“1883” | The Western Frontier
Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree
Pioneer Town, California
Western frontier life in America has been described one of the most exciting periods in the history of the United States. From 1850 to 1900, profound changes swiftly transformed the American west. At the beginning of the great migration westward, a variety of Native American cultures dominated much of the territory. By the end of the era, the West had become a bustling society populated by new immigrants from all over the world in search for a slice of American freedom and prosperity.
The two events that helped spur a much larger migration were the U.S. victory in the Mexican War (1846-1848) which gave the young nation vast new areas of land in the West, and the California gold rush in 1849 attracting droves of American fortune seekers called “Forty-Niners.” The gold rush also attracted Chinese, Europeans, South Americans, and others, all hoping to strike it rich. Men made up nearly all of the gold seekers who rushed west. A few women mined, but most worked as entertainers in saloons or dance halls, as seamstresses, or in laundry services washing the miners’ clothes. Other women operated boardinghouses and bathhouses, or worked as “Lady’s of the Night”.
In the later period of the 1800s, massive discoveries of ore deposits also spurred new migrations westward. Pikes Peak in Colorado, the Comstock Lode in Nevada, and the Black Hills of South Dakota saw sudden population increases over night. Small towns began to pop up all across the West. Local populations soared, as miners arrived in need of supplies. Miners required food, equipment, clothing, services, and entertainment, and thus, the “BOOM TOWN” was born. Merchants and businessmen flocked to these boom towns with goods and services. But as these mining town populations swelled, local populations quickly consumed the supply of almost everything, including food and work animals.
In many of these overpopulated boom towns, the people were becoming desperate for food and supplies. Men sometimes killed each other for such necessities. In a wild and often lawless land, mob violence and lynchings took the place of legal proceedings, and in many cases, justice was served at the end of a Remington Model 1875, or Winchester 1873, “The gun that won the West.” And as fast as these towns were born, in most cases, they quickly disappeared back into land from which they rose, as resources began to run scarce. And as the people who inhabited these boom towns continued to move further west in search of land, food and work, they left everything behind, as witness to the many ghost towns that dot the landscape of the American west.
The history and romance of this period across the American frontier has had a profound influence on American life. Paintings, stories, and many Hollywood films about the West remain an important part of the American culture. Established in 1946, Pioneertown was
Dick Curtis as an 1800s themed motion-picture set. Located in the Yucca Valley region of the Morongo Basin, Pioneertown was conceived as an alternative and more affordable location for the Movie Studios that relied heavily on shooting western films in Arizona,
Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, or Wyoming. During the golden years of American western movies, Pioneertown hosted the talents of many of Hollywoods biggest stars in western genre films. With the likes of Roy Rogers, Gene
Evens gracing its period film Sets, and serving as the location for hundreds of films and television productions, including the The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan’s Judge Roy Bean, Pioneer town cemented its legacy in Western movie history, and now serves as a unique travel destination for western movie fans around the world wanting to experience turn of the century western life.
And on this crisp fall evening my imagination soared. I could hear the sounds of a bustling dusty pioneer town settling in for the night; leather works chapped; worn boots shuffling along wood planked store fronts as horse-drawn wagons passed by; the glow from
lamp and millions of stars illuminating the towns main street, as the sounds of boisterous cowboys and honkey-tonk piano stylings spilled through the Saloon doors. Pioneertown was no longer a vanquished ghost town of another era, she was alive in my imagination on this pristine Mojave Desert evening; the star of this moment in all her dignified glory, ready for her Close-Up… “…Camera Set…Sound…Speeding…annnnnd….ACTION!”
$2,200.00
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“1883”
In this Fine Art print we see an intimate, dark, and peaceful view of historic Pioneer Town, in the Yucca Valley near Joshua Tree California.
The Art
“1883” is a Limited Edition of 50 Fine Art Photography Prints by critically acclaimed actor and Fine Art Photographer Marshal Hilton. All of the art, landscape photography, and digital art prints featured in the Marshal Hilton Fine Art Collection are original art work prints. All Marshal Hilton Fine Art Collection Limited Edition photographic prints for sale are museum grade, collector quality fine art prints meticulously hand crafted, and produced in the USA. We specialize in large photography prints. Our hand crafted Lumachrome HD Acrylic prints are the finest quality photography art prints in the world. We also produce multi panel Panoramic photography prints, Chromaluxe® Metal Prints, and offer custom framed photography prints, featuring hand made Italian frames by Roma Moulding.
Museum Quality Art Prints
We also produce and print Marshal’s black and white fine art photography prints utilizing the highest archival quality Giclee gallery paper for custom black and white art prints that last for generations. Whether for the serious art collector, fine art investor, or as premium quality, interior design wall decor accents that will instantly transform the energy and tranquility of your space, designing a room around one of Marshal Hiltons’ masterful Limited Edition photography prints is a statement of exclusivity; an art acquisition from a master storyteller that will visually transform your home or office environment, giving it the “Wow Factor” as guests and clients marvel at the brilliant luminance, clarity, and vibrant color textures captured in his Limited Edition museum quality fine art prints.