In 1887 when Robert Cleland Morrison headed West, he was 27 years old. He had been born in Pennsylvania Aug. 21, 1850, and little is known about those first years. But in 1878 he homesteaded on a hill overlooking the Yellowstone River near Miles City, Mont., and began to make his name.

His family back East worried about Indians, but by the time Morrison set up his homestead Fort Keogh had been built and there were only scattered Indian problems. Besides, Morrison made friends with the Indians. He established himself first as a buffalo hunter and a guide for wagon trains heading West from Dakota Territory, then as a photographer and, as Miles City turned into a real town, as a sign painter for the new businesses that were springing up.

In the summers, Morrison took to the country, photographing ranches for the owners. He traveled in a covered wagon, used a tent for a darkroom and spread his prints out on the sagebrush to dry tin the sun. In 1882 he had married and often on those summer trips, he would take one or more of his three children along.

Morrison thrived, partly because he didn't have to depend entirely on his photographic studio, but also had his sign painting business. And he was a violinist who could augment his income with music. An entry in his journal shows he once received $25 for playing at the Opera House in Miles City, a tidy sum for the times.

He was an avid reader and curious about new inventions but chose to ignore them. He liked using a wood cook stove for cooking and did not like indoor plumbing. He had a horse and cart but often walked the ten miles to town from his ranch.

Morrison spent his last ten years drawing and painting landscapes - and walking into town from the ranch to paint signs. He scorned scaffolding and when he was nearing 80 painted the sign on the top of a two-story building by constructing a ladder about four feet wide at the base, climbing it and going to work. At about the same time, he encountered a rancher who owed him money and ended the ensuing debate by knocking the man out with a single blow. Witnesses had something to talk about, including how long it took the rancher to regain his senses.

Morrison was powerful, muscular, hot tempered and healthy to the end. Once a week, he visited a Miles City hotel, the Milligan House, to take a bath and it was there he suffered a heart attack and died in mid-January 1938.