Dead Eagle Trail | Jane Hilton

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Dead Eagle Trail Jane Hilton



Jane Hilton

D e a d E a g l e Tr a i l


8|9

Carson City, Nevada



Since 2006 I have ‘collected’ this series of cowboy portraits,

and has strong associations in American history. I wasn’t

from the buckaroos of Nevada to the cowpunchers of Arizona

surprised to find the creature gone the following day, supposedly

and Texas. They have all been photographed in their own

taken back to the nearby Indian reservation for its feathers.

homes, which they have filled with western artefacts. The need

Despite taking several photographs of it whilst it lay there, the

to hold on to their heritage and culture is clearly visible:

results never matched up to the experience. Some things cannot,

stuffed animals, belt buckles, spurs, John Wayne memorabilia,

just as the cowboys treasure every sunrise and sunset.

guns, boots, and saddles, it’s all there. There’s a craving to collect and preserve their way of life as the ranches struggle

Growing up in suburban England, I would often spend Sunday

to survive in the face of new technology, and the rising costs

afternoons watching Westerns on the television with my

of feed and petrol. In the same way, I have felt a compulsion to

dad and siblings. I remember those afternoons as a magical

collect these photographs as a document to the cowboy

experience. The stories of gun-slinging cowboys, defending

of the twenty-first century.

their land and a moral code, were played out in spectacular scenery of the American West. These displays of heroism have

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Dead Eagle Trail

Maybe I was a cowgirl in a former lifetime, I am not sure, but

been reinforced in films such as Victor Fleming’s The Virginian

America’s Twenty-First Century Cowboys

there is definitely a romanticism associated with the cowboy

(1929) with Gary Cooper, and John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939)

way of life. The enormous wide-open spaces, desert highways,

with John Wayne. Places like Monument Valley, Utah have

and vast skies are addictive; they make you feel alive and

since become tourist spots because of them. Hollywood has

liberated. Certainly a strong sense of spirituality pervades

immortalized the Wild West. American culture has been defined

amongst the cowboys I met. As one cowboy told me, ‘I don’t

by it, and the American Dream has been created out of it.

need to go to church. My horse is my church, I’m out with God every day.’

I have taken numerous road trips across the States whilst documenting the many facets of American culture. Driving

The title of this book, Dead Eagle Trail, refers to an experience

a 1966 Mustang along desert highways and under expansive

I had when I discovered a dead Golden Eagle on the side

skies is synonymous with the Hollywood movies I grew up with.

of a road, in southern Nevada. It was the size of an Alsatian

On one of these trips in March 2006, I was diverted up to

dog with giant wings, and absolutely beautiful. There were no

Cortez, Colorado, to photograph a story by Bella Pollen for

obvious reasons as to how it had ended up falling from the sky,

The Times. She had discovered a young cowboy called

but I found it an immensely emotional experience that seemed

Jeremiah Karsten who had taken 2 years to travel from Alaska

symbolic of my journey. It is a sacred bird for Native Americans,

to the Mexican border entirely on horseback. He was just 17


years old when he left. He epitomised the American Dream,

too much tumbleweed in their blood to settle down.’ Most

and the older cowboys loved him for that. In such a friendly

were brought up on ranches where it was always hard work

cowboy town, I was offered supper at one of the cowboys’

and never particularly profitable. Even today a cowboy can

abodes. I had no idea until that moment how much they

expect to earn only a few dollars an hour, but this is not what

cherished the lifestyle and was blown away by the interior of

drives them. They do it because they love the way of life and

his home. A few homes later, I discovered there were western

because they can’t imagine doing anything else. Some,

artefacts everywhere.

however, have had to diversify, offering dude-ranch holidays and leasing out land to hunters. The bigger ranches are

The paradox of photographing a cowboy at home, and

succumbing to the lure of developers; many have already

showing their obsession with the lifestyle was much more

been sub-divided and sold off because there is so much more

fascinating to me, than photographing them on a horse.

money in land than in beef. Real cowboys will not disappear,

I found it extraordinary that they seemed to bring the outside

but every generation produces fewer and fewer of them.

inside. But then, why not be surrounded by the things you love at all times? You can clearly see this in their portraits, where a

Real cowboys boast of never having met a stranger, most

Jane Hilton

window acts as a constant reminder to the outside world. All

can’t swim. All of them have a John Wayne story they love

February 2010

of them were shocked that I wanted to go inside their houses,

to share. This book is a celebration of The West as it is now.

and sometimes even their bedrooms where they spend the

Nobody can predict whether in a hundred years time the

least time. But it was much more interesting to see them in

cowboy will still be around.

less familiar territory, revealing their softer and possibly more

For me it’s been a very personal adventure, and a journey that

feminine side. They were always immaculate despite the

I don’t want to end. Driving my car across the huge expanse

harshness of their working environment. It is the contradictions

of Nevada desert on Highway 50 East (the loneliest road in

that are infinitely more enlightening.

America), listening to Johnny Cash – I feel alive and centred, just as they do. Cowboy Gail Steiger sums it up: ‘The best

You will never find a man who ‘used to be a cowboy.’

thing about punching cows is it keeps you out there in the

Johnny Green, who has been a cowboy all his life,

middle of life, the kind that grows up out of the ground.’

describes it as: ‘Working hard, doing what you want to do, being in the wide-open space, talking to your horse and cows, being your own boss, shooting the breeze with folks you run into. Freedom is a cowboy’s life, some cowboys got


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Pate Meinzer, Cowboy, Benjamin, Texas 2009



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Gail Steiger, Cowboy Musician and Film Maker, Prescott, Arizona 2008



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Shiprock, New Mexico



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Mike Lutch, Rancher, Aguila, Arizona 2008 ‘There were hundreds of rattlesnakes when we moved in five years ago. There aren’t too many now, just a couple I keep in the freezer.’



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Chris Lawrence, Rancher, Seymour, Texas 2009



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