dedicated to my dad Donald W. Matheson
24 photos
this is the ship he came home on and these are his pictures
Marine Phoenix
A merchant name retained.
Marine Phoenix (T‑AP‑195) was laid down under Maritime Commission contract by Kaiser Co.,...
American tree sparrow
18 photos
American avocet
67 photos
american bittern
90 photos
American Bitterns breed mainly in freshwater marshes with tall vegetation. You can find them in wetlands of many sizes and kinds, typically less densely vegetated and shallower than wetlands used by...
American coot
110 photos
American Dipper
73 photos
A chunky bird of western streams, the American Dipper is North America's only truly aquatic songbird. It catches all of its food underwater in swiftly flowing streams by swimming and walking on the...
American Falls Idaho
73 photos
American Falls Idaho
The first permanent settlement of American Falls was founded in 1800 and located on the West bank of the Snake River, on the opposite side of the river from the present location....
American kestrel
86 photos
American/lesser Goldfinch
77 photos
American pipit
11 photos
American robin
82 photos
The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground. Robins are popular birds for their warm...
american wigeon
27 photos
American white pelican
261 photos
animals and insects
237 photos
Pickettpattypickett4748@gmail.com
Antelope Island State Park Utah
193 photos
Antelope Island State Park, consisting of 28,022 acres, is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake measuring 15 miles long and seven miles wide at its widest point. In 1969, Utah State Parks and...
Arbon Valley Idaho & Curlew Valley
50 photos
Arbon Valley has gone through changes over the past 100 years just like any town has. However, if you see an old photo of your great-grandpa standing on a street with his field behind him, chances...
Argo Tunnel and the Argo Mill tour Idaho Springs...
43 photos
The need for the Argo Tunnel and the Argo Mill began on a cold day in January, 1859 when George A. Jackson made the first major discovery of gold in Colorado at the confluence of what is today’s...
arches national park
43 photos
Visit Arches and discover a landscape of contrasting colors, landforms and textures unlike any other in the world. The park has over 2,000 natural stone arches, in addition to hundreds of soaring...
Ashcroft Colorado ghost town
18 photos
In the spring of 1880, prospectors Charles B. Culver and W. F. Coxhead left the boomtown of Leadville to search for silver deposits in the Castle Creek Valley. After vigorously promoting their...
Atlanta Idaho
14 photos
Atlanta was founded in 1864 as a gold and silver mining community. While the official website for the town indicates it was settled in 1863 and named after the Civil War's Battle of Atlanta, the town...
atomic city
7 photos
U.S. Highway 26 used to pass right through Atomic City, but a newer alignment takes it a few miles to the east. Because of that and the decreased workforce at Idaho National Laboratory, Atomic has...
badger
14 photos
Balanced rock state park Idaho
18 photos
South of Buhl in the Salmon Falls Creek Canyon stands the world-famous landmark Balanced Rock. Over 48 feet high, 40 feet wide and weighing 40 tons, the rock balances precariously on a pedestal only...
Bald Eagles
719 photos
Bannack days -people
500 photos
Bannack days -people #2
218 photos
Bannack state park ghost town Montana
499 photos
On July 28, 1862, John White and other members of the Pikes Peakers” discovered gold in the creek waters where Bannack stands today. It was the beginning for both Bannack and the State of Montana,...
Bannack Montana #2
75 photos
barn owl
46 photos
BARNS , SILOS
498 photos
Barns of the west
PattyPickettpattypickett4748@gmail.com
barns ,silos #2
69 photos
barns ...red
200 photos
Bayhorse Idaho ghost town
86 photos
North of SunValley on highway on 93 west of the Salmon River a few miles is Bay Horse, a town that was almost a ghost town before it got started. Hopes for another gold mine to rival the mine at...
beartooth Pass
149 photos
The Beartooth Highway is an All-American Road that has been called ;the most beautiful drive in America, by late CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt.
The Beartooth Highway is the section of U.S....
beaver
57 photos
belted kingfisher
73 photos
bighorn sheep
361 photos
Bighorns from the Rocky Mountains are relatively large, with males that occasionally exceed 500 lb and females that exceed 200 lb
"Patty Pickett" pattypickett4748@gmail.com
Birds
145 photos
Patty Pickett pattypickett4748@gmail.com
Bison
314 photos
black bear
22 photos
Black-bellied Plover
10 photos
Black-crowned Night-Herons
147 photos
Black-crowned Night-Herons are small herons with rather squat, thick proportions. They have thick necks, large, flat heads, and heavy, pointed bills. The legs are short and, in flight, barely reach...
black-headed grosbeak
38 photos
black-necked stilt
59 photos
Blue Angels air show
75 photos
bluebird mountain/ western
95 photos
During breeding season, Mountain Bluebirds seek out open areas with a mix of short grasses, shrubs, and trees, at elevations of up to 12,500 feet above sea level. They gravitate toward prairie and...
bobolink
36 photos
Bodie California Ghost Town
55 photos
bonanza & custer idaho ghost town
165 photos
These two towns are so closely related its difficult to know if one could have survived without the other that it might well be called the tale of two cities. Bonanza came to life in 1876 following...
