Artist-photographer Erwin Evans Smith, a Fannin County native, was enchanted in his youth by the culture and folklore of ranching in the Southwest. He studied art in Chicago and Boston in hopes of becoming a western sculptor. For several summers in the early 1900s, he visited ranches to sketch and photograph cowboys at work and leisure. Although he never realized his dream of sculpting, he left more than 2000 photographs as a priceless record of life on the range.