Thomas Graham Carrigen was born on February 20, 1896 in East Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in the industrialized area of Chicago before the family moved to Clovis, New Mexico and then Denver, Colorado. He showed an early talent for drawing and took his first photograph at the age of 6.

He was drafted into the US Army in September 1917, serving until April 1919. After ruining a load of whites by including red long underwear during a demonstration as a washing machine salesman, he was stranded in Casper, Wyoming. He found odd jobs working in the local theater and doing lettering and advertising illustrations and singing for weddings.

In 1922, he opened a photographic business, the DeLuxe Studio, in their apartment, using the small bathroom as a darkroom. The 1920s and 1930s were difficult for the family, but Carrigen persevered and the business began to flourish during the Casper’s economic surge of World War II. His wife Eva and daughter Eleanor both assisted him in the business, as did many part time workers and at least two full time employees, Clifford Pope and Mary Larsen. The studio specialized in portraits, though Carrigen was often contracted to photograph local businesses and to produce brochures and booklets packed with his photographs and illustrations. He combined his skills in photography and illustration to created hand-colored images prior to experimenting with color Ektachrome film in the 1940s.

Ever the tinkerer, Carrigen invented a rotary stenciling machine to color multiple black and white photographs at once. He never patented his invention, though it was of considerable help to him in the studio. He also invented a camera that could take pictures at the bottom of an oil well. He gave this invention, and forfeited his right to royalties, to Kodak after telling their representative that he did not have time to mess with patents.

Following his daughter’s contraction of polio in 1952, and his wife’s death in 1956, Carrigen spiraled into a deep depression. He recovered and resumed work in the studio, but this was short lived. His own heart condition eventually required treatment at the Veterans Hospital in Cheyenne where he passed away on January 2, 1967.

Elizabeth "Neal" Forsling was an artist and storyteller who lived on Casper Mountain near Casper, Wyoming. Born in Missouri in 1889, Forsling moved to the mountain with her two children following her divorce. After her death in 1977, her homestead became the Crimson Dawn Museum.