Photograph Album Of The Kelly Ranch In Faith, South Dakota

Kelly, John "Jack" A. & Sarah Alice "Allie" Drew Kelly

Publication: ca 1920, Faith

Oblong photograph album measuring approximately 6 3/4" x 11," bound in pictorial leather, tied at spine with leather strip and housed in custom cloth clamshell case. Contains 81black and white photographs, 3 1/2" x 5 3/4," with all but a few identified with captions. A fascinating album documenting a real working ranch in South Dakota near Rabbit Creek. "John 'Jack' A. Kelly (1864-1942) married Sarah Alice 'Allie' Drew in 1895 and settled on the Rabbit Creek place in Faith, South Dakota. The first improvements were of log and sod, and the ranch ran cattle, sheep and horses on the open prairie. The closest place to get supplies was Belle Fourche, South Dakota, and they made those trips for supplies in the spring and fall. In those early days, the cattle were shipped from Belle Fourche or from Everetts, South Dakota, on the Missouri River where they crossed on pontoon bridges to reach the railroad. They also loaded horses on to railcars and shipped them to Chicago to be sold as well." Photographs include images of the rural ranch house, Mud Butte, horses on the open range, brood mares, crude corrals, ranch hands herding and branding cattle, an old sod house near Bixby, scenery around Hill City, wagon travel, road building, a monument of Henry Weston Smith in Deadwood, Black Hills Highway which is no more than a dirt road, Sylvan Lake, working horses, Needles Highway, tunnel on Needles Highway, scenery around Spearfish, Deadwood, Hill City, and Black Hills, and much more. A rare glimpse of ranch life in rural South Dakota. Covers worn and rubbed, captions faded but still readable, images strong.

Inventory Number: 48646