Post by sixshot on Nov 27, 2009 16:29:56 GMT -5
Many times over the years I've mentioned of my early visits to see Elmer Keith, I've told about seeing all of his mounts, guns, etc & the fact that I took several photo's of Elmer & his game room out back of his modest home in Salmon, Idaho.
I kept saying I would someday find those old pictures (long before digital) & share them with everyone. Well after years of looking I finally stopped mentioning about my trips to Salmon because I could never find the photo's. Over 20 years I've looked & looked for them. At first I thought it might have been slides, I looked at well over 1,000 slides I've taken, no photo's of Elmer, I went through hundreds & hundreds of old pictures, I was sick, I couldn't find them & finally came to the realization that perhaps they were lost forever. My wife thought I might have loaned them to someone years ago, I didn't know.
One of my son's recently decided he was going to try & sort everything out & put them on a CD, he's been cussing every since! After raising 5 kids & moving several times the photo's & slides were scattered into every room & closet in the house. Last week while rummaging through lots of my old magazines, Shooting Times, Handloader, Guns & Ammo, Rifle, American Rifleman, Gun World, etc he happened to find a small shoe box & when he opened it up......there were my long lost pictures of Elmer, along with some of my early photo's taken back in the 60's during my 4 years in Texas in the Air Force, I'll have to admit, it brought tears to my eyes are all those years to finally have them back.
My first visit to see Elmer Keith was in 1971, I was on a return trip from elk hunting & decided to stop & see if I had the courage to visit the grand old man of all things GUNS! Walking up to the door I was shaking like a leaf, not having a clue what I would say or if he would even give me a spare minute of his time.
When the door opened Elmer stood there with a stogie in his mouth & a 4" model 29 in a belt rig on his hip. Most people when they meet someone they much admire they blurt out, "I've been reading all your stuff for many years & consider you the top authority in the world on handguns & writing" well, I said, Mr Keith, I've been reading all your stuff for many years & consider you the top authority in the world on handguns & writing!
He said, well, you've been reading for a long time then! I was 26 yrs old!
Inviting me in he introduced me to Lorraine, his wife & ask me to sit down, he was very polite, patient & relaxed, he didn't seem to be a bit annoyed that I had knocked on his door & we spent 2-3 hours talking guns, hunts, loads, other writers & Eagles! He hated eagles, Golden eagles.
I bought one of his books, he signed it & I sang all the way home, some 300 miles I was so happy. In the next 5 years I would visit several more times, I won't try & tell anyone we were friends, I was just one of the many who stopped to see the other master, he was truly a gentleman & we had some great visits.
During that time I had a table at one of the local gun shows & a fellow from Salmon was very mch interested in my Ruger #1 45/70, the early one's had the most beautiful wood you've ever seen, this 4 digit gun was no exception, we discussed a price but he never bought the gun, instead he called a few days later from Salmon & said he wanted it, I told him I would deliver the gun if he would tell Elmer I was coming, he promised me he would take care of it. The man was Jed Wilson, he was either the sheriff of Lemhi county or the chief of police, not sure, anyway, he made the connection with Elmer & I delivered the Ruger #1. I've always thought the picture I took of Elmer was with my 45/70 but after seeing the photo it might not be, I don't remember selling the scope with mine, either way you can see the gun has outstanding wood. This picture was taken out in his trophy room behind the house, it was an old converted garage & its where he did his writing, correspondence, etc, it was full of big game heads from all over the world including some very old skull mounts, done back before pre moulded forms were available. He was cussing the taxidermist a little over one of his Polar bears because it had been mounted wrong, Polar bears are much longer than they are wide, brown bears or grizzly bears will "square" or close to it, Polar bears are more narrow & long.
Finding these old photo's after all these years has brought me more joy than you can ever imagine, I thought they were gone forever, enjoy!
First photo is Elmer Keith, sometime in the early to mid 70's holding either his or my Ruger #1 out in his trophy room in his backyard. He's wearing his favorite 4" 44 but all you can see is part of the holster.
Next photo is some of his many trophies taken from around the world. Elmer only had 2 animals in the house, a Sable & a sheep, I think a Stone sheep, he told me it had been in a fire & he had the taxidermist put another cape on it. Also in the house was a set of elephant ivory, the tusks were brass capped and standing on end on the floor & arched over his couch, almost touching.