boulder basin ghost town Idaho
8 photos
Boulder Basin is one of the truly rugged but most beautiful spots in Idaho. It offers jagged rock ridges, tumbling white water, and clear alpine lakes. There are a number of old cabins scattered here...
brewer's blackbird
32 photos
A bird to be seen in the full sun, the male Brewer’s Blackbird is a glossy, almost liquid combination of black, midnight blue, and metallic green. Females are a staid brown, without the male’s...
brown creeper
14 photos
Brown-headed Cowbird
12 photos
bufflehead duck
23 photos
Burgdorf Idaho
8 photos
located approximately 30 miles north of McCall at an elevation of 6,115 feet above sea level. Originally a sacred site for Native Americans, its hot springs were discovered by unknown Chinese miners...
burrowing owl
254 photos
Bullock’s Oriole / Baltimore-bullock's oriole...
48 photos
butterflies and bugs
171 photos
Burnt KNob fire lookout montana
22 photos
Burnt Knob's name reflects the fire history of the area. A ranger station was established in 1910 on the Shoup Trail, the main thoroughfare to Nez Perce Pass. The lookout point, one-quarter mile from...
Bushtit
8 photos
Bushtits are sprightly, social songbirds that twitter as they fly weakly between shrubs and thickets in western North America. Almost always found in lively flocks, they move constantly, often...
Butte Montana
257 photos
Butte Montana,Butte Montana ,In its heyday between the late 19th century and about 1920, it was one of the largest and most notorious copper boomtowns in the American West, home to hundreds of...
Butterfly haven Pingree, Idaho
25 photos
camas NWR
68 photos
Canada geese
216 photos
Canada Geese live in a great many habitats near water, grassy fields, and grain fields. Canada Geese are particularly drawn to lawns for two reasons: they can digest grass, and when they are feeding...
Canada jay
23 photos
canvasback duck / red-head duck
27 photos
Canyon Creek Charcoal Kilns/Glendale ghost town ...
42 photos
In a drainage close to the ghost town of Glendale, Montana sits the ruins of 23 charcoal kilns. Canyon Creek Charcoal Kilns were constructed in 1881 and used until 1900. They transformed 11,665 acres...
canyon-lands
16 photos
Canyonlands National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab and preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado...
Capitol Reef National Park Utah
31 photos
Located in south-central Utah in the heart of red rock country, Capitol Reef National Park is a hidden treasure filled with cliffs, canyons, domes and bridges in the Waterpocket Fold, a geologic...
carousels 2013
71 photos
The carousel originated in Europe, but reached its greatest fame in America in the 1900's. The first carousels featured gondolas, carts, menagerie animals, and horses. The French developed many...
Cassin's finch
34 photos
Caspian tern
46 photos
Castle town ghost town Montana
26 photos
Castle Town - Also known as Castle City, or just referred to simply as "Castle," this old mining camp, located just south of White Sulphur Springs, was once bustling with some 2,000...
Cedar/Bohemian waxwing
196 photos
The waxwings are passerine birds They are brown and pale grey with silky plumage, a black and white eyestripe, a crest, a square-cut tail and pointed wings. Some of the wing feathers have red tips,...
Cemeteries
423 photos
Challis wild horses Idaho
102 photos
Chapel in the Hills S.Dakota
20 photos
Nestled at the foot of the Black Hills, on the western edge of Rapid City, SD, the Chapel in the Hills is a quiet retreat open to all visitors. As a special ministry of the South Dakota Synod of the...
Chapel on the Rock ..Colorado
13 photos
In 1999 Boulder County designated the chapel as a historic site.
Pope John Paul II prayed at the chapel during his visit to Denver for World Youth Day in 1993; he blessed the chapel afterwards. The...
chesterfield Idaho ghost town
204 photos
Chesterfield is a Mormon pioneer town founded in 1880 along the Old Oregon Trail in southeast Idaho.
(accessible by car)
chickadee- mountain/black-capped
125 photos
Chukars and red legged partridge
87 photos
In North America, Chukars live in dry high-elevation shrublands between 4,000 and 13,000 feet. They usually occur on steep, rocky hillsides with a mixture of brush, grasses, and forbs. They also...
Cinnamon teal
78 photos
Cisco Utah
9 photos
Baking in the relentless desert sun on U.S. Highway 6, south of I-70 near the Colorado border is the crusty railroad town of Cisco, Utah. Truly looking like something out of a scary movie, where a...
City of the rocks & Little City of the rocks Idaho
256 photos
The City of Rocks , also known as the Silent City of Rocks, is a U.S. National Reserve and state park lying two miles (3 km) north of the south central Idaho border with Utah. It is widely known for...
Clark’s Nutcracker
18 photos
Clark’s Nutcrackers are pale gray birds with black wings. In flight, the wings show large white patches along the trailing edges (secondaries). The tail is black in the center with broad white...
Cliff lake ghost town Montana
21 photos
this is in Montana near the three dollar bridge
Columbia River Eco Tour Astoria Oregon
61 photos
We’ll depart from Astoria’s West Mooring Basin Slip D-5 located at the Astoria Riverwalk Inn, travel beneath the beautiful Astoria Megler Bridge connecting Oregon and Washington via the Columbia...
