Elmer Keith--Salmon Idaho

[29aholic]

I liked it when it came in the little crock jugs but ain't much on it since all I see it in is plastic. Nothing tastes right out of plastic.

The avatar I use is a picture of Elmer when he was 9 .

Eddie

The only way I can find it is in glass 1.75 jugs. Charlie Sherrill told me he has seen it in the crocks.

 

[retiredbadge8091]

In the early Eighties I was at the NRA Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah and got to see Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan and Skeeter Skelton. I was a young man and stood in silence while three of my favorite gun writers made small talk at one of the booths. Skeeter was always my very favorite.

 

[H Richard]

I used to see a picture of Elmer nearly every Friday when I visited a friend for Fri. after work drinks with a bunch of fellow gunners. The picture was taken back in the 70's I think when Bill was traveling and stopped to visit Elmer and when Elmer mentioned his toilet had a problem, (Bill being a plumber) fixed his problem for him. Bill was about the same size as Elmer and the picture was with Elmers arm around Bill's shoulders. I wished I had copied that picture, as my friend Bill has passed, and no idea what happened to the picture.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Yet more Elmer......

While Elmer resided in Salmon, Idaho there was a true legendary lawman who interacted with him on many occasions. His name was Sheriff Bill Baker and Bill was the Sheriff of Lemhi County for 32 years. Bill passed away in 1994....just 10 years after Elmer died.

Sheriff Baker's son, Bob is a good friend of mine and has lived in Salmon all of his 60 years. Bob has told me many stories about his dad and the interaction he had with Elmer over the years that they both lived in Salmon.

Some funny stuff that I will share with you guys in another post.

Here are a couple of photos of Sheriff Bill Baker, these were taken several years before he was elected to be Sheriff.

Bill was selected as one of several Sheriffs to go to the FBI Academy for additional training. Bill won the best marksmanship award of all those who attended and received an award from J. Edgar Hoover himself......I have a photo of them together someplace....

Also a couple photos of the cabin at the Baker Ranch above the Salmon River. The photo of the young boy and man are my friend Dwight and Bill Baker's father who built the cabin in 1940 with logs harvested at the treeline above the ranch. He cut the trees and hauled them down to the building site with draft horses.

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Another interesting photo.....

Here is a photo taken of my friend Dwight atop of one of Elmer's horses.
This photo was taken in Elmer's backyard at their Salmon home in the mid 40's.

 

[Texas Star]

To paraphase Lincoln's comment on Grant's drinking, someone should find out what brand the older writers favored and send some to the current crew of hacks.

It varied with the man. Bill Jordan told me that he preferred tequila "because it won't rile up your system like whiskey does."


Jon Sundra knows wine very well, the only other gun writer I've met who shared that interest with me. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if he's still writing. I haven't seen his byline in some time.

 

[SuperMan]

Who was Rene Randall Keith? Part of the name is cut off on the headstone pic.


I met Lorraine Keith and Elmer in Dallas in the 1970's, when Elmer addressed an audience of his fans at a hotel. They seemed an affectionate couple. I later met Elmer at the 1979 SHOT show and we had breakfast together courtesy of the Winchester PR man. John Falk was a fine PR guy for the firm in Olin days. That press breakfast was probably the best I ever had. It was in San Antonio and the buffet included a lot of fresh fruit as well as the usual items.


Elmer poured scotch in his tea. Said he picked up the habit from his white hunter in Africa, I think John Lawrence. Many of the older gun writers drank a lot, including Elmer.


He recalled me from our earlier meeting and asked if I'd like to join him. He was very cordial on both occasions, and I got to see him shoot at the Winchester gun range in Dallas. I don't doubt that he performed all the shooting that he mentioned. My only reservation is that famed 600 yard shot on the mule deer with a S&W M-29. But I think he believed that he hit the deer at that distance. I think it more probably succumbed to shots at closer range and to a hit from a .300 H&H rifle.


Anyone interested in guns should have his books, Sixguns and, Shotguns. His other books were good, too, but those are justifiably classics.

I was at the same event...it was the night of my Dallas PD Academy class graduation party but my wife and I elected to go see the presentation and get to the party late.

We got there early and spotted Elmer wondering around alone. Apparently everyone was so in awe of the man no one approached him to talk. Finally we did and had him just about to ourselves till just before the presentation started. His wife came up during the conversation. She seemed a very nice person... He signed my two books, Keith, An Autobiography and SIXGUNS which I still have..

I was in Salmon in 2014 and saw some of his items in the Salmon Museum but never thought to ask where his house or gravesite were...

Thanks for posting...Bob

 

[Eddie Southgate]

Awesome thread !
I was a Keith disciple of the 60's and 70's , read his magazine articles,when Sixguns came out I bought and read it before buyin my first handgun ( a Ruger Blackhawk ) , wrote him a letter asking 41 magnum reloading questions when he was with Guns and Ammo .
He was The Man as far as I and revolvers were concerned .
Funny , I never ever remember seeing his middle name , Merrifield ! I would have never guessed that .
Thanks for the photo's ,
Gary

His Mother was a Merrifield .

Eddie

 

[Eddie Southgate]

Who was Rene Randall Keith? Part of the name is cut off on the headstone pic.


