Playing His Prairie Chicken Flute
2002, 7 x 81/2
Western Union greatly aided western expansion by transmitting messages across the country. Having started in 1856 by joining the eastern and western lines of The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company, it completed a transcontinental line across the country in 1861, speeding communications during the civil war. It also facilitated the development of businesses, by introducing stock market tickertape in 1866, the defeat of Indian Tribes, and the bringing of “law and order” to the west. And Western Union offices were ubiquitous in small towns as well as cities.George Flett uses a common telegram form as the ground for his traditional ledger drawing of a warrior, formally painted and dressed, courting a young woman on his prairie chicken flute.