Rawhide artist “Lige” Langston dies at 79
Obituary from the Reno-Gazette Journal, Reno, Nevada
Friday December 25, 1987
Page 36
Rawhide artist “Lige” Langston dies at 79
Cedarville, Calif.
Duck Flat, Nevada native Elijah Henry “Lige” Langston, 79, died Saturday of a heart attack at his sister’s residence in Susanville. He was born August 10, 1908, to Birney and Pearl Langston, and lived for most of his life on various Nevada ranches.
Langston’s parents moved to Nevada from the Midwest in 1904 to homestead. The family later moved to Reno where Langston attended school. Langston was a cowboy and rawhide artist and the subject of an award-winning locally produced documentary, “Lige: Portrait of a Rawhide Worker.” The 1985 film played several times on KNPB Channel 5, was shown at the Keystone Theatre and won “Best Ethnography” at the UCLA Folk Film Festival.
Langston worked as a buckaroo all over Nevada and Northern California and one of his first jobs was working as a wrangler on a divorce ranch at Pyramid Lake. Langston’s rawhide items including riatas, hackamores, bosals, and reins have been in demand by cowboys and collectors, and several of his works are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Langston also appeared at the annual folklife festivals sponsored by the Nevada Historical Society
He was a member of the Modoc County Historical Society, Surprise Valley Lodge, F.&A.M. [Free and Accepted Masons], and United Church of Christ, Cedarville. His wife, Etta Harris Langston, died in 1985. Surviving are stepsons, Joe and Sam Harris, both of Eagleville, California; sisters Jessie Holmes of Susanville, Pearl MacDonald of Yuma, Arizona, Margaret Bariski of San Rafael, California, brother Don of Oroville, California, and nine nieces and nephews.
A funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday with burial at Cedarville Cemetery. Arrangements are under direction of Kerr Funeral Parlor, Alturas, California.
