The Imagery of the “Stone gallery”
Proulx reports, “The anthropologist moved back and forth scrutinizing the stone gallery of red and black drawings: bison skulls, a line of mountain sheep, warriors carrying lances, a turkey stepping into a snare, a stick man upside-down dead and falling, red-ocher hands, violent figures with rakes on their heads that he said were feather headdresses, a great red bear dancing forward on its hind legs, concentric circles and crosses and latticework. He copied the drawings in his notebook, saying Rubba-dubba a few times.” The artwork done of the stones offers valuable insights which are befitting for an anthropological inquiry. All the works are indicative of the lifestyle of the initial inhabitants; they are an archive of the lifestyle predominant there specifically at the time they were carved on the stone. Moreover, the precise drawings are a depiction of an advanced civilization.
The imagery of the Ranch
Proulx reports, “They called it a ranch and it had been, but one day the old man said cows couldn't be run in such tough country, where they fell off cliffs, disappeared into sinkholes, gave up large numbers of calves to marauding lions; where hay couldn't grow but leafy spurge and Canada thistle throve, and the wind packed enough sand to scour windshields opaque." The ranch is not ideal for rearing cattle comfortably due to the cliffs and sinkholes which subject them to accidents. Moreover, the presence of lions in the area is a threat to the thriving of the ranching activities. Inability to cultivate hay complicates the acquisition of sufficient food for the cattle.