Common loon
109 photos
Common Redpoll
23 photos
Coolidge Ghost town Montana
10 photos
Coolidge was a small town created by a former politician and the site of Montana's largest and final silver development.
William R. Allen, a Republican who had been elected Montana's lieutenant...
Colorado
26 photos
Colorado National Monument
26 photos
Colorado National Monument is named after the river rather than the state, and covers a relatively small area of eroded red rock formations and canyons just south of the Colorado near Grand Junction....
Comet Montana ghost town
54 photos
Comet is a ghost town located about twenty miles (32 kilometers) south-southwest of Helena, Montana, United States. It is reached by following High Ore Road north from Interstate 15. The remains of...
common yellowthroat warbler
92 photos
Contact Nevada ghost town
26 photos
Although gold was first discovered in 1870, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that Contact became known for its discoveries. In the meantime, however, there was minimum production and a number of...
Currie Nevada
8 photos
Joseph Currie was a local rancher when the Nevada Northern Railway was constructed and ran through the Cherry Creek area where the Currie ranch was located. The rails arrived in 1906 and soon a town...
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve
64 photos
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a national monument and national preserve located in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho, U.S.A. It is along US 20 (concurrent with US 93 US...
dark eyed junco
51 photos
dead horse point state park Utah
20 photos
From the prominence of Dead Horse Point, 2,000 feet above a gooseneck in the Colorado River, an ever changing landscape unfurls. Immense vertical cliffs meet with canyons carved by ice, water and...
decay
84 photos
Deer Lodge Montana prison and other Deer Lodge...
98 photos
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old Montana Prison was built by inmate labor, this turn-of-the-century fortress was home to at least one member of Butch Cassidy's;Wild Bunch.
Devils Tower Wyoming
35 photos
A legend of Devil's Tower
A Brule Sioux Legend
Out of the plains of Wyoming rises Devil's Tower. It is really a rock, visible for hundreds of miles around, an immense cone of basalt which seems to...
DeVoto memorial cedar grove Idaho
14 photos
U.S. Highway 12 runs through a grove of large and ancient Western Red cedars. Past this grove flows Crooked Fork Creek to join with White Sand Creek about two and a half miles downstream to form the...
Double-crested Cormorant
165 photos
This dark, long-bodied diving bird floats low in the water with its thin neck and bill raised; perches upright near water with wings half-spread to dry. The Double-crested (which rarely looks...
Dumas Brothel was a bordello in Butte, Montana
22 photos
The Dumas Brothel was a bordello in Butte, Montana. The brothel was founded by French Canadian brothers Joseph and Arthur Nadeau in 1890 and named after the nominal owner, Delia Nadeau, née Dumas,...
eared grebe
128 photos
The most abundant grebe in the world, the Eared Grebe breeds in shallow wetlands in western North America. It occurs in greatest numbers on Mono Lake and the Great Salt Lake in fall, where it doubles...
EBR-I idaho
73 photos
Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR-I) is a decommissioned research reactor and U.S. National Historic Landmark located in the desert about 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Arco, Idaho. At 1:50 pm on...
egrets
291 photos
Elijah Linville homestead
21 photos
Elijah Linville homestead Swan Valley Idaho
Elijah Linville was a widower when he married Mary Ann Pope. ... 30 Aug 1909, Swan Valley
They came to Idaho that same year and farmed in the Swan Valley...
elk
202 photos
Elkhorn Montana ghost town
36 photos
Elkhorn has been designated one of the most important historical sites in the West and renovation has been undertaken by the Western Montana Ghost Town Preservation Society. Elkhorn flourished in the...
Eureka Nevada
85 photos
Eureka is a museum of mining history. Situated on highway 50 about halfway between Austin and Ely, few other towns offer as much to the curious visitor as does Eureka. The year 1864 saw the discovery...
European Starling
64 photos
Starlings are chunky and blackbird-sized, but with short tails and long, slender beaks. In flight their wings are short and pointed, making them look rather like small, four-pointed stars (and giving...
Ewing-Snell ranch Montana
9 photos
Prospector turned Rancher
In 1896, just five years after the Crow cession of 1,800,000 acres from the western end of their reservation, Erastus T. Ewing entered the Dryhead searching for gold. Born...
Ex Nihilo Sculpture Park Elbe Washington
77 photos
Ex Nihilo Sculpture Park, just outside Mt. Rainier National Park, is the brainchild of Washington artist Daniel Klennert. The park's name, Latin for "something made out of nothing" reflects...
Fantasy Canyon Utah
50 photos
Fantasy Canyon is an area composed of unique erosional features located about 27 miles south of Vernal, in northeastern Utah. Even though the area is only about 10 acres in size, it contains some of...
ferruginous hawk
90 photos
Festival of trees 2017
49 photos
festival of trees 2018
33 photos
Shilo Inn Idaho Falls Idaho
Festival of trees 2022 Idaho Falls Idaho
22 photos
fish creek dam Idaho
25 photos
The dam was listed on the National Register in 1978; the listing included just the one contributing structure on a 5-acre (2.0 ha) area.
In 2007 it was identified as one of the four highest-hazard...
