Six Mountain Men and their Dog

There is something very "old west" about this photo - six men and two mules posing, probably at the start of a journey for at least a couple of them, the guy on the far left and the man at the right holding the mules lead would be my guess.

At first glance when I found this, I thought it might be some outlaw gang...but what self-respecting outlaw would ride around on a mule? Maybe they are trappers, or prospectors, but the lack of tools makes me scratch my head. I'm open to suggestions, though. The pine tree in the background and seeming hillside drop-off at the far right make this appear to be a cabin of some sort, one that seems well-stocked with wood for a long winter.

Below, I've cropped and enhanced each of the men, on the off-chance that someone might recognize one of them, or note some detail that I've missed. The guy on the left is one who it seems to me is leaving, because of both his jacket and the rifle at his feet (anyone recognize that rifle?), one of only two weapons or tools visible. The guy on the right reminds me a little of Mr. Edwards from the old Little House on the Prairie TV series.

The guy on the left is the one that intrigues me the most. Maybe it has something to do with his hat and pipe...he looks almost "outlawish". I'm not sure of the significance of the rope he's holdng. Behind him, a blanket covers most of the mule's load, but a small hand-axe can be seen.

The man on the right has an almost scholarly look about him, making him appear maybe a bit out-of-place.

In the Lumberjack's Camp

I found this photo buried in an old box in the dim reaches of a run-down antique store in Norfolk Virginia: think Sanford and Son, here, but not so brightly lit, and definitely more cavernous. Price: $1. This appears to be an albumen print, and I'm guessing it is from the late 1800s, based on several clues.

Here's the full artifact; note that the edges of the actual print are crookedly cut.

Below, I've enhanced the image somewhat, tweaking the contrast and tone-mapping a bit to bring out some of the detail hidden in the fadedness of the print.

The bits of snow on the ground and the lack of leaves suggest a winter-ish or maybe spring scene, but one not so cold as to require heavy coats.

I've cropped the individual men so that you can open these images at a higher resolution, just in case anyone might actually recognize one of these fellows.

Three of the men have full felling axes, which supports the idea of a late 19th century date, when felling axes were used predominantly, and before two-man crosscut felling saws came into popular use. The presence of a grinding stone supports the idea that these are lumberjacks, in that cross-cut felling axes would need frequent sharpening to be as efficient as possible, and because their purpose was to cut across the grain of the wood (as compared to a splitting axe), sharpness was much more critical to professional lumberjacks who would be swinging their axes all day long..

The fourth man is holding one end of a two-man bucking saw, used for cutting up downed timber; bucking saws had a much narrower blade than felling saws.

Behind him appears to be the camp cook holding a basin, and just inside the tent one can just make out a stove with a coffee pot on it. Most of the cooking, though, would likely have been done on the wood-burning stove at the far right of the photo. The tent's stove and stove pipebehind the cook, suggest a kind of permanency to this camp that wouldn't be seen in the camps of other mountain men who move from site to site more frequently.

Lumberjacks lived a fairly solitary and migratory life, and women were seldom to be found in lumber camps. The industry peaked in America in 1906, when there were a half-million lumberjacks working in the forests across the country.