For your consideration are fifty-five photo negatives taken in and around the Flathead Lake and Polson, Montanan area by C. Owen Smithers, a renowned photographer based in Butte, Montana circa 1892 - 1962. These photos come from the C. Owen Smithers Photo Collection. C. Owen Smithers was born in 1893. He grew up in Kalispell, where he learned the skill of photography and the usage of a darkroom while working in his father's drugstore. He enrolled in the University of Montana's new School of Journalism in 1914, becoming one of the first press photographer students. During World War I, he served as a mess sergeant in France under General Pershing. During World War II, he returned to active duty as the Army Signal Corps Photography Chief, stationed in New York City, where he oversaw all Army Photography Sections in New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Smithers arrived in Butte in 1921, after serving in World War I. From 1921 to 1923, he was the Chief Photographer for the Anaconda Standard, where he captured the ever-changing panorama of Butte, Montana, on the streets and in the mining yards. Smithers collaborated with Frank Ward and Tom Manning between 1923 and 1924, before establishing his own photography studio in 1926. From the 1930s until his retirement in 1972, Smithers photographed every President of the United States, from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon. He passed away in 1973, just a year after retiring. The photos show various scenes such as a Boy Scout leader helping a boy scout gear up, a boy scout building a fire pit, men and women painting the interior of a building, women around a table placing flowers, men around a table reading books and papers, boy scouts farming, Kalispell town view in 1892, orchards around Flathead Lake, a ferry on Flathead Lake, a steamboat on Flathead Lake, cut logs being transported on the waters of Flathead Lake, Big Arm Bay on Flathead Lake in the distance, a lumber mill on Flathead Lake, a man moving logs on the water, Wild Horse Island on Flathead Lake from a distance, a man driving his boat on the water, a bridge going over Flathead Lake, boats docked on shore, St. Ignatius Mission, a map of Flathead Lake Table Bays land plots, a ceremony, a log yard and log mill, a log building being built, docked ferry boats and more. The photo negatives show fair to good condition overall with wear present from their age and use over the years, Scratches, fading and staining present. They measure from 2 3/4" L x 4 1/2" W to 4 1/2" L x 7" W. They have a collective weight of 8 ounces.