Evelyn Cameron, the English Rancher Who Photographed Eastern Montana
An English heiress ranched near Terry, Montana, and photographed the frontier for 34 years.
Who was Evelyn Cameron?
Evelyn Cameron was born Evelyn Jephson Flower on August 26, 1868, at Furzedown Park, south of London, and she died in Terry, Montana, on December 26, 1928, at age 60. In between, she ranched on the Montana plains and made photographs of eastern Montana that have outlasted nearly every other record of its homesteaders, cowboys and wildlife.
She is honored as a rancher as much as a photographer. The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame inducted her in 2008 in its 1860-1920 Legacy category.
From English country house to the Yellowstone River
Her father, a merchant with the East India Company, left her a generous trust at twenty-one, which made her financially independent. She was educated at home by a French governess and preferred riding and hunting to domestic pursuits. In 1889 she traveled to the United States with Ewen Somerled Cameron, a Scot from the Orkney Islands who loved ornithology and hunting, and the pair hunted along the Yellowstone River into 1890. She later called that trip her honeymoon.
Sources differ on the date of their permanent move. Wikipedia says they migrated to Montana in September 1891 (its glass-plate career section is the source for much below), while the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame says they returned in 1893 and used her trust fund to buy a ranch.
Ranching near Terry, Montana
The Camerons moved among three ranches in the Terry area. According to the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, they named one the EVE Ranch, after the first letters of her name. They planned to raise polo ponies for European buyers, a plan that failed, and they also ran cattle.
Ewen's health was poor, and a year-long trip to Britain from 1900 to 1901 interrupted their homesteading. Ewen died in 1915, and Evelyn ran the ranch alone until she died in 1928, as the Hall of Fame's biography records.
How a rancher became a photographer
A boarder at the ranch house, an Irishman named Mr. Adams, taught her the basics of glass-plate photography, and the household bought its first camera in July 1894. She soon became the neighborhood's go-to photographer for weddings, family portraits and wildlife. One profile says the early photographs were meant to help finance the ranch.
She worked on horseback with a nine-pound camera, a tripod and glass plate negatives. Her subjects included cowboys, sheepherders, brandings, river crossings, freight wagons, badlands, eagles, coyotes and wolves. In 1905 she wrote and photographed an article on sheep for The Breeder's Gazette in Chicago, her first credited authorship.
The Key to Her Success
Cameron's ranch never became a cattle empire, so the lessons here are about persistence and independence. Her work survived because she kept at it for decades and because the record was preserved.
The costs are also documented: the polo pony plan failed, Ewen's health interrupted the homestead, and she carried the ranch alone for thirteen years after his death.
- She had her own money. A trust from her father meant she could help buy land and equipment.
- She learned a craft from the people around her, from boarders who taught glass-plate photography to the experiments she ran on shutter speeds and processing.
- She worked where the subjects were, traveling by horseback to weddings, brandings and ranches.
- She kept the paper trail: thousands of prints and negatives plus diaries and letters covering 36 years of frontier life.
- She stayed when the first business plan failed, shifting from polo ponies to cattle and photographs.
Rediscovery and legacy
After her death, her friend Janet Williams inherited the ranch and her negatives, diaries and prints, which sat in a basement for about fifty years. Author Donna Lucey found them in the late 1970s while researching women pioneers, and her 1990 book Photographing Montana, 1894-1928, published by Alfred A. Knopf and reissued in 2001 by Mountain Press, reproduces more than 170 images.
Most of the photographs are held by the Montana Historical Society in Helena, and prints are displayed at the Evelyn Cameron Gallery in Terry. Many diaries and photographs are online through the Montana Memory Project, and she is the subject of the documentary Evelyn Cameron: Pictures From A Worthy Life.
Explore more ranching history in farm.FM's ranching section or a farm.FM story about Montana homesteading.
Timeline
- 1868Born Evelyn Jephson Flower at Furzedown Park, near London
- 1889Travels to the United States with Ewen Cameron
- 1891Settles in Montana, per Wikipedia (the Hall of Fame says 1893)
- 1894The household buys its first camera in July
- 1905Writes and photographs an article on sheep for The Breeder's Gazette
- 1915Ewen Cameron dies; she continues to run the ranch
- 1928Dies December 26 in Terry, Montana
- 1978Donna Lucey discovers the negatives and diaries
- 2008Inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame
Frequently asked questions
Who was Evelyn Cameron?
She was an English-born rancher and photographer who lived near Terry, Montana, from the early 1890s until her death in 1928. Her glass-plate negatives document cowboys, homesteaders and wildlife of eastern Montana.
Where are Evelyn Cameron's photographs?
Most are at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, with prints displayed at the Evelyn Cameron Gallery in Terry. Many are online through the Montana Memory Project.
What did Evelyn Cameron do on her ranch?
She and her husband Ewen planned to raise polo ponies for European buyers, which failed, and also ran cattle on several ranches near Terry. She ran the ranch alone after Ewen died in 1915.
How was Evelyn Cameron rediscovered?
Author Donna Lucey found her negatives, prints and diaries in the late 1970s in a basement, and published a 1990 biography that brought her work wide attention.
Sources and further reading
Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.
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