I believe this paneling is the very same paneling in the Elmer Keith museum in Calelas in Boise, Idaho
More photo's later, enjoy!! I couldn't be happier!
Dick
I kept saying I would someday find those old pictures (long before digital) & share them with everyone. Well after years of looking I finally stopped mentioning about my trips to Salmon because I could never find the photo's. Over 20 years I've looked & looked for them. At first I thought it might have been slides, I looked at well over 1,000 slides I've taken, no photo's of Elmer, I went through hundreds & hundreds of old pictures, I was sick, I couldn't find them & finally came to the realization that perhaps they were lost forever. My wife thought I might have loaned them to someone years ago, I didn't know.
One of my son's recently decided he was going to try & sort everything out & put them on a CD, he's been cussing every since! After raising 5 kids & moving several times the photo's & slides were scattered into every room & closet in the house. Last week while rummaging through lots of my old magazines, Shooting Times, Handloader, Guns & Ammo, Rifle, American Rifleman, Gun World, etc he happened to find a small shoe box & when he opened it up......there were my long lost pictures of Elmer, along with some of my early photo's taken back in the 60's during my 4 years in Texas in the Air Force, I'll have to admit, it brought tears to my eyes are all those years to finally have them back.
My first visit to see Elmer Keith was in 1971, I was on a return trip from elk hunting & decided to stop & see if I had the courage to visit the grand old man of all things GUNS! Walking up to the door I was shaking like a leaf, not having a clue what I would say or if he would even give me a spare minute of his time.
When the door opened Elmer stood there with a stogie in his mouth & a 4" model 29 in a belt rig on his hip. Most people when they meet someone they much admire they blurt out, "I've been reading all your stuff for many years & consider you the top authority in the world on handguns & writing" well, I said, Mr Keith, I've been reading all your stuff for many years & consider you the top authority in the world on handguns & writing!
He said, well, you've been reading for a long time then! I was 26 yrs old!
Inviting me in he introduced me to Lorraine, his wife & ask me to sit down, he was very polite, patient & relaxed, he didn't seem to be a bit annoyed that I had knocked on his door & we spent 2-3 hours talking guns, hunts, loads, other writers & Eagles! He hated eagles, Golden eagles.
I bought one of his books, he signed it & I sang all the way home, some 300 miles I was so happy. In the next 5 years I would visit several more times, I won't try & tell anyone we were friends, I was just one of the many who stopped to see the other master, he was truly a gentleman & we had some great visits.
During that time I had a table at one of the local gun shows & a fellow from Salmon was very mch interested in my Ruger #1 45/70, the early one's had the most beautiful wood you've ever seen, this 4 digit gun was no exception, we discussed a price but he never bought the gun, instead he called a few days later from Salmon & said he wanted it, I told him I would deliver the gun if he would tell Elmer I was coming, he promised me he would take care of it. The man was Jed Wilson, he was either the sheriff of Lemhi county or the chief of police, not sure, anyway, he made the connection with Elmer & I delivered the Ruger #1. I've always thought the picture I took of Elmer was with my 45/70 but after seeing the photo it might not be, I don't remember selling the scope with mine, either way you can see the gun has outstanding wood. This picture was taken out in his trophy room behind the house, it was an old converted garage & its where he did his writing, correspondence, etc, it was full of big game heads from all over the world including some very old skull mounts, done back before pre moulded forms were available. He was cussing the taxidermist a little over one of his Polar bears because it had been mounted wrong, Polar bears are much longer than they are wide, brown bears or grizzly bears will "square" or close to it, Polar bears are more narrow & long.
Finding these old photo's after all these years has brought me more joy than you can ever imagine, I thought they were gone forever, enjoy!
First photo is Elmer Keith, sometime in the early to mid 70's holding either his or my Ruger #1 out in his trophy room in his backyard. He's wearing his favorite 4" 44 but all you can see is part of the holster.
Next photo is some of his many trophies taken from around the world. Elmer only had 2 animals in the house, a Sable & a sheep, I think a Stone sheep, he told me it had been in a fire & he had the taxidermist put another cape on it. Also in the house was a set of elephant ivory, the tusks were brass capped and standing on end on the floor & arched over his couch, almost touching.
I believe this paneling is the very same paneling in the Elmer Keith museum in Calelas in Boise, Idaho
More photo's later, enjoy!! I couldn't be happier!
Dick
