Wild West Mystery Photographs

Updated: May 5, 2023

Last year in England, a mysterious photo album was found that included 83 silver gelled photographs from the 1800s of the American Wild West. The photographs were of Native Americans, ranchers, cattle pokes, and frontier life. How the photographs got to England and who they belonged to is a mystery.

The theory is that a young Englishman went to America to experience the Wild West and worked on ranches in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico as a farmhand. This adventurous young Englishman, along with a young William A. White, who would later become a well-known Raton Pass, Colorado, photographer, took the photographs. The story is that the young English man eventually made a fortune in ranching, then returned back to the United Kingdom, taking the photo album with him as a memento of his life in the Wild West. There, they remained sequestered away for 130 years until they were found in an old house.

The photographs were put up for auction through Flints Auction House about six months ago. Since the lore of the American West is very popular in England as well as the United States, the photographs caused quite a stir. And why not? Immigrants from all over the world flocked to settle the American West. And many single immigrant men went West to seek fame, fortune, and adventure. It seems the young Englishman who owned the mystery album found all three. His anonymous fame came 130 years later, when his mystery photographs were discovered.

5 Comments

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tylwythteg

Oct 23, 2022

I love it,seeing new mexico back then and Colorado is truly amazing, it's getting so built up now there's hardly any land left.

Pat Cassidy

Feb 17, 2020

After thinking about what I said yesterday I searched for a 'generational time' method for digital media.

I seems that there is such a thing ... the M-disc, which can store data for hundreds of years and may be read on a blu-ray reader.

All that is needed is a writer and some discs, which are available with up to 100GB of storage.

I have it ordered, for my family's future.

Notes From The Frontier

Feb 17, 2020

Well said, Pat. We’re so lucky to have images from 150 or more years ago. They are like stepping into the past. My favorite digital images today I still have printed. I love to have the physical image. Same with reading. I still love actual books.

Pat Cassidy

Feb 16, 2020

How many pictures that we take today with our digital miracle devices will still be viable 130 years from now?

Digital records are incredibly fragile and need to be stored in several sites to be reasonably secure. That cloud site you use may not even exist 50 years from now and your descendants may not be pleased with that.

High quality printed pictures will survive for many decades if they avoid fire or flood.

Each picture you take is a memory saved and a so-called 'poor' picture is better than the one you did not take.

Deborah Hufford

Author, Notes from the Frontier

Deborah Hufford is an award-winning author and magazine editor with a passion for history. Her popular NotesfromtheFrontier.com blog with 100,000+ readers has led to an upcoming novel! Growing up as an Iowa farmgirl, rodeo queen and voracious reader, her love of land, lore and literature fired her writing muse. With a Bachelor's in English and Master's in Journalism from the University of Iowa, she taught students of Iowa's Writer's Workshop, then at Northwestern University, Marquette and Mount Mary. Her extensive publishing career began at Better Homes & Gardens, includes credits in New York Times Magazine, New York Times, Connoisseur, many other titles, and serving as publisher of The Writer's Handbook.

Deeply devoted to social justice, especially for veterans, women, and Native Americans, she has served on boards and donated her fundraising skills to Chief Joseph Foundation, Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), Homeless Veterans Initiative, Humane Society, and other nonprofits.

Deborah's soon-to-be released historical novel, BLOOD TO RUBIES weaves indigenous and pioneer history, strong women and clashing worlds into a sweeping saga praised by NYT bestselling authors as "crushing," "rhapsodic," "gritty," and "sensuous." Purchase BLOOD TO RUBIES online beginning June 9. Connect with Deborah on DeborahHufford.com, Facebook, and Instagram.