Winter Cattle Drive on the Pitchfork, photo by Charles J. Belden
In 1903, Otto Franc, owner of the Pitchfork was found dead of a gunshot wound. He rifle was leaning against a
barbed wire fence. The death was ruled to be accidental. The ranch was sold to
Louis Graham Phelps (1859-1922), owner of the Z Bar T. The ranch, in part due to the promotion and photographs of
Charles J. Belden (1886-1966), Phelps' son-in-law, became famous
in the 1930's as a dude ranch, hosting, among others,
Amelia Earhart and Will Rogers.
Trail Herd on the Pitchfork, photo by Charles J. Belden
Charles Belden was born in California and was a 1909 graduate of the Massachusett Institute of Technology. Belden
and classmate Eugene Phelps, Louis G. Phelps' son, toured Germany and Italy in a new
Packard automobile. Belden's interest in photography was sparked when he purchased a
Zeiss Palmes camera to record the journey. In 1912, Belden married Eugene's sister Frances.
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Left, Cover of Grazing Bulletin, United States Department of the Interior, December 1937
Belden photographs were featured in many national publications including
National Geographic, Life Magazine, and The Saturday Evening Post As indicated
by the cover of the Grazing Bulletin, some were on the covers including the next photo which appeared
on the cover of Live Magazine. The right hand photo above is indicative of Belden's
interest in aviation, a theme used repeatedly.
"First Call for Breakfast in Wyoming"
The photo of the cowboy gazing at the airplane in the sky is also evocative of the theme found in
Belden's work of the West of the 1920's and 30's as a place caught between the old and the new, a theme repeated in the
next three photos, the first of an airplane with Pitchfork and Z Bar T brands upon its cowling, the second
which suggests that round-ups were assisted by aviation, and the thrd of the
old sheepherder in the sheep wagon with a new Atwater Kent radio and a Scientific American
magazine
Airplane and Lincoln Zephyr.
The photos are often replete with juxtaposition of symbols. In the above photo not only are there
symbols of the old such as the cattlebrands but of the new in the form of the airplane. Note the antelope skull
next to the airplane tire. The McCracken Collection of the Buffalo Bill Historial Center holds another
version of the same scene in which Belden's tame cayote is seated between the car and the
airplane.
"Cowpilots."
Sheepherder in wagon with his dog.
The question brought to mind, however, is where in a sheep wagon is there
electricity to power the radio. The radio is actually battery powered, but certainly it would
require an external antenna to bring in the signal of KFBB in Great Falls over two-hundred
miles away. And with the radio, shipping box, and external loud speaker, all on the bunk, where is
the poor sheepherder to sleep? The first radio station in Wyoming, KDFN (now KTWO) did not go
on the air until 1930. The point is that although Belden's photos are regarded as illustrative of everyday
life on the range, they were very carefully posed right down to the Scientific American.
Howling Coyote.
Even the above photo is posed. The coyote was tame and trained to howl upon command, much like
the writer's own Siberian husky who would "sing" upon request.
Next page: Meeteetse continued, more Belden photos.
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