newton is Found Carved Into a Well of His Childhood Home Using a Revolutionary Light Trick Inspired by the Scientist, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5159347/Hidden-windmill-drawing-Isaac-Newtons-home.html.

Traverso, Vittoria

2017 Found: A Hidden Drawing in Sir Isaac Newton's Childhood Home, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-hidden-drawing-sir-isaac-newton-childhood-home, December 8, 2017.

Wikipedia

CHRISTOGRAMS:

Symbols consisting of variations on

the cross, Mesa Prieta, New Mexico.

Photograph Peter Faris.

In the portions of the New World that were settled by the Spanish a symbol commonly found in historic rock art is the Christogram. "A Christogram (from Greek Khristos, Christ + -gramma, letter or piece of writing is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a Christian symbol. Different types of Chrostograms are associated with the various traditions of Christianity, e.g. the IHS (also JHS, IHC, or IHΣ) monogram representing the Holy Name of Jesus or ICXC representing "Jesus Christ". Since early Christianit, the related term Chrismon (from Greek Khristos, Christ + -mon, one or single, from Late Latin monogramma, monogram) has traditionally referred to any symbol or figure reminiscent of the name of Christ, by contrast with the basic Christogram consisting of plain letters typically implying the presence of some kind of calligraphic ornamentation." (Wikipedia)

 

Chi-Rho Christogram,

public domain.

"One of the oldest Christograms is the Chi-Rho or Labarum. It consists of the superimposed Greek letters chi (X) and rhoh (P), which are the first two letters of Christ in Greek." (Wikipedia)

The most commonly encountered Christogram in English-speaking countries in modern times is the letter X (or more accurately, the Greek letter chi), representing the first letter of the word Christ, in such abbreviations as Xmas (for "Christmas) and Xian or Xtian (for "Christian")." (Wikipedia)

Monogram for the name of Jesus based

on the Cross, Public Domain.

Many of the known Christograms include representations of the Cross, symbolizing the crucifix and the crucifixion of Christ. This leads to the distinct possibility that elaborated crosses found in historic rock art of the American southwest were intended as Christograms. Even if the person who produced the image did not know the concept of Christograms their intention to produce a reference to the church of Jesus Christ allows us to classify these as probable Christograms.

Purgatoire Canyon, Bent County, CO.

Photograph Peter Faris, June 1991.

A concentration of these symbols is found in the northern New Mexico, southern Colorado area historically inhabited by the Penitente Brotherhood, and are assumed to have probably been their creations. Others can perhaps  be credited to sheepherders or Hispanic cowboys. In some instances they demonstrably mark a shrine, while in other instances they are just found on a rock surface with no other cultural remains to be seen. In any case they represent a message of someone's strong devotion to their Christian religion and should be viewed with the respect due a sacred symbol.

REFERENCES:

Blaine, Dean

2015    Mysteries of the Brotherhood, Archaeology, May/June 2015, Vol. 68, No. 3, p. 42-7.

Faris, Peter

2015     Penitente Rock Art, http://rockartblog.blogspot.com

Wikipedia

HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS - KID CURRY, 1901:

Another illustration from the PhD

thesis of Timothy Urbaniak (2014)

identifies "Kid Curry, 1901."

"While inscriptions of "outlaws" have been documented further south into Wyoming, evidence of them roaming eastern Montana is scarcer, with the exception of the inscription "Kid Curry 1901" (Figure 5.77), located on a lone sandstone outcrop north of Ingomar, Montana." (Urbaniak 2014:130)

"Kid Curry came to Montana when he was about 16 and eventually started a ranch south of Landusky with his brothers. But when a feud erupted and Curry shot Pike Landusky, owner of the brothers’ favorite saloon, Curry skipped town for Wyoming." (Tribune Staff 2014)

 
The Wild Bunch, Logan is on
the right in the rear, public
domain photograph.

In Wyoming "he joined a gang of bandits led by “Flat-Nosed” George Currie (no relation) and Harry Longabaugh, alias the “Sundance Kid.” George Parker, alias “Butch Cassidy,” later joined the gang, eventually known as the Wild Bunch. The group’s legendary robberies include a bank hold-up in Belle Fourche, S.D., and Union Pacific train robberies." (Tribune Staff 2014)

"On July 3, 1901, Kid Curry and the Wild Bunch pulled off one of the most successful train robberies in U.S. history. At Exeter Creek, about six miles west of Malta, they held up the Great Northern Railway passenger train. They disappeared with $41,500 in unsigned tender. 

No one was ever convicted for the Great Northern robbery, but Kid Curry was arrested later that year in Tennessee for forging bank notes — presumably from the same train heist. 

He was sentenced to 41 years in prison but escaped in 1903." (Tribune Staff 2014)

The 1901 inscription of Kid Curry at Ingomar, Montana, would likely have been carved before the July 3, 1901 train robbery because, afterward the gang (including Kid Curry) would have been concentrating on evading the law. Indeed, if you are being chased by a posse, or just sought by Pinkerton agents, you are not likely to leave your name carved on a rock to give a clue towards where you had gone. Urbaniak concluded that the inscription was connected with the train robbery. "It has been speculated that the inscribing is connected with a trip to rob the Great Northern train near Wagner, Montana, which he did on July 3, 1901." (Urbaniak 2014:130)

Harvey Logan, AKA Kid Curry,

public domain photograph.

