John D. Howland

John Dare Howland set out west from his hometown of Zanesville, Ohio, when he was just 14 years old. He eventually made it to St. Louis, where he found steamboat passage up the Missouri River. He worked as a trader with the American Fur Company on the Upper Missouri, hunting buffalo and trading with the Sioux peoples in the area. In 1858 he went to Colorado to mine gold near Pikes Peak. During the Civil War he served in the First Regimental Cavalry of Colorado Volunteers. Turning to illustration, Howland earned enough money from contributing work to Harper’s Weekly to afford two years of study in Paris. After returning to America, he served as secretary on the Indian Peace Commission in Washington DC from 1867 to 1869. He traveled to Paris again and then returned to the Americas to explore the Southwest and Mexico. He finally settled in Denver, where he founded the Denver Arts Club in 1886 and became best known for his paintings of bison.