The Cowboy in Winter

Gerald Mack lived the life—and photographer Sam Abell went along for the ride

  • By Robert M. Poole
  • Smithsonian magazine, October 2008, Subscribe
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Gerald Mack with his horse Sky and dog Cisco Kid
"No one else would be up here"—Montana's Little Belt Mountains in winter—except Gerald Mack, with his horse, Sky, and dog, Cisco Kid, a rancher told the photographer. (Photo by Sam Abell ©2008 National Geographic)

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Gerald Mack, with his horse, Sky, and dog, Cisco Kid

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Two black dots appeared in the distance, barely visible through swirling snow. Drawing closer, they resolved into recognizable forms: a man on a horse, a dog running alongside.

"That'll be Gerald," said Ken Perry, a rancher who had driven photographer Sam Abell high into the Little Belt Mountains of central Montana in 1985 to search for cowboys still working in the traditional style. "No one else would be up here" in the forbidding Montana winter.

In Abell's telling, he grabbed his camera, pushed open the door of Perry's pickup truck and stepped into the cold. There he began shooting pictures of a man named Gerald Mack, a horse named Sky and a dog named Cisco Kid.

The trio came to a stop in front of Abell. Introductions were made all around. Mack dismounted. Perry launched into a critique of Mack's horsemanship: You're riding him too hot. You ought to know better.

Mack hung his head. So did Cisco. The horse followed suit. Abell, a veteran of almost 40 National Geographic assignments, kept shooting. The elements of a picture were there, he sensed, but they had not fallen into place yet. He composed the frame, anticipating that Mack would eventually look up.

Sky snorted and shook off snow. Cisco looked up and pricked his ears. Mack raised his head. Abell squeezed off a picture. All three things happened at the same time, he says. "I was as set as a photographer can be. It was simply composing and waiting, which was how my father taught me to take pictures when I was a boy" in Sylvania, Ohio.

The resulting image of man, horse and dog was published in the January 1986 issue of National Geographic and is included among 200 pictures in The Life of a Photograph, a retrospective of Abell's field work to be published this month. It was one of 25,000 images Abell gathered during a year following in the footsteps of the late artist Charles M. Russell, who, as a teenager in the 1880s, had come to Montana from St. Louis to start life as a cowboy. To evoke Russell's time and spirit, Abell traveled to the windswept plains where Russell learned to ride and rope, where he honed his skills as a painter and where he memorialized the twilight of an era. "It looks the way it looked in Russell's day," says Abell, 63. "There are grander and more sublime landscapes—to me. There are more compelling cultures. But what appeals to me about central Montana is that the combination of landscape and lifestyle is the most compelling I've seen on this earth. Small mountain ranges and open prairie, and different weather, different light, all within a 360-degree view."

The cowboy culture was still very much in evidence when Mack rode into Abell's viewfinder more than two decades ago. Men and women spent their days in the saddle, following cattle up to the high grasslands in spring and summer and down to the valleys in fall, and drove off to town for a dance and a beer only when the chores were done. That life required good horse work, an affinity for the lariat and hard labor, a stoic acceptance of blistering summers and soul-numbing winters, and the quickness and strength to chase down a calf, flip it over and apply the branding iron. When spring arrived, so did the bloody work of transforming young bulls into steers, so a strong stomach helped, too.


Two black dots appeared in the distance, barely visible through swirling snow. Drawing closer, they resolved into recognizable forms: a man on a horse, a dog running alongside.

"That'll be Gerald," said Ken Perry, a rancher who had driven photographer Sam Abell high into the Little Belt Mountains of central Montana in 1985 to search for cowboys still working in the traditional style. "No one else would be up here" in the forbidding Montana winter.

In Abell's telling, he grabbed his camera, pushed open the door of Perry's pickup truck and stepped into the cold. There he began shooting pictures of a man named Gerald Mack, a horse named Sky and a dog named Cisco Kid.

The trio came to a stop in front of Abell. Introductions were made all around. Mack dismounted. Perry launched into a critique of Mack's horsemanship: You're riding him too hot. You ought to know better.

Mack hung his head. So did Cisco. The horse followed suit. Abell, a veteran of almost 40 National Geographic assignments, kept shooting. The elements of a picture were there, he sensed, but they had not fallen into place yet. He composed the frame, anticipating that Mack would eventually look up.

Sky snorted and shook off snow. Cisco looked up and pricked his ears. Mack raised his head. Abell squeezed off a picture. All three things happened at the same time, he says. "I was as set as a photographer can be. It was simply composing and waiting, which was how my father taught me to take pictures when I was a boy" in Sylvania, Ohio.