Flaming Gorge Reservoir wyoming
13 photos
Flaming Gorge Reservoir is a reservoir in Wyoming, on the Green River, created by Flaming Gorge Dam. Construction on the dam began in 1958 and was completed in 1964. The reservoir stores 3,788,900...
flowers and plants
456 photos
flycatchers
18 photos
Forster's tern
70 photos
Fort Benton Montana
34 photos
Fort Benton is a scenic and very nice little town located to the south of the Hi-Line. Truthfully, Fort Benton is probably not considered to be part of the Hi-Line, as it lies about 40 miles (as the...
Fort Bridger State Historic Site Wyoming
42 photos
Established by Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez in 1843, as an emigrant supply stop along the Oregon Trail. It was obtained by the Mormons in the early 1850s, and then became a military outpost in 1858....
Fort Caspar Wyoming
24 photos
The area where Platte Bridge Station was located had been the site of various temporary Army encampments over a period of years before the establishment of the fort, or "station" itself....
Fort Churchill State Historic Park Nevada
16 photos
Nevada’s first, largest and most elaborate military outpost was active from its establishment in July 1860, through an era rife with local and national conflict, and up to its abandonment in the...
Fort Columbia State Park
24 photos
Fort Columbia State Park is a 593-acre (2.40 km2) park located in Chinook, Washington. Fort Columbia State Park is one of several state parks and sites in Washington and Oregon that make up the Lewis...
Fort Hall and the Bannock County Historical...
32 photos
Built in 1834, Fort Hall served as a trading post on the Snake River in Southeast Idaho. The fort was demolished in 1863, but the current replica stands as a memorial to Fort Hall’s heritage.
Fort Laramie Wyoming
16 photos
Located at confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers in southeast Wyoming, this famed outpost - first as a fur trade post and then as a military garrison played a strategic role in...
Fort Owen Montana
17 photos
In 1850 Major John Owen arrived in the valley and set up camp north of St. Mary’s. In time, Major Owen established a trading post and military strong point named Fort Owen, which served the...
fort stevens state park oregon
27 photos
In 1955 Clatsop County gave a parcel of land south of Fort Stevens to the State of Oregon for inclusion in a State Park. In 1968 the State of Oregon gained lease of Fort Stevens from the U.S. Army...
Fort Walla Walla Museum Washington
17 photos
free backgrounds and textures
6 photos
Please credit me if used with a link back to this texture or my photostream
funny things
68 photos
Garden of One Thousand Buddhas
26 photos
Arlee, Montana
Established as an international center for peace in 2000, the 750-foot circular monument sits on ten acres of rich natural land comprising the garden. The statuary is arranged in the...
Garnet Montana ghost town
92 photos
Garnet, a historic mining ghost town located in west-central Montana, sits at an elevation of about 6,000 feet at the head of First Chance Creek. It was named after the brown garnet rock, which was...
gates of the mountain Montana
38 photos
The Gates of the Mountains Wilderness is located in the U.S. state of Montana. Created by an act of Congress in 1964.
Gates of the Mountains Wilderness (then known as the Gates of the Mountains Wild...
ghost towns & semi ghost towns
197 photos
gilmore ghost town & leadore idaho
92 photos
The town of Leadore dates from 1910, when the Gilmore and Pittsburgh Railroad was constructed from Armstead, Montana over Bannock Pass and into the Lemhi Valley. The town was home to the railroad's...
Glacier National Park Montana
126 photos
A bill designating Glacier National Park was signed by President Taft on May 11, 1910. The park fell to the management of the National Park Service upon the agency's inception in 1916, and it is...
Glendale Montana ghost town
40 photos
In the 1870s, four mining camps got their starts in the Hecla Mining District on the side of Lion Mountain. Also referred to as the Glendale and/or Bryant Mining District, which was strung out along...
Golden Colorado Railroad Museum
50 photos
The museum was established in 1959 to preserve a record of Colorado's flamboyant railroad era, particularly the state's pioneering narrow gauge mountain railroads
The roundhouse area includes a...
golden eagle
185 photos
Goldeneye ducks -Barrow's/common
75 photos
Granite Ghost Town State Park Montana
8 photos
Hector Horton first discovered silver in the general area in 1865. In the autumn of 1872 the Granite mine was discovered by a prospector named Holland. The mine was relocated in 1875. This is one of...
Gray Catbird
33 photos
If you’re convinced you’ll never be able to learn bird calls, start with the Gray Catbird. Once you’ve heard its catty mew you won’t forget it. Follow the sound into thickets and vine tangles...
gray-crowned rosy finch
16 photos
grays lake area
30 photos
grey partridge/Hungarian partridge
60 photos
Because of its popularity as a gamebird in Europe, the Gray Partridge was brought to North America as early as the 1790s, although it was not really established here until later. It has been most...
great blue heron
619 photos
great grey owl
472 photos
great horned owl
340 photos
Great-tailed Grackle/Common
41 photos
grebe-western /Clark's/red-necked/horned
277 photos
Green Lizard mining- ghost town Montana
2 photos
I couldn't find any history on this old mining ghost town....
green/blue winged teal
94 photos
Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
496 photos
The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center's primary mission is to provide visitors to the Yellowstone area an opportunity to observe, learn and appreciate grizzly bears and gray...
grouse
423 photos
grosbeak-evening /pine
54 photos, 1 video
gulls and terns
218 photos
gyrfalcon
3 photos
harlequin duck
23 photos
Harriman State Park Idaho
50 photos
Owned by Union Pacific Railroad investors from 1902 to 1977, the park acreage served as a cattle ranch and private retreat of the Harriman and Guggenheim families. Today, Harriman State Park provides...
