A collection of items identified as "Lee Moorhouse collection of Indian costumes and artifacts" is grouped on the board-and-batten porch of a house. Flanked by two lattice-work columns, most of the items are baskets with geometric designs, along with a few pieces of pottery, also with geometric designs. Baskets are piled up to half-hide the window, with its four narrow lead-lights, and spill out past the low porch to the ground. In the center back hang two beaded dresses and what looks like part of a cradleboard. A beaded bag hangs on the left column, and baskets hang on the other. In the left back corner of the porch is a strikingly bold geometrically patterned textile, with some tall sticks propped up behind it.
Seven men, three sitting, four standing, are grouped in a studio before a backdrop which has tipis painted on it. Two of the standing men are white men, identified as John McBain and Lee Moorhouse. Both wear suits and ties and McBain wears a felt hat while Moorhouse wears a high top hat. Both men have moustaches. Moorhouse holds a long pipe and flat geometrically beaded bag with fringe in his right hand, and his left hand is on the shoulder of the man seated in front of him, identified as Young Chief of the Cayuse. A Native American man, identified as Chief Sho-o-way of the Cayuse, stands in the back, also wearing a suit. He has a top-coat with furred lapels over it, and a conspicuous watch chain and medal. He wears no hat, and his gray or white hair hangs to his shoulders, where it is curled. The fourth man in the back row, identified as Chief Wolf, does not seem to be wearing headgear, but the middle section of his dark hair is pulled back from his forehead and puffed up above his head, and there seem to be feathers or other ornaments in it. The hair on the sides hangs at least to his shoulders. He wears a choker necklance and buckskin shirt, with a blanket across his left shoulder to the right side of his waist. He appears to be holding a large white feather or wing with dark spots in his right hand. The three Native American men seated in front are all wearing headgear. The man on the left, seated on a wooden chair, is identified as Chief Peo of the Umatilla. He wears a stand-up bonnet of feathers over his shoulder-length hair, and seven rows of necklaces, and his shirt is decorated with shells or teeth along its v-neck, with a stiff fringe below the shoulders. His hands are crossed on his lap, and the lower hand rests on a patterned blanket hanging between his legs. His upper, right, arm, is crossed over, and he has another blanket draped over it, and a ring on his hand. His pants have wide strips of beading down the outside of the legs. He seems to be wearing plain moccasins. The man in the center has been identifed as Chief Homily of the Walla Walla. He seems to be wearing a military cap, ornamented with beading, feathers, and fringe. His buckskin shirt has rectangular areas of beading on the sleeves and a row of ermine across the chest and shoulders.He seems to be wearing plain buckskin chaps over his pants, and beaded moccasins. His hands are in his lap and in his right hand he holds a pipe, from which a beaded bag dangles. The third seated man, Young Chief, wears a straw or felt hat with a hatband and an ornament standing up in the front, out of which emerge plumes of feathers which curve over the top of his hat. He has dark shoulder-length hair, and an earring is visible. He too wears loops of beads around his neck. He seems to be wearing a military jacket with chevrons at the wrist over a plaid shirt. The jacket is decorated with fringe at the shoulders which depends lower than his elbows. He has a patterned blanket over both legs and rolled in his lap, with patterned trousers underneath and floral beaded moccasins. His hands in his lap grasp a hatchet-style pipe, which has a flat beaded bag with streamers hanging from it. The area beneath the men is covered with a very hairy rug or mat, which is slightly rolled up at the right side of the photograph.
A white man wearing a dark felt hat, wool jacket, white shirt, and dark pants sits under a striped tipi-style canvas tent behind a wooden packing box that is serving him as a desk. The man has been identified as Lee Moorhouse. He has a bushy moustache and wears glasses; his hair is cropped short and his hairline receding. The sides of the tent are rolled up and tied to the poles inside, and he sits framed by two poles. Tied to the pole on the right is a flat leather bag. In the background trees are visible; the deciduous trees have leaves. Inside the tent behind the man a pile of striped blankets and other gear is visible. The man's attention is on his hands; his head is bent down and he appears to be whittling a short piece of wood with a knife. On the top of his "desk" are laid out pieces of paper. A small piece of money is in the corner of the desk, near a receipt book. To the right on the ground in front and to the side of the "desk" are an open umbrella and some type of wooden bin, cart, or wheelbarrow. In front of the packing box is a pile of gear including a large graniteware bucket, a smaller graniteware pitcher or coffeepot, a graniteware or cast iron dish with a lid, and what looks like a lard bucket with a white salt shaker on top.
An interior photograph of a man, identified as Lee Moorhouse, standing and holding a sheaf of barley that is taller than the man. He is attired in European-American clothing with vest, trousers, and pocket watch chain., Umatilla County barley. [Lee Moorhouse poses holding sheaf of barley. Image signed by Moorhouse but attributed to Wheeler by Grafe.]
