Hunting In The Dakotas. Collection Of 35 Photographs Of Outdoor Scenes, Including Views Of Hunters And Their Game Bag; Goose Hunting In Dugout Blinds In Stubble Of A Harvested Field; Hunting Dogs; And Views Of Landscapes And Farms -

[Twin Lakes, No. Dakota, 1890. 35 mounted albumen photographs, 15 captioned in pencil. 5 x 7 inches, on gilt-edged card mounts 8 x 10 inches. Generally very good (ten photographs quite faded). Laid into a quarter blue morocco and cloth dropbox. 35 mounted albumen photographs, 15 captioned in pencil. 5 x 7 inches, on gilt-edged card mounts 8 x 10 inches. Outstanding group of photographs documenting bird hunting in the Twin Lakes area of north central North Dakota (northeast of Bismarck) in the late nineteenth century. Scenes include several of the hunters and their arrayed bag of geese, ducks, grouse, and snipe; turf houses and barns; a wooden farmhouse on the prairie; the hunters' tent camp and wagons; and the narrow stretch of ground between the Twin Lakes. One of the most interesting views shows two hunters standing in dugout pits in the stubble of a harvested field with a long line of decoys behind them; this photograph is the only one to identify the hunters by name (Cummings on the left and Dr. Booth on the right); a second, uncaptioned photograph shows the two men from a different angle, with one of the dogs. The "Lunch" photograph shows a circle of four men and their dog seated in the high grass eating (one hunter taking a pull at a small dark bottle) beside their wagon and tethered horses.

Other captions note: "1 afternoon bag, 3 men, 88 geese, 4 varieties"; "Our dogs, 4 pointers 1 setter"; "Duck slue in No. Dakota"; "Mixed bag, ducks, geese, snipe, plover"; four hunters and their dog with their bag of "Sharp tail grouse, ducks, and snipe"; "Rex on point"; the wagon carrying the party of six, titled "grouse hunting"; and other untitled photographs of the same group of men. Several of the wide view photographs are reminiscent of the sporting illustrations of A.B. Frost.

A few of the photographs are quite faded, but even in these the scenes can still be discerned.

A substantial group of images of sporting life from Dakota frontier.