"Curry’s later activities are debated, but Nate Murphy, curator of Outlaw Lawmen Collections at the Phillips County Museum, said the most reliable information comes from the Pinkerton detective agents who trailed the Wild Bunch’s crime spree. Their records say Curry’s corpse was identified in Colorado. He was wounded in 1904 during a gunfight after a botched train robbery in Parachute, Colo. To avoid being captured, he shot himself in the head." (Tribune staff 2014) Kid Curry was buried in Linwood Cemetery, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado (Doc Holliday is also buried there).

Although the popular movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid glamorized the details of the gang's activities, including train robberies, we will do well to remember that these were violent acts and innocent people were injured and killed.

Linwood Cemetery, Glenwood Springs, Colorado. http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Such historic inscriptions can provide us with a direct emotional and intellectual link to events of the past, to the deeds and circumstances that have led to our society today. Indeed, I have been to Parachute and Glenwood Springs, Colorado, many times, and I have even ridden the train through them. I love these historic inscriptions because of such feelings of connection, and the way they allow us to better  understand the history of who we are and where we live.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

NOTE: This material is presented through the generosity of Tim Urbaniak, who compiled much of this material for his 2014 PhD thesis, HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS IDENTITY AND INFLUENCE IN THE RESIDUAL COMMUNICATION RECORD at the University of Montana, in Missoula.

REFERENCES:

Staff, Great Falls Tribune, 2014.

Urbianik, Timothy Rostov,

2014    HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS IDENTITY AND INFLUENCE IN THE RESIDUAL COMMUNICATION, Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology The University of Montana Missoula, MT,  July 2014.

Wikipedia.

www.tripadvisor.com

HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS - TOM HORN, 1894:

Tom Horn, 1894, inscription. South-central

Montana. Photograph by Timothy Urbaniak,

used by permission.

Periodically, I include historic inscriptions in RockArtBlog, not that they are art per se, but because they provide a direct link to the history of the Western US. This week I am illustrating the inscription pictured above, Tom Horn, 1894.

"Thomas "Tom" Horn, Jr. (November 21,1860 - November 20, 1903) was an American Old West scout, who carried out varied roles as hired gunman, Pinkerton range detective, cowboy, and soldier." (Wikipedia)

Tom Horn, photograph from internet.

"At Names Hill in western Wyoming, local ranchers continued to participate in the cultural tradition of inscribing at that site. During that time there (were) new threats coming to the cattle ranches across the Northern Plains in the form of rustlers. As part of an effort to control rustling, Wyoming ranchers from around Cheyenne hired Tom Horn as an enforcer. In 1894 he was brought in as a detective by the Swan Land & Cattle Company of Cheyenne. Reputed as a cold-blooded killer that liked to shoot from afar, the placement of an inscription reading "Tom Horn, 1894" (Figure 5.68) is placed high along sandstone rimrocks. An interesting note about the inscription site is that it is placed on a cliff at the top of a valley between Billings and Hardin, Montana, with an excellent vantage spot of the travel corridor, and a place in a break in the sandstone cliffs large enough to contain a horse and bedroll." (Urbaniak 2014:128)

"Believed to have committed 17 murders as a hured gunman in the West, in 1902 Horn was convicted of the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell near Iron Mountain, Wyoming. The boy was the son of sheep rancher Kels Nickell, who had been involved in a range feud with neighbor and cattle rancher Jim Miller. On the day before his 43rd birthday, Horn was executed by hanging in Cheyenne Wyoming.

While in jail he wrote his autobiography, Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter (1904), which was published posthumously. Numerous editions have been published of this book since the late 20th century, and debate continues as to whether he was guilty of Nickell's murder." (Wikipedia)

Tom Horn presents us with an interesting and controversial case because, as noted above, historians of he are still argue over his guilt or innocence in that particular murder. Horn had reportedly confessed to it while drunk but the circumstances throw enough doubt on the case to keep the question open. Not that Horn did not deserve hanging. His career of murder as a hired gun certainly qualified him for capital punishment. Reportedly, when asked if he had any last request before his 1903 hanging Horn asked to have a friend of his in another cell sing him the song "Life's Railway to Heaven" or "Life is Like a Mountain Railway." This is also one of my favorite hymns.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 

NOTE: Presented through the generosity of Tim Urbaniak, who compiled this material for his 2014 PhD thesis, HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS IDENTITY AND INFLUENCE IN THE RESIDUAL COMMUNICATION RECORD at the University of Montana, in Missoula.

REFERENCES:

Urbianik, Timothy Rostov,

2014    HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS IDENTITY AND INFLUENCE IN THE RESIDUAL COMMUNICATION, Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology The University of Montana Missoula, MT,  July 2014.

