Craig Wolfrom - Photographer

Essays: Bux's Place

Challis, Idaho

In small mining town Challis, Idaho, the local bar is home to most of the social activity. Bux's Place is that local bar.

Sun Valley Magazine assigned me to the small mining town of Challis, Idaho, to photograph the locals who have been visiting the town's long time water hole, Bux's Place.
   
Bux's Place owner, Tony Yacomella, who purchased the establishment from the bar's founder, William Buxton.
   
In a small town like Challis, an establishment like Bux's is more than just a bar, it is a community center.
     
  
   
Bill Yacomella now manages the bar for his dad. Bill grew up in Challis and worked in construction and mining before taking the job at Bux's. In this photo, he stands for a portrait next to a buck he shot when he was a teenager.
   
Two locals enjoy a game of cribbage on the bar that traveled around the cape of South America before arriving in San Francisco and finally making it overland by mule train to Challis.
     
  
   
  
Stan Bell, who worked for many of Hollywood's Western movies filmed in the Alambama Hills on the East Side of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, was once fired by the great John Wayne; and rehired a few days later.
     
  
   
As rough a place as Challis has a reputation for being, there is a strong presence of civility and respect that exists between its citizens.
   
Tom van Kamper reaches for the shot. Bux's regulars have lockers for their locally made pool sticks.
     
  
   
Mike Church, Cowboy Poet:So my spurs are getting rustyAnd my rope is laid awayAnd the leather’s rotting on my saddle tree,My chaps are getting mustyMy hair is getting grayFor, stranger, times ain’t what they used to be.