Havre beneath the streets Montana
76 photos
Probably one of the most popular attractions in northcentral Montana is the historical tour through Havre’s underground. In January of 1904 a devastating fire wiped out a large part of the Havre...
horned grebe
9 photos
horned lark
40 photos
Horses
240 photos
houses,cabins & buildings #1
446 photos
houses -old buildings #2
193 photos
houses -old buildings #3
180 photos
houses -old buildings Montana #1
239 photos
House finch
77 photos
Hummingbirds
260 photos
Idaho
496 photos
Idaho #2
362 photos
Idaho #3
567 photos
Idaho #4
350 photos
Idaho #5
288 photos
Idaho Falls Idaho buildings
38 photos
Idaho falls Idaho #1
487 photos
In 1864, Harry Rickets established a ferry to cross the Snake River nine miles north of the present city of Idaho Falls. Late in that same year and in the following year, J.M. (Matt) Taylor, a...
Idaho Falls Idaho #2
417 photos
Idaho City Idaho
29 photos
When the party of men under Moses Splawn and George Grimes discovered gold on Grimes Creek in 1862, the stampede to Boise Basin began. This vast basin was one of the major discoveries of the gold...
Idaho Penitentiary Boise Idaho
103 photos
Over its century of operation, the penitentiary received more than 13,000 convicts, of whom 215 were women. Spurred in part by conditions that sparked a general riot in 1971 and an even more severe...
inside out Museum of Idaho
36 photos
Animal Inside Out allows visitors to get up-close and personal with the real inner workings of familiar and exotic animals whose bodies and body parts have been preserved through a process called...
Island park Idaho
407 photos
The area was known as Island Park long before the 33-mile (53 km)-long town was incorporated.The area known as Island Park is mostly a large crater or caldera named the Henry's Fork Caldera that was...
livingston mine Idaho
9 photos
The first of many claims at the head of Washington Creek in Washington Basin were located in 1882. Over several years of production, the area’s two mills only produced $50,000 in lead and silver....
Ima Mine Idaho
14 photos
The Ima Mine in Idaho is in the Blue Wing mining district on the west side of the
Lemhi Range near the town of Patterson . The mine is about a mile north of
Patterson at the mouth of the canyon of...
Jackson Hole Wy. elk refuge
49 photos
The National Elk Refuge works to provide, preserve, restore, and manage winter habitat for the nationally significant Jackson Elk Herd and habitat for endangered species, birds, fish, and other big...
jays-steller's /gray/blue
147 photos
juniper titmouse
4 photos
killdeer
58 photos
kingbirds
120 photos
small passerine birds of the tyrant flycatcher family. The majority are named as kingbirds. They prefer semi-open or open areas. These birds wait on an exposed perch and then catch insects in flight
kinglet-ruby crowned
56 photos
Kirkville ghost town Montana
15 photos
Located 1 mile southeast of Philipsburg, Kirkville was settled by mill workers who worked in the Bi-Metallic Mill on Douglas Creek. It consisted of dwellings, a boarding house, a rooming house,...
lark sparrow
14 photos
Leadore Idaho
18 photos
Leadville, Colorado
21 photos
In 1860 gold prospectors hit pay dirt in California Gulch on the south side of modern-day Leadville. They worked their way up the gulch and founded Oro City. Lode mining for gold followed the...
Leesburg Idaho ghost town
92 photos
Leesburg: Along with four friends, Frank Barney Sharkey discovered gold in 1866 below the North Fork of the Salmon River. The mining town of Leesburg grew to a population of seven thousand in a few...
Lesser Scaup
39 photos
One of the most numerous and widespread diving ducks in North America, especially on inland waters. Can be very active when feeding, diving and surfacing repeatedly. In winter often seen on lakes and...
lazuli bunting
16 photos
The male Lazuli Bunting lights up dry brushy hillsides, thickets, and gardens throughout the West, flashing the blue of a lapis gemstone mixed with splashes of orange. He belts out his squeaky and...
Lion City Montana ghost town
18 photos
At it’s peak, Lion City had a population of five to six hundred, mostly miners and merchants. Three saloons, two whore house, a school house, two hotels, Noah Armstrong and Co. as well as Thomas...
“Little Jerusalem” Montana
7 photos
some interesting geologic formations, are at a spot only locals know about between Sweetgrass and Sunburst near the Canadian border. They call the sandstone and limestone outcroppings, shaped by...
long-billed curlew
47 photos
Long-billed Dowitcher
8 photos
long eared owl
74 photos
long tailed weasel
49 photos
mackay Idaho &White Knob ghost town
79 photos
Mackay is a small town with BIG personality. Part of that personality is an unmistakable Western charm that’s reminiscent of the town’s history as a mining settlement and of its present stature...
magpie-Black-billed
54 photos
mailboxes
14 photos
unusual mailboxes
Mallard ducks
245 photos
If someone at a park is feeding bread to ducks, chances are there are Mallards in the fray. Perhaps the most familiar of all ducks, Mallards occur throughout North America and Eurasia in ponds and...
