Lander Area Chamber of Commerce 2014 Travel and Relocation Guide | Page 26

Hollywood

in Lander

Arapaho Chief; Yellow Calf & Colonel
Tim McCoy: On movie set near lander, ca. 1925
Photo Courtesy of Lander Pioneer Museum

Article by Todd Gunther

In the fall of 1922, a
representative from a Hollywood
film company appeared in the
office of former Lander cowboy,
Tim McCoy, who had become the
Adjutant General of the Wyoming
National Guard. The reason for the
visit was simply stated: “How would
I go about acquiring five hundred
Indians?”

der, WY in the 1920’s.
cast: taken near Lan
Colonel Tim McCoy and
Lander Pioneer Museum
Photo Courtesy of the

That question opened a huge
window of opportunity for
residents of the Wind River Indian
Reservation and Lander and McCoy
jumped right through it. The next
day, movie star handsome, thirtyone year old McCoy resigned his
position as Adjutant General to
become a Hollywood technical
advisor at $50 per week plus
expenses. He hurried home to
Lander, hired Ed Farlow as his
assistant and offered starting pay
of $5 per day to each adult, fifty

cents per day to each child, $1 per
Lander and Reservation economies.
day for each horse, and $1 per day
McCoy and Farlow were
for each tepee. An Indian family of
both adopted members of the
three could earn the extraordinary
Northern Arapaho Tribe. Farlow
salary of almost $90 per week
was even married to a niece of
which was more than most were
the famed Sioux war chief, Gall,
typically able to earn in a year. On
who rubbed out Custer and the
top of that, they would be fed as
7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn.
much as they wanted of the same
Many of the films they helped
food and from the same kitchen
produce defied the stereotype of
that sustained the rest of the crew.
old-time, shoot ‘em up western
Special trains and truck convoys
“horse operas.” They tried to
would take them to the set and
portray Indian life realistically and
bring them home again after filming Indians as human beings instead
was completed to rest up for the
of the typical wooden Hollywood
next adventure.
characters. They also showed the
That first film, The
complexity of frontier relations
Covered Wagon, was a worldwide
by dealing with issues like broken
success. Many of the local actors
treaties and dishonest Indian agents
traveled to London and Paris with
and traders.
the film where they presented
After the mid 1930s
stage shows about Indian life and
no more films were made on the
later toured the country with other
Reservation, but actors from this
movies. Within a few years McCoy
area continued to be involved with
was one of Hollywood’s biggest
the movies into the 1950s and, for
stars and every summer beautiful
a lucky few, into the 1960s. When
actresses and famous actors
questioned about their role, Native
accompanied by the light, sound
American actors commented that
and camera crews came to Lander
it was fun to relive the old days and
to film as many as four movies on
good to make a decent living.
the Reservation. Among the best
When the new Pioneer Museum
known were The Thundering Herd
building is erected plans include a
and End of the Trail which were
major exhibit about this topic using
filmed in the late 1920s. These films artifacts and the many photos in the
all employed hundreds of Indians
museum collections.
and had a major impact on the
Wild horses roaming the miles of public lands in the Wind River Country. Photo
Courtesy of Scott Copeland

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