Louis Prue was the nearest neighbor of the Erickson family. A former soldier under the command of General George Crook, Prue settled in the area in 1879, reportedly the first settler (aside from the Chiricahua Apaches) in what is now the Chiricahua National Monument. He was the first explorer of this area, and he established a cattle ranch here a full nine years before the Erickson’s arrived from Sweden. On his ranch, he built a stone blockhouse for protection in case of an attack by Geronimo and his Chiricahua Apaches that roamed this area. Before falling from a horse and dying in 1892, Prue asked Neil and Emma Erickson if he could be buried on their homestead, where “he could see his cattle passing on the way to water.” The Erickson family honored his wish. He is buried in a plot surrounded by a rusting original Victorian era fence. A shadowy stone marks his grave, only a few yards away from the Erickson family cemetery. I made this image from this spot to stress the fields of winter grass that stretch into the background. It is a perfect setting for a rancher and explorer who once fought on the American frontier.