Wikipedia.

THE MARTIN BOWDIN GALLERY IN THE PURGATORY - PART 2:

Eldon Brown family at Martin Bowden's

home, Photograph by Eldon Brown,
from John and Daphne Rudolph.

Continuing the story of Martin Bowden, the hermit painter of the Purgatoire River. Bowden had a homesteader style house on the canyon rim made of laid blocks of rock where he lived with his little dog.

Pronghorn antelope with Eldon

Brown's daughters. Photograph by Eldon

Brown, from John and Daphne Rudolph.

"Charlie Beshoar, owner of the Model store where Bowden came to trade, swears the hermit could speak five languages, "maybe six if you count the way he talked to animals. 'What did the man look like?' I asked Charlie. "His eyes were black. Black and snappy. He had a mustache and beard, and they was always trimmed neat as a banker's fur. And he washed his overalls every week. We got a hell of a lot of old bachelors down here, but we never had many nice, clean old bachelors. For company he had a little bull terrier that went everywhere he did." (Leasure 1983: 24)

Bald eagle in flight. Photograph

by Eldon Brown, from John and

Daphne Rudolph.

Rattlesnake. Photograph by

Eldon Brown, from John and

Daphne Rudolph.

"Not only did early artists use rock walls of the region for their canvases, but so did recent residents. An excellent example is found along the upper reaches of the Purgatoire in a side canyon that is a modern day art gallery. An artist, Martin Bowden, lived there and painted the canyon walls with numerous images of animals and historic Americans. An eagle is painted high on a cliff face, and a larger-than-life rattlesnake is painted coiled on a rock beside the trail." (McGlone et al 1994:85)

Prongorn, mountain goat, deer, and

calf, with Eldon Brown's daughters.

Photograph by Eldon Brown, from John

and Daphne Rudolph.

"Modern art gallery in a side canyon of the Purgatoire River. 

Martin Bowden retired to a lonesome life in the canyon in 1911, and lived there until his self-inflicted death in 1958. Known as the "Hermit of the Purgatoire", or "Picasso of the Purgatoire," he painted about 40 life-sized figures of animals and people on the sandstone walls with brightly colored house paint." (McGlone et al 1994:92)

Rider. Photograph by Eldon Brown,

from John and Daphne Rudolph.

These lovely pictures are of considerable appeal, and, given their age, are now classifiable as antiques. These photographs will now be preserved in the Colorado Rock Art Archive at the Pueblo Regional Library in Pueblo, Colorado. Thank you Daphne and John.

REFERENCES:

Leasure, Bob

1983    Painted Beasts, pages 12-13 and 23 - 25, the Denver Post Magazine, June 26, 1983.

McGlone, Bill, Ted Barker, and Phil Leonard

1994    Petroglyphs of Southeast Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle, Mithras Inc., Kamas, UT.

THE MARTIN BOWDIN GALLERY IN THE PURGATORY - PART 1:

Bowdin Trail marker, 1911,

Purgatory Canyon, Colorado.

Back in the 1980s I heard talk about a remarkable gallery of painted animals in the upper Purgatory region of southeastern Colorado. At that time Bill McGlone even showed me a couple of photographs that he had been given. Then, in June of 1983, an article in The Denver Post by Bob Leasure, showed a few of the pictures and gave more information about these remarkable paintings.  I had almost forgotten about these in the intervening years until I recently received a shipment of pictures and books from Daphne Rudolph, for donation to the Colorado Rock Art Archive at the Pueblo Regional Library in Pueblo, Colorado. In sorting through the material I was thrilled to find a number of those pictures of animals painted by Martin Bowden in the Purgatory. The photographs seem to have been taken by one Eldon Brown, but I know no more about him. As Daphne and John Rudolph used to live in La Junta, Colorado, and were deeply involved in recording area rock art I assume that he gave the photos to them.

Bear and Fox, Bowden Trail.

Purgatory Canyon, Colorado.

Silver Fox, Bowden Trail.

Purgatory Canyon, Colorado.

Bear, Bowden Trail.

Purgatory Canyon, Colorado.

"Bowden was born near Lyons, France, of Italian parents. His mother wanted to be a singer - her voice had an operatic quality - but she ended up in Trinidad, Colorado, as the wife of a coal miner. Martin was only a child when he crossed the ocean and changed worlds." (Leasure 1983:24)

Burro, Bowden Trail.

Purgatory Canyon, Colorado.

"Before he even started to shave - he followed his father into the mines. In the mines he always carried a pocketful of colored chalk and amused himself at lunch time sketching on metal. When the dingy coal cars came rolling into sunlight, they displayed an eye-catching variety of pictures: a dragon snorting fire, a brilliant rooster crowing, a war-bonneted Indian, a morose depiction of Christ on the cross." (Leasure 1983:24)

Tiger with Eldon Brown's girls, Bowden

Trail. Purgatory Canyon, Colorado.

"The family name had been Baudino, but there was a stigma about Italian names at that time, and he changed his name to Bowden." (Leasure 1983:24)

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK IN PART 2.