I met Lorraine Keith and Elmer in Dallas in the 1970's, when Elmer addressed an audience of his fans at a hotel. They seemed an affectionate couple. I later met Elmer at the 1979 SHOT show and we had breakfast together courtesy of the Winchester PR man. John Falk was a fine PR guy for the firm in Olin days. That press breakfast was probably the best I ever had. It was in San Antonio and the buffet included a lot of fresh fruit as well as the usual items.


Elmer poured scotch in his tea. Said he picked up the habit from his white hunter in Africa, I think John Lawrence. Many of the older gun writers drank a lot, including Elmer.


He recalled me from our earlier meeting and asked if I'd like to join him. He was very cordial on both occasions, and I got to see him shoot at the Winchester gun range in Dallas. I don't doubt that he performed all the shooting that he mentioned. My only reservation is that famed 600 yard shot on the mule deer with a S&W M-29. But I think he believed that he hit the deer at that distance. I think it more probably succumbed to shots at closer range and to a hit from a .300 H&H rifle.


Anyone interested in guns should have his books, Sixguns and, Shotguns. His other books were good, too, but those are justifiably classics.

Elmers wife was Lorraine Randall , daughter of Cyrus and Frankie Randall. That's her.

Eddie

 

[Eddie Southgate]

The only way I can find it is in glass 1.75 jugs. Charlie Sherrill told me he has seen it in the crocks.

Guess I need to look farther afield, all I see around Pulaski is plastic. They do have one crock from the 70's on display but would not sell it to me. Can't find Centennario Tequila around here anymore either. All this fancy stuff they sell now taste like watered down whisky to me . I like the old style stuff with a little peppery taste to it. It's a hell of a thing to get old !

Eddie

 

[Eddie Southgate]

Wow. Thanks for all the follow-up details and old pictures.

Does anyone know what happened to Elmer's daughter? She is buried next to him, and I recall from the gravestone that she died young. I think 18 years old.

She died from Influenza in 1948.

Eddie

 

[kennyb]

thanks for the home pics...does anyone currently live there?

 

[SmithSwede]

Yes, the house is occupied. I didn't try to talk to the new owners.

 

[Ed Fowler]

Have a pair of sheep horn grips made for Elmer, he did not like them and I bought them from one of his gunsmiths Dom Malchovich (sp?) and love them.

 

[Larry from Bend]

Elmer had a favorite gunsmith named Iver Hendricksen who lived in Missoula. When I was attending U of M, I took a Win Model 88 to Iver to get the safety changed to Left Handed. After he did so, I took the 88 out to check the POI and it "clicked" instead of fired. I took it back to him and he refused to even look at it --- in fact he shut the door in my face.

This was only a few days prior to Elk/Deer season opening. I took it to Bob Ward & Sons, who at that time had a resident gunsmith. They replaced the broken firing pin. When I mentioned Iver they just laughed.

 

[Jack Flash]

"Finest trout, salmon and salt-water fishing; harpoon porpoise."


I don't think that will ever make it to the Disney channel.

 

[Texas Star]

Is Lorraine Keith's name misspelled on the headstone? Has no one else here noticed this issue?

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Have a pair of sheep horn grips made for Elmer, he did not like them and I bought them from one of his gunsmiths Dom Malchovich (sp?) and love them.

I was going to mention Don Mihaljevic, who was Elmer's last gunsmith before Elmer passed. Don was an acquaintance of mine. Don passed away a couple of years ago, ended up with Parkinson's and his family moved him back to Chicago for care......but he died shortly after being moved out of Salmon. I think leaving Salmon, the place he loved, did more harm than good!

His nephew's inherited his property which is only a few miles south of Salmon along the Salmon River. The range in Don's back yard was one of the places that Elmer would test/review guns and loads the last few years he was working.

I have a buddy who owns two guns that Don built, one is a Colt SAA that he modified with a longer grip frame, the other is his first gunsmith project while in gunsmith school which is a black powder rifle.....I am trying to get the owner of those guns to sell them to me!!!

Here is one of the last photos taken of old Don.....

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Elmer had a favorite gunsmith named Iver Hendricksen who lived in Missoula. When I was attending U of M, I took a Win Model 88 to Iver to get the safety changed to Left Handed. After he did so, I took the 88 out to check the POI and it "clicked" instead of fired. I took it back to him and he refused to even look at it --- in fact he shut the door in my face.

This was only a few days prior to Elk/Deer season opening. I took it to Bob Ward & Sons, who at that time had a resident gunsmith. They replaced the broken firing pin. When I mentioned Iver they just laughed.

There was also another Salmon based gunsmith that Elmer used quite often, his name was Ed Schaller........quite an amazing guy! Story goes that old Elmer would bring in guns for work and pick them up without paying......Ed's wife got tired of Elmer not paying and asked Ed not to do Elmer's work if Elmer wasn't going to pay! Elmer also bummed rides at the local Salmon airport from guys to get to/from shows around the area......I am told from some of the locals that he seldom paid for those rides. Guess that's a couple reasons the locals in Salmon are not as enamored with Elmer as most people are.

 

[Muley Gil]

Elmer's daughter was named Druzilla. Elmer was a descendant of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame and Druzilla was a family name that he, Clark, wanted to pass down.