Mammoth Montana semi ghost town
16 photos
Not much to this semi ghost town.Most buildings are vacation homes.
More than 14,000,000 in silver & gold came from the Mammoth mine area.
Very pretty scenery !
Marbled Godwit
28 photos
Marysville Montana semi ghost town
22 photos
Blasting quickly towards the Twentieth Century, Marysville was a small but booming mining town… and on the fast track to success. During the 1880's and 90's, Marysville was one of Montana's leading...
May Idaho
32 photos
McTucker pond Idaho
175 photos
A cluster of 8 ponds surrounded by willows and a few large cottonwood trees located near Springfield.
mergansers-hooded/common-red breasted
310 photos
Merlin falcon
32 photos
Metropolis, Nevada
19 photos
Like many Nevada communities, optimists founded Metropolis.
But Metropolis wasn’t settled by folks seeking gambling riches or mineral wealth but by farmers seeking a better life.
Located 15 miles...
Miner's Delight Wyoming ghost town
14 photos
Hamilton City, or Miner's Delight as it was commonly known, during the mining boom in the 19th century. Today a few buildings stand as a reminder of an era gone past in Wyoming history.
Miner's...
Minidoka Relocation Center
8 photos
The Minidoka Relocation Center, 15 miles north of Twin Falls and 150 miles southeast of Boise, was also referred to as the Hunt Camp. Minidoka was considered a model environment because of its...
mink
31 photos
Montana
501 photos
Montana pump jacks
31 photos
moose
316 photos
motorcycles-bikes
17 photos
mountain goats
173 photos
Both male and female mountain goats have beards, short tails, and long black horns, 15–28 cm in length, which contain yearly growth rings. They are protected from the elements by their woolly white...
Mount Evans Colorado
49 photos
The Mount Evans Scenic Byway climbs more than 7,000 feet in just 28 miles, reaching an altitude of 14,130 feet.
This highest of Rocky Mountain highs brings you to the rarefied world above timberline,...
mud lake /Monteview area Idaho
62 photos
muldoon ghost town Idaho
2 photos
A year after a notable mining rush to Wood River had brought thousands of fortune hunters to search for lead silver there, Jesse Elliott located a Little Wood River prospect which expanded lead...
mule deer
314 photos
muskrat
91 photos
my backyard
1090 photos, 1 video
visitors to my yard
my world
24 photos
nevada city & virginia city mt. ghost town
472 photos
Charles and Sue Bovey began collecting buildings in the early 1940s. The Sullivan Saddlery, moved with its contents from Fort Benton to the Great Falls fairgrounds, became the first building of their...
Nevada city/Virginia city Montana people
165 photos
New World Mining District ghost town Montana
7 photos
The New World Mining District is a mountainous tract at an elevation over 7,000 feet, and consequently inaccessible during winters. Timber and water are plentiful, but the lack of and expense of...
nighthawk
62 photos
northern flicker
68 photos
The northern flicker is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker...
northern goshawk
6 photos
northern harrier
200 photos
Northern Harriers are slender, medium-sized raptors with long, fairly broad wings and a long, rounded tail. They have a flat, owl-like face and a small, sharply hooked bill. Harriers often fly with...
Northern Nevada Railway .Ely Nevada
67 photos
Built in 1906, the Nevada Northern connected the enormous pit mines at Ruth with the smelter on the old McGill Ranch, and then with the main line at Cobre for an overall run of not quite 150 miles....
northern pintail ducks
48 photos
northern saw whet owl / flammulated owl
27 photos
Northern Shoveler ducks
85 photos
nuthatch-red breasted/white breasted
47 photos
old stuff
129 photos
Old Mission State Park Idaho
23 photos
The park contains the church itself, the parish house, and the surrounding property.
Mission of the Sacred Heart stands on a hill overlooking the Coeur d’Alene River, which runs nearby. The mission...
"Old Trail Town " Wyoming
28 photos
The Old Trail Town collection now consists of 26 buildings, which date from 1879 to 1901, one hundred horse-drawn vehicles, plus an extensive collection of Native American artifacts and memorabilia...
Oneida narrows
273 photos
Oregon,Washington,California
303 photos
osprey
527 photos
Our Lady of the Rockies
36 photos
One of the most picturesque views in Montana comes into focus when rounding the bend on eastbound Interstate 90, about 6 miles from the historic city of Butte. On the towering East Ridge overlooking...
outhouses
52 photos
When you gotta go, you gotta go...
Outhouses With Two Holes: No, these old vintage structures weren't usually doing double duty. Rather, most contained two holes of different sizes - one for adults...
