Traders Among the Crow
Artwork Description
This fine art limited edition print is paired with the book Tribute to the Plains People
The period in this scene is 1848–1850. These free traders have left the large fur companies and are working on their own. They have entered the edge of a Crow camp with many trade goods to entice the inhabitants to exchange buffalo robes for gun powder, lead, knives, axes, blankets, tobacco and the various other items displayed on the ground. They use a wagon to carry their goods, and perhaps for transportation because the man with the glengarry hat and a cane has an injured leg. (Wagons were used on the Santa Fe Trail as early as 1821 so by the late 1840s they could be found in many out of the way places throughout the Plains.) Howard made the group small to give the scene a sense of intimacy. Of course, there is no telling how many people are surrounding the group pictured.
