American Historical Ephemera & Photography

BARTON, Fred. Charles M. Russell: An Old-Time Cowman Discusses the Life of Charles M. Russell. Los Angeles: Fred Barton, n.d. With photographic plates including a portrait of Russell inscribed to Barton. Original publisher's wrappers. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED by Barton, "Sept. 9th 1962. To Jerry Aurbach from, Fred Barton."

[With:] BURT, Struthers. Powder River Let 'er Buck. New York and Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, 1938. War Edition. -- ABBOTT, E.C. "Teddy Blue" and Helena Huntington Smith. We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher. New York and Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1939. With illustrated dust jacket. -- COOLIDGE, Dane. Fighting Men of the West. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1932. Second printing. -- Acceptance of the Statue of Charles M. Russell Presented by the State of Montana. Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1959. -- SHIRLEY, Glenn. Toughest of Them All. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1953.  -- RAINE, William MacLeod. Famous Sheriffs & Western Outlaws. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1929. -- Together, 6 works in 6 volumes, 8vo, all in publisher's cloth, condition very good, each with ownership signatures "Fred Barton, Miles City, Montana." Most with photographic prints, including a portrait of C.M. Russell which reads "To Fred Barton from his friend C.M. Russell" in negative. 

Miles City, Montana, native Fred Barton (1889-1967) was a cowboy and adventurer who became close friends with famed western artist Charles M. Russell. In 1920, on behalf of Yen Hsi-shan, warlord of Shansi Province, Barton operated a horse ranch in northern China, establishing a model ranch covering 250,000 acres near Taiyuan. Barton stocked the ranch with horses imported from the United States and hired a group of cowboys from Miles City, Montana. Barton also became part of the network of unofficial US intelligence in the Far East during his lifetime. He ventured to Hollywood to assist in the production of Western films, and spent his remaining days in Los Angeles, where he passed in 1967.