Description: Haunting full length portrait by Bailey, Dix & Mead. Photographer is not credited but likely William R. Cross. Named Steps here, our subject is also known to history as Eskoomskee or Seeskoomkee (translating as Steps or No Feet) and is generally agreed to be of Shoshone Bannock origin with the birth name of Attween, Itskimzekin or Kepgavants Wewowow. There are so many conflicting reports of his life that it’s unlikely this will please everyone, but most biographies report that Steps was sold as a slave to Yakima Chief Kamaikin who, as punishment for theft, placed the man’s hands and feet in steel traps and placed in a snowstorm. The next morning three of his limbs had been lost to frostbite. Steps was eventually released and joins the Nez Perce where he is a scout, active in the discovery of the Big Hole / Battle of White Bird Canyon in 1877. He escapes to Canada with White Bird to join Sitting Bull’s people and may have married into White Dog’s family. This is all plausible as both White Dogs family and Sitting Bull were imprisoned in Fort Randall the same year as this photograph was taken, 1882. In any case, the man most often called Steps was often photographed, though this appears to be one of the earliest. He is reported by many to have been an avid horseman, a great rider who was capable of breaking wild horses. The latest report of his death has him passing in 1903 from pneumonia. Hugely compelling man and image. No. 3 from the Fort Randall Dakota Territory (South Dakota) series measures 4.25 x 6.5” w/ soft focus & curl as original. Exhibits scattered foxing.
Price: 600 USD
Location: Irwin, Pennsylvania
End Time: 2024-09-25T13:11:30.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Antique: Yes
Type: Photograph
Year of Production: 1882
Image Orientation: Portrait
Number of Photographs: 1
Theme: Americana, History, Militaria, Portrait, Social History, Western, Native American, Indian
Image Color: Sepia
Time Period Manufactured: 1850-1899
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Subject: Americana, Social History, History, Native American, Indigenous, Indian, Portrait, Western
Vintage: Yes