Palisades reservoir area Idaho
302 photos
Patterson Idaho
5 photos
people
108 photos
peregrine falcon
50 photos
photoshoppped images
104 photos
pied billed grebe
83 photos
pika
22 photos
pine creek school swan valley Idaho
95 photos
pine marten
15 photos
pine siskin
11 photos
Pinyon Jay/Woodhouse's scrub jay
17 photos
planes
22 photos
Pony Montana semi ghost town
50 photos
It languishes in the beauty of the Deer Lodge National
Forest at the base of Hollowtop Mountain. Less than one hundred families live
in Pony today. It's hard to imagine that during the gold...
porcupine
46 photos
prairie falcon
58 photos
pronghorn-antelope
127 photos
Promontory Point Historical Reenactment Utah
128 photos
Apr 10, 1869 - On April 10, 1869, the two roads joined, at Promontory Point, Utah, and the whole nation joined in the celebration as the marriage was solemnized by the driving of golden and silver...
Pryor Mountains Wild Horses / bighorn sheep
78 photos
The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is a refuge for a historically significant herd of free-roaming mustangs, feral horses colloquially called "wild horses", located in the Pryor Mountains...
northern pintail ducks
41 photos
quail
105 photos
raccoon
9 photos
raven
67 photos
Red Canyon-Flaming Gorge Utah
19 photos
Flaming Gorge is an artistic canyon with blazing red walls that plunge down precipitously to the water below. These waters have been harnessed by a dam to form a large man-made reservoir. From the...
red crossbill
41 photos
red fox
20 photos
red naped sapsucker
32 photos
red-tailed hawk
398 photos
red-winged blackbird
147 photos
Red-winged Blackbirds spend the breeding season in wet places like fresh or saltwater marshes and rice paddies. You may also find them breeding in drier places like sedge meadows, alfalfa fields, and...
Rexburg Legacy Flight Museum Air Show
64 photos
Rimini Montana semi ghost town
16 photos
Ring-necked Duck
24 photos
ring-necked pheasant
137 photos
Ring-necked Pheasants stride across open fields and weedy roadsides in the U.S. and southern Canada. Males sport iridescent copper-and-gold plumage, a red face, and a crisp white collar; their...
river otter
118 photos
rock chuck
46 photos
Rock City Montana
25 photos
Rock City, north of Valier in North Central Montana along the Two Medicine River.
The area is known for its sandstone pillars often refereed to as hoodoos. The hoodoos have been created from the...
rocky mountain national park colorado
33 photos
ruddy duck
79 photos
rough-legged hawk
238 photos
sage thrasher
32 photos
This smallest of the thrashers is a widespread denizen of the West’s vast sagebrush steppe. Sage Thrashers are furtive creatures that hunt for insects beneath a protective sagebrush canopy. In...
Salmon Idaho area
117 photos
Sand Creek WMA Idaho
14 photos
The WMA and surrounding lands provide winter forage and shelter for one of the largest migratory high-desert elk herds in North America and the only desert wintering moose herd in the world. While...
sandhill cranes
347 photos
Whether stepping singly across a wet meadow or filling the sky by the hundreds and thousands, Sandhill Cranes have an elegance that draws attention. These tall, gray-bodied, crimson-capped birds...
Savannah sparrow
41 photos
Sawtooth mt. and area Idaho
118 photos
The Sawtooth Range is part of the Rocky Mountains, located within a few miles south of Stanley, Idaho, in the Western United States. Much of mountain range is within the Sawtooth Wilderness, part of...
Schools & Churches
404 photos
sharp-shinned / cooper'shawk
55 photos
sheep camp
8 photos
short eared owl
326 photos
Shoshone Falls Idaho
79 photos
Shoshone Falls is a waterfall on the Snake River located approximately five miles east of Twin Falls, Idaho. Sometimes called the ,Niagara of the West, Shoshone Falls is 212 feet (64.7 m) high -- 36...
Shrike
38 photos
A predatory songbird, the Northern Shrike breeds in taiga and tundra and winters in southern Canada and the northern United States. It feeds on small birds, mammals, and insects, sometimes impaling...
signs
87 photos
Silver City Idaho ghost town& surrounding area
78 photos
Silver City, Idaho is one of the few old mining towns that did not burn down or become commercialized into a modern city. Visiting Silver City is like going back into history. The Idaho Hotel is as...
Smuggler mine ghost own Montana
20 photos
In the late 1920s the Smuggler property consisted of 13 unpatented claims producing gold and silver. The property was developed by a 117 foot shaft; two adits of 150 and 200 feet; 340 feet of drifts;...
snow bunting
21 photos
snow geese and ross geese
100 photos
snowy owl
2 photos
song sparrow
39 photos
Sora
52 photos
A descending whinny emanates from the depths of cattails and rushes, but the source of this sound rarely shows itself. This secretive brown-and-gray marsh bird is a Sora, but drab it is not. When it...
South Dakota
130 photos
South Park City Colorado
93 photos
South Park City is an open-air museum located at the west end of Front Street in the town of Fairplay in Park County, Colorado. The museum is a historic reconstruction of a mining town from the days...
South pass city ghost town Wyoming and Atlantic...
63 photos
Located north of the historic Oregon Trail, South Pass City was built in 1867 as a result of a gold mining boom in the Sweetwater Mining District. When the Carissa Mine struck a rich vein, hundreds...
sparrows
80 photos
spotted/ solitary sandpiper
69 photos
squirrels/chipmunk
268 photos
Steampunk-Museum of Idaho-Idaho Falls Idaho
127 photos
St Elmo Colorado ghost town
36 photos
St. Elmo was originally settled in 1878 and was made official in 1880 when gold and silver began to bring many people to the area. Though it was first called Forest City, the small town's name was...
stumptown colorado ghost town
9 photos
Began in 1879 with the discovery of carbonate ores in the area. This town grew up around many mines. It was believed to have been named for a man named Joseph Stumpf, however, this man was doing...