The resulting image of man, horse and dog was published in the January 1986 issue of National Geographic and is included among 200 pictures in The Life of a Photograph, a retrospective of Abell's field work to be published this month. It was one of 25,000 images Abell gathered during a year following in the footsteps of the late artist Charles M. Russell, who, as a teenager in the 1880s, had come to Montana from St. Louis to start life as a cowboy. To evoke Russell's time and spirit, Abell traveled to the windswept plains where Russell learned to ride and rope, where he honed his skills as a painter and where he memorialized the twilight of an era. "It looks the way it looked in Russell's day," says Abell, 63. "There are grander and more sublime landscapes—to me. There are more compelling cultures. But what appeals to me about central Montana is that the combination of landscape and lifestyle is the most compelling I've seen on this earth. Small mountain ranges and open prairie, and different weather, different light, all within a 360-degree view."

The cowboy culture was still very much in evidence when Mack rode into Abell's viewfinder more than two decades ago. Men and women spent their days in the saddle, following cattle up to the high grasslands in spring and summer and down to the valleys in fall, and drove off to town for a dance and a beer only when the chores were done. That life required good horse work, an affinity for the lariat and hard labor, a stoic acceptance of blistering summers and soul-numbing winters, and the quickness and strength to chase down a calf, flip it over and apply the branding iron. When spring arrived, so did the bloody work of transforming young bulls into steers, so a strong stomach helped, too.

Gerald Mack did all of those things in his season. He was the winter-keeper on Ken Perry's ranch when he met Abell, riding miles of fence lines to make sure there were no gaps, chopping holes in the ice so the cattle could drink. And dreaming of spring.

Cisco and Sky have since gone off to the big ranch beyond the mountains, but Mack remembers them fondly. "Cisco was always with me," he says. "He loved to help with the cattle or anything else that needed doing. He died a few years after the picture. Sky lived another nine or ten years. He was a good horse, a real good horse, tougher than a boot." Mack pauses. "He was a little bit counterfeit, though."

Counterfeit?

"Meaning he'd throw you in the dirt if you didn't keep one leg on each side and your mind in the middle," says Mack. "He'd take advantage."

At 47, Mack still lives in Charles Russell country, a few miles from where he first encountered Abell. But "cowboys are pretty scarce in this part of the country now," he says. "All the big ranches are in Nevada, Oregon, Northern California."

Has he hung up his spurs?

"I was cowboying until 1999, working here and there," Mack says, "I still do a little, but not much." He owns a saddlery near Hobson, Montana, where he makes bridles, chaps, quirts and hobbles for out-of-state cowboys. "Everything except for the saddles. I do a lot of braiding, working mostly with rawhide," he says. "Most of my business is through the Internet." His Web site is www.mackcustomleather.com.

Robert M. Poole is a writer and contributing editor at Smithsonian.


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Comments (6)

I have checked sam abell website. Nothing. Nat Geo, nothing, several photo thingies on the web. Nothing. Why can;t we get this photo

Posted by nova on January 4,2012 | 09:10 PM

I worked with Gerald on the crossed sabers ranch in wyoming and the ZX ranch in oregon. Good cowpoke!

Posted by Luke Campbell on August 3,2010 | 06:37 AM

Would you pleae let me know where I can buy a print of Sam Abell photo of the cowboy horse and dog? Thank you.

Posted by jack mihalik on May 26,2009 | 03:11 PM

My name is Emily Turco. Ken Perry is my late grandfather. He has since gone off to the big ranch beyond the mountains. Gerald was my hero, still is. He is a soft man, and had a way with animals. I have lived the cowboy way and it takes a special person to really understand what its all about. Gerald knows what cowboy etiquette is. I was a little girl when these photos were taken, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

Posted by Emily Turco on December 26,2008 | 06:36 PM

Enjoyed reading article and the pictures.Heading your way Nov. 21. Meeting my Dad in Hobson to go elk hunting. I would love to see your shop and maybe pick something up for my wife and daughter. Thank You, Hope to see you soon. Tim

Posted by Tim Haines WV on November 9,2008 | 08:54 PM

We, too, have been looking far and wide for a copy/print of "Cowboy in Winter" -- any guidance as to where we might be able to find one would be most appreciated. The photo is quiet, compelling and courageous, and draws one in -- we'd love to find a way to purchase a copy for ourselves. Help?! - BP

Posted by Beth Paulino on October 5,2008 | 10:49 AM

Terrific article! (But then almost all of your articles are.) I'd like to buy a copy of the Sam Abell photoof Gerald Mack, his horse and dog. Can you tell me where I might order one? Thanks for a wonderful magazine. I look forward to it every month. TCS

Posted by Tom Spencer on September 28,2008 | 08:59 AM



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