Mr. Tom McKee and Cheta - Chief McCooks sister
Interviews collected during 1933 and 1934, for the state Historical Society of Colorado, by C.W. A. Workers . (Civil Works Administration)
Interviewer working on this county: Arthur W. Munroe
Concerning the life of Thomas Micheal McKee, the pioneer photographer of Montrose
Since 1887, Thomas McKee has been identified with interests of Western Colorado. Not being a man who craves publicity, Mr. Mckee has gone about his work and pleasure quietly, and has said little to anyone about anything, unless approached for certain reasons.
Mr, McKee was one of the first men in the the world to carry on experiments with carnotite ore and radium, some of his discoveries leading to general use of radium throughout the world today. In the early days of discovery, in the early days of his experimenting, he used carnotite ore as a means of furnishing light for photographic work."
He was also one of the first men of the world to think of the commercial possibilities of the oil shale that is found in abundance in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah.
He was one of the first photographers to visit the mesa Verde region and make a photographic record of the historic ruins to be found within its borders
He has a collection of relics< photographs and early-day scenes, and material collected among the Ute Indians and wealth of information on general information topics, that a king's ransom could not buy.
He is a an accomplished artist, and portrait painter , and an authority on the fossils and and paleontology, and on archeology, and Indian lore and knows more about the Ute Indians, than any other living man. His collection of Ute bead work and baskets, on exhibit at the Fox Theater in Montrose, is worth $10,000 dollarsand will increase in value as the years go by.
Thomas Michael Mckee was born in Scary Creek, Putman County, West Virginia, (it was then Virginia) on march 17, 1854, and was but a baby when his parents took him down the river by steamboat to Louisville, Kentucky, and then by stagecoach to Nashville, Tenn., where he spent his boyhood days and attended school. He studied portrait painting and in succeeding years, traveled over much of the South persuing this work.
Along with his portrait work, Mr. McKee studied photography and took a course in anatomy, so that he would be better able to do portrait painting.
He watched Nashville grow from a small town to a city, and he watched the construction of some of her famous buildings. For years he traveled to Texas and adjoining states as an an express messenger. He went into El Paso on the first train to run over the Texas & Pacific and was employed by Texas Express Company when it closed its business.
Mr, Mckee was married in 1885 to Amanda S, Kauffman, and to them, sons were born. One son died in infancy, the eldest, Mizer, was drowned in the Gunnison River, and the other, John, is engaged in the asphault business in central Cuba.
In about 1887, Mr. McKee started from Texas to Sitka, Alaska, he had written to A. E. Buddecke, of Montrose, and learned that that was no photographer in Montrose, so he changed his plans and came here, the trip costing him fifty dollars more than it would have cost to go to Sitka.
During the many years that he has been around Montrose, mr. mckee has taken thousands of photographs. He has photos of the old Fort Crawford, with soldiers on parade. He has pctues of the early day events. He spent several years as the official photogragher of the Denver & Rio Grande for Western Colorado.
While, as messenger on the Rio Grande Southern Railway, he came interested in the prehistoric ruins in Lost Canyon, between Mancos and Dolores, and photographed them. Then, in 1896, he took and expedition into Mesa Verde, where at that time, there weer no trails. he and a great deal of difficulty doing his photography in this great canyon country. He had to dig out the old springs of the cliff dwellers to secure water for his work and camp use.
He had a dark room in some fo the inner rooms of Spruce Tree House, and Cliff Palace, and had to carry his large plates across over the cliffs and the oak brush, he secured a wonderful bunch of photos, which were partially responsible for Mesa Verde being set aside as a National Park.
His guides were Carl. P. Thomas, Sheriff at Cortez, for whom Mr. McKee named the ruin across the canyon west of the hotel in Spruce Tree Camp, and Mr. Keely was his guide, and showed him the ruins at Yellow Jacket and the ruin canyon districts of Montezuma Valley.
Mr. McKee's photographs are now the prized possessions of many museums, and others are clamoring for them.
Before radium was considered a commercial possibility, Tom Mckee was carrying on experiments with it, and it was largely through these efforts, together with Onias Skinner and Lynn Monroe, publishers of the Montrose Enterprise, and Gordon Kimball, Ouray citizen, that it has come into general use. Carnotite, the ore from which radium is taken, was discovered in Montrose County, by an Irishman named Duling, who sold the claims for $12,500. This county has since then produced many, many times that amount in radium ore. Mr. Mckee used nitrates of uranium, instead of gold in his photographic work.
From 1906 to 1920, Mr. Mckee spent most of his time in Utah, in the ute Reservation, to which the Uncompahgre Utes were taken after being removed from this valley. He learned to know the Utes, their language, their ways, and their dances and their customs. He was well-acquainted with Chipeta for sixteen years. and she often came to his home. Here he secured his famous collection of beadwork and baskets. Here he took time off from his own business to show the oil-bearing stratas to men who were interested in the study and development of oil shale.
Mr. Mckee took some of the first X-ray pictures ever taken. He has always been an enthusiastic trout fisherman, and has secured a Colorado fishing and small license every year since they were first issued.
He has always been much interested in paleoantology, and has collected many fossils and shown others where to find them. This has been more than merely a hobby and never commercialized his knowledge. In the early days, Mr. McKee maintained a studio in Ouray and one in the town of Old Dallas.
Truly, Thomas McKee has greatly aided the development of this emphire that is Western Colorado. He has enriched the town of Montrose, by his presence there, and has won a place in the hearts of fellow citizens.
Mr. Mckee brought the first motion picture outfit into Western Colorado in 1895. It was Kinetoscope, and he exhibited it in every town in this part of the state.
Dated: February 11, 1934. Interview reported by Arthur W. Munroe, Field Survey Worker for the Colorado Historical Society.