Swainson's hawk
310 photos
swallows
154 photos
swans
520 photos
Swan Valley Idaho
401 photos
tautphaus-park-zoo Idaho Falls Idaho
189 photos
Charles c. Tautphaus, of german ancestry, and sarah kane, from ireland,
were both immigrants to america. They met in california, where they married
and had five daughters. The family traveled by...
temples & tabernacle
53 photos
Tetons and Jackson Hole area
352 photos
An ethereal mountain landscape where jagged peaks tower more than a mile above the Jackson Hole valley, Grand Teton National Park is located in northwestern Wyoming just south of Yellowstone National...
THE INTERNATIONAL CAR FOREST OF THE Last Church
80 photos
The product of artists Chad Sorg and Mark Rippie, the Car Forest began when Sorg saw just a seed of the project. As he was driving through Goldfield, Nevada, Sorg saw a car standing on its nose in...
Thrush
17 photos
tinsley farm bozeman
56 photos
Ever wonder what life was like for Bozeman-area homesteaders in the 1800s? The Museum of the Rockies has taken painstaking efforts to keep the memory of our geographic forbears alive, by recreating a...
Towhee-Green-tailed/spotted
58 photos
Green-tailed Towhees are small but chunky songbirds with a big head, stocky body and longish tail. The bill is thick and sparrowlike. They are larger than most sparrows and have shorter tails than...
townsend's solitaire
25 photos
tractors-farm equipment
185 photos
trains
169 photos
trucks - cars
421 photos
turkey -wild
157 photos
turkey vulture
87 photos
Utah & Arizonia
101 photos
Utah State Route 128 scenic route
44 photos
State Route 128 (SR-128) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Utah. The entire length of the highway has been designated the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway, as part of the Utah Scenic Byways...
Virginia Rail
58 photos
A secretive bird of freshwater marshes, the Virginia Rail most often remains hidden in dense vegetation. It possesses many adaptations for moving through its habitat, including a laterally compressed...
warblers
138 photos
Ward Charcoal Ovens Nevada
7 photos
The beehive shaped ovens replaced an older system of producing charcoal because the ovens were a more efficient way to reduce pinyon pine and juniper into charcoal. The Ward Charcoal Ovens operated...
Ward Colorado semi ghost town
10 photos
Ward Colorado semi ghost town
Named after Calvin Ward, this town was one of the richest in the state of Colorado. One mine is said to have produced over 2 million ounces of silver alone. Calvin...
Warren Idaho ghost town
22 photos
After the initial boom ended in 1875, Warren was known for its significant Chinese population.
The boom-town population plummeted when mining declined, but enjoyed a brief renaissance in the 1930s...
Washoe ghost town (Smith mining desaster) ...
13 photos
highway 308
Smith Mine Disaster
The above ground buildings of the Smith Mine as it appeared in
the early days.
February 27, 1943 began on an optimistic
note for most families in Bearcreek,...
western meadowlark
70 photos
The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen, unless you spot a male singing from...
western tanager
45 photos
A clear look at a male Western Tanager is like looking at a flame: an orange-red head, brilliant yellow body, and coal-black wings, back and tail. Females and immatures are a somewhat dimmer...
white-crowned sparrow
51 photos
white faced ibis
117 photos
white-tailed deer
239 photos
willet
36 photos
Willets are large, stocky shorebirds with long legs and thick, straight bills considerably longer than the head. Their wings are broader and rounder than those of many shorebirds and the tail is...
Wilson's/ rednecked phalarope
42 photos
Wilson’s Phalaropes are grayish birds with cinnamon or rusty highlights especially on the neck. In the breeding season females are more colorful than males, with a dark line through the eye...
Wilson's snipe
48 photos
Wilson’s Snipes are medium-sized, pudgy shorebirds with short, stocky legs. The bill is straight and very long (several times the length of the head). The head is rounded and the tail is short.
wood ducks
56 photos
Woodpecker-Downy/Hairy'Lewis's
95 photos
World Museum of Mining in Butte Montana
96 photos
The World Museum of Mining in Butte, MT was founded in 1963 when the close of Butte’s mining heyday was less than two decades away. In the end, Butte experienced a century of hard rock mining and...
wren-house/marsh/rock
68 photos
Wyoming and nevada
442 photos
Wyoming Frontier Prison
57 photos
The year is 1908, and Annie Bruce is incarcerated in the “Old Pen” for killing her father with a poisoned plum pie. Three years later, restless prisoners burn down the prison’s broom factory,...
yellow-headed blackbird
86 photos
With a golden head, a white patch on black wings, and a call that sounds like a rusty farm gate opening, the Yellow-headed Blackbird demands your attention. Look for them in western and prairie...
yellow legs
14 photos
Yellow rumped warbler
62 photos
yellowstone park
508 photos
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming,...
Yellowstone wildlife
449 photos