Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952)
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Title:
Plate 659 On the Canadian River
Date:
1927
Size:
Portfolio, 22 x 18 inches
Medium:
Vintage Photogravure
Edward Curtis includes this photogravure in his Oklahoma narrative because of its importance to the tribes he writes about in Volume 19.
Clearly it starts in a river from the north, but flows from west to east through Oklahoma, depositing into the Arkansas. Water collects from semi-deserts, plains, prairies, forests, and mountains in the west and its flow is scarce until it arrives in the east where rainfall is plentiful. In certain seasons the wide, sandy bed can turn to dangerous quicksand that can be both a threat, or a source of serendipitous provision of trapped game.
In Oklahoma this river is a source of water for the Wichita, Cheyenne, Oto, Comanche and a Peyote sect that Curtis is specifically addressing.
Clearly it starts in a river from the north, but flows from west to east through Oklahoma, depositing into the Arkansas. Water collects from semi-deserts, plains, prairies, forests, and mountains in the west and its flow is scarce until it arrives in the east where rainfall is plentiful. In certain seasons the wide, sandy bed can turn to dangerous quicksand that can be both a threat, or a source of serendipitous provision of trapped game.
In Oklahoma this river is a source of water for the Wichita, Cheyenne, Oto, Comanche and a Peyote sect that Curtis is specifically addressing.