The lot features a large photograph titled, “’The Command’ Portraying Chief Koostata” by Herman Schnitzmeyer taken in Dayton, Montana circa 1920-1922. The large format image is titled and signed in the image by the photographer out of Polson, Montana, Herman Schnitzmeyer. Chief Koostata (Kootenai Tribe Montana, 1856-1942), also known as Chief Koostatah and Big Knife, was a significant leader of the Kootenai tribe in Montana from 1904 until his death in 1942. He belonged to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana and was the last formally recognized Chief for his tribe, along with Chief Martin Charlo (1856-1941), of the Selis (Salish) and Chief Mose Michell (1885-1944) of the Qlispe (Pend d’Oreille) tribes. When Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, the Flathead Reservation was the first to reorganize under a tribal council and sovereign government, thus dissolving formal Chieftainship. Chief Koostatah remained on the tribal council until his death in 1942. Herman Schnitzmeyer (1880-1939) was born in 1880 and was noted for making a homestead claim on Wild horse Island on Flathead Lake in Northern Montana around 1910. He was the son of German immigrant parents and moved from Illinois to the Flathead Valley as a homesteader. Not exactly cut out for the farming lifestyle, by 1912 he turned to photography to supplement his income and teamed up with Louis Desch selling photo postcards of the local area. Schnitzmeyer also worked on freelance assignments for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Despite his considerable talents as a photographer and artist, Schnitzmeyer never gained much notoriety outside of his local area. He died in 1939. The image shows a pressed in border and overall the piece measures16.5-inches by 11.5-inches.