Photographer L.A. Huffman arrived in Miles City in 1879 and witnessed through his camera’s lens the changing way of life on the Montana frontier. He called this photo “The Honyocker.” It is undated, but probably taken after the turn of the last century as homesteaders plowed out a new life on the land.
MHS Photo Archives 981-176
Northern Ag Network Note: The term “honyockers” seems to have originated in Montana in the 1890's and was a derogatory cowboy slang term used for a homestead farmer, much like “nesters”, “chicken chasers”, or “squatters”. Calling a farmer a honyocker was almost as bad as calling a cowboy a sheep herder in those days. The name may have originated as a combination of slang terms for Hungarian or Bohemian farmers who were described as “Hunkies” or “Bohunks”. The ranchers and cowboys of that time period had a very poor regard for the early settlers who plowed and fenced off land making it harder for cattle to continue free grazing.
