Photo: Early local filming – 1923

This picture shows WR Rowland filming boys on horseback in 1923. Based on a letter that accompanied this photo, the filming apparently took place at the Teelawuket Ranch either near Vallecito or its associated boys ranch near Allison. The letter, written in 1936, says the Hollywood actor Vincent Price is one of the young cowboys on horseback. This is probably accurate, as he wrote in his 1977 autobiography that his parents sent him to a boys ranch in Colorado when he was 12 years old. He credits the trip for instilling his lifelong passion for archaeology and art. While exploring the countryside, he by chance discovered a skull and pottery half-buried in the ground. Further indication that Price was at Teelawuket is the fact that the winter office of the ranch was located in his hometown of St. Louis. Teelawuket operated as a guest ranch until the early ’60s. Today, it is a family retreat for its owners. WR Rowland was a well-known local motion and still photographer in the early 1920s.<br><br>Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org