**SOLD**

Armed Id'd 6th US Cavalry Albuquerque, New Mexico Cabinet Card. Id'd in period pencil on the verso
"A Trooper by the name of Kranebuhe, (?) of the Apache J_ _ _" & "This boy now lives on a ranch near El Paso Texas"
Wittick & Son photographers b/m. Probably taken at Fort Wingate. Contrast is a tad light as is usual with these images, otherwise in very good condition.

$275.00 plus shipping

"George Ben Wittick arrived in the Southwest in 1878 to work as a photographer documenting the progress of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. He left behind a wife and six children in Moline, Illinois where he operated a photo studio following the Civil War. After his tour with the railroad he operated studios in Albuquerque (Wittick & Russell), Santa Fe and Gallup. His greatest success however came when he moved his studio to Fort Wingate, New Mexico. Born in Pennsylvania in 1845, Wittick was restless by nature and travelled extensively throughout the Southwest while based at Fort Wingate. He sought out remote Indian tribes, native leaders, secret ceremonies and the wildly beautiful scenery of the rugged Southwest in the process capturing the waning days of the frontier in the Southwest. He carried a large collection of props with him such as rifles, pistols, blankets, pottery, etc. some of which are in the collection at the photo archive. Most of his portraits were taken outside in the sunlight against carefully constructed backdrops. Because he had achieved a considerable rapport with his Indian subjects, he was allowed to take priceless images that other photographer might never have taken. Wittick died of rattlesnake bite at Fort Wingate in 1903. Legend has it his death was foretold by a Hopi priest."