Herb:
One morning I took off from Reno to explore an old ghost town called Ludwig, near Yerington. While hunting through an old station, I heard a car motor wheezing over the rough steep hill, and hitching my gun forward, I scanned the hillside for sign of the car.
It proved to be an old Model T Ford and two men were in it. One, a man of about 50, was dressed shabbily, while the younger man was more neatly attired. We spoke for about 15 minutes and found that the more elderly of the two was the caretaker of the abandoned mines and he asked my business.
Somehow I felt uneasy in his presence and I was glad I packed my gun. While we talked, the younger man edged to my other side as if looking me over. I presumed he could see my holster against my thigh.
Later I learned that the older man had shot and killed a man who was hunting through the old buildings without having gained permission. The local authorities asked a few questions but he never was held for the killing…
HR, 1942.
HERB RINGER came West from his home in New Jersey in 1939. Camera in hand,
Herb captured the American West, from the Canadian Border to the Rio Grande and
from the Big Sur coast to the High Plains.
We believe Herb’s collection of Life in the West is one of the finest. His work has been
published in The Zephyr for 20 years. I am pleased finally, to offer Herb’s photographs
in color. We are also building a new ‘album’ of his work, elsewhere on this site.
My dear friend died on December 11, 1998…JS
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